SHADES OF BLACK: HORDOUS, TSALAL

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Oct 232022
 

 

This week’s SHADES OF BLACK is shorter than usual, and follows a rare blank space at our site on Saturday, but this whole weekend has been out of the ordinary.

I used to joke that my day job was operating as a drug mule and/or a secret adviser to world leaders desperate for solutions. In fact it’s more mundane that either of those. But it has led to an anything-but-mundane weekend.

This weekend the business I work for pulled together everyone from its offices in four cities for a retreat on the Pacific coast of southern California. A swanky location, a minimum of boring speeches, good food, free-flowing alcohol, lots of congenial bonding. Continue reading »

GLASS OX – WINDS OF VIOLENCE

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Oct 202022
 

(Andy Synn provides a last minute recommendation of the new album from Glass Ox, set for release tomorrow)

It’s pretty much an open secret that a lot of Metal media outlets still have a bit of a bias against all things ‘core.

Of course, that’s not the case here at NCS, as we definitely cover a fair bit of the ol’ Grind (mostly thanks to DGR) and even a healthy dose of Deathcore too (although, it must be said, most of this year’s “big” releases – you know who I’m talking about – have left me rather cold).

But when it comes to Hardcore… even of the “Metallic” kind… it tends to fall to me to highlight some of the new and notable releases, and I feel like sometimes I’m not doing a good enough job.

That being said, I’ve listened to, and lavished praise, on quite a few Hardcore (or Hardcore-adjacent) bands this year, and I’m hopeful that at least some of you out there will have been enticed to check out a few of the artists/albums I’ve covered so far this year, even if they aren’t necessarily in your usual wheelhouse.

In that spirit then, I’d like to bring to your attention the new album from Iowan trio Glass Ox.

Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: EVEREST QUEEN / TERRA / VACUOUS

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 192022
 

(Andy Synn presents three more meaty morsels of home-grown heaviness from the UK)

I’d like to begin this article with a quick apology to the bands involved – I had every intention of writing about you sooner (especially those of you I’ve written about before) but life… uh… got in the way.

Still, we’re here now, and even though these reviews are coming post-release I hope they bring all of you some new fans (and hopefully some new sales too). You deserve it.

Continue reading »

IN MY DARKEST HOUR: CAVERNOUS GATE / DAEMOGOG / GEVURAH

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 182022
 

(Andy Synn presents a triptych of terrifying – and terrific – recent releases)

I don’t know about you lot, but I’ve always found dark music to be a great comfort during dark times.

And, since I am going through a bit of a dark patch myself right now I thought it’d be a good time to share some of the music which is helping me through it.

Who knows, you might just discover your new favourite band/album!

Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: BUNKER 66 AND LUCIFUGE — “OF LUST AND NIGHT”

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Oct 182022
 

It’s our fiendish pleasure today to present the premiere stream of a new split mini-album by the Italy’s Bunker 66 and Germany’s Lucifuge. Aptly etitled Of Night and Lust, it combines three exclusive tracks by each band, and it will be discharged on October 21st via Dying Victims Productions.

The press materials for the split brand it as “24 minutes of ancient speed metal sleaze and metalpunk ghoulishness”, and that’s true, but there’s a lot more going on here, the kind of music that will get heads spinning as well as hammering. Feral lust does indeed live in the music, but there’s hellish magic as well, and fiery glory. And like most excellent splits, the music of the two bands shares a kindred spirit, but with differences that contrast with, as well as complement, each other. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GGU:LL — “EX EST”

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Oct 182022
 

Through their forthcoming second album the Dutch band Ggu:ll prove themselves absolute masters of lightlessness. They named the album Ex Est as a reference to the state after being, and “the realization that all that is, will someday not be”, and that “all is doomed to end up as a ruin of itself”. It poses the question whether there is a meaning in existence despite the realization that life itself is meaningless.

With such a daunting and borderline-nihilist conception at the core of Ex Est, it is no wonder that the music is so pitch-black and so harrowing. From the funereal bell-like clanging that begins the opening track “Raupe”, straight through to the final shattering wails of pain in “Voertuig der verlorenen”, Ggu:ll render a nightmare that feels all too real. Continue reading »

SKY PIG – IT THRIVES IN DARKNESS

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Oct 132022
 

(Andy Synn embraces the darkness with the new album from Sacramento’s Sky Pig)

It wasn’t meant to be like this…

No, really, it wasn’t. It was DGR who originally put out the call for the promo for this album but, due to a series of increasingly embarrassing blunders and comedic mix-ups behind the scenes it’s me who’s ended up writing about it.

But I’m glad it did, because otherwise I might not have taken the time to properly appreciate just how good this album is.

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): S.I.D. — “CITY OF CHEMISTRY”

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Oct 132022
 

With their new EP City of Chemistry, the Italian death-doom-sludge band S.I.D. have created a devastating experience, the musical equivalent of crusher, crematorium, and crypt, designed to channel the suffocation of hope and the domination of agony.

The music is a match for the concept of the EP. It was principally inspired by the book Veleni di Stato by the Italian author and journalist Gianluca Di Feo, which condemned the production and use of chemical weapons during the second World War. The music makes a harrowing journey through the horrors of war, with a focus on the places where chemical instruments of death were developed and produced, concealed by warmongering powers.

At a time when war is again ravaging souls in many places, the EP stands as both a reminder and a denunciation, and it serves as a second chapter by the band, following their 2019 debut album Architects of Armageddon. Elaborating on these themes, the band explain: Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

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Oct 112022
 

(Andy Synn catches up with a few gems from last month which you may have overlooked)

September is always a busy time for new releases, and this year was no different.

Sure, they weren’t all good (in fact, I can tell you now, there was at least one major name that is definitely going to end up on my “Disappointing” list, and probably piss quite a few people off in the process) but there were a lot of high quality albums released last month and, even though we tried our best, we barely scratched the surface of what September had to offer this year.

So while I’ve attempted to cover a number of different bases with the four artists/albums I’ve chosen to write about today, I also urge you all to check out some of the records which we weren’t able to find space/time for, including new stuff from Acausal Intrusion, Dead Void, Kathaaria, Maunra, Mo’ynoq, Otus, Wayward Dawn, and Writhing (and many, many more that I’ve probably forgotten about).

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): XANATHAR — “GOLD, BLACK AND CRIMSON”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 102022
 

 

If you haven’t yet tumbled to the marvelous talents of the Italian one-man band Xanathar, today is a good day to do that. Prior to today Xanathar had released two EPs (Darkmoon and The Towers), both of them emerging last year, but today there’s a third one and it’s an eye-opener too.

What made the two previous EPs such great experiences was Xanathar‘s skill in interweaving classic ’80s doom and epic heavy metal with raw black metal and dungeon synth. It was quite evident from those releases that Xanathar really loves all those divergent stylistic influences. But just because you love a bunch of disparate kinds of music doesn’t mean they’ll work together well if you try to mash ’em up or even stand them side-by-side. Making it work requires a lot more than affection.

Xanathar made it work in those first two outings, so much so that I included a song named “The Test of Fate” on my list of 2021’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. And as you’ll discover through our premiere stream today, it works again on Gold, Black and Crimson. Continue reading »

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