Aug 172021
 

(Speech Act are a new-ish band from North Carolina, and Andy Synn has fallen pretty hard for their debut album, which was released just last week, despite the fact  that it contravenes our usual rules)

While all of us here at NCS share an abiding love for Metal, there’s definitely certain niches which we each seem to “specialise” in a little more than others.

Islander, of course, tends to stick more to round-ups than reviews, but – either way – if you see something you’ve never heard of, from a band who’ve either only existed for a hot minute or who’ve purposefully hidden themselves away in the shadows for the last several decades, then chances are they’ll be something he’s found and chosen to feature.

DGR, on the other hand, is our go-to guy for Grind, but also often swings the other way (as it were) by providing expert coverage of many of the big (or, at least, big-ish) and/or up-and-coming names from across the scene, and has proven himself a great pinch-hitter in those moments where the rest of us have dropped the ball on something we really should have written something about.

And, of course, then there’s our various (ir)regular contributors (some of whom are very irregular indeed), who each have their own special subjects which they like to focus on.

As for me? Well, while I cover just as much Death Metal and Black Metal (and its many permutations) as the next guy, chances are if you see something here that’s of the proggy or “Post-” variety, or that’s from the Hardcore end of the spectrum, or anything that features a lot of, gasp, clean singing, then it’s probably one of mine… like the album we’re about to discuss.

Continue reading »

Aug 152021
 

 

For today’s black metal column I’ve included reviews of two EPs, a pair of new videos, and just a sampling of tracks from two recently released albums that I want to recommend even though I don’t have enough time to give them proper reviews. Hope you find something to like.

FIAT NOX (Germany)

I decided to begin today’s collection with a song that will get your pulse racing. Part of that effect derives from the hammering propulsive drive, the wild and sinister fieriness of the riffing, and the scalding savagery of the vocal tirades. But the song is also a thriller because of its dynamism — from the skull-popping beats and infectious yells to the bubbling bass solo and the sweeping melodic blaze behind it. Continue reading »

Aug 142021
 

 

Upon awakening this morning I gave some passing though to concentrating on one or two albums and trying to write something that might pass for a review or two. As you can see, the thought didn’t last long, and I instead dove back into the giant list of new songs and videos that had become the source of the giant two-part roundup I compiled yesterday. And that led to this further compilation… though it does include one album review after all.

CARCASS (UK)

“I’d describe this album as dad rock.” So says Jeff Walker about the new Carcass album, Torn Arteries. The song that premiered (here) at Rolling Stone along with an excellent animated video (created by created by the inimitable Costin Chioreanu), an extensive history of the band, and a very enjoyable interview of Walker, is definitely more of a rocking song than most others in Carcass‘ storied discography, but the song’s rapidly chugging riff, worming leads, squirming solo, and booming drums do get their hooks in the head. Moreover, Walker’s vocals are damned nasty, and there’s a devilish atmosphere surrounding the song as well. I like it! Continue reading »

Aug 112021
 

(Andy Synn wrote the following review and introduction of our full streaming premiere for the new album by the trans-Atlantic band Fawn Limbs, which will soon be released by Roman Numeral and Wolves And Vibrancy.)

Even those who love Metal at its most brutal, its most technical, its most chaotic, must admit, when push comes to shove and their back is against the wall, that the pursuit of extremity, pure extremity, purely for its own sake, ultimately leads to an inevitable and inescapable evolutionary dead end.

Or, should I say, an almost inescapable dead end… because while it’s true that over-specialisation will ultimately limit the growth of any species band – once you’ve attained a certain level of maximum brutality, terminal velocity, inhuman technicality, where else do you have to go? – certain artists, certain entities, have still managed to discover new and unique ways to survive, and even to thrive, while continuing to push their own limits in different, but no less extravagant, ways.

The secret to achieving this, of course, is realising that extremity isn’t a linear scale. It’s a spectrum. One which extends in multiple directions and allows for multiple interpretations and expressions of what it means to be truly “extreme”.

Which brings us, at last, to the new album from Fawn Limbs, which finds the terrible trio choosing a new, yet also disturbingly familiar, path to follow, which leads to a place called… Darwin Falls. Continue reading »

Aug 092021
 

 

As you can see, this is Part 2 of the weekly column I began yesterday. Because I’m hurrying to finish it before turning to the usual Monday flurry of activity at our site, I’ll dispense with any further introduction and get right to the music.

DØDSFERD (Greece)

On August 10th this Greek black metal band will commemorate its 20th anniversary of existence by releasing a new album named Suicide and the Rest of Your Kind Will Follow Part II, which arrives a dozen years after Part I. It consists of two long songs, the first of which premiered yesterday at Metal Addicts through a video made by Nikolaos Stavridakis (VisionBlack), which builds upon artwork created by Georgios Gyzis (aka Bacchus of the black metal band Grab). Continue reading »

Aug 082021
 

 

After spending a ton of time listening to new songs and writing about many of them in the two enormous roundups I posted on Friday and Saturday I despaired of being able to do very much with this week’s SHADES OF BLACK column. But I got a second wind and became inspired by the varying sounds you’re about to discover.

In this two-part edition the bands whose music I chose include some old personal favorites and some very promising newcomers.  My second wind is dying, so you’ll most likely have to look for Part 2 on Monday.

KATAVASIA (Greece)

These Greek black metal luminaries, whose lineup includes members drawn from Varathron, Hail Spirit Noir, Aenaon, Melan Selas, and Agnes Vein, have a new two-track EP headed our way, and the first of the two songs — “Descending to Acheron” — has now surfaced. Continue reading »

Aug 062021
 

 

It’s our pleasure today to present a full stream of the debut album by the Indianapolis-based tech-death crew Fleshbore, which is set for an August 13 release by Innerstrength Records. It represents a redefining of the band’s sound over years of effort, and the results (to borrow some words you’ll see in the following review) are both body-mangling and mind-blowing.

In the opening track, “Momentum”, a compulsive rhythmic beat and grand ringing chords provide the introduction to an obliterating percussive assault accompanied by slicing, swirling, and darting fretwork and savage growls and screams. The music continues to morph, becoming both oppressive and eerily glorious, jolting the spine with punishing power and writhing like diseased reptiles. Continue reading »

Aug 062021
 

(Andy Synn goes on a journey with the new album from Burial In The Sky – set for release on August 13 via Rising Nemesis Records – and finds that the band’s path leads to some unexpected places)

I don’t think anyone would deny that, for the last several years (and that’s just a very conservative estimate) the Techy/Proggy end of the Death Metal spectrum has been in rude and ruddy health.

But still… there’s a certain glaring absence, a spiralling void if you will, in the scene that’s been crying out to be filled ever since the most recent album by The Faceless revealed them to be a mere ghost (pun intended) of the band they once were.

Many have tried to step up, of course – often, unfortunately, by simply parroting, or parodying, the exact same sound which made Keene and co. famous – but so far only a few have even come close to being worthy.

However, while previous records from Burial In The Sky may have marked them out as being worthier than most to pick up that particular torch, what really surprised me about The Consumed Self (which is easily the best work of the band’s career) is that, if anything, it suggests that BitS plan on stepping into a very different pair of shoes.

Whose shoes exactly? Well you’ll have to wait just a little while longer to find out, because this review – much like the album which inspired it – is made up of two distinct halves.

Continue reading »

Aug 062021
 

 

Thy Kingdom Come is the debut album of Bleeding Malice from Minsk, Belarus, and it’s being released today. In the band’s words, it’s a 9-track tale “about a man with his sins and weaknesses, who for a moment realized that the scales were irrevocably tilted to one side. Memories rush one by one, but the step into emptiness has already been taken….” In telling that tale, the song lyrics use words of disgust, vengeance, and hate, mixed with words of confusion, torment, and despair.

It’s an intense and disturbing narrative, and the music is equally intense and disturbing. The album is also surprising in its amalgam of genre ingredients. You may think, as you begin to move through the album, that you’ve figured out what Bleeding Malice are all about, but they continually defy expectations with unexpected twists that strengthen the desire to continue listening, and to listen again. Continue reading »

Aug 052021
 

 

(This is DGR’s review of the new album by the Swedish band Night Crowned, which is out now on the Noble Demon label.)

It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that we found ourselves checking in with Night Crowned and their first full-length release, Impius Viam. Granted; a large part of that feeling is attributable to us missing the boat on the late-February release and coming around to it eight months later. Yet even considering that,  you’d have to admit that returning to the stage a year and a half later with a follow-up release is a pretty quick turnaround time.

That prospect can be terrifying, since albums released year-over-year can be pretty hit-or-miss depending on how prolific the musician is, and on top of that last year was just generally a fucking mess.  When given such a massive amount of time to be trapped inside, what else is a musician likely to do other than create, and it seems like that is the path Night Crowned chose.

The group’s second full-length came out via Noble Demon in early July and plays fully into the moodier-sibling aspect that one expects from any growing family. Bearing album art now fully in black and white, lyrics and song titles mostly in Swedish, and a less-packed run time where the only peaceful bit is the title song, Hädanfärd is a ferocious follow-up. It leans much more on the extreme side of things, and save for a few surprising deviations with clean vocal lines, it is the sort of release that never lets up, playing fully into the apocalyptic blastfest one expects from a group veering further into their black-metal inspirations. Continue reading »