AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HINSIDES — “UNDER BETLEHEMS BRINNANDE STJÄRNA”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 052021
 

 

Last year Shadow Records introduced denizens of the underground to the Swedish black metal band Hinsides (which is the solo project of Ultra Silvam’s M.A.), through a split release with Monstraat. Only two Hinsides songs were presented, but enough to make a fiendishly promising impression. From there Hinsides went on to complete work on a debut album, which the same Shadow Records is now set to release on July 9th.

The album’s name is Under Betlehems brinnande stjärna, and it is a confluence of surprises that create what might seem to be paradoxical results, harboring music that at first blush is so willfully abrasive it might repel rather than attract, but turns out to be exhilarating and unexpectedly enthralling — even magical. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VURVARAT — “THEURGIA MORTEM”

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Jul 052021
 

 

“All good things come to those who wait.” That hopeful proverbial saying is attributed to the English poet Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie (1843-1905), under her pseudonym of Violet Fane. Yet the same poem that’s the source of the saying also includes this stanza: “‘Ah, all things come to those who wait’ / (I say these words to make me glad) / But something answers soft and sad / ‘They come, but often come too late.'”

It has been a long wait for Theurgia Mortem, the debut album of the occult French black metal band Vurvarat. One advance song from the album first surfaced in January 2018, and we premiered a second one in April of that year. At last, it will be released soon by Atavism Records, and thankfully patience is rewarded. It is indeed very good, and comes not too late. Continue reading »

GONZO’S BEST OF BRUTAL SHIT: JUNE 2021

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 022021
 


Photo by Jørn Steen

(Today we launch what we hope will be a long-recurring column by our contributor Gonzo in which he spotlights favorite releases from the month just ended.)

No matter how much ground we cover at NCS on a daily, weekly, and even monthly basis, there’s always some music lurking in some dark corner of the metal universe that gets overlooked somehow. Some of that is, of course, by design – we don’t typically highlight the bigger names you’ll see in larger publications; we tend to reach farther down the smoldering depths of the metal underbelly for the stuff that doesn’t get as much exposure.

Earlier this year, I tried to keep up with a New Music Friday weekly column that was, unfortunately, all too short-lived. I blame my day job, in which I also write for a living (though it’s much less satisfying than heaping profanity-laced praise upon my favorite music.)

So, given the aforementioned constraints, Islander has been kind enough to green-light my latest idea: A monthly column dedicated to the bands, songs, and albums that I want to highlight from that month, without double-dipping into territory that’s already been covered.

Enough backstory – let’s dig into what kicked ass in June (and late May, since this is post #1.). The lead band was once in a deep, dark corner, but no longer is. Continue reading »

KRYPTAN: A REVIEW OF THEIR SELF-TITLED EP AND THE PREMIERE OF “A GIANT LEAP FOR WHOREDOM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jul 012021
 

 

The dumpster fire of the past pandemic year was wretched in countless ways, but most of us have realized that it also gave birth to a multitude of changes that were not all bad. Among other fortunate developments, the shutdowns and solitary confinements gave many experienced musicians the space to turn their talents in different directions, no longer wholly consumed by the feverishness of routines that might have marked the pre-pandemic age.

The Swedish band Kryptan represents one such new beginning. It is the brainchild of songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist Mattias Norrman, who is best known for his work with October Tide and Katatonia. But while the music on Kryptan‘s debut album does include recognizable traces of his other more brooding and doom-directed work, it is a vehicle for channeling the passions inspired by Scandinavian black metal from the ’90s, perhaps especially the influence of such bands as Dissection, Naglfar, and Marduk.

Kryptan‘s debut EP is et for release on July 23rd by Debemur Morti Productions, and today we’re providing thoughts about all four of its tracks, and premiering one of them Continue reading »

MENTAL CRUELTY: “A HILL TO DIE UPON”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 012021
 

 

(We present DGR’s extensive review of the new album by Germany’s Mental Cruelty, which Unique Leader released at the end of May.)

For the sake of complete transparency this one is going to begin with a minor confession; One of the driving reasons for the choice to deep-dive German group Mental Cruelty‘s newest album A Hill To Die Upon is because the idea made me laugh.

It’s no fault of the band themselves, who are in the midst of something of a soft re-branding on their latest album, having shifted further and deeper into a symphonics-assisted world after two albums of whirlwind brutalizing deathcore. It’s because around here we’re fans of the black metal group A Hill To Die Upon, and something about seeing those words – admittedly a common phrase – on an album cover with a logo gave me the fun sort of “world-inverted” dynamic that you’ll see put to use in comedy from time to time.

So, in the sort of drunken crashing around that normally determines whether I’ll glance at a band, sometimes it’s some strange coincidence, no matter how stupid or small, that manages to catch my attention. Continue reading »

SEPUTUS: “PHANTOM INDIGO”

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Jun 302021
 

 

(Todd Manning returns to NCS with the following review of the new album by Seputus, which is out now on Willowtip Records.)

Originally the brainchild of drummer/guitarist Stephen Schwegler, Seputus has had to take a backseat to real life for far too long. The idea for the group started when he was serving in the Navy, but the growth was slow due to his commitments.

Eventually, Schwegler recruited vocalist Doug Moore and Erik Malave on bass and the project began to take flight. While they managed to release the album Man Does Not Give in 2016, Phantom Indigo, which came out on June 4th via Willowtip Records, feels like the true introduction of the trio to the Metal world at large. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH – AXECATCHER / BOSSK / URNE

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Jun 292021
 

(Andy Synn once again graces us with reviews of three more bands from his beloved homeland)

So I should probably begin this article with a quick mea culpa.

After making such a big deal about how the last edition of “The Best of British” was the first one in a worryingly long time, I had originally intended for the follow-up to hit the site within a week. Two at the most.

But, as you can guess, life got in the way, and my best laid plans went “aglay”, as the great poet once said.

Still, better late than never, right?

After all, I’m of the opinion that each of these albums – warts and all – fully deserves some coverage here at NCS, and since it’s unlikely that anyone else from the crew is going to be able to fit them in, it looks like it once more falls to me to tell you why you should check out the new albums from Axecatcher, Bossk, and Urne.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): ONDFØDT, NORDJEVEL, XANATHAR, A PREGNANT LIGHT, VARGSTUHR

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 272021
 

 

Reporting to you today from the hellish Pacific Northwest heat dome, where the second highest temperature ever recorded in Seattle at any time of the year happened yesterday and new records will be set today and tomorrow, I bring you  Part 2 of today’s expanded column devoted to black-ish metal. I decided to include three new EPs of very different styles, and to bookend them with one advance track from a forthcoming record and one song that opens a recently released album.

ONDFØDT (Finland)

Part 1 of today’s column was entirely devoted to videos, and I thought I’d begin Part 2 with another one. This one is for a song named “Mörkri” from Ondfødt’s new album Norden (their third full-length), which is set for release by Immortal Frost Productions on July 30th.

The heaviness of the bass and the hammering of the drums give the song visceral punch and power, but the mood of the music is severely desolate and distraught, with a haunting feeling of isolation and abandonment that’s matched by the frozen vistas in the video. But the song is a multi-faceted one. A militaristic drum pattern announces a change, with swinging, swaggering, and swirling riffs and scorching blasts of vocal ferocity giving the song a healthy dose of feral, carnal energy — though it becomes cold and cruel before the end. Continue reading »

THY CATAFALQUE: “VADAK”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  No Responses »
Jun 242021
 

 

(Our old friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth returns to NCS with this review of the new album by Thy Catafalque, which will be out tomorrow on Season of Mist. A full stream of the album follows the review.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. Once again, the impending release of something truly special rouses me from my nocturnal haze and guides me to my keyboard, compelling me to write. Yes, as the title of the article likely gives away, there is a new Thy Catafalque album ready to enter the public eye, and so I take upon myself the honor of reviewing it. Vadak is the tenth Thy Catafalque album, compilations and the Zápor EP notwithstanding, and as is fitting for such a significant number, it’s a truly noteworthy album in a discography full of noteworthy albums.

By this point in time, my devotion to the work of Tamás Kátai is a well-worn, well-documented history, but for the uninitiated, Thy Catafalque is primarily the work of one man, typically with a number of guests. Kátai is a Hungarian multi-instrumentalist and the driving force behind this project, and (as I will further explain in the paragraphs to come) is something of a musical genius. In the 23 years that Kátai has been recording under this moniker, the band’s style has evolved almost constantly from a relatively experimental black metal project to something that is, frankly, impossible to define. In the lead-up to this review, I did a chronological listen to the entire Thy Catafalque discography, front to back (including the first three albums, which are the most black metal releases and my least favorite simply because they’re the harshest and least listenable), and that endeavor served to further bolster the knowledge that Kátai’s musical fingerprints have been all over this project since the beginning. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SUFFER YOURSELF — “RIP TIDE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Jun 242021
 

 

During a falling or ebbing tide the outflow of water through constricted channels can create a powerful surge capable of carrying a person caught within it far offshore, or dangerously submerging them in the surging flow, with little ability to escape and find air once again. This phenomenon is called a rip tide — and when you listen to the remarkable new album by Suffer Yourself you will understand why they chose Rip Tide as its name.

This multinational funeral doom collective, which first began as the solo project of Polish musician Stanislav Govorukha and then blossomed, like a night-blooming flower, into a full band, has released two previous albums, 2014’s Inner Sanctum and 2016’s Ectoplasm. On this third one, they’ve expanded and altered their musical range in ways that bring them closer to the deathly terrain of such bands as Esoteric and Evoken — though it would be a mistake to push that comparison too far, because Suffer Yourself possess their own distinctive identity and have drawn within their music a multitude of stylistic and tonal ingredients that make each song different from the others and the album as a whole an unconventional experience.

You’ll be able to discover all of that for yourselves today, because we’re now premiering a full stream of Rip Tide on the eve of its release by Aesthetic Death. Continue reading »

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