POST MORTAL POSSESSION: “CATCOMBS OF BEDLAM”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 092020
 

 

(Here, Vonlughlio reviews and recommends the new album by Pittsburgh’s Post Mortal Possession, which was released on May 30 of this year.)

This time around I have the opportunity to talk about the band Post Mortal Possession, who first gained my attention back in 2018 with their debut album Perpetual Descent released by Lord of the Sick Recordings.  Before that I had no idea of this project and their previous EP’s released in 2014 and 2016, but the debut album was a great balance between tech and BDM elements, and the varied vocals patterns stood out for me a well.

Since I was not familiar with their EP’s, I decided to listen to them. They had a different vocalist for those releases, and I must say that the music was nothing groundbreaking, but nonetheless good stuff which  showcased the musicians’ amazing potential (the vocals were kind of a hit-or-miss with me, depending of the songs). Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET (PART 2): TRUUS, BRZASK, LEECHES, OMNIVOID

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jun 062020
 

 

This concludes a post I began here two days ago devoted mainly to new EPs I’ve been enjoying lately. This one is devoted to shades of black metal, and includes four debut releases.

TRUUS

I’ll begin with Dawn of Perdition, a stunning four-track assault by the band Truus from Bloomington, Indiana.

There’s a raw, scorching abrasion in the riffs, matched by the incendiary madness of the vocals, and a powerful low-end thrust coupled with dynamic, skull-busting drumwork. Opener “Fourth Seal” incorporates sensations of imperious power and wild writhing and wailing derangement, while the moaning and braying chords and flickering leads of the title track create an atmosphere that’s more ominous. Both tracks are tremendously intense, and manage to spawn visions of terrifying grandeur as well as spine-tingling violence. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: COSMOVORE / INSTIGATE / LIVING GATE

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jun 052020
 


Peter Paul Rubens: “The Fall of the Damned”

 

(Andy Synn helps us end our week-day posts (though more will be coming this weekend) with the following trio of reviews.)

I really feel like I’ve let you all down this week. I had originally intended to write a bunch of different articles this week, but somehow – primarily due to having to focus on work and band stuff instead – time has slipped through my fingers.

Still, better late than never, right? So here’s a quick write-up of a trio of killer EPs I’ve been jamming lately. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ABOVE AURORA — “THE SHRINE OF DETERIORATION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 052020
 

 

Founded in Poznań, Poland in 2015 and now living in Reykjavik, Iceland, the black metal band Above Aurora began walking a desolate path through bleak musical terrain in their 2016 debut album (aptly named Onward Desolation), and then took another step deeper into emotional darkness with their 2018 EP, Path To Ruin (also aptly named). And now they are ready for the release of their second album, The Shrine of Deterioration.

No one familiar with the band’s trance-inducing strategies and minimalist (though quite powerful) modes of expression, or the chilling hopelessness of their moods, should expect any radical revision of their style, which has already been powerfully established. And indeed, The Shrine of Deterioration is also well-named. Yet the album is not simply the same dire-wolf that stalked our darkest moods in the preceding releases. Above Aurora continue to walk their path, but they have become even more sure-footed as guides to the cold, lightless places within us all — as you will discover through our full stream of the album in advance of its June 6 release by Pagan Records. Continue reading »

GUT: “DISCIPLES OF SMUT”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 042020
 

 

(Vonlughlio prepared the following review of the new album by the German band GUT, which was released by Splatter Zombie Records on May 15th.)

I have to say that I love comeback stories, just as many others around the globe do, and when the comeback is unexpected it’s even better. Of course, the most important aspect of story is still always the music.

The subject of today’s comeback tale is the German death/gore/grind band GUT, who have been around since the early ’90s. For me their 1995 album Odour of Torture is a pure delight for fans in the genre, and so underrated in my opinion.  After that came some splits and EPs the same year — and then came silence. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LJOSAZABOJSTWA — “GŁORYJA ŚMIERCI”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 042020
 

 

We’ve been following the progress of Ljosazabojstwa (from Minsk, Belarus) since the beginning, reviewing their debut 2016 debut demo (here), reviewing and premiering their 2017 debut EP Sychodžańnie (here), and reviewing their second EP, 2019’s Lszb (here). It is thus a welcome occasion for us to now premiere and review the band’s debut album, Głoryja Śmierci, which will be released by Godz Ov War Productions on June 8th.

While we’re incapable of pronouncing Ljosazabojstwa‘s name, we understand that in English it means “murder of fate”. We’re also incapable of pronouncing the Belarusian titles of the five substantial tracks encompassed by the new album, whose lyrics are also in the band’s native tongue, but the music speaks for itself, sometimes in a language we can all understand and sometimes in the esoteric incantations of black magic. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET (PART 1): HERESIARCH, ANTEDILUVIAN, VEGAS, LIKTAL

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 042020
 

 

I’m way behind in compiling round-ups of new music and video streams, but nevertheless I thought I’d use this time to recommend a collection of recently released EPs, and to offer a few words about a forthcoming split. All but one of the EPs are debut releases; the one that’s not is actually a preview of a forthcoming album. The split comes from two well-known bands (at least in the underground) whom we’ve written about extensively in the past.  Sadly, I don’t have any music streams from the split that I can share with you at this point, which makes its inclusion here a rarity.

As you can see, I divided this collection into two parts, with the second half coming later today.

HERESIARCH / ANTEDILUVIAN

The split I just mentioned is entitled Defleshing the Serpent Infinity. It will be released by Iron Bonehead Productions on July 31st. New Zealand’s Heresiarch contributes three tracks to the split, and Canada’s Antediluvian joins in with two. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SANCTIFYING RITUAL — “SANCTIFYING RITUAL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 032020
 

 

Germany’s Sanctifying Ritual first staked their black flag in foul underground soil with their first demo back in 2009. They followed that with another demo three years later, and then came the Storm of Devastation EP in 2013 — after which the band fell silent. But now they have come roaring back with a long-awaited debut album which bears the band’s name. It will be released by the esteemed Iron Bonehead Productions on June 5th, with a digital edition available that day, as well as CD and vinyl LP formats also becoming available.

The new album, which we’re giving you the chance to hear in full today, could easily have been given the title of the band’s first demo — Sadistic Death — because that’s the kind of feeling it breeds. The music incorporates a range of stylistic ingredients, but everything sounds saturated with evil — not cold and brooding menace but poisonous, rampant, and blood-spraying malignance, nothing you could reason with or resist, a combination of seething pestilence and knives-out malice, of supernatural riot and noxious rot. Continue reading »

MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY: “FEROX”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jun 032020
 

 

Make Them Die Slowly was White Zombie‘s second album, released in 1989. Before that it was the name used in the U.S. for Cannibal Ferox, a 1981 Italian cannibal exploitation horror film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi. According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, “upon its release, the film’s US distributor claimed it was ‘the most violent film ever made'”, and it was reportedly banned in dozens of countries, “although this claim is dubious”.

And it’s the name of a new band formed by Mick Kenney of Anaal Nathrakh (who will themselves have a new album ready for release this coming fall). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WITCHING — “VERNAL”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 032020
 

(Accompanied by the following review written by Andy Synn, we present the premiere stream of Vernal, the new album by Witching, which will be released on June 5th. It features cover art by Alex Eckman-Lawn.)

Life often throws up some strange coincidences, does it not?

Case in point, we almost missed out on hosting the premiere for this album, the debut full-length from Philadelphia quintet Witching, as the initial invitation to do so wound up getting buried in our ever-overflowing inbox.

Wouldn’t you know it though, the same day I got in touch with Islander to see if we had received a promo for the album (having become enamoured with the handful of pre-release tracks available on the group’s Bandcamp page) we also received a follow-up email from the band’s PR rep, with the final result that we agreed to combine my review with the premiere you’re about to listen to.

Like I said, coincidence is a strange, but sometimes extremely satisfying, thing. Continue reading »

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