A DOUBLE REVIEW: HAVOK AND WARBRINGER

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 042020
 


Havok

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli combines reviews of the new albums by Havok (released on May 1st by Century Media) and Warbringer (released on April 24th by Napalm Records.)

Thrash metal is in a funny place to me.  Ever since the resurgence of it, a lot of bands have desperately clung to the nostalgia bait of writing music that sounds like an authentic representation of what you would’ve heard in the ’80s or early ’90s.  What’s really kind of joke-worthy about this trend is that what we ended up seeing was a bunch of guys trying to sell you nostalgia and engaging in probably extreme metal’s most overt tailspin into cynical capitalist consumerism.  Most of the resurgence of thrash in the modern age has thus been pretty soulless and pretty meme-worthy.

As a consequence, the thrash metal that’s good nowadays shrugs off that nostalgia bait and moves forward.  The best of it embraces the evolution of the style up to its recession in 1992 or so and has then seen some of the best material written in the whole sub-genre in the 2010‘s.

So, we’re doing some shorter-length reviews today of two thrash metal records that embody this ideal.  Thrash metal that retains the foundation but has adapted to the times. Continue reading »

ALTERNATIVE RELEASE DAY ROUND-UP: AZZIARD / BÂ’A / FROM THE VASTLAND / GRAV MORBUS / IRDORATH / NOCTRIULM / ORDER OF ORIAS

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
May 012020
 


Azziard

(On another day when Bandcamp is waiving its revenue share, Andy Synn provides a timely collection of reviews, focusing on seven new black metal albums.)

It’s been another busy week for me, both personally and professionally, which means I’m currently writing this article in a bit of a rush.

But, considering that the fine folks at Bandcamp Inc. have elected to once again waive their fees for the day, it seemed extra vital that I get this piece finished and published on time and under budget so that you’ll be able to support these artists in a way that benefits them even more directly.

Today’s feature, as some of you might have guessed, is focussed firmly on the Black Metal end of the spectrum, and covers a plethora of absolutely killer (in more ways than one) albums, some of which have only just been released, others which have been available for a little (or a lot) longer than that, but which are all more than worthy of your attention. Continue reading »

SWEVEN: “THE ETERNAL RESONANCE”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Apr 302020
 

 

(Seattle-based NCS contributor Gonzo wrote the following review of the debut album by the Swedish named Sweven, which was released on March 20 by Ván Records.)

When I found out Swedish weirdos Morbus Chron had called it quits after releasing one of the best albums of 2014, Sweven, it was disappointing news. Blending a smorgasbord of musical elements ranging from the throaty assault of Horrendous and the tempered patience of Opeth to ’70s psychedelia, Sweven showcased a band that was positioned to carve their own path through a saturated metallic universe.

Six years after Sweven’s release, that path has taken an unexpected detour. Morbus Chron frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Robert Andersson has unveiled The Eternal Resonance, the debut album from his newest band, Sweven. Continue reading »

VADER: “SOLITUDE IN MADNESS”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Apr 292020
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the newest album by the Polish death metal icons Vader, which features striking cover art by Wes Benscoter and is due for release on May 1 by Nuclear Blast.)

Vader is a tough band to review.  This, of course, is not because of how intricate or deep their music is, it’s because this band’s level of intensity and quality has been so good that “It’s a Vader album” is literally the review.  I love this band’s entire discography — I don’t think they have a single bad, or even just “okay” album or EP in the entire fucking discography.

That also isn’t to say Vader are a one-dimensional band.  They have nuance, and the tiny degrees to which they dial around elements of their sound from album to album make a big difference.  It’s interesting because at this point it basically means we have three types of Vader among which they kind of seem to bounce back and forth: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CAGE OF CREATION — “INTO NOWHERE II”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 282020
 

 

We are about to leap with glee off our well-trodden paths, leaving behind us our usual metal extremity, lured away by black magic into a strange (and for us, a largely unfamiliar) realm. The Russian sorcerers who have cast this spell of psychedelic black rock have named themselves Cage of Creation, and their most seductive incantations are now to be found within a new album named Into Nowhere II.

As the album’s title suggests, it is a sequel to their 2016 debut full-length Into Nowhere, the Roman-numeraled songs picking up where the last track of that one left off. And these are indeed masterful sorcerers, like the Pied Piper of Hamlin who will lead us dancing away, never to be seen again, or like Hansel and Gretel’s cannibalistic witch luring us with sweets into the oven, or like the Devil himself who invites us in charismatic commands to cavort around a midnight bonfire whose sulfurous fumes become deliciously aromatic to our bedazzled senses.

The album was first released digitally and on tape earlier this month by NEN Records, but on April 29th it will receive a CD release by Devoted Art Propaganda, which provides the occasion for today’s presentation of a complete album stream. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: CRYPTIC SHIFT / DIVINE CHAOS / EMBODIMENT

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 272020
 


Cryptic Shift

 

(Andy Synn again focuses on releases from his home country, and today reviews two brand new albums and one that will be arriving soon.)

I’m not going to waffle on here about the state of the world, the way things used to be, etc. It’s all been said enough times already.

Instead, let’s get right to the matter at hand, and enjoy these three celebrations of the power of the riff, in all its unlimited glory! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ABDUCTION — “JEHANNE”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  9 Responses »
Apr 272020
 

 

Few episodes in French history, or indeed of world history, have captured the imagination of so many people, or proved as inspiring, as the short life of Jeanne d’Arc (or Joan of Arc, for us English speakers). Born to peasant parents in roughly 1412, she claimed to have received visions in her teenage years of the archangel Michael and various female saints commanding her to lend her support to the unanointed king Charles VII in an ultimately successful effort to rescue France from English domination late in the Hundred Years’ War.

As part of a relief army, the king sent her to the Siege of Orléans, which was lifted only nine days later. But in May 1430, after further military triumphs, she was captured by a faction of French nobles allied with the English, who turned her over to the English. They tried her on a variety of charges, declared her guilty, and burned her at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was about 19 years old when the flames took her.

We’ve provided this truncated reminder because the new album we’re premiering today by the French black metal band Abduction is a concept album based on the life of Joan. Entitled Jehanne, it will be released by Finisterian Dead End Metal Label on April 29th, as a remembrance of the day on which Joan entered the besieged city of Orléans in 1429. Continue reading »

AESMAH: “WALKING OFF THE HORIZON”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 272020
 

 

(In this review TheMadIsraeli catches up with the debut album by the French melodic death metal band Aesmah, which was released by Apostasy Records in February of this year.)

Quarantine has my sense of time and priority all fucked up dawg.

Doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping up with the musical landscape though, and today’s subject is a band who I definitely think needs more exposure.  Melodic death metal, as we’ve so often talked about on this site, is almost a relic of extreme metal.  It’s either been incorporated into something else, or the bands hanging onto it mostly are just not standing out.  They ride the most rote of wavelengths in every aspect of their sound and the by-the-numbers, trying to be oh-so-slightly commercially appealing nature of it is pretty exhausting.

Aesmah, on the other hand, are a new band who get the style they’re playing. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BOREAL — “THE BATTLE OF VOSAD”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 242020
 

 

More than 15 years ago Boreal, operating as a one-person project, wrote and recorded The Battle of VOSAD, a grand amalgam of dungeon synth, black metal, and doom that was released in 2006 by Eternal Warfare Records. All these years later, Boreal decided to resurrect that album and to re-imagine and re-record it, this time with a talented group of allies. In its new form, which includes mastering by Déhà and artwork by Inga Markstrom, it will be released on May 1st by Nebulae Artifacta (with a tape edition coming in July via Realm and Ritual).

The album, as it has been re-created, is the kind of immersive — indeed all-consuming — experience that kindles the imagination into a blaze, more like the stuff of dreams than of mundane earthbound days. And what magnificent and frightening dreams they are, transporting the listener into what seems like an ancient age or a mythic realm, there to bear witness to an otherworldly panorama of conflict, loss, and ascension on a vast scale. Continue reading »

SINISTRAL KING: “SERPENT UNCOILING”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 242020
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the debut album by the multinational European band Sinistral King, which is being released today — April 24th.)

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men… how easily they go astray.

Case in point, I had, originally, intended to take today off from NCS work and leave this particular album until next week, where I planned to make it part of a six-album, Black Metal-focussed, round-up (which, just to be clear, I’m still going to do).

However at the eleventh hour I was struck with a sudden surge of inspiration, a compulsion to get this one written up as soon as possible, hence why I’m back again with my fourth review of the week.

The extra effort is all worth it though, because I can say, without a shred of hyperbole, that Serpent Uncoiling is one of the best Black Metal albums of the year so far. Continue reading »

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