NOOTHGRUSH AND CORRUPTED: THE REISSUE OF A LANDMARK SPLIT

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 012017
 

 

(Here’s Todd Manning’s review of the new reissue of a landmark 1997 split release by Noothgrush and Corrupted, coming in August via 20 Buck Spin.)

If Doom and Sludge are related, and surely they are, then Sludge is Doom’s younger brother, suffering from all sorts of complexes and probably killed their parents because they wouldn’t give him money for meth. 20 Buck Spin has taken it upon themselves to remind us of one of the seminal releases of this most toxic of genres with their reissue of 1997’s split record between Oakland’s Noothgrush and Japan’s idiosyncratic Corrupted.

Noothgrush kicks off the split with the punishing “Hatred for the Species”. Mid-paced, at least in relation to other Sludge acts, the sound here is not unlike EyeHateGod minus the Southern blues influence. What the listener is left with is a bleak and nihilistic condemnation of what it means to be human. If these guys saw the world through these eyes back in 1997, imagine how far humanity has come in twenty years to prove their judgment prophetic. Continue reading »

NADIMAC: “BESNILO”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Aug 012017
 

 

(Music writer Konstantin, who in past years has written for Serbia’s Nocturne Music Magazine, rejoins us with this review of the new album by the Serbian band Nadimac, recently released by Xtreem Music.)

Following their “schedule” of issuing a full-length album every two years, the Serbian band Nadimac have presented their latest work this July. The new offering comes as their fifth studio album and is titled Besnilo (“Indignation”); the album comes with song titles in both Serbian and English. This LP was preceded by only one split release, unlikely previous albums which always saw between two and five splits published before a new LP.

Without a doubt we can say that this is their most mature record so far, and, interestingly, comes as their shortest one to date (at 34 minutes). Although the band have experimented with several details that they haven’t used before, such as acoustic guitars, the sound is typical Nadimac, a sound we could hear on their previous offerings. Straight-forward thrash metal mixed with doses of grind, hardcore, and crust have again produced a record that you don’t separate into parts and listen to only a piece or two, but instead one that you take in completely, with no break. Crossover has been their trademark since the very beginning, and once again the guys have proved that the formula they created years ago still produces good results. Continue reading »

ISRATHOUM: “CHANNELING DEATH AND DEVIL”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Jul 292017
 

 

Israthoum put their mission statement right in the title of their new album — Channeling Death and Devil — and that is what they do.

These are grand, fearsome, and mystical subjects, and Israthoum’s music effectively summons all those qualities through a form of occult, atmospheric black metal that’s intricately plotted and relentlessly dramatic, delivering a changing soundscape that ranges from majestic yet chilling stateliness to maelstroms of shuddering chaos. Grandeur, mysticism, and madness are all made manifest in a stand-out performance.

The album was released just yesterday; this review comes later than I had planned, and now serves only as an extended introduction to the stream you can hear for yourselves at the end of this writing. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: MORDENIAL — “THE PLAGUE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jul 272017
 

 

The crushing melodic death metal band Mordenial began life in early 2000 in Västervik, Sweden, eventually releasing their debut album, Where the Angels Fall, in early 2015. In just a handful of days they will return with their second full-length, The Plague, via Black Lion Records — but we have a full stream for your listening pleasure today.

The album is a 10-track, 44-minute affair, with all of the songs thematically linked to concepts of “plague”, ranging from the pestilential vectors of the distant past to futuristic scenarios, and the terrors perpetrated by human beings in the name of god or gods. Consistent with this thematic focus, the music is cloaked in darkness, with death looming like a specter in the atmosphere of the melodies.

The music is also immensely powerful in its sound, and immensely punishing in its impact, and those grim melodies prove to be as infectious as the contagions that have inspired the album. Continue reading »

AFTERBIRTH: “THE TIME TRAVELER’S DILEMMA”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 272017
 

 

(Our old and good friend from the Dominican Republic, Vonlughlio, prepared this review of the new album by the Long Island death metal band Afterbirth, which will be released on July 28 by Unique Leader Records.)

Work has been killing me for the past few weeks and I’ve been meaning to write a review for one of my favorite BDM bands from Turkey (which I will eventually do). But thanks to the Big Boss Islander, nope, that would not be the case.

He reminded of an article he posted about a song by the band Afterbirth and suggested that I should give it a listen. Big Boss thought I might like it. He never is wrong, but in this case when I saw the cover, I was worried to say the least. Why, you might ask? It’s not a bad cover (yes, not bad). It’s just me. I’m a bit complicated when it comes to artwork.

Well, Islander, you were right, I ended up loving the song. I would also like to take the opportunity to say thank you for letting me do a small write-up of their album, The Time Traveler’s Dilemma. I was not familiar with their demos or EP, so I decided to check what I could find on YouTube and then listen to the full-length. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: AZIZA — “COUNCIL OF STRAITJACKETS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jul 262017
 

 

By their own account, Minneapolis-based Aziza play “Thunderpunk”, combining “sludge, hardcore, and heavy metal”. “We play buttrock for the thinking man’s metal head,” they say. I get where they’re coming from, but I also think they’re understating the exuberant inventiveness on display in their new EP, Council of Straitjackets, which is being released today — and which we’re premiering in this post.

No doubt, the music is heavy — it’s brawny and bruising, venomous and vicious — but it’s also brain-scrambling and occasionally hallucinatory. I had visions of a brutish thug performing a nimble, bounding floor routine at a gymnastics meet while clubbing the competition and then showing his appreciation for the judges by sinking his teeth into their jugulars. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: SEVENTH CIRCLE — “VOLUNTARY TORTURE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 262017
 

 

Eons ago when I was in high school one of my best friends, and one of the gentlest souls I knew, got cross-wise with a guy from whom all gentleness had been purged. He hit my friend in the mouth with a brick. It shattered his front teeth and left him shrieking on the ground, his face a river of blood. It was the most violent thing I had witnessed up to that point in my life. That disturbing vision came back to me as I listened to Voluntary Torture.

This debut album by the Belgian band Seventh Circle consists of a dozen compact bouts of mauling mayhem and morbid misery. The cover art is a good match for the music, which comes at your throat with teeth spread wide, fury engaged, all hope purged.

The album will be released on vinyl by the Soaked In Torment label, who recommends it for fans of Nails, Trap Them, All Pigs Must Die, Integrity, Rotten Sound, and Full Of Hell. It combines blackened hardcore, brutal death/grind, and a relentlessly desolate outlook on life (displayed quite vividly through the song titles) to produce the audio equivalent of a brick to the teeth and an A-grade adrenaline spike right in the brainstem. You can (and should) listen to it through our premiere below. Continue reading »

NECK OF THE WOODS: “THE PASSENGER”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 262017
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Vancouver’s Neck of the Woods, which is set for a September 15 release by Basick Records.)

As a writer/reviewer/opinionated asshole, I’m very aware of the effect that using the wrong words – particularly when it comes to genre terms – can have in a review.

Let’s face it, if I refer to something as “Black Metal” there’s always going to be someone ready to jump down my throat because the band in question isn’t “true”. If I call something “Death Metal”, there’s bound to be someone who’ll assert that the band in question aren’t “real Death Metal”. And if I even mention the whole “Post-“ thing… well, you know the rest by now.

So I’m seriously wondering how best to refer to the music of Vancouver virtuosos Neck of the Woods so as to alienate the least amount of people?

Progressive Death Metal-core maybe?

Wait, come back… Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NATTVERD — “VI VET GUD ER EN LØGNER”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  5 Responses »
Jul 252017
 

 

Seemingly out of nowhere comes one of the best black metal albums of 2017, one that is simultaneously rooted in the decades-old traditions of cold Norwegian black metal and yet so vibrant and multifaceted, and so sure-handed in its songwriting and execution, that it breathes new life into the sounds. The achievement is all the more impressive because this is a debut album.

The album is Vi Vet gud Er En Løgner (We Know God Is A Liar) by the Norwegian band Nattverd. It will be released in September, and we’re fortunate to host a full stream of the music in this post. Continue reading »

BLOOD OF THE PROPHETS: “THE STARS OF THE SKY HID FROM ME”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Jul 252017
 

 

(Our old friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth [ex-Number of the Blog} presents the following review of the new album by Blood of the Prophets, scheduled for release on July 27.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. As promised, I have returned to provide my thoughts in full on The Stars Of The Sky Hid From Me (henceforth to be referred to using the acronym TSOTSHFM), the newest album from Blood Of The Prophets, a technical death metal trio from Toledo, OH.

TSOTSHFM is the band’s first release in seven years, a long absence for any band regardless of how well-known or obscure they may be. Consider your life seven years ago, and how much has changed since then. I could list countless major differences for myself and exhaust the entire space of this review and still leave out many, many things. For a band to return from that kind of absence and then deliver a quality work is impressive. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries