HARDCORE COMES CLAWING BACK (THOUGHTS OF IONESCO, LESS ART, ILLUSTRATIONS, MIRACLE DRUG, COUCH SLUT)

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Jun 292017
 


Thoughts of Ionesco, 1999, in Pontiac, Michigan (photo by CJ Benninger)

 

(Todd Manning is back, and brings with him a group of recommended releases from a collection of killer bands whose names you see in the title of this post.)

Roughly a year ago, I wrote an article here discussing several hardcore releases and I mentioned how if Black Metal held sway in the winter, I felt Hardcore lay claim to the sweltering summer. But now I am also willing to consider that there are cycles within cycles, and am reflecting a bit on the genre in its longer trajectory.

While nothing really ever goes completely out of style in these postmodern times, I can say with some conviction that Metal in all its forms kind of steamrolled over Hardcore in the first decade of the new century, at least in terms of overall popularity. Sure, D-Beat has certainly thrived in recent times, but those bands are pretty much settled into the same aesthetic as their Metal brethren, and Death Metal and Black Metal bands alike borrow quite liberally from the genre.

But now, I’m starting to feel that other forms of Hardcore are beginning to claw their way back into the conversation, and I wanted to touch on some recent releases that those who care should definitely make an effort to seek out. Continue reading »

WINDS OF LENG: “HORRID DOMINION”

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Jun 282017
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Arizona’s Winds of Leng.)

Riddle me this, riddle me that… what do you get if you combine the gruesome riffosity of classic Dismember with the merciless melodic menace of The Black Dahlia Murder?

You get Horrid Dominion, the stunning debut by Winds of Leng, that’s what. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: CONTRA — “DENY EVERYTHING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 282017
 

 

July 1st is the date set for the release of the debut album by Cleveland-based Contra. Entitled Deny Everything, it will come at you via Robustfellow Productions/Shifty Records. Today we’ve got a full stream of the album for you.

The very first half-minute of the album’s first track, “Human Buzzsaw”, tells you that the Contra crew know how to cook up thick, swampy, bluesy, physically compulsive riffs, and as the song proceeds you find that the band are equally adept at lacing their music with trippy soloing and draping it in a cloak of gloom. You’ll also experience the scraped-raw tirades of vocalist Larry Brent, which help to give the music a hard edge of incipient violence (and mental instability). Continue reading »

LIVERUM: “DISCOVER YOUR LAND”

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Jun 282017
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this review of the debut album by the Norwegian/Polish band Liverum.)

Gojira has disappointed me as of late. Sure, I reviewed L’Enfant Sauvage with enthusiasm at the time, but there were a few conditions my enthusiasm was contingent upon. A: the assumption that the album was a one-off that was not a sign of things to come; B: the hope that the blatantly more commercial elements and attempts to be softer that they’d been teasing at since The Way Of All Flesh were just a phase; and C: the wish that the next album wouldn’t dial back the very essence of this band even further.

While co-writers of mine enjoyed Magma I thought it was nothing short of blasphemy to the Gojira name. Since then, I’ve looked for bands that channeled Gojira, not in precisely literal musical terms but at least in spirit, for sure. Continue reading »

STEED: “SURROUNDED BY COWARDS”

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Jun 272017
 

 

(Todd Manning rejoins us with a review of the debut album by Indiana’s Steed.)

In the age of all things old become new again, we often see modern day Metal musicians looking to the genre’s forefathers for guidance, and Indianapolis-based quartet Steed have certainly learned their lessons well. Their debut full-length, Surrounded by Cowards, was issued near the end of April courtesy of Small Hand Factory Records, who successfully tapped a similar vein recently with Kulthammer’s Oath.

The key here is Steed’s ability to meld the songwriting chops of the genre masters with the grit of today’s underground. Album opener, “Speed Weed Steed” sets the stage with its venomous mix of underground Thrash and Motörhead. There is an undeniable Punk edge to the proceedings as well, the kind of swagger that is sure to keep their audiences drinking and fist-pumping, engaging in all things lawless and belligerent. Continue reading »

DYING FETUS: “WRONG ONE TO FUCK WITH”

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Jun 272017
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli review the new album by Dying Fetus, which is out now on Relapse Records.)

I’m just going to say it. If you don’t like Dying Fetus, nay, LOVE Dying Fetus, you don’t like death metal. I can think of no other band that has better personified the sonic violence, technical excess, genuine anger, uncompromising legacy, and lack of pretension that death metal is all about than Dying Fetus.

John Gallagher has been at this shit now for TWENTY-FOUR YEARS. He’s the godfather of the messy, grimy, seizure-inducing style of tech death, and his sound and approach to songwriting have never been successfully emulated, although no one really even dares to try. Who else is mixing technical death metal, grindcore, NYHC, and slam so well right now? Nobody that I’m aware of, and especially nobody who does it so organically, honestly, and with such passion and dedication. Continue reading »

HERESIARCH: “DEATH ORDINANCE”

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Jun 272017
 

 

(New Zealand-based writer Craig Hayes (Six Noises) returns to NCS with this review of the new album by his countrymen in Heresiarch, which will be released on July 7 by Dark Descent.)

 

So here it is, Death Ordinance, the long-awaited full-length debut from New Zealand black/death wrecking machine Heresiarch. It’s no exaggeration to say that Death Ordinance is one of the most anticipated releases in the annals of Antipodean metal, and fans of belligerent and bestial metal the world over have been counting the days until the album’s release. That’s because Heresiarch deliver a singularly brute force audio onslaught –– aka everything you want in an obliterating war metal juggernaut.

Heresiarch are militant, violent, and ruthless; and hell, there’s even a whiff of spurious controversy about them too. All of that’s fuelled the band’s defiant mythos, which Heresiarch reinforce by delivering some of the most remorseless underground metal around. Continue reading »

SOMNIUM NOX: “TERRA INANIS”

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Jun 262017
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Australia’s Somnium Nox, released last month by Transcending Obscurity Records.)

When you say the words “Atmospheric Black Metal” what most people seem to think of these days are the shimmering soundscapes and ethereal melodies characteristic of the so-called “Post-Black Metal” scene.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m actually a fan of many of those bands who fall under that vaguely defined “Post…” umbrella, but when I think about the term “Atmospheric Black Metal”, I think of bands like Wolves In The Throne Room and Altar of Plagues, bands for whom atmosphere is about more than just the simple juxtaposition of ambience and dissonance, it’s about texture and tension, mood and momentum.

It’s something that isn’t painted in broad strokes, but which is built up, painstakingly, piece by piece, into something altogether greater than the mere sum of its parts. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: SINNERANGEL – “SINISTER DECÁLOGO”

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Jun 232017
 

 

On June 25th — two days from now — GrimmDistribution will release the new album by SinnerAngel, a group that first came together more than a decade ago in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The album’s name is Sinister Decálogo, which refers to “a precise set of ideas that conform to the sinister side of the human existence”. The album also “deals with themes about the allegorical double human morality, the need for approval and dependence of the deities to assert themselves, the constant fear of the earthly and the passing”.

Today we are pleased to present a full stream of what turns out to be an unusual album, one that incorporates a variety of musical influences that reflect the wide-ranging interests of the band’s members. Lacking any clearly defined genre boundaries and with a tendency to experiment, the band have grasped the term “dark metal” as a description. Of course, like the music on this album, that term has no precise definition. And so we’ll offer a few more words of introduction, though no one will blame you if you just skip right down to the album stream and dive in. Continue reading »

DECAPITATED: “ANTICULT”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 232017
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Poland’s Decapitated, which will be released on July 7th by Nuclear Blast.)

I find, when a review has the potential to be contentious, that it’s always best to lay your cards out on the table right from the start.

So let’s be clear about one thing straight away – Decapitated are never going to go back to being a “pure” Death Metal band.

It’s just not going to happen.

In fact Vogg has been very clear, in numerous interviews, that as long as his hand is on the tiller (and seeing as how it’s very much his band, I can’t see that ever changing) the good ship Decapitated will keep on moving forwards, not backwards, upwards not forwards… Continue reading »

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