(Andy Synn reviews the new album by the Belgian band Wiegedood.)
As everyone knows by now, the best Black Metal these days comes from Iceland.
And France.
Oh, and Germany too.
Ok, fine, yes, and America. And Poland. And obviously Norway is still up there…
Look, what I’m trying to say is that these days it seems like killer Black Metal bands are cropping up all over the map, and Belgium is no exception. Continue reading »
(This is Part 4 of a 5-part series by Austin Weber about noteworthy January releases and a few from the end of last year.)
Simulacre – La Jaiba
Simulacre is a brand spanking new offshoot of the legendary (in underground circles) French “technical/progressive black metal” band Asmodée. While it’s a pain in the ass, I’m quite thankful as usual that Facebook allows you to “follow” a band’s every post, since I would have never heard about the birth of Simulacre otherwise. Continue reading »
Today is the day when Debemur Morti Productions releases Dans La Joie, the debut album by the French band Au Champ Des Morts, and we’re helping people to discover it.
That’s a worthy mission, because the album is an emotionally intense experience of rare quality. Over the course of helping to premiere two tracks from the album, I’ve already spilled a lot of words about it. So in a rare attempt at brevity, I’m going to introduce the album stream in a summing up that focuses more on the music’s emotional resonance, as I feel it, than on any kind of intricate dissection of its many facets and ingredients. Continue reading »
This is Malta, and its sister island Gozo. As you can see, they sit sort of dead center in the Mediterranean Sea. Because of its strategically important location, Malta has an incredibly rich and eventful recorded history stretching back for millennia, bearing the influences of a multitude of cultures. From photographs scattered around the web, Malta also appears to be an extravagantly beautiful place.
And it’s also home to a lethally explosive death metal band who have managed to survive and flourish for more than a quarter-century, just as their homeland has survived centuries of occupation and conquest. I’m talking, of course, about Beheaded.
Beast Incarnate is the band’s fifth album, set for release tomorrow (January 27) by Unique Leader Records, and we are very happy to host the premiere of a full album stream today. Continue reading »
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through our house, all the creatures were stirring, even the mouse — because on that day we posted “Conscripted”, a song by Undrask. Further stirring of a frenzied kind will be happening today, because we now have for you a full stream of this North Carolina band’s debut album Battle Through Time, this time on the eve of its January 27 release.
The album chronicles the story of “a man lost to eternity — forced to fight and die repeatedly throughout time and alternate realities.” That sounds like my typical work week at NCS. However, the actual (glorious) sound of the music is more consistent with a saga unfolding on a grander scale. Continue reading »
(This is Part 4 of a now-five-part series by Austin Weber about noteworthy January releases and a few from the end of last year.)
Plasmodium – Entheognosis
There’s something about truly dark and disturbing metal that connects with me in a deep way, as it also does for an assortment of other odd individuals too. Trying to understand the reason for that is the more difficult part, but overall, I think it has something to do with finding some odd sense of peace in hearing sounds that reflect the bleakness and harshness of the world all around us.
Forming a cathartic energy which we can lose ourselves in, that’s exactly what the otherworldly music from Melbourne, Australia-based Plasmodium has to offer. Continue reading »
(TheMadIsraeli prepared this brief review of the new EP by Polarity of Life from Croatia.)
At least in terms of its global profile, Croatia seems to be a very underrepresented part of Europe, given the quality metal that its bands are always producing. Lots of the best aspects of Polish, Finnish, and German metal are fed into a blender, and the result is often killer, as well as something that seems uniquely Croatian.
Polarity Of Life are a Croatian melodic death metal band, of a more deathly, old school sort. The proper majestic, epic, sweeping melodies are present, but they exist amidst a torrid storm of heavyweight haymaker riffing with German weight and Polish military march. Insomnium meets Vader meets Heaven Shall Burn is definitely a fair assessment as references. Beginning/End/Beginning is an impressive sophomore release, and I’m eager to hear more. Continue reading »
(Here is Andy Synn’s review of the new old one by The Great Old Ones from France.)
As much as I generally like to give my reviews some sort of concept or over-arching theme, sometimes there are only two questions which really matter – “is it a good album?”, and “is it as good as their last one?”
In the case of EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy, the third album by French cabalists The Great Old Ones, the answers to those questions are:
(We present Todd Manning’s review of the new album by the Portuguese death metal band Pestifer.)
If you’ve ever become frustrated trying to parse out what’s Old School Death Metal and what’s New, and maybe what’s just plain Death Metal, Portuguese trio Pestifer (who have recently become a four-piece) leave no doubt about where they stand.
Inspired by only the most atavistic and savage originators of the genre, they are poised to release their debut full-length, Execration Diatribes via Lavadome Productions on February 14th. It is nothing short of a love letter to their forefathers. These Old School maniacs have no goal but to satiate the bloodlust of Death Metal’s most dedicated fans. Continue reading »
(This is a delayed Part 3 of what started as a planned 3-part series by Austin Weber about noteworthy January releases and a few from the end of last year. However, during the interval between Part 2 and Part 3, the series has expanded to 5 parts — so more lie ahead.)
Parius – Let There Be Light
Parius are a Philadelphia-based melodic death metal band, one that was unknown to me until last week when my friend showed me their newest release that dropped on January 17th, Let There Be Light. Continue reading »