Album Reviews Archives - Page 361 of 556

SOME HARDCORE…

Aug 022016

(NCS contributor Todd Manning returns to NCS with these recommendations of recent hardcore releases and reissues.)

If Black Metal has staked its claim to the heart of winter, maybe Hardcore, Punk, and Grind should do the same for the dead of summer. This latest batch of releases does nothing if not invoke the atmosphere of furnace-like basement shows and all the blood, sweat, and beer that comes along with the territory. As Metal labels seem to take a breather from their first-quarter release schedules, their feral counterparts are here to take up the slack.

G.L.O.S.S.

And perhaps you’ve heard of this first act, seeing as how they’ve been receiving quite a bit of attention. The second release from G.L.O.S.S., Trans Day of Revenge, is an exhibition of absolutely unhinged Hardcore Punk, seething with the type of anger and outrage that is the lifeblood of the genre. There is a loose ferocity to their sound that places a premium on emotion over precision, but in this case that’s definitely a good thing. Focused on LGBT issues, their focus is laser-sharp and timely and should not be slept on. This release as well as the first demo are both available on Bandcamp at the name-your-price level. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): NEUROSIS, PROSTERNATUR, ARÊTE, MYSTICUM, SOLAR MASS, HORN IMPALER, HORSE DRAWN

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Aug 012016

On Friday I mentioned that I would be out in the woods over the weekend and unable to post a Shades of Black installment on Sunday. I said I would get it ready for Saturday instead. That obviously didn’t happen. Rather than wait until next Sunday, I’ve decided to do it now — and to double-down by making this a multi-part post. I’m not saying how many other parts there will be or when the rest of them will appear this week — because I’m desperately trying to remember the lesson that part-time, half-witted metal bloggers should never reveal plans that may fall apart immediately.

In this first part, I’m focusing on six individual songs and videos that have appeared recently. I’ll get to some EPs and full album releases in the next part. But first, a trailer for a highly anticipated new album…

NEUROSIS

This first item is kind of outside the bounds of what Shades of Black usually focuses on, but I got so excited about it that I didn’t want to delay spreading the word until our next Seen and Heard round-up. It’s a video trailer for the new eleventh album by the mighty Neurosis. It’s name is Fires Within Fires and it will be released on September 23 by Neurot Recordings. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: VOIDS OF VOMIT — “RITVAL EXPIATION”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Jul 302016

There are only two songs on this new EP by the two-man Italian band Voids of Vomit. Only two songs… but they are so good that my only criticism of what V.o.V. have done is that they didn’t do enough. Why couldn’t they have made three songs? Or four? Or six?

I am speaking selfishly, of course. Suppressing my own selfishness, I should simply be grateful for these two tracks… and indeed I am. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have, because after another few paragraphs you will find our premiere of the two songs on Ritval Expiation. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DAEDALVS — “APOTHEOSIS”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 7 Responses »

Jul 282016

Daedalvs are a four-man death metal band from Charlotte, North Carolina, whose debut EP Apotheosis is being released today via Bandcamp, and we’re helping spread the word by providing a full stream of the EP, and a few thoughts about the music.

What Daedalvs dish out is a mammoth, monstrous, skull-fracturing beatdown, a rumbling, crushing avalanche of booming jackhammering bass, clobbering atonal riffs, and thundering drums, overlaid with an effusion of harsh roars and wild, acid-spraying shrieks. But while the music’s brute-force physical impact is certainly one of its main calling cards, it’s not the only one. Continue reading »

OBED MARSH: “INNSMOUTH”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Jul 262016

(Andy Synn wrote this review of the debut album by Obed Marsh from Perth, Western Australia.)

Let’s face it, the relationship between Lovecraft and Metal is pretty well established by this point, with numerous acts from across the length and breadth (and other, more esoteric, dimensions) of the metallic spectrum all turning to the twisted dreams of the Providence-born prophet for their inspiration.

Joining their deformed and deviant ranks we now have Obed Marsh, a doom-laden duo named for Captain Obed Marsh, accursed founder of The Esoteric Order of Dagon, whose pact with the blasphemous Deep Ones was, in turn, the source of both Innsmouth’s prosperity, and its ultimate damnation.

Over the course of six weighty, oppressive songs – bookended, in true concept-album style, by the atmospheric “Prologue” and “Epilogue” — these down-under denizens conjure up a series of truly harrowing musical visions whose filthy tendrils seek to infiltrate and permeate every fibre of your being.

So come with me now, into the murky depths. But don’t expect to return unchanged by the experience… Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: WINDFAERER, MAR MORTUUM, HIDING, ANTHRO HALAUST, AEGRUS, MISANTHROPIC RAGE

Album Reviews, Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 10 Responses »

Jul 242016

Greetings from Seattle and welcome to another edition of Shades of Black. I wasn’t able to prepare one of these installments last Sunday due to fucking off, so I’ve accumulated an especially large list of recent discoveries that I would like to write about. From that list I’ve selected blackened music from six bands to recommend.

WINDFAERER

The name Windfaerer will likely be a familiar one to our readers. Last year we premiered two songs from the band’s marvelous second album Tenebrosum and named one of those to our list of 2015’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. What a nice surprise it was to discover that two days ago Windfaerer released more new music.

These new songs (three of them) appear on a three-way split by Windfaerer and two other Northeast bands, WolfCloak, and Dumal. The name of the split is Coniuratio Nigrum Atlantika. So far I’ve only listened to Windfaerer’s tracks, but they are predictably excellent. Continue reading »

BLACK CROWN INITIATE: “SELVES WE CANNOT FORGIVE”

Album Reviews 15 Responses »

Jul 222016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Black Crown Initiate from Reading, PA.)

Black Crown Initiate have been something of a favourite of mine (and, if I’m not speaking out of turn here, the majority of the NCS crew in general) for quite some time now and, as such, Selves We Cannot Forgive (released today on eOne), has been sat at the top of my “most anticipated” list for 2016 ever since it was first confirmed.

Thanks to my moonlighting for Terrorizer I’ve been lucky enough to have access to the album for quite a while now, which has allowed me the opportunity to really dig deep into its many layers, as the Pennsylvanian quintet have clearly gone to great lengths to push themselves and their music down an ever-proggier path on their second album.

But… and it’s a surprisingly big but (and I cannot lie)… despite all of its impressively progressive inclinations and some undeniably heroic highlights, it’s hard not to view Selves We Cannot Forgive as the band taking one step backwards for every move forwards they make. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BENT SEA / TO DUST — “ASCEND / DESCEND”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 3 Responses »

Jul 212016

For those who may be unfamiliar with the two bands who participated in the split release you’re about to hear — Bent Sea and To Dust — their collective rosters include current and former members of such groups as Napalm Death, Aborted, Soilwork, Abigail Williams, Black Dahlia Murder, Phobia, and Megadeth. And if that doesn’t seize your attention, then consider this: The two EPs that are combined in this album-length split under the title Ascend / Descend will explode your head — and who doesn’t crave a massive head explosion?

If you’re somehow still wavering, consider the assessment of Cattle Decapitation’s Travis Ryan:

“Bent Sea come out firing on all cylinders with their kick ass blend of modern grind and discordant musings with hints of later-era Gorguts, leaving To Dust to finish you off with a scathing hardcore attack of HM-2 influenced grind!”

Ascend / Descend will be released by Give Praise Records on July 22, and one solitary day before its release we’re bringing you a full stream of this dynamic grindcore detonation. Let’s take these two groups and their contributions to the split one at a time. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 75: WOMAN IS THE EARTH

Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT 5 Responses »

Jul 212016

(In the glorious 75th edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy reviews the discography to date of South Dakota’s Woman Is the Earth.)

Recommended for fans of: Agalloch, Wildernessking, Wolves In The Throne Room

Hailing from Black Hills, South Dakota, Woman Is The Earth deal in a brand of Black Metal that’s as heavy in atmosphere as it is in aggression, with songs that meld writhing riffage and rolling drums with passages of acoustic contemplation and ambient meditation, all without falling prey (in my opinion at least) to the more generic tropes and clichés of the over-saturated “Post Black Metal” scene.

They do this by never forgetting that – unlike some of their more populist peers — they’re definitely, even defiantly, a Metal band at heart… and a Black Metal band at that… so their music is never in danger of pandering to the notions of bland accessibility or pretentious artistry which undermine so many other acts of this type.

Having released their latest (and greatest) album earlier this year, and with the recent demise of Agalloch still weighing heavy upon so many of our hearts, now seemed like an opportune time to expose our readers to the band’s particular blend of grim grandeur and metallic majesty! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UROBILINEMIA — “WRIGGLING CHRYSALIS OF METAPHYSICAL GRUDGE”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 6 Responses »

Jul 202016

You’re about to hear the new EP of a monstrous Japanese band named Urobilinemia, which will be released by Gore House Productions on July 22. It’s a bit outside our usual wheelhouse(s). In fact, as I began listening to it, I wondered whether it was too far outside. And then I lost my mind.

When most people say they lost their mind, they just mean they temporarily misplaced it, or it escaped briefly but will come home again soon, happily wagging its tail. In my case, I fear that Urobilinemia have pulverised, pureed, and poisoned the contents of my skull so ruthlessly that reassembly may be impossible. How do you reassemble something that has been reduced to a quivering mass of goo? Continue reading »

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