ACYL: “AFTERMATH”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  2 Responses »
Jun 202016
 

Acyl-Aftermath

 

(Our long-time New Zealand supporter and occasional guest writer Booker reviews the new album by the Paris-based band Acyl.)

Back in 2012, Islander put out a request for fellow readers to pitch in a review or two while he was otherwise occupied. One of the belated efforts I offered was a review of Acyl’s Algebra album, which I’d been cranking on high rotation since randomly discovering it some months earlier in the nether regions of the internet (it’s amazing what you’ll find back there!). That post was one of my first here at NCS, and just like a bad case of herpes I’ve kept coming back ever since. So long, in fact, that Acyl have had time to tour, hit restart on the writing process, orbit the sun a few times, and record and release a follow-up album: Aftermath, which came out at the start of the month. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ASTROPHOBOS, MAAHLAS, MAJESTIC DECAY, VERDORVEN, PRAGNAVIT

 Album Reviews, Metal News, SHADES OF BLACK  8 Responses »
Jun 192016
 

Astrophobos-Enthroned in Flesh

 

In today’s Shades of Black installment I’ve collected reviews and streams of three EPs, a new album, a new song, and a new video that I’ve been enjoying lately. As usual, all of the music is in a blackened vein, though all of the bands are distinctively different from each other in their musical approach. I hope you’ll find that one or more of them suits your tastes.

ASTROPHOBOS

Astrophobos is a Swedish black metal trio from Stockholm who released a debut EP in 2010 named Arcane Secrets and a debut album in 2014 bearing the title Remnants of Forgotten Horrors. I really enjoyed that debut full-length, although I only managed to write about a video for one of the songs. Now they have a new EP (Enthroned in Flesh) due for release in August, and this past week DECIBEL premiered an excellent new song from it called “Blood Libation”, which is now up on Bandcamp. Continue reading »

VIRUS: “MEMENTO COLLIDER”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 172016
 

VIRUS-2400X2400

 

(We present this guest review of the new Virus album, written by Chrysostomos Tsaprailis, who also writes for Avopolis Music Network, Metal Invader, and for his own Industries Of Inferno blog.)

It’s really quite remarkable how a music genre, normally considered rather “off-limits” for a certain audience, can become accepted by it, if introductions are handled by a recognizable and trusted (by the particular audience) artist. In the case of experimental avant-garde rock, the Trojan horse in question, responsible to a large degree for its acceptance by the black metal audience, is one of the most congenial members of the Norwegian extreme music scene, namely Carl-Michael Eide, or Czral as far as his Virus persona is concerned.

He was certainly not the only one responsible for the embrace of unconventional (for the scene) music by a large part of the scene’s fans; remember that during the years around the millennium’s turn Norway teemed with experimentation. Still, Carl-Michael, firstly with the short-lived but ultra-influential Ved Buens Ende, and afterwards with Virus, managed, with an almost extraordinary casualness, to engraft the mind of a seemingly stiff audience with components that on a first level appeared incompatible with it. What is more, he managed that without losing any of the listeners’ respect, most probably due to his simultaneous participation in more traditional acts. Continue reading »

CAECUS: “THE FUNERAL GARDEN”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 142016
 

Caecus-The Funeral Garden

 

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by the Illinois band Caecus.)

There’s something to be said for being in the right place, at the right time.

The advent and ascension of bands like Fallujah, Black Crown Initiate, and Ne Obliviscaris (to name but three) over the past several years has indicated something of a creative renaissance and renewed interest in the more Progressive wing of the Technical Death Metal scene, one very much separate from the predominant chug’n’sweep approach of the “core” crowd, or the tappy typewriter drums of the Unique Leader crew.

As such, it seems like the perfect time for a band like Illinois-based Prog/Tech types Caecus to play their hand, roll the dice, and see if their particular brand of fluid, energetic riffage and extravagant lead guitar work has what it takes to ride the crest of this wave, or else sink back into the depths. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLUT AUS NORD AND ÆVANGELIST — “CODEX OBSCURA NOMINA”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  22 Responses »
Jun 142016
 

Blut Aus Nord-AEvangelist-Codex Obscura Nomina

 

To get right to the point: On June 17, Debemur Morti Productions will release Codex Obscura Nomina, an album-length split by Blut Aus Nord and Ævangelist, and we now bring you the chance to listen to all of it.

The album includes one EP-length track by Ævangelist named “Threshold of the Miraculous” and four tracks by Blut Aus Nord, which are themselves parts of a unified work called “Spectral Subsonic Waves (The Sound is an Organic Matter)”. Each piece stands alone, yet they achieve the ideal for a split release of any kind: They complement each other in ways that enable them, together, to magnify the impact that each produces separately. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: JUST BEFORE DAWN — “THE GHOSTS OF THE EASTERN FRONT”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jun 132016
 

Just Before Dawn-The Ghosts of the Eastern Front cover

 

The Swedish death metal war machine Just Before Dawn has already given the world two excellent albums (Precis innan gryningen (2013) and The Aftermath (2014)), and the first installment in a trilogy of EPs (2015’s The Dead and Those About To Die), and now JBD mastermind Anders Biazzi and a formidable battalion of allies are on the verge of launching their latest offensive — a new EP named The Ghosts of the Eastern Front. — and below you will find some thoughts about the EP as well as a teaser video with audio samples from the songs.

Like the first EP in the trilogy, this new one will be released on cassette tape by Till You Fukkin Bleed Records, and the songs on the cassette will also later be included on a new full-length release planned for later this year. Continue reading »

A DARK DESCENT / UNSPEAKABLE AXE ROUND-UP: PHOBOCOSM, GHOULGOTHA, SEWERCIDE, SHEIDIM

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Jun 132016
 

Phobocosm - Bringer of Drought

 

(In this post Todd Manning provides brief reviews of new releases by Dark Descent and Unspeakable Axe.)

Death might just be the overarching theme of 2016, but the tandem of Dark Descent Records and their sub-imprint Unspeakable Axe are certainly spinning this in their favor by releasing a continuous string of remarkable Death Metal albums. While I have already had the opportunity to talk about new albums from the likes of Ripper, Nucleus, and Hemotoxin, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to gush about a few more albums from the label.

PHOBOCOSM

First up is the new album from Montreal-based Phobocosm. Bringer of Drought is the follow-up to their impressive debut Deprived and is nothing short of astonishing. Despite the label’s reputation as being at the forefront of the New Wave of Old School Death Metal, none of these bands seems to be unoriginal or regressive in such a way that causes them to lack their own identity. This is perhaps best illustrated by Phobocosm, who seem to marry the epic feel of classic Neurosis to the Death Metal/Doom hybrid of Inverloch and Disembowelment. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: WAYFARER, BLACK CULT, HERMÓÐR, ADVERSUM, GROTESQUE CEREMONIUM, KING SATAN

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
Jun 122016
 

Wayfarer-Old Soul

 

I scattered three posts over three days during the last week recommending music in a blackened vein from a lot of premieres and releases I had accumulated on various lists that I keep — and I still didn’t exhaust everything I wanted to recommend. So yes, I’m throwing still more at you today, while resuming my habit of publishing these Shades of Black posts on Sundays.

I have an array of advance tracks from forthcoming releases (including one new video) and a new single, by a total of six interesting and diverse bands.

WAYFARER

In 2014, Denver’s Wayfarer released an excellent debut album (via Prosthetic) in Children of the Iron Age, and now Prosthetic has scheduled June 17 as the release date for the band’s second full-length, Old Souls. So far, three songs from the album can be heard on Bandcamp, and they are well worth your time. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): DAWN OF DISEASE, LJOSAZABOJSTWA, DIRE OMEN

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 112016
 

Dawn of Disease-Worship the Grave

 

For the last four days running, I’ve been engaged in an attempt to catch up on new song and video premieres and recent full releases. The first three posts were devoted to black(ish) metal, and then yesterday I posted the first part of a Seen and Heard collection devoted to other corners of the underground.

My original plan for this Part 2 was to include a lot more music than you will actually find here, but I forgot about something I had agreed to do this morning with Ms. Islander, and so I’ve had to cut this short. Which means there will be a Part 3, probably tomorrow (along with another Shades of Black post), but maybe Monday.

DAWN OF DISEASE

Germany’s Dawn of Disease have a new album named Worship the Grave (which features cover art by Mark Cooper) that’s coming our way via Napalm Records on June 24. A couple of days ago, they revealed an album track called “The Sky Is Empty”, which is a real ass-kicker. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): ZEAL AND ARDOR, HOPELESS YOUTH, THRAWSUNBLAT, CONCRETE MASCARA, BENEATH THE STORM, JUPITERIAN

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Jun 102016
 

Zeal and Ardor-Devil Is Fine

 

I spent the last three days doing some catch-up work on recent premieres and releases from the realms of black metal, and today it’s time to shift gears and begin a series of round-ups of new music from other corners of the underground. My NCS comrade DGR is working on a round-up of his own, but even between the two of us we still won’t succeed in covering everything good that we’ve found over the last two weeks (when our round-ups were scarce).

Having said that, we may still threaten to overwhelm our readers with the volume of what we’re recommending. To give you a chance to catch your breath, I’m dividing my collection of recommendations into at least two parts, with the second one to come tomorrow (Saturday). I’ve also attempted to mix up the styles of music within each of these two parts in the hope of appealing to a broad array of tastes (and keeping you off-balance, of course).

ZEAL AND ARDOR

Zeal and Ardor is the name of a music project based in New York City. I’m calling it a “project”, because I have no idea who is behind it, or whether it’s the work of one person or more than one; I’ve searched and can find no background information at all. This mysterious project released a self-titled album in June 2014 that I did not know existed, and in mid-April of this year they released a second one named Devil Is Fine — which is unlike anything I’ve heard before. Continue reading »

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