Album Reviews Archives - Page 375 of 557

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 9)

Mar 252016

(Straight outta Norway, our friend Gorger is back with a new edition of his series recommending releases that we’ve managed to overlook. And be sure to check out Gorger’s Metal.)

“Hot on the heels” after part 8, here’s part 9 of stuff that Islander and other contributors have overlooked in the abundance of releases. Well, that’s what I wrote almost two weeks ago before slipping into a new hiatus anyway.

Today I bring you black metal and atmospheric/symphonic derivatives thereof, thrash, tech-death, blackened death, and a blackened thrash gem from down under that you could sort of sort under Islander’s Tourism posts. Not in that order, though.

Also, I originally increased this post from the usual four to five, as I recently came across an elder piece that I’ve fallen in love with. But than, when assembling the collage above, I realized that five just wasn’t doing, and thus it grew to six.

Let’s get to it, shall we? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INFINITE DEATH — “IN DESPAIR”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Mar 242016

Almost exactly two years ago I came across a debut EP named Beyond the Gates by a Southern California band named Infinite Death, and spilled some words about it here. Infinite Death have now completed work on a follow-up EP called The Endless Suffering, and today we’re bringing you the premiere of the EP’s second single, “In Despair“.

Infinite Death make no bones about the fact that they’re inspired by Gothenberg-style melodic death metal, and for fans (like me) of that distinctive, Swedish brand of metal, The Endless Suffering will be a welcome dose of well-executed, high-energy extremity. Continue reading »

HELGAMITE: “HYPNAGOGIA”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Mar 242016

Here we are, nearing the end of 2016’s first quarter, and an unheralded album by a Virginia band I previously knew nothing about turns out to be one of my favorite releases of the new year. The band is Helgamite, the album is Hypnagogia, and it’s brilliant.

Sometimes a short genre description tells you all you need to know about a band, but not here. Helgamite call their music “Dark psychedelic Appalachian stoner doom”, and I guess that’s fair enough as far as it goes, but it really doesn’t go nearly far enough.

That phrase might make you think you’re in for not much more than a dose of primitive fuzzy riffs shrouded in Sabbathian gloom and a scattering of trippy guitar solos — you know, the kind of thing that’s been done to death but never seems to die. And… you would be dead wrong.
Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: REMEMBER THAT YOU WILL DIE — S/T

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Mar 232016

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by Remember That You Will Die, whose members come from Australia and The Netherlands.)

When a band decides to call itself Remember That You Will Die, it’s a pretty safe bet that things aren’t going to be all sunshine and roses, and right from the sombre opening bars of “Despoilation” it becomes eminently clear that this intercontinental collective of nihilists and ne’er-do-wells view life only in shades of the darkest, dourest grey.

The band’s intriguing brand of Black Metal dwells somewhere on the more atmospheric end of the spectrum, marrying stinging blasts of venomous fury with distinct elements of “Post”-ish misery and some subtle experimental/progressive touches, drawing parallels with the dearly-departed and much-missed Altar of Plagues, albeit with a rhyme and rhythm all their own. Continue reading »

TOMBS: “ALL EMPIRES FALL”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Mar 222016

(Wil Cifer reviews the powerful new EP by Brooklyn’s Tombs.)

After wrecking eardrums with 1349 and Full of Hell on the Chaos Raids tour, the Brooklyn band is stepping further into the darkness on their new EP All Empires Fall. It might not seem as grim a journey, with the increased focus of their song-writing lighting the band’s way, but it is a powerful addition to their legacy.

Without a doubt, things have changed for this Brooklyn band since releasing Winter Hours in 2009. Some of those changes include the band’s line-up, which now includes Fade Kainer from Batillus / Statiqbloom. Kainer’s industrial side is set back in the shadows as a slight drone launches them into the solid metal chug of the opening instrumental “The World Is Made of Fire”, with the band lashing themselves into straight-up black metal for “Obsidian”. But it’s not just full blast ahead. These guys have more tricks up their sleeves with Kainer‘s synths adding a new depth to the band’s post-apocalyptic sonic layering. Continue reading »

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: AN NCS INTRODUCTION TO THRILL JOCKEY

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 10 Responses »

Mar 222016

(Our old friend Leperkahn finally gets around to doing something he forecast he would do in early February, with a selection of music that includes not-metal as well as metal.)

I mentioned at the end of my overlong 2015 EOTY list about a month ago that there would be an addendum to said list.

Since the end of September of last year, I’ve been an intern at Thrill Jockey Records, assembling and packing all of your beloved records, among other things (if you’re looking to steal my fingerprints so as to implicate me in a crime later in life, now’s probably gonna be your best opportunity). The job has introduced me to a ton of new music, some of it of the metallic variety, some not, though I would contend that the non-metallic stuff that’s appealed to me might appeal to some of you, as open-minded music listeners who come from a primarily metal background, such as myself.

In a move of unprecedented cronyism and self-promotion, I’m going to use this post to take you through a tour of some recent TJ output, some of it metal, some not. Admittedly, this isn’t a perfect addendum to a 2015 best-of list, since some of what’s featured came out in the first few months of this year, and some came out before 2015. But truly, good music need not consider age; so let’s get on with it. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 3): NABAATH, DEAFEST, AUTOKRATOR, VUKARI, NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS, NEBULUS

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 2 Responses »

Mar 202016

This is the delayed completion of a three-part post I began early last week, collecting and reviewing mostly new songs, EPs, and albums in the orbit of black metal. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.

One benefit of the delay is that I happened across a very recent song that’s the fourth item in this final installment, which includes music from six bands that I’ve been enjoying. Most of what I’ve collected here falls on the “atmospheric” side of the black metal spectrum.

NABAATH

In a previous edition of Shades of Black that appeared the day after Christmas 2015, I wrote about a striking video for a live performance by a band named Nabaath (who are Russian but now based in Ukraine), accompanied by dancer Mariya KarMa. The name of the song was “Iron In Your Throat”, and it’s one of nine on Nabaath’s third album, Common Graves, which was released last fall and is now available in full on Bandcamp. Continue reading »

LIKE RATS: “II”

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

Mar 182016

(Allen Griffin reviews the new album by Chicago’s Like Rats.)

Chicago-based Death Metal Quintet Like Rats are set to release their new album II on Southern Lord Records on March 25th. Composed of several members of Grindcore unit Weekend Nachos, Like Rats is a darker and more groove-oriented prospect, and II sees them making waves with their unique take on Old School Death Metal.

The band’s promotional material for this album draws comparisons between the unit and various well-known entities, particularly Obituary and Celtic Frost, and it’s certainly hard to argue with such assertions. Yet, to seasoned ears, Like Rats also seem to have tapped an obscure vein of early ’90s Midwestern Death Metal. Back then, groups such as Green Bay’s Bleed, Toledo, Ohio’s Gutted, and San Francisco’s Epidemic on their final full-length Exit Paradise (not Midwestern obviously, but the sound is there nonetheless) produced awesome, mid-paced Death Metal before the rise of Metalcore made such an approach so blasphemous in the eyes of True Metal fans. Continue reading »

GRAVES AT SEA: “THE CURSE THAT IS”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Mar 172016

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Graves At Sea from Portland, Oregon.)

After a few splits and an EP, these guys are pulling the trigger on the full-length I have been dying to sink my doom-hungry jaws into. The nastiness they teased us with on previous releases has been filtered through a bigger production value for their debut full-length. The band still thunders into your ears, with some of the evil abrasion that coated their work now snarling at you like crystal-meth-infused stoner rock. Sometimes this even borders on the post- apocalyptic sludge of Through Silver and Blood-era Neurosis.

The vocals are the band’s meanest quality, packing ample grit into each scream. The guitar has warmed up a bit. Perhaps it is the time they took in the studio to perfect their tone versus the raw, angrier sound of previous releases. With each listen I began to appreciate the expanded musical qualities invested into the songs here; it just takes a little getting used-to. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND, OCCULTUM, FIN, HOLYARROW

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK 13 Responses »

Mar 162016

Greetings and welcome to Part 2 of a three-part post in which I’ve collected recent songs, EPs, and albums in a blackened vein that I’ve been enjoying and think you might enjoy, too. For the music in Part 1, go here. I’ll post Part 3 later today or tomorrow, depending on how life goes.

PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND

We last paid attention to the French band Plebeian Grandstand when Austin Weber reviewed their second album Lowgazers in 2014. They now have a new one named False Highs, True Lows (great name), which will be released on April 29 by Throatruiner Records (LP and CD) and Basement Apes (CD).

I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that you forget the conceptions you may have formed if you heard Lowgazers, but this new album is really something else, to be approached with fresh ears. Continue reading »

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