Album Reviews Archives - Page 380 of 576

MOROSE MUSIC: A COLLECTION ASSEMBLED BY NEILL JAMESON (KRIEG)

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Aug 082016

(Krieg’s Neill Jameson recently completed a very well-read three-part NCS series on obscure black metal from the ’90s (collected behind this link), and now he returns to our site with a different kind of mixtape.)

Even though we’re still in the middle of the season where your chances of getting skin cancer AND being irritated at all times is still going strong, I’m attempting to be forward-thinking. Thus to take my mind off the heat, I’ve decided to write about miserable and morose music this time around. I figure if places are trying to shove pumpkin beer up our asses in the middle of summer then I might as well shove some gloomy music up whatever orifice you prefer. I’m trying to be considerate.

As some of these artists have wildly varying styles across recordings I’m just going to hone in on one specific one per, but the majority of these fine and well-adjusted folks have a lengthy resume to choose from, so don’t just take my preference as gospel, which I’m sure no one does anyway. Continue reading »

CARNIFEX: “SLOW DEATH”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Aug 082016

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by San Diego’s Carnifex.)

Who’d have thought it, but the modern Deathcore scene is now around 15 years old. And although the dreaded “D-word” is still used as a pejorative in certain circles I find it interesting to observe just how many of the genre’s early scions have gone on to change and (d)evolve over time.

Of course there are still those (both Despised Icon and The Acacia Strain immediately spring to mind) who have stayed relatively “true” to the style’s roots despite the passing of the years, but you don’t have to look far to see that many of the scene’s A-listers have long-since strayed into other arenas (sometimes quite literally).

Heck, Job For A Cowboy pretty much abandoned Deathcore with their very first (and still very Death Metal) album, while Suicide Silence transitioned towards a much more mainstream-friendly Nu-Metal influenced sound almost as rapidly. And I suppose the less said about Whitechapel’s recent decision to jump on the $lipknot train the better…

So with all this chopping and changing going on, where does this leave stalwart misanthropes Carnifex and their sixth album Slow Death? Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 16): MURDRYCK, FORTERESSE, NEIGE ET NOIRCEUR, SHED THE SKIN

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

Aug 052016

( Norwegian blogger Gorger is back, highlighting still more releases that we have overlooked. To find more of his discoveries, type “Gorger” in our search bar or visit Gorger’s Metal.)

Whilst Islander is sulking in a hotel room in the gaudiest city in the US, because the slot machine stole all his cash after he couldn’t avoid the temptation of just testing them and trying to score some, I’m grabbing the opportunity to step in and steal the attention. Or I’m chipping in and helping out. It all depends on how you see it.

This time around, we’ll be blazing some black metal from Sweden as an appetizer, and feasting on a two-course black metal entrée from Canada, before blasting some explosive American death metal for dessert. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: VOIDSPAWN — “PYRRHIC”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 8 Responses »

Aug 032016

Time is limited and always fleeting, while new metal seems to rush at us in a boundless flood. Within that limitless tide, some of the most remarkable gems are short releases by obscure new projects, and this is one of them.

The name of this new death metal project is Voidspawn, a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist M. and vocalist A. Their debut EP is named Pyrrhic and it was released on July 31. Pyrrhic includes three songs, and they are stunningly good. Continue reading »

SOME HARDCORE…

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

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 »

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