Album Reviews Archives - Page 391 of 557

SHORT BUT SWEET: GREY WIDOW / SONS OF TONATIUH — A SPLIT

Sep 212015

This is a review of the just-released split by Grey Widow from somewhere in the southeastern wastes of the UK and Sons of Tonatiuh from Atlanta, Georgia. I’ll take them one at a time, but in a nutshell, this is one hell of a devastating split.

GREY WIDOW

This split comes in the wake of Grey Widow’s debut album last year, a catastrophic sludge/doom behemoth that I thought was brilliantly caustic, corrosive, and crushing. The band contribute two songs to the split, a 10-minute track named “X” and a somewhat shorter one named “Obey”. They’re as utterly obliterating as anything else I’ve heard this year.

The three minutes of inexorable pounding and excruciating feedback that launches “X” may put your teeth on edge, but the absolutely staggering riffs that follow may knock them into your throat. It’s the titanic, fuzz-drenched sound of buildings collapsing in slow motion and bone being pulverized into dust. The vocalist shrieks for all he’s worth in the background of the destruction — and though all this noise is ghastly enough, it still doesn’t completely prepare you for what happens when the band really start storming about halfway through the song. Continue reading »

HORRENDOUS: “ANARETA”

Album Reviews 10 Responses »

Sep 182015

(Leperkahn reviews the new album by Horrendous.)

Unlike a lot of the metal community, I didn’t come to Anareta as a particularly rabid fan of Horrendous – I had heard plenty of praise for its predecessor, Ecdysis, but I hadn’t gotten around to playing the CD copy I got on sale from 20 Buck Spin earlier this summer. Thus, I came to Anareta with an open mind. And let me say, HOT DIGGITY DAMN, this might be the best thing I’ve heard all year. These guys harken back to the time when death metal was just starting to flex its wings and go in new, progressive, melodic directions, evoking Death’s Human and At the Gates, pre-Slaughter of the Soul.

It starts much as Ecdysis did, with a slow section of doomy guitars that seem very free-form – yet this opening section of “The Nihilist” serves an important purpose, as it’s a welcome palette cleanser, a built-in intro before the band launches into the main riff. That main riff, or rather the sequence of two riffs the band alternate between after the intro, are easily the best opening-song riffs I’ve heard all year – one listen to their one-two punch will convince you that “The Nihilist” was destined to be an opener, and a hell of an opener at that. I can’t help but want to start running around like a methed-out maniac in the middle of my suburban cul-de-sac. Continue reading »

BEATEN TO DEATH: “UNPLUGGED”

Album Reviews 9 Responses »

Sep 172015

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by Norway’s Beaten To Death.)

It’s high time for grind time here at NCS, and while I’ve been very impressed with a number of fascinating grind releases this year already, it’s time to add the new Beaten To Death record, Unplugged, to that list of genuinely exciting releases that break the mold.

I recently posted a video here at NCS for a song off Unplugged called “Don’t You Dare To Call Us Heavy Metal”, a strange yet catchy grind tune whose melody will stick in your head as it lifts you up high above the ground. That song is very indicative of the sort of oddball, one-of-a-kind deathgrind that Beaten To Death do so well, and it’s also a good example of their often hilarious song titles and lyrics.

Only one other track is available for listening ahead of the album’s October 9th release, one called “Knulleviser for Barn” that our man Badwolf premiered over at Invisible Oranges yesterday. If you want to check out the song he premiered while you read, go here; or you can also check out “Don’t You Dare To Call Us Heavy Metal” embedded right here from YouTube: Continue reading »

THE BEST OF BRITISH 2015, PART 1: DE PROFUNDIS / RANNOCH / ABHORRENT DECIMATION

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

Sep 172015

(Andy Synn puts the spotlight on new releases by a trio of British bands.)

As I’ve said a few times before, I’m occasionally called to task for a perceived lack of “support” for the British metal scene, either because I’ve said something to criticise whatever flavour of the month band is currently riding high on a wave of second-hand riffage and easily-digestible snack-sized song-bytes, or simply for having the sheer gall to write for an American website instead of a UK one (conveniently ignoring the fact that I also contribute regularly to London Metal Monthly and, somewhat less regularly, Terrorizer magazine).

The thing is, for purely selfish, self-promoting reasons, I probably SHOULD spend more time shucking and jiving for every bunch of jokers with even a little bit of scene-cred in the hope that those good vibes will rub off on either of my own bands… But I’m not going to. I like to pretend I have at least an iota of integrity after all.

Ultimately I just want to write about the music that I love, regardless of arbitrary issues of national pride or scene loyalty. It just so happens that despite being sent numerous links to different bands from all around the UK, a lot of what I hear simply doesn’t connect with me, or live up to what I consider my own critical standards. For better or worse, that’s just the way it is (though please don’t stop sending links my way).

But when I actually DO find a band I love from the UK, I am MORE than happy to throw my support behind them, for whatever good it may do. Hence why you’re about to read the first of two separate collections bringing together some of the very best metallic offerings that have come out of the British scene this year… with today’s entry erring strongly towards the Death Metal side of things.

So, let’s get started, shall we…? Continue reading »

PSYGNOSIS: “AALIENS”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 8 Responses »

Sep 152015

(DGR reviews the new EP by the French band Psygnosis.)

Psygnosis are a band whom we’ve crossed paths with before. They’re a multi-talented group of Frenchmen whose music plays heavily with the experimental while also fusing death metal, -core, and industrial elements into their overall sound. Their music ranges into the epic, with tracks easily lasting longer than eight minutes, and between the band’s two EPs and two full-length releases, they have grown impressively good at telling a story.

2014’s Human Be[ing] saw the band at their best up to that point, interweaving film clips with dramatic passages of music and heavy, thundering sections of metal. They often used ambience in their favor, leaving whole sections of their songs feeling empty but for a couple of guitar and synth notes and occasional whispered vocal lines echoing out into the ether.

Since Human Be[ing], though, the group have gone through some lineup changes. They’ve seen the full exit of their vocalist and have made a shift toward instrumental music, adding a cellist in their vocalist’s stead to pick up the melodies that were once provided by human voice, and freeing the cellist to come to the forefront with his own creations. A cello has been present in Psygnosis‘ music before, but the recently released EP AAliens is the first time the band have recorded with their new lineup, with new music, and with said cellist at the forefront. Continue reading »

WOLFPACK 44: “THE SCOURGE” (A REVIEW AND A SONG PREMIERE)

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Sep 142015

The first time I heard the first full song on Wolfpack 44’s debut album, it was lust at first listen. There’s an industrial-styled, industrial-strength groove in “The Black March” that I thought was going to make my head come off. Turns out, there are a lot more headbanging grooves — including one in a song I asked (and was granted) permission to premiere along with this review — plus a wide-ranging assortment of other styles and moods. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

For those who don’t know, Wolfpack 44 is a collaboration between multi-instrumentalist Ricktor Ravensbrück from The Electric Hellfire Club and vocalist/guitarist Julian Xes from Kult ov Azazel. Their debut album, The Scourge (which features cover art by Robert Cook, aka Norot), is due for release on January 20, 2016, by the French label Deadlight Entertainment.

The album includes a slew of guest appearances, including: vocalist/lyricist Thomas Thorn (The Electric Hellfire Club); vocalist/lyricist Jinx Dawson (Coven); guitarists Lord Ahriman and Chaq Mol (Dark Funeral); vocalist Dana “Satania” Duffey (Demonic Christ); and guitarist Dan VC Guenther (Vein Collector). Together, all these talents have contributed to one hell of a hellish ride. Continue reading »

SIFTING: CHAOSACT, TINE, NORYLSK

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Sep 142015

(DGR reviews three releases by bands he came across while… face-planting.)

The idea that 2015 has been a year that has been moving in fits and starts in my neck of the woods has slowly become something of a mantra. With a sample size of the four or so years I’ve been kicking around these parts, I’ve usually got a backlog of albums about eight deep — which means that if I’m not spending a good chunk of my year listening to the same discs over and over again, telling myself I have to review them, to the point of nausea and then stressing out about it later when I come home so tired from work that I can’t even fathom typing — I figure that I’m fucking up.

However, since 2015 seems to be in a mode that consists of violent seizures of music and then absolutely nothing, I’d hazard to say that with the publication of my Wolfheart review, I was caught up with music for the moment — at least as far as the releases I’d been keeping an eye on were concerned.

The other goofballs that also staff this site have done a tremendous job keeping us up to date, but it also means I’ve been drifting for a bit. My method of drifting, though, usually involves a drunken stumble and a face-plant on the concrete or two, and this is how I tend to discover music these days. I try to keep track, but more often than not I seem to be face-planting into the yards of bands who’ve had releases that hit this year and who seem to be flying just under the radar — so we find ourselves once again sifting through three releases, via Bandcamp, of bands who run the gamut from death metal, to symphonic black and death, to low-end heavy deathgrind, and all three see us travelling a pretty good chunk of the globe.

So, I present to you, my latest edition of foibles that I believe we may find interesting to pick apart and dissect, ones that take us from Latvia, to the good ole’ US of A, and then to our buddies in Poland via Selfmadegod. Continue reading »

RIWEN: “THE COLD”

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

Sep 112015

(Here’s Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Sweden’s Riwen.)

Although I don’t listen to as much of it these days, there’s still a part of me that holds Hardcore very dear to my heart, as this was the music that really started my love affair with the howling distortion of a clanging, chugging, buzzing electric guitar.

Of course I’d been exposed to music before this – my Dad was (and is) a big Prog aficionado, and as a result I was lucky enough to grow up with the sounds of Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush, King Crimson, Queen, et al, as the soundtrack to my formative years – but when it finally came time for me to start spreading my own musical wings, it was the sound of Hardcore that first drew me in, possibly (probably) because it was the direct antithesis of Prog in so many ways!

I tell you this because if there’s one thing I’m sure of it’s that The Cold, the debut full-length by Scandinavian brawlers Riwen (whom I last mentioned several times in conjunction with their EP release), really recaptures that primal, gritty essence which initially drew the younger me to Hardcore all those years ago. Continue reading »

GOROD: “A MAZE OF RECYCLED CREEDS”

Album Reviews 11 Responses »

Sep 102015

(Andy Synn reviews the eagerly awaited new album by Gorod.)

In the hallowed halls of Tech-Death, some names resonate louder than others. Names like Necrophagist… Spawn of Possession… Obscura… Beyond Creation… these are the modern masters and living legends towards whom so many budding fretboard fanatics pay tribute.

This is far from a comprehensive list of course (“no Arsis/Anata???”, I hear you cry), not least because it omits the name of Gallic string-slingers Gorod, who have returned once more to try to claim their own place amongst the pantheon of the immortals with their latest album, A Maze of Recycled Creeds.

To be fair to them, the French fivesome have been teetering on the edge of greatness for almost as long as I can remember, and there’s more than a few folks out there who’d insist (with good cause) that the band belong firmly on the list with all the Tech-Death demigods whom I’ve mentioned above, but it remains to be seen whether or not A Maze of Recycled Creeds is going to be the album to finally garner the band a permanent place in the upper echelons. Continue reading »

VIALS OF WRATH: “DAYS WITHOUT NAMES”

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

Sep 092015

(Here’s Grant Skelton’s review of the new album by Vials of Wrath.)

“One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:–
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.”

William Wordsworth, “The Tables Turned”

I initially caught wind of Vials Of Wrath with their 2013 release Seeking Refuge. That album was one of my first forays into black metal, particularly with atmospheric leanings. It was a genre I had not explored because I had decided that I did not like it. Since becoming a lurker here at NCS, I’ve adopted a much more fluid “listen to anything once” policy. The reason for this is that I’ve been proven wrong on more than one occasion. I’d convinced myself that I did not like a genre/band/release. Upon repeat listens, I’ve found my musical horizons broadened, thus evolving my metal palate. Continue reading »

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