SHORT BUT SWEET: ASCENDED DEAD — “THE ADVENT”

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Apr 292015
 

 

Imagine you’re behind the wheel of a steroid-fueled muscle car going too fast through a hairpin curve on a mountain highway — and your brakes suffer catastrophic failure. You blast through the guard rail, briefly experience the thrill of flight, and then proceed to barrel down the mountain listening to your ride violently shake itself apart, bolt by bolt, while some inhuman horror in the back seat roars at you to stop fucking with the brakes and give it more gas.

You got that vision in your head?  Okay, good.  That’s kind of like what Ascended Dead’s new EP sounds like. If you don’t find the metaphor helpful, just picture your own brain: same thing will happen to it. Continue reading »

SIGH: “GRAVEWARD”

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Apr 282015
 

 

(Wil Cifer offers some thoughts about Graveward, the new album by Sigh.)

Once upon a time one of my favorite black metal bands put out an album called Scenes From Hell and they transformed from one of my favorite black metal bands into one of my favorite prog metal bands. Their new album finds them getting some of the aggression back as they study the various aspects of death.

One thing that is interesting about Sigh is even though they are based in Tokyo, the band do not employ the Oriental dodecaphonic scale, but pull from a variety of western music ranging from Deep Purple to klezmer. This album opens in a fairly straight-forward metal manner for this band, with a slight leaning toward Emperor as the clean vocals sweep in amidst the twists and turns normally narrated by the more scathing snarls. The clean vocals have a more typical progressive metal vibrato, like something Therion might throw in.

Sigh continue to use a chaotic mix of varied elements, which are sometimes stirred together more smoothly than at others. There are some good metallic moments in the title track, which settled in with me more quickly than the opening song (“Kaedit Nos Pestis”); that one took a few listens to sink in. Continue reading »

THE FINE CONSTANT: “WOVEN IN LIGHT”

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Apr 272015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new EP by The Fine Constant from Wisconsin.)

Some of our readers may already be familiar with The Fine Constant due to my recent post about the tour on which they are still currently playing dates, or possibly from when I placed their debut album, Myriad, on my 2012 year-end list. But for those new to the band, you’re going to want to check out this impressive Wisconsin-based trio and discover what makes their music an exceptional breed of top-notch instrumental metal.

Prior to the very recent release of their new EP, Woven In Light, the band had previously dropped that dazzling 2012 full-length called Myriad. Although Myriad was an interesting and original record in its own right, Woven In Light sees the band evolving into a totally different animal with a different focus and feeling. Continue reading »

THE CRINN: “SHADOWBREATHER”

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Apr 252015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by The Crinn.)

Last year at NCS I helped premiere a track by Minnesota-based mathcore band The Crinn called “Endless”. At that time, their upcoming record, Shadowbreather, had no release date. It wasn’t until very recently that the band announced that Shadowbreather will be coming out on April 28 — and it began streaming in full yesterday.

Sometimes you run into metal records that are unusually strange or mindfuckingly insane from a rhythm or tempo angle, and then, even more rarely, you run into records like Shadowbreather that do both of those things. Having had a chance to sink into the record early, courtesy of the band, I’ve had some time to decipher its nigh-impenetrable shifts and explore its labyrinthine layers over a multitude of listens. I still come away from the experience dazed yet bug-eyed, but now I feel it makes more sense.

The violent and catastrophic nature of their rhythms, riffs, and rasps collide into a mental bludgeoning with a soft side; there is a psychedelic dimension to Shadowbreather that is new to The Crinn’s music. The occurrences of this new element in their sound are not merely segues. More often than not, The Crinn infuse them within chaotic and frenetic math-grind, somehow achieving a cerebral, trippy quality that may not sound right on paper, yet works so well throughout the album. I never guessed that I’d ever be writing about psychedelic mathcore in the first place, but I’m down with it after hearing how The Crinn pull it off so effortlessly on Shadowbreather inside moments of sheer mania and murder.

Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT — “BLOODCVLTS”

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Apr 242015
 

 

(Andy Synn has finally reached his limit. And it was The Monolith Deathcult who pushed him to the brink.)

That’s it. I’m done. I’ve had all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more!

As a writer/review/self-important member of the liberal media conspiracy, I’ve come across a lot in my time writing for this site and for the various other publications which I occasionally do some work for.

But never before has a band so blatantly tried to buy my favour. And it’s just unacceptable.

You see, this is about more than just my honour and integrity, more than just my (now suspiciously full) bank balance. It’s about Ethics in Death Metal Journalism, dammit! Continue reading »

OBLIVIONIZED: “LIFE IS A STRUGGLE, GIVE UP”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 242015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the latest release by London’s Oblivionized.)

Grindcore isn’t a metal genre typically associated with complex songwriting or accomplished musicianship. Which is usually fine, as that’s not the essence of the style or the reason why fans of grind listen to it. But every once in awhile a grind band like Oblivionized comes along with the drive and ambition to develop a sound that consists of more than straightforward 30-second beatdowns and endless power chords.

This London-based trio have generated numerous smaller demo, EP, and split releases over the years and have only now released their first full-length, Life Is a Struggle, Give Up. The wait for an album-length statement from the group was definitely worth it, though, as the band had already spent several years tinkering around and playing a lot of different sounding material, which they have distilled into a mature, cohesive, and eclectic sound here on Life Is a Struggle, Give Up. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: THE DEAD GOATS — “DON’T GO IN THE TOMB”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Apr 222015
 

 

“Well, well, well,” I said to myself, “this little release has all the earmarks of a winner”. First, the band is named The Dead Goats. Second, there’s a song on it called “Festering Boils” (which is a cover of a Repulsion song). Third, the font for the band logo on the EP’s cover looks like Entombed’s (plus there’s a big skull on there). And fourth, there’s a dude in the band’s promo pic who’s wearing goggles.

And that was all without even reading about the music, much less listening to it. The only drawback was the name of the EP — Don’t Go In the Tomb — because I want to go in the tomb! Fortunately, The Dead Goats didn’t really mean that. They seem to have first-hand knowledge of the tomb, and they’re very happy to take you on a guided tour. Continue reading »

THE RESISTANCE: “TORTURE TACTICS”

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Apr 212015
 

 

(DGR reviews the new EP by The Resistance.)

Torture Tactics is a weird release. The release itself isn’t weird, but as a whole Torture Tactics is an odd duck amongst EP releases. More on that in a second, as some folks may need some quick catching up.

Torture Tactics is the new EP by Gothenburg, Sweden-based melodeath supergroup The Resistance. If you’ve never crossed paths with The Resistance before, their members have quite the histories in other bands and somehow found their ways into one congealed group, constructed out of some fairly big names to make some pretty straightforward and punishing thrash and death.

For instance, in my case, The Resistance were a way to keep track of the Dimension Zero gentlemen, as both guitarists Jesper Strömblad — yes, he of ex-In Flames fame — and Glenn Ljungström have spent time within their ranks. Also on the roster, in terms of slightly more recognizable names, is Marco Aro, current vocalist for The Haunted — although at the time of The Resistance’s inception he hadn’t stepped back into that role yet. Continue reading »

DROWNING THE LIGHT: “FROM THE ABYSS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 202015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Drowning the Light, which is available now on Bandcamp.)

With so many quality releases coming from Down Under these days, you have to think there must be something in the water…

Actually, with this being Australia, there probably IS something in the water, and it’s probably trying to kill you / eat you / lay eggs in you… so maybe it’s not all that surprising the country’s producing some absolutely top-notch Black and Death Metal at the moment.

Drowning The Light are far and away one of the most prolific acts on the scene today, with twelve (now thirteen) full-length albums to their name, along with an almost uncountable number of EPs and split releases, each one a brilliant distillation of blackened spite and vitriol, layered with an exquisite sheen of sorrow and melancholy. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: PROGENIE TERRESTRE PURA — “ASTEROIDI”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Apr 182015
 

 

After many months of listening to the 2013 debut album by Italy’s Progenie Terrestre Pura, I finally attempted (here) to write something that captured the wonders of the album — and failed. I think all I succeeded in doing was to express the profound effect that U.M.A. had on me.

Even after the dramatic impact of U.M.A., I somehow missed the fact that last October, q[T]p (which is how they prefer to abbreviate their name) released a digital EP named Asteroidi. Andy Synn named it to his 2014 year-end list of the “Good” albums and EPs, and I still didn’t dive into it. And then yesterday I received a notification that Avantgarde Music is releasing the EP in physical form. Finally, I listened. Continue reading »

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