SARPANITUM: “BLESSED BE MY BROTHERS”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Feb 182015
 

 

(Here we have Austin Weber’s review of the new album by Sarpanitum, from the UK and Japan.)

I often follow new or lesser-known metal bands after hearing flashes of brilliance that hint at possible future growth and evolution. This is exactly the reason I began following Sarpanitum after hearing their 2011 EP Fidelium. It was an interesting effort, but now they’ve moved from hinting at brilliance in spots to displaying brilliance in spades on their second full-length, Blessed Be My Brothers.

If you want a sonic snapshot of what Sarpanitum seem to execute, song after song with ease, imagine a merger between Hate Eternal and Nile that then gets a heavy melodic boost and focus, while surrounded by blackened infusions and enhanced by atmosphere-building moments that add a dual epic/triumphant feel to Blessed Be My Brothers. Continue reading »

IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT: “ABYSSAL GODS”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Feb 172015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the forthcoming second album by Imperial Triumphant from New York City.)

From time time that rare band will come along that ushers in a paradigm shift, one whose style and ideas will be aped by countless other groups, the majority of which will never be able to improve upon what inspired them. Throughout the history of metal (and all other musical genres) this pattern has held true, no matter how much the metal community likes to talk of the good old days where everything sounded unique, which is a revisionist lie. However, though a rare accomplishment, there will always be a few acts capable of shifting and squirming out of the confines of their influences and branching out into new territory.

As modern metal has increased in complexity, genre-defining bands such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah, Necrophagist, Gorguts, Ulcerate, and Deathspell Omega have provided inspiration that, in most hands, amounts to little more than re-tread templates used by bands who have a hard time making it their own. I mentioned Deathspell Omega last because their surging influence in black metal, and recently in death metal to degrees, is something I welcome, but often those who take influence from them seem to produce music that is more “in the vein of” than anything which improves upon Deathspell Omega or takes what they did to a musically new or different place.

As I said though, it’s a trend I am definitely behind, as it has led to a paradigm shift in the sound of many newer black metal bands. Yet I still do want to hear someone build upon that foundation to create something new rather than repetitive.

All of this is on my mind because New York City-based Imperial Triumphant have done this. They are the real deal — they have drawn inspiration from Deathspell Omega, but they’ve managed to meld that with classical influences, droning psychedelia, and an often death-metal-styled ruthlessness, coming out the other side with a warped sound distinctly their own.  Their new album, Abyssal Gods, is everything they’ve done before, yet taken to so many higher and darker levels, showcasing even crazier, more manic drumming, even more insane songwriting, and somehow, even weirder riffs than before. Continue reading »

REINO ERMITAÑO: “CONJUROS DE PODER”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Feb 172015
 

 

(Comrade Aleks, whose name is usually seen in our pages because of the interviews he delivers, has now brought us a review of a most interesting album by the Peruvian band Reino Ermitaño.)

Peruvian shamans of traditional doom Reino Ermitaño have a consistent approach to their work throughout, and they’re always loyal to their roots and folk traditions. I think that is one of reasons why, step by step, the band have created stable and quality stuff since 2001, improving their skills and succeeding with new, authentic records. Reino Ermitaño’s last album Conjuros de Poder was released in autumn 2014 on the band’s own label Ogro Records right before the start of their European tour.

The title of the album translates as “Spells of Power”, and they’re not empty words. For those who hear the band’s name for the first time, I need to tell that the key elements of Reino Ermitaño’s music are heavy, doomy riffs, highly enthusiastic and profound guitar solos, the strong and seditious vocals of Tania Duarte, who sings in Spanish, and lyrics on mystical topics enhanced by elements of tribal melodies and rituals. But first of all, Reino Ermitaño play doom. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: AETHYR — “CORPUS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Feb 162015
 

 

Five years after their debut album Messio and three years after their last release of any kind, the Moscow doom band Aethyr have returned with a new full-length entitled Corpus. In advance of its February 19 release by Cimmerian Shade Recordings, we’re pleased to being you a full stream of the album in all of its staggering immensity. But I need to immediately apologize for calling Aethyr a “doom band”, because the music on Corpus is not so easily summed up.

Across the seven tracks and 50 minutes of music that make up Corpus, Aethyr integrate elements of black metal, sludge, and ambient noise into their core framework of titanic doom. The musical landscape changes as the album unfolds, but never leaves the blasted territory of hopelessness and ruination. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: BELOW THE SUN — “ENVOY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  10 Responses »
Feb 162015
 

 

On a September morning more than 37 years ago, the Voyager 1 spacecraft rose from the Earth on a mission that may have no end. In August 2012 it entered interstellar space, traveling father than anyone, or anything, in human history. Hurtling ahead at a speed of 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h), it passes further beyond our reach with each passing second, pushing forward deeper and deeper into the void.

From their own vantage point in the city of Krasnoyarsk in Siberian Russia, an enigmatic band who call themselves Below the Sun have taken the solitary journey of Voyager 1 as their inspiration, crafting a concept album entitled Envoy that stands as their musical introduction to this world. Today we bring you a full stream of this unusual and unusually accomplished debut work, preceded by this review.

Hearing the album, it’s difficult to believe that it’s the first musical output of this quintet. It has the earmarks of people who already know their craft quite well, and perhaps they do — they wear masks and they go by names they weren’t born with (Vacuum, Quasar, Entropy, Lightspeed, Void), so their histories are hidden. And thus the music speaks for itself. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: TUSSK — “PAR T. ANIMAL”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Feb 132015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews a new two-song offering by Tussk from Staffordshire, England.)

So last Friday I played my first show of 2015 with Beyond Grace, alongside fellow Nottingham natives The Five Hundred (think a more melodically-inclined Lamb of God) and The Winter Hill Syndicate (melodic/metallic/misanthropic hardcore), and bewhiskered Staffordshire riff-mongers Tussk… and it’s the latter band I’ve come here to talk about today.

Now Tussk don’t claim to be reinventing the wheel in the slightest, and their whiskey-soaked strut and shimmy certainly bears more than a few similarities to the cock-sure chaos of Every Time I Die… but after knocking back a couple of heavy doses of their high-proof, high-voltage riffery, each one accompanied by a chaser of smooth, bluesy swagger, I doubt it will matter to you whether you’ve been down this road before or not… what’s important is who’s doing the driving! Continue reading »

GRIND YOUR HEART OUT

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Feb 122015
 

 

(Austin Weber brings us a collection of short reviews of grind core albums that have caught his fancy.)

I’m backlogged on metal I want to write about, including a diverse wealth of different-sounding grind bands I feel are worth mentioning. So here is a grind dump of grind bands whose names all coincidentally start with the letter C (except Executive Task Distraction, who have fucked that up). They all happen to kick major ass as well.

Also, watch how many times I say the word “grind”! Since grind is short, sweet, and in your face; the write-ups will be similarly brief. The last two bands give away their albums for free. Freedom is grind, free grind is freedom. Grind yer heart out!

Cave Moth – The Black Lodge

Cave Moth sound like the result of what would happen if you took every crooked and dark element of Gaza and condensed them into a hyper-violent grind format with a bit of mathcore influence and supported by a fuckload of stark dissonance. Continue reading »

SWAMP WITCH: “THE SLITHERING BOG”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Feb 122015
 

(Our guest Grant Skelton reviews the new album by California’s Swamp Witch.)

 

“This miry Slough is such a place as cannot be mended. It is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run, and therefore it is called the Slough of Despond; for still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there arises in his soul many fears and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place. And this is the reason of the badness of this ground.”

–John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress

Some metal is made to be immediately infectious. When I began my journey as a metal fan, I would describe my metal collection that way. Immediately infectious, catchy, listener-friendly, accessible. I became a metalcore junkie in high school and that lasted into my early-mid 20s. The older I get, the less time I have to listen to music than I did when I was younger. On the other hand, I find that I have an increasing desire to explore new genres. I want metal that takes me somewhere I’ve never been before. Everyone loves a memorable chorus that gets stuck in their head for days, but sometimes you don’t want just that.

Those of you who read fiction will likely be familiar with the term “suspension of disbelief.” It refers to a writer’s ability to make you forget the line between this world and that of the story you are reading. You forget truth, reality, value judgments, and the like and you plunge right into the narrative. Of course, suspension of disbelief requires some action on the part of you as the reader. But good writing invites you to suspend your disbelief without you even being aware that you’re doing it. You will participate in the story, and not merely read it. You live the events with the characters rather than just observe them. Suspension of disbelief is just as important for the most realistic murder mystery as it is for high fantasy realms of swords and sorcery. And music has something similar. A good album takes you somewhere. It tells a story that involves an introduction, a conflict, a climax, and a resolution. It can make you feel anger, grief, joy, fear, guilt, or longing. And it can do so without forcing those feelings upon you. Continue reading »

NAPALM DEATH: “APEX PREDATOR (EASY MEAT)”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Feb 122015
 

 

(DGR reviews the new album by Napalm Death.)

Our crops had been weak for decades, our village was starving, and we found ourselves on the near brink of ruin. Famine had torn through the whole country, but my village was hit especially hard. We knew that there wasn’t much time left, and despite this being the modern age we had few solutions going for us. We had tried so many on the path to getting ourselves back up on our feet but nothing had worked. We were desperate and starving and we all knew it. Ideas once thought stupid were now grand gestures of genius and we were embracing them all wholeheartedly. If we had honestly thought that painting ourselves blue and pretending to be cat people would’ve worked, we would’ve done it.

Now, we found ourselves turning to a person that we honestly hadn’t thought about or given a second notion to for years. He was a relic of the past, kept alive mostly by fool traditionalists and relatives. Nobody cared to learn his art and so he was to be the last of his kind, yet here we were, three days running now in a smoke-filled tent with a man now in his upper eighties with body paint on, deep in thought and apparently asleep. We had turned to our shaman and were using him in the way that my grandparents would’ve sought knowledge with his father. We were hoping to hear something wise, anything, really, to get ourselves out of the mess of starvation that we were currently in.

Finally, after three days of being so still as to appear petrified were it not for the glistening beads of sweat on his forehead, he began to convulse. My friend jumped forward to help but my father held him back, informing him that this was how it had always gone and were anyone to interrupt him the whole process would have to start anew. And so, we sat and watched a man convulse until finally he opened his eyes and one our own ran out of the tent hollering to the village that he had awoken and was going to speak. Finally, he opened his mouth and uttered a few words of wisdom before closing his eyes and nodding off.

“Napalm Death are an important band” Continue reading »

SEVEN YEAR STORM: “AION I”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Feb 112015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli recommends a forthcoming album by a new band named Seven Year Storm.)

Seven Year Storm is spearheaded by First Reign drummer Sean Lang and Archspire ax-murderer Dean Lamb.  Figured that would get your attention immediately.

Aion I is instrumental metal with a rather video-gamey quality to it, in that it’s driven by very enigmatic melodies, and the music thrives on syncopated grooves and polyrhythms, with gorgeous leads and atmosphere.  It’s captivating, the songs are concise, yet have a lot of substance.  Aion I is the band’s first output, an EP, and it’s quite good if you’re into instrumental metal of any sort.

It’s a bit spacey, a bit jazzy, and a bit neoclassical — a winning combo for me and right up my alley.  The interesting thing here is that this EP isn’t a skill showcase for either Lang or Lamb (both of whom are impressively skillful), but a genuine songwriting exercise.  None of these songs in any way pushes any kind of instrumental capacity.  It’s all about memorable melodies and celestial atmosphere with grooves that are very hooky.  Continue reading »

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