GIGAN: “MULTI-DIMENSIONAL FRACTAL SORCERY AND SUPER SCIENCE”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 072013
 

(In this post Austin Weber reviews the new album by Chicago’s Gigan.  A full-album stream follows the review.)

Since Gigan’s inception in 2006, formed by Eric Hersemann upon his exit from Hate Eternal, the band has survived and evolved despite a number of lineup shifts that would have ended most bands. After their excellent 2011 release Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes, both drummer Keseva “Kaish” Doane and vocalist John Collett left sometime in 2012, though I was unaware of their departures until songs from this record premiered and a new band photo surfaced. Now Gigan is a Chicago-based group, by way of bandleader and composer Hersemann moving to the Windy City. He is now joined by new New York vocalist Eston Browne (Humanity Falls) and drummer Nate Cotton, who had played live for Gigan back in 2009-2010. With this new line-up, Gigan deliver to us a colossal emanation from another realm, entitled Multi-Dimensional Fractal Sorcery And Super Science.

When I listen to Gigan I often think of them as a better, more creative Hate Eternal (sorry Erik Rutan!). This album, while having a stronger atmospheric and synth-laced gravitas, is a labyrinth of destructive percussion and frenzied guitar-work that build in collaboration to monstrous heights of hyper-blasting, ever-shifting insanity. They’ve always been one of the most unique and truly alien-sounding technical death metal bands, their aggressiveness rounded out with a heavy dose of drawn-out atmosphere, oddball riffs, genuinely psychedelic and trance-like moments, and a chaotic nature rooted in the shifting between these different sounds that makes the music a uniquely unhinged, unpredictable experience. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: KRODA — “VARULVEN”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Oct 072013
 

The last album released by the Ukrainian band Kroda was last year’s Live Under Hexenhammer: Heil Ragnarok!. As the name suggests, it was a live recording, and an excellent one. The band’s last studio release was Schwarzpfad from 2011 (reviewed here), which I thought was one of the best albums of that year in any genre. Almost all of Kroda’s releases are now available on Bandcamp.

Last Friday, a new Kroda EP appeared on Bandcamp under the name Varulven. It’s currently available as a “name your own price” digital-only download, though it’s planned for release on CD next month via Purity Through Fire. Varulven is a compilation of four tracks recorded at various times over the last five years. Die-hard fans of the band will be interested in this even if only to complete their collection of Kroda’s discography, but it’s really very good in its own right.

The title track is a studio recording from 2011. It’s a cover of a traditional Nordic song (the name of which means “Werewolf”), and the band describe it as “an experiment in viking-rock style music”. On this track, Kroda weave together elements of folk music (complete with the sounds of a ghostly flute, tumbling drums, and pure female vocals) and pagan metal (jagged growls, slightly distorted riffs and arpeggios, and tremolo-picked guitar melody), setting them to a rock beat. The melody itself, though quite catchy, has a dark undercurrent, which Kroda enhance with the sound of owls, wolves, and sinister whispering, turning it into something that’s haunting. Continue reading »

CHAPTERS: “THE IMPERIAL SKIES”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Oct 042013
 

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by the London-based duo known as Chapters.)

Phew… we’ve been waiting a while for this one haven’t we? But honestly… it’s worth the wait.

Now I have a confession to make. When it comes to the UK/British metal scene I simply tend not to like most of what’s presented in the metal press as being the paradigm of what this fair isle has to offer. That’s not to say I don’t love a lot of British bands (even a cursory search of the site will show up a plethora of UK acts who I’ve praised to high heaven over the years), it’s just that the ones who seem to get all the acclaim and accolades are only the ones who fit certain trends… trends which I simply don’t have any interest in.

And then there’s Chapters, and their phenomenal debut album The Imperial Skies. Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN PRESENTS: REVIEW IN HAIKUS

 Album Reviews, Reviews In Haikus  3 Responses »
Oct 032013
 

(Andy Synn delivers another installment of his irregular series of album reviews in haiku. Two more reviews come after the jump. With music.)

 

YOUR CHANCE TO DIE – THE AMERICAN DREAM

Throwing off the chains

Born from deathcore’s murky past

Rise with righteous wrath

https://www.facebook.com/yourchancetodiesc Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT – “GOLIATH”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Oct 022013
 

(NCS guest writer Austin Weber put this New York band’s 2012 debut album Abominamentvm on his NCS list of last year’s best records. Now he reviews their new two-track release, Goliath.)

For the uninitiated, Imperial Triumphant are arguably one of the best new US black metal bands around. These New York City natives take a technically oriented approach to unorthodox black metal that is fueled by an unyielding desire to spread the anti-gospel.  Last year they released their debut album Abominamentvm, an impressive effort that distorted and contorted black metal in a unique way, deconstructing its tropes and showcasing audible bass playing, which is something that sadly is far too uncommon in black metal. A Deathspell Omega influence seems to be apparent, and yet their music also contains traces of old school black metal fury, occasional lumbering doominess, and unsettling psychedelic drone bursts, all of which do much to set them apart from being merely a product of one strain of influences.

The artwork is a good introduction and foil to Goliath‘s musical monstrosity. Your eyes are drawn immediately to a mammoth elephant, but as you look down you realize the beast has squashed a man’s head into a vicious oblivion of blood. That’s kind of how it feels to listen to this. Though Goliath is merely two songs, there’s a lot to immerse yourself in, as both are equally packed-to-the-brim, tour de force experiences. Continue reading »

FELIX MARTIN: “THE SCENIC ALBUM”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Oct 012013
 

(Austin Weber returns to the site with a review of the new album by Felix Martin, released last month on the Prosthetic label.)

Among passionate music fans there is a real desire to hear the sonic unknown, to find until now unheard of amalgamations of styles and sounds. For me, Felix Martin encompasses that thrilling aspect of musical discovery, and in particular the mixing of a widening divergence of styles with metal. His forward-thinking approach to combining jazz and metal into legitimate jazz-metal impressed me from the first time I heard his 2010 debut, Bizarre Rejection, which I bought on Itunes but is no longer available there.

Since that time he was signed by Prosthetic Records and released a live album that contained four songs from his debut and a few new originals that showed even further depth in his crazy eight-finger tapping and the use of a unique 14-string guitar that allows him to play things no one else can. Now in 2013, a new Felix Martin release has dawned, this time entitled The Scenic Album.

The Scenic Album reveals continued evolution and growth in Felix Martin’s songwriting while also featuring three tracks from his previous live album. It starts out strong with the three-song “Tango” suite, which, as the title suggests, integrates Felix’s love for Latin rhythms and world music into his signature style of tapping. Where these songs diverge from those genres is in some oddly phrased metal riffs and Felix’s use of his instrument to create hybrid slap/pop-fueled rhythms and to intersperse soft yet powerful excursions into playful jazz. His sparingly used introduction of Meshuggah-inspired rhythms into his music also adds a new dimension not found on previous efforts. Continue reading »

BLODSGARD — “MONUMENT”: A REVIEW AND A FULL-ALBUM STREAM

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Sep 302013
 

I’ve been waiting for Blodsgard’s debut album for a long time. When I saw the title and the fantastic cover (conceived by the band and executed by Mark Cooper), I smiled. I wanted something monumental, and it seemed this was Blodsgard’s intent, too.

All told, the album is the result of five years’ of work that included extensive re-writing, re-arranging, and re-mastering. Four of the songs originally appeared on the band’s superb 2011 EP Solve Et Coagula (reviewed here), though they have been re-mastered for the album. Under a different name (“Mitt blod flyter”), the closing track also appeared in 2011 as part of a special limited release that we helped distribute (informally labeled A Taste of Future Darkness), though it has been changed in subtle ways. As far as I know, the other three tracks haven’t previously been made publicly available.

Even if you’re familiar with Solve Et Coagula, Monument will surprise you in its variety and in the extent to which Blodsgard’s sound has continued to evolve. And if this will be your first exposure to Blodsgard, something very special is waiting for you. Continue reading »

BLODSGARD — “MONUMENT”: A REVIEW AND A FULL-ALBUM STREAM

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Sep 302013
 

I’ve been waiting for Blodsgard’s debut album for a long time. When I saw the title and the fantastic cover (conceived by the band and executed by Mark Cooper), I smiled. I wanted something monumental, and it seemed this was Blodsgard’s intent, too.

All told, the album is the result of five years’ of work that included extensive re-writing, re-arranging, and re-mastering. Four of the songs originally appeared on the band’s superb 2011 EP Solve Et Coagula (reviewed here), though they have been re-mastered for the album. Under a different name (“Mitt blod flyter”), the closing track also appeared in 2011 as part of a special limited release that we helped distribute (informally labeled A Taste of Future Darkness), though it has been changed in subtle ways. As far as I know, the other three tracks haven’t previously been made publicly available.

Even if you’re familiar with Solve Et Coagula, Monument will surprise you in its variety and in the extent to which Blodsgard’s sound has continued to evolve. And if this will be your first exposure to Blodsgard, something very special is waiting for you. Continue reading »

THRASH POWER HOUR: CRISIX, VIOLATOR, DEATH ANGEL, HAVOK, AND ANNIHILATOR

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Sep 302013
 

(TheMadIsraeli is in catch-up mode, reviewing five albums in this one post. You’ll find music from all the albums at the end.)

Welcome to power hour, the thing I do when I try to catch up on shit I should’ve reviewed long ago. It’s called power hour not because it’s an hour of music, but because it’ll take you a fucking hour to read the shit.

Sometimes we miss things here at NCS, and often enough I feel like an asshole for doing it, especially when I’m the guy who would normally cover the stuff we miss. So this is my attempt to reconcile. Five reviews in one, baby, deal with it.

As such though, I thought I’d make this themed, so it’s the thrash power hour. Let’s start with a relative newcomer… Continue reading »

FŌR: “BLAKAZ ASKǬ HERTÔ”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Sep 292013
 

It would be very difficult to describe the attraction of FŌR’s new EP Blakaz Askǭ Hertô to anyone who is not already convinced about the power of blackened death metal and susceptible to the apocalyptic atmospherics that the style is capable of creating. It would be flat-out impossible to do that for anyone who is not already far along the left-hand path of extreme metal in general. Despite these challenges, I shall forge ahead.

Nothing played with a guitar and bass is truly devoid of melody — every string does represent a note. But FŌR have tuned the instruments so low, have so ramped up the distortion levels, and have made such abundant use of repeated tremolo-picked chords and feedback that what most people would call “melody” has been banished to some inaccessible netherworld. The songs are usually dominated by horrific grinding noise, occasionally segmented by massive hammering riffs that brutishly bludgeon like the ultimate hammer of doom.

The dense shroud of guitar and bass radioactivity is monolithic, impenetrable, suffocating, like a slow-moving mass of corrosive static. It’s a nearly relentless assault on the senses that reaches its apex in the 10-minute closing track “Lineage of the Amorphous”, in which one chord after another is struck in slow progression and the droning, fuzzed-out feedback just hangs there with the roentgen levels in the red zone until the the pick hand attacks again. Continue reading »

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