Album Reviews Archives - Page 49 of 563

clipping. — “DEAD CHANNEL SKY”

Mar 262025

(This is our friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth‘s review of the latest album by the clipping. trio from L.A. and their guests, which has been out on the Sub Pop label since March 14th. And it’s actually the second mention of them in our pages; the first time, almost six years ago, was here.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. There’s a very good chance that you’re not familiar with the noise hip-hop trio clipping., or if you are you may be wondering why they’re being discussed here on No Clean Singing. The answer to that question is because Islander said I could review their new album, mostly, but also because their music is uncompromising and esoteric and has plenty to offer to metal fans who are a little more open-minded.

The trio, comprised of multi-hyphenate rapper-actor-Broadway star Daveed Diggs (best known for filling the roles of Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette in the original stage production of Hamilton and the Snowpiercer TV series) and producers William Hutson (Rale) and Jonathan Snipes (Captain Ahab), recently released their fifth full-length album Dead Channel Sky, the album I am here to discuss. Continue reading »

ALLEGAEON – THE OSSUARY LENS

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 252025

(Andy Synn takes a look at the new album from Allegaeon, where everything old is new again)

To misquote Oscar Wilde:

“…to lose one singer may be regarded as misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.“

Now, of course, I’m not blaming Allegaeon or saying they’ve done anything wrong, as the departures of both vocalists – with original screamer Ezra Haynes submitting his resignation in 2015 and his replacement, Riley McShane, handing in his marching papers in 2022 – seemed to be pretty amicable, all things considered.

But it’s certainly true that their vocal issues have a tendency to come at inconvenient times, just as the band are really hitting their stride (both creatively and commercially)… which is precisely why it’s understandable that the band would choose to bring Haynes back into the fold for another ride, as his instantly-recognisable voice and distinctive delivery definitely played a big part in putting the band on the map in their early years.

Of course, as we all know, trying to rekindle any sort of relationship after time spent separated is always a risk – what if you’ve simply grown too far apart to ever reconnect? – so the biggest question which The Ossuary Lens (out next week) has to answer is… is the chemistry still there, or is this rekindled romance doomed to fizzle out?

NATTVERD: “TIDLOES NAADESLOES”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 252025

(Our Norway-based contributor Chile returns to NCS with the following review of a just-released album by the Norwegian black metal band Nattverd.)

The change of seasons is upon us, that much is true. Mind’s undying love of wintry landscapes and frozen vistas will be put on hold for the next seven or eight months, while the physical form will be thankful for not needing the concentration and dexterity of an Olympic ice-skater just to get to the local shop so it could diverge resources on other needful things in the body. Also affected by this change are numerous black metal bands across Scandinavia famous for preferring to take their promo pictures in frozen, snowy environments. Soon enough, winter is, well, coming.

Until then, we work with what we have. And what we have is plenty of new metal from Scandinavia coming to these shores in their longboats wielding sharp riffs in our general direction. One such example is the outstanding Norwegian black metal band Nattverd whose releases so far may have passed under the radar of a wider audience, but their new album Tidloes naadesloes should be the one to take them further up the ladder of chaos. Continue reading »

AREIS – THE CALLING

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 242025

(Andy Synn kicks off a brand new week with a review of fearsome French foursome Areis)

Last week featured an absolute bonanza of new album releases, at least some of which we’ll hopefully be able to catch you up on over the next couple of weeks.

But one name which jumped out at me – although I couldn’t at first put my finger on why – was Areis.

It didn’t take me too long, however, to remember that back in 2021 (which simultaneously feels like just yesterday and a thousand years ago) I stumbled across the band’s self-titled debut album and instantly took a liking to it, despite not knowing much about the band themselves.

And although I didn’t have a chance to give the group a full write up at the time, that’s something I’d like to correct with their second full-length, The Calling.

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CRAWLING CHAOS — “WYRD”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Mar 242025

(written by Islander)

Wyrd is the third album, by the Italian death metal band Crawling Chaos, and it’s set for imminent release by Time To Kill Records on March 28th. As the label explains, “It is an anthology inspired by the role of feminine figures in European mythology and their connection to the concepts of fate and free will.” Crawling Chaos elaborate further:

Wyrd is our third full-length assault and it is a twisted journey through fate, destiny, and everything that lies beyond free will. Inspired by the ancient Northern European concept of wyrd, this record dives headfirst into the dark side of what it means to become.

Each of the ten tracks is a chapter in a mythological fever dream. You’ll meet some of the most powerful, terrifying female figures from mythology, folklore, and history: the Norse Norns, Macbeth’s witches conjuring chaos for Hecate, the relentless Greco-Roman Furies, and those wicked Thessalian necromancers who bend the dead to their will. It’s a damn coven of destruction. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: AMENRA, NECHOCHWEN, BLOOD CHARIOT, STONE CROWN, BLOOD MONOLITH, THE GREAT SEA, WARFIELD, SLIDHR, JACK QUARTET

Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Mar 222025

(written by Islander)

As usual, I had an enormous number of things to choose from for today’s collection. As usual, I had no preconceived idea how to do it. I just put one foot in front of the other, stumbling along until I ran out of time.

As I sit here and look at what I chose, I see that I defaulted to some old favorites but also went with debuts from some bands I’d never heard of. (I also siphoned off a few that will make good shades for the usual blackening of the Sabbath tomorrow.) I also added a couple of live-performance videos at the end, one of which is a genuine brain-scrambler. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: DOWNPOUR / OFNUS / SACRED NOOSE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 202025

(Andy Synn recommends a trio of recent releases for your listening pleasure)

I originally intended to publish this piece a while ago… only I couldn’t quite lock down exactly which three albums I was going to write about.

For a while I considered including the new Abduction album, only to realise that since we share a drummer these days that probably crosses a few ethical boundaries (I don’t have many, it’s true, but I do have some).

And though I initially intended to include the new one from Wren as my third choice (I’ve written about them before after all) some crossed-wires here at NCS Central meant that one of our regular guest-writers ended up including them in one of his articles… which meant I had to go back to the drawing board again.

Thankfully, however, I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed by the three artists/albums I’ve chosen to cover – two of whom are making their official debuts here at the site – as they’re all more than deserving of your time and attention on their own merits and in different ways.

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GALVORNHATHOL — “III”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Mar 202025

(written by Islander)

Today, on the eve of its release, we present a full stream of a new album by the one-person German band Galvornhathol, whose name (we are told) “is derived from Tolkien’s Sindarin script and can probably translated to ‘(dark) metal axe'”. That is intended to draw a contrast between the man-made world of iron and axe and the band’s lyrical themes, which connect to spiritualism (non-religious) and nature.

With respect to those themes, we’ll begin by sharing Galvornhathol‘s description of the new album:

“III” concludes the trilogy that started with the conveniently titled “I“. A journey from the earth, to below the clouds and now to the stellar realm of stars and galaxies. Tinged with metaphors for the facets of human life, encased in an interstellar poem of the matter, dark and light, all round us, that we call “nature”. Providing an uneducated guess of what our future might hold; providing we keep living our present, the listener might come to the conclusion that, while we are able to observe objects that are millions of lightyears away, we refrain from looking ahead into our own time to come. Whatever the future might hold; onwards. Ad Astra. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: “FOUR SORROWS” — A SPLIT BY STARER, MYVANDRER, AMBERGAZE, AND MISTRAL

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Mar 192025

(written by Islander)

On March 21st Fiadh Productions and Snow Wolf Records will co-release Four Sorrows, a four-way split among bands around the world who deserve your close attention. Those bands, who are carving their own path through the realms of black metal, are Starer (USA), Myrvandrer (Norway), Ambergaze (Mexico), and Mistral (Poland). As an explanation of how the split came to be, we’ve seen this statement by the person behind Starer (and Snow Wolf):

I have been a huge fan of Mistral since both our debut albums released together on Folkvangr Records back in January 2021. Janek has become a good friend and I’m thrilled to be working together. All credit to him for introducing me to two amazing bands Ambergaze and Myrvandrer and convincing them to share their incredible music with us.

What we have for you today is a premiere stream of this new split, which includes one new song from each band, preceded by a bit of background about the artists and some thoughts about what you will hear. (Here’s a hint: the music is quite diverse and mostly beyond the bounds of traditional/conventional black metal.) Continue reading »

GREY AURA – ZWART VIERKANT: SLOTSTUK

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 192025

(Andy Synn may not understand “art”, but he knows what he likes… and he likes Grey Aura)

They say that you can’t spell “Avant-Garde” without the letters “A”, “R”, and “T”… and it turns out they – whoever they are – were right!

Of course, Grey Aura have known that for a long time, as both of their previous albums – 2014’s double-disc debut Waerachtighe beschryvinghe van drie seylagien, ter werelt noyt soo vreemt ghehoort (which chronicled the final exploits of Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz) and 2021’s equally ambitious, but considerably more concise, Zwart Vierkant (which retold and reinterpreted the first half of a story of obsession and insanity written by the band’s own Ruben Wijlacker) – more than qualify as true expressions of avant-garde “art”.

So it should come as little surprise that Slotstuk (as I’ll be referring to it) – which picks up, thematically speaking, where its predecessor left off, unravelling the tale of “a 20th-century Modernist painter whose attempt to dismantle physical reality through abstraction leads him to the brink of madness” – continues to push the boundaries, further blurring the lines between not just the various different genres which comprise the band’s creative palette… but also the lines between sanity and insanity as well.

Older Entries Newer Entries