EFFIGIES OF THE FORGOTTEN: NOCTURNUS – THE KEY

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jul 132012
 

 

(In this post, BadWolf looks back at an album he calls the progenitor of progressive death metal — a 1990 release by Florida’s Nocturnus, a band whose members including some significant names in the annals of extreme metal.)

Progressive death metal, now far from its maligned beginnings, is in full bloom. Certainly, the genre is a blog-darling, and NCS is no exception to that trend. Many of the most successful and critically acclaimed bands in contemporary metal—Opeth, The Faceless, Between the Buried and Me, Periphery, Obscura, Meshuggah, and others—could all very loosely fall under progressive death metal flag, or at the very least would not exist without that genre’s long and sordid history. Which means now is as good a time as any to reflect upon the art form’s history.

Where is it going? Well, where has it come from.

Well, I have dug into the past and given some extensive listening to, according to my research, the progenitor of progressive death metal. Some of my co-writers at Invisible Oranges turned me on to Nocturnus during my stay at Maryland Deathfest 2012, and it’s been in heavy rotation on my iPod since. Nocturnus released their debut album, The Key, in 1990 on Earache records, but it still scorches.

Continue reading »

DEATHSPELL OMEGA: “DROUGHT”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 122012
 

Deathspell Omega’s new EP, Drought, is this distinctive French band’s first offering of music since Paracletus completed their conceptual trilogy of full-length albums in 2010, and it can be considered a further movement in the direction charted on that last album.

While the music (and perhaps the lyrics) create an aura of approaching catastrophe and convey a sense of freedom from external constraint that link it to the ethos of black metal, little remains of black metal’s most widely known (and most stagnant) musical tropes. There is also nothing on Drought that closely resembles the demon asylum quality of Fas – Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum.

What Drought does offer is an experience that is at times memorably beautiful and at times utterly chaotic but always completely enthralling. The songs are intelligently constructed and performed with a high level of technical panache, and they’re organized in a way that provides an appealing sense of flow through the EP, even though that path is subject to a multitude of twists, turns, and jarring turbulence.

The EP is bookended by “Salowe Vision” and “The Crackled Book of Life”, two largely instrumental songs that are the most melodic offerings on Drought. Stylistically, they share more in common with prog and post-rock than black metal. At the outset of “Salowe Vision”, guitar chords ring like cracked, rusted bells, a slow tolling, as if to announce the isolated melody that follows, which drifts dreamily and buzzes with reverb before the song accelerates and intensifies at the finish. Continue reading »

OLD MAN GLOOM: “NO”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jul 122012
 

(London-based guest contributor Alex Franquelli returns to NCS with a review of the new album by Old Man Gloom.)

Forget for a minute that Old Man Gloom is made up of members of some of the greatest and most innovative bands hardcore and metal have seen in the last 15 years. Try to ignore the fact that the predecessor to No – Christmas – is one of the most underrated works in the realm of extreme music. What you are left with is an album whose songwriting and arrangements are the closest extreme metal can be to perfection.

The shifts between post-metal tantrums and the violent beauty of ambient and electronica are in fact less vivid than in the previous release but, after all, in eight years a lot has happened and a different world welcomes a renewed band, while the sheer contrast between the two facets of the spectre is a contrast determined by a sound, which is still in search of a balance but is daring at the same time.

Let’s face it, when Aaron Turner (Isis, Split Cranium, Mamiffer), Caleb Scofield (Cave In, Zozobra), Nate Newton (Converge, Doomriders) and Santos Montano (founding member of OMG) met in the studio the first time, not many people would have thought the outcome could be anything less than excellent. And excellent it is.  The sound gracing the speakers when No is spinning is nothing short of an intriguing experience. Enough drones to make Khanate proud embellish the already obsessive thrusts driven by riffs indulging in loops (“Regain/Rejoin”) and feedback (“Rats”) in ways that can be defined as “structural” rather than cosmetic. Continue reading »

EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE: ACCEPT – “STALINGRAD”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jul 102012
 

(In this post, BadWolf reviews the new album by Germany’s Accept, which was released by Nuclear Blast in April.)

I’m not sure what you guys at large think of old-school heavy metal; not only do we only cover it occasionally here; Islander neglected to offer it as an option on his reader’s poll. Not that I blame him, the style has been on life support and morphine for the majority of my lifetime—although there’s been a recent groundswell of bands trying to bring it back in vogue, such as High Spirits, Christian Mistress, Witch Mountain, and to a lesser extent 3 Inches of Blood. I get the impression that it used to be people began liking traditional heavy metal and then segued into the extreme stuff we specialize in at NCS. Now, it seems the opposite: people start out on extreme metal and wind their way back—maybe—to bands like Accept.

This is a good time to start, because Accept’s new album, Stalingrad, is a super-fine slab of riffs and solos—one of the most consistent albums I’ve heard all year. I spent the 4th of July driving around parked streets for what seemed like hours while fireworks exploded overhead. In the 100+ degree heat, I rolled my windows down and played Stalingrad as loud as my speakers could muster. One could call this ‘extreme’ traditional metal—fitting, from the band who invented speed metal in 1982 on the song “Fast as a Shark”—though Stalingrad sounds less like old Accept and more like a spiritual companion to Judas Priest’s Painkiller album. Stalingrad sounds like triumph, not torture; a high-powered sports car ramming down a highway; fireworks. Continue reading »

FUCK A DUCK!

 Album Reviews, Phro's Posts, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
Jul 102012
 

(Our Blog Break is now over, and what better way to get things back to (ab)normal here at NCS than with a review by Phro of the debut EP by a Finnish “duckgrind” band — Artists Are Idiots. The album is entitled The Subduck Scum Shall Fall.)

 

Islander sent me this band to check out. I pretty much blew every load I had just based on the name and then dry-came until my balls were bloody. I can’t guarantee you’ll like their music, but only because I can’t guarantee that you’re not a brain-dead jackal.

 

The cell is dark. It smells of feathers and feces. Naziduck shit has a particularly revolting aroma to it, and they know it. Which is why they always, inevitably, shit on their prisoners during interrogation. They want you to stink of their shit to remind you exactly who you belong to.

But I’m still shit free. I wonder for how long.

In the background, I hear the oddly jovial sound of a brass band taking up their instruments. It’s confusingly cheerful. But who knows if Naziducks can smile? They don’t even have fucking lips. That thought reminds me of the Anti-Naziduck commercials they show before each film at the old dime cinema. It’s always the same. An image of regular ducks flapping about a farm yard at first dashing between cow hooves and mindless chickens. Then, without warning, the next morning the farmer awakes to find the chickens have all be killed in the night, along with the cow, and the ducks are digging mass graves. The farmer turns to run to get his shotgun, but it’s too late. The drakes set upon him, tearing his clothes off, taking turns shoving their long, twirling, rapid-fire erections into his brain via his nasal cavity. “Naziducks: Are They In YOUR Barnyard?” the commercial demands before the movie starts. Continue reading »

VAURA: “SELENELION”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  5 Responses »
Jul 062012
 

Here’s how this happened:

In a MISCELLANY post earlier this week I wrote about a NY band named Røsenkøpf (who, btw, I am still really digging). As I usually do, I messaged the band and their label (Wierd Records) about the post, y’know, in order to improve the chances that it would be read by at least two people. I got a nice note back from Pieter at Wierd Records. He suggested that I might also like another Wierd release by a band named Vaura, who he said included members of Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, Kayo Dot, Blacklist, and more, and he kindly shared a download link.

So, I’m a big fan of Dysrhythmia and Gorguts and have been intrigued by the few songs I’ve heard by Kayo Dot, so I downloaded Vaura’s February 2012 debut album, Selenelion, having no more idea about the music than the brief description Pieter provided — an “interesting collision of black metal and ultra dark post punk”.  (I later realized that Vaura had received quite a bit of attention when Selenelion was originally released, and I had overlooked it because . . . well, I’ll explain why later.)

Yesterday I went to the gym. For me, this is not a frequent or regular occurrence, but over the last six or nine months I seem to have acquired a jelly roll around my mid-section, like some alien spawn that burrowed into my navel while I was sleeping off last Thanksgiving’s feed and has been reproducing inside me ever since. Because that tire around my belly that makes me turn away from the mirror in disgust can’t really be me, can it? So I’ve resolved to try and beat that fucker into submission with some brutal iron-pumping.

I like to go to the gym at an hour when the only other gymnasts there are old people trying to loosen up their arthritic limbs in a futile effort to stave off the Grim Reaper, instead of hot chicks who would laugh at me, or worse still, ignore me. But, I still need music when I brutally pump iron, so I won’t hear myself gasping and whimpering like an abused dog. I decided to load up my iPod Shuffle with the Vaura, figuring that if the band included anyone connected with Dysrhythmia and Gorguts, it would give me a good injection of adrenaline, which I would need in order to achieve three repetitions instead of two on the bench press and bust out five sit-up’s instead of four.

Man, did I get a surprise. Continue reading »

ANCIENT ASCENDANT: “THE GRIM AWAKENING”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Jul 052012
 

(Despite the fact that this week marked the anniversary of America’s declaration of independence from Great Britain, Andy Synn has persisted in writing a review of UK metal every day this week. Today, his subject is the debut album from Ancient Ascendant.)

Greetings again loyal readers, NCS addicts, and new meat. This here is the penultimate entry in what I have dubbed “Unofficial UK Week” for me here at NCS. You’ll already have seen three other reviews on UK bands, and this here is the fourth and final album review of the week. Tomorrow, as my last entry in the series, you’ll be seeing a Synn Report on a brilliant UK act with four full albums to their name, but who have been unfortunately inactive for a while now.

For today though you’re getting a taster of the polished (and, somewhat Polish-ed) death metal assault of Ancient Ascendant!

This UK four-piece may be something of an oddity to some of you. A young(ish) band of ne’er do wells who ply their trade in the murky waters of death metal, there’s nary an ounce of fashionability nor trendiness about them. Yet while The Grim Awakening is an album steeped in the blood of old-school death metal, particularly of the Polish and Floridian varieties (rather than the scrambled buzz-saw attack of the Stockholm scene), it is clearly played and written with an uncompromising modernity and professionalism that updates their influences with a storming sound and youthful vigour. Continue reading »

ENOCHIAN THEORY: “LIFE…AND ALL IT ENTAILS”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  6 Responses »
Jul 042012
 

(Andy Synn continues his unofficial UK Week of reviews here at NCS with a review of the new album by Enochian Theory.)

If you remember these guys from my previous review, then you’ll know that they are very much an Exception To The Rule here at NCS, but one that I think is worth making, such is the stellar quality of their material. It also helps that I know the audience here at NCS is largely made up of people who love MUSIC, with metal as their chosen speciality (occasionally to the exclusion of all else) and who often express an appreciation for other, tangential musical forms which share the best traits of metal – honesty, integrity, and complexity.

While this album is, on the whole, a prog-rock (rather than prog-metal) album, it shares a similar fearless spirit and an evolving creativity with many of the acts we all look up to today, a fearless ambition and a willingness to be open and vulnerable, perhaps even more impressive without the twin-shields of distortion and rage to hide behind.

The songs on this album are like some sort of rare and unique flower, hiding their complexities behind layers of overwhelming beauty and subtle notes of regret. Undeniably, even effortlessly, melodic and epic in feel, songs like opening duo “This Aching Isolation” and “Hz” take their time to fully unfold, and even longer to be appreciated for their sheer depth and clarity. Continue reading »

AGELESS OBLIVION: TEMPLES OF TRANSCENDENT EVOLUTION

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Jul 032012
 

(In this post, Andy Synn reviews the 2011 debut album from Hampshire, UK’s Ageless Oblivion.)

You may not have heard of this band, but doubtless you will be doing so more in the future. With a fresh take on the death metal dynamic, this, their debut album, provides a master class in modern death metal, shot through with unusual progressive impulses and a slight –core edge. The former is a surprising development that showcases the organic integration of unexpected and diverse influences into the group’s sound, while the latter is far from a disparaging statement, merely an acknowledgement of the album as a product of its time and environment.

The playing throughout is deft and highly skilled, without veering into territory one could describe (often dismissively) as “tech”. While there is no doubt some complex fretwork going on here, it’s always done in service to the song and as part of an overall pattern of interlocking riffs, woven together seamlessly. Drums clatter and pound with impressive force, eschewing the simple blast-blast-blast approach in favour of punchy, jarring kick patterns and sharp, hammer-blow snare-beats, while the vocals favour a tormented, guttural howl that successfully captures an all-too-human sense of rage and despair, making a rare emotional connection with the listener. Continue reading »

DE PROFUNDIS: “THE EMPTINESS WITHIN”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Jul 022012
 

(In this post, Andy Synn reviews the new album by London’s De Profundis.)

Despite two previous impressive albums, with this latest taking them to a total of three, along with a host of European festival appearances under their belts, De Profundis remain something of an unknown quantity to many in the metal scene. In quiet solitude the UK quintet have spent years honing their craft, both as individuals and as a group, mastering both their instruments and their progressive muse, emerging periodically with a new release or a series of startling live appearances.

With a manic, melting-pot approach to song-writing that reminds me of Canada’s Into Eternity, in frenetic style if not in sound, it takes a steady hand and a keen eye to keep a complex machine such as this from spinning off the rails. Thankfully, this sort of attention to detail and knack for clear composition is something the band have in spades, accenting their material with hints of Emperor’s promethean grandeur, Death’s inhuman technical flow, and Opeth’s blackwater dynamics.

 

Though a consciously complex band, the quintet aren’t afraid to go hell-for-leather when the occasion calls for it, as the opening to “Delirium” can attest, moving from a grand metal riff in the oldest tradition through a blizzard of blast-beats and weaving tremolo guitars, before settling into a twisted arrangement of catchy riffs and spiralling solos. The track matches its ferocity with a mid-song break into calm acoustics and warping, bass-led melody lines. Cleanly spoken vocals add to the melancholic atmosphere, while a simple yet precise solo plays a mournful refrain, before the track climaxes in a blackened storm of fiery notes and snare beats. Continue reading »

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