AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CROCELL — “OF FROST, OF FLAME, OF FLESH”

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Jun 262024
 

The formidable Danish band Crocell released their debut album The God We Drowned in 2008, and then followed that with new full-lengths every two or three years, culminating in their fifth album Relics in 2018. Keeping to that pattern, we might have expected a new album in 2021, but that year they instead brought us a pair of four-song EPs on the same day (reviewed here).

Now, however, three years later, we do have a new Crocell album, and it will be coming out on June 28th via the band’s new label Emanzipation Productions. Its name is Of Frost, Of Flame, Of Flesh, and today we’re presenting it in its entirety. Continue reading »

ORGONE – PLEROMA

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jun 262024
 

(Andy Synn is here to tell you to open your minds to the outstanding new album from Orgone)

As I’m sure most of you are aware by now, I consider genre terms to be a useful tool – in the right hands, anyway –  to help guide and inform listeners, whether in general or specific terms, about what to expect (or not) when listening to a new band or album.

That being said, I don’t think bands should necessarily be limited or confined by genre traits and tropes if they don’t want to be (even if creativity often thrives within constraints).

After all, bands are just people, and people – in all their infinite diversity and infinity combinations – cannot (and should not) be defined by just a few, simplistic terms.

The human condition, you see, is less of a spectrum and more of an endlessly cascading kaleidoscope, one which looks different to everyone… and so is the art we produce.

Which is why trying to pin down the avant-garde, genre non-binary approach of Pittsburgh experimentalists Orgone would be a mistake (and a disservice to both the band and their audience).

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NOXIS — “VIOLENCE INHERENT IN THE SYSTEM”

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Jun 252024
 

Almost four years ago we premiered Expanse of Hellish Black Mire, the debut EP of a Cleveland-based death metal band named Noxis. In an accompanying review, I attempted to sum up the music by saying that it was “thuggish in its bone-fracturing, organ-rupturing belligerence and disgustingly gruesome in its atmosphere, and yet also mind-boggling in its mad contortions and technical extravagances. Their music is thus thoroughly putrid and punishing but also a big adrenaline kick”.

Having experienced that EP, I wasn’t completely shocked by what Noxis have accomplished on their debut album Violence Inherent In The System, which we’re premiering today in advance of its June 28 release, but it still leaps beyond what Noxis achieved on that very impressive EP. And for those of you who might be encountering Noxis for the first time, you’re in for an enormous surprise, a surprise of genuinely explosive proportions. Continue reading »

KÓLGA: “BLACK TIDES”

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Jun 242024
 

(Vizzah Harri wrote what follows below. It’s best that we not spoil it by attempting any further introductory words.)

Nearly 3 months have passed since Black Tides has been released. So many things in life are timebound; news, they say, needs to be relevant, timely and fresh. Nothing refreshes more than a jump into the ocean, or smelling the salty morning breeze, I mean, 3am is morning, right?

If you don’t mind, we’re going to take a trip back in time, because that’s exactly what Kólga’s sound implores us to do. And like the evening news after an emergency, it’s best to wait until the stylus revolts unto the dead wax. Continue reading »

ƁLÓÐ – MARA

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Jun 242024
 

(Andy Synn finds himself haunted by the new album from France’s Blóð)

Let me start by saying that if I hadn’t already decided who I was going to feature for this month’s edition of The Synn Report (which will likely be published at the start of next week) then I very much would have liked to have done a deep-dive into the discography of doomy, devilishly blackened Sludge/Post-Metal duo Blóð.

But since I’m not going to have time/space to fully delve into the depths of their back catalogue here (though you should definitely do so when you get chance) we’ll just have to be satisfied with heaping praise on their recently-released third album, Mara.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): REPLACIRE — “THE CENTER THAT CANNOT HOLD”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 202024
 

Behind every album there is a tale — of course there is. Sometimes the tales are mundane, but in the case of Replacire‘s new album The Center That Cannot Hold, the story brings to mind the  travails of Sisyphus, that benighted figure from Greek myth whom the gods punished for cheating death by forcing him to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down every time it neared the top.

In legend, the fate of Sisyphus is one of eternal toil. but fortunately Replacire did eventually manage to reach the summit and stay there, not only completing this new album but also achieving a new summit in their music.

We’ll give you an excerpt of information about why the completion of the album turned out to be such a struggle, but our main mission today is to present a full stream of the album on the eve before its June 21 release by Season of Mist. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ADELON — “RESURGENCE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jun 192024
 

Metaphorically speaking, most metal bands have a core stylistic foundation around which they might then add other embellishments — or not. To switch up the metaphor, they might have a fundamental DNA, then spliced with other genetic strands to create a hybrid of sound — or not.

In the case of the Swiss band Adelon, whose four-song debut EP Resurgence we’re premiering today in advance of its June 21 release, they point to the strong influence on their music of Gojira and Decapitated, suggesting that their own foundations are themselves a multi-faceted structure of death-metal groove and technicality, even before they add additional embellishments and hybridized strands (which indeed they do, in abundance).

By the time all the hybridizing is in place, it becomes considerably more difficult to separate foundation from everything else that goes into the final edifice, which is in fact much less of an edifice than a constantly morphing dreamscape, in which prog-metal and even elements of jazz play significant roles, along with all the obliterating grooves and the tech-death fireworks. Continue reading »

CONSTRUCT OF LETHE – A KINDNESS DEALT IN VENOM

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 192024
 

(Andy Synn has some kind, and some unkind, words for the new album from Construct of Lethe, out Friday on Transcending Obscurity)

There’s an argument to be made – in fact, I’m going to make it now – that Construct of Lethe‘s second album, 2018’s Exiler, is one of the best Death Metal albums of the last ten (and probably twenty) years.

But, after releasing such a milestone album (one which you might even be tempted to call a “masterpiece”, at least in the original sense of that word) what exactly was the band to do?

And the answer, it turns out, is to throw caution to the wind and construct an ambitiously flawed, yet absolutely fascinating (not to mention utterly ferocious) autobiographical concept album about the devastating doldrums of depression and suicidal ideation, split into 12 “chapters” (not all of which could be called “songs”), that is intended to be experienced as a singular, uninterrupted sequence.

So, without further interruption or delay… let’s dive in.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CAILLEACH BHEUR — “CAILLEACH BHEUR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 182024
 

On June 28th Fiadh Productions will release the self-titled debut album of an unorthodox black metal band named Cailleach Bheur. They prefer to remain anonymous, but as their Scottish Gaelic name suggests (more about the name later), we’re told that all the members were based in Scotland 15 years ago, and one or more still are.

The themes of the album were also inspired by Scottish mythology and folklore, and the music has been in development for quite a long time – more than 10 years. Before we get to the music itself, in all its many eye-popping permutations, we’ll share with you a little more background about the album that we’ve been provided: Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME VI: DEATHFEST AND OTHER MADNESS

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jun 182024
 

(After a slight delay following the expiration of May, Dan Barkasi rejoins us with reviews and streams of eight selected albums released during that month.)

To begin, a brief recap of Maryland Deathfest. If you attended, we can only hope it was as close to cathartic for you as it was for yours truly.

Having attended a ton of MDF’s in the past – I’ve lost count – this was unequivocally one of my favorite editions. The variety and top-tier quality of the musical performances was profound. Sinmara, Spectral Wound, Fossilization, Altars, Spectral Voice, and Imperialist were all acts witnessed for the first time, and each left a permanent impression. Heavy hitters such as Dismember, Ahab, Agalloch, Sodom, and Primordial each brought an undeniable presence to each of their shows that were wholly different, yet left the same elated feeling.

The biggest highlight, however, is this festival representing a gathering of lifelong friends that haven’t been seen in much too long of a time period, as well as making new friends, all of which we hope to see again very soon. Continue reading »

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