HIPPOTRAKTOR – STASIS

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Jun 062024
 

(Andy Synn is far from indifferent to the new album from Hippotraktor, out tomorrow on Pelagic Records)

Contrary to popular belief, there is at least some method to our madness here at NCS.

I’ll grant you, said method mostly just amounts to us messaging each other back and forth going “do you want this… I can do it if you don’t have time… ok, you do that one instead…” but it’s a method that mostly/sort of/kinda works.

Case in point, my man DGR originally had Hippotraktor‘s new one pencilled in on his review queue but eventually yielded it to me when he realised that, with everything else going on, he just wouldn’t have time to give it the attention it deserved.

And since it was me who originally wrote about the band here, way back in 2021 when I reviewed their first album, it only made sense that I be the one to pick up the slack.

So let’s see how much the band have changed in the last three years, or whether they’ve just remained… in stasis.

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AL-NAMROOD: “AL AQRAB”

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Jun 062024
 

(Below you will find Didrik Mešiček‘s review of a new album by the Saudi Arabian band Al-Namrood, which will be released in just a few days from now.)

There are many of us for whom metal is an essential part of our lives and some might say, rather dramatically, that it’s a matter of life and death. For Al-Namrood, however, that statement is quite literal.

The band’s name translates to “non-believer” and that’s the exact essence the Saudis convey with their music and exactly what could get them potentially executed, which is why they’ve never been able to play a live show as the risk is simply too great. Despite that, the band has been going strong since 2008, and Al Aqrab – to be released on June 9th by Shaytan Productions – will now be their 10th full-length album. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): OKULAR — “REGENERATE”

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Jun 052024
 

Many death metal bands “look the part”, black-garbed and festooned with spikes, pentagrams, bullet-belts, and/or skulls, and others don’t. Norway’s Okular are on the “don’t” side of the line. In their recent promo photo there’s not a band shirt to be seen nor any other allusion to Satan, the Grim Reaper, or spilled guts, and there’s more khaki in their attire than black. They’ve also got a few more years in their faces, which aren’t contorted in evil grimaces, than whatever hot young things you were listening to yesterday.

Some metal bands also churn out music like there’s no tomorrow. On the other hand, if Okular are expecting the end of the world, they’re obviously not anxious about it: 11 years have passed since their last album.

But Okular‘s non-conformity goes beyond their approach to appearance and timetables. Most importantly, it’s represented by their music, which you’d already know if you happened upon either that last album 11 years ago or the one before that, and which you’re about to learn (or learn again) when you hear their new full-length Regenerate. For newcomers, let’s quickly say that it’s neither plain nor khaki-colored. It’s more like the cover art created by Tina Harsheim Giertsen: Continue reading »

ÆTHĔRĬA CONSCĬENTĬA – THE BLOSSOMING

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Jun 052024
 

(Andy Synn continues to enjoy the blooming of Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa‘s sound on their new album)

If there’s one thing I can say about NCS, it’s that we are loyal to the bands we choose to cover (sometimes to a fault) and… wait, that’s how I started my last review for this band.

Let’s try this again.

If there’s one thing we love here at NCS it’s discovering new, underground bands and then following them as they grow and change and evolve over the years.

And considering this is the third time I’m going to be writing about French Progronauts Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa I think it’s safe to say that we’re in this for the long haul.

So let’s see what strange delights they have for us this time, shall we?

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EXUVIAL — “THE HIVE MIND CHRONICLES PART I: PARASITICA”

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Jun 042024
 

(Here we have our friend Gonzo‘s enthusiastic review of a new album from Denver-based Exuvial, and we share the just-released first single from the album.)

It’s hard to turn heads (and melt faces) in tech-death anymore, thanks in part to so many bands who continuously raise the bar with stellar musicianship and songwriting (see The Zenith Passage, Archspire, ATRÆ BILIS). So, when a new band conjures up a debut album that could stand on its own next to names like those, I take note.

With that, I give you Denver’s Exuvial. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

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Jun 042024
 

(Andy Synn catches up with four albums from a mammoth May that you might have overlooked)

It was my immense good fortune to spend a good chunk of May travelling and seeing bands, first with a trip to Seattle for another excellent edition of North West Terrorfest, and then a jaunt to Baltimore to sample the delights of another Maryland Deathfest.

And since my travels gave me an opportunity to read and listen to music, I decided to make the most of it by re-immersing myself in a few of my favourite albums from the last few decades, with the result being that I probably ended up listening to fewer new releases last month than you might have come to expect.

That doesn’t mean I’ve been completely out of the loop, by any means (just give that handy “Andy Synn” tag a quick click and you’ll see that I still wrote a bunch of reviews, including several designed to cover our down-time during both the above festivals), it’s just that there’s probably going to be a few more “catching up” pieces to come after this one as well (most notably a review of the new Árstíðir Lífsins, whenever I get around to it).

As always, however, I’d like to begin a new month with four favourites from last month which I think deserve a bit more attention and acclaim, so let’s not waste any more time and just get right down to it, shall we?

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SHADES OF BLACK: HORNED ALMIGHTY, SEAR BLISS, KRALLICE, HOULE, KRÅBØL, HEILUNG

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Jun 022024
 

After a bit of a festival-induced hiatus in these Sunday columns, I’ve returned, and have had time to pull together a pretty good-sized selection of new blackened sounds today.

I’m leading off with three veteran bands who have managed to withstand the ravaging gales of time, and then I’ll move into newer collectives. I’m not sure there’s any organizing principle in what I chose, other than my own strong positive reactions to each choice. They include advance tracks from five forthcoming albums, some of them accompanied by videos, and one recently released full-length.

HORNED ALMIGHTY (Denmark)

The mighty Horned Almighty are returning to strike fear into the hearts of men, women, beasts, and probably plant life. Their new album, the seventh in a 20+ year career, is Contagion Zero. The first frights from it come in the form of a daunting and extremely dire song named “Ascension of Fever and Plague“. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: HULL OF LIGHT, ZEIT

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May 312024
 


Hull of Light

As you may know, the core cadre of NCS slaves (including me) spent chunks of May attending metal festivals in Seattle and Baltimore. In my case, this disrupted my usual efforts to pull together roundups of recommended new music. The backlog of missed opportunities is now gargantuan, leaving me confused about how in the world to pick things for this Saturday’s SEEN AND HEARD column.

Somehow between now and then I’ll figure out what to do, but I decided to get a modest head-start today by writing about two fairly recent EPs. I had thought I might get this done before becoming immersed in festival revels, but alas, I didn’t. Rather than just abandon the idea, however, I’m returning to it now. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SUFFERING SOULS — “AN ICONIC TASTE OF DEMISE”

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May 312024
 

The German symphonic black metal band Suffering Souls first sprang to dark life in the distant year 1994 under the name Dismal, but soon embraced its current name. From the beginning its founder Tobias Micko (aka Lord Esgaroth) has been at the helm, at times accompanied by other participants either in recordings or on stage.

At the end of 2019, after a quarter-century of the band’s existence, Tobias Micko started songwriting for the fifth Suffering Souls album, and it was recorded at the history-making Hertz Studio in Poland. Micko is responsible for everything on the album, other than the session drums, which were performed by Michiel Van Der Plicht (Pestilence).

Today the album is being co-released by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Fetzner Death Records (Germany). Its name is An Iconic Taste Of Demise, and we’re premiering it in full right now. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BEATEN TO DEATH — “SUNRISE OVER RIGOR MORTIS”

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May 302024
 

Metal band names, when considered either in isolation or in conjunction with the bands’ music, span a range from terrible to perfect. The name Beaten To Death is damn-near perfect, both in isolation and especially in the context of this Norwegian group’s ferociously brawling brand of grindcore.

The name creates expectations, perhaps especially to someone who’s never encountered the five albums Beaten To Death have put out beginning in 2011. But then such a stranger could take one look at the fantastical cover of their forthcoming sixth album Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis and begin to get the idea that maybe those expectations aren’t going to be entirely accurate, or at least they’re going to be incomplete.

But those of us who have encountered one or more of Beaten To Death‘s previous releases won’t be entirely surprised, because while this band are indeed fully capable of beating their listeners to death, they are equally capable of adventurously turning conventional grind expectations upside-down — and as you’re about to discover, they do it again on this newest album. Continue reading »

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