Album Reviews Archives - Page 86 of 545

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LEFT EYE PERSPECTIVE — “CONUNDRUM”

Nov 092023

Sometimes comparisons of one band’s music to the music of other better-known bands works pretty well. Other times you scratch your head or vigorously shake it — what the hell was that writer thinking?

But in the case of the Belgian band Left Eye Perspective, their label Argonauta Records hit the nail on the head: The band’s debut album Conundrum really does sound like someone gene-spliced Mastodon, Gojira, Baroness, and The Ocean.

Or to frame the matter differently, their music proves to be a highly contagious alchemy of sludge, stoner rock, progressive metal, and grunge. Adventurously executed with a lot of instrumental and vocal flair, it brings powerhouse grooves, flights of head-spinning elaboration, mood-moving atmospheres, and plentiful doses of lysergic acid diethylamide.

You’ll see for yourselves what we’re getting at, because today we’ve got a full stream of this magnetic album on the eve of its release. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: PLEIADES, SEA MOSQUITO, WARCRAB

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Nov 092023

(Andy Synn presents three more metallic morsels from his green and unpleasant homeland)

As always I’ve done my best to cover as many of the homegrown acts from here in the UK who have released albums this year and, ultimately… have probably only written about a small fraction of them.

But that’s always going to be the case, I suppose. I’m just one person after all (at least, I think I am) and can only do so much with the limited time that I have.

Plus, to be brutally honest, because I only write about albums I actually like that means some good stuff that I, personally, just don’t really rate is going to end up getting left by the wayside.

So consider this my apology to every band and artist I wasn’t able to feature this year. It’s not you, it’s me.

VASTUM: “INWARD TO GETHSEMANE”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Nov 082023

(We’re pleased to present Todd Manning‘s review of the latest album by a band who’s a favorite among all the old-timers around here — and should become one of your favorites if they’re not already. The full album stream debuted today, and you’ll find that below as well.)

California-based Vastum is becoming a death metal institution. Their latest, Inward to Gethsemane, is due out on November 10th and is their fifth full-length on 20 Buck Spin.
Vastum has always looked to legendary acts like Autopsy, Incantation, and Cianide for inspiration. Yet, they create an atmosphere that’s equal parts haunting and nasty that sets them apart from the rest of the old-school death metal crowd. Continue reading »

MEPHORASH – KRYSTL-AH

Album Reviews No Responses »

Nov 072023

(Andy Synn lavishes praise and worship on the new album from Mephorash, out Friday)

I love a band with ambition, don’t you?

Don’t get me wrong, there are often times when all I’m looking for are some meaty riffs and tasty hooks, and any band that can satisfy that craving is a band I’ll probably come back to again and again, but there’s something to be said about swinging for the fences, going the extra mile and… other, related clichés.

Whatever you want to call it, that’s exactly what Mephorash have done on Krystl-Ah, employing a twelve-person choir (paid for entirely out of their own pockets) and a variety of other instrumental embellishments and creative collaborators to help their music achieve its ultimate form.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Nov 062023

(Andy Synn presents four more artists/albums from last month which you may not have heard)

Would you look at that… it’s somehow November already. Which means, in a little over a month, I’ll be taking over NCS for a full week and publishing my lengthy round-up of all the Great, Good, and Disappointing releases of the year – the ones I’ve heard and feel at least semi-qualified to give an opinion of – culminating in my usual Critical and Personal top ten lists.

As always, it’s impossible for me to listen to, or cover, everything that’s released over the course of a year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and squeeze in as many reviews and recommendations as I can before then.

Making the decision of who/what to include, however, seems to be getting harder and harder – albums which almost made the cut this month include END‘s absolutely devastating The Sin of Human Frailty, the stellar debut album from Voidescent, and the predictably excellent new record from Slidhr – but I’m confident that the four selections I’ve made, two of which were “surprise” released without any warning or fanfare, will be well worth your time (and mine).

THE LUNA SEQUENCE: “I ONLY REMEMBER FALLING”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Nov 062023

(Oakland-based The Luna Sequence brought us a new album in September, and today DGR brings us his extensive reactions to the new music.)

Those who’ve walked many miles with our site will know that there are a few things we love to do around here. We like some good off the wall cover art that’ll blind people, we love us some patterns and numbers to nerd out on, and we love making the joke about getting around the ‘no clean singing’ rule – because when have we ever broken that before? – by reviewing music that has no singing at all.

Then you get into the more personal enjoyment that specific authors gain a rise out of, and in this case, yours truly absolutely enjoys throwing electronics and industrial projects on the main page, just knowing that it is going to be completely different from the wall-to-wall brutality/banshee-shrieking we enjoy posting on a day-to-day basis.

Luckily, musician Kaia Young has proven to be a bastion and has been able to provide on more than one occasion the opportunity to knock out two birds with one stone, and do both the ‘no clean singing’ joke and the electronics side of thing with their The Luna Sequence project. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: THE AMENTA, STILLNESS OF A DYING WORLD, EXCOMMUNICATIO, DELETRIX

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK No Responses »

Nov 052023

Welcome back, or welcome for the first time. For those who were with me for yesterday’s round-up, I’ll spare you a detailed update on my vaccine-induced congestion and say only that my body’s mucus factory is still vigorously pumping out the product, my wishes be damned.

Like yesterday, I wish I could have made this collection longer. Under the circumstances (which include a rare outing from my hermitage with my spouse this morning), it’s the best I could do. I did attempt to make it a varied experience, with a curveball at the end.

THE AMENTA (Australia)

Well of course we’re leading this column with a new video from The Amenta, because we’re nothing if not slavish in our attention to what they do.

It makes a special kind of sense today because the song that’s the subject of the video is The Amenta‘s cover of Diamanda Galás‘ hymn to Satan, “Sono L’Antichristo“, which originally appeared on her Plague Mass album. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SANCTUM SATHANAS — “INTO THE ETERNAL SATANIC DAMNATION”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Nov 032023

Well, strictly speaking, this isn’t a premiere. Due to getting our wires crossed, the album we’re writing about was actually released by Inferna Profundus Records two days ago. But what the hell, it will be a premiere for some of you landing at this page who haven’t yet discovered the album, so we’re forging ahead anyway.

And to be sure, Into the Eternal Satanic Damnation is an album worth discovering. It’s the debut full-length by the Chilean band Sanctum Sathanas, which is principally the project of Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218 (aka Magus Xem Deitus) from Funeral Fullmoon, Blood For Satan, Faustian Spirit, and Vanagandr, joined for this album by drummer Unholy Tormentor.

You already understand, of course, that the album is a form of wrathful devotion to Lucifer (and indeed “Wrathful Devotion” is the name of the record’s closing track). Yet realizing that will still leave many questions unanswered about how the devotion is expressed and whether it will prove inspirational to listeners — questions answered today. Continue reading »

БѢСЪ: “Ѿ ЛУКÁВАГѠ”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Nov 032023

(Here we present Didrik Mešiček‘s enthusiastic review of the just-released second album by the Russian black metal band Бѣсъ.)

Well, that’s a lot of signs we’ve not seen before, isn’t it? It turns out this is some sort of old Russian Cyrillic (possibly Old Church Slavonic?) that even I, as a Slav who can generally read Cyrillic, can’t decipher. (I found out after writing this intro that the band translates the album title to “Ov the Devil”.)

Behind the name hides a Moscow-based black metal band, founded as recently as 2019. I first noticed them with their debut album, Кощунства (2020) which already had some really cool tracks and ended up just missing my top 20 list that year. Ѿ Лукáвагѡ was released on October 27th independently. Continue reading »

GALUNDO TENVULANCE: “LUNAR ECLIPTURE”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Nov 032023

(Here is DGR‘s review of the debut album by the Japanese band Galundo Tenvulance, which was released in August by the Spiritual Beast label.)

In spite of the constant theme of the world being in ever increasingly garbage shape, the year 2021 did give me a gift in the form of Japan’s mouthful of a name melodeath group Galundo Tenvulance.

I’ve never looked up the meaning behind the name nor do I have any interest in doing so — I couldn’t bear to have the magic broken for me. I gain an inordinate amount of joy out of seeing that name placed in large font across our website – no doubt to more than the few raised eyebrows that I could imagine.

Prior to this year the young group had only had two EPs and a single to their name, with the EPs perfectly placed to be written about right around the time there was just enough of a lull in metal releases that I could really dive in and analyze the band as they grew into their own and tried new things.

Galundo Tenvulance‘s year-over-year churn has resulted in us covering both their 2021 EP Tenvulance and their 2022 EP The Disruptor Descends. In the time since, the keyboard-wielding younglings have had their lineup shifted about, a new face joining complete with new voice on the vocal front. All in time for the release of a 2023 full-length via Spiritual Beast entitled Lunar Eclipture. Continue reading »

Older Entries Newer Entries