AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THETAN — “GRAND OLE AGONY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 122023
 

Genre descriptions throughout the vast world of music can be useful. The micro-world of metal alone has dozens, many of them segmented by hyphens or backslashes in an effort to put a little more flesh on the linguistic bones. As an enticement (or a warning) they’re better than nothing at all for fans harried by time, but they can be deceptive too, because of their limitations.

“Powerviolence”, for example, is the most common descriptor used for the music of Nashville’s Thetan. To flesh that out, you might also see references to early hardcore or even European black metal from the ’90s.

But whatever thoughts those descriptions might provoke, consider also that this duo have crossed over to work with hip-hop emcees such as Kool Keith, Ultramagnetic MC’s, and LIL B. Consider further that the opening track of Thetan‘s new album, which will be released on October 13th, includes a monologue by Tennessee rap icon Crunchy Black of Three 6 Mafia.

Then contemplate the fact that the album also includes cello performances by Leslie Fox-Humphreys (a.k.a. Americana/folk soloist The Bandit Queen Of Sorrows), violin performances by Ashley Mae of Lost Dog Street Band, and the sounds of a harmonica being played by Benjamin Tod of the Lost Dog Street Band.

And wait ’til you find out who appears and what happens in the album’s closing track. Continue reading »

CROW BLACK SKY – SIDEREAL LIGHT, VOL. TWO

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 122023
 

(Andy Synn offers his thoughts on the new album from South Africa’s Crow Black Sky)

While the whole “two year album cycle” thing is fine for some bands (though I’d say it’s more common amongst bands signed to more prominent labels) not every artist works, or should work, to the same schedule.

Case in point, Cape Town’s Crow Black Sky released their first album back in 2010, but then waited eight more years before releasing the follow-up, Sidereal Light, Vol. One.

In hindsight you almost wonder why the band didn’t change their name in the intervening period (though I can understand why not, since Crow Black Sky is an excellent name) as Volume One represented a significant shift in sound for the group, moving them towards a “cosmic” Black Metal sound that was as rich in atmosphere as it was in aggression… and all the better for it.

And now, after five long years, we finally get to hear where this path has taken them with the recent release of Sidereal Light, Vol. Two.

Continue reading »

OCTOBER TIDE: “THE CANCER PLEDGE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 112023
 

(DGR is the author of the following review of October Tide‘s new album, released last week by Agonia Records.)

Fun fact: If research is to be believed, up until the recent release of October Tide‘s newest album The Cancer Pledge, they have never actually had a release come out in October. Unlike November’s Doom – who can credit at least three releases towards their chosen month-name – October Tide have actually been pretty distant from their month-of-misery-and-inspiration.

Both, however, have a large bulk of their releases based within the spring and summer time. Perfect weather for the sort of melancholic-death-and-doom those groups have trafficked in, and if nothing else, provider of the idea that in the future, should you choose to involve a month in the naming of your band, lean toward including a December or January in the mix just to guarantee that you’ll never have an album hit during the pre-year-end-list panic attack or the post-year-end list hangover/panic attack wherein everyone is trying to catch up on everything that hit prior. Continue reading »

ORGAN DEALER: “THE WEIGHT OF BEING”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 102023
 

(Here’s DGR’s review of Organ Dealer’s new album, which is out now on Everlasting Spew Records.)

Organ Dealer‘s summer drop of The Weight Of Being was a long time coming. Though the band never stopped per se, subsisting on a series of splits and singles since the release of their 2015 album Visceral Infection, there still exists a near eight-year gap for the band’s full-length material.

Organ Dealer, of course, have been through some changes in that time and what you’re hearing on The Weight Of Being is almost like a recorded journey of every change that has happened in the time since Visceral Infection dropped – including the current (because nothing is forever) last stint of belfry-shrieker Scot Moriarty on the vocals front. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Oct 092023
 

(Andy Synn highlights four albums from last month you need to listen to)

There’s two things you need to know about this column.

  1. It’s usually done sooner than this but, since I didn’t get back into the country until Wednesday last week, I didn’t have chance to write everything up until now.
  2. I normally try and present a pretty varied grab-bag of albums and artists in each article… but this time I’ve dedicated it solely to some of the nastiest, gnarliest, and most unfriendly sounds from September.

So, with all that in mind, let’s see what this latest edition of “Things You May Have Missed” has to offer, shall we?

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: WAYFARER, ENDOLITH, TROUNCE, KRÂEL, KING KAOS, DOMINION OF SUFFERING, PHOBONOID

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Oct 072023
 


Wayfarer – photo by Frank Guerra

Another Bandcamp Friday again overwhelmed the NCS in-box as bands, labels, and PR agents sought to capitalize on Bandcamp’s reduced take from sales. A similar deluge washed through social media, and every other channel where I look for new music.

It really is overwhelming, and probably self-defeating. Ironically, releasing new music on a Bandcamp Friday is probably the best strategy for getting overlooked — drowned in the flood.

It certainly adds to the stresses of creating this weekly column. I fantasize that the point of it is to help guide people toward musical gems, even though in even a normal week I know it’s still a very random process because I can’t listen to everything that might interest me or you. In a week like the last one, the process of sifting becomes an even more ridiculous challenge.

All I can say is that I enjoyed what you’ll find below, and hope that you make some valuable discoveries from it too. (And don’t bash me for overlooking a couple dozen more songs, not to mention complete albums and EPs, that would have been just as worthy of attention.) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MORNE, BEYOND GRACE, AUTARKH, PYROLATROUS, NÁSVELGR, CONVOCATION, BLUT AUS NORD

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Oct 052023
 

September 16th was the last time I was able to assemble one of these roundups of new music and videos, partly due to my missing four days at the site while attending a recent wedding in California. Needless to say, the backlog of new music that interests me swelled to enormous proportions in the interim.

In deciding what to recommend today I defaulted to the most recent releases. Prowling back through everything of interest that emerged over the last three weeks was just too daunting a task, which tends to be Sisyphean even when I’m not missing in action. Hope you get a kick (in the ass or head) from what I chose.

MORNE (U.S.)

Morne’s 40-minute new album plays out across only four songs, which tells you that they’re all substantial in length. One of those premiered this week, along with a very good video, and when I heard it the first time I felt both emotionally and physically crushed. Of course, therefore, I liked it immediately. Here’s what Morne‘s Polish-born guitarist/vocalist Miłosz Gassan said about it: Continue reading »

REVENANT MARQUIS: AN INTERVIEW BY NEILL JAMESON AND THE PREMIERE OF “ALL THE PLEASURES OF HEAVEN”

 Album Reviews, Interviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Oct 052023
 

(On October 6th Death Prayer Records will release All the Pleasures of Heaven, the final album by the Welsh black metal band Revenant Marquis. Today we are privileged to present an interview by Neill Jameson (of Krieg) with S., the person behind Revenant Marquis, followed by a premiere stream of the new album.)

It becomes difficult, after being involved in a scene for so long, to overcome that jaded, nearly apathetic feeling and truly lose yourself in someone’s music fully. For the last few years I’ve felt this way about Revenant Marquis. Truly unique and disturbing black metal, created alongside an unnerving aesthetic, Revenant Marquis stands as one of the most authentic voices of horror in a cacophony of lesser acts vying for attention.

Manifesting his first recording in 2019, Revenant Marquis has cast a long shadow across twelve public releases, with his newest, All the Pleasures of Heaven being the final, and darkest, spell he has brought to life. Today we have the honor of presenting this record to you as well as the final words from the man himself. Continue reading »

GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, SEPTEMBER 2023

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 052023
 

(Our Denver-based contributor Gonzo is back with another end-of-month column, recommending five albums released in September that he thoroughly enjoyed.)

I have to admit that I love fall, if for no other reason than the temperatures stop trying to boil me alive.

Music-wise, though, there was actually too much good shit that came out in September than I had time to write about, so I had to trim down some stuff that otherwise would’ve appeared here. But I loved what ended up making the cut – some of it was full of surprises, and some of it was stuff that lived up to the hype.

Let’s get weird. Continue reading »

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