UMBRA VITAE: “SHADOW OF LIFE”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
May 052020
 

 

(This is Wil Cifer‘s review of the debut album by Umbra Vitae, which was released on May 1st by Deathwish Inc.)

Converge is one of my favorite bands. Yeah, I know they are not metal. Even their singer Jacob Bannon admits this and calls his band hyper-aggressive. But they are very influenced by metal, and on albums like Petitioning the Empty Sky you can hear Slayer dripping from the riffs.

Jacob might perform in a hardcore band, but he has a love for death metal that inspired him to put Umbra Vitae together. He enlisted guitarists from Hatebreed and The Red Chord, along with the ex- drummer from Job For a Cowboy and the bassist from The Red Chord.

So I went into this album with Converge as the bar by which I was going to be measuring it. It did not disappoint. This is not a love letter to Morbid Angel, though you can hear their influence in places. I would have been let down if this had been a color-by-numbers death metal album. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MEAN MESSIAH — “DIVINE TECHNOLOGY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
May 042020
 

 

Mean Messiah‘s new album Divine Technology is over-the-top in nearly every way, from the full-tilt but machine-precise drum obliteration to the soaring vocal harmonies, from the riotously dismantling grooves to the swarming guitar savagery, from the sweeping symphonic layers to the vast panoply of unhinged vocal extremity. It’s a combination of theatrical spectacle and industrial-strength demolition job which at various times brings to mind Strapping Young Lad, Devon Townsend‘s The Retinal Circus, Fear Factory, latter-day Dimmu, Yes, and even Aborted.

The thing is, this Czech trio (who sound like their line-up is a 100-strong army) throw caution to the winds in a way that makes their explosive energy contagious. They revel in their bombastic excess, packing as much as they can into each of these seven tracks, bound and determined to leave their audience breathless, and with ruined necks and spinning heads, and it’s hard not to get caught up and carried away by both the sheer enthusiasm and the surgical execution.

Divine Technology will be released tomorrow (May 5th) by Slovak Metal Army, and we’ve got a full stream of the madness today, along with further notes about the experience. Continue reading »

KARMACIPHER: “INTROSPECTRUM”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
May 042020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Hong Kong’s Karmacipher, which was released on April 30 by Infree Records.)

Before we go any further, please indulge me for a moment, if you will (or just skip on down to the “Continue reading” button) while I go off on a little bit of a tangent.

It’s undeniable that a lot of Metal writing/reviewing tends to focus on bands from Europe and North America. Sure, South America gets an occasional look-in, while isolated outliers like Iceland and Australia have been punching well above their weight over the last couple of years, but generally speaking bands from Africa and/or Asia in particular still tend to struggle to get wider coverage.

Heck, even when they do, they’re often either treated with patronising condescension or exoticised for having some sort of cultural “gimmick” (see every band who’s been given a 10/10 review just because they use native instruments or sing in a language other than English), and it’s always struck me as a little bit off  the way certain sections of the Metal media seem to insist that bands need to sound authentically “foreign” or “exotic” enough before they’ll cover them.

The truth is that great music, great Metal, can come from anywhere. And it doesn’t/shouldn’t have to fit into some preconceived notion of what music from a certain place “should” sound like.

Case in point, there’s nothing about the sublime second album from this Hong Kong trio which ties it to a specific location, nationality or culture. But that doesn’t matter. Because the only culture it’s trying to represent is Death Metal, and it does that phenomenally. Continue reading »

A DOUBLE REVIEW: HAVOK AND WARBRINGER

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 042020
 


Havok

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli combines reviews of the new albums by Havok (released on May 1st by Century Media) and Warbringer (released on April 24th by Napalm Records.)

Thrash metal is in a funny place to me.  Ever since the resurgence of it, a lot of bands have desperately clung to the nostalgia bait of writing music that sounds like an authentic representation of what you would’ve heard in the ’80s or early ’90s.  What’s really kind of joke-worthy about this trend is that what we ended up seeing was a bunch of guys trying to sell you nostalgia and engaging in probably extreme metal’s most overt tailspin into cynical capitalist consumerism.  Most of the resurgence of thrash in the modern age has thus been pretty soulless and pretty meme-worthy.

As a consequence, the thrash metal that’s good nowadays shrugs off that nostalgia bait and moves forward.  The best of it embraces the evolution of the style up to its recession in 1992 or so and has then seen some of the best material written in the whole sub-genre in the 2010‘s.

So, we’re doing some shorter-length reviews today of two thrash metal records that embody this ideal.  Thrash metal that retains the foundation but has adapted to the times. Continue reading »

ALTERNATIVE RELEASE DAY ROUND-UP: AZZIARD / BÂ’A / FROM THE VASTLAND / GRAV MORBUS / IRDORATH / NOCTRIULM / ORDER OF ORIAS

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
May 012020
 


Azziard

(On another day when Bandcamp is waiving its revenue share, Andy Synn provides a timely collection of reviews, focusing on seven new black metal albums.)

It’s been another busy week for me, both personally and professionally, which means I’m currently writing this article in a bit of a rush.

But, considering that the fine folks at Bandcamp Inc. have elected to once again waive their fees for the day, it seemed extra vital that I get this piece finished and published on time and under budget so that you’ll be able to support these artists in a way that benefits them even more directly.

Today’s feature, as some of you might have guessed, is focussed firmly on the Black Metal end of the spectrum, and covers a plethora of absolutely killer (in more ways than one) albums, some of which have only just been released, others which have been available for a little (or a lot) longer than that, but which are all more than worthy of your attention. Continue reading »

SWEVEN: “THE ETERNAL RESONANCE”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Apr 302020
 

 

(Seattle-based NCS contributor Gonzo wrote the following review of the debut album by the Swedish named Sweven, which was released on March 20 by Ván Records.)

When I found out Swedish weirdos Morbus Chron had called it quits after releasing one of the best albums of 2014, Sweven, it was disappointing news. Blending a smorgasbord of musical elements ranging from the throaty assault of Horrendous and the tempered patience of Opeth to ’70s psychedelia, Sweven showcased a band that was positioned to carve their own path through a saturated metallic universe.

Six years after Sweven’s release, that path has taken an unexpected detour. Morbus Chron frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Robert Andersson has unveiled The Eternal Resonance, the debut album from his newest band, Sweven. Continue reading »

VADER: “SOLITUDE IN MADNESS”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Apr 292020
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the newest album by the Polish death metal icons Vader, which features striking cover art by Wes Benscoter and is due for release on May 1 by Nuclear Blast.)

Vader is a tough band to review.  This, of course, is not because of how intricate or deep their music is, it’s because this band’s level of intensity and quality has been so good that “It’s a Vader album” is literally the review.  I love this band’s entire discography — I don’t think they have a single bad, or even just “okay” album or EP in the entire fucking discography.

That also isn’t to say Vader are a one-dimensional band.  They have nuance, and the tiny degrees to which they dial around elements of their sound from album to album make a big difference.  It’s interesting because at this point it basically means we have three types of Vader among which they kind of seem to bounce back and forth: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CAGE OF CREATION — “INTO NOWHERE II”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 282020
 

 

We are about to leap with glee off our well-trodden paths, leaving behind us our usual metal extremity, lured away by black magic into a strange (and for us, a largely unfamiliar) realm. The Russian sorcerers who have cast this spell of psychedelic black rock have named themselves Cage of Creation, and their most seductive incantations are now to be found within a new album named Into Nowhere II.

As the album’s title suggests, it is a sequel to their 2016 debut full-length Into Nowhere, the Roman-numeraled songs picking up where the last track of that one left off. And these are indeed masterful sorcerers, like the Pied Piper of Hamlin who will lead us dancing away, never to be seen again, or like Hansel and Gretel’s cannibalistic witch luring us with sweets into the oven, or like the Devil himself who invites us in charismatic commands to cavort around a midnight bonfire whose sulfurous fumes become deliciously aromatic to our bedazzled senses.

The album was first released digitally and on tape earlier this month by NEN Records, but on April 29th it will receive a CD release by Devoted Art Propaganda, which provides the occasion for today’s presentation of a complete album stream. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: CRYPTIC SHIFT / DIVINE CHAOS / EMBODIMENT

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 272020
 


Cryptic Shift

 

(Andy Synn again focuses on releases from his home country, and today reviews two brand new albums and one that will be arriving soon.)

I’m not going to waffle on here about the state of the world, the way things used to be, etc. It’s all been said enough times already.

Instead, let’s get right to the matter at hand, and enjoy these three celebrations of the power of the riff, in all its unlimited glory! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ABDUCTION — “JEHANNE”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  9 Responses »
Apr 272020
 

 

Few episodes in French history, or indeed of world history, have captured the imagination of so many people, or proved as inspiring, as the short life of Jeanne d’Arc (or Joan of Arc, for us English speakers). Born to peasant parents in roughly 1412, she claimed to have received visions in her teenage years of the archangel Michael and various female saints commanding her to lend her support to the unanointed king Charles VII in an ultimately successful effort to rescue France from English domination late in the Hundred Years’ War.

As part of a relief army, the king sent her to the Siege of Orléans, which was lifted only nine days later. But in May 1430, after further military triumphs, she was captured by a faction of French nobles allied with the English, who turned her over to the English. They tried her on a variety of charges, declared her guilty, and burned her at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was about 19 years old when the flames took her.

We’ve provided this truncated reminder because the new album we’re premiering today by the French black metal band Abduction is a concept album based on the life of Joan. Entitled Jehanne, it will be released by Finisterian Dead End Metal Label on April 29th, as a remembrance of the day on which Joan entered the besieged city of Orléans in 1429. Continue reading »

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