-(16)-: “DREAM SQUASHER”

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Jun 112020
 

 

(This is Wil Cifer‘s review of the new album by San Diego’s -(16)-, which was released by Relapse Records on June 5th.)

With anger as the universal language and the Apocalypse looming, sludge is a fitting soundtrack.

This band continues to stand out from the pack. They are not a Neurosis tribute and more Anger closely aligned with noise rock than doom. Hardcore influence can be heard in their more explosive moments, and I like the effects on the vocals. Lyrically it reminds me of the Melvins in their chaotic musings. Continue reading »

BAIT: “REVELATION OF THE PURE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 112020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Germany’s Bait, released by Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions on May 22nd, with cover art by Giovanni Raabe.)

Inspiration is a funny ol’ thing. Sometimes you have it… and sometimes you don’t.

Case in point, I’m currently sitting on a half-finished triptych of reviews for some very cool Black Metal bands – a mix of doomy and groovy, abrasively atmospheric, and straight-up weird albums that I’ve been spinning religiously for the past few weeks – but, for some reason, my wordstream has run a little dry.

So, to try and get things flowing again, I decided to switch tracks (mixing my metaphors here a little, but, hey, it’s not like anyone’s paying attention) and find something else to wax lyrical about.

As it turns out, none of us have written anything (barring a bit of preamble to accompany a video premiere back in April) about the new album from Germanic Blackened Hardcore crew Bait, so now seemed like the perfect time to correct this egregious oversight. Continue reading »

END: “SPLINTERS FROM AN EVER-CHANGING FACE”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 102020
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the debut album by END, which was released on June 5th by Closed Casket Activities.)

For years the UK and the USA have enjoyed (and endured) something called a “special relationship”.

This strange, strained, frequently estranged, situation has – for better or worse – resulted in an ongoing, tit for tat, “anything you can do we can do better”, back and forth between the two nations that has led both to the creation of some amazing art… and some pretty terrible political decisions.

The latest entry into this co-dependant cultural exchange is Splinters from an Ever-Changing Face, the debut album from pseudo-supergroup END, a band who seem to have spent quite some time listening to the collective works of Anaal Nathrakh and thinking “oh yeah, we can do that…” Continue reading »

REVIEWS: CENTINEX (“DEATH IN PIECES”) AND NEXORUM (“DEATH UNCHAINED”)

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Jun 102020
 

 

(In this post DGR reviews two new albums, one by Sweden’s Centinex released by Agonia Records on May 29th, and one by Norway’s Nexorum released by Non Serviam Records on March 6th.)

 

CENTINEX – DEATH IN PIECES

The path Centinex have charted since their return in 2014 has been an interesting one, if not one of the more uncompromising returns out there. They’re a band who are meant to be taken at face value, a death metal group playing the most stubborn version of it that they can, and benefiting from a renewed interest in that particular sound right around the time they came back.

The band exists partially as the other side of a death metal coin for bassist Martin Schulman (and at this point basically the last one standing of the earliest formations of the band) with the other half being a more modern-oriented death metal group with former Centinex members in the form of Demonical. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VALDRIN — “EFFIGY OF NIGHTMARES”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 092020
 

 

On their new album Effigy of Nightmares the Cincinnati band Valdrin have used their music to illustrate an epic narrative, and as the title suggests, it’s a nightmarish one. Like their previous album, 2018’s Two Carrion Talismans, the new record focuses on the antagonist of the band’s self-created Ausadjur mythos, a being named Nex Animus. As the band explain: “The story chronicles the tour of a nameless narrator through the halls of Hosptium Mortis, the nightmare hospital below the Orcus underworld itself, where Nex tortures and lobotomizes the dissident gods of his domain.”

Even that brief verbal synopsis has a chilling effect. But the ways in which Valdrin‘s harrowing new music guides us through this frightening netherworld are even more chilling, more threatening to a listener’s sanity, and much more likely to haunt listeners’ dreams for a long time to come. Set aside half an hour and prepare yourself for an experience in electrifying audio terror as we present a full stream of the album in advance of its June 12 release by Blood Harvest Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BOB MALMSTRÖM AND DISPYT

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 092020
 

 

In this unusual year of 2020 the Finnish “borgarcore” band Bob Malmström are celebrating their tenth anniversary. In addition to popping champagne and blowing out candles they chose to commemorate the occasion by releasing a series of three split 7″ vinyl records.

In the first of those, Sälj Åland, they teamed up with the long-running Finnish melodic hardcore band The Enchained (whose history extends back to 1997). Bob Malmström‘s side of the split included two tracks, and in January we premiered the band’s video for the title song.

Two months after that first split, the band released the second one with Tvärnitad from Sweden (which we’ll comment on below, since we failed to do so in April), and now the time has come for the third split to be revealed, on the eve of its June 10 release. This latest split includes the music of the Finnish black ‘n’ crust band Dispyt (whose ranks include Mathias Lillmåns of Finntroll and …and Oceans fame), in addition to Bob Malmström‘s own contributions. Continue reading »

POST MORTAL POSSESSION: “CATCOMBS OF BEDLAM”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 092020
 

 

(Here, Vonlughlio reviews and recommends the new album by Pittsburgh’s Post Mortal Possession, which was released on May 30 of this year.)

This time around I have the opportunity to talk about the band Post Mortal Possession, who first gained my attention back in 2018 with their debut album Perpetual Descent released by Lord of the Sick Recordings.  Before that I had no idea of this project and their previous EP’s released in 2014 and 2016, but the debut album was a great balance between tech and BDM elements, and the varied vocals patterns stood out for me a well.

Since I was not familiar with their EP’s, I decided to listen to them. They had a different vocalist for those releases, and I must say that the music was nothing groundbreaking, but nonetheless good stuff which  showcased the musicians’ amazing potential (the vocals were kind of a hit-or-miss with me, depending of the songs). Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET (PART 2): TRUUS, BRZASK, LEECHES, OMNIVOID

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jun 062020
 

 

This concludes a post I began here two days ago devoted mainly to new EPs I’ve been enjoying lately. This one is devoted to shades of black metal, and includes four debut releases.

TRUUS

I’ll begin with Dawn of Perdition, a stunning four-track assault by the band Truus from Bloomington, Indiana.

There’s a raw, scorching abrasion in the riffs, matched by the incendiary madness of the vocals, and a powerful low-end thrust coupled with dynamic, skull-busting drumwork. Opener “Fourth Seal” incorporates sensations of imperious power and wild writhing and wailing derangement, while the moaning and braying chords and flickering leads of the title track create an atmosphere that’s more ominous. Both tracks are tremendously intense, and manage to spawn visions of terrifying grandeur as well as spine-tingling violence. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: COSMOVORE / INSTIGATE / LIVING GATE

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jun 052020
 


Peter Paul Rubens: “The Fall of the Damned”

 

(Andy Synn helps us end our week-day posts (though more will be coming this weekend) with the following trio of reviews.)

I really feel like I’ve let you all down this week. I had originally intended to write a bunch of different articles this week, but somehow – primarily due to having to focus on work and band stuff instead – time has slipped through my fingers.

Still, better late than never, right? So here’s a quick write-up of a trio of killer EPs I’ve been jamming lately. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ABOVE AURORA — “THE SHRINE OF DETERIORATION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 052020
 

 

Founded in Poznań, Poland in 2015 and now living in Reykjavik, Iceland, the black metal band Above Aurora began walking a desolate path through bleak musical terrain in their 2016 debut album (aptly named Onward Desolation), and then took another step deeper into emotional darkness with their 2018 EP, Path To Ruin (also aptly named). And now they are ready for the release of their second album, The Shrine of Deterioration.

No one familiar with the band’s trance-inducing strategies and minimalist (though quite powerful) modes of expression, or the chilling hopelessness of their moods, should expect any radical revision of their style, which has already been powerfully established. And indeed, The Shrine of Deterioration is also well-named. Yet the album is not simply the same dire-wolf that stalked our darkest moods in the preceding releases. Above Aurora continue to walk their path, but they have become even more sure-footed as guides to the cold, lightless places within us all — as you will discover through our full stream of the album in advance of its June 6 release by Pagan Records. Continue reading »

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