PANZERFAUST: “THE SUNS OF PERDITION – CHAPTER I: WAR, HORRID WAR”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Jun 032019
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Panzerfaust from Toronto, Ontario, which will be released on June 14th by Eisenwald.)

So Summer is officially here. The sun is shining, the days have grown longer, and even the nights are balmy and mild.

But, of course, if sunshine and good times aren’t your thing then the music world still offers more than enough sonic darkness to satisfy your cravings for all things bleak and blackened… which, in this particular case, includes the phenomenal fourth album from Canadian extremists Panzerfaust. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 109): ENCIRCLING SEA

 Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT  7 Responses »
May 312019
 

 

(The subject of Andy Synn‘s REPORT for the month of May 2019 is the discography of the Australian band Encircling Sea.)

Recommended for fans of: Downfall of Gaia, Cult of Luna, Wolves In The Throne Room

Australian three-piece Encircling Sea are a band I’ve been itching to write about for what seems like forever, yet it’s always seemed like life has had other plans and other priorities which have prevented me from doing so.

Recently however my urge to cover the group’s music has ramped up considerably, largely because 2018’s Hearken was one of my favourite albums of the year, and helped reignite/reinvigorate my passion for their entire back catalogue.

Splitting the difference between the more atmospheric end of the Black Metal spectrum (think Wolves In The Throne Room, Agalloch, etc) and the heaving Post-Metal of ISIS and their ilk, the group’s sound also incorporates some hefty Doom and Sludge influences, as well as a dash of somber Neo-Folk, in a way that captures both the vastness and elemental grandeur of the band’s homeland in majestic musical form. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VORTEX OF END — “ARDENS FVROR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
May 302019
 

 

On May 31st — tomorrow — Osmose Productions will release Ardens Fvror, the third album by the French extremists Vortex of End, and on the eve of that explosive advent we present a full stream of the album.

Ardens Fvror is a hybrid in more ways than one. Stylistically, the band have created an alchemical alloy of black and death metal that interweaves the thunderous tumult and megaton destructiveness of a modern war zone with the hallucinatory quality of of an occult ritual, in which solemn reverence and fierce zealotry are also intermingled. The result is music that’s both skull-crushing and spell-weaving. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MALUM — “LEGION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
May 282019
 

 

Devil-worshipping black metal has taken a multitude of shapes, but the word that comes to mind most frequently in listening to the new album by Malum is “glorious”. Unmistakably, the music within Legion carries the hallmark fire and ferocity of Finnish black metal, but the songs reach mythic heights, becoming magical anthems of praise and exaltation that electrify the senses. Yet Malum have a gift for creating the kind of dynamic changes that hold listeners in place for the full run, and so they also use their beautifully crafted melodies and ever-changing momentum to carry the mood into dark places where peril and tragedy dwell.

Malum have been a prolific force since their founding in 2013, with a multitude of EPs and splits to their name, in addition to three albums, of which Legion is the newest — and most signal achievement yet. It will be released on May 31st by Purity Through Fire, and we have the great pleasure of presenting a full stream of all its extravagant tracks today. Continue reading »

NOCTURNUS AD: “PARADOX”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 282019
 

 

(Todd Manning prepared this review of the new album by Nocturnus AD, which was released late last week by Profound Lore Records.)

There is a small but dedicated group of metalheads who have been waiting a long time for a new record from Floridian Sci-Fi Death Metal powerhouse Nocturnus. Well, the wait is finally over. They have returned, now known as Nocturnus AD, and their new album Paradox dropped on May 24th.

Most fans consider their first album, 1990’s The Key to be their best. Nocturnus’ style was jarring to say the least, and at the time, it certainly triggered strong opinions both positive and negative from Death Metal fans worldwide. The production was cold and the band’s technical Death/Thrash hybrid could be bizarre at times. The most divisive element, though, proved to be their heavy use of keyboards. In the early days of the genre, this amounted to pure heresy. Continue reading »

CHECKING IN FROM MDF AFTER THE FIRST THREE DAYS

 Concert Reviews  10 Responses »
May 262019
 

 

After the first three days of Maryland Deathfest 2019 my feet are protesting, my back is mewling in pain, but my brain feels like it’s 13 years old again, jumping up and down and anxious for the last day to begin.

I’m here in Baltimore with my NCS comrades Andy Synn and DGR, and a big crew of good friends from Seattle and scattered other locations. Needless to say, we haven’t been blogging, but I thought I’d check in real quick before running the metal gauntlet one more time, beginning this afternoon. Continue reading »

ODYSSEY: “THE SWARM”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 242019
 

 

(Professor D. Grover the XIIIth [ex-The Number of the Blog] returns to our pages with this review of the new album by Odyssey from Spokane, Washington, which is being released today.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. A week ago I promised a full review of the new Odyssey album, The Swarm, and today I return to deliver on that promise.

Now, when you’ve been listening to a band or artist for the majority of their career, often you begin to foster a sense of casual ownership, that feeling of I Knew Them Back When, that helps to deepen your connection to them. You know their albums intimately, to the point that when you somehow manage to go an indeterminate stretch of time without listening to them, everything still feels comfortable and familiar. Continue reading »

VADER: “THY MESSENGER”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
May 232019
 

 

(DGR reviews the new EP by Polish extreme metal veterans Vader, which will be released on May 31st by Nuclear Blast.)

It doesn’t feel that long ago that we were musing on the idea, prompted by Vader’s previous EP Iron Times — prior to the full-length The Empire in 2016 — that the group’s habit of putting out an EP just before an album release often served as excellent preview of where the long-running Polish death-metal/thrash-metal group’s head-space was currently at, and what sort of album we might be getting from them soon after.

It’s a serious consideration with Vader, because unlike many other death/thrash hybrids the group often aren’t a hardcore fusion of genres, where elements from both are clearly recognizable all the time. Vader have two methods of operation: They can actually be a full-blown thrash band, or a fully furious death metal band. When they mix the two, they often lean hard into one side. When they are in a full-on thrash mood, it is like they could’ve easily headed the genre as a whole, and when they go for the blast-furnace style of death metal played at high pace, it seems like they could do the same thing there. Continue reading »

RAPID FIRE RECOMMENDATIONS: KOLOSSUS, WARCHEST, KNEEL, DE LIRIUM’S ORDER

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
May 222019
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli re-surfaces at NCS with a group of quick recommendations of recent releases for your earholes.)

KOLOSSUS

Kolossus are a pretty neat Finnish band whose music I couldn’t peg when I first heard them but I’ve settled on calling it melodic death metal. Really good melodic death metal is rare for me these days, but this group’s combination of the playfulness of Into Eternity, Before The Dawn‘s style of morose gothic melody and atmosphere, and  their militant energy and propulsive grooves bring to mind both Byzantine and System of A Down. Continue reading »

OCTOBER TIDE: “IN SPLENDOR BELOW”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 222019
 

 

(DGR reviews the new album by the Swedish band October Tide, which was released on May 17th by Agonia Records.)

In Splendor Below is a very different album from its predecessors. Since reforming and releasing A Thin Shell in 2010, October Tide have kept to a pretty steady release schedule of every three years, with the most recent album prior being 2016’s Winged Waltz. Since that time the group have added two of the gentlemen from Letters From The Colony in their midst, picking up the rhythm section while the Norrman brothers stay on guitar and vocalist Alexander Högbom sticks around to deliver the deep-throated and anguished yells that have become a staple of the band since his first appearance on Tunnel Of No Light.

While there is a definite sense of lineup familiarity in place, the death metal atmospherics and groove that have worked their way into the group’s sound between the release of Winged Waltz and now are certainly new. Guitarist Fredrick Norrman was quoted in the press release for thier Our Famine lyric video describing the album as “a bit more aggressive, a bit more death metal, and with an overall colder feeling than previous records.” And that feeling makes itself apparent immediately. Continue reading »

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