ALGEBRA: “PULSE?”

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Sep 102019
 

 

(This is TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new album by the Swiss band Algebra, which will be released on September 30 by Unspeakable Axe Records.)

Progressive thrash metal has always been a tricky sub-genre to tackle, mostly because a lot of the time it just ends up not being thrash anymore. It usually tends to become more like traditional heavy metal with some experimental stuff in it or it becomes death-metal-influenced and looks to bands like Death, Pestilence, etc., to derive its progressive tendencies. Finding progressive thrash metal that’s thrash, while being progressive, while also maintaining the adrenaline mainline intensity and riffing intricacies of the genre, is actually pretty difficult.

For the record, my definition of progressive is not the “power metal but long songs and instrumental virtuosity” brand like Dream Theater, etc.  I think many people would agree that progressivism in metal tends to manifest itself with… Continue reading »

DAWN RAY’D: “BEHOLD SEDITION PLAINSONG”

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Sep 092019
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Liverpool-based black metal trio Dawn Ray’d, which will be released on October 25 by Prosthetic Records.)

It’s a bold move for a band to wear their politics loudly and proudly on their sleeves these days.

Actually, scratch that… it’s always been risky for bands to speak openly about their political allegiance, be it left, right, or otherwise, despite Metal’s long history – from “War Pigs” to “Suffer the Children” to “Toxic Garbage Island” – of speaking out against militarism, corruption, and other societal ills.

After all, politics (along with religion) is one of the things that seems to bring out our most tribal instincts, often in the worst possible ways.

The risks for any band are, therefore, quite obvious. The more political you get, and the more polemical you become, the more you risk dividing and alienating your potential audience, and most artists, at some point in their careers, find a way to balance their musical ambitions with what they want to communicate so as to reach as many listeners as possible.

But, of course, where Dawn Ray’d are concerned, such compromise clearly isn’t an option. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: DIKASTERION — “STAVELOT 1597 / ROME 897”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 062019
 

 

Building on the strength of their slaughtering 2018 debut demo, the Belgian black/death band Dikasterion have escaped Hell again, and brought much of Hell with them in a new two-track release coming our way via Amor Fati Productions on September 9th — next Monday. If you think those references to hellish power were exaggerations, just listen to Stavelot 1597 / Rome 897 (which we’re giving you the chance to do a bit further on in this post).

Only two songs long, this is the kind of pull-no-punches barbarity capable of leaving a listener mind-mangled but crackling with electricity and wishing it were longer. Make no mistake, it’s a cruel and ugly assault on the senses, not any kind of experience for the faint of heart. But as toxic, brutish, and maniacal as the music may be, these sulfurous, diabolical assaults get the pulse pounding with primal power. Continue reading »

MGŁA: “AGE OF EXCUSE”

 Album Reviews  43 Responses »
Sep 062019
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Poland’s Mgła — and some personal reflections on controversies that have swirled about the band and how they have affected reactions to the music.)

Confirmation bias is a hell of a thing. We see what we want to see, we hear what we want to hear, we believe what we want to believe.

It’s possible to be aware of it, and to guard against it to an extent, but none of us are entirely immune to it.

It’s a very human thing after all, based on the availability of information, the heuristic shortcuts we use to analyse it, and an inescapable egotism which leads us to prioritise what we agree with/what agrees with us, over what runs contrary to our current worldview.

And nothing has crystallised this quite as much in recent times as the surprise release of the new Mgła album earlier this week. Continue reading »

NEPTUNIAN SUN: “THE BLACK LIGHT THAT BLINDS US”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 052019
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Spanish trio Neptunian Sun, which was released on June 13th of this year by South Coast Production.)

I don’t know about the rest of you, but this week so far has been one kick in the teeth after another.

Don’t get me wrong, lots of people have things worse than I do, but I’d be lying if I said the personal, professional, and musical setbacks of the last few day’s haven’t left me feeling bruised, bitter, and a little bit broken.

Different people, of course, respond to situations like this in different ways. Especially when it comes to their listening habits.

Some people like to listen to bright, uplifting music, stuff designed to help them rise above their circumstances and get them through the dark times.

But others prefer to embrace the darkness, to know it, to feel it, to experience and express it on an intimate level, in an explosion of visceral, cathartic release.

Which is why I’ve been listening to the latest album from Neptunian Sun a lot recently. Continue reading »

EXHORDER: “MOURN THE SOUTHERN SKIES”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 052019
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the first album in 27 years by NOLA’s Exhorder, which is due out September 20th via Nuclear Blast Records.)

I think if you’re Exhorder, you’re aware there’s an immense weight of expectation upon you in making a comeback.  Many classic or genre-defining bands have tried comebacks, especially in this last decade. Carcass did it and released what was IMO a pretty mediocre album that grasped at the straws of their former glory. At The Gates came back and have released two albums that were so good and consistent it was as if they had never left. A lot of us I know were pretty eager and interested to know how Exhorder would choose to go about a comeback of their own.

Exhorder may be aware of expectations, but as I hear it, Mourn The Southern Skies is a mission statement of a band who simply doesn’t give a fuck about what people expect from them. Continue reading »

SLEEPING ANCIENT: “THERE IS NO TRUTH BUT DEATH”

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Sep 042019
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the debut album by Houston-based Sleeping Ancient, which will be released digitally on September 6th, and on vinyl by via Viridian Flame Records.)

Personally, professionally, and musically, it’s been a very busy year for me so far, and I haven’t been able to listen to (or write about) half the artists and albums I wanted to.

Nor does it look like the rest of the year has any intention of slowing down in this respect, as my list of upcoming albums (and, I need to stress, these are only the ones I know about for certain, there’s certainly going to be many more surprise releases and new discoveries along the way) is already longer than I can possibly handle.

And, chances are that some of you are in exactly the same boat.

But, rather than try to help, I’m instead going to make things even worse by suggesting you check out yet another album which has real potential to end up on a few End of Year lists come December.

Interested? I knew you would be. You just can’t help yourselves. Continue reading »

BEYOND THE GATES FESTIVAL 2019

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 032019
 

 

(Our Atlanta-based contributor Tør was fortunate to attend the 2019 edition of the Beyond the Gates festival in Bergen, Norway (headlined by Watain, Mayhem, Emperor, and Abbath), which took place on August 21-24, and he provides the following thoughts about the experience, and a treasure-trove of his own wonderful photos.)

Beyond The Gates VIII has just wrapped up and I am back in my Airbnb room — the cool Bergen breeze is coming in through the open window. It has been one hell of a festival with all three days providing quality entertainment for all who were lucky to witness it. I have lots of things to say about the festival itself, the city of Bergen, the country of Norway, and the friends I met along the way: things about why Norway is one of the happiest countries in the world, how Bergen is one of the liveliest cities I have visited, and why metal has become such an international phenomenon. However, those are heavy subjects for my tired soul and best left for another time. For now, a brief overview of the last three days will suffice. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SLAUGHTBBATH

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Sep 032019
 

 

You might be surprised to learn that the Chilean band Slaughtbbath hail from San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, a small countryside town that we’re informed has no metal scene at all. It is an unexpected source for the kind of absolutely electrifying and utterly ferocious power that this demonic trio have channeled through their amalgam of black metal, death metal, and thrash — a power surge that has punched straight through the red zone on their new album Alchemical Warfare, which will be released by Hells Headbangers on September 6th — and which we’re proudly premiering today.

The band waste no time releasing the whirlwind, opening the album through “Ritual Bloodbath” with the sounds of utter mayhem and then a lightning storm of brazen, blaring riffs, rampantly maniacal drumming, and utterly vicious vocal barbarism. Those sounds are delivered with explosive volume and intensity. The guitar leads writhe like fire elementals freed from their magical chains. The percussive propulsion is both turbo-charged and seems to change in the patterns and progressions from second to second. The vocalist ultimately resorts to wild screaming, caught up in the incendiary madness of this music — and who could blame him? Continue reading »

ACHERONIAN SCAR: “GATE INTO THE ABYSS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 032019
 


I’m Back.

 

(TheMadIsraeli returns to NCS after a hiatus with this review of the debut album by the Swiss band Acheronian Scar, which was released yesterday.)

The symphonic death metal space has long been dominated primarily by SepticFlesh and Fleshgod Apocalypse as its gatekeepers. Both have become legendary bands in their own right who’ve released a decent catalogue of powerful, majestic, yet brutal and sinister death metal inn which they’ve attempted to mix classical elements and instrumentation in a way that meshed. I, however, feel both bands have gotten a little too comfortable. Both Fleshgod and SepticFlesh feel like they are leaning back on the gimmick of their orchestral elements, and foregoing the need to push the metal instrumentation and composition aspects of their material. For me, the last two albums from both bands ended up being forgettable and lacking in substance.

Acheronian Star are the meteor-killing-the-dinosaurs moment for symphonic death metal in my mind, and the best band I’ve heard attempt this style. They precisely attack the style’s greatest weakness, an over-emphasis on the symphonic and a belittling and simplifying of the death metal part of the music. They boast technical musicianship and compositions that rival Obscura and Beyond Creation while employing a stripped-back orchestral presence that carries the majesty and vitriol of albums like Fleshgod’s Agony without relying on the orchestral gimmick. Continue reading »

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