MISERY INDEX: “RITUALS OF POWER”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 012019
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Misery Index, which will be released on March 8th by Season of Mist.)

Where exactly does one start with a band like Misery Index?

From their humble (well, relatively humble) Death-Grind beginnings, the band have grown into a veritable Death Metal institution, one with five (soon to be six) full-length albums and innumerable EPs and split releases to their name, not to mention a not-insignificant amount of critical and cultural influence under their belt, all of which makes it difficult to find something new to say about the ongoing work of Messrs. Netherton, Jarvis, Kloeppel, and Morris.

But while it may be difficult to find a new angle from which to approach the band’s music these days, that doesn’t mean that the band themselves have run out of things to say, and their newest album continues their long-established tradition of raising their fists and kicking against the pricks as loudly, and as angrily, as possible. Continue reading »

LORDS OF CHAOS (THE MOVIE)

 Movie Reviews  7 Responses »
Feb 282019
 

 

(By now, surely every metalhead knows about the Lords of Chaos movie directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and written by Åkerlund and Dennis Magnusson based on the 1998 book of the same name, focusing on the Norwegian black metal scene of the early ’90s. In the following post, Wil Cifer shares his reactions to the movie — and we welcome your own in the Comments if you’ve seen it.)

I know it’s a vulgar concept, but let’s pretend for a moment that movies are pure entertainment. There are some filmmakers like David Lynch and Lars Von Tier who transcend the fluff of your typical popcorn sellers, but they are the exception to the rule.

If you are looking mindless fun, draped in corpse paint, then your expectations of Lords of Chaos might be reasonable. If you are looking for the definitive history of Norwegian Black Metal, then you might be better off with the 2010 documentary Until the Light Takes Us. Continue reading »

TRIAGE: CARRION MOTHER / DEADSPACE / FERAL LIGHT

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Feb 272019
 


Carrion Mother

 

(Andy Synn chose three recent albums for this collection of reviews and complete music streams, stretching from Germany to Australia to the Upper Midwest of the U.S.)

The word “triage” is a medical term, most frequently deployed in cases of war or natural disaster, which describes the process of prioritising individual cases of illness or injury based upon the severity of their condition and the likelihood that treatment is going to be effective.

And, unfortunately, this often means that difficult choices need to be made about who lives, and who dies, for the greater good.

Now, thankfully, my current situation is nowhere near as serious or as severe as that, but I am increasingly finding myself in the position where I’m having to choose what bands do, and what bands don’t, get written about, due to the combined pressures of limited time and seemingly unlimited music to cover.

So, with that in mind, here are three selections from my ever-growing list of albums which I think deserve some extra effort and attention, with apologies to those many, many bands, who didn’t make the cut. Continue reading »

GORGON: “ELEGY”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Feb 272019
 

 

(This is DGR’s review of the new album by the French symphonic death metal band Gorgon, which was released by Dusktone on January 18, 2019.)

In the mental picture of our pretend NCS office that I keep in my head — when there isn’t somehow a gigantic fire in the corner that no one can explain — I often imagine the handful of us as having desks, as if we were respectable, upright citizens. So when I often say that a promo was “slid across my desk”, I’m projecting what I know of my fellow writers onto the surmised reasons why they may have sent a certain disc my way as they strolled by. This does happen, in the virtual world if not in a world of desks, as we are often determined to find music that we can share with each other, as well as all of you.

The arrival of France’s Gorgon and their latest album Elegy at the NCS office was one of those moments, where I felt as if I could sense the album slowly sliding my way, especially as more and more details of the group were revealed — as if it had become sentient itself and our meeting was an inevitability. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLACK ANVIL — “MILES”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Feb 262019
 

 

On March 4, 2014, Selim Lemouchi took his own life at the age of 33. As the founding member and guitarist of The Devil’s Blood, in which he was joined by his sister Farida, Lemouchi created emotionally powerful occult rock music that was beautifully evil and haunting, a combination of darkness and grandeur that reflected and channeled Lemouchi‘s Satanic spiritualism. The music made strong and lasting connections with many listeners, and led to friendships among fellow musicians, among them, members of New York City’s Black Anvil. Their new EP, Miles, was created as a tribute to him.

Initially, Miles consisted of just the title track and a cover of Mercyful Fate‘s “A Corpse Without Soul”. Work on it was put aside for a time while Black Anvil focused their efforts on their 2017 album, As Was. After returning to Miles, the band wrote and recorded one more original song, the opener “Iron Sharpens Iron”, and recorded a cover of The Devil’s Blood‘s “Everlasting Saturnalia” to round out the EP. Working with their friend Steve Macioci of STB Records, the band have readied Miles for release in March, in remembrance of, and dedication to, their lost friend Selim Lemouchi. We have a full stream of the EP for you today. Continue reading »

RELICS OF HUMANITY: “OBSCURATION”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Feb 252019
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio‘s review of the new EP by the brutal death metal band Relics of Humanity from Minsk, Belarus.)

This time around I have the opportunity to review Relics of Humanity‘s new EP Obscuration, released via Willowtip Records this past 22nd of February. I have been listening to it non-stop and have to say that the music is back to the veins of their first album, Guided by the Soulless Call (which is their best work in my opinion).

The band have been active since 2007 and have released  demos, two albums, a compilation, and now this EP. One of the things I like about the project is that they have a specific sound to their music that is very recognizable, and have been able to maintain it through the years. Continue reading »

THE BEST OF BRITISH 2019: ANTRE / ITHACA / MASTIFF

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Feb 222019
 

 

(Andy Synn prepared this trio of reviews for new releases by bands from the UK.)

For whatever reason, I’ve really struggled to pull together an edition of “The Best of British” so far this year. Despite receiving numerous suggestions and recommendations, only a few have really stood out to me.

Thankfully the three albums featured here, all released over the course of the last month, have proven to be the exception(s) to the rule, and are all well worth checking out if you’re interested in keeping abreast of current developments in the UK scene.

Two of these records represent a pair of highly anticipated, highly promising, debuts from a couple of new-ish names, while the third is a stunningly savage sophomore release from one of the country’s most punishing purveyors of sickeningly heavy Sludge-core.

So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Antre, Ithaca, and Mastiff. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LUCIFERA — “LA CACERIA DE BRUJAS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Feb 212019
 

 

It wouldn’t be wrong-headed to label the music of La Caceria De Brujas as “black thrash”, but that label really doesn’t do it justice. For most of its 39-minute duration, this fourth album by Colombia’s Lucifera is a brazen race, fueled by the kind of feral ferocity that most people have come to expect from South American devil-thrash, but there’s uncommon depth to this music. As fierce and scorching as the music is, it’s also loaded with melodic hooks, and it achieves a feeling of divine Bacchanalian glory — summoning visions of wild exultation, of spirits set free by sorcerous conjurations.

La Caceria De Brujas will be released by the German label Dunkelheit Produktionen on February 25th (with a vinyl edition coming the next month), and today we’re presenting a full stream of this remarkable album. Continue reading »

KING APATHY: “WOUNDS”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Feb 202019
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by King Apathy (formerly Thränenkind), which will be released on February 22nd by Lifeforce Records.)

Considering how busy I am these days, and just how much various other priorities are cutting into my writing time at the moment, I came very close to not reviewing this album at all, especially since our friends over at AngryMetalGuy published their own review earlier this week, which largely encapsulated my own thoughts and feelings already.

But then I realised two things.

Firstly, there’s no guarantee that our readers all read AMG, and I wouldn’t want them to miss out on the opportunity to give this album, and this band, a fair shot.

And, secondly, writing about Wounds gives me the chance to go off on one of my world-famous digressions, in this case about the importance (and potential impact) of picking the right, or wrong, genre tag(s)… Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DOWNCROSS — “MYSTERIES OF LEFT PATH”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Feb 202019
 

 

Sometimes the opportunities presented to us for premiering new music leads to the discovery of enormously good surprises — to become captivated by music we might never have otherwise found. And this is one of those startling instances.

Downcross are a duo from Belarus — vocalist/drummer Ldzmr and guitarist Dzmtr — and what we’re presenting today (only one day away from its release by Saturn Sector Rex) is their debut album Mysteries Of Left Path. The only description of the music we had before exploring it was “anticosmic”, plus whatever might be inferred from their ominous masked and torch-bearing visages on the album’s cover. This led to a few guesses about the music — which turned out to be largely incorrect. Continue reading »

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