AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ICHOR — “GOD OF THUNDER GOD OF WAR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  5 Responses »
Oct 022018
 

 

There is no escaping the long shadow of the Australian black metal band Nazxul in introducing Ichor and their debut album, God of Thunder God of War, which will be released by Seance Records on October 5th. The two members of Ichor — Wraith and Diablore — actually started the band in 1993, but put Ichor aside, after recording a demo, in order to focus on Nazxul, in which Wraith has been involved continuously since the beginning and in which Diablore (under the name Dalibor) was also an original member. In 2017 they decided to revive Ichor, and the results of their collaboration are what you’re about to hear.

We’re told that tehse two chose the name Ichor, the ancient Greek word for the fluid that runs in the gods’ veins, to express the concept that the only difference between humanity and the gods is a physical substance or principal, signifying that humanity can rise to the ranks of gods. But while the ancient Greeks may have furnished the name, this first album thematically focuses on Slavic paganism. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ARES KINGDOM, LIMOS, WOUNDVAC, VEIN COLLECTOR

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 022018
 

 

“Short But Sweet” is the tag we usually apply to reviews and streams of EPs and other releases that are less than album-length; we would apply the tag consistently except sometimes I forget to add it. Today I’m adding it when in one instance I probably shouldn’t, since one of the following releases is classified as an album — though it’s only about six minutes longer than one of the following EPs. But I’m late getting to it and wanted to say something about it without further delay.

This post is “Short But Sweet” for another reason: Pressed for time, I’m not able to write respectable reviews, just brief words of praise about each of these four items. I’ll add that each of these occupies a different genre space from the others, so you should check out all of them even if some don’t hit your own sweet spot.

ARES KINGDOM

My interest in this Kansas City death-thrashing band, whose recording roots go back into the mid-’90s, extends to the very early days of this site — the first review I wrote about their music was in May 2010, about six months after I launched NCS. I’ve written more things about them since then, not only because their music is so damned good but also because I also got interested in their personal stories. Continue reading »

AUTHOR & PUNISHER: “BEASTLAND”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 012018
 

 

(This is Wil Cifer’s review of the new sixth album by Author & Punisher, which will be released by Relapse Records on October 5th.)

Not being satisfied with heavy as merely blazing fast double-bass with even faster guitar solos, I require something out of left field with a great deal of sonic intensity. Author & Punisher’s brand of sludged-out industrial fits the bill.

At first listen, what Tristan Shone does might seem like a novel concept…”Oh yeah, he’s the dude that plays with machines”. Six albums in, that novelty has to be taken out of the equation to leave the focus on the songs. He delivers in this regard, while working against the abrasive drone that tends to dominate his sound. Continue reading »

ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE: “PALM READER”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Sep 282018
 

 

(Andy Synn brings us this review of the crushing new EP by California’s Armed For Apocalypse on the day of its release.)

While I’m still slaving away on this month’s edition of The Synn Report (it’s a big one, and I think you’ll all be very pleased with how it turns out) I’ve realised that, in all likelihood, I’m probably not going to get it done in time for posting today.

It will probably make an appearance early next week, however, so don’t worry.

As a result of this realisation I decided to take a quick look around the ol’ interweb and see what else I might be able to write about in the meantime, so as to tide you all over until Monday.

And, wouldn’t you know it, but the long-awaited comeback EP from Californian Sludgecore quarter Armed For Apocalypse drops today! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VREID — “LIFEHUNGER”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 272018
 

 

There was once a time when the music of Vreid could be characterized, at least at a high level, as melodic black metal or black thrash. Those days are pretty much gone. The expansion of Vreid’s music into more diverse territory has been an evolving process, evident from the changes that have occurred with each successive album, but the band’s new album Lifehunger seems more heedless of genre boundaries than any other, and the result is an ever-changing experience, richly embroidered with a multitude of musical styles, of which black metal is only one.

Lifehunger will be released tomorrow by Season of Mist, and today we’re helping premiere a full stream of the record — preceded by a few more words of introduction. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): EMPTY — “VACIO”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 272018
 

 

In 1988 the Spanish poet, novelist, and prolific essayist Julio Llamazares published his second novel, entitled La Lluvia Amarilla (“The Yellow Rain”). Widely praised, it was translated into English years later, leading to even more praise. As one review of the first English translation described it:

“In this somber and elegiac novel… the last, dying resident of a deserted village in the Spanish Pyrenees, ‘forgotten by everyone, condemned to gnaw away at my memory and my bones like an old dog,’ summons the ghosts of his past.”

Left only with his dog after the suicide of his wife, “on what seems to be his final night on earth, he recalls the tragedies that have befallen him,” including the death or abandonment of every child and the collapse of his village into rot due to the closing of the local mill and the departure of all residents, save himself. The review concludes: Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX / FAMYNE / SPIRES

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  1 Response »
Sep 272018
 

 

(In this new edition of Andy Synn‘s occasional series, he reviews new releases by three UK bands — Crippled Black Phoenix, Famyne, and Spires.)

Despite my well-documented griping about how frequently certain sections of the UK scene seem to embrace mediocrity, there’s still a hefty amount of quality music and quality bands coming out of these green and pleasant lands these days, and today’s edition of “The Best of British” rounds up three of them for your aural delectation.

Fair warning, however, the following three albums contain a lot of clean singing so… you’ve been warned! Continue reading »

DÖDSRIT: “SPIRIT CRUSHER”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Sep 252018
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Swedish one-man project Dödsrit, which will be released on September 28th by Prosthetic Records.)

Dödsrit’s self-titled debut album (though, at only 4 tracks and just 29 minutes in length, I tend to think of it more as a long EP myself) made a lot of waves and a lot of noise when it was released in October of last year.

And with good reason.

Rich in both aggression and atmosphere, and practically overflowing with gleaming melody and gritty riffery, the band’s sound (actually the product of a single individual, Christoffer Öster) was a brilliantly realised, blisteringly visceral, blend of Black Metal and Crust Punk, that was equally capable of appealing to fans of Wiegedood and Wolves In The Throne Room as it was fans of Ancst and Martyrdöd… and even, dare I say it, fans of everyone from Deafheaven to Darkest Hour.

And, wouldn’t you know it, the follow-up is even better! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BINAH — “PHOBIATE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Sep 252018
 

 

A fixation with horror cuts across wide swaths of extreme music like the scythe of the Great Leveler. The most primitive and ineradicable fears of humankind have been given a multitude of frightful shapes, both monstrous and spectral, in varying musical expressions since the earliest days of the heaviest music. This fascination with death, and with what might loom behind that terrible event horizon, or what might lurk even now at the jagged edge between our own dimension and another, continues to animate the creative impulses of numerous groups, but few albums this year have succeeded in channeling such morbid terrors as effectively as Binah’s new album, Phobiate.

In broad strokes, the album is massively heavy, and manages to both freeze the blood and set fire to the nerves. It creates a deep, preternatural atmosphere, suffused with ghastliness and gloom, but also persistently triggers adrenaline surges through ravaging assaults and bouts of irresistibly headbangable barbarism. Continue reading »

ANAAL NATHRAKH: “A NEW KIND OF HORROR”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Sep 242018
 

 

(This is DGR’s typically detailed review of the new tenth album by Anaal Nathrakh, which will be released by Metal Blade on September 28th.)

It’s pretty safe to say at this point in the career of Anaal Nathrakh that the group have developed a steady formula and groove that is instantly recognizable as their music whenever you hear it, making them one of the easiest groups in the world to pick out of a playlist. You could even say that they really established that sound about four albums ago and since then have been slowly iterating upon it, offering up interesting new twists and deviations, but preserving the overall hallmark of “everything at once, at 110% volume, and as fast as we can make it go”.

As far as the group’s newest album, A New Kind of Horror, is concerned, absolutely nothing on that front has changed. In fact, it may be the most recognizably Anaal Nathrakh disc to date, and that comes after the paint-peeling, screeching madness that was The Whole Of The Law and the bruiser that was Desideratum as the most immediate examples. On the other hand, at this point, with the band having explored so many different avenues for extremity and having cranked up every single element of their sound to the maximum (including electronics, as evidenced on Desideratum), we find A New Kind of Horror in an interesting place — because it is an album that very much pushes against the boundaries of what defines an Anaal Nathrakh disc, more so than its predecessors.

And so half the interest in the tale of A New Kind of Horror lies in just how the group have chosen to differentiate it from its predecessors, and how they’ve done that while keeping up the absolutely relentless clip that they’ve had before. Continue reading »

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