AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ALL MY SINS – “ZOV IZ MAGLE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Feb 082018
 

 

(We present the premiere of a new two-song EP by the Serbian duo All My Sins, which is now available on Bandcamp, preceded by a review of the release by Andy Synn.)

 

There are some people out there who would have you believe that there are only really two types of bands – “innovators” and “imitators”.

But this is a vast, and misleading, over-simplification of how things really are.

The truth of the matter is that most bands will never be the next Mayhem/Opeth/Meshuggah… or whoever… but that doesn’t mean their music doesn’t have value.

In fact I’d contend that it’s more important to be distinctive, rather than “innovative”, in your chosen field, and that the willingness and ability to truly pour your heart and soul into your music, to twist and tweak established facets and features into something that truly represents your vision, is the most vital thing of all. Continue reading »

BLOODSHOT DAWN: “REANIMATION”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Feb 072018
 

 

(We present TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new album by the UK’s Bloodshot Dawn, which was released on January 12, 2018.)

 

Bloodshot Dawn as a concept was at an existential crossroads after everyone but frontman, founder, and guitarist Josh McMorran left the band. The departure that hurt most, though, was that of lead guitarist and co-writer Benjamin Ellis, who went on to join Scar Symmetry. I would have to imagine that there was some hesitancy on McMorran’s part about continuing on; the lineup, while only two albums old, had already become iconic in the underground, and the sound of Bloodshot Dawn had already established in definitive terms. Combine this with Demons becoming an extremely successful sophomore record that garnered them lots of acclaim, and I think the idea of trying to continue would have been intimidating.

But McMorran, not content to hang it up, decided to push forward. The new lineup now consists of guitarist/vocalist Morgan Reid, bassist Giacomo Gastaldi, and Vader drummer James Stewart. Now, in Reanimation, we have Bloodshot Dawn’s first offering since this new lineup formed, and of course the question is, how does it stack up against the band’s previous output? Continue reading »

AGRIMONIA: “AWAKEN”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Feb 072018
 

 

(After an absence of more than two years, our old comrade deckard cain has returned to NCS with a guest review of the fourth album by the Swedish band Agrimonia, which was released by Southern Lord on January 26th.)

 

In an Old English medical manuscript, ‘Agrimonia’ was cited as an herb, a panacea for all supposed ailments.

‘If it be leyd under mann’s heed,
He shal sleepyn as he were deed;
He shal never drede ne wakyn
Till fro under his heed it be takyn.’

Daniel Ekeroth’s Swedish Death Metal paints quite a vivid picture of the country’s trajectory into death metal haven, the first chapter of which is dedicated entirely to hardcore punk and its variants. The gradual shift from heavy metal to speed/power to thrash metal might as well have been wholly discarded in favour for a much more two-way exchange between hardcore and death metal.

There are exceptions to this, of course, but for the sake of brevity one cannot dissociate one from the other. Most of the now seminal Swedish death metal bands had a background in hardcore punk and crust, and one cannot miss the clear crossover spirit that so pervades the earlier releases of said bands. So, the Swedish lineage may be considered a tad different from other strains. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: VICTIM PATH — “FACELESS NAMELESS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Feb 052018
 

 

After releasing a debut demo in 2011 (In Life We Trust), a debut album in 2012 (Surrounded By Pain), and a single the following year (“Edges of Insanity“), the Belarusian metal band Victim Path are returning at last with a new two-song EP. Entitled Faceless Nameless, it will be released tomorrow via Bandcamp, but we have a stream of both tracks for you today.

The band’s lyrical focus, as they explain it, is on themes of “misanthropy, pain, the loneliness of a human being who is deprived of a right to be god’s creation,” and “the denial of religious postulates, rules and dogmas of everyday life”. And beyond the lyrics, the music on this new EP is itself an expression of grief and pain, one that draws upon the stylistic tools of black metal but employs other musical styles as well. And so perhaps resorting to the more vague but more encompassing term “dark metal” could be appropriate. Continue reading »

CONJURER: “MIRE”

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Feb 052018
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the UK band Conjurer, which will be released on February 23rd by Holy Roar.)

I want to begin this review with a confession – I am extremely envious of Conjurer’s ongoing (and hard-earned) success.

I’m not jealous (that actually means something slightly different), nor do I feel that their success is in any way undeserved. In fact I hope I’ve contributed to it, in my own small way, by covering several of the band’s live shows and their EP, here at NCS.

But I do think that, if we’re being completely honest with ourselves, being in a band and seeing someone else do so well will always arouse some feelings of envy. It’s an entirely natural reaction, and not necessarily a bad thing (unless it turns bitter), as it should in turn push you to do better, to think bigger, and to work harder.

However, apparently it’s something we’re not supposed to talk about since it so clearly runs counter to the whole “brotherhood of Metal” concept that we’re meant to at least pay lip-service to.

There’s one thing I definitely don’t envy though, and that’s the excessive hype and fawning flattery which I’ve seen Mire receive elsewhere on the internet. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DUSKBURN — “SERPENTIDE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Feb 022018
 

 

The Croatian band Duskburn have latched on to a winning formula, but it’s an unusual and unusually gripping one, a kind of alchemical sorcery that combines disparate ingredients to produce powerful (and disturbing) effects on their listeners. Duskburn’s new album, which is the culmination of a decade-long stylistic evolution, is called Serpentide. It’s being released today as a digital download by Cimmerian Shade Recordings, with a tape release planned in the near future, and to help spread the word we’re premiering a full stream of the record today.

Duskburn first took shape in 2006, but the shape of their sound has changed over the course of a debut album in 2009 (Soldering the Seven Streams) and a quartet of EPs released from 2010 through 2013. Over those years, the band moved from an early manifestation of death metal in the direction of sludge and doom, but this new album embraces an even more atmospheric and much more mercilessly vicious take on what they created with their last EP. These are the colossal, high-intensity sounds of mortifying catastrophe. Continue reading »

BULLETBELT: “NINE CENTURIES”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Feb 012018
 

 

(We welcome back New Zealand writer Craig Hayes (Six Noises), who brings us this review of the new album by NZ’s Bulletbelt, which was released through Bandcamp just a few days ago.)

 

Nine Centuries is the latest hard-hitting release from New Zealand black/thrash metallers Bulletbelt. Much like their high-octane pals Midnight, Bulletbelt mine metal’s core aesthetics, and Nine Centuries duly features plenty of battle-vested and spiked-gauntleted oomph. Interestingly, though, the rip-roaring album is also somewhat bittersweet. Because Nine Centuries marks Bulletbelt’s final album with vocalist Jolene Tempest.

Tempest exited Bulletbelt late last year, along with guitarist Seth Jackson, and while singers come and go from bands all the time, Tempest’s leaving is certainly notable because her performance on Nine Centuries is so confident and impassioned. Tempest originally joined Bulletbelt not long before they recorded their second album, 2014’s Rise of the Banshee, and that release showcased the band’s burning ambitions like never before. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 93): REDEMPTOR

 Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT  4 Responses »
Jan 312018
 


Redemptor 2016

 

(We present the January 2018 edition of THE SYNN REPORT, in which Andy compiles reviews of releases by the Polish band Redemptor.)

 

Recommended for fans of: Decapitated, Anata, Rivers of Nihil

If you’ve been paying attention at all recently you’ll have caught the name Redemptor as one of the bands featured in my Personal Top Ten of 2017, and may also have noticed that I promised to deliver a Synn Report on the group as soon as possible.

Well, today is that day.

Over the course of three albums and one EP the Polish quintet have steadily evolved their sound from the Schuldiner-esque strains of their debut album None Pointless Balance to the angular hooks and merciless precision of 4th Density and The Jugglernaut, with the process finally culminating in the gargantuan grooves and captivating atmospherics of last year’s utterly crushing Arthaneum. Continue reading »

ION: “A PATH UNKNOWN”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Jan 292018
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the California band Ion, which is now available on Bandcamp.)

 

To say that I have been anticipating the release of this particular album would be a rather glaring understatement. The band’s self-titled debut was so good that I declared it to be my number one album of 2014, and while things have been relatively quiet for the Californian triptych since then (barring a series of irregular live appearances), its manifold metallic delights have remained in steady rotation ever since.

You can therefore possibly imagine my shock to find that their sophomore album, A Path Unknown, was released suddenly and without fanfare on Bandcamp yesterday. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: NEOLITHIC AND MARTYRDÖD (A SPLIT)

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jan 292018
 

 

(Todd Manning wrote this review of the new split by Baltimore’s Neolithic and the Swedish band Martydöd, set for release on February 15 by Deep Six Records.)

 

Does anyone want to burn down a city to kick off the new year? If so, the new split between Neolithic and Martyrdöd should provide the perfect soundtrack to the chaos. This is a short record, but goddamn if it isn’t raging. Continue reading »

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