AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLOODSTRIKE — “EXECUTION OF VIOLENCE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 112017
 

 

When you listen to some albums, you get the undeniable feeling that the people in the band really — really — love what they’re doing, that they’re in the throes of a fierce enthusiasm for the kind of music they’re making. And when that kind of passion is communicated through the songwriting and the performances, it becomes highly infectious, like the raging fever of a disease. That’s the feeling I got when listening to Bloodstrike’s new album, Execution of Violence — which we’re streaming for you today in advance of its October 13 release by Redefining Darkness Records and Raw Skull Recordz.

In this band’s case, the principal subject of their explosive devotion is Swedish death metal of the old school, an homage to a pantheon that includes such names as Entombed, Grave, Unleashed, and Dismember — though there’s more than a little Bolt Thrower dedication in the music as well. “Explosive” and “infectious” really are the right words for it — or at least two of the right words. Other words include grisly, gruesome, supernatural, and macabre. Continue reading »

A DOOMED DESCENT (PART 2): MARCHAFUNEBRE, KABBALAH, ECHOLOT

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 112017
 

 

(We present Part 2 of a series of reviews by our Russian connoisseur of all things doom, Comrade Aleks, and today he shares impressions of, and music from, three more 2017 releases. Go here to check out Part 1 of this series)

Today we’ll meet three faces of doom: a traditional one performed by Marchafunebre, vintage rocking by Kabbalah, and psychedelic and bluesy stylings from Echolot.

 

Marchafunebre:  Under Will (Australis Records)

Inspired by Solitude Aeturnus and late Candlemass, this Chilean band appeared seven years ago. The hour-long EP includes Marchefunebre’s first demo Hymns Of The Final Holocaust (2010) and three new tracks. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: NAZGHOR — “INFERNAL APHORISM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Oct 112017
 

 

The Swedish black metal band Nazghor continue their relentless march forward with their sixth album in less than five years. Their latest achievement, Infernal Aphorism, will be released on Friday the 13th of October by Non Serviam Records, and as we did when their last album was released in 2016, today we present a full stream of the new one.

As has become a pattern for Nazghor, established almost from the beginning, the new album is a 10-track, hour-long affair. In the face of such prolific creativity, it’s worth asking again the logical question: How good can the music be when it flows in such a torrent, with these very substantial albums appearing in such rapid succession?

Well, I’m pleased to report that the music of this new one, just as was true of 2016’s Death’s Withered Chant, is tremendously good — quite possibly the pinnacle of their achievements so far. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: KHANDRA — “ALL IS OF NO AVAIL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Oct 102017
 

 

I have very little background information about Khandra. They are a new black metal band from Minsk in Belarus. Based on the photos included in this post, the line-up appears to consist of two men, although I don’t know their identities or what musical endeavors they might have pursued before forming this alliance. It is a classic case of the music having to speak for itself.

On October 11, Khandra will release their debut EP through Bandcamp. Its title suggests the emotional cast of the music — All Is Of No Avail. The names of the two songs convey the sense of a similarly gloomy mood: “Where Death Has Settled In Life” and “Presence Is No Longer Relevant“. But what of the music itself? Continue reading »

FLESHKILLER: “AWAKEN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  2 Responses »
Oct 102017
 

 

(Here is Andy Synn’s review of the debut album by the Norwegian band Fleshkiller, which was released on September 15.)

It’s no great secret that a number of the NCS crew are fans of Extol, myself included.

So when it was announced (quietly) that the band were going back on hiatus, but that guitarist/songwriter Ole Børud would be continuing on in the same vein with his new project Fleshkiller I’ll admit that my feelings were somewhat mixed.

On the one hand the realisation that there wouldn’t be any more Extol for the foreseeable future (if ever) certainly stung but, at the same time, I was happy to know that Børud would be carrying on the band’s legacy by repurposing the riffs, melodies, and songs that had already been written into material for Awaken.

Because, and let’s be brutally honest here, his guitar work has always been probably the most defining element behind Extol’s sound, just as it is the driving force behind Fleshkiller. Continue reading »

DECREPIT CADAVER: “VÓRTICE A LO MACABRO”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 102017
 

 

(Our old friend from the Dominican Republic and connoisseur of brutal death metal, Vonlughlio, brings us this concise review of the concise new third album by the Chilean band Decrepit Cadaver.)

I first heard about this Chilean BDM band thanks to Force Fed and Rotten Cemetery Records, the two labels that co- released their latest album Vórtice a lo Macabro.  The band was founded back in 2002 by Jorge “Cadaver” Reynaud and a friend who was the drummer at the time. They have released a demo, an EP, a four-way split, and three full-lengths since their inception.

After getting familiar with their discography I decided to get their new album, and I must say that it’s their best work to date. Continue reading »

BELPHEGOR: “TOTENRITUAL”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 092017
 

 

(We present DGR’s detailed review of the new album by Belphegor, which is out now on the Nuclear Blast label.)

You could be forgiven for thinking that at this point in their career Austria’s Belphegor would’ve been perfectly okay to rest on their laurels a bit. Having long ago established themselves as one of the more popular extreme black-metal-infused death metal acts out there, currently housed over at Nuclear Blast, and building a career draped in the worlds of blasphemy and a logo bearing prominent inverted crosses, Belphegor have defined themselves as one of the go-to groups for heavy metal’s dose of Satan.

Totenritual, the group’s eleventh album in a career spanning well over twenty years could’ve had the band serve up another smattering of heavier-than-the-Earth guitars and bellowing vocals, yet the Belphegor crew seem to have found new life in their chosen font of death and draw from it for the gathering on Totenritual. Totenritual does have its fair share of minor quirks, but overall Belphegor has honed in on a very focused sound — one which they hammer home numerous times over the nine songs that make up the disc. The album again shows the relic of subtlety (which Belphegor tossed a long time ago, in case albums titled Lucifer Incestus and Bondage Goat Zombie didn’t point you in the right direction) cast off in favor of nine tracks fueled by — and introduced numerous times by — the devil. Continue reading »

A DOOMED DESCENT (PART 1): ARMY OF DAGON, CARDINALS FOLLY, DAUTHA

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 092017
 

 

(Our Russian connoisseur of all things doom, Comrade Aleks, has brought us a series of reviews of 2017 releases that we haven’t yet touched upon, beginning with this first trio of assessments.)

I looked through my list of reviews for September and suddenly found for myself a few names that I almost forget to mention in the places where they should be mentioned. Shame on me…

I’d like to solve this situation as soon as possible, so a few stories of doom wait ahead. Let’s start with new records of Seattle-based Army Of Dagon, the heretics from the Finnish woods, Cardinals Folly, and the grim crew of Dautha (Sweden).

 

Army Of Dagon:  Night Of The Mystics (Self-released)

Army of Dagon from Seattle made their way to a self-titled debut without hurry: Born in 2011, they managed to record it only in 2015. This record represented a kind of traditional doom with heavy metal influences and melancholic atmosphere. Two years passed and they return with a sophomore release that successfully cultivates the general “Army Of Dagon” musical ideas. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MYSTAGOS — “HO ANTHROPOS TES ANOMIAS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  6 Responses »
Oct 082017
 

 

All music is connected to some kind of inspiration, from the most mundane (and even deplorable) to the most sublime. Some songs are the result of nothing more than cynical calculations intended to draw ears like clickbait draws eyes. Others seem like efforts to express (and perhaps exorcise) strongly felt emotions, either positive or negative. And still others can be understood as genuine efforts to channel a spiritual experience, or to create a medium for spiritual experience by others.

Of course, even when the inspiration for music is something commonplace and uninteresting, the music itself can still be appealing. And conversely, even when the inspiration is a blinding revelation, the music can nevertheless be colorless or even unlistenable. There’s no necessary correlation between the two, because songwriting talent and performance skill count for a lot. But when spiritual inspiration and distinctive musical talent come together, the results can be remarkable, as you will soon discover.

Ho Anthropos Tes Anomias is the debut album of Mystagos, and it will be released by the U.S. label Clandestine Faith on October 12. The album becomes available for pre-order today, to coincide with the label’s launch of a new web site, and we’re launching a full stream of the album today as well. Continue reading »

ENSLAVED: “E”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Oct 062017
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Norwegian icons Enslaved, which will be released by Nuclear Blast on October 13.)

Whereas the popular vision of the Vikings is one of horn-helmeted, heavily bearded barbarians, with an axe in one hand and a drinking horn in the other, the truth of the matter is that the Norsemen (and women) of old were more than just pirates and plunderers. They were a culture of scholars and seers, inventors and explorers, whose lust for life and adventure led them to traverse the farthest reaches of the known world.

It’s only fitting then that their descendants in Enslaved seem to have inherited this same pioneering spirit, and that their career so far has been one of almost constant exploration and reinvention, a potent mix of myth and metaphysics which has seen them always looking towards new horizons, while never losing touch with their roots.

And perhaps nowhere is this more evident than on their fourteenth(!) album, the free-spirited E, which is not only the band’s most shamelessly progressive and indulgently introspective release since Vertebrae, but which also draws influence and inspiration from all eras of their history, from the medieval majesty of Vikingligr Veldi to the cosmic contemplation of Below the Lights, resulting in what is probably their most confident and creatively ambitious album in years. Continue reading »

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