AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CRACKHOUSE — “BE NO ONE, BE NOTHING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Oct 042017
 

 

When you see a band name like Crackhouse and an album title like Be No One, Be Nothing, you don’t expect uplifting music. And in fact, this French trio traffic in the bleak reverberations of sludge and doom, amalgamated with body-moving riffs that provide a link to stoner metal. But such genre references, while useful, don’t fully prepare you for what Crackhouse have accomplished on this, their debut album. I certainly wasn’t prepared for the stunning intensity and wholly devouring experience that the music presents when I first listened to it.

On the surface, Be No One, Be Nothing can be intimidating. The idea of an album that’s more than 50 minutes long but is divided among only three songs that range in length from more than 11 minutes to more than 22 would cause many people to take a very deep breath. It might deter some people from giving the album an opportunity to join their rotations. I hope that doesn’t happen, because the record really is remarkable — and you’ll have a chance to discover that for yourselves through our premiere of a full stream today before its October 6 release by Argonauta Records. Continue reading »

CELESTE: “INFIDÈLE(S)”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 032017
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the French black metal band Celeste. The album was released on September 29 by Denovali Records.)

Whenever I write about an album I make a real effort to try and give it some sort of theme beyond the generic “this track is good, this track is fast, this track is slow” boilerplate which seems to make up so many of the homogenous and interchangeable reviews I read elsewhere.

For me it’s all about placing an album in context. Whether it’s talking about where an album sits in a band’s discography, how it compares to the rest of its genre, or the impact that line-up changes may (or may not) have had upon the writing, there are always ways to make a review more interesting to read (and to write).

Heck, in recent months I’ve used reviews to ruminate on the issue of “selling out” and the perception of Black Metal as a singular “monolith”, to ask questions about what it is that makes a band good/bad, and to rail against people who claim that there’s “just no good new music anymore.”

But even I’ll admit that sometimes it’s enough to just say “this album kicks ass” and leave it at that. Continue reading »

AMENRA: “MASS VI”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 022017
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by the Belgian band Amenra, which will be released on October 20 by Neurot Recordings.)

Here is an album that reminds us distortion alone is only as heavy as the emotion being poured into the songs. This Belgium sludge band returns with another piece of despair. Gone is the Neurosis worship, which has been washed away from a more lush sound with thicker atmosphere. The emotional depth can be heard in anguished howls of the vocals. The layers of accompanying guitar have a droning sense of melody and carry an inner darkness.

The album opens with the brand of aggressive sludge you expect, with an almost hardcore-tinged anger. When this dies down the band float out into something more fragile and intimate with vocals sung in an almost androgynous Sigur Rós-like whisper, but then throw themselves back into the tormented screaming. One thing this album has going for it is the fact that the sung vocals are not used to create a MySpace Metal good cop/bad cop routine. Instead they build a dynamic in a less contrived fashion. Continue reading »

SOROR DOLOROSA: “APOLLO”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  1 Response »
Oct 022017
 

 

(Music writer Konstantin, who in past years has written for Serbia’s Nocturne Music Magazine, rejoins us with this review of the new album by the French band Soror Dolorosa, which was released by Prophecy on September 15.)

The last 15 years have put France mainly “under the light” of the black metal scene and created a solid number of followers worldwide. Completely justified, one could say, taking into consideration the impact that French bands have created on extreme metal in this period. At the same time, several other good bands have come out, but have received drastically less attention and fewer fans.

The birth and death of French cold wave happened almost three decades ago, and you could count on the fingers of one hand the bands that have lasted for more than just a few years. A certain revival was finally seen in the debut album of Soror Dolorosa in 2011. At last, we are now able to see and hear their third LP, four years after their solid sophomore release No more heroes. There wasn’t much to hear from them in this period. They played only a handful of concerts, but at least now we know the reason. And the reason is excellent – Apollo is finally out and they have made their best record so far. Continue reading »

FOREVER PLAYING CATCH-UP (PART 3): PSUDOKU, VMTHANAACHTH, FELIX MARTIN

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Sep 292017
 

 

(This is Part 3 of Austin Weber’s ongoing series devoted to reviews of 2017 releases we haven’t previously covered. More installments will be presented next week.)

In spite of what the naysayers will tell you, I’m of the opinion that there’s an absolutely ridiculous amount of good metal releases coming out all the time, many of them coming from new groups or independent groups that we’re just now catching onto for the first time.

This lengthy round-up has been in the works for awhile, but I kept adding more and more to the list of what I wanted to cover, and that delayed it until now. The focus here is on releases that dropped in 2017 that haven’t been covered at NCS yet. We’ll run through a boatload of harsh and unorthodox black metal, mountains of mathcore, death metal of all stripes, a few technical grindcore acts, a ton of different prog-metal bands, some sick instrumental metal jams, and a whole lot more. Hopefully you will find something new you enjoy in each installment.

PSUDOKU – DEEP SPACE PSUDOKUMENT

Cult favorite weirdo grinders from Norway, Psudoku, are back again with a new release of strange grindcore from an alternate timeline. This isn’t the first time I’ve covered them at NCS, having previously highlighted them in a 2015 article regarding their prior album, Planetarisk Psudoku. Somehow the group continue to push their already out-there songs into ever-stranger territory on their new 2017 album, Deep Space Psudokument. Continue reading »

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER: “NIGHTBRINGERS”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 282017
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by The Black Dahlia Murder in advance of its October 6 release by Metal Blade Records.)

It’s extremely fitting that the striking, crimson-hued cover art that you see above has been provided by the legendary Kristian Wåhlin, aka Necrolord, who last worked with The Black Dahlia Murder on the cover for their career-defining Nocturnal, as Nightbringers is without a doubt the band’s best release since their 2007 breakthrough.

That’s not to disparage or denigrate the albums the band have put out in the intervening years (Deflorate in particular remains a personal favourite of mine), but the harsh, bitter, ugly truth of the matter is that, try as they might, the Michigan quintet have never quite managed to fully replicate that strange mix of power and precision, heaviness and hooks, menace and melody, that came together on their third record.

But album number eight definitely comes very, very close. Continue reading »

LOINCLOTH: “PSALM OF THE MORBID WHORE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 282017
 

 

(Todd Manning reviews the new album by the Virginia/North Carolina instrumental metal band Loincloth, which will be released by Southern Lord on September 29.)

During the Death Metal explosion of the early ’90s, there existed an anomaly on Earache’s legendary roster, an incredibly complex and off-kilter Doom Metal act by the name of Confessor. Boasting dramatic, high-pitched vocals and very technical music, Confessor stuck out like a sore thumb in a scene dominated by blast beats and death growls. At the time, most people obsessed over the vocals. But nowadays, the world seems to have come around and considered their debut, Condemned, to be a classic, and in those conversations it’s the music getting equal attention.

After the band broke up for the first time, while in the midst of trying to follow up their debut, bassist Cary Rowells and drummer Steve Shelton went on to form Fly Machine and then subsequently moved on to Loincloth, an instrumental trio in which they are joined by guitarist Tannon Penland. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RUNESPELL — “UNHALLOWED BLOOD OATH”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  5 Responses »
Sep 272017
 

 

The first press release I saw for the debut album of Australia’s Runespell concluded by describing it as a “mesmerizing maelstrom of alternately grim/gorgeous frequencies”, presenting “flickering refractions of times distant and as yet lived, black metal wielded as weapon, totem, and portal simultaneously”. All those sentiments I’ve quoted are accurate, but the one that rang most true is the characterization of the music as a portal into the past.

In one sense that rings true because the music links arms with the venerated traditions of Scandinavian second-wave black metal, but it’s also true in another sense: The music has a mythic atmosphere, one that casts the mind’s eye back into distant centuries, to times (whether imagined or real) that have spawned sagas of warlike defiance and sacrifice, of bloodshed and bereavement, of heroic striving and irredeemable loss. To make your way through this vividly imagined and beautifully rendered album is to become moved, and enthralled.

And we will now give you a chance to make your own way through the album as we premiere a full stream of Unhallowed Blood Oath in advance of its September 29 release by Iron Bonehead Productions. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SAINT BARTHELEMY’S TEMPLE — “THE COLD MOUTH OF THE EARTH”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 272017
 

 

On the night of 23–24 August 1572 (the eve of the feast of Bartholomew the Apostle), the king of France ordered the killing of a group of French Protestants who had gathered in Paris to attend a royal wedding. The assassinations led to a wave of Catholic mob violence that spread throughout the city and into the countryside, resulting in the deaths of thousands.

The French extreme metal band Saint Barthelemy’s Temple have taken this paroxysm of violence and hatred as the inspiration for their name, and their new twenty-minute EP The Cold Mouth of the Earth will soon be released in October by Atavism Records. Today we bring you a full stream of its three powerful tracks — “De Potentia Saturni“, “To the Baneful Oblivion“, and “The Sword of the Victor“. Continue reading »

FOREVER PLAYING CATCH-UP (PART 2): KUUJEOJABENOJUJANOMIASHIKUSHIJA, THE HEADS ARE ZEROS, EMPIRINE

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Sep 272017
 

 

(This is the second part of a multi-part series by Austin Weber focusing on 2017 releases that we haven’t previously reviewed. Part 3 will follow tomorrow, and further installments are expected next week.)

 

In spite of what the naysayers will tell you, I’m of the opinion that there’s an absolutely ridiculous amount of good metal releases coming out all the time, many of them coming from new groups or independent groups that we’re just now catching onto for the first time.

This lengthy round-up has been in the works for awhile, but I kept adding more and more to the list of what I wanted to cover, and that delayed it until now. The focus here is on releases that dropped in 2017 that haven’t been covered at NCS yet. We’ll run through a boatload of harsh and unorthodox black metal, mountains of mathcore, death metal of all stripes, a few technical grindcore acts, a ton of different prog-metal bands, some sick instrumental metal jams, and a whole lot more. Hopefully you will find something new you enjoy in each installment.

KUUJEOJABENOJUJANOMIASHIKUSHIJA – HHEOALLE

If the name wasn’t a dead give-away, Kuujeojabenojujanomiashikushija are a strange fucking group, but thankfully it’s the good kind of weird. Avant-garde and experimental black/death is the name of the game here, and yet Kuujeojabenojujanomiashikushija’s take on the burgeoning style is fresh and uniquely eerie. At times quite minimalist and subtly psychedelic, the music on HHEOALLE has a distinctly smooth feeling in how it unfurls that I really enjoy.  Continue reading »

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