(Our friend Gorger from Norway brings us this 23rd installment in his ongoing series reviewing releases we’ve overlooked. To find more of his discoveries, type “Gorger” in our search bar or visit Gorger’s Metal.)
Here we go again with four albums you may or may not have overlooked. Read if you must, stream at will, and rant in the comment section. Continue reading »
To be drawn slowly to your death in a viscous pool of quicksand beneath a pitch-black sky, with no one to hear your screams, must be a terrifying experience. If an earthquake were happening at the same time, with an upheaval of stone smashing your sinking limbs beneath the surface while demons howl in your mind, that combination of experiences might resemble the sensations of this split.
The two violent sludge/doom bands who have joined forces in this outpouring of affliction come from opposite sides of the U.S., yet based on the music, they seem to be kindreds in spirit, bound together in a joint mission to reap the souls of their listeners. The bands are Black Urn and Shrine of the Serpent, and their split will be released on tape by Caligari Records on June 2nd. Continue reading »
The latest edition of Roadburn Festival took place at Tilburg, The Netherlands, on April 20-23, 2017, and L.A.-based photographer extraordinaire Levan TK was there to capture the performances on film.
We are fortunate to bring you some of his amazing photos, divided among the days of the festival, with his photos from the second day in this post. To see the photos from Day One, go here. Photos from the remainder of fest will be coming soon.
P.S. Levan was quick to get us these photos. The delay in sharing them is entirely the fault of our half-wit editor. Continue reading »
(We present Andy Synn’s reflections on the just-completed 2017 edition of Maryland Deathfest.)
Oh MDF, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
Well, maybe not literally. That would take a hell of a long time, and probably be intensely boring for everyone (myself included).
Instead, how about a few random musings and “hilarious” non-sequiturs from this year’s festival for your entertainment? How does that sound? Continue reading »
That photo up there shows the sight that greeted my eyes on Monday night while waiting for my ferry boat home after returning to Seattle from Maryland Deathfest 2017, but it also accurately represents my glowing impressions of this year’s fest in Baltimore.
Like many, I was disappointed to learn that MDF would be “downscaling” this year, eliminating the Edison Lot venue and having all the shows indoors at Rams Head Live and Soundstage. I also saw some grumbling on the internet (imagine that! grumbling on the internet!) that the line-up wasn’t as strong as in many past years; on top of that, Nightbringer was a last-minute no-show because of an airport outage in the UK.
Despite those misgivings, my own strongly held view is that this edition of the festival was a rousing success. (Part 2 of this post can be found here.) Continue reading »
As I began to make my way through the masterful new album by Italy’s long-running Horrid, I nearly didn’t make it past the second track, “Cursed Dunes”. It wanted to live in my head to the exclusion of all else. It pained me to stop repeating the song in order to finish the album. And then I had the same experience over and over again as I came to each new track before reaching the end of Beyond the Dark Border.
And how about the cover art for the album? It’s just as attention-grabbing as the music has proven to be. Credit to Skaðvaldur for its creation — and credit to Horrid for bringing us one of the year’s best death metal albums. We are very happy to present a full stream for you today in advance of its June 1 release by Dunkelheit Produktionen. Continue reading »
(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by Wrath From Above, released in February by Apathia Records.)
99% of the time when you see Russia mentioned in the media these days, it’s invariably something bad. Whether it’s the annexing of the Crimea, the potential involvement/collusion of Russian interests in influencing the outcome of the US election, or just seeing a topless Putin riding a tiger… it’s never pretty.
Thankfully, Wrath From Above are capable of bucking that trend with aplomb, and their debut album, Beyond Ruthless Cold, is one scintillating (hyper)blast of pure sonic savagery. Continue reading »
The latest edition of Roadburn Festival took place at Tilburg, The Netherlands, on April 20-23, 2017, and L.A.-based photographer extraordinaire Levan TK was there to capture the performances on film.
We are fortunate to bring you some of his amazing photos, divided among the days of the festival, with his photos from the first day in this post.
P.S. Levan was quick to get us these photos. The delay in sharing them is entirely the fault of our half-wit editor, who will be flogged in public at a location to be announced. Continue reading »
We have a double-premiere for you in this post, both of which have stirred excitement here at the NCS metallic island. The first of these is the stream of a powerful new two-song EP by the Norwegian melodic black metal band Vinterbris, set for release on June 6th, the title of which is Ad Absurdum. And the second, which was inspired by the first, is a time-lapse video of the wonderful Norwegian artist Kim Holm that depicts his creation of the EP’s evocative wrap-around cover art.
In 2014 we wrote repeatedly about Vinterbris‘ superb second album Solace. What first drew our attention to the album even before hearing the music was the artwork that Kim Holm created for that album. In addition to a cover piece, Holm created separate illustrations for each song on the album (which we collected in one place here). Having been lured into the album by this artwork, we found the music to be a treasure as well. We even included a song from Solace on our list of 2014’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.
And now we will face the challenge of deciding which of these two new songs to pick for the 2017 edition of that list — because both songs surge with infectious energy, both of them immediately appealing at the first listen, and both of them persistently boiling in the listener’s mind long after they end. Continue reading »
Acherontas V. Priest
(In this post Andy Synn combines reviews of three superb 2017 albums by Acherontas (Greece), Dødsengel (Norway), and Hetroertzen (Chile/Sweden), and provides full streams of the music from all three as well.)
When people talk about the background and historical impact of Black Metal, the majority of the praise and prestige is given to the genre’s Norwegian progenitors… and rightly so, as this is, ultimately, where the first seeds were sown.
But focussing entirely on Norway doesn’t tell the whole story. After all, not only is Black Metal these days a worldwide phenomenon, it’s also one with global roots, and, as its influence has spread, different countries and different localities have all given birth to their own particular variants on the style.
The three bands featured here – one from Greece, one from Norway, and one from Chile/Sweden – all epitomise, in their own particular way, the eclectic, exotic, face of Black Metal today, so it only seemed fitting to me to group them all together under one black banner. Continue reading »