SEEN AND HEARD: BELL WITCH, SUMMONING, INCANTATION, OBITUARY, BOLT THROWER, BLASPHEMY, SXUPERION, SERPENTS LAIR, FIREBREATHER, ORBSEVEN

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Aug 082017
 

 

This is, obviously, a humongous round-up of things I’ve recently discovered. I’ve organized it in this way:

First up there are two news items that feature imagery and info about eagerly anticipated new releases but no music. Then I’ve got new videos and music streams by (or related to) a quartet of venerable and revered bands, followed by new advance tracks from two younger favorites who are returning with new releases this year. And then I’ll close this out with music from two bands whom I’ve just discovered.

BELL WITCH

On most days I post a piece of usually dark or surreal artwork on our Facebook page. I keep an archive of what I’ve posted over the years, as a way of trying to avoid repeating myself. In that archive I’ve counted 22 paintings by the Polish artist Mariusz Lewandowski that I’ve posted over the years since I began doing that, which I think is proof of how strongly I like his creations. But as far as I can recall, he has never created artwork for the cover of a metal album… until now. And his cover for the new Bell Witch album will surely stand as one of the best album covers of the year, if not THE best. Continue reading »

DVNE: “ASHERAN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  7 Responses »
Aug 042017
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the Scottish band DVNE, released on July 28 by Wasted State Records.)

You know what really grinds my gears?

Seeing/hearing people bleat on about how “there’s just no good new music out there anymore”, when, in truth, it’s never been simpler or easier to find something that caters to your specific tastes.

It’s a particularly frustrating attitude when you consider that the discovery of new music, whether on purpose or by accident, can be one of life’s great joys, and seeing people make such sweeping, and ill-informed statements – blithely dismissing, through their own ignorance/arrogance the absolute wealth of impressive, imaginative, and downright inspiring artists and albums out there – just pisses me off no end.

Of course I can kind of understand it if you’re used to simply passively consuming whatever you’re spoonfed by tv or radio – there’s only so much of the same shit that you can swallow after all, and only so many times you can regurgitate the same pre-chewed “opinions” before you actually make yourself sick – but the fact remains that it only takes about five minutes these days to find something new and exciting online.

Heck, sometimes it’s not even that hard. Sometimes you just stumble upon something that blows you away entirely by accident. Like I did a few months ago when I came across DVNE. Continue reading »

CENOTAPH: “PERVERSE DEHUMANIZED DYSFUNCTIONS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 022017
 

 

(Vonlughlio returns! With a guest review of the first new album in 7 years by the brutal death metal band from Turkey, Cenotaph.)

Brutal death has been great so far this 2017 (at least for me), with great releases such as those from Animals Killing People, Bacteremia, Dissociative Healing, Seminal Embalmment, Abuse, Coprobaptized Cunthunter, Exsanguinate, Intoxicated Blood, and Interminable Corruptions, to name a few.

What makes it even more special is the release of Cenotaph’s Perverse Dehumanized Dysfunctions after 7 years of silence. This is one of my all-time favorite BDM bands, ever. When they first announced the plan to release new music, I literally shed tears of happiness (yes, I’m not afraid to say it). You have to understand that at that moment in time I thought the band was done and that a new album would never see the light of day. Continue reading »

THE BEST OF BRITISH, 2017 (PART 7): ABHORRENT DECIMATION / DYSCARNATE / SUBSERVIENCE

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 022017
 

 

(Here’s the latest installment in Andy Synn’s 2017 series focusing on outstanding releases from Albion.)

For this latest edition of “The Best of British” I’ve picked out three fantastic examples of UK Death Metal at its absolute finest – one a cleverly composed concept album which may well prove to be the band’s “big break”, another a long-awaited and highly-anticipated return from one of the most underappreciated and unfuckwithable acts on the scene, and the third a shockingly good debut that should open a lot of doors and (hopefully) put the band on all the right radars. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RESURGENCE — “BESIEGED”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Aug 012017
 

 

When I listened to Besieged for the first time I was left wide-eyed and slack-jawed by the end of just the first track, with a spike in my pulse rate that would have made my doctor anxious, and already wondering how to describe what I was hearing — and already thinking about fireworks displays. By the album’s end I was shaking my head, fairly astonished at this tour de force — and still thinking about fireworks, but also about large-scale demolition jobs and rousing anthems.

Besieged is the remarkable debut album by a group of evil geniuses who dwell in the vicinity of Vancouver, BC. They call themselves Resurgence. The album has been released today — August 1 — and you can listen to it below, preceded by more than a few words of wonderment and genuine appreciation for what these dudes have done. Feel free to skip ahead and press play, I can handle it. Continue reading »

NOOTHGRUSH AND CORRUPTED: THE REISSUE OF A LANDMARK SPLIT

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 012017
 

 

(Here’s Todd Manning’s review of the new reissue of a landmark 1997 split release by Noothgrush and Corrupted, coming in August via 20 Buck Spin.)

If Doom and Sludge are related, and surely they are, then Sludge is Doom’s younger brother, suffering from all sorts of complexes and probably killed their parents because they wouldn’t give him money for meth. 20 Buck Spin has taken it upon themselves to remind us of one of the seminal releases of this most toxic of genres with their reissue of 1997’s split record between Oakland’s Noothgrush and Japan’s idiosyncratic Corrupted.

Noothgrush kicks off the split with the punishing “Hatred for the Species”. Mid-paced, at least in relation to other Sludge acts, the sound here is not unlike EyeHateGod minus the Southern blues influence. What the listener is left with is a bleak and nihilistic condemnation of what it means to be human. If these guys saw the world through these eyes back in 1997, imagine how far humanity has come in twenty years to prove their judgment prophetic. Continue reading »

NADIMAC: “BESNILO”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Aug 012017
 

 

(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 Serbian band Nadimac, recently released by Xtreem Music.)

Following their “schedule” of issuing a full-length album every two years, the Serbian band Nadimac have presented their latest work this July. The new offering comes as their fifth studio album and is titled Besnilo (“Indignation”); the album comes with song titles in both Serbian and English. This LP was preceded by only one split release, unlikely previous albums which always saw between two and five splits published before a new LP.

Without a doubt we can say that this is their most mature record so far, and, interestingly, comes as their shortest one to date (at 34 minutes). Although the band have experimented with several details that they haven’t used before, such as acoustic guitars, the sound is typical Nadimac, a sound we could hear on their previous offerings. Straight-forward thrash metal mixed with doses of grind, hardcore, and crust have again produced a record that you don’t separate into parts and listen to only a piece or two, but instead one that you take in completely, with no break. Crossover has been their trademark since the very beginning, and once again the guys have proved that the formula they created years ago still produces good results. Continue reading »

ISRATHOUM: “CHANNELING DEATH AND DEVIL”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Jul 292017
 

 

Israthoum put their mission statement right in the title of their new album — Channeling Death and Devil — and that is what they do.

These are grand, fearsome, and mystical subjects, and Israthoum’s music effectively summons all those qualities through a form of occult, atmospheric black metal that’s intricately plotted and relentlessly dramatic, delivering a changing soundscape that ranges from majestic yet chilling stateliness to maelstroms of shuddering chaos. Grandeur, mysticism, and madness are all made manifest in a stand-out performance.

The album was released just yesterday; this review comes later than I had planned, and now serves only as an extended introduction to the stream you can hear for yourselves at the end of this writing. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: MORDENIAL — “THE PLAGUE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jul 272017
 

 

The crushing melodic death metal band Mordenial began life in early 2000 in Västervik, Sweden, eventually releasing their debut album, Where the Angels Fall, in early 2015. In just a handful of days they will return with their second full-length, The Plague, via Black Lion Records — but we have a full stream for your listening pleasure today.

The album is a 10-track, 44-minute affair, with all of the songs thematically linked to concepts of “plague”, ranging from the pestilential vectors of the distant past to futuristic scenarios, and the terrors perpetrated by human beings in the name of god or gods. Consistent with this thematic focus, the music is cloaked in darkness, with death looming like a specter in the atmosphere of the melodies.

The music is also immensely powerful in its sound, and immensely punishing in its impact, and those grim melodies prove to be as infectious as the contagions that have inspired the album. Continue reading »

AFTERBIRTH: “THE TIME TRAVELER’S DILEMMA”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 272017
 

 

(Our old and good friend from the Dominican Republic, Vonlughlio, prepared this review of the new album by the Long Island death metal band Afterbirth, which will be released on July 28 by Unique Leader Records.)

Work has been killing me for the past few weeks and I’ve been meaning to write a review for one of my favorite BDM bands from Turkey (which I will eventually do). But thanks to the Big Boss Islander, nope, that would not be the case.

He reminded of an article he posted about a song by the band Afterbirth and suggested that I should give it a listen. Big Boss thought I might like it. He never is wrong, but in this case when I saw the cover, I was worried to say the least. Why, you might ask? It’s not a bad cover (yes, not bad). It’s just me. I’m a bit complicated when it comes to artwork.

Well, Islander, you were right, I ended up loving the song. I would also like to take the opportunity to say thank you for letting me do a small write-up of their album, The Time Traveler’s Dilemma. I was not familiar with their demos or EP, so I decided to check what I could find on YouTube and then listen to the full-length. Continue reading »

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