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AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): METALTOWER — “MYOPIC DYSTOPIA”

Nov 012016

(Our friend, New Zealand writer Craig Hayes (Six Noises) is back with us again with this review of the new album by NZ’s remarkable MetalTower — and the premiere of a full album stream.)

New Zealand progressive death metal band MetalTower have shared the stage with international touring acts like Carcass, Krisiun, and Psycroptic. And that trio of bands also happens to be the perfect representation of the musical diversity that the long-running MetalTower exhibit on their latest full-length, Myopic Dystopia. No Clean Singing is proud to be hosting the album’s worldwide premiere, and here’s a few hundred words of praise about Myopic Dystopia to get you started.

Where to start? Well, how about those aforementioned bands. Like Carcass, MetalTower inject a sense of self-awareness into their whirlwind tunes; see Myopic Dystopia’s “Fvk Mourning”. MetalTower also exhibit a Krisiun-like desire to snap necks and shatter spines with hammering riffs and percussion on tracks like “Futility”. And if Psycroptic’s mix of bombarding metal and technical prowess has impressed you before, then you’ll likely admire MetalTower’s combination of ferocity and finesse too. Continue reading »

IMMEDIATE AND COMPLETELY NEEDLESS REACTIONS TO DEATHSPELL OMEGA’S NEW ALBUM: “THE SYNARCHY OF MOLTEN BONES”

Album Reviews 15 Responses »

Oct 312016

As I rapidly reported a few hours ago after receiving a Bandcamp alert, Deathspell Omega jumped the gun on their previously announced November 8 release date for their new album and uncaged The Synarchy of Molten Bones on Samhein night, to the surprise and glee of hordes of costumed and un-costumed fans.

Everyone can listen to it now; vast numbers undoubtedly already have. There is probably no need for myself or anyone else to review it. But I’m sharing some thoughts anyway, because I’ve so eagerly anticipated its release and am now near-bursting with thoughts. Better to get them out than risk an aneurism. Plus, I thought some of you might want to share your own reactions in the Comments.

Upon finishing a first listen (and my only listen as I write this), I was — to quote the title of the second song — famished for breath. Every track is so breathtakingly energetic and so flooded with mind-bending intricacy that hearing them straight through risks completely overloading the capacity of the normal human brain to keep pace, or to manage even a modicum of comprehension. I thought my brain had been unceremoniously teleported into the clutches of a centrifuge that had developed a mind of its own — and then immediately lost its mind. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HERON — “FIRE TWIN”

Album Reviews, Premieres 1 Response »

Oct 312016

After a self-titled debut EP released in 2015, Vancouver, B.C.’s Heron now return with a new one named Fire Twin. It’s being released today — in fact, it has just today become available for streaming and download on Bandcamp, and you’ll find it down below as well, since we’ve eagerly agreed to help spread it around.

It’s well worth your time, especially if you have a taste for bleak, blasted sludge/doom that’s heavy enough to split concrete and powerfully atmospheric enough to cast a deep and dark spell. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SCORCHED — “ECHOES OF DISMEMBERMENT”

Album Reviews, Premieres 4 Responses »

Oct 312016

We’ve been watching the rapid ascent of Delaware’s Scorched with increasing excitement ever since we premiered a full stream of their self-titled demo in May 2015, which was then about to be released by Unspeakable Axe. And just this past July our Norwegian friend Gorger praised their split with Putrisect (Final State of Existence) in his own distinctive voice. We also made mention of the excellent four-way split they joined along with Gatecreeper, Homewrecker, and Outer Heaven.

But now the band have reached new heights with their first full-length album, Echoes of Dismemberment, which it’s our pleasure to premiere for you in advance of its November 25 release by Unspeakable Axe.

When I heard the first publicly released song from the album (“Rot In Confinement”) after it premiered at DECIBEL, I ventured the opinion that Scorched were “about to blow up”. Now having heard the full album, I still feel that way — in spades. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TREURWILG — “DEPARTURE”

Album Reviews, Premieres 2 Responses »

Oct 312016

(Grant Skelton reviews the debut album by the Dutch doom band Treurwilg. and brings us a premiere stream of all the songs.)

Earlier this year, I stumbled across Treurwilg on Bandcamp. In January, they released an album of tracks recorded live at the Little Devil bar in their hometown of Tilburg. The album art intrigued me, so I gave it a listen. Since then, I’ve been chomping at the proverbial bit for a proper studio album. So when Treurwilg unveiled the track “As His Final Light Is Fading” from Departure, their debut release, my expectations were exceeded. Readers may remember that I featured the track in a previous Seen & Heard. There, I described it thusly:

“The track is heavy and slow. Heavy like a stony albatross about your neck. And slow like the way you’d die from drowning. It’s also ambivalent, fluctuating between violence and melancholy. The last minute is absolute savagery that flays the flesh of the inner ear. And I mean all that in the best way possible.”

KRYPTS: “REMNANTS OF EXPANSION”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Oct 282016

(We welcome new NCS contributor Lewis Edwards, who wrote this review of the new album by the Finnish band Krypts, which is being released today by Dark Descent Records.)

Any death metal fan worth his salt needs no introduction to Krypts or why Remnants of Expansion has been one of the most anticipated death metal albums of the year, but for those of you less enlightened, Krypts are a four-piece old school death metal revivalist band, of sorts. Their 2013 debut full-length Unending Degradation saw a preference for slow/mid-tempo dirges in the vein of Rippikoulu, accompanied by the off-kilter riffing styles of Demilich and Adramelech, and it cemented Krypts’ place as one of the most exciting bands in modern death metal.

Remnants of Expansion pulls no punches from the very start; the reverb-laden sustained notes at the beginning of album opener “Arrow of Entropy” really set the tone for the rest of the record, and the sense of atmosphere is clearly felt as the song progresses from one sprawling doom-influenced riff to the next over the course of ten minutes. Simply put, it’s an absolutely monstrous way to open the album, and one which perhaps sees Krypts making a signal of intent. Continue reading »

UNDERDOGS IN THE UNDERGROUND: RETURN TO THE TALENTED DEPTHS OV OBSCURE MADNESS (PART 4)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Oct 282016

(This is the fourth part of a multi-part post prepared by Austin Weber putting the spotlight on recent releases, and today he focuses on music from these three bands: Mammoth, Nostril Caverns, and Vermine. To check out Part 1, go here; Part 2 is at this location; and Part 3 can be found here.)

MAMMOTH – DEVIATION

We’ll start today on a lighter note with the newly released instrumental progressive metal album from the Los Angeles-based group known as Mammoth. While the group has been active for several years now, and with several releases behind them already, I only recently became aware of them when their guitarist Wes pitched Deviation to me and I instantly fell in love. Similar to Mastodon, the band’s name fits so well, because their music really is a massive force similar in size and heft to a damn mammoth. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 78: HIEROPHANT

Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT 1 Response »

Oct 282016

(In this October edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy reviews the discography of Italy’s Hierophant — including their brand new album Mass Grave.)

Recommended for fans of: Trap Them, Rotten Sound, Black Breath

There are times in your life when only the nastiest, gnarliest, most pissed-off and punishing form of auditory abuse will do. Which is the perfect time to crank up any one of the four albums by Italian iconoclasts Hierophant.

Each of the band’s releases is a short, sharp, 600-volt shock to the system, a nose-splintering headbutt from out of nowhere, a stiff, straight shot right to the kidneys, a swift and sudden punch to the throat that leaves you gasping and choking… what I’m trying to say is that these boys don’t play nice, they fight dirty.

Straddling the line between Hardcore and Grindcore, with a hefty helping of blackened venom and sludge and doomy nihilism to boot, the band’s sound is definitely one of the most singularly aggressive and gleefully ugly that I’ve had the (dis)pleasure to encounter in recent years.

And so, with a new album on the horizon, I felt it was high time that the rest of you were made to share my pain! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SOULEMISSION — “TALES OF INEVITABLE DEATH”

Album Reviews, Premieres 1 Response »

Oct 282016

On October 31st, Samhain, Black Lion Records will release Tales of Inevitable Death, the debut album of the Dutch band Soulemission — and we have a full stream of the record for your ears in advance of its release.

With a line-up that includes former members of Prostitute Disfigurement and Cirith Gorgor, and with session drums on the album provided by Menthor (from such groups as Enthroned, Lvcifyre, and Nightbringer), the performers bring significant experience to the table, as well as interests in a broad range of extreme metal styles that have influenced their particular approach to black metal under the banner of Soulemission. In addition, the fourth track on the album (“Seas of Emptiness”) includes guest vocals by the notorious Niklas Kvarforth of Sweden’s Shining. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEATH FETISHIST — “CLANDESTINE SACRAMENT”

Album Reviews, Premieres 5 Responses »

Oct 282016

We’ve been following Death Fetishist since we premiered the band’s first single in December of last year (which became part of their debut EP Whorifice) and continuing through the release of a single-song EP named Lucifer Descending last February and our premiere of the first advance song from the debut album Clandestine Sacrament. And now, today, Debemur Morti Productions is officially releasing Clandestine Sacrament, and we have for you the first public streaming of the album.

For those who are just discovering Death Fetishist, the principal creator behind the project is the prolific Matron Thorn, who is also the main driving force in Ævangelist as well as the protagonist in a large number of solo projects, including Benighted In Sodom. He is the vocalist in Death Fetishist and performs all the instruments other than drums and percussion, which are handled by G. Nefarious (a member of Portland’s Panzergod, whose new EP we reviewed here yesterday, as well as Daemoniis Ad Noctum).

For this album Thorn also enlisted an array of notable international guests to help realize Death Fetishist’s musical vision, including guest vocalists Julia Black, D.G. from Iceland’s Misþyrming, and Doug Moore of NY’s Pyrrhon, with synth orchestration created by Jürgen Bartsch (Bethlehem) and Mories (Gnaw Their Tongues). Continue reading »

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