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BEST OF BRITISH: ANDRACCA / DEVASTATOR / VERMINTHRONE

Feb 272024

(Andy Synn brings us three more examples of The Best of British from the year so far)

As some of you may know, a couple of weeks back I attended an excellent all-dayer featuring some of the very best of the UK Black Metal scene, two of whom – Andracca and Devastator – I subsequently decided I wanted to write some more about here, in the hopes of introducing them to at least a few new listeners.

And for the third artist/album – because all good things come in threes, right? – I’ve selected the debut album from a bunch of up-and-coming Souther sludge-slingers by the name of Verminthrone, who I predict you’re going to be hearing quite a bit more from over the next few years.

So, without further ado, let’s dig into another edition of “The Best of British”, shall we?

HANNES GROSSMANN: “ECHOES OF ETERNITY”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Feb 272024

(Below you’ll find DGR‘s review of the newest solo release by the standout German musician Hannes Grossmann, which was released on February 9th.)

Hannes Grossmann‘s solo career has been one of the more interesting things to pop out of the many tech-death groups and scenes over the decade. You never realize just how foundational a musician is to a particular style until they’ve done five or so releases that feel like continual statements of ‘I can do this in my sleep’ quite the way like Hannes does with some of his solo stuff.

Not only that but it’s long since been proven that as a musician he’s an absolute machine, and while Gene Hoglan has long earned the nickname ‘Atomic Clock’ when it comes to drumming, Hannes is equally precise and reliable. You could hand him anything and it seems within about an hour or so he’d have a grasp on the whole setlist. There’s a certain guaranteed reliability to the guy that pretty much assures quality; any band he joins is in good hands and any recording where he sits behind the kit is probably going to be just as solid.

His solo career has afforded him affable room to explore as well, and while his first two releases felt a little like finding their footing, Apophenia and onward are adventures in their own right. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ILAT MAHRU — “INCIPIT AKKADIAN”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Feb 262024

Ilat Mahru is a black metal entity shrouded in mystery.

In the Encyclopaedia Metallum and on the Bandcamp page for the entity’s debut album Incipit Akkadian, the band’s location is identified as Egypt, a rare spawning ground for black metal, though the reference also could have been “Ancient Egypt” (a less geographically specific and more spiritually attuned location).

Whether the band in its recordigs is a single person or more than one is a question un-answered. The source of the band’s name is also a conundrum. Trying to find its meaning or derivation through googling proved fruitless for this searcher.

Perhaps some of these mysteries were answered for metal-lovers who attended Estonia’s Howls of Winter XI underground black metal gathering which took place in Tallinn earlier this month, because Ilat Mahru performed there. Or maybe questions were still left unanswered.

Well, we should probably allow the band to preserve its mysteries as long as they care to, and just be content with the music — though it has mysteries of its own, as you’re about to discover for yourselves through our premiere stream of Incipit Akkadian in advance of its March 1st release by Death Prayer Records. Continue reading »

DARKEST HOUR – PERPETUAL | TERMINAL

Album Reviews No Responses »

Feb 262024

(Andy Synn gets his teeth into the new album from Darkest Hour, out now on MNRK Heavy)

Darkest Hour have been one of my favourite bands for… well, if you want a clue as to just how long, the shop where I bought my first copy of So Sedated, So Secure as a kid has been closed for about twenty years.

Which either makes me the worst possible person to review their new album due to my obvious bias… or the best, since I know exactly what they’re capable of and am therefore best prepared to judge them accordingly.

Let’s hope it’s the latter, shall we?

SOLBRUD: “IIII”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Feb 262024

(Below you’ll find Daniel Barkasi‘s review of a new album by the Danish band Solbrud, which is out now on Vendetta Records.)

Black metal has been brimming with flavors and textures to please even the stingiest of palates. Denmark’s Solbrud contains a venerable cornucopia of variety – from the morose, to the hypnotic, to the unrelenting, and many variations thereof. They also never make the same record twice. With their latest IIII, they’ve ventured into creative choices that are bold and alluring. It can be said that there are four slices to this loaded-up pie. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ABYSSLOOKER, ASPHALT GRIEVING, THEY CAME FROM VISIONS, TWILIGHT SUN

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Feb 252024

I have a lot to get to for this Sunday column as I continue to benefit from my day job at least temporarily leaving me alone. I hope it will be a benefit to you too. I’ll try to make this a bit easier to get through by calling out tracks to sample from the three full releases I’ve included.

ABYSSLOOKER (Russia)

I made a point of including music from a Ukrainian band in yesterday’s roundup, yesterday being the second anniversary of the egomaniacal thug Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. I wanted to make a point of including a Russian band today, the point being that sometimes blame can be painted with too broad a brush, and we ought not do that. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): KERES — “HOMO HOMINI LUPUS”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Feb 222024

As described by The Font of All Human Knowledge: “Homo homini lupus, or in its unabridged form Homo homini lupus est, is a Latin proverb meaning ‘A man is a wolf to another man,’ or more tersely ‘Man is wolf to man.’ It is used to refer to situations where a person has behaved comparably to a wolf. In this case, the wolf represents predatory, cruel, and generally inhuman qualities; in essence, the person is held to be uncivilized.”

The Italian black/death metal band Keres took that proverb as the name for their debut album which is due for release on February 23rd via Gruesome Records. It is, for them, a truth about the human condition that provokes disgust and rage. They define humanity as “the biggest plague on earth”:

“Over the centuries we killed each other for the most trivial reasons, hiding behind religion, political ideologies, false respectability and many other bullshit with the purpose of justifying what we have done and are still doing. But the truth is that our nature will always lead us to crave what we don’t have, bringing endless conflicts for this thirst of power, which will bring upon us our own demise. In the end, only ruins and dust of what we are will remain, this is our true legacy. We deserve extinction.”

Keres obviously don’t mince words. They don’t pull any punches in their music either, as you will discover for yourselves through our complete premiere stream of their new album today, on the eve of its release. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): COUNTING HOURS — “THE WISHING TOMB”

Album Reviews, Premieres 4 Responses »

Feb 212024

No matter where; of comfort no man speak:
Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth

That’s not the last time we’ll quote Shakespeare in this article, but we begin with that excerpt from Richard II for a reason, which you may understand when you hear Counting Hours‘ The Wishing Tomb, which will be released on February 23rd by Ardua Music.

These Finnish dark metal torchbearers have a way with words too. Here’s how they introduce this new album:

“The Wishing Tomb represents a cathartic journey. It’s an exploration of human frailty, dreams, and the unspoken. The tomb symbolizes both longing and release—the place where wishes crystallize and fade away. Counting Hours invites listeners to step into this cryptic space, where emotions resonate and time loses its grip.” Continue reading »

IHSAHN – IHSAHN

Album Reviews No Responses »

Feb 212024

(Ihsahn‘s self-titled album was released last week, and Andy Synn has a few thoughts about it)

Vegard Sverre Tveitan, better known as Ihsahn, is undeniably one of the most recognisable names/faces/voices in our little, parallel Metal universe.

And while he initially earned his infamy as part of a little band called Emperor (maybe you’ve heard of them?) he has now spent almost twenty years pursuing a solo career under the Ihsahn moniker, meaning that there’s a good chance that at least some of his fanbase probably knows him more for that than for his seminal role in the early days of Black Metal.

As a vehicle for his proggier predilections, his collective catalogue under the Ihsahn banner has run the gamut from modern classics to experimental oddities, and everything in between, but there’s certainly an argument to be made that – as a self-titled summation of his career so far – on his eighth album, the eponymous Ihsahn, we’re truly seeing Ihsahn being the most Ihsahn he can be.

Which leaves just two question which need answering – what exactly is it about Ihsahn which makes the album so special, and how many more times am I going to write the word “Ihsahn” over the course of this review?

FARSOT – LIFE PROMISED DEATH

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Feb 202024

(Life Promised Death is out now on Lupus Lounge)

Farsot‘s 2017 album, Fail·Lure, is – in my humble opinion, at least – one of the best Black Metal records of the last ten, if not twenty, years.

Which means, of course, that Life Promised Death has a lot to live up to, especially with almost seven years of built up expectations to contend with on top of that.

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