AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INCARCERATION — “EMPIRICISM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Apr 142021
 

 

The part-Brazilian, part-German death metal band Incarceration have compiled a discography that includes a pair of splits, an EP, and a 2016 debut album named Catharsis. To that collection of releases they are now adding a new EP entitled Empiricism that’s set for release on Friday of this week (April 16th) by Dawnbreed Records.

On this newest effort the band’s core duo of Daniel Silva (who performs vocals and bass on this release) and Michael Koch (drums) are joined for the first time by guitarists Pedro Capaça (Violator) and Alex Obscured (Speedwhore, Obscured by Evil). Whether for that reason or others, the band seem to have thrown themselves without reservation into the most furious and unhinged side of their sound.

And thus, as you’ll discover through our full streaming premiere today, the new EP generates adrenaline-fueled mayhem with explosive, savage power, although that ruthless, visceral intensity is accompanied by spectral leads and coruscating solos that generate a frightening aura of the occult. Continue reading »

ANGKOR WAT: “WORST ENEMY”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 292021
 

 

(What is old is new again. Wil Cifer reviews a come-back EP by the Texas crossover band Angkor Wat, who first made their deep marks with albums released in 1989 and ’90.)

Once upon a time bands were discovered in zines, Maximum Rocknroll, or on college radio, and yeah I am not counting MTV, it was bullshit. In those golden years you would find bands that seemed like your little secret. Maybe you might get one of your friends into them, but they were a deserted island for your ears otherwise. This Texas band was one of those.

When Corpus Christi came out in 1990 it was light years ahead of its time, though both of Angkor Wat‘s albums held up over the years. They remained marginally active after 1990, with a few small tours here and there. When I stumbled across this EP Worst Enemy released on their website with zero fanfare, it was a wonderful surprise. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DÏATRÏBE — “ODITE SERMONIS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 262021
 

 

The French one-man band Dïatrïbe came into existence in 2019, “with the aim” (as its creator explains) “of creating radical and intense music, an extension of the French Orthodox scene.” Embracing the mysticism and spiritual subject matter of black metal, Dïatrïbe devoted itself to “the artistic exploration of something else, creeping and powerful like a fiery cloud, uncompromising with very clear guidelines, acceptance to let go to the unknown, the search for this unexplained vibration that grabs us between fear and fascination… an artistic vision of the unfathomable, indomitable abyss hidden behind all things”.

We use those words to begin introducing our premiere of Dïatrïbe’s debut EP Odite Sermonis because they succeed so well as a preview of the music to come — perhaps especially in their reference to the “unexplained vibration that grabs us between fear and fascination”, because that is indeed what these six tracks achieve in striking fashion. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FECULENT — “THE GROTESQUE ARENA”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 172021
 

 

The Brisbane-based band Feculent chose for their name an adjective that means “foul with impurities” and “saturated in waste”. That was obviously a carefully considered decision, because their brand of death metal is foul and disgusting, unhealthy and repugnant, devoid of hope and lethal in its objectives. But Feculent’s administration of audio murder is multi-faceted — they are as capable of delivering the most pulverizing of punishments as they are at radiating sensations of flesh-eating contagion.

And they are very, very good at doing all that, and more. Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise, because although Feculent is a new name, the line-up includes members of Snorlax, Shackles, and Resin Tomb, who’ve already made horrifying names for themselves.

Feculent’s debut release is a six-track monstrosity named The Grotesque Arena, and it’s coming out very soon (March 19th) via Brilliant Emperor Records — but you need not wait a moment longer to experience it, because we present a full stream today. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: DISTASTE AND INORGANIC

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 102021
 

(DGR jumps back into action once again with a pair of short but sweet EP reviews)

Three months in and although the review slate so far has been oddly stop-start – understandable given the shitshow we’re slowly crawling out of, especially when we can start complaining about being buried by our day jobs again – we’ve had some very choice releases so far.

So I figured after a bunch of long ass reviews I’d try to pick a couple of EPs to keep things shorter for you all, even as I keep on digging through everything else as it’s the only thing keeping me sane.

Right now I present to you some very much up-my-alley style of music though, one Grind release that I’m convinced I have spelled wrong every time it appears (despite the fact that I copy and paste it off of the bandcamp every time) and one so firmly implanted in the Brutal Death concrete that using a jackhammer to get them out would just be added instrumentation for atmosphere.

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): REQUIEM FOR OBLIVION — “HINDSIGHT 2020”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 022021
 

 

Almost four years have passed since we last heard from Requiem For Oblivion, who make their home in Erie PA. Their last album back then, Burning Nation, was a head-spinning fusion of technical and progressive death metal that was multi-faceted, unpredictable, and electrifying. And now the band is returning… and some things have changed.

Requiem For Oblivion have marked their return with a new EP named Hindsight 2020 that will be released on March 5th, and which you’ll be able to hear for yourselves through our premiere of a full stream. Trying to sum it up as a challenge, but here’s a stab at it:

The music is mechanistic and merciless in its destructiveness but also freakish and twisted in its bizarre and surprising contortions — a display of cold machine power dialed up to titanic levels but operating within a state of untreatable psychosis. The grooves are so massive and punishing that they’ll tempt you to ruin your neck, but everything else about the music (and, to be honest, even the grooves themselves) will keep you (and your sanity) off-balance, to the point that by the end you may be asking, “What the fuck just happened?” You’ll wonder where you’ve been and how the hell you’ll find your way get back to where you started. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SACRILEGIOUS CROWN — “PLENILUNIUM CULT”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Mar 022021
 

 

Raw black metal is a tiny and obscure niche within the greater world of extreme metal, but one with fervently devoted adherents among both performers and listeners. But as small as the niche is, the music within it isn’t all the same thing, any more than it is in other micro and macro metal realms. Some creators, for example, create abrasive and unpleasant assaults on the eardrums, relishing the antagonisms unleashed by such mutilating lo-fi attacks. Others follow different paths, and one of those is the intensely atmospheric one followed by the Italian one-man band Sacrilegious Crown.

Active since 2015, with three demos and two full-lengths in the catalogue, Sacrilegious Crown is about to release a new EP named Plenilunium Cult via Xenoglossy Productions, and we have a full stream of its remarkably chilling sensations for you today in advance of that March 5th release. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ANIME TORMENT — “VOID TERROR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Feb 242021
 

 

Whatever you might guess about the sounds of a band who chose a name like Anime Torment, we can assure you that their brand of death metal is ruthlessly devoted to brutalizing savagery. The horrifying cover art created by Erskine Designs for this Czech band’s new EP Void Terror might be a better tip-off to the crazed slaughtering and bone-smashing cruelty the EP inflicts upon listeners.

That EP is set for release on February 25th by Slovak Metal Army, but you’ll have a chance today to run yourselves through its gauntlet via our early stream of all six songs. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: A NIGHT IN THE ABYSS / ANTRE / TRIVAX

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Feb 192021
 

 

(In this article Andy Synn reviews three recent EPs from bands based in the UK.)

Huh… seems like a while now since I last did one of these “Best of British” columns (I’m not sure exactly how long, I haven’t checked).

And while it’s not like I’ve been neglecting my “local” scene – I heaped praise upon Thundering Hooves right at the start of the year, for example – it’s probably about time to catch up with what’s going on in our ever more divided kingdom. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): PERIHELION GNOSIS — “SYZYGIAL SUMMONING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Feb 152021
 

 

With just two songs, the debut demo of Perihelion Gnosis makes a powerful statement of malicious intent, leading the listener into a lightless catacombs of dread, horror, and mindless violence. Through an alchemical amalgam of ghastly, ravaging death metal and soul-sucking doom, Syzygial Summoning delivers both stunning brutality and blood-freezing supernatural terror.

Caligari Records, which has a proven track record of taste in underground extremity, will be releasing this new demo on February 18th, but today we have the opportunity to present a stream of it in full. Wear body armor and tie your sanity to a firm foundation, because both body and mind will be in jeopardy. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries