SHORT BUT SWEET Archives - Page 74 of 114

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): GJENDØD, HAVUKRUUNU, HEIR, INCLEMENCY

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Apr 032016

This is Part 1 of a collection of very good new music in the orbit of black metal that I encountered over the last week. Once again, I found a lot to like — so much that I decided to divide the collection into two parts — but I hope you’ll find time to at least sample the music from each band; only two of them have previously been covered at this site. I’ve arranged the music in alphabetical order by band name, continuing into Part 2 later today.

GJENDØD

Apart from the music in the two songs embedded below, the only thing I know about Gjendød is that the band is from Norway and that sometime “soon” the Polish label Hellthrasher Productions intends to release what appears to be the band’s first demo on CD.

The songs you can now stream are two of the four listed on the Bandcamp player for the demo — “Evig svart røyk” and “Menneskeavl”. If we could plug the energy of these songs into electrical grids, we could decommission vast numbers of power plants — though we wouldn’t do much to reduce global warming, because these tracks are hot as hell. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: HISSING — S/T

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Mar 252016

I’ve been meaning to write about the 2015 self-titled EP by Seattle’s Hissing for a long time, but now that it’s being re-issued in CD format by Jeff Wilson’s Disorder Recordings today, I’ve been given a second chance to make amends for my past failings — and the band have a couple of noteworthy tours beginning this week that I’d like to spread the word about as well (they’re playing in Seattle this very night along with Lycus, Un, and Eye of Nix).

As noted, Hissing are based here in Seattle, and this EP was their debut release. There’s not one moment of reassurance in its roughly 20-minute run-time, not even in the minute of silence that begins the “Outro” track, when you’re left to stew in your own juices before being surrounded by what sounds like some kind of ghastly industrial assembly line backed by the sound of altered strings. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INFINITE DEATH — “IN DESPAIR”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Mar 242016

Almost exactly two years ago I came across a debut EP named Beyond the Gates by a Southern California band named Infinite Death, and spilled some words about it here. Infinite Death have now completed work on a follow-up EP called The Endless Suffering, and today we’re bringing you the premiere of the EP’s second single, “In Despair“.

Infinite Death make no bones about the fact that they’re inspired by Gothenberg-style melodic death metal, and for fans (like me) of that distinctive, Swedish brand of metal, The Endless Suffering will be a welcome dose of well-executed, high-energy extremity. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: REMEMBER THAT YOU WILL DIE — S/T

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Mar 232016

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by Remember That You Will Die, whose members come from Australia and The Netherlands.)

When a band decides to call itself Remember That You Will Die, it’s a pretty safe bet that things aren’t going to be all sunshine and roses, and right from the sombre opening bars of “Despoilation” it becomes eminently clear that this intercontinental collective of nihilists and ne’er-do-wells view life only in shades of the darkest, dourest grey.

The band’s intriguing brand of Black Metal dwells somewhere on the more atmospheric end of the spectrum, marrying stinging blasts of venomous fury with distinct elements of “Post”-ish misery and some subtle experimental/progressive touches, drawing parallels with the dearly-departed and much-missed Altar of Plagues, albeit with a rhyme and rhythm all their own. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: PYRRHON — “RUNNING OUT OF SKIN”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Mar 152016

(Austin Weber reviews the surprising new EP by Pyrrhon.)

Since their inception, NYC-based death metal weirdos Pyrrhon have developed a reputation as an experimental force to be reckoned with. And with each new release the band venture further into new territory and new forms of chaotic, genre-bending insanity. Last year they dropped an EP called Growth Without End that got a lot of critical praise and really seemed to be a breakthrough moment for the group in terms of their growing name recognition. If you remember, that release was itself a quick turn-around, with the band having previously released a phenomenal full-length just two years ago called The Mother Of Virtues.

Now, seemingly out nowhere and with no advance hype, the band quietly dropped a new EP today called Running Out Of Skin. With the only Pyrrhon constant seeming to be a penchant to change and shift their sound, it should come as no surprise that Running Out Of Skin is both familiar and different from their prior works. It consists of three original tracks, two of which were improvised in the studio, and a damn heavy cover of Death’s ”Crystal Mountain” to end the EP. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VENEFICIUM’S SELF-TITLED DEMO TAPE

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 5 Responses »

Mar 092016

Even though we’re about to premiere a full stream of the debut self-titled demo by Veneficium, I don’t know who is in the band. They are reputed to be veterans of New Zealand’s metal underground, and that’s entirely believable because this demo is masterful at what it does. What it does is unleash a hellish cataclysm of abyssal black/death savagery — but with the kind of flair and dynamism that make this a bewitching terror.

The demo is produced in a way that gives it an immensely powerful and harrowing sound; you feel the bones in your skeleton vibrate down to your feet, and the earth beneath them seems to quake in massive tremors. Yet while the storm of distortion in the stringed instruments and the reverb effects in the vocals are what you would expect for this kind of sonic warfare, the production is perhaps surprisingly sharp; the murk is not so thick as to obscure all the interesting ingredients that make the music so riveting (and unsettling). Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: WOLVSERPENT, WITHERED, WODE

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 13 Responses »

Mar 072016

Wolvserpent

You may have noticed that over the weekend I only posted one article on our site, despite the fact that for more than 6 years I’ve been obsessed with posting something every day of every year, weekends and holidays included. I think Saturday was only the 7th or 8th day when I’ve completely fallen down on the job since I started the site, and I had wanted to do more than one post on Sunday. As sometimes happens (but rarely), I just got too overwhelmed by personal obligations and the demands of my fucking day job to focus on NCS.

I’ve actually been kind of overwhelmed since the middle of last week. One of the things I’ve been unable to do is post round-ups of new music that I like. I did attempt to fly through the interhole and the NCS in-box from time to time and make a list of songs I wanted to check out as time permitted. When I looked at the list yesterday, it had new songs from 30 bands on it — all of which appeared just within the last week!!! Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SYNODIK — “A MATTER OF PERCEPTION”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Mar 012016

(Andy Synn reviews the latest release by the Italian band Synodik.)

It was way back in 2012 when itinerant Italian Tech-Death types Synodik released their debut album, which largely flew under the radar for most people (including yours truly). In fact I almost missed out on their latest EP as well, seeing as how it was actually released over 12 months ago now, and I honestly only stumbled across its existence by pure chance.

You’ll be thankful I did though as, despite the fact that it’s only a mere three tracks long (one introduction, and two full songs), there’s a lot here to satisfy even the most discerning of Progressive/Technical Death Metal aficionados… and hopefully grab the band a few new fans in the process. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ROTTEN COLD / DISTASTE (SPLIT) AND W R I T H E (SELF-TITLED)

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Feb 292016

(DGR brings us two reviews of two new cataclysmic musical assaults.)

The foraging for new sounds with which to ruin your hearing never stops here at NoCleanSinging, it just happens to move a little slower than usual as work hits its busy season for a few weeks. As such, I’ve been in the mood for the sort of music that can wipe away any sense of reality by fire, and I figured I’d share my two most recent listens that have allowed me to do that.

Both of these hit in January and have been sort of waiting in my back pocket, armed and ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice and, almost inevitably, something happens that causes one’s day to go sideways. Both of these releases are short, quick hits of adrenalin to the system and they both appear angry as hell. So if you need a good way to light a match on your day, here goes…

ROTTEN COLD / DISTASTE: A SPLIT

A few years ago I went on something of a grind kick here at NCS. Never really delved too deep into the underground, but had found a list of bands that I thoroughly enjoyed. A lot of them, to no surprise, took a lot of inspiration from bands like Nasum/Rotten Sound (who themselves have a disc hitting really soon) and more, from that specific breed of grind band. They were all lightspeed-heavy, blaster-style bands, and the whole thing that triggered my exploration was curiosity as to what musician had been in what project and what side projects they had been in. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ITHAQUA (“THE BLACK MASS SABBATH PULSE”) AND CRUSTY OLD TOAD (“NEFARIOUS OCCURRENCE”)

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 7 Responses »

Feb 272016

It’s possible that I owe each of these two bands an apology for reviewing their new releases alongside each other. I swear I wasn’t trying to be ironic or make any mischief. It just happened that I listened to both of them back-to-back, liked them both (for somewhat different reasons), and was anxious to spill some words about them. So I’m striking while the iron is hot in my head.

ITHAQUA: “THE BLACK MASS SABBATH PULSE”

When I first came across this band’s debut demo Initiation To Obscure Mysteries more than a year ago (here), I didn’t know anything about them other than the fact that they seemed to be from Greece. But that demo was an arresting experience, and I felt grateful that Iron Bonehead spread it around.

Now, a year later, Ithaqua finally have a page on Metal-Archives (along with the other bands with the same name who are not them), they seem to have attracted a following, and Iron Bonehead will again be releasing their music. This time it’s a two-song 7″ named The Black Mass Sabbath Pulse, and it’s even more impressive than the demo. Continue reading »

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