SHORT BUT SWEET: GAPED – “THE MURDEROUS INCEPTION”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jan 272014
 

(In this post our friend from The Dominican Republic, Vonlughlio, provides a guest review of the recently released debut EP by Australia’s Gaped.)

First of all, I would like to thank Islander for the opportunity to write for NCS about a band that I discovered last year, while doing my year-end list.  That band is a death metal act named Gaped from Newcastle, Australia, signed to Lacerated Enemy Records. Gaped is the brainchild of Ryan Huthnance, who is the vocalist and plays all the instruments, with lyrics written by Shane Watts (Nekrology and ex-Osmium Grid).

As I mentioned, I discovered this band while doing my list. Up to that moment, I only had two EP’s that I had really loved throughout 2013.  While compiling the list I decided to check out the label’s FB and saw that they had posted the single “Realm of Impurity” from Gaped’s upcoming EP The Murderous Inception and decided to listen (plus, the cover art by Mottla Brutal Art is just killer).  So for the next couple of days, I found myself listening to the song over and over. It’s really groove-oriented, with killer riffs, and the vocals were just insane.

Once the EP was released, I went to the label’s Bandcamp (where I had purchased some of Lacerated Enemy’s other releases) and right there discovered that Gaped had recorded a cover of a Cannibal Corpse song (“Stripped, Raped and Strangled”). I mention this because “Realm of Impurity” had reminded me of CC and some other old school death metal acts. But anyway, I listened to the whole EP and bought it right away. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: WILDERNESSKING — “THE DEVIL WITHIN”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  6 Responses »
Jan 232014
 

I haven’t written a review in almost a month. The list of releases I want to write about has now grown so long that I know I’ll never succeed in completing all of them. And yet when I saw that Wildernessking released The Devil Within yesterday, I immediately bought a download of the EP, listened to it repeatedly, and wrote what you’re about to read.

I suppose this impulsiveness derived in part from the soft spot I have for bands located in places far from the biggest global markets for metal, and so remote that touring beyond a few cities is almost impossible for most bands. Cape Town, South Africa, is one such place. But mainly it’s because I had such high expectations for the music based on what Wildernessking have done before.

First came their 2012 debut album, The Writing of Gods In the Sand (which became the source of one of our Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs of 2012). To steal words from my own review, it bound together styles from a variety of genres (including black metal, post-metal, and Enslaved-style prog) to create “a uniquely effective expression of power and emotion, a blending of light and dark, soft and hard, beauty and voraciousness.” Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: “ASYLUM” BY TALANAS

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 142014
 

(In this post, Andy Synn reviews the forthcoming EP by Talanas, which will be released on February 22 by Eulogy Media.)

It’s always nice when bands throw out an unexpected curve-ball, something designed to both challenge and reward their listeners.

Progressive Death Metal proto-titans Talanas have decided to do just that with their new, about to be released, mini-album Asylum, putting a markedly different spin on their signature sound.

Whereas the band’s usual approach – akin to Akercocke and My Dying Bride copulating in a field of dead flowers and broken dreams – gives the listener the sensation of being choked and pummelled by an iron fist in a velvet glove, they’ve taken a decidedly different turn on Asylum, stripping out the deathly aggression and metallic distortion, accentuating instead the ethereal wonder and decayed glamour of their gothic roots. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: “ABYSS CATHEDRAL” BY GOD DISEASE

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  6 Responses »
Jan 122014
 

(TheMadIsraeli provides a brief introduction to a murderous new EP by God Disease.)

“Soul crushing old school death metal” are the words Finland’s God Disease use to describe the music contained on their debut EP Abyss Cathedral.  The band’s forte is of the doom-influenced variety, channeling Autopsy, Penetrelia-era Hypocrisy, Winter, and Immolation.  I’m pretty impressed.

I’d recommend checking this out if you want something to satisfy that “shit production, terrific music” itch.  It’s unapologetically old school and brazenly soaked in its influences and is downright killer, back to front.  Definitely a cool early 2014 release to have stumbled upon.

Enjoy the sickness and pestilence next. (The EP is now available for download via the Bandcamp link below.) Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: WARFORGED — “ESSENCE OF THE LAND”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 082014
 

(Earlier this month TheMadIsraeli briefly raved about a Chicago band named Warforged after seeing their video for part of a new EP. Now he reviews the whole thing — still raving.)

Warforged will be the face of American neo-tech death.  Count on it.  If you have become a fan of the heavily blackened and post-y direction of bands like Fallujah, Warforged are an example of the absolute pinnacle of that stylistic hook.  Essence of the Land isn’t a mere EP, or a mere first glimpse, it’s a powerhouse mission statement.

The EP is a sixteen-minute suite of next-level proggy tech precision that looks to boggle the mind and shatter the bones.  This is a perfect song and an absolute haymaker of a way to introduce yourself to the metal audience.  So many things here are so right: The weird intersection between neo-classical and outright alien angular tendencies, the exceptional caliber of riffing and interplay between guitarists Paul Alculessi and Richard Stancato, the scathing vocal assault of Adrian Perez’s transitions from blood-vomit gutturals to blackened last-breath gnashes, it’s all so fucking good. Continue reading »

BANDS YOU NEED TO HEAR: COGNIZANCE

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  11 Responses »
Jan 032014
 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli brings us another recent discovery — a brand new two-song demo by an English band named Cognizance.)

It would appear there is a quality death metal overflow from 2013 left over; first Warforged (featured here yesterday), now these dudes.  Cognizance play an extremely violent brand of tech death that calls to mind Cryptopsy, Aeon, a lot of Polish and Italian influences, and just overall kick assery.

This is really turbulent stuff and completely brings the brutality in spades.  Looking forward to seeing what these guys pull out later this year.  Enjoy the two-song demo they just released, which is a “pay what you want” download at Bandcamp. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: INTO DARKNESS — “TRANSMIGRATION OF COSMIC CREATURES INTO THE UNKNOWN”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
Dec 272013
 

After only one listen, I proclaimed the debut demo by Italy’s Into Darkness “one of the best death/doom releases of 2012”. I wasn’t alone — the surprising first effort of this new three-piece drew praise from many quarters. Now, after a change of line-up, they’ve followed that auspicious start with a new 7″ EP entitled Transmigration of Cosmic Creatures Into the Unknown (also available for download on Bandcamp), and it proves that the 2012 demo was no fluke.

Vocalist/lead-guitarist Doomed Warrior is the only surviving member of the band that produced that demo — now joined by Ken Hunakau (also a member of Fuoco Fatuo) on bass and rhythm guitar and drummer Pide Guts (Necro) — but the new release proves she was (and is) the heart and demonic soul of this band. She still sounds like she was separated at birth from Martin van Drunen, despite being born more than 20 years later, and if anything her voice has grown even more depraved and destructive since Into Darkness’ first outing. And her songwriting and guitar work are equally striking this time around. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: “OBLITERATIONS” BY OBLITERATIONS

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Dec 212013
 

With as diverse a group as Leperkahn, Phro, and Sean Golyer all uttering surprised exclamations about this EP on Facebook, it had “can’t miss” written all over it, right? And on top of that, there was the mention on Obliterations’ Bandcamp page of the members’ musical pedigrees (with time spent in the likes of Black Mountain, Saviours, Bluebird, Night Horse, and Pink Mountaintops) and their love of both Black Sabbath and Black Flag. Also, photos of nuclear detonations.

So, although I’m buried up to me neck in unheard promos and other recommendations that have been gathering dust, I ventured into this L.A. band’s self-titled debut release. With four songs flying by in 8 1/2 minutes, it’s over before you know it — but it leaves its mark. Or rather, it leaves marks, the kind that will scar when the scabs come off.

The music is a galvanizing blend of bolting punk rhythms and fat guitar and bass tone, with gut-pummeling drum beats, rambunctious bass work, and blinding solo bursts. The riffs are immediately catchy and compelling, Sam James Velde lets it all hang out in his enraged vocal shrieks, and the sound quality is damn-near perfect for the hybrid punk/metal animal these dudes have created. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: VILDHJARTA — “THOUSANDS OF EVILS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Dec 202013
 


(Here’s TheMadIsraeli’s belated review of the latest release by Sweden’s Vildhjarta.)

THALL

 

Now that that’s out of the way…

It’s a shame I’m only just now reviewing this.  Vildhjarta are easily one of the most important bands in the whole djent/prog-groove scene.  Måsstaden was a masterpiece in the way it interwove djent, deathcore, and doom into a cohesive atomic sonic clusterfuck of sainthood.  This EP, Thousands of Evils, sees a band already known for strange sounds and strange ideas experimenting even more.   It’s cool, if for nothing else, that this is a band who are unafraid to put their mere fucking around out there and see how it’s received.  The results are, as one would expect from these guys, dimension-opening.

All of the elements that made the band are still here: The relentless dual vocal assault, the guitar tone that sounds like a nuclear fallout, and of course Daniel Bergstrom’s brand of “how in the fucking fuck did he make that noise with a guitar?” style of riffing.  What is impressive about Thousands of Evils is how balls to the wall it is, and how little of a fuck it gives for cohesion.  Instead, it aims to achieve simply the most extreme reaches of whatever parts of the spectrum they hit.  The heavy parts are gargantuan in stature, the clean ambient moments soul-cleansing. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: EARTH CONTROL — “DEAD WRESTLER”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Dec 162013
 

(DGR reviews the latest EP by Earth Control from Tacoma, Washington — the band formerly known as Owen Hart.)

When I reviewed Ovid’s Withering’s recent release Scryers Of The Ibis a few days back, I mentioned that there were some discs that I could not in good conscience let the year end without discussing in some form, if only to explain why they may be appearing on certain year-end lists from seemingly out of nowhere. Earth Control’s Dead Wrestler EP is not one of those discs. Instead, it is something of an old touching of bases for me — in part because I had just recently rediscovered them after curiosity got the best of me and I wondered what happened to the group Owen Hart, only to discover that they had received a cease and desist order from the WWE/Hart Family (which, let’s be real, was probably the only way this was fated to go) and the band had to change their name.

They chose the name Earth Control, after the title of the CD Owen Hart had put out earlier — but by that point I had long since lost the thread with this Tacoma, WA based grind band. I discovered the Earth Control disc in part due to another writer at one of the sites I was at. She described them as sounding like Converge (of whom she was a huge fan, and thus a huge fan of the Earth Control disc) and she was partly right. Owen Hart (now Earth Control, in case you’re losing track) have a very chaotic sound, reminiscent of how Converge sound sometimes — 70% noise/30% music, buried in all the reverb, feedback, and static that they could produce and just hammering away at their instruments. Owen Hart do the same thing, but they sound like Converge if Converge were to throw their instruments off the side of a building and record the impact.

Thus, when I found out they had taken the name Earth Control and in the summer of this year released an EP entitled Dead Wrestler… — at least I think they released it this summer — I had to check it out, if only to reconnect with the band who had given me the songs, “Fuck Morrisey, Fuck The Smiths, Fuck The Cure” and “Welcome to Worthless Piece Of Shit-ville Population: You”. Continue reading »

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