SHADES OF BLACK: CRIMSON TWILIGHT, ANTEINFIERNO

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Feb 042024
 


Ash

Sometimes we must confront grim tasks head-on and grapple with them, rather than shying away. And so I forced myself to calculate how much time has passed since the last time I did one of these columns. The answer is, six weeks ago, the day before Christmas.

Countless creatures making up thousands of species are born, live, and die within a six-week span. Hell, males among the American sand-burrowing mayflies live less than one hour after reaching adulthood, and females have just five minutes to breed before they die. Let’s have a moment of silence for them, please.

Thank you.

Even thinking about what has happened to me over the last six weeks to produce such a void in this Sunday column is a grim contemplation. Knowing what I have ahead of me next weekend, there will likely be another void next Sunday. But for now let’s contemplate more pleasurable grimness. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ENSLAVED, NOCTEM, OBSIDIAN TONGUE, BORKNAGAR, HAUNTOLOGIST, MAUDISSEZ

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Dec 242023
 

For reasons explained yesterday, this is likely to be the last Shades of Black column until we reach Sunday, January 21st, when I hope I can then resume.

I barely have time for this one before the iron hand of commerce rudely forces my nose down to the grindstone again, even though the nose is already ground down to a nub. So let’s get right to it.

P.S. If you don’t see something here you wish I had included, see yesterday’s explanation and then feel free to mention the release in a comment and share a stream link. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: EITRIN, FUINÄEHOT

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Dec 032023
 

You know the old saying about situations when your eyes are bigger than your stomach? When you take on more food than you can possibly finish? That’s kind of my situation, musically, today.

Yesterday’s two-part roundup, which spilled over into today, was a big platter of delectables. What I still had sitting on the platter this morning (all the well-charred food) was just too much to get through, despite my appetite for it and the “clean your plate” philosophy with which my family raised me. Stacked on top of the two-part roundup, it probably would have been too much for you as well.

But, at the risk of an exploding gut, here are a few more servings.

EITRIN (France)

Who could possibly leave untouched a feast prepared by Vindsval (Blut Aus Nord), Marion (Mütterlein), and Dehn Sora (Throane) in celebration of Debemur Morti Productions‘ 20th anniversary? Not I. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: MISERY SPELL, FLUKT, REVA, SATANIC WITCH

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Nov 262023
 

This is one of those Sundays when I didn’t have any inkling of what I might choose before beginning to choose. I had so little inkling that I spent some time searching out where the word inkling came from since I didn’t know. (The answer is at the end of this post. Hint: it has not a drop to do with ink.)

Lacking any preconceived ideas I just started wandering through very recent releases, to see what might take hold. Hopefully what I chose will take hold of some of you too.

MISERY SPELL (Russia)

It took all of about two minutes for me to feel completely drenched by the music on this Saint Petersburg band’s new album Абсолютная тьма (“Absolute Darkness”), which was released just yesterday. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: IHSAHN, DÉLÉTÈRE, NIPHREDIL, ANGEL OF THE ABYSS, RAAT, DISCIPLINE

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Nov 192023
 

I hurt all over, thanks for asking. The result of a week spent trying to exercise muscles that turned into limp noodles after months of sedentary living. If I could get all the lactic acid out of my body it would probably fill a barrel.

Well, maybe hurting all over wasn’t the worst thing as a basis for picking the music in this Sunday column today. It led to selections that will make you hurt in different ways too.

IHSAHN (Norway)

The hurting begins with “Pilgrimage To Oblivion“, a new song from Ihsahn that surfaced three days ago in two different versions. The main version combines orchestral bombast and terrorizing screams, frenzied strings and plundering percussion, to create a thoroughly harrowing experience in keeping with the song’s title and the video’s tale of personal ruin. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: VESTÍGIO, VARE, DEEMTEE

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Nov 122023
 


Caio Lemos

Welcome to another Sunday edition of this column dedicated to black arts. It’s not as extensive as I’d hoped this time, because after finishing yesterday’s very large “Seen and Heard” round-up of new songs and videos I had to do some paying work, took a two-hour nap (I did wake up at 4 a.m. yesterday), and then drank way too much wine last night with my spouse.

Also the Seahawks are playing right after lunch today and I want to watch, even though I have serious doubts whether they’ll win. Also I have to figure out how to change the battery in the key fob for my car, and the dishes aren’t going to wash themselves.

See, I do have a very exciting life outside of NCS. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: THE AMENTA, STILLNESS OF A DYING WORLD, EXCOMMUNICATIO, DELETRIX

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Nov 052023
 

Welcome back, or welcome for the first time. For those who were with me for yesterday’s round-up, I’ll spare you a detailed update on my vaccine-induced congestion and say only that my body’s mucus factory is still vigorously pumping out the product, my wishes be damned.

Like yesterday, I wish I could have made this collection longer. Under the circumstances (which include a rare outing from my hermitage with my spouse this morning), it’s the best I could do. I did attempt to make it a varied experience, with a curveball at the end.

THE AMENTA (Australia)

Well of course we’re leading this column with a new video from The Amenta, because we’re nothing if not slavish in our attention to what they do.

It makes a special kind of sense today because the song that’s the subject of the video is The Amenta‘s cover of Diamanda Galás‘ hymn to Satan, “Sono L’Antichristo“, which originally appeared on her Plague Mass album. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: PHANTOM WINTER, AKVAN, VARATHRON, OLHAVA, A PREGNANT LIGHT, SORT SIND, APANTHROPY

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Oct 292023
 

Yesterday’s roundup was a very, very big one. With so much time on my hands this weekend, I planned to make today’s blackened roundup equally large, paying no attention to whether anyone would have the fortitude to go through a dozen entries yesterday and another dozen today.

When I woke up this morning I somewhat came to my senses and decided to cut this back from what I’d initially selected — providing seven recommendations instead of 12 — mainly because I didn’t think I’d have the time to get a dozen ready to go before I have to go. I hope to say something about the others in the near future.

PHANTOM WINTER (Germany)

I’m going to begin with a regrettably rare example of a great song presented through a great video, each one complementing the other. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: KRIEG, DREAM UNENDING, WORM

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Oct 222023
 


Krieg photo by Kassandra Carmona

In a departure from what I usually do for these columns I decided not to string together a bunch of singles from forthcoming records, but instead to write about two albums, one of them a split.

Both of them are already out, so what’s the point of writing about albums you can already hear for yourselves? You might ask that question about almost everything with my name on it, because I almost never scribble review-ish words without including the music streams. Same goes for a lot of the other scribblers around here.

The idea is that the words might induce some people to check out music they weren’t aware of, or decided to pass by. I hope that will happen today. Other motivations: Writing voluntarily can be fun, even when it’s hard. And it’s just good manners to thank someone for making music that resonates in the soul or the muscles or the mush between the ears.

So, with thanks to Krieg, Dream Unending, and Worm, here we go. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: SEA MOSQUITO, NINKHARSAG

 SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Oct 152023
 

After failing to write anything this usual Sunday column for the last two Sundays I was really determined to get one finished this week, and to make it extra-large. But then I had some unexpected family activities this weekend which shoved that plan into the ditch.

Consequently, this column isn’t extra-large, it’s extra-short. Apart from the usual desire to help spread the word about worthy music, I’m mainly doing this (quickly) to avoid three Sundays of failure in a row.

SEA MOSQUITO (UK)

I discovered the music of Sea Mosquito through their 2021 EP, Fire, Magic & Venom (four other EPs and a split had preceded that one). It was just a single 23-minute song. I spilled a lot of words about it here, ending with these:

“The song is absolutely, stunningly, mad. It makes you quiver and dance like a puppet on a string in a hellish theater, manipulated by a team of demon princes. (Given more time, I would come up with a dozen more metaphors, but maybe the song title says all that needs to be said.) It left me wide-eyed and jaw-dropped.”

Continue reading »

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