SHADES OF BLACK Archives - Page 54 of 65

SHADES OF BLACK: KJELD, WEDERGANGER, ST. LUCIFER, OBITUS, LIBER NULL, DUMAL, AKVAN

Jan 082017

I was again torn between writing a “That’s Metal!” post, which I foolishly promised to do on the first Sunday of each month and still haven’t done for December — or January — and compiling another collection of recent music in a blackened vein. You can see how that internal struggle ended.

KJELD and WEDERGANGER

This split by these two distinctive Dutch bands was released on December 16 by Ván Records and is now available on Bandcamp. It includes three tracks by Kjeld and two by Wederganger. I had intended to write about it prior to release, but failed. It’s very good, and deserves more extensive discussion than I’m able to give it now. But with a full stream now available, it can speak quite well for itself. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DEATH LIKE MASS, PURE WRATH, KAOSOPHIA, AGONIE, INFERNAL COIL, NYSS

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Dec 252016

To all of you who may be celebrating this day, for whatever reason, all of us here at NCS hope you have a joyous Sunday.

Actually, I have no idea whether any of the other miscreants at NCS hope that. For all I know, they hope you contract leprosy. And I’m just saying that because I’ve seen other people say it. So I said it.

With that out of the way, let’s move right into the main objective of this post, which is to put this holiday to the torch, musically speaking of course. And perhaps these gifts will also add to your joy. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): GRAVATUS, APOGNOSIS, ASH AND COAL, DARK PORTRAIT, ZAKAZ, TOTENWELT

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 7 Responses »

Dec 182016

I’ve managed to complete the second part of a two-part post that I began earlier today, though it’s not as complete as I had hoped. This second installment includes five full albums or EPs, all of which deserve more words of praise than I have time to give them, but once the new week begins I’ll have even less time than I do today. And so I’ve decided it’s better to make relatively brief exclamations of excitement than none at all.

In addition to those five full releases, this post includes one new advance track. It’s only barely in the usual blackened vein of this series (if at all), but I like it so much that I’ve bent the rules.

GRAVATUS

We begin with a new album named LI_E by the one-man Romanian project Gravatus, which was released on November 12. This was my first exposure to the music of Gravatus, but I’ve found myself enthralled by LI_E. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): WIEGEDOOD, LE CHANT NOIR, DEATHFUCKER, THE LIFTED VEIL, AN HOMAGE TO SUMMONING

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 6 Responses »

Dec 182016

Last Sunday was bereft of a Shades of Black feature, so today I plan to have two. Yes, I’ve obviously forgotten my oft-learned lesson about not announcing future plans when you’re a part-time, half-witted metal blogger who can’t predict the diversions of life. So the truth is, the second part of this post may or may not arrive today. But at least you’ll have two good advance tracks, two excellent full releases, and one wonderful tribute compilation to keep you company in case I go off the rails.

WIEGEDOOD

Here’s an excerpt from our man Andy Synn’s review of Wiegedood’s last album,

“The Belgian three-piece, whose name is also the Dutch term for ‘Sudden Infant Death Syndrome’ (way to keep it morbid, guys), possess an enviable knack for pumping out a ferocious torrent of rage and fury, whilst maintaining a keen melodic edge that’s neither weak nor overbearing. That may not sound like much, but it’s a hard balance to get just right, and these guys make it look like child’s play. Pun intended.”

SHADES OF BLACK: CONVULSING, SAURON, ÚIR, TRISTE TERRE, PANZERFAUST, XALPEN, ÆÐRA

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 13 Responses »

Nov 272016

I spent time yesterday pawing through a lot of recent releases and advance tracks by black metal bands. After some self-struggle, I picked a group of songs to feature in this post. And then late in the afternoon I got additional recommendations from various sources, and that tossed all my plans up into the air. When the dust settled, I revised my picks to include these:

CONVULSING

Convulsing was one of the recommendations that took me by surprise (thank you to starkweather and DaNasher). This is a one-man band from Sydney, Australia, whose new album Errata was released just yesterday. It caught the ears of certain listeners because the man behind Convulsing, Brendan Sloan, is also a member of Dumbsaint, who have a following. And word has been spreading. When you hear the album, I think you’ll be convinced that word will continue to spread, and damned fast and far, too. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): L’HOMME ABSURDE, GRAVECOVEN, FORLET SIRES, NYRST, VERMINLORD

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 5 Responses »

Nov 202016

As you can see, this is the second part of a two-part post that I began earlier today (here). Both parts were combined in a single post as I originally wrote it. But even though I throttled back my usual wordiness in order to get it finished and make it more digestible, I eventually concluded that a 10-band post was still too much for a single serving.

Part 1 of this post focused mainly on advance tracks from forthcoming albums. Now I’m moving away from individual songs and into full album and EP streams — which means I’m really giving short shrift in my words to music that’s deserving of more fulsome praise. I do wish I had time to say more, because although the band names may be obscure, these releases are really very good. I hope you’ll make time to give each of them a fair listen.

L’HOMME ABSURDE

Album: Monsters
Release date: October 25
Country: Russia
Order link: https://lhommeabsurdebm.bandcamp.com/album/monsters Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): MURG, WITCHERY, BLACK ANVIL, CHRIST AGONY, INVERTIA

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Nov 202016

As I originally wrote this post, it included music from 10 bands. As I explained yesterday, I’m feverishly trying to spread the word about late-breaking new releases before being swallowed up by our year-end LISTMANIA orgy. In order to do that, I throttled my usual wordiness in what I wrote, atypically allowing the music to speak (mainly) for itself. But I still thought that 10 bands might be too much for a single post, so I’ve divided it into two parts. I’ll let Part 2 simmer in the pot for an hour or two and then spring that one on you today as well.

As usual for this series, all the music is charred black to differing degrees. I’m starting with some arguably better-known names and then, especially in Part 2, diving a bit deeper into the well of obscurity.

MURG

Song: “Mästarens resa i mörkret”
Album: Gudatall
Release date: December 16
Country: Sweden
Order link: https://murg.bandcamp.com/album/gudatall Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DRAUGSÓL, SROGOŚĆ, CANCER, LASHBLOOD, SHRINE OV BELIAL, INFAMOVS

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 5 Responses »

Nov 132016

Once again I find myself drowning in attractive new black metal. I’ve assembled some of my new discoveries in this post and have in mind pulling together a second round-up for tomorrow — but yes, I do remember how foolish it is for part-time, half-witted metal bloggers to make forecasts of what they’ll do in the future. I’ll just say… maybe.

This is one of those times when all of the underground bands featured here are newcomers to our site, and I’ve bent the framework of this series a bit with the last band, which is more in the vein of death than black metal. Hope you find something to like…

DRAUGSÓL

Oh look! Another Icelandic black metal band! There seem to be more of them than there are snowflakes in Iceland, but on the other hand, I haven’t yet been disappointed by any of them. I was particularly unable to resist the lure of Draugsól (as if I wanted to) when I saw the fantastic cover art by Moonroot Art for their debut album, Volaða Land. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: HORN, HAXXAN, HERMÓÐR

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Nov 082016

One day I will learn not to forecast when I’m going to post things, because experience proves I’ve only got about a 50-50 chance of hitting the mark. This post, for example, I said I planned to post on Sunday notwithstanding the amount of time I spent on the revival of our “THAT’S METAL!” series that day. That didn’t work out, and yesterday we had too many other things scheduled for the day, and time ran out.

And so, two days late, here’s a small alliteratively named collection of diverse black metal that I’ve been enjoying recently, with all the songs drawn from forthcoming albums. I have more new music in this vein I’d like to share, and maybe I’ll get another small Shades of Black installment finished and posted before next Sunday’s large collection.

HORN

I finally discovered this German one-man band’s music through last year’s wonderful Feldpost album — even though five other albums preceded it. And now (because Horn has never allowed much grass to grow between releases), a new album is already on the way. This one is named Turm am Hang, and while Northern Silence has released the last two albums, Iron Bonehead will be releasing this one. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ANTAEUS, AFAR, ENEPSIGOS, GRAVESPAWN, NEBRUS, STRODA, SURTR

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 7 Responses »

Oct 302016

As usual, I had trouble picking which songs to include in this Sunday’s edition of Shades of Black — just too damned much new music in a blackened vein that I wanted to recommend. But in the end, this collection felt right to me. It includes considerable variety as well as a mix of well-known names and obscure unknowns (who will perhaps become somewhat better known after today).

I’ve presented the music in alphabetical order by band name, except I bumped Antaeus up by one place to begin this playlist, because… duh… it’s fucking Antaeus.

ANTAEUS

Ten years after their last studio album Blood Libels, the French black metal band Antaeus have a new album set for release on November 18. Entitled Condemnation, it was recorded by guitarist Set and vocalist MkM as the two sole members of the band, with session drums by Menthor (Enthroned, Lucifyre, Nightbringer), who coincidentally was the drummer on the excellent debut album of the Dutch band Soulemission that we premiered just a few days ago. Continue reading »

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