NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: VIA VENGEANCE — “DEAD IN THE SNOW”

Feb 182016

Via Vengeance is an unusual band. The fact that it’s a solo project may not be that unusual, but Shane Ocell (who’s also the drummer in the Phoenix sludge group Sorxe) carries his music beyond the studio, performing guitar, vocals, and drums live — all at once, by himself, without the use of looping or other digital manipulation. The second album of Via Vengeance, Harsh Conditions, which has been gestating for several years, will finally be released on March 11 by Battleground Records, and today we’ve got one of the new songs for you: “Dead In the Snow“.

On this song, Ocell isn’t going it entirely alone, as he usually does. A Storm of Light’s Josh Graham — who also created the cover art — makes a guest vocal and guitar appearance on the song (and interestingly, Ocell’s grandmother BJ Scott adds piano and clean vocal harmonies elsewhere on Harsh Conditions). When asked about Josh Graham’s appearance, Shane Ocell explained: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KZOHH, HÜZÜN, WINTER NIGHTS, NUCLEUS, WORSHIP OF KERES

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 12 Responses »

Feb 182016

I mentioned yesterday that this week has brought yet another flood of new music. Continuing to sift through what I’ve been seeing and hearing, I’d like to share and recommend new songs and videos from five bands today. Lots of diversity here…

KZOHH

The Ukrainian black metal band KZOHH includes members of such other excellent groups as Khors and Reusmarkt, among others. In early December I included some words about a great song named “Alousia et Pestilentia Ignearia” from their just-released second album, Rye. Fleas. Chrismon.

Yesterday the band released a multi-camera, pro-shot live video of their performance at the Via Sinistra III Festival in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on December 6, 2015. The name of the song performed in the video is “Massebegravelser”, which is also from Rye. Fleas. Chrismon. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MORDBRAND, NOVEMBRE, EREB ALTOR, DRAUGNIM

Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 15 Responses »

Feb 172016

Man, the flood of enticing new metal just doesn’t stop. In only the last couple of days I’ve found so many new songs I’ve become excited about that I could write a half-dozen of these round-up posts just for today, and by the time I finished I’d probably be able to find just as many new things for tomorrow. Sadly, my time is not completely my own, and my fucking day job is nagging at me, so this will have to do for now.

But before I get to a few of the new songs that have peaked my interest (two of which are well-earned exceptions to our “Rule”), I’ll start with a new compilation of previously released songs that’s well worth your time.

MORDBRAND

Mordbrand will be a familiar name to regular NCS visitors — because I’ve written about virtually every one of their releases. And I’ve done that because everything they’ve done to date has been so damned good. And now they’ve revealed a new release that provides both an efficient jumping-on point for people new to the band and a welcome collection for existing fans. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 76: SARGAD, SUICIDE EMOTIONS, SUNNATA, ABSKE FIDES, EYESTRAL, FERMI, DUSK CHAPEL

MISCELLANY, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Feb 172016

June 29, 2015. That was the date of the last MISCELLANY post. Pathetic. I can say that, because I’m saying it about myself — anyone else does that and there will be brutal repercussions, which are the only kind of repercussions we know at NCS.

You probably need a refresher about the MISCELLANY process: I pick a song or two from a release I’ve not heard in advance, usually chosen at random from e-mails or suggestions by readers and usually recorded by bands I don’t know much about. I write up my reactions, and then I stream what I heard so you can make up your own minds. Unlike all the other music-related posts we write at NCS, where we focus on what we’ve heard and want to recommend, this series is an experiment.

I admit that sometimes I pick from suggestions that come from pretty reliable sources, and that’s where most of the bands in this post came from (many from my Serbian friend “M“). But even then, it’s still a shot in the dark. Also, this post is obviously twice as long as most of the past episodes of MISCELLANY, and maybe I should have split it into two parts. But I figured that lots of our readers are as gluttonous as I am when it comes to new discoveries, so just get ready for a big fuckin’ feed.

SARGAD

Sargad are a foursome from Örebro, Sweden, and they released their self-titled debut EP three days ago. I listened to the first song on the EP, “Ur Jord”, and that was so damned good that I listened to the second one, too. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INVIDIOSUS — “NEUROTIC MISERY”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Feb 172016

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song by Minneapolis-based Invidiosus.)

For regular NCS readers, Minneapolis tech-death mongrels Invidiosus should be a familiar name by now. To date, I’ve helped premiere two songs by them so far at NCS. The first was “Exacerbated Psychosis” off their 2014 full-length, Malignant Universe. The second was for a stand-alone single at the very end of 2014 called “Overlords Of The Apocalypse”. While the projections for release of an upcoming EP or new album are unknown to me, we do have another stand-alone Invidiosus song to share with you today. It’s called “Neurotic Misery”, and damn is it a lot of fun to hear in spite of its grim and bleak title!

Much like their last single we premiered, “Overlords Of The Apocalypse”, the music on “Neurotic Misery” is a bit different and evolved compared to how Invidiosus sounded on Malignant Universe. As I mentioned before, they’ve always had a hodge-podge sort of a sound, which I think works in their favor. Yet with “Overlords…”, and now “Neurotic Misery”, it seems the band is figuring out how to form a sound all their own out of their myriad of influences. Continue reading »

FAST CASKETS

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 17 Responses »

Feb 162016

I seem to have the attention span of a fruit fly. I was working on a “Seen and Heard” round-up of newly discovered music and decided to pause and take a quick spin through the NCS in-box. There I discovered a new video and more new songs, prolonged my break long enough to give them a quick listen — and then a longer listen — and then it occurred to me I could package them together under a clever post title. Sometimes having a short attention span is not all bad.

The bands are Black Fast, Casket Raider, and Casket Robbery.

BLACK FAST

This first song isn’t new, but it happens to be one I’ve liked a lot since I first heard it last year, and this time it’s packaged in the form of a new lyric video. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH (MATT PRICE)

Interviews 1 Response »

Feb 162016

photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva

(Comrade Aleks brings us this interview with Matt Price of LA’s Behold! The Monolith, who have a new album out and a Roadburn appearance and European tour coming this spring.)

Behold! The Monolith is a band whose name sticks in your head. If you see the art-works of their albums, you will never forget them. And of course they sound pretty remarkable… To sum it up, this pretty memorable band from Los Angeles have been proposing riddles for reviewers and listeners since 2007 – it’s hard to describe what they play, and their sound develops from album to album, from brutal forms of sludgy doom to thrash metal with progressive, aggressive, monumental, and complex elements.

Behold! The Monolith lived through some changes since the release of their second album Defender, Redeemist in 2012, but they returned reinforced and fresh in September 2015 with a brand new record, Architects of the Void – a merciless, heavy, and brutal album. Guitarist Matt Price, the band’s founder, brings the Word of a pilgrimage to Europe and other news from their camp. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VICTORIAN WHORE DOGS — “I HAVE BECOME…”

Premieres 1 Response »

Feb 162016

Victorian Whore Dogs are not a new exotic breed of canine, although you can’t help but wonder what such a creature might look like and how risky it might be to take them for a stroll in the park. No, Victorian Whore Dogs are a UK metal band from Guildford whose debut album Afternoonified is due for release at the end of March. What we have for you today is a rousing new video for a song from the album named “I Have Become…”

Last year the band won the Reading Bloodstock Metal 2 the Masses competition, which earned them the right to perform at the Bloodstock Festival on the New Blood Stage — and that’s where this video was filmed.

With a name like Victorian Whore Dogs, you don’t expect to see a band solemnly rooted in fixed positions on the stage, dishing out glacial drone to an equally rigid audience with arms crossed and eyes closed. And in fact, that’s not what happens. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2015’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: THE COMPLETE LIST

MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2015 9 Responses »

Feb 152016

Well, unlike last year, I at least finished the list this time — or at least came to an intentional stopping point. I could have kept going — easily. And I’m sure I disappointed more than a few people by leaving out deserving songs. That’s just further evidence of what a great year 2015 was for metal. And I have no doubt that 2016 will be just as great (it’s already off to a hell of a start).

If nothing else, I hope this list provides a sign of how vibrantly healthy and diverse metal is, notwithstanding statistics about declining sales and increasing pressure on the larger and more commercially inclined labels. Though I’m sure I gave short shrift to a few sub-genres, I did try to make sure that anyone who explores this list will see that, creatively, things are burning hot and bright.

Below is a list of all the songs on this year’s list — 75 of them (!) — in the order in which I listed them, and the songs are hyperlinked to the original posts where you can listen to the music. I know it would have been nicer if I had included all the streams right here in one place, but that would have taken more time than you probably realize. Continue reading »

DAYS OF YORE: DARK AMBIENT, BLACK METAL, AND THE BIRTH OF DUNGEON SYNTH (VOLUME 1)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 16 Responses »

Feb 152016

(Kaptain Carbon returns to NCS with a feature devoted to Dungeon Synth”. Kaptain Carbon operates Tape Wyrm, a blog dedicated to current and lesser known heavy metal. He also writes Dungeon Synth reviews over at Hollywood Metal as well as moderating Reddit’s r/metal community. We’ve heard that he is also a fantastic dungeon master and has some wonderful EDH decks.)

If you have been following my exploits and research into dungeon synth, this article should come as no surprise. For the past year or so I have taken a swan dive into this genre without any hesitation or thought of the consequences. If you are new to dungeon synth, allow me to give you a proper introduction.

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