May 072016
 

Denouncement Pyre-Black Sun Unbound

 

Some people may have noticed that I failed to compile even one round-up of new music all of this past week (unless you count that little Warriors in Forests thing). I’ve still been spending hours every afternoon or evening in a hospital ICU trying to help support my injured friend and her family.

For those of you who have been following my scattered references to this tragedy, my friend came out of her coma yesterday, though she still drifts in and out of consciousness and is now beset with other medical issues in addition to her injury.  It’s too soon to tell exactly how seriously impaired she will be as a result of the injury to her brain.  She can answer some simple yes or no questions by moving her fingers or foot, but she hasn’t attempted to speak and doesn’t move much. I’m trying to remain hopeful, but this is still heart-breaking.

Though I haven’t had time to do much for NCS this week besides write introductions to premieres, I have been keeping a list of new song and album streams and videos that I’ve noticed. As usual, there’s a shitload of them, far too many to write about in one post. I picked a handful to include in this post (and Austin Weber wrote an introduction to one of them as well). I’m also planning to prepare a Shades of Black post for tomorrow to collect others. Continue reading »

May 062016
 

Eleanora-Allure

Belgium’s Eleanora launched their career in 2014, releasing both a split LP with Amenra and a self-titled EP, and today Consouling Sounds is releasing the band’s debut full-length, a 45-minute work named Allure. To introduce the album to listeners, we are helping to premiere a full stream of all four songs.

Those who are quick with their math will deduce that the four tracks on Allure are long ones — and they’re as intense, as multifaceted, and as involving as they are long. Continue reading »

May 062016
 

Imperium-Titanomachy

 

On May 7, Ultimate Massacre Productions will release the new album by the UK death metal band Imperium. Entitled Titanomachy, it’s thematically based on the epic conflict in Greek mythology between the Gods and the Titans, and we’re bringing you a full stream of the album today.

This is Imperium’s second full-length, following 2012’s Sacramentum. In the years since the debut, the line-up has changed, with founding guitarist Mike Alexander now joined on this new album by Doug Anderson, the drummer of Unfathomable Ruination and formerly a member of Bloodshot Dawn, on vocals. Together they’ve recorded a powerhouse of an album that musically captures the titanic devastation of the mythic conflict on which it’s based. Continue reading »

May 062016
 

Infernal Diatribe-Videha Mukti

The realm of Indian metal is larger and more diverse than many outside the subcontinent may know. In particular, it seems that few black metal bands from India have crossed the radar screens of listeners beyond the country’s borders. Today we are helping one such band to spread their manifestations of the left hand path to a wider audience.

The band is Infernal Diatribe, and they are based in Kolkata, India (formerly Calcutta). Their new album, Videha Mukti, will be released by Transcending Obscurity Distribution on June 5, and we have for you a stream of the opening track, “Demonic Gasping Mortal Nightmare (Wisdom)“. Continue reading »

May 052016
 

Roadburn-2016-OfficalArtwork1

 

The 2016 edition of the Roadburn festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands, is now in the history books. It was the first edition of the festival to be presented at the newly renovated 013 venue, and it boasted a typically impressive and diverse line-up of bands. While none of the NCS scribes was on hand for this year’s event, we do have beautiful photos of many of the performances, thanks to Kris T. Therrian of 17 seconds photography.

We’ve divided these photo collections into four parts, one for each day of the festival, and we’re been rolling them out on successive days here at our site. You can see photos from Day One here, Day Two here, and Day Three here. Once again, many thanks to Kris for letting us share these memories with you. For more info about her artistically impressive work, visit these links: Continue reading »

May 052016
 

Musket Hawk-Desolate

 

Every now and then, this question may cross the minds of metalheads with a certain bent in their listening (it even crosses what’s left of my mind on occasion): Why are we drawn to music that’s near-catastrophic in its ugliness and seems to revel in the abandonment of hope and the exaltation of violence? When music vividly catapults us into a war zone where everything is falling apart, why don’t we want to leave?

Well, don’t look at me for answers. I’ve only got questions. I’m thinking about those questions because I’ve been listening to Desolate, the aptly named new album by Baltimore’s Musket Hawk. It includes eight tracks from which mercy, remorse, and all vestiges of human kindness have been banished. Sanity doesn’t seem to be welcome either. But you travel these mean streets, and you’ll also perversely feel vibrantly alive.

This may not make sense, but maybe you’ll soon see what I mean, because a full stream of Desolate waits for you at the end of this post. Continue reading »

May 052016
 

Seedna-Forlorn

 

Forlorn is the name of the debut album by the Swedish band Seedna, and it will bring a wintry chill to the deep summer in the northern hemisphere when it arrives in July. Whereas some advance premieres for forthcoming albums amount to little more than tantalizing teasers, what we have for you today is a long, immersive excursion into the spellbinding darkness that lies within this album. If you give yourselves to it, it has the capacity to overpower your senses and take you far away from your earthly surroundings. The name of the song is “Wander“.

At more than 22 minutes, “Wander” is the album’s longest song and perhaps the best representation of Seedna’s power, but Forlorn contains six other tracks, including another long one (“Abyss”, at 11 1/2 minutes). If you fall under the spell of “Wander”, your journey is really just beginning. Continue reading »

May 052016
 

 

(Grant Skelton returns to NCS after a bit of a hiatus with a round-up of new doom songs.)

I’ve been a bit MIA from our beloved NCS for the last couple of months, as my educational pursuits had taken priority over my creative ones. But now I have returned to the fold, bringing with me a harvest of disinterred dredgings of doomy delight. Continue reading »

May 052016
 

Fallujah - Dreamless - Artwork

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by California’s Fallujah.)

Depending on who you speak to, Fallujah are either the future of the Technical/Progressive Death Metal genre(s), or simply the latest in a long line of interchangeable faces to front the modern edge of the movement.

Coming off the back of a sophomore album (The Flesh Prevails) which also divided opinions over whether it was a potential masterpiece, or simply a solid enough album which caught the crest of an unexpected wave of hype (my own opinion falls somewhere in between those two extremes), the Californian quintet certainly have a lot to prove and, as a result, there’s a lot riding on both the critical and commercial success of Dreamless, their third… and finest… full-length release. Continue reading »

May 042016
 

Roadburn-2016-OfficalArtwork1

 

The 2016 edition of the Roadburn festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands, is now in the history books. It was the first edition of the festival to be presented at the newly renovated 013 venue, and it boasted a typically impressive and diverse line-up of bands. While none of the NCS scribes was on hand for this year’s event, we do have beautiful photos of many of the performances, thanks to Kris T. Therrian of 17 seconds photography.

We’ve divided these photo collections into four parts, one for each day of the festival, and we’re rolling them out on successive days here at our site. You can see photos from Day One here and Day Two here. The remaining installment will appear tomorrow. Many thanks to Kris for letting us share these memories with you. For more info about her work, visit these links: Continue reading »