NO CLEAN SINGING

OUR LIST OF 2015’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 13)

MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2015 5 Responses »

Jan 122016

I had planned to resume my rollout of this list yesterday, but somehow the blogging part of my day ended before I could finish it. In my defense, we’ve had quite a lot of things to post yesterday and today. In my further defense, I’m forgetful, scatterbrained, and easily distracted.

Most of the installments of this series have had some kind of thematic connection between the songs in each post. I don’t really have one to suggest this time. These are kind of odds and ends that I was ready to add to the list, and I didn’t want to kill even more time trying to think of good pairings for each of them. To see the rest of the songs on the list that preceded these two, go here.

JØTNAAR

I wrote about this first song last August soon after discovering it — and I was waiting for it eagerly based on the band’s previous two-song EP, 2014’s Divide the Growth and Stone. This three-man group from Colchester, England, is now two-for-two. In addition to that excellent previous EP, their 2015 collection, Burn and Bury, is also excellent. Here’s what I wrote about the new EP last year: Continue reading »

TOURISM: BLASFEMIA AMERIKA 2016

Metal News 5 Responses »

Jan 122016

This should be interesting — a North American tour headlined by Behemoth with support from Myrkur, and a traveling exhibition featuring the creations of Sharon Toxic. Behemoth has never failed to disappoint in the 3 (or 4?) times I’ve seen them. It’s always powerful entertainment. And I confess I’m curious to see Myrkur live. It’s a moot point for me, however, since the tour won’t reach the Pacific Northwest, but maybe it will land in your vicinity.

Because I’m in a bit of a hurry, I’m going to excerpt a few passages from the press release we received, followed by a list of all the dates: Continue reading »

ABBATH: “ABBATH”

Album Reviews 7 Responses »

Jan 122016

(Wil Cifer reviews the new debut album by Abbath — which premiered today as a full-album stream at this location.)

The war was waged on the battle planet of the blizzard beasts and Abbath Doom Occulta walked away from Immortal with his solo project Abbath. It is rumored that the songs on his eponymous solo debut were written for the follow up to All Shall Fall. So if the other guys walked away with the name while Lord Occulta came out of the fray with these songs, then he might just be the winner.

Having enlisted Creature (aka Kevin Foley, who also drums for Benighted) and Gorgoroth bassist King ov Hell, the latter’s influence can be felt in the intensity of the first song. It bites like the artic winds, and it’s not until the second song “Winterbane” that you are able to notice more of the nuances and hear the ice-coated black metal Immortal once made. Half-way into the song, you will already find it hard not to headbang along. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ODYSSEY — “BEFORE THERE WERE EYES TO SEE”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jan 122016

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song by Odyssey from Spokane, Washington.)

It’s no secret that people here at NCS have had a mega musical boner for Spokane, Washington-based instrumental prog trio Odyssey. Islander has covered every one of their releases since 2010 when they dropped their second release, Schematics. I’m right there with him as far as a love affair for Odyssey goes, and from the looks of their Facebook fans, I see our esteemed colleague TheMadIsraeli is a fan as well.

I believe I first heard about Odyssey back in 2011 when their full-length An Abstract Existence dropped and drew me in due to the press it received at the time. As the years since then have gone, Odyssey have kept up their penchant for quality, and quantity — this year’s release of Voids will be their third full-length, and sixth release overall since forming in 2007. Which is damn impressive in my book.

We’ve got a proggy barnburner of a tune from Voids called “Before There Were Eyes To See” to show you today. So hit play and keep reading. Or don’t keep reading — but at least jam this madness. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: GOD ROOT — “GOD ROOT”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Jan 122016

This just-released debut EP by a new band from Philadelphia really is one that must be heard all the way through, from start to finish. Yes, you can randomly pick any one of the four tracks and still find yourself rooted in place, taking it in and finding your emotional state altered by what you hear. But the cumulative impact of the four in sequence is pulverizing.

God Root is organized with an introduction (“Spirits Rise”) coming first, followed by a long song called “Of Habit”, a comparatively brief interlude (“Bog Ascending”), and another long song named “Of Control” to finish the sequence.

“Spirits Rise” sets the stage for this dismal pageant with the reverberation of ritual drumbeats, a solemn tribal rhythm backed by the shimmer of unsettling ambient tones and shamanistic wailing. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 67: TURBID NORTH

THE SYNN REPORT 3 Responses »

Jan 122016

(In Part 67 of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn reviews the discography of a band who began in North Pole, Alaska — Turbid North.)

Recommended for fans of: Crowbar, Misery Index, Mastodon

Ok, cards on the table – this edition of The Synn Report is basically just an excuse for me to finally wax lyrical about last year’s Eyes Alive, an album which only just missed out on consideration for my Critical Top 10, and which I’ve been jamming repeatedly ever since discovering the manifold pleasures contained within its nine tracks of gritty, blood-pumping Death-Prog stomp and swagger.

That’s not meaning to downplay either of the band’s two previous releases. Their debut, Under the Eight, is a solid (if somewhat familiar) enough slab of heavily Pantera-influenced Death-Thrash, while the follow-up Orogeny (the album which first brought them to wider attention) ups the ante considerably, showcasing the group beginning to truly find their feet and their own sound in a whirling cavalcade of rumbling Death Metal riffs, grinding sludge-soaked grooves, and dizzying prog/tech fretboard freak-outs.

But it’s definitely on the band’s most recent album where their star truly began to shine, culminating in nine tracks of blissful metallic perfection that sound like the members of Crowbar, Misery Index, and Mastodon having one last narcotic-fueled jam at the very end of the world.

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em! Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 6)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Jan 122016

(This is Part 6 of our Norwegian friend Gorger’s continuing feature on bands we seem to have overlooked at NCS. And be sure to check out Gorger’s Metal.)

Cheers anew, and a headbanging new year. The past has been revisited a bit lately on NSC, a site that typically holds a firm stare into the crystal ball. I have, after hours arguing with myself, decided not to spend days arranging a 2015-favorites list. Thus, at least I can spend some time presenting some infectious releases from the year that kicked the bucket on its own birthday. I hope you’ll find something you’ll pursue and enjoy. Continue reading »

PEDOPHILE PRIESTS: “DARK TRANSGRESSION OF THE SOUL”

Album Reviews 9 Responses »

Jan 112016

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by Pedophile Priests from Dublin, Ireland.)

You see a name like Pedophile Priests and if you’re like me, your first instinct is to dismiss it on account of the name. It’s that kind of shlock, over-the-top band name that just hits you the wrong way. But on the merit of the cover art I decided to look further into their music. What I ended up with was an eccentric top-notch death metal record telling me to take my opinion of their name and shove it up my ass, as well as disembowel myself in a seppuku ritual for the shame of my error.

There is no comparing the sound of Pedophile Priests to, like, fucking anyone. Polish natives who migrated to Ireland for whatever reason decided to produce a brand of death metal full of cheesy lo-fi early ’90s black metal keyboards, ’80s production value aesthetic, technical trail-blazing riffage that borrows from every facet of the late ’80s to early ’90s evolution of death metal, all played with modern song structure conventions and severely over-the-top drumwork and one of the most demonically oppressive and original vocal attacks I’ve ever heard. Continue reading »

LYCUS: “CHASMS”

Album Reviews 8 Responses »

Jan 112016

(Allen Griffin reviews Chasms, the forthcoming second album by Lycus from California’s Bay Area.)

Oakland Doom quartet Lycus, are poised to kick 2016 off with the release of their second album Chasms on Relapse Records. The band have already established themselves with a highly regarded demo (Demo MMXI, released in 2011) and their debut album Tempest, which appeared in 2013 courtesy of 20 Buck Spin.

On this second album, it is now apparent the long shadow that Finnish funeral doom masters Thergothon cast over Lycus. It would be surprising if Lycus were unfamiliar with Thergothon’s sole full-length, Stream from the Heavens; the sorrowful, lumbering rhythms and walls of sustained guitars are here in great abundance. But this isn’t merely idol worship on the part of Lycus. They are certainly adept enough not only to modernize the sound but also to add elements in order to make it their own. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FUATH — “BLOOD”

Premieres 11 Responses »

Jan 112016

If you know about the Scottish band Saor, then you know the name Andy Marshall. (And if you don’t know about Saor, self-administer some form of harsh penance and then go listen to Aura and Roots without further dawdling.) As he has already proven with Saor, Mr. Marshall is a very talented musician. Like many talented artists, his creativity isn’t fixed within rigid boundaries — as you’re about to discover.

On February 1, Neuropa Records will release the debut album of Fuath, a new black metal project that Andy Marshall created to express other musical interests. The album bears the simple title “I“. As Andy explains:

“I am a massive fan of hypnotic atmospheric black metal, especially early 90’s stuff like Burzum’s Hvis lyset tar oss, early Darkthrone, and also modern bands such as Paysage d’hiver and Vemod.

“I wanted to create a cold, hypnotic and melancholic black metal album which tried to capture the feelings I felt listening to these bands. I always come back to these types of bands when winter comes along and I feel their sounds are perfect for this time of year, almost kind of spiritual in a way.”

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