NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: COLDBLOOD — “INDESCRIBABLE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE DEVIL”

Jun 162016

Today marks the joint release by Russia’s Satanath Records and Metallic Media in the U.S. of the new album by the Brazilian horde Coldblood, and we are privileged to be the carriers of this vicious plague through our premiere of a full album stream.

Coldblood’s roots extend into the now-distant past, with their first demo appearing in 1992 — though their second did not see the light of day until 2000. Another demo followed in 2005, and then the band’s debut album Under the Blade I Die arrived in 2007. The intervening years since then have seen the release of a second album (2013’s Chronology of Satanic Events) and a handful of short releases. On this new album, Coldblood deliver 13 tracks, including three instrumental numbers that bring the album to a close. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BAPTISM — “DEVIL’S FIRE”

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Jun 162016

Four years after As the Darkness Enters, Finland’s Baptism comes roaring back with its fifth full-length assault. Entitled V: The Devil’s Fire, the new work features eight hellish sacraments and is scheduled for release on July 22 by Baptism’s new label partner Season of Mist. Today we bring you the premiere of the album’s title track: “Devil’s Fire“.

On this new album, Baptism’s central force Lord Sargofagian and his four bandmates for this release are joined by three prominent guests (and long-time friends) who have made their own indelible marks on the landscape of Finnish metal:

Antti Boman (DEMILICH) on “Buried With Him”
Mikko Kotamäki (SWALLOW THE SUN) on “The Sacrament Of Blood And Ash”
Mynni Luukkainen (HORNA) on “Satananda” Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TERRA TENEBROSA — “THE REVERSES”

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Jun 162016

Terra Tenebrosa’s new album The Reverses is home to the kind of music that inspires metaphors and similes. Trying to describe it without resorting to the language of imagery, sensation, and emotion would be inadequate. Its effect is far greater than the sum of its musical parts — even though a multitude of interlocking (and discordant) parts have been joined together to produce what you hear.

The Reverses is as heavy, as dense, and as radioactive as a cache of transuranic elements. It’s a visit to a nightmare realm where the shadows have teeth, the surreal musical equivalent of a Hieronymus Bosch landscape, a vision of hell, or perhaps the exorcism of hellish visions. It sinks its talons into the twisted nightshades that grow in the darker corners of the human psyche and shakes them until they quiver with fearful and fearsome excitement. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): OPETH, INSOMNIUM, EXCUSE, SLAGMAUR, SKANDAL, REVENGE, HAIL OF BULLETS

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 13 Responses »

Jun 152016

Photo by Stuart Wood

This is Part 2 of a round-up of newly discovered things that I began earlier today (here). As expected, between posting Part 1 and getting ready to post Part 2, I spied more developments that happened this morning and have added them (the first two items are in that category, as is the last).

I nearly didn’t add the first two news items because I thought that, by now, everyone who had any interest in the bands — Opeth and Insomnium — would have learned about the news already. Those names are so big that there was probably even a news flash in The Wall Street Journal. And then I thought that adding the announcements might help ease the day for those people who are afraid that metal will run out of things to argue about before the year ends. To them I say, don’t worry, Opeth and Insomnium are releasing new albums.

OPETH

Yes, Opeth will be releasing a new album late this year (named Sorceress) on a new label, Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Actually, it seems to be a partnership between Nuclear Blast and Opeth’s own imprint, Moderbolaget Records, which I believe is Swedish for “your arguing sounds like a motorboat”.

The press release we received characterized Opeth as “always an unstoppable force for uniqueness amid a sea of generic swill”. Beyond that, it provided no real clues about the musical direction of the new album or how it will distinguish itself from all the generic swill with which the rest of us are forced to feed ourselves in between Opeth releases. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): NYLITHIA, CELESTIAL GRAVE, THE DEPRESSICK, AENAON

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Jun 152016

Last night I decided it was time to pull together another round-up of new music and videos that I’ve been enjoying. By the time I had finished sifting through a lot of stuff in an effort to provide both quality and variety, I had a collection that seemed too long for a single post, so I’ve divided this one into two parts. The way things go, I’ll probably come across more new things this morning that will be worth adding to Part 2 before I post it. To begin….

NYLITHIA

“Bludwolves” is the tenth track on this Vancouver band’s 2015 debut album Hyperthrash. It happens to be a song that we premiered last fall. It also might be my favorite song on a very strong album — and so I was stoked to see that it had become the subject of a new Nylithia music video. And when I saw the video, I got even more excited. Continue reading »

CAECUS: “THE FUNERAL GARDEN”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Jun 142016

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by the Illinois band Caecus.)

There’s something to be said for being in the right place, at the right time.

The advent and ascension of bands like Fallujah, Black Crown Initiate, and Ne Obliviscaris (to name but three) over the past several years has indicated something of a creative renaissance and renewed interest in the more Progressive wing of the Technical Death Metal scene, one very much separate from the predominant chug’n’sweep approach of the “core” crowd, or the tappy typewriter drums of the Unique Leader crew.

As such, it seems like the perfect time for a band like Illinois-based Prog/Tech types Caecus to play their hand, roll the dice, and see if their particular brand of fluid, energetic riffage and extravagant lead guitar work has what it takes to ride the crest of this wave, or else sink back into the depths. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ROTTING CHRIST — “APAGE SATANA”

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Jun 142016

When our man DGR reviewed Rotting Christ’s new album Rituals in February, he made some observations that came back to mind today. He remarked that Rituals “feels more like an event than a collection of singles”, that “the songs feel perfectly placed,” with “more dramatic interstitial sections slotting in well next to faster songs”, earning the name given to the album. He also commented on the intensely rhythmic nature of much of the music, underscoring the thematic union of the album’s ten tracks as musical representations of rites from around the globe that share a certain spiritual essence.

A personal favorite among those “interstitial” sections is the powerful “Ἄπαγε Σατανά (Apage Satana)”, and today we bring you the premiere of Rotting Christ’s mesmerizing video for the song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLUT AUS NORD AND ÆVANGELIST — “CODEX OBSCURA NOMINA”

Album Reviews, Premieres 22 Responses »

Jun 142016

To get right to the point: On June 17, Debemur Morti Productions will release Codex Obscura Nomina, an album-length split by Blut Aus Nord and Ævangelist, and we now bring you the chance to listen to all of it.

The album includes one EP-length track by Ævangelist named “Threshold of the Miraculous” and four tracks by Blut Aus Nord, which are themselves parts of a unified work called “Spectral Subsonic Waves (The Sound is an Organic Matter)”. Each piece stands alone, yet they achieve the ideal for a split release of any kind: They complement each other in ways that enable them, together, to magnify the impact that each produces separately. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: JUST BEFORE DAWN — “THE GHOSTS OF THE EASTERN FRONT”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 3 Responses »

Jun 132016

The Swedish death metal war machine Just Before Dawn has already given the world two excellent albums (Precis innan gryningen (2013) and The Aftermath (2014)), and the first installment in a trilogy of EPs (2015’s The Dead and Those About To Die), and now JBD mastermind Anders Biazzi and a formidable battalion of allies are on the verge of launching their latest offensive — a new EP named The Ghosts of the Eastern Front. — and below you will find some thoughts about the EP as well as a teaser video with audio samples from the songs.

Like the first EP in the trilogy, this new one will be released on cassette tape by Till You Fukkin Bleed Records, and the songs on the cassette will also later be included on a new full-length release planned for later this year. Continue reading »

A DARK DESCENT / UNSPEAKABLE AXE ROUND-UP: PHOBOCOSM, GHOULGOTHA, SEWERCIDE, SHEIDIM

Album Reviews 7 Responses »

Jun 132016

(In this post Todd Manning provides brief reviews of new releases by Dark Descent and Unspeakable Axe.)

Death might just be the overarching theme of 2016, but the tandem of Dark Descent Records and their sub-imprint Unspeakable Axe are certainly spinning this in their favor by releasing a continuous string of remarkable Death Metal albums. While I have already had the opportunity to talk about new albums from the likes of Ripper, Nucleus, and Hemotoxin, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to gush about a few more albums from the label.

PHOBOCOSM

First up is the new album from Montreal-based Phobocosm. Bringer of Drought is the follow-up to their impressive debut Deprived and is nothing short of astonishing. Despite the label’s reputation as being at the forefront of the New Wave of Old School Death Metal, none of these bands seems to be unoriginal or regressive in such a way that causes them to lack their own identity. This is perhaps best illustrated by Phobocosm, who seem to marry the epic feel of classic Neurosis to the Death Metal/Doom hybrid of Inverloch and Disembowelment. Continue reading »

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