NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: (ECHO) — “BLOOD AND SKIN”

May 192016

On May 23rd the Russian label BadMoonMan Records/Solitude Productions will release Head First into Shadows, the second album by the Italian band (EchO). Today we bring you the premiere of the new album’s opening track, “Blood and Skin“.

Since the band’s 2011 debut album Devoid of Illusions, there have been changes in (EchO)’s line-up as well as movements in the band’s sound, and the new record (mastered by Esoteric’s Greg Chandler) also features guest appearances by Daniel Droste (Ahab) and Jani Hala-Hukkala (Callisto) on two songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE — “TREMBLING”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 4 Responses »

May 192016

For me and many others, The Grim Muse by Poland’s In Twilight’s Embrace was one of 2015’s highlights — a multifaceted and uniformly strong melodic death metal album loaded with fantastic riffs, memorable lead-guitar melodies and solos, powerful performances by the rhythm section, and absolutely ferocious vocals. The band are now following that stand-out album with a new three-song EP entitled Trembling, which will be released by Arachnophobia Records on May 25 (which is also the day set for Arachnophobia’s release of a vinyl edition of The Grim Muse). Today we bring you a full stream of the new EP.

These three new songs were recorded by the band during the same sessions that produced The Grim Muse, but were set aside with the idea of this EP specifically in mind. True to the band’s penchant for creating variations in their core sound, each song is distinctive, no one of them quite like the other two — yet all three are both dark and blistering. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT: A NORDVIS SAMPLER

Free Shit No Responses »

May 192016

I’ll make this quick because I’m busy readying a few more posts for today — but this news doesn’t require a lot of elaboration anyway.

The news is that the excellent Swedish label Nordvis has today made a sampler of music by Nordvis artists available for free download. The sampler includes tracks by 12 bands, nearly all of whom we’ve praised at this site, including Forndom, Murg, Grift, Lustre, Panopticon, Nechochwen, and Stilla. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VOID MOON (PETER SVENSSON)

Interviews No Responses »

May 192016

(Comrade Aleks interviews Peter Svensson of the Swedish doom band Void Moon.)

Void Moon rises again, radiating its mournful and dark shine for those who prefer slow and low doom metal. Their second full-length Deathwatch released by Sun & Moon Records in March 2016 has a deeper concept behind it, so it’s not just a collection of true doom dirges but also the result of considered and rigorous work. Void Moon bass guitarist Peter Svensson was on tour with Goatess when I sent him the request about an interview, but answered pretty soon on my recall — much appreciated. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GREY AURA — “IJSHOEK”

Premieres 8 Responses »

May 182016

Grey Aura are a two-man Dutch band who have recorded a massive debut album, a double-record entitled Waerachtighe beschryvinghe van drie seylagien, ter werelt noyt soo vreemt ghehoort that was initially self-released on Bandcamp and will now be released in June by the astute Finnish label Blood Music, both digitally and in a remarkable 2-CD set housed in a 60-page hardback book with foil-stamped printing.

Now, you may have already heard something about this unusual and tremendously ambitious album. In fact, if you have long memories, you may have heard about it here at NCS, because I wrote about two of the songs when they were first released for streaming in late 2014. Yes, this has been in the works for a long time, but when you understand more about the nature and scope of the project, you’ll understand why so much time has been invested in it. And so here’s the context of this album — followed by our premiere of yet another song: “Ijshoek“. Continue reading »

SKULL SMASHERS: AMONG GODS, DECEPTIONIST, GRIMUS, HIPOXIA, MINDWARP, MINOTAUR HEAD, TREACHEROUS, SLOMATICS, VEX, VIMIC

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 8 Responses »

May 182016

Is this too much? Songs, albums, and EPs from ten bands collected in a single post instead of divided up and spread out over time so you can have recovery periods in between the skull-fracturing? I’m afraid it might be too much, but obviously not afraid enough to change the plan. Mainly, I’m too impatient to share all this fine new metal to worry very much about your cranial integrity.

In fact, you can think of this as a test for the hardness of your skull. If you can make it to the end, you have a Granite-Level Skull and should consider applying for employment as a crash-test dummy. People with Eggshell Skulls might not make it through the first track; R.I.P. Those of you in between are degrees of semi-hard and semi-soft, kind of like cheese.

AMONG GODS

Three-and-a-half years have passed since I last wrote about this band from Bergen after discovering them through a listening session for a MISCELLANY post. But the opportunity for a rediscovery has arrived, because on June 27 Argonauta Records will release their new album, Ghost Empire. Continue reading »

OKKULTOKRATI: “SNAKEREIGNS” / “NIGHT JERKS”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

May 182016

(Allen Griffin reviews the last two albums by Norway’s Okkultokrati — which have recently been reissued by Southern Lord in advance of the band’s new album due later this year.)

In anticipation of their upcoming fourth full-length, Southern Lord is reissuing the second and third albums by Norway’s Okkultokrati, 2012’s Snakereigns and 2014’s Night Jerks, respectively. Both show a group at the top of their game, one with a unique identity but also one that’s constantly evolving.

Snakereigns is probably the heavier of the two, at least in the traditional sense. The sound is an amalgamation of metallic hardcore mixed with punishing bits of doom and sludge. What sets Okkultokrati apart, both then and now, is the pure bile they spit through the speakers, a mix of punk snarl and rock-and-roll swagger. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOZU — “BIG CASINO”

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 4 Responses »

May 172016

Get ready to move. Loosen up your neck muscles and discard any items of tight, confining clothing. Hell, just take everything off. If you feel even a slight urge to go to the bathroom, go ahead and get that out of the way now (I’ll explain why in a minute). All set? Then let’s go…

Here’s a new song named “Big Casino” from Revival, which is the forthcoming third album by Gozu, a group of Boston bruisers whom I’ve only just discovered and whose music has already proven to be powerfully addictive and absolutely, physically, compulsive. The album will arrive on June 10 via Gozu’s new label, Ripple Music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RED DAWN — “HATE”

Premieres 4 Responses »

May 172016

Algorithm of Destruction is the title of the debut album by Red Dawn from Rennes in the French region of Brittany. It’s a nine-track onslaught of death metal in the bloodline of such bands as The Faceless, Necrophagist, Decapitated, Aborted, and Gorod, and today we happily bring you the premiere of the album’s second track, appropriately titled “Hate“.

If you’re in the mood to be jackhammered, eviscerated, and then shot through a threshing machine at the speed of a particle accelerator, then “Hate” is just what you need. But it offers more than the adrenaline rush of that kind of experience. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SUBTERRANEAN DISPOSITION — “ALL ROADS LEAD TO PERDITION”

Premieres 6 Responses »

May 172016

The best music videos (and unfortunately they’re a small percentage of the total) are those in which the visuals enhance the emotional impact of the music, and sometimes even make you think about the music in a different way. The video we’re premiering in this post is an example of such an effective partnership of sight and sound. It’s for the song “All Roads Lead To Perdition” by Subterranean Disposition from Melbourne, Australia, whose new album Contagiuum and the Landscapes of Failure will be released by Hypnotic Dirge Records and Solitude Productions on June 13.

This new album is the band’s second, though the group’s founder Terry Vainoras is no newcomer, having spent time in a variety of music projects for more than two decades. In addition to performing on guitar, bass, and saxophone for the album as well as contributing different vocal expressions, he enlisted the help of Dan Nahum (Bleakwood, The Veil, Dead River Runs Dry) on drums, Gelareh Pour on the Kemancheh and Qeychak Alto (plus vocals), and guest vocalist Daniel Lucas. Continue reading »

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