NO CLEAN SINGING

BEST OF GERMAN — AST / THRÄNENKIND / TODTGELICHTER

May 172016

(Andy Synn assembles a trio of reviews for recently released albums by German bands.)

A couple of weeks back I put together a collection of reviews under the banner of “The Best of British 2016, Part 1”, chronicling three albums, each from a different artist, currently taking the UK underground scene by storm.

And although I’m currently in the process of putting Part 2 together, you’ll note how I’ve gotten slightly side-tracked by a plethora of sterling releases from our Germanic cousins, all with their roots, historically at least, in the general sound and aesthetic of Black Metal, but all of which offer something strikingly different to the more open-minded listener. Continue reading »

REVIEWS: NOVEMBRE (“URSA”) AND OCTOBER TIDE (“WINGED WALTZ”)

Reviews 2 Responses »

May 172016

(DGR brings us a dual review of two gloomy albums released in April, by Italy’s Novembre and Sweden’s October Tide.)

The month of April has proven to be rather interesting if you are a fan of a very specific, European-flavored branch of melancholic doom metal. Sometimes referred to as melo-doom — for lack of a better short-term genre-naming — and other times described as being ethereal, this branch has seen something of an explosion in recent years. One of the results has been the re-formation of quite a few acts, and April has brought us releases by two of them, one that has effectively been re-formed for some time and one that is returning after a nine-year hiatus.

Coincidentally, both groups also happen to be named after months themselves, with Novembre releasing their come-back album Ursa on April 1st and October Tide released their third post-revival album, Winged Waltz, on April 22nd. Long story short: If you happen to inhabit the incredibly weird niche of being a fan of the prettier side of doom and also a huge fan of months and stupid coincidences, holy shit was April the month for you. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 13)

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

May 162016

(Our Norwegian comrade Gorger returns with yet another collection of releases we haven’t previously reviewed. To find more of his discoveries, visit Gorger’s Metal.)

The 13th chapter in the infamous “bellow radar” series is fittingly compiled on Friday 13th [but posted on the 6th because the editor was asleep at the switch — Islander]. If it will air on the same date is too early to tell, and no religion has any “gods of the internet” to turn to.

Still, I hope the date rubs off, and that you have just a little bit of bad luck today. Not much, though. We wouldn’t want that. Continue reading »

UPDATES: LORD IMPALER AND OAK PANTHEON

Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

May 162016

Here are a couple of quick news items of interest that qualify as updates to recent posts here at our putrid site.

LORD IMPALER

In a Shades of Black post yesterday I included a video of the first live performance by the Greek black metal band Lord Impaler in 16 years, opening for Rotting Christ on May 13 in Kastoria, Greece, and performing a new song from their forthcoming second album In Full Regalia. And today Lord Impaler followed that landmark event in their history with an announcement I thought was worth spreading around — especially because it involves an offer of free music, much of which has been hard to find: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AEGRUS, BEHEXEN, CULT OF FIRE, GRAND MAGUS, MORNING MODE, THE ORDER OF ISRAFEL, SVARTELDER, THRÄNENKIND, TOSKA

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

May 162016

(One of our friends from Norway, eiterorm, rejoins NCS with a guest “Seen and Heard” post, collecting news and/or recommended new music from a diverse array of 9 bands.)

While Islander is recovering from his Friday night sufferings, alcoholic daemons, and (gasp!) metal shows, I thought I’d step in with an occasional roundup.

AEGRUS

The Finnish black metal band Aegrus recently revealed the details for their upcoming release. The EP, entitled Conjuring the Old Echoes, will be unearthed some time this summer via Hammer of Hate Records. Below is the track list for the release. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WINTERHORDE — “WORMS OF SOUL”

Premieres 2 Responses »

May 162016

(We are fortunate to bring you a premiere of a song from the new album Maestro by the Israeli collective known as Winterhorde, with the following introduction by our writer DGR.)

The passage of time tends to make all of us look insane, because when you consider the sheer numbers, a gap of six years between albums looks pretty tremendous. Six years lies pretty far over on the longer side of the “waiting for a new disc” listener spectrum. Yes, so much happens in metal that you almost don’t notice, save for when all of a sudden bands dramatically reappear and drop new albums on us, seemingly out of nowhere.

Winterhorde are one such band, an Israeli symphonic-black metal band whose last album Underwatermoon was released in 2010 — an album which I praised in part because it had the temerity to feature both a boat and a planet on its cover, in a year where it seemed like eighty percent of metal releases either had a boat or a planet as their art. Continue reading »

THE WRETCHED END: “IN THESE WOODS, FROM THESE MOUNTAINS”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

May 162016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Norway’s The Wretched End.)

So, from one band of Emperor-fixated whippersnappers we move to another group of grizzled veterans masterminded by ex-Emperor guitarist Samoth himself. Sun rise, sun set…

Now I’ve said before that not every band has to innovate to be worth your time. It’s still possible to do something unique, even within the confines of an established sound or style. It’s all about character.

Case in point, you’d be hard-pressed to call what The Wretched End do particularly innovative, but then it doesn’t really need to be… the band have still managed to forge themselves a distinctive identity all their own, firmly rooted in the fertile soil of Death/Thrash and based around the simple ideal of writing kick-ass songs packed full of murderously infectious riffs, humongous drums, and visceral, rib-tickling hooks.

The band’s third album, In These Woods, From These Mountains, does deliver a few surprises of its own, however, the most obvious of which is how much more overtly “blackened” it is than either of its predecessors. It seems you can take the boys out of Black Metal, but you can’t take the Black Metal out of the boys… Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ASHBRINGER, DRAUGUR, FYRNASK, LORD IMPALER, SEEMING EMPTINESS, STORTREGN, VERMINE

SHADES OF BLACK 12 Responses »

May 152016

I didn’t post anything on our site yesterday, which makes only the sixth or seventh day in more than 6 years when I’ve fallen down on the job. As was true most of those other times, I was suffering from a really late Friday night (which included a visit to the first metal show I’ve seen in more than a month) in which I managed to poison myself with the demon alcohol. I think I needed to blow off some steam, but I paid severely for my fun.

Anyway, I will attempt to make up for letting the site go dark on Saturday with this collection of new songs (plus a new video) that I want to recommend, all of which lurk in various corners of the black realms. There’s a lot of music here, and so I’ve restrained my usual verbosity. Presented in alphabetical order by band name.

ASHBRINGER

The second album of Minnesota’s Ashbringer is named Yūgen. It will be released on June 7 by Avantgarde Music on digipak CD) with vinyl coming later via Vendetta and a cassette edition via Broken Limbs Recordings. The first advance track, “Oceans Apart”, appeared early this month and I finally got around to checking it out. It’s as striking and memorable as the album’s cover art. Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (NIDEN DIV. 187)

THE REARVIEW MIRROR 12 Responses »

May 152016

Over the last couple of months one of the musicians in the excellent Dutch black metal band Kaeck has been turning me on to underground releases from the distant past that I’d never heard (or heard of) before. His own roots in the black metal scene go back decades — far longer than my own — and I’ve realized how much I still have to learn. I’ve already devoted several of these Rearview Mirror posts to bands he has recommended, and this is another one.

The focus of this post is a Swedish band named Niden Div. 187, and specifically the only full-length album they ever released, 1997’s Impergium. Continue reading »

THE END OF AGALLOCH

Metal News 26 Responses »

May 132016

As if I didn’t have enough to be depressed about, my friend Joseph Schafer from Invisible Oranges just alerted me to the thoroughly depressing news that Agalloch has broken up. Here’s the message that just appeared on their Facebook page:

Following 20 years, 5 full length albums, many tours around the world, and numerous other recordings, John Haughm and the rest of the band (Don Anderson, Jason Walton, and Aesop Dekker) have parted ways. What the future holds for the separate parties remains undetermined. We collectively thank all of our fans across the world. There are also way too many other people to thank who made this band possible. You know who you are.

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