NO CLEAN SINGING

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST)

Oct 042015

It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time for another glance into the past of metal. This week we’ve got songs from two bands, rather than one, but they’re pretty closely related — in addition to being tremendously influential in the development of both black metal and death metal.

The Swiss band Hellhammer was active from 1981 –1984. According to Metal Archives, they released three demos in 1983 leading up to the 1984 EP Apocalyptic Raids, which was later reissued in 1990 under the title Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D., along with two bonus tracks that had originally appeared on 1984’s Death Metal split, including “Messiah”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: SHEVILS, ABBATH, PERTURBATOR, MOLOKEN

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Oct 032015

This is a good news, bad news story. The good news is that while I was driving home last night after seeing Bell Witch and Lycus perform in Seattle, I had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful vista in the sky above me, so beautiful that I had to pull over and take this photo with my phone. The bad news is that it was 2:30 a.m. when it happened.

Just in case it’s not clear, that’s waaaaay past my fucking bedtime. So I slept in this morning, and now I’m late getting together a post for this Saturday. I’m also a bit foggy in the head, but not so foggy that I can’t recognize a good song when I hear one. And I’ve actually got three good new songs in this post that I heard this morning, plus one very cool new video — presented in the order in which I heard and saw them. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): MAÏEUTISTE, THIS GIFT IS A CURSE, PYROMANCER, REBEL WIZARD, HUMM, GATEWAY

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 10 Responses »

Oct 022015

Yesterday I began a multi-part collection of new music in a blackened vein. I broke the post into two parts because I had so many new music streams I wanted to recommend. I probably should have broken this post into two parts as well, to make a total of three. But what the hell… As much music as you’ll find here, I hope you’ll find time to at least sample all of it, because it’s all very good and very diverse.

MAÏEUTISTE

I’ve written before about individual songs on the new self-titled debut album by the French band Maïeutiste (and we premiered one of them), but now the album has been released (by Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions) and all the songs are available for streaming and acquisition on Bandcamp. Continue reading »

FIVE OF MY FAVOURITE… BLACK DAHLIA MURDER SONGS

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 15 Responses »

Oct 022015

(Andy Synn returns to an irregular series in which he identifies favorite things that come in fives.)

Earlier today I finally found time to finish off my monthly helping of reviews for London Metal Monthly, the free magazine/webzine for which I moonlight when I’m not terrorizing the NCS readership with my overly-opinionated and utterly scintillating wordsmanship.

It’s a very different way of working than we have here at NCS Towers, with (relatively) stricter deadlines and (much) stricter word counts. In fact it’s a real struggle sometimes to say something meaningful about an album in only 140 words. Often, in-depth detail has to take second place to a focussed discussion of overall quality. If I’m very lucky I can find room to give an impression of the overarching themes and vibe of the album, but generally if I want to say anything particularly meaningful it has to be short, sweet, and succinct.

One of the albums on my slate this time around was Abysmal, the seventh slab of Melodic Death Metal might from our much beloved friends in The Black Dahlia Murder, and since I didn’t really have time to go as deep into the album as I might have liked, I’ve been inspired to put together this little list pulling together some of my favourite “deep cuts” from the band’s post-Nocturnal era.

So… shall we begin? Continue reading »

EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE: UNHOLD, THE ORDER OF THE SOLAR TEMPLE, HANGGAI, JESSICA93, ATRORUM

Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

Oct 022015

In this post I’ve collected some songs I discovered recently that don’t fit our usual mold around here. As most people know by now, we no longer adhere strictly to the rule expressed in the site’s name — though I’m more faithful than some of our other writers. But the songs in this post are exceptions in more ways than simply the use of clean vocals; some of them aren’t even metal. But despite these departures from what I usually enjoy, all the songs have wormed their way into my head, and I thought you might enjoy them, too.

By the way, I spend very little time exploring music outside the boundaries of extreme metal, so these choices are hardly the result of some comprehensive survey. I came across all of them quite by accident.

UNHOLD

Untold are based in Bern, Switzerland. Their most recent album (their fourth full-length) is named Towering and it was released in January of this year. The song that’s gotten its hooks in me is a track called “Voice Within”. Continue reading »

REPULSIVE DISSECTION: “CHURCH OF THE FIVE PRECIOUS WOUNDS”

Reviews 3 Responses »

Oct 022015

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by Repulsive Dissection, released yesterday by Sevared Records.)

I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of slam-oriented brutal death metal, at all. It’s usually about as cookie-cutter in execution as deathcore is. And the reason I say that is not to bash anyone who personally enjoys slam, but merely to point out that for me the new Repulsive Dissection record is the exception to the rule. Church of the Five Precious Wounds is bizarre unorthodox madness, sort of like a more chaotic take on the kinds of deranged and technical death metal that Malignancy and Origin play. It definitely helps that the slam breaks are sparse, and used to great effect as a force of tension between the relentlessly racing nature and blasting throttle of their music overall.

Church of the Five Precious Wounds really never relents from start to finish, and more importantly, never bores or dips in quality at any point in the record. The songwriting itself is a lot more dense and busier than that of most of their peers. It’s maddening to hear how many different parts each song is composed of. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEMONSTEALER — “GENOCIDIAL LEADERS”

Premieres 5 Responses »

Oct 012015

Demonstealer is best known as the frontman for India’s Demonic Resurrection, but what some may not know is that seven years ago he released a solo album under the Demonstealer name (…And Chaos Will Reign…) that was pretty damned good. And now he’s at work on a second solo album which will feature the phenomenal George Kollias of Nile on drums. Although the album won’t be ready for release until early 2016, today we’re giving you a taste of what Demonstealer has been cooking up through our premiere of a play-through video for a new single entitled “Genocidal Leaders“.

On this recording, Demonstealer has collaborated with Australia-based drummer Louis Rando (Impiety) and Demonic Resurrection guitarist Nishith Hegde (also a member of horror-metal band Albatross), who contributes a lead guitar solo. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): VREID, ORTHODOXY, UR DRAUGR, DEAFEST

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 5 Responses »

Oct 012015

Last night and this morning I engaged in an extended bout of metal listening and found not only a lot of new music I’m anxious to share with you but also some fantastic visual art. By chance, much of what I found is in a blackened vein, and so once again I’ve collected these discoveries in an installment of this irregular Shades of Black series. I have a lot to throw your way, and so it will come in at least two parts, with the other(s) headed your way on our site tomorrow.

VREID

It’s not an understatement to say that my NCS comrades and I are huge, slobbering fans of this Norwegian band. Okay… I guess I’m probably the only one who actually slobbers… the others just sweat a lot.

Anyway, I’m excited to spread the news that Vreid have now divulged some additional details about their new album and have also today premiered a video for the album’s title track. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE WEIR — “NO FATE”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Oct 012015

Following their 2013 debut album Yesterday’s Graves, Calgary’s The Weir will soon be releasing their second full-length, Calmness of Resolve. It’s a four-track album (of over 40 minutes in length), and today we give you the chance to hear one of the new songs, a crusher named “No Fate”

In one sense, the song is like the photograph chosen for the album’s cover. There are aspects of beauty in it; it draws you in; but it’s also desolate and bleak — and the song begins to cast a long shadow right from the start with slow, groaning riffs, methodical tumbling drums, and a prolonged shriek of feedback. You’re at the start of a slow-motion train wreck, though you may not realize it yet. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VULTURE INDUSTRIES — “BLOOD ON THE TRAIL”

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 3 Responses »

Oct 012015

Although I never managed to write a complete review of Vulture Industries’ fantastic 2013 album The Tower, I did write about every one of the three songs that premiered before the album’s release and chose the title track for our site’s list of 2013’s “Most Infectious” Songs, so that counts for something. The album is a strange and wondrous creation that sounds like nothing else I heard the year of its release — or since then either — and so I’m delighted that we have the chance to help premiere a new video for yet another song from the album: “Blood On the Trail“.

Apart from the fact that the song kicks large quantities of ass, the video was made by one of our favorite visual creators, Costin Chioreanu (who leads a damned good band himself [Bloodway]). Here’s what Vulture Industries had to say about the high-energy video: Continue reading »

Older Entries Newer Entries