NO CLEAN SINGING

ZEALOTRY: “THE LAST WITNESS”

Apr 142016

(Bill Xenopoulos, a guest writer from Greece who also writes for Rock Overdose and has his own music blog here, rejoins us with this review of the new album by Boston’s Zealotry.)

Zealotry is a Boston based death metal band and they have been around since 2009, when they released their first demo. The Last Witness is their sophomore album and my first exposure to their music. Their members play in various other known bands. Tougas, for example, plays in Chthe’ilist, who released an impressive debut album earlier this year, and First Fragment, who will release their first full-length in the next month. Zealotry play a unique and difficult-to-approach death metal and The Last Witness is a tough nut to crack, but once you’ve done that, you’ll be exposed to a mesmerizing creation.

But who is the last witness? And what is he a witness of? Let us begin from the artwork and then proceed to the music. Maybe this isn’t a very common approach, but neither is Zealotry’s music. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: FRACTURED INSANITY — “MAN MADE HELL”

Album Reviews, Premieres 3 Responses »

Apr 142016

Have you ever wanted to strap yourself to the nose of a jet fighter and then have the pilot fly you into a hurricane? How about wanting to crawl under a pile-driving machine and let it punch your body into a fragmented pile of goo and bone? Or wishing that you could dive right into a school of frenzied, feeding piranha and commune with them in their single-minded bloodlust? Yeah, of course, everyone would love to do these things. But how often do we get the chance?

Well, if you don’t know any fighter pilots or have ready access to a construction site or live near the Amazon, you can still very easily listen to Man Made Hell, the new album by Belgium’s Fractured Insanity. In fact you can listen to it right now because we’re premiering a full stream. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WITHERED — “DISTORT, ENGULF”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Apr 132016

It has been a long wait for a new release by Atlanta’s Withered, and so for ardent fans of the band like those of us at this site, it was exciting to learn last fall that a new full-length (eventually named named Grief Relic) was finally on the way. At about the time of that revelation, Andy Synn prepared a report that included reviews of all the band’s releases up to that point, and we began waiting to find out whether the passage of years had diminished or enhanced the band’s powers.

We all got our first clues last month when a song called “Husk” premiered at DECIBEL (here) and another called “Feeble Gasp” was unveiled by Revolver (here). Those songs provided convincing proof that the more than five years since Dualitas have not dulled these blades. Time seems only to have honed them, sharpening the music’s cutting power and amplifying its almost physically tangible impact. But we have still more proof that Grief Relic has been worth the wait, because today we bring you the premiere of yet another new song, this one appropriately named “Distort, Engulf“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: COFFIN LUST — “PROPHECY OF MALEVOLENCE”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Apr 132016

Death metal composed and performed in the ancient way never seems to lose its appeal, either to fans or to musicians. Of course, when I say “ancient”, I mean that long-ago era in the late ’80s and early ’90s when the fires of death creation first began to burn like an inferno. When newer bands draw inspiration from those classic sounds, the first and most important question that always comes up is whether the composers and performers have the skills and the spirit to make those fires come alive again.

It’s usually too much to expect that new music in the vein of bands like Grave, Autopsy, Nihilist, or Dismember will actually claim its own identity. After all, if you (as an artist) stray too far off the old path, then you really aren’t satisfying a desire to pay homage to a deathless style of extremity. Yet a band capable of laying an honorable sacrifice at the altar of old-school death metal while still making it sound fresh (like the fresh stench of a just-exhumed corpse) can still make a name for itself — and that’s what Coffin Lust have done on their debut album Manifestation of Inner Darkness. Continue reading »

CULT OF LUNA: “MARINER” (A COLLABORATION WITH JULIE CHRISTMAS)

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule 3 Responses »

Apr 132016

(Andy Synn reviews the new collaborative album between Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas, which was released on April 8. Accompanying photos are by Pär Olofsson.)

The name Cult of Luna should need no introduction or explanation to long-time readers of this site. After all, the stupendous Swedes have dwelled amongst the ranks of Metal’s mightiest heroes for a solid fifteen years now, and yours truly even selected their phenomenal Vertikal as the best album of 2013 (beating out stiff competition from the mighty Gorguts in the process).

The name Julie Christmas, however, might not be quite as familiar, though she certainly has considerable prestige and pedigree of her own, having acted as vocalist for both much-loved Doom/Post Metal troupe Battle of Mice and sludgy noisemongers Made Out of Babies, as well as forging her own career as a solo artist and frequent collaborator with other members of the Rock and Metal community.

Now, hopefully, this whistle-stop introduction should help give you at least a tentative grasp of why the idea of the two artists collaborating was met with such awe in certain quarters, and why Mariner has been one of 2016’s most highly anticipated albums ever since it was first announced. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: KHANUS, SEA

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 3 Responses »

Apr 122016

I’ve collected in this post reviews of two EPs that I’ve been enjoying lately and would like to recommend.

KHANUS

The Finnish band Khanus first released their debut EP, Rites of Fire, in February of this year as a digital download, and also made it available on a small number of cassette tapes.

I learned about the EP through the recent announcement that I, Voidhanger Records will be releasing it in a limited edition of digipack CDs on May 6 — and that the band are now working on a debut full-length that will also be released by I, Voidhanger; the line-up for the new recording will include drummer Lordt of Code (a band that was the subject of Andy Synn’s most recent SYNN REPORT). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TOMBSTONED

Interviews 2 Responses »

Apr 122016

(Comrade Aleks rejoins us with an interview of members of the Finnish band Tombstoned, whose new album II is set for release by Svart Records on April 22.)

I was lucky enough to get promo of new Tombstoned album II, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise as I had never heard about them before. Born in 2010, this doom metal outfit (some may add “psychedelic” to this definition) already had an EP Searching/ Let Go (2012) and a self-titled full-length record (2013). The band acts in the form of a power-trio, with Olavi on bass, Jussi on guitars and vocals, and Akke as the drummer.

Their classic doom metal shapes really have psychedelic nuances and a few recognizable features of ‘70s rock music, taking into account that all the instrumental parts are extremely catchy (taste “Pretending to Live” or “Haven’t We Seen All This Before” and you’ll have a general view what Tombstoned are about). Oh, one more thing – good news for those who secretly love The Cure, because sometimes the intonations of Jussi’s vocal parts remind me of Robert James Smith, and that sounds cool!

Enough talk from me! Let’s give space to Jussi and Olavi to tell us how to get Tombstoned. Continue reading »

ABORTED: “RETROGORE”

Album Reviews 11 Responses »

Apr 122016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Aborted.)

A funny thing happened when I first listened to Retrogore… it didn’t click with me. At all. And I say this as a huge fan not only of the last two Aborted albums (both of which I consider amongst the top tier of their work), but as a huge fan of the Belgian brutalisers in general.

In fact it wasn’t until about a third of the way into the album that it finally started to get its hooks into me, with the first flurry of tracks in particular seeming to rush by in a faceless blur of blasts and riffs and breakdowns, grind parts, tech parts, and obtrusive melodeath licks, all of which screamed “EXTREME” at maximum volume, but really didn’t leave much of a lasting impression.

This was unsettling. I’m used to Aborted practically peeling my face off right from the very first track, and leaving me with some fresh new scars that I’ll cherish for a lifetime. And that most assuredly was not happening this time around.

Could Retrogore really be that much of a misstep, or was there just something wrong with me? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HEATHEN BEAST — “THE SYSTEMATIC ANNIHILATION OF ISLAM”

Premieres 4 Responses »

Apr 112016

Time flies. Almost four years have passed since I last wrote (here) about the politically outspoken Indian black metal band Heathen Beast, in a post titled “Heathen Beast’s Videos Do Not Fuck Around — And Neither Does Their Music“. The same could still be said today, despite the passage of years — as you will see and hear in our premiere of the band’s new song and lyric video: “The Systematic Annihilation of Islam“.

The song is one of three that appear on the band’s new EP, Rise of the Saffron Empire, which will be released on April 25 by Transcending Obscurity India (CD and digitally).

You can appreciate the music even if you’re uneducated about the subject matter of the video (as I originally was). But I think some background information might be useful — and to begin, I’m going to repeat some of what I wrote in that post from nearly four years ago: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SHADOW WOODS 2016, PLAGUE RIDER, VAINAJA, EINAR SELVIK AND FRIENDS, PHOBOCOSM, AND TEN VIDEOS

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 10 Responses »

Apr 112016

As we begin the new week, I have some unfortunate news (at least it’s unfortunate for me). Beginning today and continuing through Thursday morning, I have to bury myself in my fucking day job for one of those day-and-night projects that periodically descends upon me. I’ll make time to post what other writers have sent me, as well as a few premieres I’ve agreed to do, but aside from this round-up and one “Short But Sweet” review I wrote over the weekend, I will be missing in action until sometime Thursday.

Before saying good-bye, I’ve collected a few items that I wanted to share — including, at the end of this post, streams of ten recent videos without commentary (because I’ve run out of time for commentary).

SHADOW WOODS METAL FESTIVAL

I’m late sharing this news, but the news is so exciting that I’m following the “better late than never” mantra. Last year’s Shadow Woods Metal Festival was a marvelous event by all accounts — including this account by our guest Captain Karbon. As I reported in February, organizer Mary Spiro and her team (who are joined by Baltimore’s Grimoire Records as co-producers this year) have been planning the second installment of this open-air camping metal party, which will run for three days in central Maryland: from Thursday, September 15th through Sunday, September 18th at Camp Hidden Valley, in White Hall, Maryland. They’ve been announcing performers since January, and now the complete line-up has been revealed — and it’s an eye-popper: Continue reading »

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