NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: RIMFROST — “SAGA NORTH”

Mar 042016

The Swedish black metal band Rimfrost began life in the summer of 2002 as the vehicle for the creative inspirations of two 14-year-olds, singer/guitarist Hravn and drummer Hravn. In the years since then, the band have seen their fair share of ups and downs, but the original duo have remained together, and now, having been joined by bassist B.C., they are on the verge of releasing their third album through Non Serviam Records.

This self-titled work comes more than six years after the release of their second album on Season of Mist, Veraldar Nagli. Those six years have brought the band increased maturity not only as songwriters and performers, but also as observers of life and combatants in its conflicts. The experience shows in the new music, and today we give you a sample of it through our premiere of a song from the new album named “Saga North“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: ANGER AS ART — “AD MORTEM FESTINAMUS”

Album Reviews, Premieres 7 Responses »

Mar 042016

Anger as Art’s new album Ad Mortem Festinamus (“We Hurry Into Death”) is a non-stop thrill ride, and today we’re giving you the chance to experience it for yourselves one week before the official release date through our premiere of a full album stream.

This is the fifth full-length released by a veteran group of musicians who’ve paid dues in other bands, and it’s the sort of album that fully displays the experience, the song-writing talents, and the top-shelf performance skills of people with a deep knowledge and love of heavy metal. But it’s also full of fire and fury, as you would expect from a band named Anger As Art. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: YLIASTER — “SOLILOQUY”

Premieres 6 Responses »

Mar 042016

For those who missed our previous feature about Yliaster, it’s a project formed by musician/vocalist Marcel Polit in partnership with drummer Dariusz ‘Daray’ Brzozowski (Vesania, Dimmu Borgir, ex-Vader). Later this month, Yliaster will release its debut album, Soliloquy, and today we bring you a stream of its powerhouse title track.

From beginning to end, the song is galvanizing. Ratcheting electronic sounds pave the way for jackhammering riffs and swirling guitar notes, and Daray‘s drumming alternately hits hard enough to crack concrete, somersaults in head-spinning progressions, and launches bullet-spitting fusillades with mechanistic precision. Continue reading »

HOWLS OF EBB: “CURSUS IMPASSE: THE PENDLOMIC VOWS”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Mar 042016

(We present Wil Cifer’s review of the new album by Howls of Ebb.)

Finally there is some motion in the ocean, as the albums I’ve been looking forward to going into 2016 have begun to creep into my inbox. This project out of San Francisco brings a sense of adventure back to death metal. There is little in the way of rehashing what Incantation and Morbid Angel have already done. No time is wasted digging into the meat of the metal on this one. The trippy grooves and atmosphere are still intact, as the double-bass hammers beneath the rubbery bass lines. The aggression is not conveyed in the manner you expect from death metal. Their guitar tones are not saturated in distortion; they give an organic quality to the chaos bubbling within these songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: OMOPHAGIA — “DOWN WE FALL”

Premieres 5 Responses »

Mar 032016

I had so much fun watching the video you’re about to see. There’s something perversely satisfying about the surprise of seeing a flesh-eating band dressed to the nines in business attire kicking down the door to a blast furnace of superheated death metal. And then you discover that these dudes are quick-change artists as well as fleet-fingered assassins. And yes, there will be blood before it’s over.

The band in question is a group of Swiss berserkers named Omophagia, which does indeed refer to the consumption of raw flesh. When I tell you that their new album In the Name of Chaos is being released by Unique Leader Records, you may make the educated guess that speed and technical proficiency will lie ahead, and yes, you’ll get a hot dose of both in the song we’re premiering via this eye-catching video for “Down We Fall“. But those ingredients don’t exhaust the appealing facets of this turbocharged track. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OBSCURE EVIL — “MIDNIGHT FORCES”

Premieres 13 Responses »

Mar 032016

Midnight Forces is the first release by a band from Lima, Perú, named Obscure Evil. The dark lord willing, it will not be their last — because it’s hellishly good.

Caligari Records will be the courier for this bat-winged blast of savagery, releasing the album on March 11 in the form of a pro-tape cassette limited to 150 copies. What we have for you is a chance to hear all four tracks before parting with your hard-earned money. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DRAUGNIM: “A PASSAGE IN FIRE”

Premieres 6 Responses »

Mar 032016

Although we don’t often write about trailers for albums that include mere snippets of music when there are so many complete songs and albums to spread around, we made an exception last month for the teaser reel for Draugnim‘s new album, Vulturine. In addition to the eye-catching visuals, even the brief excerpt of music in the video was arresting. And now, in cooperation with Debemur Morti Productions, we have the good fortune of bringing you the premiere of a complete song from the album: “A Passage In Fire“.

Vulturine comes six years after this Finnish pagan metal band’s last album, Horizons Low. In a career that began in the late ’90s, the band’s three core members have remained the same — Morior (composing, guitars), Chimedra (vocals, lyrics), and Turms (bass, lyrics) — and their experience, talent, and persistence have produced an album that has definitely been worth the wait. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: FILTH IN MY GARAGE — “SONGS FROM THE LOWEST FLOOR”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Mar 022016

At the end of this post you’ll find our North American premiere of Songs From the Lowest Floor, the debut album by an Italian band named Filth In My Garage. The music is different from what we usually write about here, but this album hit me the right way, which is to say right in the teeth, leaving my brain rattling in my skull. And then there’s the artwork.

For each of the album’s nine songs, vocalist and visual artist Stefano Bonora created a separate piece of art, no two of them even in the same style, but all of them intriguing and well-matched to the lyrical content of the tracks. Here are three of them (in addition to Stefano’s eye-catching cover art above): Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ALLFATHER — “RASKOLNIKOV”

Premieres 8 Responses »

Mar 022016

Following their debut release, last year’s No Gods, No Masters, UK-based Allfather signed with Static Tension Recordings for the release of a new EP named Bless the Earth With Fire, which is scheduled to hit the streets on April 29. Today we have for you the premiere of a song from the EP called “Raskolnikov“.

What the song demonstrates in spades is that Allfather are capable of creating music that hits like a sledgehammer to the back of the neck but sticks in the memory as well. They also know how to start a song in a way that grabs your attention immediately. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IN MOURNING, HOWLS OF EBB, LASCAILLE’S SHROUD, DESOLATOR

Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Mar 022016

I wasn’t able to compile a round-up of new things for yesterday, which means that I’m now up to my eyebrows in news and music that I’d like to share, or I would be if I had a head. But figuratively speaking, I do have more items worth spreading around than I have time or space to compile. Therefore, I’ve chosen somewhat randomly. But the first two choices were compelled not only because I’m a big fan of both bands but also because the artwork for both is stupendous.

IN MOURNING

Today Sweden’s In Mourning revealed details about their new album, including the magnificent cover art that you see above, which was created by the magnificent Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin. The name of the album is Afterglow and it will be released by Agonia Records on May 20. Continue reading »

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