NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SATURNALIA TEMPLE

Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews 4 Responses »

Oct 072015

(Comrade Aleks presents this in-depth interview with Tommy Eriksson of the Swedish band Saturnalia Temple. Music is included, of course)

Swedish bloody dark and heavy doom outfit Saturnalia Temple produced their second full-length album in 2015; it’s name is To The Other. If you think that you know something about the occult because you previously heard a few songs about goats, rituals, and naked chicks, then just forget it. I wouldn’t like to continue this game of associations and assumptions, because Saturnalia Temple’s high priest Tommie tells it better.

******

Hail Tommie! First of all, thanks for the time you found for this interview! What’s Saturnalia Temple status at the current moment?

We are entering the dark part of the year, especially here in Sweden, and we have done some great festivals during the summer, the Sonnenwende in Abtenau, Navajo Calling in Parma, Metal Magic, Geggan, and Chaos Descends. We played London some weeks ago with Cult of Fire and Skan, which was also amazing. We are not booking any more gigs this autumn really, except possibly one very special night in Sweden with some brothers, check our pages for news about that. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SWALLOW THE SUN, BELPHEGOR, LOST SOUL, BLACK FAST, REVENGE, HUMAN IMPROVEMENT PROCESS, WHORETOPSY

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 24 Responses »

Oct 062015

Yesterday and today brought yet another flood of very good new song and video premieres, many of which I’ve collected in this post. This is another instance where there’s so much music I want to share that I’m having to throttle my tendency to spill great piles of words on top of the music. Instead, there will be only small molehills of words.

SWALLOW THE SUN

Yesterday Finland’s Swallow the Sun premiered a lyric video for one of the vast number of songs on their forthcoming three-disc album on Century Media, Songs From the North I, II & III. We’re trying to figure out how to review this album. Current thinking is to divide it among three different writers here at our site. We probably need to think more.

Anyway, this song is “Heartstrings Shattering” and features guest vocals by Aleah (Trees of Eternity) The title is well-chosen. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANOMALIE — “UNTOUCHED WALLS”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Oct 062015

On November 20, Art of Propaganda will release Refugium, the second album by Austria’s Anomalie, a band founded in 2011 by multi-instrumentalist Marrok (Selbstentleibung, Harakiri for the Sky). As a further sign of what the album holds in store for listeners, today we bring you the premiere of Refugium’s second advance track, “Untouched Walls“.

The ringing chords and low-end thunder that launch the song in dramatic fashion seize the attention immediately, with Marrok’s flesh-scarring howl magnifying the music’s chilling intensity. But that’s just the start of what becomes a changing, multi-hued musical journey — one that never loosens its grip even as it moves through a dynamic array of sounds and moods. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABBATH — “NEBULAR RAVENS WINTER”

Premieres 6 Responses »

Oct 062015

This past spring brought the news that following the well-publicized split within the ranks of Immortal, Abbath had decided to move forward with a new band under his own name, with King Ov Hell (ex-Gorgoroth, Ov Hell, God Seed) on bass and a mysterious drummer known as “Creature“. Season of Mist will release Abbath’s debut album next year, as well as a new Abbath 7″ single on December 11.

In addition, Abbath has been releasing a series of live videos, beginning with a performance of a new song named “Fenrir Hunts” and continuing with a cover of “Warriors”, originally released by the band I on the album Between Two Worlds (2006) — a band that included Abbath on vocals and guitar along with King on bass, plus guitarist Ice Dale (Enslaved) and drummer Armagedda (Demonaz).

And now today we’re helping to premiere the third of these live videos, a performance by Abbath of “Nebular Ravens Winter“, which appeared on Immortal’s 1997 album Blizzard Beasts. Continue reading »

HOLY FUCKING ANTICHRISTMAS: A CALL FOR MUSICAL SUBMISSIONS BY MISANTROF ANTIRECORDS

Metal News 3 Responses »

Oct 062015

Christmas has been celebrated as a holy day for more than 1650 years. ANTIChristmas has been celebrated by Misantrof Records for seven years, and plans are now afoot for an eighth commemoration. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, or at least eight of them.

Don’t get me wrong — although Christmas holds no spiritual significance to me, there are many things about the holiday season that bring back fond memories. There are more things that make me want to puke — such as the advancement of Christmas music and advertising so that they now begin before Thanksgiving (at least here in the U.S.).

On the other hand, ANTIChristmas must begin now, because planning is necessary, even though there is no money to be made on this venture. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SCÁTH NA DÉITHE — “THE HORRORS OF OLD”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 5 Responses »

Oct 052015

This is the third of three brief reviews I’ve written today for new or forthcoming short releases. In this one the subject is The Horrors of Old — the debut EP released on October 1 by Scáth Na Déithe, a two-man band from Ireland (Cathal Hughes and Stephen Todd).

The EP consists of two long tracks (in the 10-11 minute range) and two short ones (in the range of 1-2 minutes). It does what all debut demos and EPs ideally should do: It displays in a relatively short span of time the capabilities and ideas of the band in a way that’s impressive, consistent, and coherent. And in this case, the EP does that in a way that furnishes a wholly immersive listening experience. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MURASHITA — “INESCAPABLE DAMNATION”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Oct 052015

Masaki Murashita made a name for himself in short order as the lead guitarist and front man of Arizona’s Hemoptysis, whose 2011 album Misanthropic Slaughter turned a lot of heads (including mine). With that band having come to an end, Murashita has now embarked on a solo career under his own name, beginning with a debut EP entitled Inescapable Damnation that’s scheduled for release on October 16. Today we’re bringing you the EP’s title track, which features a bass performance by Megadeth’s Dave Ellefson.

Ellefson isn’t the only notable guest on this EP. It also includes performances by Kevin Talley (Suffocation, Six Feet Under, Chimaira), Kelly Conlon (Death, Monstrosity), and Rodney McGlothlin (Voice of Dissent), and it was mixed by Ryan Greene (Megadeth, NOFX). And on top of that — as you can see — it’s adorned by a really eye-catching piece of cover art by Remy Cooper of Headsplit Designs.

But while all of these other talents are certainly worth mentioning, Murashita is most definitely the star of this show. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SLÆGT — “BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 5 Responses »

Oct 052015

This is the second of three brief reviews I’ve written for posting today, giving attention to three new or forthcoming short releases that I’ve really been enjoying. This one covers an EP entitled Beautiful and Damned by a Danish band named Slægt, which will be released next month by NecroShrine Records and Iron Bonehead Productions.

I’ve had the advance copy of this EP sitting in my queue of things to listen to for a while, but when I happened to see that BOTH Metal Sucks AND Stereogum’s “The Black Market” column had praised it, I thought I ought to pay attention to it. Because seriously, how often does that confluence of opinion happen?

Beautiful and Damned is Slægt’s first release since their debut black metal album Ildsvanger, which appeared early this year — though the music is apparently quite different from that album (which I haven’t heard), as is the fleshed-out line-up. Though remnants of black metal still adorn this new music, the band have incorporated a fascinating blend of other styles that makes this EP unusual, and unusually good. Continue reading »

INFESTING SWARM: “DESOLATION ROAD”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Oct 052015

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Germany’s Infesting Swarm.)

Some band names… they… just don’t really reflect their musical content. There you go. I said it.

As much as I love Rotting Christ, for example, it still occasionally strikes me as odd to hear that name in conjunction with the martial grandeur of their recent (and, I would argue, best) material. Similarly the name Septic Flesh doesn’t exactly line-up with the gothy symphonic pomp and circumstance that the band deal in exclusively these days (and, I would argue, wasn’t even a great fit for their early years).

Germany’s Infesting Swarm are another band whose name sits ever-so-slightly awkwardly with the sound of their music, with a moniker more suggestive of the blood-and-bile splattered aesthetic of a Brutal Death Metal band (or, at a push, a skittery Tech-Death band) than the gloom-shrouded Post Black Metal that they actually deal in.

Still, a wise man once wrote that “a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet”… so the real question, maybe the only important question, is – how good is the music? Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: RUINEBELL — “EMBERS’ GRAVE”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Oct 052015

This is the first of three brief reviews I’ve written for posting today, covering three new or forthcoming short releases that I’ve really been enjoying. The subject of this one is an EP entitled Embers’ Grave by Ruinebell from Finland and Spain (released this month by Doomentia).

Ruinebell caught my eye this past summer when they released the first single from this second of their two EPs to date. The band is a collaboration between Lasse Pyykkö (guitars) and Pekka Koskelo (drums) from Finland’s Hooded Menace, and vocalist Dopi from Spain (ex-Machetazo, ex-Dishammer, now playing in Bodybag). And if those names don’t get you interested in Ruinebell, there may be no hope for you. Continue reading »

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