AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GRUESOME — “GRUESOME”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

Given the amount of hype that the debut album by Gruesome has received both before and since its official release by Relapse Records in April, neither the band nor the album (Savage Land) may need an introduction. Yet the whole point of premieres like the one we’re about to bring you is the off-chance that someone out there may not yet have gotten the memo.

For those who are just discovering Gruesome, they’re a talented collection of artists who’ve honed their chops in many other groups, including Exhumed, Malevolent Creation, Possessed, and Derketa. And the album is an unabashed homage to the music of Chuck Schuldiner and Death.

What we’ve got for you today is an official lyric video for a song from Savage Land that shares its name with the band — “Gruesome”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AMBASSADOR GUN — “INVADERS”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

My how time flies. The last time the name Ambassador Gun appeared on our site was more than two years ago, when we praised some of the music from their 2012 Prosthetic Records release Golden Eagle. Now, finally, this Minneapolis band have come roaring back with a new full-length named Tomb of Broken Sleep set for release this summer, and we’ve got one of the new tracks for you — a monster named “Invaders”.

There’s a reason for that blurred, fanged muzzle on the cover of the new album. You’ll figure it out pretty damned quick when you let “Invaders” loose in your head. It’s a hybrid barrage of death/grind/crust propelled by riffs so monstrously beefy that they’ll vibrate your teeth and by bass-and-drum blows that go off like warheads. Continue reading »

NO CONSEQUENCE: “VIMANA”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by No Consequence from the UK.)

As a follow-up to my recent risky (or should that be… risqué?) piece defending the merits (or otherwise) of Djent as a genre (here), I thought it might be appropriate to go on to review the rather spiffing new album from the UK’s No Consequence, particularly since I snuck one of their new songs into Tuesday’s column.

Now whereas both their previous albums (2009’s In the Shadows of Gods and 2013’s IO) cleaved a little too closely to the post-Periphery formula for my liking (albeit, in a manner a cut above the majority of their peers), with all the requisite stutteringly complex riffs, electronic inflections, flashy fretwork, and good-cop/bad-cop vocals that you might expect, with their latest release the band appear to have taken a couple of steps outside of their established comfort zone.

Oh, there are still some prominent moments of recognisably Meshuggah-esque groove scattered throughout the disc, along with a plethora of soaring lead parts that recall both Animals As Leaders and Scale The Summit in their crystalline clarity (and the fact that they’re signed to underground Djent-dealers Basick Records probably won’t help dissuade the naysayers either), but by and large Vimana sees the quintet spreading their wings and shedding their skin in an attempt to become something more than the mere sum of their inspirations and influences. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: EVOKE THY LORDS (ALEXEY KOZLOV)

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

(Comrade Aleks returns with this interview of Alexey Kozlov, vocalist and bassist of Evoke Thy Lords.)

Evoke Thy Lords is a pretty original band from Russian Siberia. The band is located in Novosibirsk and there they play a fantastic mix of sludgy psychedelic doom metal with good, deep growls and mesmerizing flute tunes.

They started in 2002 with more trivial stuff, but everything changed with the Drunken Tales album (2013), and its success was developed further on the third full-length album under the ambitious title Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! (2015).

Don’t waste any time — come discover new dimensions of sound with Alexey Kozlov (bass, vocals). Don’t worship Satan! Raise giant mushrooms! Continue reading »

MADDER MORTEM: “RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW” TEASER

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

(KevinP wrote this introduction to a teaser of new music from Norway’s Madder Mortem.)

There’s nothing more enjoyable than when Islander gets his panties so deeply in a bind over a NO HARSH SINGING band, that it takes the skills of SurgicalBrute to remove them.  And as much as I relish his temporary misery, I am grateful that he essentially gives me free reign to talk about what I want (and feel is warranted).  Which brings us to perhaps the most important musical thing for me this year, new MADDER MORTEM music.

It’s been 6 years since their last album, Eight Ways, and while the wait has been semi-agonizing, it also makes the heart grow fonder.  The band released a 3-minute teaser last week with samples of 3 songs to their forthcoming sixth full length album, Red in Tooth and Claw.  Even though it’s only a teaser, it’s enough to get me very very excited, maybe almost too excited. Continue reading »

CLOUDS COLLIDE: “ALL THE THINGS SHINING”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  2 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Pennsylvania’s Clouds Collide.)

Black Gaze, the marriage of shoe-gaze to black metal, has been met with mixed results. Deafheaven and Alcest became two big names of this sub-genre, and of course began to amass many imitators. Clouds Collide is in a sonic zip code closer to where Alcest used to live back when they were more of a metal band.

Never has a project’s name so fittingly conveyed what they sound like. The album floats into the horizon with almost Death Cab For Cutie-like vocals hovering over it. It’s not until the second song that the harsher vocals come in. When they do, they are the only element with an edge to it. The blast beats provide an undercurrent for the vocals to moan over in an abstract path. While the melody becomes more defined the blast beats become a blur. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT FROM DARK DESCENT, WITH NEW SONGS FROM ADVERSARIAL, BLOOD INCANTATION, AND THEVETAT

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 


The Dark Descent label has recently released a 10-track sampler of music from the label’s artists that’s available on Bandcamp now (“name your price”). It includes music from recent releases plus previews of unreleased material from Adversarial, Blood Incantation, and Thevetat.

Those three previously unreleased tracks are all great, and for me proved to be welcome introductions to the fascinating, brain-scrambling death metal exuberance of Blood Incantation (their track will appear on an EP named Interdimensional Extinction) and the blood-thirsty death metal explosiveness of Thevetat (their track will appear on a forthcoming 7″ named Desecration of Divine Presence).

I was especially hot to hear the new Adversarial track, “Eonik Spiritual Warfare”, which will appear on their forthcoming second full-length, Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism, scheduled for release in August with album artwork that has again been created by the awesome Danille Gauvin.  The band’s set at Maryland Deathfest this year was one of the event’s high points for me, and I’ve been a big fan of everything they’e recorded to date. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KRONOS — “KLYMENOS UNDERWRATH”

 Premieres  7 Responses »
Jun 102015
 

 

Is it possible? Could the music on Arisen New Era be as stunning as the cover art? It might not seem possible, if you weren’t already familiar with Kronos. But those who are familiar with the three widely praised albums they’ve released so far know that this French band are quite capable of matching the sheer gob-smacking splendor of this artwork for their fourth one. The question is, have they done so? You’re about to find out, because we’re bringing you the premiere of a lyric video for the new album’s first advance track: “Klymenos Underwrath“.

The new song is a hallmark of what Kronos do so well — delivering torrential, brutalizing death metal with an almost tangible physical power while also crafting memorable melodies that flow through the surrounding carnage like shining waters through a conflagration. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DEMONWOMB, ISVIND, HARDBANGER, ABYSSGALE, THRONE OF MOLOK

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jun 102015
 

 

Well, just this past weekend I made a big deal about how I was going to be out of town for 2 weeks in Texas working day and night for my fucking day job and dismally watching the content on our site fall to a trickle. I am indeed in Texas for my day job, and it won’t be long before I really do have to knuckle down and earn my keep — but things haven’t been that crushing so far. And so… I continue to blog!

Here are some musics I enjoyed over the last 48 hours that I hope you will enjoy, too — reviews of three new short releases, some praise for one more new song from an eagerly anticipated album, and a feature on three tracks from a recently discovered album.

DEMONWOMB

Demonwomb are from Wien, Austria. Powertrip Records is going to release a self-titled, five-track 7″ by the band on June 19 (their second EP) — but you can hear all of it on Bandcamp right now, and you damn well should. Why should you? Well, let me count the reasons: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BRAQUEMAARD — “FONDEMENTS”

 Premieres  9 Responses »
Jun 102015
 

 

The French band Braquemaard have completed work on their debut album, Pendu, traîné par une claie jusqu’à la potence, et mis en quart (“hang, drawn, and quartered”) and it will be released on CD by Antiq Records later this year. To introduce the band to you, and to give you an example of what the album will be bringing our way, we give you the premiere of a song named “Fondements“.

I have a feeling that a certain segment of our readers are going to eat this up, and that another percentage (probably larger) will run from it like forest animals in the path of a conflagration. And “conflagration” isn’t a bad way to describe the music either. Continue reading »

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