NO CLEAN SINGING

LYCHGATE: “AN ANTIDOTE FOR THE GLASS PILL”

Dec 182015

(We present this guest review of a fine album by Allen Griffin, who makes his first appearance at our site.)

Dedicated fans of Extreme Metal often suffer from an embarrassment of riches when it comes to finding bands who can competently produce the sounds they yearn for. What these same fans often lack are acts that can provide a sense of surprise and excitement, a feeling we might not have felt since the early days of diving headlong into the genre.

This is what makes Lychgate’s second full-length, An Antidote for Glass Pills, such a startling discovery. This group consists of Vortigern, also of The One (vocals), G.A. Chandler, also of U.K. group Esoteric (vocals), T.J.F.Vallely of Macabre Omen (drums and percussion), S.D. Lindsley (guitar), A.K. Webb (bass), K.J. Bowyer (organ), and F.A. Young (piano). Obviously, with some members being involved with other well-known projects (at least in underground circles), there is some indication this is a side-project, which would be a shame as this group seems to be at least the equal of just about any band out there. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GREG ANDERSON (SUNN O))), GOATSNAKE)

Interviews No Responses »

Dec 182015

photo by Peter Best

(NCS contributor Ben Manzella brings us this interview of Greg Anderson, co-founder and mainstay of Sunn O))), Goatsnake, and Southern Lord Records.)

I don’t really know how to introduce this. I feel like I’ve been admiring the work Greg Anderson has been involved with for so long at this point, that this interview was a very surreal experience. As I walked home from my day job, I never could have predicted that I’d be chatting with Greg at all; but this interview is essentially the conversation we had as we discussed the great records he’s been involved with making this year, as well as the shows played, along with what is being planned for next year.

******

Ben: With the new Sunn O))) album, Kannon, having been released just last week, as well as a run with Goatsnake to end the year, how has everything been going? What’s the general feeling, a bit exciting or overwhelming?

Greg: It’s been good; it’s been busy, for sure. Besides the Goatsnake release earlier this year, there was a bunch of Sunn O))) shows; so it’s been a time of switching back and forth between Goatsnake and Sunn O))). It’s been really good, really busy; but I’m glad. I didn’t exactly plan for it turn out like this, where both albums were released in the same year, but I’m happy with everything. It’s great. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015: A TOP 50 (MOSTLY) METAL LIST FROM NOISEY

Uncategorized 10 Responses »

Dec 182015

Although we’re getting deep into our site’s own year-end lists, there are still a few more “big platform” sites whose year-end lists I’ve been waiting for, and this is one of them.

Vice Media, Inc. traces its origins back to a punk magazine called Vice Montreal that was started in 1994. Since then, Vice has grown into a multimedia network that includes not only Vice.com but also nine other digital channels. One of those is Noisey, which was launched in 2011 and focuses on music across a range of genres, including rock, rap, metal, and punk. Noisey proclaims that it “reaches millions and millions of readers and subscribers a month, a must-stop source for new music, investigative journalism, and artist-sourced content.”

This year, Noisey brought metal journalist Kim Kelly on board as a writer and member of its editorial staff, and yesterday the site published her ranked list of “Top 10 (Mostly) Metal Albums of 2015”, followed by an additional un-ranked list of “40 Favorite (And Occasionally Not Metal) Albums of 2015”. Here they are (and to read Kim’s comments about all the albums and listen to music streams, go HERE). Continue reading »

2015 — A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE PERSONAL TOP 10

LISTMANIA 2015 20 Responses »

Dec 182015

(With this post Andy Synn concludes his annual retrospective on the year in metal with a list of personal favorites. Earlier in the week we presented his lists of the Great, the Good, and the Disappointing albums of the year, as well as The Critical Top 10.)

As opposed to yesterday’s list of my “Critical” selections, today I’m taking off my critic hat, and throwing all notions of impartiality to the wind, and gifting you with a straight-up selection of my ten favourite albums of the year.

These aren’t necessarily the best albums of the year, of course, just the ones that I happen to have listened to and loved the most!

The bands on this list hail from a variety of locations – the UK, the USA, France, Sweden, Germany, Australia – and cover a variety of different metallic sub-genres, but what’s most interesting (well, I think so anyway) is just how many of these bands are new, or relatively new, this year round.

Several of the groups on this list either only released their first album in 2015, or were only properly discovered by the site this year… and that number gets even larger if you take into account the “honourable mentions” as well!

So, without further ado, get ready to find out exactly what albums have been rocking my proverbial socks off this year… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HORDAK — “PADRE”

Premieres 8 Responses »

Dec 172015

January 10, 2016, is the date set by Russia’s Casus Belli Musica for the release of Padre, the new album by the Spanish metal band Hordak, and today we have for you the premiere of the album’s title track.

This is Hordak’s fourth album in a career that began in 2002. For those unfamiliar with the band, they have described their music as “Celtiberian Pagan Metal“, a word that refers to the peoples formed by the merger of emigrated Celts and the native Iberians of what is now Spain — the Spanish equivalent of Scandinavian Viking music and Slavonic pagan metal from Eastern Europe.

The new album is a musically diverse work, with some songs that are warlike in their savagery and fiery pacing and others that are stately and majestic. Some of the songs include textures added by acoustic guitar, flute, violin, and even xylophone, while others simply ride you down in ripping onslaughts of metallic fury. And the album also includes guest vocal appearances by Forefather’s Wulfstan and Uruksoth from CrystalMoors. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: SUPREME CARNAGE — “SENTENCED TO THE CROSS”

Album Reviews, Premieres 4 Responses »

Dec 172015

On December 18, Redefining Darkness Records will release Sentenced By the Cross, the new album by Germany’s Supreme Carnage, and today, on the eve of its release, we bring you a full stream of the entire album.

This is music for fans who want lots of juicy red meat in their death metal. It’s not overly complex or wildly inventive. The approach to song-writing is straight forward, with traditional verse-chorus structures. And though they’re from Germany, the band have clearly aligned themselves with old-school legends from the Swedish school such as Asphyx, Grave, Entombed, and Bloodbath — with an embracing of Bolt Thrower as well.

But although Supreme Carnage aren’t out to reinvent the wheel, they are very, very good at what they’ve chosen to do, and Sentenced By the Cross is tremendously satisfying from beginning to end — the songs are heavy as hell, compulsively headbangable, and ridiculously infectious. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015: A YEAR-END LIST FROM MANTEEGWA

LISTMANIA 2015 18 Responses »

Dec 172015

(Long-time reader and commenter Manteegwa prepared this list of favorite releases from 2015 — and it’s an interesting one.)

For me, 2015 felt like a year where the great releases were peppered evenly throughout. In a time marred by political strife and violence, metal helped me stay positive and realize that there are people out there who still pour their efforts into creation rather than division.

KEVINP’S ALBUMS OF THE MONTH — DECEMBER 2015

Album Reviews, Listmania 15 Responses »

Dec 172015

(Here’s the last of KevinP’s monthly selections for 2015, naming his Top 5 favorite albums released or scheduled for release during December.)

Since I’ve had plenty of time with this month’s releases to formulate my list, along with the fact that things start to get slow once Xmas week arrives, you’re getting this a little earlier than normal. Also, my Top 25 Albums and Top 5 EP’s of the Year will be posted the first week of January. Nothing else profound to say, so let’s get on with it. Continue reading »

2015 — A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE CRITICAL TOP 10

LISTMANIA 2015 32 Responses »

Dec 172015

(This is the fourth of Andy Synn’s traditional week-long series of posts looking back on the year in metal. We’ve previously presented his lists of the Great, the Good, and the Disappointing albums of the year.)

Over the years I’ve moved further and further away from presenting this list as a classic, numbered ranking of albums, and more towards viewing it as a time-capsule of sorts, picking out what I think are ten of the absolute best of the year to represent the absolute pinnacle of the year in Metal.

Of course, limiting it to only ten entries means it’s far from exhaustive in capacity, but I’ve tried – as far as I’ve been able – to give a rounded overview of the past twelve months, embodied in these ten selections which I really think represent the sheer quality and diversity of metallic delights released over the last year.

Interestingly enough, there’s a LOT of clean vocals on the list – by my count there’s a good 6 out of 10 releases on this list which incorporate clean singing, in one way or another, across albums running the gamut from Black to Death to Doom… heck, two of these albums use 100% clean vocals! (You’re killing me! I hope the paramedics get here soon! — Islander)

There’s also a strong “Progressive” vibe to a lot of this year’s selections, no matter what genre they come from… though there’s also a couple of albums on here which prove that sometimes all you need to be the “best” is to play harder, faster, and heavier than the competition!

Overall this year’s top 10 is comprised of 3 acts from the UK, and 3 acts from the USA, a Swedish duo (not the only two-piece on the list, might I add), a bunch of German cultists, an unbelievably savage Polish ensemble, and one multi-faceted, multi-national collective… and those are all the hints I’m going to give you! Continue reading »

LIST OVERLOAD?

LISTMANIA 2015 34 Responses »

Dec 172015

I’m willing to bet a wheelbarrow load of loris droppings that we post more year-end lists than any other metal site. Not only do we post lists of the year’s best releases prepared by our own writers (other than me, because my mind doesn’t work that way), we also post lists that appear elsewhere, and every year we also post lists by long-time readers and assorted other guests, not to mention the ever-growing readers’ lists that are hosted here. The risk of doing this is obvious:

I’m already seeing comments, both on our site and on our Facebook page, by people who are starting to feel overwhelmed by the volume of year-end accolades and recommendations. I even received a message yesterday from one of our invited guests who was wondering whether people will bother to continue reading more lists — because we still have a LOT of lists yet to come.

I confess that I worry about this, too — though not enough to stop! So I thought I would tell you my reasoning behind doing what we do this time of year. Continue reading »

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