In today’s installment of this Sunday series in which we look back at music from the past, I’m including a few clips from a band I should have featured a week ago, in remembrance of the band’s long-time drummer Martin Kearns, who died unexpectedly on September 14 at the age of 38. Continue reading »
One month ago we had the pleasure of premiering the title track to Aeon, the new second album by the German band Invoker, which will be released by Non Serviam Records next month. Today we bring you another song from the album: “Secrets of Seed”.
Beginning in the vein of a dark, mid-paced dirge, “Secrets of Seed” soon enough begins to roll like a juggernaut, combining elements of black metal and melodic death metal to deliver a song that’s both electrifying and very memorable. Continue reading »
(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Abigail Williams.)
Oh look! Perennial bandwagon jumpers Abigail Williams are back once again, with another trend-chasing collection of….
Actually. Fuck that.
Seriously. If you’re honestly still thinking like this… then there’s the door… feel free to let it hit you on the way out.
Because, and I say this with all the love in the world… this sort of attitude is complete bullshit and an example of precisely the sort of self-sustaining, media-created narrative mostly adopted by people too lazy to form their own opinions, and disseminated widely by sites and magazines more interested in following the herd and copying what they’ve read elsewhere than putting in any critical effort of their own.
Ironic, isn’t it, when it’s the media themselves blindly following the very trends they’re accusing others of… Continue reading »
Lucid Dawn is the name of the third album by SoCal’s Arkaik, and it’s scheduled for worldwide release on October 30 by Unique Leader Records. As a sign of what the album holds in store, today we bring you the premiere of the album’s fifth track, “Awaken the I“, via a lyric video.
Lucid Dawn continues a dystopian concept story involving the protagonist Cyrix that began in the band’s last full-length (2012’s Metamorphignition), and it features the contributions of new guitarists Miguel Esparza (ex-Hatriot) and Greg Paulson, as well as guest appearances by Trevor Strnad and Ryan Knight of The Black Dahlia Murder, as well as Bay Area live string quartet, Amaranth. Continue reading »
Photo by Rakel Erna Skarphéðinsdóttir (web site here).
(We welcome Argentinian journalist Matías Gallardo, who brings us this interview with multi-instrumentalist, composer, and frontperson D.G. of the phenomenal Icelandic band Misþyrming.)
As ironic as it might sound, during the last couple of years Iceland has become a hotspot for black metal. To the work of bands like Svartidauði, Carpe Noctem, and Dynfari, we now have to add a new stellar name: Misþyrming.
Formed in Reykjavík back in 2013, the group (Icelandic for ‘abuse’) fronted by multi-instrumentalist D.G. is one of the most glorious revelations of the year within the genre. Capable of mixing the darkness of French anti-heroes like Deathspell Omega and Blut aus Nord with eerie atmospheres and a wicked sense of melody, the quartet’s debut album Söngvar elds go óreiðu (‘Songs of Fire and Chaos’) promises more than a cold chill to your spine. Brace yourselves: Misþyrming is coming. Continue reading »
Mutilatred chose their name well, concocting a word that won’t be found in the dictionary but accurately conveys the sense of mutilating hatred that radiates from every song on their debut album, Dissecting Your Future. Today we bring you a full stream of the album in advance of its September 25 release by Seeing Red Records.
There’s nothing fancy about this music. It’s stripped-down, down-tuned, primal in its brutality, and remorseless in its delivery, combining an atmosphere of malevolent darkness and physically dismantling grooves, as if Incantation and Devourment had found a ground zero where they could jointly detonate an apocalyptic weapon. Continue reading »
According to the first verse of the Book of Genesis, when God created the earth, it “was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep”. He said, “Let there be light”, but the darkness came first; in the words of the band Deformatory, “it was already alive, forever and eternal”. God divided the Light from the Darkness on the first day, but “that division has eroded”.
And that idea became the seed of Malediction, the second record by this band from Ottawa, Ontario, and the first in a series of concept albums revolving around an entity named Saväel, the creator of the Darkness. “In Malediction, the story follows the discovery of the sacred incantation text, his re-awakening, and the subsequent obliteration of the Light, the Heavens, and all remnants of humanity.”
Today we bring you the premiere of “Infernal Gateway”, the album’s first track and the beginning of this story about the rebirth of a timeless evil. Continue reading »
Almost exactly one year ago I discovered a two-song demo named Necrobirth by Colorado’s Bloodstrike that totally knocked me on my ass (as I said here). At that point, the word was that Bloodstrike was working on a debut album that they projected for release this year — and now, sure enough, it’s upon us.
The name of the album is In Death We Rot, and it is nothing but Grade A nourishment for the death-worshipping souls of people like me, and all other fans of early ’90s death metal who haven’t convinced themselves that the only albums worth listening to were released 20 years ago. Continue reading »
We metalheads may be different in some important ways from the people who don’t share our passion for abrasive, aggressive music, but in some ways we’re not so different: In our listening, many of us find comfort in what is familiar, and sometimes instinctively shy away from bands who have stepped off the usual beaten paths. But sometimes when that happens, the results can be exciting, even if the music is different and challenging on first listen.
Casket Dream Veneration, the new album by the Portuguese band Onirik, maintains a spiritual devotion to the traditions of black metal, but the band are definitely following their own path, and the music is a rewarding experience in part because it does sound different from much of the music that now travels under the black flag.
Take, for example, the track from the album that we’re premiering today: “Invocation and Defiance”. Continue reading »
This is one of those mornings where I’ve accumulated a lot of music over the last couple of days that I’d like to tell you about, but I don’t have enough time to do all the telling. So I’ve picked only three new things, which is what I have time for, and I picked this grouping because they provide variety, which someone said is the spice of life. Because time is short, I will also have to hold my own descriptive verbiage to a minimum.
VARATHRON
One item of exciting news that appeared in recent days was the announcement that the Greek black metal titans in Varathron have a new, seven-track EP named The Confessional Of The Black Penitents that will be released by Agonia Records on October 23. Apart from the prospect of new music from this excellent band, I also enjoyed the cover art, since it happens to be a painting by Swiss painter and printmaker Carlos Schwabe (1866-1926) that I’ve used before as one of the daily art posts on the NCS Facebook page.
In addition to the news about the EP, Agonia began streaming a new track named “Sinister Recollections”. It’s one of three new songs on the EP — the other four are previously released songs recorded live in Larisa, Greece, on May 16, 2015. Continue reading »