AN NCS PREMIERE: SCHAMMASCH — “INRI”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 202015
 

 

We discovered the Swiss band Schammasch through their 2014 album Contradiction (reviewed for us here by Andy Synn), which was one of last year’s best releases and quickly became a favorite of our site. Contradiction was the band’s second album, and now Prosthetic Records is poised to re-issue the band’s debut full-length Sic Lvceat Lvx in re-mastered form, and we’re privileged to bring you a stream of the second single from the album, a song named “INRI“.

The album was originally issued in 2010 as a limited-edition CD. In addition to having it re-mastered, Prosthetic has revamped the cover with striking artwork by Valnoir of Metastaszis (Behemoth, The Black Dahlia Murder) and is making it available not only on CD but on vinyl, along with a double-sided t-shirt.

The band’s vocalist C.S.R. has described “INRI” as “one of the few groove songs we wrote so far — thrashy, simple, forthright and still a great one to play live.” As for the song’s title, he explains: “Unlike it’s usual meaning as the cross inscription, the letters “INRI” refer to the alchemist aphorism ‘Igne Natura Renovatur Integra,’ pointing out purification through the flame of consciousness.” Continue reading »

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE JANSSON OF CRYPT SERMON

 Interviews  7 Responses »
Apr 202015
 

 

(Our Kansas-based friend Derek Neibarger is not only the man behind the Godless Angel death metal project and the inventor of the Cat Hand Rest©, he also proved himself to be an energetic and successful interviewer during his recent day-long takeover of Metal Sucks [all the interviews are linked here]. In fact, he was so energetic in lining up interviews that a few responses arrived too late to be posted at MS — and so we get to be the lucky host of this interview of Steve Jansson of the amazing Crypt Sermon, whose debut album came out of nowhere to take the metal world by storm this year.)

 

In 2013 members of Infiltrator, TrenchRot, Labyrinthine, and Hivelords came together to form Crypt Sermon. The Philadelpia doom metaller’s debut album, Out of the Garden, was released February 24th.

A chance meeting with their drummer, Enrique Sagarnaga, led to the opportunity to ask guitarist Steve Jansson a few questions about the new album and the band’s future plans.

****** 

Derek: Hi! Thank you for granting me an interview! In February of this year you released your debut album, Out of the Garden, on Dark Descent Records. Are you happy with how it turned out? How has the response been to the album?

Steve: We are definitely really pleased with how the record came out. Of course when I listen back, there are things that I wish I had spent more time on and done a little better on my end, but that’s the name of the game. As far as the response, it’s been extremely positive and we are certainly stunned at how much attention the album has been getting. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SAMAVAYO (BEHRANG ALAVI)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 202015
 

 

(Comrade Aleks interviews Behrang Alavi, the Iranian-born vocalist/guitarist for Germany’s Samavayo — and of course we have music for you to hear as well.)

Samavayo is the band for those who like stoner music and don’t fear experiments. If you want to know how stoner sounds with progressive, alternative, and Middle Eastern roots, then this band is for you.

Samavayo was born in Berlin somewhere around 2000, and different elements have prevailed in their music in different periods and on different records, but after all of that, the band have found their golden mean. I do think that their last work stands a bit apart from other albums – it’s a vinyl split release by Samavayo and the Russian band The Grand Astoria. We had a talk with Behrang Alavi (vocals, guitars) about this record and some other things. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AION, ASHBRINGER, CRYPTICUS, DRAGUNOV, GODISDEAD, TEMPEL

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Apr 192015
 

 

I have a lot of new music to share with you on this fine Sunday, music that I carefully selected after an extended bout of completely random listening early this morning. Because this post includes six songs, I will make an effort to restrain my tendency to vomit forth big chunks of text so your attention doesn’t wander. Presented in alphabetical order by band name:

AION

This Swiss three-person band has recorded a five-track debut named Verses of Perdition that will be released by Goathorned Productions on May 1. I haven’t listened to the entire album yet, but the one song I have heard is an eye-opener (and I thank KevinP for linking me to it). Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: PROGENIE TERRESTRE PURA — “ASTEROIDI”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Apr 182015
 

 

After many months of listening to the 2013 debut album by Italy’s Progenie Terrestre Pura, I finally attempted (here) to write something that captured the wonders of the album — and failed. I think all I succeeded in doing was to express the profound effect that U.M.A. had on me.

Even after the dramatic impact of U.M.A., I somehow missed the fact that last October, q[T]p (which is how they prefer to abbreviate their name) released a digital EP named Asteroidi. Andy Synn named it to his 2014 year-end list of the “Good” albums and EPs, and I still didn’t dive into it. And then yesterday I received a notification that Avantgarde Music is releasing the EP in physical form. Finally, I listened. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ISRATHOUM — “ALLEVIATE, ELEVATE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Apr 172015
 

 

Antru Kald is the name of the new three-song EP by the Portuguese/Dutch band Israthoum. Ever since discovering their phenomenal 2012 album Black Poison and Shared Wounds, Israthoum has become a favorite of this site, and today we have the privilege of premiering one of the new songs from Antru Kald: “Alleviate, Elevate”.

Antru Kald is a conceptual creation, one that has been gestating for many years, and it was recorded over a multi-year period as well, with help from Mories of Gnaw Their Tongues and Cloak of Altering (whose projects also happen to be favorites of this site). Mories also created the EP’s cover art. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: EREB ALTOR, LUCIFER’S CHILD, WHISKEY RITUAL

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 172015
 


Ereb Altor

I’m on the road again, for pleasure not business this time, reconnecting with family in Texas and going to a school reunion. So, we won’t have many posts today because I’ll be out and about instead of hunched over my computer.

Before I disappear, I wanted to give you a few new songs to hear that I sifted from the effluent of the interhole and the rat’s nest of our in-box this morning. The new Slayer song isn’t one of them. I assume anyone who is still a fan of the band has already discovered it on their own. It seems like a better use of time to highlight things you might miss.

EREB ALTOR

Sweden’s Ereb Altor have a new album (their fifth) named Nattramn that’s due for an April 24 release on the Cyclone Empire label. The cover art (after the jump) was created by Gustavo Sazes of Abstrata Design. I haven’t managed to listen to the whole album yet, but I do recommend the song that premiered today, by the name of “Midsommarblot”. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: BYZANTINE AND SIRIUN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Apr 172015
 

 

Here are two videos that caught my eyes and ears this morning, one from an old favorite of this site, one from some surprising newcomers.

BYZANTINE

The old favorites are West Virginia’s Byzantine, whose new album To Release Is To Resolve, to no one’s surprise, is fantastic (and reviewed here for us by TheMadIsraeli). Two days ago Billboard premiered a video for the song “The Agonies” off the new album, but I only caught up with it today. Continue reading »

CARACH ANGREN: “THIS IS NO FAIRYTALE”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Apr 162015
 

 

(DGR reviews the latest album by the Dutch band Carach Angren., which is out now on Season of Mist.)

One of the things I love about Carach Angren is how divisive they are amongst the staff at this site. For some, they’re “LARP-Friendly black metal” and for others they’re an enjoyable band. When it comes to a genre like symphonic black, I own up to it time and time again that I am, in large part, an idiot.

I scratch the surface of the genre but it has been a huge blind spot for me, as has black metal as a whole; when it comes to the great divide of metal, between the black metal and the death metal guys, I tend to fall on the death metal side of the spectrum. I like my fair share of death metal bands masquerading as black metal groups, but rarely the traditional, ethereal, and anguish-fueled howls or the purposefully roughly-produced walls of sound of the early generations of proper black metal — which roughly translates to me being perfectly OK with Carach Angren and their symphonic horror tomes.

I think a large part of this is how you see the band. For me, Carach Angren are a group of storytellers who happen to really love their camp. They’ve never been the most black metal thing out there, and frankly, their stories have never been the most traditionally black metal out there, having covered a battlefield or two and even doing a nautical-themed disc, though the latter has become a bit more common and has been done increasingly well by other bands. The only thing you can be sure of is that the body count on a Carach Angren disc is probably going to be high and no one is going to escape happily. I’ve never had a thought of , “Well, this oughta end just swell for this character!”, when listening to a Carach Angren album, instead just counting down the minutes until their inevitable end. Continue reading »

AUTOKRATOR: A “GET TO THE POINT” INTERVIEW AND A REVIEW

 Album Reviews, Interviews  3 Responses »
Apr 162015
 

 

Editor’s Note: KevinP and I are sharing this post, even though he doesn’t know he’s having to share it with me. In the first part you’ll find another installment in his “Get To the Point” interview series, in which he puts a handful of questions to Lioc F., the main man behind the multinational industrial/death/drone/doom band Autokrator. And after the interview, I have a few thoughts about Autokrator’s self-titled debut album, which was released digitally earlier this year and is due for physical release by Iron Bonehead on May 29.

 

“GET TO THE POINT”

K:  Since you are a fairly new band, (formed in 2014) and I know nothing about your origins, please tell us about Autokrator?

L:  Autokrator was born out of the ashes of my former project, N.K.V.D.  I wanted to turn on a death-drone side for years, still with industrial influences, so I created Autokrator. And I recorded the album with musicians I was in connection with. Continue reading »

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