SEEN AND HEARD: DEATHHAMMER, VIRVUM, OUTRE, DEHUMAN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Apr 142015
 

 

As usual, I’m drowning in excellent new metal. There seems to be no ebb and flow this year — it’s a flood tide all the time. And so, perhaps even more so than usual, what I’m collecting in these round-ups is the result of impulsive choices. “Random Fucking Music” indeed.

DEATHHAMMER

The Norwegian duo known as Deathhammer have a new album named Evil Power set for international release by Hells Headbangers on June 30. Having been a big fan of Onward To the Pits (their last album, from 2012), that date can’t come soon enough for me.

This morning I heard the first advance track from the album, a tornado named “Warriors of Evil”. It’s the first song on a Soundcloud compilation of 2015 music created by Fenriz (of Darkthrone fame). There happens to be a ton of other good music on this playlist, and I’ll include the song list below, since the stream isn’t divided into separate tracks. But as for “Warriors of Evil”, it’s thoroughly electrifying black thrashing speed metal with thoroughly rancid vocals and the kind of riff mastery that causes furious headbanging followed by a desire to prostrate yourself in humble worship and pathetic pleading for MORE OF THIS! RIGHT FUCKING NOW! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE OF FIN’S “BLISS APPARITION OF SUNLIGHT” AND A REVIEW OF “THE FURROWS OF TRADITION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Apr 142015
 

 

One of the most marvelous things about music, of any kind, is that it’s an inherently interactive experience. No two people will hear music in exactly the same way, because what we hear is necessarily influenced by who we are, by our own life experiences, by the turn of our own imaginations, by the entire complex of ingredients that make up our own unique identities. And what we hear may not be entirely consonant with what the creators of the music were feeling or intended when they made the music.

There’s a reason why I’m starting this post with those thoughts, and I’ll come back to it at the end. But for now, let me tell you some other things about the new (third) album by Chicago’s FIN — The Furrows of Tradition — and about the song from the album that we’re premiering today: “Bliss Apparition of Sunlight”.

Some black metal albums are rightly described as icy cold. The Furrows of Tradition is hot-blooded. It’s a boiling inferno, overheated to the point of running a life-threatening fever. To mix my metaphors (which I have a tendency to do when carried away by an album), it’s a rip-roaring black metal hurricane that rushes by with torrential speed and power and leaves you breathless in its wake. Continue reading »

NIGHTRAGE: “THE PURITAN”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 142015
 

 

(DGR wrote this review of the new album by Nightrage.)

Nightrage are a band who seem to exist by force of will. They have gone through numerous lineup changes and, across their discography, a whole smattering of frontmen have appeared, many of whom are names within the realm of melodeath. Since 2011’s underrated Insidious, an album that is easily one of their best and pretty much the spiritual sequel to earlier release Sweet Vengeance (including cameos by the same musicians who appeared on that album), Nightrage have once again found themselves in flux — with members leaving and then slowly being replaced. In the end, Nightrage have become a much smaller group than they were before, with founding guitarist Marios Iliopoulos and bassist Anders Hammer being the remaining constants. They are joined by new vocalist Ronnie Nyman to complete the three-piece that is the current incarnation of Nightrage.

Needless to say, four years is a long time for a band to be out of the limelight, and their new album The Puritan is itself a slimmer beast, one with sleeker and more to-the- point songs that reflect Nightrage’s new, slimmer line-up. It also shows that despite their ever-in-flux membership, Nightrage are still damned good at hitting a melodeath fan right in the pleasure centers of the brain. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MALTHUSIAN — “BELOW THE HENGIFORM”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Apr 132015
 

 

Reviews are useful, but there is no substitute for listening. Six days ago I gave very high marks to Below the Hengiform, the stunning new EP by Malthusian, and although I’m going to remind you of why I’m so enthusiastic about this release, the main purpose of this post is to give you the chance to hear all of it for yourselves.

First, the reminder: Below the Hengiform represents a large step forward for a band who had already made a striking debut with their 2013 demo. In addition to creating a powerful atmosphere of imminent catastrophe and generating overwhelming maelstroms of violent sound, Malthusian are doing what few practitioners of blackened death metal are able to do:  They are crafting memorable songs. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: LIAM MILLWARD (THEOKTONY) — AND A FULL STREAM OF “LOSS”

 Interviews  1 Response »
Apr 132015
 

 

(KevinP puts five questions to Liam Millward, composer/guitarist/bassist/mandolin-player/backing-vocalist of Theoktony from the UK, whose new album you can stream in full at the end of this post.)

K:  Cliff notes history lesson:  You started as Pulverized in 2001, released one album in 2002, changed the band’s name to Theoktony in 2005, released a debut album in 2008.  It’s now 2015 and you are about to release your sophomore effort, Loss, via Dissected Records.  Tell us about it.

L:  Loss was actually written a couple of years ago, its just taken a while to pull together and record. Musically, I tried to keep with the original modus operandi of Theoktony, to just write and see where it took me. I try not to restrict myself to a genre.  Lyrically, I took inspiration from recent history and tried to stay on point, deal with ‘Loss’ in general, whether that be of faith, sanity, or life.

 

K:  Who’s responsible for what on this album? (Writing, playing, producing, etc,)

L:  On vocals we have Anthony Jody Myers; drums were played by Anil Carrier; guitars, bass, mandolin and samples were all by myself.  As far as writing is concerned, all music and lyrics were written by myself, with the exception of the drums for the songs “Apostate” and “Eritrea”, which were written by Anil.  I also produced the album, so if you hate it, I guess I’m to blame.  Haha! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KATECHON, FUCK THE FACTS, FISTFUCK, WIEGEDOOD, SOLSTICE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 132015
 

 

With a little help from my friends, I present to you a Monday collection of recommended new songs that I discovered in recent days, arranged in the order in which I heard them.

KATECHON

I have our friend from the Dominican Republic, Vonlughlio, to thank for this first discovery — which evolved in stages. First, Vonlughlio linked me to a new song named “Desolation” by the Norwegian band Katechon. The band’s 2013 debut album Man, God, Giant was outstanding, and this new single engendered high hopes for the next one. Entitled Coronation, it’s now projected for release by Nuclear War Now! on June 6.

“Desolation” actually had its premiere on CVLT Nation in February, but I missed it then. Katechon uploaded it to YouTube last week, and that caught Vonlughlio’s attention, and then mine. And then further exploring led to the discovery that the band had previously revealed two more songs from Coronation in addition to “Desolation”, and that all three are available for listening on Bandcamp. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MENDEL — “DISCOVER”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Apr 132015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli introduces our premiere of a song from the new album by Mendel, the solo project of Aborted guitarist Mendel Bij de Leij.)

Mendel, as some of you may be aware, is Aborted’s current lead guitarist.  For a while now, he’s also been doing guitar-centric instrumental solo material that is quite good, and for me has been elevating him into the ranks of players like Jeff Loomis and Paul Wardingham.  He plays a purely neoclassical style of metal drenched entirely in modern aesthetic, which puts a new spin on this approach to guitar exhibitionism.

The guy not only has chops, he has phrasing, borderline poetic, and knows how to write a central motif unlike many others I’ve ever heard.  His new album Oblivion will be released May 17th, and we’ll be streaming it on or before that date.  Today, I’m presenting the first single, the album’s opener “Discover”. Continue reading »

LEVIATHAN: “SCAR SIGHTED”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Apr 132015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Leviathan.)

Let’s address the corpse-painted elephant in the room right away, shall we?

No, not that one… this one. You see, I consider this album my first real exposure to Leviathan. Oh I’ve heard the music before now, in different ways and at different times, but Scar Sighted is the first time I’ve ever sat down and really listened.

And what an album it is. Marrying its frostbitten spite and blackened vitriol to a more forward-thinking, dare I say progressive, ambition, it takes a melding of the old and the new and beats them black and blue until the necessary sonic form is achieved, bearing both its borrowed influences and its harrowing inspiration with unashamed pride.

It’s vicious, it’s tormented, it’s utterly uncompromising and… in its own way… horribly beautiful. Continue reading »

POSSESSION: “1585-1646”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Apr 122015
 

 

Belgium’s Possession are moving from strength to hideous strength. They began precociously with their 2013 demo (His Best Deceit), took forward steps with their 2014 EP (Anneliese — reviewed here), and have made even more progress with their second EP, 1585-1646. Equal parts morbidly atmospheric and  rifftastically raging, it’s an unholy union of black, death, and thrash metal that’s well worth adding to your musical arsenal.

The four songs on the EP are conceptually linked. As in the case of Anneliese, the band have taken as their subject matter the true story of a young woman who lost her life at the hands of religious zealots. Here, the misfortune befell a French woman named Adrienne D’Heur; the EP is named for the years of her life.

According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, she was arrested by the French Inquisition, tortured in an effort to compel her into confessing that she had entered into a pact with the Devil (she refused to confess), and was then burned to death. However, Possession have put their own spin on these events, as described in the press release that accompanied our promo of the EP: Continue reading »

ENCENATHRAKH: “ENCENATHRAKH”

 Album Reviews  15 Responses »
Apr 112015
 

 

In February of this year I received an e-mail from something called p2omerta alerting us to the impending release of a self-titled album by a band named Encenathrakh, with a link to a song on Soundcloud named “Ngthra” —  and these words:

“The truest essence of unhinged BRUTALITY.
Enmity, Total Rusak, Cancerbag, Last Days of Humanity, Indonesia –
step aside for the universe’s most ignoramus release ever.

“NO TRIGGERS. NO LYRICS. NO BASS. NO HOPE.
1000% Technical Guttural Supremacy”

Did I follow up? No I did not. I don’t know why. In fact, I’m not even sure I saw the e-mail. But I found it yesterday after receiving a much more recent e-mail from Tom H. — he apparently sent a similar e-mail to MetalSucks, who jumped on it faster than I did. But I’m all over it now, and here’s why: Continue reading »

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