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 »

SICKENING HORROR: “OVERFLOW”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Apr 102015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by Sickening Horror.) 

It often seems as if the metal scene has a short memory. Bands often continue to release phenomenal material long after they cease to get as much praise and enthusiastic reception as they once did. I haven’t seen too many other places repping the new Sickening Horror record, Overflow, and thats a shame.

In 2007, their debut mindfuck, When Landscapes Bled Backwards, captured the attention of technical death metal fans — a sign that a new act from Greece were bringing something new to the genre. Then they released a worthy sophomore follow-up in 2009 with The Dead End Experiment. Luckily, 2015 finally brings us the release of this new third record, and it showcases a band who’ve once again tweaked their sound and style, furthering evolving and bringing something different to the table. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ARACHNID

 Interviews, Metal News  2 Responses »
Apr 102015
 

(I welcome an old friend but a first-time contributor to NCS. His name is Oily. He enjoys long walks on the beach… AT AN OCEAN OF BLOOD! In this post he interviews Paul Nicholls, frontman of a Portland thrash band long thought dead but now resurrected — Arachnid.)

All great monuments fade. Some treasures wither away, unknown and unappreciated. Seemingly lost, enveloped by the engulfing mists of time, a rare prize resurfaces — a sparkling blood-red gem of thrash metal has been wrenched away from the jaws of oblivion.

Some time back, searching through Stormspell Records’ catalogue, I came across a self-titled release from a Portland-area band called ARACHNID. Curiosity piqued, I had a listen and was blown away; this was without a doubt some of the best thrash I’d heard in a long while. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VERMÖRD — “DAWN OF THE BLACK HARVEST”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  6 Responses »
Apr 102015
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our full streaming premiere of the debut release by Vermörd.)

Recently here at NCS, I wrote about a Maryland-based blackened death metal outfit named Vermörd. I can thank Islander for this since he steered me toward them, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. While my initial assessment of the band was positive, it was based only on a single track “Derodidymus”, which left me wanting more — a wish that was soon fulfilled upon getting to hear all of Dawn Of The Black Harvest recently.

After listening to all of it, my favorable impressions of the band have only grown, and I think that many of our readers will appreciate their multi-faceted and monstrous approach to destruction and mayhem from start to finish. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: FALSE, PALE CHALICE, BOTANIST, DEMONICAL

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  9 Responses »
Apr 102015
 

 

Yesterday brought a wealth of new music, and I’ve collected a few of the riches in this post. The first three songs are black metal, and the fourth isn’t — but it’s still obsidian and it still rips.

FALSE

With only an untitled EP in 2011 and a split with Barghest in 2012 — collectively totaling three songs — the Minneapolis black metal band False have established the kind of underground credibility that makes their debut album one of the year’s most highly anticipated releases. For me, “highly anticipated” became an understatement after I saw them perform at last summer’s Gilead Fest in Wisconsin. In a word, the performance was stunning (reviewed here).

Yesterday, Gilead Media announced pre-orders for the album — which is also untitled — and put up the first advance track for streaming on Bandcamp. Continue reading »

INFERNO FESTIVAL 2015: DAY THREE

 Concert Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 102015
 

 

(Andy Synn reports on the third day of Oslo’s Inferno Festival 2015 and provides photos.  For Andy’s report on the pre-fest show last Wednesday, go here. His report on Day One is at this location and his Day Two review is here.)

The final day of a festival is always bittersweet. On the one hand you have all these new memories of the music you’ve experienced and the new friends you’ve made (that last point is conjecture, since I am, by nature, not the most social animal when confronted with large crowds of people), while on the other you know that, like all good things, even this must come to an end.

Still, on the plus side you’re also very much aware that you have one more day of music left, and in this case it was a day of (almost) unadulterated awesomeness…ness. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KOSSUTH — “PLAINS OF THE SOARING DAGGER”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 092015
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a song from Mictlan, the debut EP by an Indiana band named Kossuth.)

For reasons unknown to me, the state of Indiana has been a hotbed for killer death metal ever since I first got into metal around 2002. The first wave, in my opinion, was kick-started by the release of the now legendary Twilight Of The Idols by Harakiri, which was put out by Willowtip and is one of my all-time favorite death metal records,

In my time here at NCS, I’ve written extensively about death metal acts from Indiana, including bands such as Primordium, Dawn Of Dementia, and Breeding Filth. Now we can add another band, Kossuth, to that list of fresh new death metal talent coming from Indiana. Continue reading »

THE SHADOW WOODS METAL FESTIVAL

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Apr 092015
 

 

We received an e-mail yesterday about a new U.S. metal festival that really peaked my interest, initially because of the stellar array of bands in the line-up and then for other reasons as well. Somehow it managed to elude my all-seeing eyes, which I suppose just proves that I’m often asleep at the switch. The name of the event is The Shadow Woods Metal Festival. and it will take place on September 25-27, 2015.

You can see what I mean about the line-up from the flyer above (click the image to enlarge it). It includes lots of bands we’ve praised at this site, including Midnight, Falls of Rauros, Occultation, Menace Ruine, Velnias, Anagnorisis, The Flight of Sleipnir, Hivelords, Dendritic Arbor, Anicon, Fin, Unsacred, The Black Moriah, and ZUD, plus 20 more bands. I’m including details about the entire line-up at the end of this post.

(Sadly, one of the bands, Wormreich, was devastated by a fatal van accident on Monday of this week, though their place in the festival line-up has been preserved.) Continue reading »

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