AN NCS PREMIERE: BEWITCHER — “SPEED ‘TIL YOU BLEED”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 102014
 

Bewitcher is a two-man band from Portland, Oregon, whose third demo release — a three-song offering entitled Midnight Hunters — will be coming your way on January 5, 2015. A few paragraphs from now, we’ll give you a chance to sample the demo as we premiere a stream of one of the new songs, “Speed ’til You Bleed”.

As you’ll soon find out, that’s an apt title for the song. It’s a rocking blast of thrashing blackened speed metal, a dirty, alcohol-fueled homage to the spirits of Venom and Motörhead that will get its hooks in you right from the get-go. The production is gritty enough to ooze old-school heavy metal vibes but not so rough as to obscure the shotgun drumming, the shine of the cymbal smashes, the spitfire soloing, the abraded filthiness of the raving vocals, or the sing-along compulsiveness of the lyrics. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CHALICE OF BLOOD — “SHEMOT”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 102014
 

 

Sweden’s Chalice of Blood announced their arrival in the occult realms of black metal with a three-song demo in 2005 (Angelus Diaboli) and followed that with two split releases, including their excellent 2014 split with Israthoum on the Daemon Worship label. Early next year Daemon Worship will release the band’s most accomplished work yet, a five-song EP entitled Helig, Helig, Helig, and today we bring you the first taste of the new music through our premiere of a track entitled “Shemot“.

Those in search of “atmospheric” black metal or sweeping melodies that tug on the heartstrings will have to look elsewhere. “Shemot” is red of tooth and claw, a predatory assault that’s more interested in ripping out the heart and devouring it. Driven by relentlessly blasting drums and the buzzing whir of fiery tremolo riffs, the music radiates venomous energy, its dark melody full of malevolent threat, the cracked-glass vocals uttering hateful proclamations with bestial vehemence. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A YEAR-END LIST FROM JESSE ZURETTI (THE BINARY CODE)

 LISTMANIA 2014  8 Responses »
Dec 102014
 

 

(For the second year in a row, we asked guitarist and songwriter Jesse Zuretti of The Binary Code — who have a new album of their own headed our way — for thoughts about his favorite albums of 2014, and he provided this list.)

 

1. Animals As Leaders – The Joy of Motion

Stand-out album for me, since I’ve never really been a fan (as much as I appreciated just about everything these guys can do as musicians). This album, to me, defines talent that reaches beyond the confines of the stereotypical “metal” nomenclature. The R&B jams, the unbelievably creative drumming, the song-writing — it’s all just sitting perfectly with me. I really think it’s going to be hard to top this one, should they choose to put out another album. This was my #1 played metal (new) album of 2014, and for good reason. Continue reading »

INTERVOID: “WEAPONIZED”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Dec 102014
 

(Guest writer Booker returns to NCS after an extended hiatus with this review of the new album by Intervoid from the wilds of northeast Ohio.)

There are those who follow, and then there are those who take another path. We probably all like to think that the world of metal is made up of people who fit into the latter group. Maybe you like to think you’re part of that group, too, and that this bent in your character has made you take the red pill and set in motion a series of events that has led you, inexorably, here. But there’s an even more extreme group who throw all semblance of caution to the wind, raise middle fingers to the gods, and have the temerity to… release an album in December.

I can hear you screaming in disbelief, “Who would do such a thing?!”. Yes, who would… who would violate the sacred sanctity of the year-end list, which now has spread into November like an out-of-control blob consuming ever more months in an ever-increasing race to be first. Maybe these people know something we don’t? Maybe they’ve just got better things to do than to schedule their musical creations around the whims of the internet metal nerds? I have another idea – they are not human. And this brings us to Intervoid, whose debut LP just dropped as a late-breaking treat to top off the year. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, WOLFHEART

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Dec 092014
 

 

I thought that once I got back to Seattle on Sunday from my two-week sojourn to the East Coast, things would return to normal. That hasn’t happened. The old fuckin’ day job has continued to have its way with me like a lonely shepherd on a tethered goat. Between that kind of raw treatment and getting other people’s year-end lists ready for posting, I’ve had precious little time to write about new music and videos. I do have a very long list of new things to check out, but I’m afraid all I can do at the moment is toss these two excellent videos your way.

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE

These Italian maestros of blistering symphonic death metal have just released an official video for the song “Epilogue”, which appears on their latest album, Labyrinyth. The video was directed by Francesco Paoli and Salvatore Perrone and features special guests soprano vocalist Veronica Bordacchini (who was a fine addition to the band’s live show when she accompanied them on their NorthAm tour earlier this year), guitarist Marco Sensi, and cellist Shamatiyenko Kostyantyn. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A BIG YEAR-END LIST FROM AUSTIN WEBER

 LISTMANIA 2014  27 Responses »
Dec 092014
 

 

(NCS writer Austin Weber brought us this big list of his personal favorites from 2014, divided into 7 categories.)

I hate to begin with the obvious and easiest intro, but 2014 really was one hell of a prolific year for quality metal releases from all stripes and sub-genres. I felt slightly overwhelmed, but I found a lot of killer releases by new bands this year, in addition to new releases by the many bands I was already aware of, many of whom took evolutionary leaps my feeble mind could not have possibly predicted. And the future still looks bright for metal potential. So, all is well.

As I did with my last two years’ “best of” lists, I chose to skip over many of the names that would appear on most lists, in favor of more underground or less championed fare. This is to give you, the reader, a shot at hearing more quality releases from the year, beyond the same pile of releases whose names will be hammered into your brain by a multitude of other year-end lists. The intro to this article goes on for too long; if it’s TLDR to you, skip to the lists. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A YEAR-END LIST FROM PATRICK BRUSS (CRYPTICUS)

 LISTMANIA 2014  16 Responses »
Dec 092014
 

(I invited Patrick Bruss, aka Crypticus, to share his year-end list with us, because I had a high degree of confidence I would like everything on it that I knew about and would need to track down everything else I didn’t know about. And I was right.)

 

BRUTALLY DECEASED – Black Infernal Vortex

Listen to those chainsaws! Lots of Sunlight Studio-style bands these days, but only a few have the special rotted & filthy feeling that made those DISMEMBER & GOD MACABRE albums so much fun. These guys are bathing in it. Savage yet melodic riffs & a slaughterhouse production.

http://brutallydeceased.bandcamp.com

 


Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: NPR MUSIC’S 50 FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2014 (JUST THE HEAVY STUFF)

 LISTMANIA 2014  21 Responses »
Dec 082014
 

NPR (formerly National Public Radio) is an American national treasure, one that has somehow survived as a non-profit national radio and on-line broadcaster (with 900 public radio station members) despite largely weaning itself from governmental support. According to Alexa, its online site is the 138th most popular of all U.S.-based web sites and one of the top 1,000 in the world.

Today NPR Music posted a list of its 50 favorite albums of 2014. It’s a cross-genre list, reflecting the broad demographic of NPR Music listeners, but there’s some heavy stuff in the mix. As we’ve done occasionally in past years, I’ve siphoned off the metal albums from the overall list and am presenting them after the jump, just to give all us underground dwellers a sense of what’s presented to the NPR audience as the best metal of the year.

NPR didn’t rank those 50 albums, so I’m listing the metal releases in the order I saw them on the NPR list — which you can see in full here. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A YEAR-END LIST FROM AUSTIN LUNN (PANOPTICON, SEIDR)

 LISTMANIA 2014  18 Responses »
Dec 082014
 

(We are grateful to Austin Lunn for accepting our invitation to share his favorite releases from 2014.)

There are a lot of releases this year that I have really enjoyed….so in no particular order here goes:

 

Wheels Within Wheels – Thirty Five Thoughts to Nineteen Elements

Mesmerizing, horrifying… a blown-out, hypnotic soundscape forming beauty out of the ugliness that man has made. This record, as all WWW records, is not for the faint of heart, but if you like blackened, doomy, droned-out dirges, this is for you. Don’t miss out.

Continue reading »

BEST ALBUMS AND EP’S OF 2014: A LIST FROM KEVINP

 LISTMANIA 2014  32 Responses »
Dec 082014
 

 

(In this post NCS contributor KevinP rolls out his personal list of the year’s best EPs and albums. To read his reviews of many of these albums, you can find them collected at Metal Bandcamp via this link.)

Another year stacked with quality releases.  There were so many, I neglected my family half the year to listen to them all.   I also decided to include EP’s this time around.  So let’s dispense with the blather and get to it.

TOP 5 EP’S

 

5.  (tie) Ascension – Deathless Light / Cult of Fire – Čtvrtá Symfonie Ohně (The Fourth Symphony of Fire) Continue reading »

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