BELPHEGOR: “CONJURING THE DEAD”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 172014
 

(Andy Synn reviews the forthcoming 10th album by Austria’s Belphegor.)

Both criticised and praised (often in the same breath) for their focussed commitment to blackened sonic savagery over the years, it’s probably not unfair to say that Belphegor have had their sound established for a while, and that a number of their albums were – if not interchangeable – at least very closely related to one another.

And please don’t read that more harshly than it’s intended. I love Belphegor, and for many years their sound was one that didn’t need to change, aside from the occasional tweak here and there. It was pure extremity and blackened blasphemous brutality, no frills, no fat, no filler – just album after album of lean, mean, killing machine music.

But change is inevitable it seems, and three and a half years after the release of the ravenous Blood Magick Necromance, the Austrian sadists have returned with their new album Conjuring The Dead, which on the one hand demonstrates a noticeable shift in approach, and yet on the other still feels altogether too familiar… Continue reading »

DOOM QUIZ PART 5: ABSKE FIDES, ESOTERIC, OBAKE, STONEBIRDS, STONED JESUS, THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO

 Interviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jul 162014
 

Abske Fides

(Today our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks brings us Part 5 of a six-part series in which he puts the same five questions to doom bands from around the world, and introduces us to their music at the same time.)

Sometimes I use this unpopular “quiz” format because there are too many interesting bands that I would like to bring to light, and in my opinion it’s a good way to spread some news and to get new points of view on a few issues (including even some political questions). The list of questions I put to the bands is below:

1. What is the band’s latest news and what are your plans for the near future?

2. What do we get (in the broadest sense) from the release of your last album?

3. What is the best response that your band has ever received?

4. What role does the church (or any other religious organization) play in your life or (let’s take it wider) in the life of the heavy scene? Is there any spiritual, religious, or antireligious component in your songs?

5. What does the Media in your country tell about the situation in Ukraine? And how do you see that situation? Some people from other countries have asked me strange questions about Russia’s policy, and let me say that I have a few friends in Ukraine and my colleagues have relatives there, and believe me, there’s no media in ANY country that is showing the problem as it really is. We can watch as the Cold War turns into real warfare.

Today, we bring the answers to these questions from Abske Fides (Brazil), Esoteric (United Kingdom), Obake (Italy), StoneBirds (France), Stoned Jesus (Ukraine) and The Curse of Wendigo (Ukraine).

Continue reading »

SEPTICFLESH: “TITAN”

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Jul 162014
 

(DGR wrote this review of the new album by Septicflesh from Greece.)

Greek mythology tends to lend itself pretty well to the idea of the massive. You don’t get to call your album Titan and have it be something other than an attempt at sounding absolutely huge. When SepticFlesh announced that as the title of their new album, you had to have a pretty good idea of what you were signing up for. Truth be told, SepticFlesh have the sort of sound that lends itself to such a title.

They’ve had years to hone their craft, and the basic elements of their sound — the symphonic and orchestral and the death metal — can shoot from being reserved and foreboding to sounding absolutely gigantic within the space of a second. Over the span of several albums, SepticFlesh have found a really good balance of just how much of each to drop into a song, while walking a very fine line and tinkering with a very delicate formula. Rarely have they ever gone the “crank everything up to eleven” route and reached for entire bombast on all fronts — though that approach has been proven to work, and when SepticFlesh choose to do it, they do just as well.

With The Great Mass, the band really captured lightning in a bottle, letting the symphonic and the death metal sides of the band war with each other and meld into an equilibrium, and it resulted in a great disc — as both a collection of songs and, if you were lucky enough to find one of the bonus editions with just the orchestral pieces, as a symphonic movement as well. If SepticFlesh had decided to make Titan into The Great Mass 2: Mass Harder, then I imagine people would’ve lined up front and center to lavish praise upon the band, because hell, that album again would’ve absolutely been acceptable. That’s why Titan is an interesting album — because for half the disc, they didn’t do that. Instead, they toyed with the foundations of the band and messed with the formula that had been crafted to its breaking point. The result is an album that does live up to its name — Titan is absolutely massive sounding, but not necessarily as death metal as the band have been before. Continue reading »

OCULUS INFERNUS: IN WHICH THE PROFESSOR EXAMINES SUBLIME CADAVERIC DECOMPOSITION, TRAUMATIC, DEVIL IN THE KITCHEN, THAVIUS BECK, AND WOLF SPIDER

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 162014
 

 

(Our always-welcome friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth returns to the site with the results of his latest varied musical investigations.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. Although I find that I am ever inundated with new music (with the likes of new releases from Midnight, Goatwhore, Vintersorg, and the almighty Bölzer vying for my time), I somehow manage to work my way through past releases that I somehow missed out on, and an unlikely quintet of albums have been especially prominent recently. Thus, this month’s investigation has a specific focus on the exhumation of past releases. I hope you brought your shovels.

SUBLIME CADAVERIC DECOMPOSITION

We begin with the filthy, riff-laden death/grind of France’s Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition. I have thus far heard their self-titled album from 2001 and their most recent release, 2011’s bizarrely-titled Sheep’n’Guns. They are both quality releases, but it is Sheep’n’Guns that first sparked my interest, and so that shall be our focus for today. What truly caught my ear and made Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition stand out from the legions of other death/grind bands is the surprising amount of groove in their music, a motif that is devastatingly effective when paired with the death/grind/punk riffs present in their music. The production is a bit clean for grindcore, but the music is so good that it really doesn’t matter. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MYRKUR, MAAHLAS, MAJALIS — AND STIMPY LOCKJAW

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Jul 162014
 

I suppose that among our regular writers it may seem that I have a more pronounced weakness for the kind of metal that tries to claw your guts out and eat the gall bladder (because it thrives on bile, yes it does). But you can relax — somewhat — before you listen to the four songs collected in this post. There is beauty in this collection (along with the clawing).

MYRKUR

Myrkur is the name of a one-woman black metal band from Denmark (it reportedly means “darkness” in Icelandic). You probably haven’t heard of Myrkur before, but I’m highly confident this won’t be the last time you hear the name — partly because Relapse Records is now behind the band and partly because the music is strikingly good. Despite the fact that Myrkur has released no music before a self-titled EP that Relapse now plans to release in September — and has done nothing to publicize her existence as far as I can tell — both Pitchfork and Stereogum were lavishing praise on her yesterday, and it won’t stop there. I know this because I’m about to do the same thing right now.

One of the seven songs on the EP became available for streaming yesterday and its name is “Nattens Barn” (“Night’s Child” in Danish). Myrkur’s pure a cappella voice, layered to create the sound of a choir, is immediately arresting, and so are the wolfish, ripping howls that come forth later. The powerful waves of dark guitar melody that roll in like a storm front are hugely appealing, and so is the combination of jagged, jabbing riffs and rippling tremolo streamers that shimmer above them like an aurora borealis. Continue reading »

DOOM QUIZ PART 4: EYE OF SOLITUDE, FATHER MERRIN, GRIMPEN MIRE, KYPCK, NARROW HOUSE, VIN DE MIA TRIX

 Interviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 152014
 


Eye of Solitude

(Today our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks brings us Part 4 of a six-part series in which he puts the same five questions to doom bands from around the world, and introduces us to their music at the same time.)

Sometimes I use this unpopular “quiz” format because there are too many interesting bands that I would like to bring to light, and in my opinion it’s a good way to spread some news and to get new points of view on a few issues (including even some political questions). The list of questions I put to the bands is below:

1. What is the band’s latest news and what are your plans for the near future?

2. What do we get (in the broadest sense) from the release of your last album?

3. What is the best response that your band has ever received?

4. What role does the church (or any other religious organization) play in your life or (let’s take it wider) in the life of the heavy scene? Is there any spiritual, religious, or antireligious component in your songs?

5. What does the Media in your country tell about the situation in Ukraine? And how do you see that situation? Some people from other countries have asked me strange questions about Russia’s policy, and let me say that I have a few friends in Ukraine and my colleagues have relatives there, and believe me, there’s no media in ANY country that is showing the problem as it really is. We can watch as the Cold War turns into real warfare.

Today, we bring the answers to these questions from Eye Of Solitude (United Kingdom), Father Merrin (France), Grimpen Mire (United Kingdom), KYPCK (Finland), Narrow House (Ukraine), and Vin De Mia Trix (Ukraine). Continue reading »

BREAKING NEWS: MARYLAND DEATHFEST ANNOUNCES INITIAL WAVE OF CONFIRMED BANDS FOR 2015

 Metal News  7 Responses »
Jul 152014
 

 

Are you sitting down? Because you should probably sit down so you don’t fall over when you see the initial list of bands whose appearance at Maryland Deathfest XIII (May 21-24, 2015) has just been confirmed by the event’s organizers. Here it is (the starred names will be making their exclusive U.S. appearances at MDF XIII; the list continues after the jump):

Aeternus (Norway) *
Arcturus (Norway) *
Aura Noir (Norway) *
Bulldozer (Italy) *
Darkened Nocturne Slaughtercult (Germany)
Demoncy
Dragged into Sunlight (UK)
D.R.I.
Einherjer (Norway) *
Funebrarum
Goatsnake
Impetuous Ritual (Australia) *
Lock Up * Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLACKWITCH PUDDING — “GODS OF GRUNGUS”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Jul 152014
 

 

There’s some kind of party going on at the beginning of “Gods of Grungus”, the song we’re premiering today by Portland, Oregon’s Blackwitch Pudding. It sounds like a party that’s about to get way out of hand — and then the pounding starts, bones begin to splinter, and the splash of viscera begins to paint the walls red. Or at least that’s what I was imagining while I banged my head ’til the vertebrae began to disjoint.

The song is one of four that will appear on the band’s forthcoming EP, Covered In Pudding Vol. 1, which follows the 2013 debut album by these three robed wizards, Taste the Pudding. It’s a methodically pulverizing concoction, loaded with craggy monolithic riffs, gut-jarring bass and drum hammering, and vocals that are choked with gravel, booze, and the contents of a full ashtray. As this demented and doomed party continues, the guitar begins to squall and wretch like the victim of a ritual sacrifice. The song is a putrescent mass of riff infection, and it’s really damned easy to catch the disease.

If you’re in the mood for some filthy stoner doom that you can carry around in your head all day, look no further. Bonus points if you can figure out the song that these doom wizards are parodying. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MORTALS

 Interviews  7 Responses »
Jul 152014
 

photos by Samantha Marble

 

I don’t consider myself a very good interviewer, which is why I don’t do it very often. Of course, this means that my deficiencies in skill are compounded by inexperience. But I really, really like the new album by Brooklyn-based Mortals — Cursed To See the Future — and when I learned more about the fascinating backgrounds and day jobs of the three women in the band, I felt I had to put my insecurities aside and try to talk with them.

And that happened last week. It started as a Facebook chat and ended via e-mail, and I had a blast. I also learned a valuable lesson about interviewing: When the people you’re questioning are smart, funny, and really interesting, the resulting interview can be highly entertaining even when you, the interviewer, don’t know what you’re doing. You just have to keep the subjects talking.

In this case, the subjects were Caryn Havlik (drums), Elizabeth Cline (guitar), and Lesley Wolf (vocal and bass) – and I’m very grateful to them for giving me so much of their time (and for indulging all the jock questions).

Before getting to the questions and answers, I think it’s important that you listen to a Mortals song or two, just in case you don’t know what they sound like. Because when you hear the way they sound, I think it’s going to make the conversation even more interesting. So, listen to these: Continue reading »

DAVID GRAY GOES DARTH VADER GOES LEGO GOES AKERCOCKE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jul 142014
 

Here’s just a short little something something that may make you smile, as it did me.

Akercocke may sadly be no more, but the spirit of the band lives on… in Legos. What you’re about to see is an animated video made by Akercocke fan “LegonardoDaFinci“, using Legos. It stars Darth Vader (aka Blast Vader) in the role of Akercocke’s drummer David Gray in a “drum play-through” of part of the song “Eyes of the Dawn” from Akercocke’s Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone (2005). LegonardoDaFinci did something like this before, in a Lego-ized tribute to Cryptopsy (here).

David Gray, of course, is still alive and well and performing in the UK black metal band Voices along with former Akercocke members Peter Benjamin and Sam Loynes. Their debut album From the Human Forest Create a Fugue of Imaginary Rain was released in March 2013 by Candlelight — and, what the hell, I might as well embed the player for that album right after the video. Continue reading »

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