SLUG LORD — “A MIX BETWEEN IMPENDING DESPAIR AND ALLURING GROOVE”

 Interviews  4 Responses »
May 212014
 

(Our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks is back with yet another interview, this time with J.Luoto, the drummer of Finland’s Slug Lord.)

Let me introduce you to Slug Lord of Finland. This band have played bloody sinister sludge’n’stoner doom tunes since 2010, yet they had a long break after release of their self-titled album in 2011 because of some line-up changes. Anyway, their second full-length Transmutation was released literally a month ago and J.Luoto (Slug Lord’s drummer) found some time to discuss details about the new album.

***

Terve J.! How are you man?

Thanks for asking! We’ve just received our latest album’s batch from press and are getting ready to send them to all the crazy folks who pre-ordered it.

 

Let us start with that old ’n’ good question about the band’s origin – what are the main milestones of Slug Lord?

We’ve known each other since childhood and played shit together for years. On the ruins of some less serious band projects we formed a doom band. During some intense listening and jamming songs of bands like Pentagram, Electric Wizard, Acid King, and Witch, we gave birth to Slug Lord. Within this genre we found the ways to express our musical ambitions as a unit and in the loudest and heaviest way we could. Then we recruited the singer Johanna Rutto, recorded the first self-titled album with her, and also made a few gigs. After her departure we’ve been more than happy with the original trio lineup and continued the path with a passion for playing live and making more records. Continue reading »

MASTIC SCUM: “CTRL”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
May 212014
 

(DGR reviews the latest album by Austria’s Manic Scum, a band we’ve featured several times in the past here at NCS.)

Imagine for a moment, if you will, that the NCS offices are run like something out of a sitcom and that occasionally something will happen that will cause your lovely writers to flip out and fling a bunch of paperwork into the air while exclaiming to the world some form of prostration to a higher power after realizing that they had fucked up in such a way that could only be described as massive.

Now, imagine that this event took place over several days instead of all at once due to this lovely writer’s crazy work schedule when he realized that there had been a couple of albums in 2013 that he had every intention of writing about but yet had completely glossed over until one of the groups in mind released a music video for one of the best songs on the disc — and all of it came rushing back to him, causing him to reenact the above scenario with aplomb.

Every day, returning home from work and picking up every piece of paper — of which there were many, mostly ignored bank statements since it’s the only one I keep on my desk… and I don’t need a bi-weekly reminder that I’m fucking broke and only own one thing to put paper on, my desk — and then flinging them back up into the air so that they scatter all over my room, because if anything, I am a sucker for ambience, so that I could be reminded of the initial comedic/panicked state in which I started this review because I really, really felt the NCS readers deserved a fully in-depth look of this disc, and reminded that although it came out in goddamned December that they should really check said album out — though yelling, “Ah, Christ!” over and over again grew tiresome, so that was quickly cut out of the act.

Such was the case was Mastic Scum and their hammering 2013 release CTRL. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ACXDC, DEMONIC RESURRECTION, JOHN GALLOW, LAZER/WULF, ORIGIN, VINTERSORG

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
May 212014
 

By the time you read this I will have embarked on my journey from Seattle to Baltimore for the Maryland Deathfest. To be precise, I’ll probably be with the TSA at Sea-Tac having my rectum probed before hobbling to the departure gate (who knew that the Ghost butt plug would refuse to come out unless you could plead with it in Sumerian?).

Because of that trip, time is short and so, as I did yesterday, I’m just throwing a whole bunch of song streams (and a few links) at you, with few words of my own. This is all new metal I found yesterday that I liked. Presented in alphabetical order:

ACxDX

ACxDC are from SoCal. The last time I wrote about them was almost two years ago, soon after one of vocalist Sergio’s newborn twins (Savina) had to have surgery to repair a hole in her heart. After many short releases, they finally have recorded a debut album named Antichrist Demoncore. Yesterday an advance track from the album premiered. Its name is “Destroy Create”. It’s a powerviolence assault, both searing and crushing, and maybe more complicated than you might be expecting. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT: HELLS HEADBANGERS COMPILATION, VOL. 7

 Free Shit  3 Responses »
May 202014
 

In our continuing efforts to make you aware of high-quality free metal, we bring you new free shit from the dependable Hells Headbangers label. Today, the label made available on Bandcamp a free digital compilation of music from 21 bands, including brand new and upcoming songs from these groups:

Midnight
Children of Technology
Gouge
Barbatos
Nunslaughter
Cemetery Lust
Sacrocurse

Fans of the underground arts will also recognize many other names on this vile offering (the track list is at the end of this post), including bands as diverse as High Spirits and Inquisition. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HOUR OF PENANCE — “THEOGONY”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
May 202014
 

You would be hard-pressed to find another 2014 album more packed with super-heated fury than Regicide, the new album by Italy’s Hour of Penance. To borrow the words of our reviewer Andy Synn, it’s “utterly destructive”, loaded with a “wealth of punishing riffage, bloody hooks, and concentrated venom”, but with “subtle refinements and embellishments that the band have made to their familiar formula, tiny tweaks designed to increase its lethal virulence without compromising the ferocious core of their identity.”

In June, North American audiences will get a chance to see Hour of Penance decimate cities across the U.S. and Canada when the band embark on the Conquerors of the World tour with Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Necronomicon. Today you can get a preview of the band’s potent live show through our premiere of the official Hour of Penance video for “Theogony”, which was filmed live at their recent headlining gig in Wakefield, England. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DEAD CONGREGATION, GOD MACABRE, INCANTATION, THE LION’S DAUGHTER, VAINAJA, YOB

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
May 202014
 

As a result of unusually pressing personal and job-related commitments, and making sure I have enough clean underwear for my MDF trip tomorrow, I haven’t had time for proper write-ups on all the good new songs I came across yesterday. But I have a sneaking suspicion you’ll be happy just listening anyway. So here goes — a big load of music streams (or links) in alphabetical order and damn few words from me.

DEAD CONGREGATION

Promulgation of the Fall, the new album I’ve written about before by the excellent Greek band Dead Congregation, is now streaming in full and available for acquisition on Bandcamp. Part of me thinks this moots the point of a review. Part of me wants to lavish my praise in print anyway. We’ll see — but you should damn sure listen below: Continue reading »

EL HIJO DE LA AURORA — “ORIGIN OF PSYCHEDELIC EVIL”

 Interviews  1 Response »
May 202014
 

(For the second day in a row, our Russian correspondent Comrade Aleks brings us an interview, this time with Joaquin Cuadra of the Peruvian doom band El Hijo de la Aurora.)

El Hijo de la Aurora (Son of the Dawn) is a Peruvian psychedelic doom project that was created in 2008 by Joaquin Cuadra, former drummer of another local band Don Juan Matus. Since then Joaquin has become the core of a new project, collaborating not only with local musicians but also with foreign ones. He explored the problems of the Universe’s laws in two previous works, Lemuria and Wicca: Spells, Magic and Witchcraft Through the Ages, and now the time has come for a third album by El Hijo de la Aurora.

The Enigma of Evil is the name of the new release and it’s already recorded; the only question is finding a proper label, so we’re going to discuss this question and others with Joaquin himself, plunging deep into the vibes of old school doom rock.

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Salute Joaquin! How are you comrade? How have you spent the last three years since release of your second album, Wicca: Spells, Magic and Witchcraft…?

Yeap!! It was 03 years ago , it was so fast… Well , let’s get into my time machine  and configure the control panel for the trip to the past…

After the edition of Wicca… I had enough material to record two more albums, but the band had to face off  with the departure of  our guitarist Manolo (he  moved to Australia), my health problems, as a consequence of the “small amounts of meat in my daily meal” (I’m attempting to avoid meat, but my health does not respond well), and the most important task… looking for a new guitar. Continue reading »

M D EFFING

 Mosh Pit  48 Responses »
May 192014
 

Barring some truly unfortunate and unexpected mishap, I will be leaving Seattle on Wednesday morning at the ass crack of dawn to attend my first-ever Maryland Deathfest. I have to add that “mishap” caveat because two members of our original contingent of five Seattle travelers have already had to bail out, the most recent one due to a wrist fracture over the weekend that necessitates surgery tomorrow. So I’m not counting on anything until my butt (and the plane carrying it) lands on the East Coast.

Assuming I make it to Baltimore, there will likely be fewer posts the rest of this week than usual. I don’t plan on spending as much time scouring the web for new music or patiently listening to new releases for review purposes. Also, one of my NCS colleagues — BadWolf — will be at MDF, too, so I’m not expecting much out of him either. Correction: I do expect him to keep me out of jail and out of hospital emergency rooms.

We might have some photos, we might not. We might have some interviews, we might not. We might write some show reviews, but we might not. In other words, this really isn’t a blog-related project, and if the burden of writing about what we’re seeing and hearing interferes with the enjoyment of the moment (or with sleep), you can guess what’s going to take priority. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MASTER’S HAMMER, AZOOMA, DAY OF DOOM

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 192014
 

To help start the new week, here are some new songs and related news that I came across over the weekend.

MASTER’S HAMMER

The Czech band Master’s Hammer began recording music in about 1987, with a 14-year hiatus between their third album in 1995 and their fourth one in 2009. Their sound evolved over those many years. In Darkthrone’s biography (here), Fenriz has referred to the band’s debut album Ritual as “actually the first Norwegian black metal album, even though they are from Czechoslovakia”, but later releases incorporated wide-ranging styles of music, including folk and classical.

Yesterday Master’s Hammer released their sixth studio album, Vagus Vetas, through the band’s own label, Jihosound Records, where it’s now available for order. Physically, it’s a very attractive release (some photos of the CD and the 12-page illustrated booklet that comes with it can be seen here), and it includes 12 songs. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any one of them on-line, but I do have a teaser video. Continue reading »

SERPENT WARNING — “YOU HAVE TO SUFFER FOR YOUR ART”

 Interviews  1 Response »
May 192014
 

(Saint-Petersburg-based guest writer Comrade Aleks has delivered to us the following interview with Antti Koponen of the Finnish doom band Serpent Warning.)

Finland is well known for bloody good doom bands of every kind. Some like funeral stuff in the vein of Skepticism or Shape of Despair, some remember the old heretics of Unholy, and most of us know the traditional doom scene of Land Of The Thousand Lakes, Reverend Bizarre, Lord Vicar, and Fall Of The Idols, just to name a few.

But new blood comes our way as well, and we have seen the arrival of such bands as The Wandering Midget, for example. Samuel Wormius, a voiceman of The Wandering Midget, did a great work with his killer vocal lines for the first EP and full-length of the very promising band Serpent Warning — and Serpent Warning adds yet another glorius chapter of the Finnish national doom epos indeed!

I Hate Records educated me about the debut album, and I’ve gotten in contact with the band. As a result, Antti Koponen (guitars) is online today! Continue reading »

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