AGRYPNIE: “AETAS CINERIS”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Jul 112013
 

(In this post Andy Synn review the fourth album by German post black metal band Agrypnie.)

Those of you who have been with the site for a while may recall when I first discovered German post-black metal masters Agrypnie. It was just over a year ago when they were announced for Summer Breeze, so it seems fitting that with the festival coming round again I finally get round to producing a review for their newest album, which I’ve been listening to almost religiously ever since it came out back in February.

For the unfamiliar amongst you (exactly why haven’t you read their entry in The Synn Report by the way?), the band, although loosely positioned within the ‘post-black metal’ genre, eschew the hazy fuzz of the Cascadian scene and the introverted ambience of the Gallic sound in favour of a heavier, more overtly metallic sound which possesses a more restless and tormented aura.

That’s not to say that the elements of the band’s sound are entirely divorced from their fellow brothers in bleakness – you’ll find that this album possesses an air of haunted desolation at times reminiscent of Agalloch’s Marrow Of The Spirit, as well as a grasp of subtle melody that echoes Alcest at their most sublime. Yet the Agrypnie sound is undeniably more driving and aggressive than that of their peers, melding the searing melancholy of black metal with a crushing post-metal heft and flashes of melodic death metal grandeur. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GRAVE, PELICAN, WRUST, AND SHEOL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 102013
 

The avalanche of new and noteworthy metallic items that’s been going on all week has continued today. I caught a few of today’s new items in an earlier post, but already there are more. So, another fully loaded round-up follows . . .

GRAVE

More details about the new EP (Morbid Ascent) from Sweden’s Grave surfaced today. First, the release date was announced: August 26. Second, we got the tasty cover art by Costin Chioreanu (above). Third, we learned that Autopsy’s Eric Cutler will be contributing guest vocals on one of the two new songs on the EP — “Venial Sin” (the other one being “Morbid Ascent”). The EP will also include a cover of Satyricon’s “Possessed” as well as a remixed version of “Epos” from Risen From the Tomb and a track from Grave’s 1989 Sexual Mutilation demo (“Reality of Life”). Sounds like a very cool collection.

The EP is going to be released as a 12″ vinyl (in multiple colors) as well as a digital download, and Century Media says both formats will be offered for “a fan-friendly price”. Continue reading »

GORGUTS DELIVER ANOTHER NEW SONG: “OCEAN OF WISDOM”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 102013
 

Is it too soon to add the new Gorguts album, Colored Sands, to Best of 2013 year-end lists? I suppose it is, since we only have two songs from the new album to go on, but holy hell, are they good!

The newest one just premiered at Blabbermouth. It’s called “An Ocean Of Wisdom”. It’s heavy as hell, dark as night, and instrumentally acrobatic (as you would expect). It manages to be a dense, dynamic, complex, brutal, and atmospheric song all at the same time, while also providing the kind of top-shelf instrumental performances we knew the talent in this band would deliver.

Colored Sands will be released on August 30 in Europe and September 3 in North America via Season Of Mist. Here’s “An Ocean of Wisdom” (and big thanks to Vonlughlio for tipping me about this): Continue reading »

NEW SOUNDS: CARCASS, MERCENARY, MISERY SIGNALS, BEYOND, ENTRAILS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 102013
 

I mentioned in today’s first post that I was cut off from the interhole most of yesterday and missed lots of stuff that should have been the subject of yesterday’s posts. So I’m catching up. I’ve found so many interesting developments from both yesterday and this morning that I’m going to hold my verbiage to a rare minimum and let the music speak for itself.

CARCASS

The band’s first single (“Captive Bolt Pistol”) from their new album (Surgical Steel) proved controversial. (The song appeared on a CD exclusively sold with the 85th issue of the German “Legacy” Magazine in order to promote the Party.San Metal Open Air festival, and someone uploaded it to YouTube from there). The haters (I’m not one) seemed primarily to be those fans who think Carcass jumped the shark after Necroticism, and therefore they’re disappointed in the Heartwork-style stylings of the new song.

Yesterday brought us another taste, an official video teaser that appears to be a playthrough of an instrumental part of another song. Haters will still hate. I am still not one of them; I still like what I hear. You can listen to the teaser after the jump. But today also brought us the very cool album cover for Surgical Steel, which you can see above. It was created by British photographer Ian Tilton, who also did the cover for Necroticism. Now, here’s the teaser: Continue reading »

COOKING: KRALLICE, VJESHITZA, MASTODON, NIGHTINGALE, AND CARNIFEX

 Metal News  10 Responses »
Jul 102013
 

I had the misfortune of being able to spend only an hour total on the internet yesterday between about 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. That made it really difficult to keep up with happenings in the world of metal, especially when so many things happened yesterday (as I later discovered). I mean, hell, even though I did manage to dash off a post about the new Fleshgod Apocalypse song, I couldn’t even listen to it until late last night. I blame my fucking day job.

There’s no realistic way I’m going to catch up, but I’ll at least make a stab at spreading some news I found interesting about some very good bands in the process of cooking up some brand new releases.

KRALLICE AND VJESHITZA

This news item is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, U.S. black metal band Krallice are spending a week in the studio this month recording three songs for a forthcoming split release. According to one of the band’s guitarists, the awesomely talented Colin Marston (also in Gorguts and Dysrhythmia), “all three songs we are recording are shorter than usual for us and perhaps display more diversity. One of the Mick [Barr]-initiated songs is potentially our busiest, ‘progiest’ song yet, whereas his other song is our most restrained and simple piece. My song for this recording is part three of a loose series begun on Diotima—”Litany of Regrets” being part one and “Telluric Rings” being part two. It’s on the dronier, more meditative side, but features very active bass parts. We should end up with a pretty compelling small collection of songs, and then … who knows!?”

Intriguing, no? But the second part of what Colin Marston had to say is equally interesting:

Continue reading »

THE BEST OF 2013 SO FAR: A READER’S POLL

 Listmania  178 Responses »
Jul 092013
 

We’re just past the halfway point of 2013, and it seems like a good time to take stock of what the year has delivered so far. As I’ve said before, I’m terrible at making “best of” lists. I overthink it, I agonize over it, I have great difficulty comparing metal across different genres. I have great difficulty choosing among albums I like even within a specific genre. When I contemplate making a “best of the year” list, my brain tends to just lock up like an engine that’s had a hole punched in the oil pan. So I’m not providing a list of my own — and I haven’t told my fellow writers that I’m doing this post, so I don’t have anything from them to share either.

No, the main point of this post is to solicit your choices. That’s more fun anyway. I mean, it’s clear that NCS readers have superb taste, because you’re reading NCS; I rest my case. It’s also clear from the comments we get that the readers at this site have diverse interests in metal and, with a few exceptions (those being the people who disagree with me), are highly intelligent. So I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with. That’s one of the best reasons to read lists of the year’s best metal — to make new discoveries — in addition to seeing confirmation of the wisdom of your own opinions.

So, in the comments to this post, please leave your lists of the best 2013 metal albums and EPs you’ve heard so far this year. Explanations or descriptions are welcome, but don’t feel you have to make time for that; a simple list is fine, too. A couple more things before you start pecking away on your keyboards or touchpads: Continue reading »

NARCOTIC DEATH: “DIES IRAE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 092013
 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Narcotic Death from Wakefield, England.)

Are you looking for your daily dose of brutality, the sort that hits hard, cuts deep, and leaves a lasting impression? Then allow me to introduce you to Narcotic Death.

Back in April the band released their second album, Dies Irae, a gloriously nasty little death/black hybrid of Suffocation-style brutality, Dismember-ish aggression, and pulsating, Mayhem-esque evil.

The bludgeoning guitars have a thick and ugly tone, rough and rancorous and yet brutally clear, all buzz-saw teeth and sick, diseased chords. The drums cut through the filth and fury with almost reckless abandon, producing a bone-rattling racket that’s both pleasingly organic to listen to, and perversely intoxicating to experience.

The grimy, cancerous vocals add the icing to this poisonous cake, delivering their misanthropic magic in a repellent snarl that at times descends into a cavernous growl, before rising to a savage, sulphurous shriek. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SAKTMÓÐIGUR – “DEMETRA ER DÁIN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit  7 Responses »
Jul 092013
 

Word of mouth is still a good way to find new music, especially when the word comes from Iceland’s Sólstafir. They wrote something in Icelandic on their Facebook wall a few days ago about a band named Saktmóðigur who are scheduled to perform at the Eistnaflug festival this summer, and provided a link to a song. Figuring that it would take less time to listen to the song than to grapple with Google Translate’s mutant efforts to render Icelandic into English, I listened.

The song turned out to be one of three on a free digital EP released by Saktmóðigur last month. The EP’s name is Demetra er dáin, which means “Demetra has died”. I got that from a posting by the band, not Google Translate. I also read that Saktmóðigur are based in Reykjavík and were formed in 1991 (!). Their first release was the tape cassette Legill in 1992, followed by two 10″ vinyl EPs in 1993 and 1996. They’ve also released three full-length CDs, Ég á mér líf (1995), Plata (1998), and most recently Guð hann myndi gráta (2011).

The EP grabbed me by the throat, but I have to tell you that it’s off the beaten path at this site. The music is more punk than metal, and the vocals aren’t the usual bestial growls or acidic shrieks that tend to rip through most of the music I write about. I also really wanted to sing along with these three tracks, if only I had a phonetic guide to the Icelandic lyrics. But none of that means the music is pretty or sweet. Continue reading »

PREMIERES: ELITE, OATHBREAKER, ASG, AND NEXILVA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 082013
 

This Monday has turned into a day of premieres (not even counting the one we did ourselves for Razormaze). I’ve collected in this post a handful that I enjoyed, from Elite (Norway), Oathbreaker (Belgium), ASG (US), and Nexilva (UK).

ELITE

I was originally turned on to Norway’s Elite more than two years ago via one of Andy Synn’s SYNN REPORTS about the band. Almost five years have passed since Elite’s last album, We Own the Mountains, but it appears the band are planning to release a new one before this year ends. Today they released a promo version of a new track called “This Is Where All Ends”. It reflects some changes from much of what has come before.

The song is mid-paced and majestic in its atmosphere, with a soaring chorus to match whispers of black metal darkness in its jagged verse. For most of the song’s duration, the vocals are near-clean, though ragged and anguished in their passion. The song has gotten stuck in my head, too. Check it out next. Continue reading »

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