NO CLEAN SINGING

NAILS – EVERY BRIDGE BURNING

Sep 032024

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Nails, released August 30th by Nuclear Blast)

Thankfully, during the 8 years since You Will Never Be One of Us, Todd Jones just released a few splits and 7-inches rather than work on the issues spurring the anger that gives “Imposing Will” its feral menace.

The new album finds them moving in a more Hardcore direction – though the drumming has a more Slayer-like precision due to the presence of Carlos Cruz behind the kit – with Jones joined by a new line-up this time around which includes Andrew Solis (Despise You) playing bass and Shelby Lermo (Ulthar) on guitar.

That being said, the main influence of Grindcore lingers on in the way these raging riff fests get crammed and bullied into a savage series of sub-two-minute bursts of brutality.

OCEANS OF SLUMBER – WHERE GODS FEAR TO SPEAK

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 032024

(Andy Synn dives deep into the new Oceans of Slumber album, out next week)

It is, quite frankly, borderline criminal that we haven’t all helped make Oceans of Slumber a bigger commercial and critical success.

Sure, the group has had issues with maintaining a consistent line-up, and they’ve yet to create an absolute classic that’s consistently awesome all the way through, but the highlights of their back-catalogue – combining the always stunning vocals of Cammie Beverly and the punishing percussive power of her husband Dobber with a visceral and vibrant variety of progressive riffs, cinematic synths, and lithe, limber bass-lines – have always, in my opinion at least, outnumbered their occasional musical missteps.

Hell, the gloomy Southern Gothic glamour of 2022’s Starlight & Ash could – and should – have led to some serious mainstream crossover success… but somehow the band still didn’t get their due.

Well, it now looks like all that rejection (ok, it’s not like the group are total unknowns by any means, they just have yet to receive the push they properly deserve) has come home to roost as, for better or worse (but mostly for better), it’s clear that Where Gods Fear to Speak is the sort of album that was written solely for the band’s own enjoyment and artistic fulfilment.

AN NCS PREMIERE: MARDOM — “SPOJRZENIE”

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Sep 022024

(written by Islander)

The titles of Mardom‘s releases seem to signify an inner conflict, a perception of life in the current age that wrestles with itself. They began with The Path of No Return, followed it with Longing for a New Dawn, and now grimly move from those EPs to a debut album named Dead Soul Age.

In their music this Polish black metal trio also seem to wrestle — passionately — with the milieu in which they and we find ourselves, a seeming unthinking directionless in human behavior that on a daily basis provokes frustration of hopes, anger, pessimism, nostalgia, and a plummet into grief.

What we have for you today is a sign of how Mardom grapple with this state of affairs in their music, as we premiere a song called “Spojrzenie” in advance of Personal Records‘ release of Dead Soul Age on October 4th. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLACK MOLD — “TOWARD THE BLACK HORIZON”

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Sep 022024

Having named themselves for a particularly nasty-looking, fast-spreading, difficult-to-remove, and potentially dangerous fungus, Portugal’s Black Mold churn out a nihilistic amalgam of black metal and punk that makes their disgusting namesake seem mild.

You would know that if you had caught their 2020 debut album The Inheritance of Evil or their 2023 EP The Unnatural Red Glow of the Night, or the two demos that preceded those releases. You will definitely know it when you have the chance to hear their second album In the Dirt of Oblivion, which will be released by Helldprod Records on September 20th — or even just the one song from the album we’re premiering today.

The label warns: “[T]hese true spirits of the underground only have one thing in their minds. To drain the soul out of your body and fill it with darkness, hate and despair”. We have warnings of our own. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 012024

(Andy Synn somehow manages to pick just four albums from an overloaded August to talk about)

I feel like August was even more jam-packed with new releases than any other month this year so far… right?

And I don’t just mean all the “big” names – of which there were several – I’m talking about all the cool, more underground records and releases which came out during the last 31 days.

There was the intricate, immersive Prog-Death of Moonloop and the intense, in-your-face Deathcore of To The Grave… the disgustingly dark and devastating double-team of Teeth and Pneuma Hagion… as well as rites, both Vile and Modern in the form of Senescence and Endless.

And then there was the unquantifiable, uncompromising new album from Uniform – which I hope, one day, to get round to reviewing (just as soon as I’ve got my head around it properly) – plus several more which I might just end up covering separately at some point.

Until then, however, please enjoy this genre-crossing look back at the last month!

SHADES OF BLACK: DEADSPACE, ABERRATOR, LYCOPOLIS, ASCALAPHA, SEROTONIN

SHADES OF BLACK No Responses »

Sep 012024

(written by Islander)

Sometimes when I compile these Sunday selections I plan ahead, doing lots of listening days in advance and narrowing the choices to a set before starting to peck out the words. Other times I wing it — listening, picking, and writing as I go, not knowing what the collection will look like until I just run out of time. This is one of those days.

So you could say that today’s collection is far more randomized than would be ideal. But the truth is, they’re always random. I can never listen to everything; I always have to reach a stopping point; and worthy releases always get neglected.

That would cause severe anxiety if I thought this site were the sole filter or funnel for new black and black-ish metal (or metal of any other kind), but of course that’s not true. People discover new music in a multitude of other ways (even if some of those will lead you astray), and eventually I remember that and the shakes go away… eventually. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: MONDOCANE, LILJEVARS BRANN, INVERNOIR, UNHEALED, FABULAE DRAMATIS, KILLING SPREE

Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Aug 312024

(written by Islander)Here we are, in the dog days of summer. Unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, and I don’t know what kind of animal these days are named for down there.

Actually, these days are only indirectly named for an animal up here. The term “dog days” of summer came from the Romans, in the hot days that coincided with the sun’s rise and set alongside the dog star, Sirius. This time was referred to as diēs caniculārēs, or “days of the dog star.”

What comes next? Well, I read this in an e-mail from a seller of wine (same e-mail I cribbed from above):

Late August marks a transition from dog days into a period known as ‘cat nights,’ a little-known Irish legend involving roaming witches turning themselves into cats… we’ll spare all the details! In any case, the timing is associated with a season of nocturnal prowling, earlier nightfall, and an instinctual, impending cool on the horizon.

Well, you can’t say you never learn anything at NCS. You might also learn something from the music I picked for this Saturday’s roundup as you get ready for some cat nights ahead. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 174): OXYGEN DESTROYER

THE SYNN REPORT 3 Responses »

Aug 312024

Recommended for fans of: Vader, Goatwhore, Revocation

Sometimes a band and their theme just go so well together – think Slugdge and their mollusc-worshipping metallic magic, or Sulphur Aeon and their obsessive Lovecraftian occultism – that you can’t ever imagine them doing, saying, or singing about anything else.

Such is the case with Seattle’s own Oxygen Destroyer whose monstrous sound – a ravenous hybrid of Death, Black, and Thrash Metal, designed to take your breath away – has become totally inseparable from their monstrous subject matter.

So prepare yourselves, it’s time for a rampage.

AN NCS PREMIERE: PAGANIZER — “WORLD SCYTHE”

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Aug 302024

(written by Islander)

What better way to launch your weekend than to have Paganizer blast through the midnight barrier hours before it arrives? And to show us that what lies beyond the barrier is something much more thrilling (and frightening) than an early Saturday morning?

As you undoubtedly know, Paganizer have been seizing attention ever since the late ’90s. With Rogga Johansson continuously at the helm and a changing cast of allies alongside him, Paganizer have released a dozen albums and nearly two dozen shorter releases, and now there’s a lucky 13th album headed our way — entitled Flesh Requiem — with an arrival date of November 1st through Transcending Obscurity Records.

As you can see, it’s adorned by the distinctive artwork of Mariusz Lewandowski, which gives us a chilling glimpse of the other world that lies beyond the midnight barrier. It’s also a suggestive sign that what Paganizer are doing on this new album goes beyond the delivery of ruinous death metal might — and the song we’re premiering today is an electrifying demonstration of that. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DESTRUCTION OF ORION

Interviews 1 Response »

Aug 302024

(Comrade Aleks has brought us an interview with an unusual creative artist, whose debut album released in late July is a very unusual accomplishment. You’ll find out just how unusual by reading the good discussion below — and of course we hope you’ll immerse yourself in the music too.)

Funeral doom never was popular because of its specific features, like monotony and a quite limited palette of self-expression, but still there are exceptions; there are bands and projects which can offer something new.

Bulgarian Destruction of Orion is one of them. It is the solo project of Tehina Spasova who performs all instruments on her first album Decreasing Brightness. Oh, and she performed all growling vocals on her own too, so that’s notable – a funeral doom band with a lady on vocals. But, moreover, the concept behind Destruction of Orion is worth of mentioning too.

As Tehina states, the project’s name is related to the constellation’s impending doom and at the same time, it’s about a self-destructive personality. All of her songs deal both with the physical process of dying stars and poetic interpretations of inner turmoil and disintegration, something you can easily read between the lines. So let me introduce Tehina and Destruction of Orion through this interview. Continue reading »

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