AN NCS INTERVIEW: TZOMPANTLI

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jul 032024
 

(A couple of months ago we published Andy Synn‘s enthusiastic review of the new album from Tzompantli [released in May by 20 Buck Spin], and now we follow that with Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the band’s driving creative force, Brian Ortiz.)

Tzompantli began modestly as the death-doom side-project of the Mesoamerican-focused Californian death/metalcore outfit Xibalba’s guitarist. Brian Ortiz recorded the EP Tlamanalli (2019) alone, and now he has a second full-length coming out, as the project turned into a real band and consists of ten people, a couple of whom play folk instruments.

Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force repeats and refines the formula of the first album Tlazcaltiliztli (2022). The band produces vigorous death-doom with an emphasis on death, and in the lyrics, which sound, among other things, in the language of the Mayan Indians. The sound of folk instruments in Tzompantli’s music is natural, and they are indeed present in almost all songs, but they do not take up much space.

Tzompantli are straightforward and quite extreme in comparison with other rare representatives of Mezoamerican metal. We already had a pretty detailed interview here with Brian Ortiz about 18 months ago, so this interview, focused on Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force, is narrower yet honest as always. Continue reading »

SARS: “NOTHING HURTS QUITE LIKE LIFE”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jul 032024
 

(Here’s Wil Cifer‘s review of the debut album by the Finnish band SARS, which is due for release on July 12th by Time To Kill Records )

With their new album Nothing Hurts Quite Like Life Finland’s SARS teach a master class in what is metallic hardcore and what is “metalcore”.

Perhaps it‘s the long dark winters of their homeland, and the high depression rate of their homeland, as there is nothing hopeful or anthemic about the sonic beatings they are dishing out here. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 022024
 

(Andy Synn picks out four more albums from last month you may have overlooked)

As always, thinning this column down to just four artists/albums was a hellish job, with the likes of Amarok, Inherits the Void, Perversity, Swelling Repulsion, Umbra Vitae, and Vomit the Soul all ending up (sadly) on the cutting room floor.

But that shouldn’t stop you checking them out… just maybe give the four bands featured in today’s column a look/listen first, and then come back, ok?

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TRAIL OF ENTRAILS — “ROT IN THE CELLAR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jul 012024
 

(On the day of its release we’re premiering a debut EP by the Chicago death metal band Trail of Entrails, and Christopher Luedtke provides the introduction.)

If there’s one thing that’s more than established about death metal at this moment it’s the enduring spirit and dedication to the riff. The genre might have slowed down in the mid-2000s up until the mid/late 2010s but there was never an all-out cease and desist for the genre. Like many genres, there are always dedicated people keeping it alive and death metal is seeing quite the heyday again. And once again, a new player has entered the arena.

Trail of Entrails are the latest death metal dealers out of Chicago, IL. The band consists of Robb Exhumed (guitar/vocals; Mutilate, Waifu), Zacky Bifid (guitar/vocals; Bifid Corpse, Coffinfeeder), and Alex Entrails (drums; Barrier). Having already played their first live show (check out the footage below), the band is here ready to unleash their debut EP Rot In The Cellar. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RINTRAH

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jul 012024
 

Trust me, writing about metal isn’t easy. The challenge of not using the same clichéd words over and over again in an effort to describe the music is daunting. That challenge is part of what keeps those of us at this place still engaged after so many years, i.e., we’re stubborn fools who strive to become better.

But trust me again, writing about metal in most of its kaleidoscopic shapes is a piece of cake compared to writing about the music of Rintrah, which is like a vine of many colors whose scandent twining runners have hooked into metal but whose roots and other branchings take their nourishment from far different sources of which we can claim no expertise and have little experience.

In other words, prepare for something completely different. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INERTH — “HYBRIS”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jul 012024
 

“Idiosyncratic” is a good word for the music of the Spanish band Inerth, whose 2022 debut album Void drew influence from such divergent forebears as Godflesh, Napalm Death, Neurosis, Celtic Frost, Amebix, and Killing Joke.

To varying degrees, a lot of those influences can still be detected in their follow-up EP Hybris, which we’re premiering today, perhaps most especially Godflesh, but while these four new songs can still be considered a stylistic hybrid, they also sound more cohesive.

As you’ll see, we couldn’t resist the temptation to consider the songs one by one, but for the impatient among you we’ll offer this summing up of what you’re getting yourselves into:

The hallmarks of Hybris are compulsive grooves of bridge-collapsing and muscle-moving power; music of madness and mayhem that puts nerves on edge, coupled with episodes of crushing hopelessness; a vocal tandem that creates a gripping contrast; and an overarching atmosphere of human calamity, for which we have no one to blame but ourselves. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 172): FRACTAL GENERATOR

 THE SYNN REPORT  No Responses »
Jul 012024
 

Recommended for fans of: Replicant, Wormed, Afterbirth

There must be something in the water – or the maple syrup – up in Canada that triggers the extreme gene in certain bands.

How else do you explain the existence of acts like Gorguts, Cryptopsy and the subject of today’s article, Fractal Generator?

Taking a heap of inspiration from the aforementioned pair, along with a hefty helping of Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel, and Mithras, this terrible trio have already made something of a name for themselves with their punishingly technical, subtly dissonant, slam-tinged, grind infused, and synth-layered brand of Death Metal, and with their third (and best) album having just been released now seemed like the perfect time to dedicate a full feature to their works.

Look upon them, and despair…

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: GROZA, SPECTRAL WOUND, INCESSANT, CONCRETE WINDS, OPPRESS., VANQUISHMENT, XHELAT, GREAT LAKES DUNGEON SIEGE

 Album Reviews, Metal News, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 302024
 


Groza

As I mentioned yesterday I’m flying to Iceland tomorrow to be present at Ascension Fest. I need to figure out what to pack, decisions like whether I should bring one change of underwear and socks for the week or 7. I’ve noticed from past Ascensions that people there don’t smell as bad as at U.S. festivals, so maybe more than one change, eh?

I’ve also got a couple of premieres to write for posting tomorrow before I leave, and some clothes to wash, and I might should spend some time with my spouse, to increase the iffy odds she’ll still be here when I get back.

So, even though it’s been two weeks since the last time I did this Sunday column and therefore I have an especially mountainous pile of new music to choose from, this will have to be short — at least in terms of my own words. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: GOD DETHRONED, TRIBULATION, AGRYPNIE, WORMED, VAFURLOGI, RÖTUAL

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jun 292024
 

Last weekend I didn’t pull together new music for a Saturday SEEN AND HEARD or a Sunday SHADES OF BLACK. I was away from home at a Pacific Northwest beachfront on a short vacation with family and friends. That led to late nights and late mornings and a desire to pay attention to physically-present human beings instead of communing with headphones and computers.

The consequence is now staring me in the face: Two weeks’ worth of new songs and videos to choose from for today and tomorrow, instead of one, when even one week’s worth is usually overwhelming. I made lists of links but of course could only listen to a small fraction of them. I was first drawn to some familiar justified names and then just threw mental darts, though the aim was not completely random. Here’s the result:

GOD DETHRONED (Netherlands)

No matter how deafening the racket or how urgent the whispers around the mouldering halls of the NCS HQ, we’ll always make time for new God Dethroned, and count ourselves lucky that Henri Sattler & co. are still alive and kicking. Continue reading »

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