AN NCS ALBUM AND VIDEO PREMIERE: NONE — “ALIVE IN SAN JOSE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 072024
 

For those of you encountering None for the first time today, it began in 2015 as the solo musical project of Nicholas Mendiola from San José, California, now based in Los Angeles. The music is unconventional, and thus not easily pigeon-holed in genre terms. We can suggest that over time it has involved an alchemical interaction of black metal, neo-folk, industrial, and dark ambient ingredients, but for Nicholas “The Dark Gospel” is what he calls the music of None.

That term not only abjures explicit genre references, it also connects with None‘s conception of musical creation as a spiritual endeavor, as a never-ending search for the divine and an expression of its mystical presence both within ourselves as an animating force and external to us.

Last October None played their first hometown show in San José at The Caravan Lounge. There, Nicholas was joined in the representation of None by bassist and guitarist Nathan Nunes. They performed six songs, five of which were new and never-before heard. The show was recorded, and tomorrow (March 8th) it will be released as an album entitled Alive in San Jose. The show was also filmed, and today we’re premiering the video of None‘s live show, as well as the full album stream of the set. Continue reading »

PRISONER: “PUTRID | OBSOLETE”

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Mar 072024
 

(This is Todd Manning‘s review of Prisoner‘s sophomore album, due for release on March 15th by Persistent Vision Records.)

While certainly not the first to combine metal with industrial influences, Richmond-based unit Prisoner justifies their efforts with their excellent sophomore album Putrid | Obsolete.

Starting off as a quartet featuring Pete Rozsa on guitar and vocals, Justin Hast on bass, Dan Finn on guitar, and Joel Hansen on drums, they added Adam Lake as a full-time member to handle synths, samples, and programming, resulting in an immersive and hellish listening experience. Continue reading »

TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES OF ’23 — PART 4

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2023  No Responses »
Mar 062024
 

(Our editor wasn’t able to compile a list of Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs from 2023, but our supporter Vizzah Harri, a resident of Hanoi, Vietnam, has stepped in to fill the void. We’ve already published Parts 1-3 of his list (find those here), and now we’re proceeding with Part 4.)

Why is NCS posting this so deep into the year already and why does it allow this semi-literate baboon back for more? Well, two reasons, one of which needs a bit more extrapolation.

The editor of this fine establishment somehow lived vicariously through me and took the wrong cup of rượu (rice wine), thereby inducing temporary blindness and resulting in him just okay-ing it… but on a serious note if you’re at all as addicted to year-end lists and particularly the most infectious lists… then we all know it had to happen, no matter how long it took this reader to edit down his sleep-deprived lunar new year frenzy of an essay. I say sleep-deprived when in actual fact my self-induced insomnolence was abetted by experimenting with copious amounts of mind-altering substances, for research purposes of course.  Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): APOGEAN –“CYBERSTRICTIVE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 062024
 

“Canadian tech/prog death metal group Apogean presents their inaugural full-length, Cyberstrictive, scheduled for 08 March 2024 via The Artisan Era on vinyl, CD, and digital. Marking the debut with the new vocalist Mac Smith (who recently served as the live vocalist of Decrepit Birth), the upcoming album poignantly explores the dark side of technology, shedding light on its poisonous effects on our lives.”

That’s the high-level introduction provided in the PR materials previewing this Toronto quintet’s first full-length, which follows their debut EP, Into Madness, released in June 2021. And here’s a further insight into the album’s conceptual themes, which is worth understanding in advance of listening to the album — which you’ll have a chance to do now: Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: AGALLOCH AND DAWNBRINGER IN SAN FRANCISCO, FEB. 17, 2024

 Concert Reviews  5 Responses »
Mar 062024
 

(Our friend Ben Manzella returns to NCS with his reflections about and photos of the performances by John Haughm, Dawnbringer, and Agalloch in San Francisco CA on February 17th of this year.)

I’m not sure of the origin of the saying, “When it rains, it pours.” However, it seemed rather fitting for the night I thankfully made it in to see Agalloch in San Francisco. I had decided to take a brief trip up from Los Angeles for an art event at a gallery called Studio Fallout that was the same day as Agalloch’s concert and wanted to finally see them live after thinking I’d never have a chance when they broke up a few years ago.

Adding to the rarity/uniqueness of the event, Dawnbringer was announced as the opener in their first Bay Area show in close to a decade, and John Haughm of Agalloch started the evening by playing solo material, which is also a rare treat. Continue reading »

HIDEOUS DIVINITY: “UNEXTINCT”

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Mar 062024
 

(We present DGR‘s review of the new album from Italy’s Hideous Divinity in advance of its March 22nd release by Century Media.)

A new Hideous Divinity album will loom large in the distance. We’re now well into the group’s career as a generator of overwhelming and unrelenting death metal, for those who might think that standing at the bottom of a mountain while a crew does avalanche preparation during snow season is a fun way to experience music.

Hideous Divinity started with the intensity of their music ratcheted way past the standard red line and have effectively stayed there. Somehow, with each album, they’ve found new ways to twist and mutate that intensity into something different and malformed every time, often with enough there to make those releases a different experience from one another.

Yet for just as much as the band play mad scientist with their musical compositions there’s still the theme of whether or not their vocalist or their drummer is going to pass out from exhaustion first as the group continually push themselves harder and harder. Continue reading »

ABORTED – VAULT OF HORRORS

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 062024
 

(Andy Synn plays armchair casting director with the new Aborted, set for release on March 15)

In the almost twenty-five(!) years since their first album, Aborted have proven themselves – on multiple occasions – to be one of the most relentlessly reliable purveyors of sonic shock and awe in the business.

But, as with any long-running franchise, audience-fatigue is always a constant concern, and while the group’s sound (and membership, with frontman Sven de Caluwé being the only original cast member left) has generally proven to be mutable and malleable enough to differentiate different entries in the series from one another, for the most part – for better or worse – you kind of know what you’re going to get with a new Aborted record.

On album number twelve, however, the band have opted to get some extra buzz – and maybe even a bit of a box office boost – by drafting in a plethora of guest stars, and while this isn’t exactly a new strategy by any means, the sheer number of famous names making an appearance this time around (one on each of the album’s ten tracks – none of whom are me, I’m sorry to say) can’t help but make me wonder whether this a case of shallow stunt-casting or a proper creative cross-over (although there’s no reason it can’t be both, I suppose).

So, with that in mind, instead of simply telling you whether it’s a good album or not (it is, don’t worry) or even how good it is (very, as it happens, due to an extra dash of “blackened” melody and brutish ‘core influences), I’ve decided – mostly for my own amusement, but hopefully for yours too – to take a slightly different approach with this review and focus my attention on how effective these guest features are and what they add (or don’t).

So let’s see who has chemistry and who’s been miscast, shall we?

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: OMNIVIDE — “COSMIC CONVERGENCE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 052024
 

The New Brunswick band Omnivide was formed in 2020 by the members of a previous Opeth tribute project called Sunbird. In beginning to write their own original music, they didn’t leave the influence of Opeth behind, but they did add to it, drawing as well from the sounds of such bands as Obscura, Alkaloid, and Devin Townsend.

Where this evolutionary journey has taken them so far is summed up in a debut album named A Tale of Fire that will be released on March 22nd. Conceptually, the songs were in different ways intended to explore the cycle of death, rebirth, and new growth, with the purging and reanimating effects of fire as the symbolic instrument of the universal cycle, and that cycle speaks through the music as well — as you will soon see.

What we have for you today is the premiere of a lyric video (made by Andy Pilkington) for one of the cuts off the new album, a song named “Cosmic Convergence“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IN THE FIRE — “ALLURING PARASITE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 052024
 

On April 13th, through the cooperation of Satanath Records (Georgia) and Fetzner Death Records (Germany), the U.S. extreme metal band In the Fire, whose lineup includes members of Azure Emote, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, Castrator, Hypoxia, and Fragile Body, will release their third album, Test Of The Pendulum Blade — and the test proves to be deadly effective.

Attempting to sum up the stylistic influences in these 12 new tracks is a challenge, because the band so seamlessly integrate many different ingredients, ranging from death to black metal and from head-hooking thrash to blistering technical mind-benders, and with an obvious love for epic heavy metal that also emerges.

As a result, the songs all become roller-coaster rides, and not just in the number of stylistic and tempo twists and turns they provide, but in their changing moods as well, blood-thirsty barbarism one moment and sorcery the next (and those are just examples).

We have a fine sign of what we’re trying to explain in the song named “Alluring Parasite” that we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME III: MOVING RIGHT ALONG

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 052024
 

(Daniel Barkasi returns with another collection of album reviews and streams today, focusing on records that dropped in February 2024.)

Surprise – we’re back like Legia Warsaw Ultras! What in the hell am I talking about? Quite simply the height of professional level trolling, performed by Polish football Ultras. These groups can be extreme (to put it mildly), but credit is due for a move this epic. Me returning for February can’t come close, but hopefully we’ll be able to leave you with some music that you won’t soon forget.

‘Tis been an excellent month, as you’ve seen by the plethora of quality releases covered here at NCS. The end of winter is slowly approaching, and the release schedule only gets more packed in from here. Counting Hours brought the dim melancholy, Keres crushed us with a death metal onslaught, Borknagar is still soldering on at a high level, and Solbrud put out the musical equivalent of a full marathon (way less physical exertion required).

This month brings quite a sampling that’s a tad heavy on the post-black atmospheric variety, but variety is indeed the spice of metal happiness, so there’s also a mix of progressive, death, black and doom in various forms to gnaw into like a Mackinaw Peach. Just don’t lose your taste buds when they’re in season. Buford’s got your back, though. Continue reading »

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