AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MIASMIC SERUM — “INFECTED SEED”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 132024
 

Let’s ponder for a moment the name of the Italian band whose debut album we’re about to premiere. “Miasmic” is an adjective that refers to an unpleasant and oppressive atmosphere, or an odor that is noxious and foul. In this context “serum” would seem to refer to a fluid or exhalation that is itself foul, or when administered would produce the feeling of miasma, though perhaps it also might be interpreted as a means of treating miasma.

Of course, the serum being administered by this Italian death metal trio, whether noxious itself and/or curative, is music. Further clues to the nature of the musical serum might be found in the title of the album — Infected Seed — and in the names of songs such as “Near-Death Visions”, “Lethal Bite”, and “Lost Control”. Even one of the interlude tracks on the album is named “Neurotoxic Venom”.

Fittingly, the album will be released (on June 14th) by labels named Night Terrors Records and Chaos Records. In addition to all these clues about the inspiration for the music, we also have the following insights provided by Miasmic Serum, the band itself: Continue reading »

KVAEN – THE FORMLESS FIRES

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Jun 132024
 

(Does the fire still burn, or have Kvaen started cooling off? Our own Andy Synn finds out)

Success, or so they say, can be a double-edged sword. And they’re not necessarily wrong.

It’s something you see even in our beloved Metal scene (where what counts as “success” tends to vary depending on who you ask) – from bands who suddenly get a taste of mainstream acclaim and end up having to simplify and sanitise their sound to satisfy their new audience, to artists whose debut album set such a high bar that everything else they subsequently produce is inevitably judged (and often found wanting) in comparison.

And while Kvaen (aka the solo project of multi-instrumental marvel Jacob Björnfot) haven’t encountered the former issue just yet, there’s definitely an argument to be made that the arc of their career thus far has erred more towards the latter – in the sense that, as good as 2022’s The Great Below was (I even said so myself) it ultimately didn’t quite reach the same heights, or possess the same staying power, as their outstanding debut.

But just because success can cut both ways doesn’t mean that lightning can’t strike twice… so maybe the third time will be the charm?

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KAWIR

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Jun 132024
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ April 2024 interview of Therthonax, the mainstay of the foundational Greek black metal band Kawir, with a focus on Kawir‘s newest album Kydoimos. The delay in presenting the interview is our fault, not the fault of Aleks or Therthonax.)

As we follow the world-wide cultural program of supporting the Hellenic Black Metal scene, it would be criminal negligence to skip the fresh release of Kawir, one of the oldest representatives of the Greek metal underground.

The band just passed its 30th anniversary in 2023, and Soulseller Records presented their ninth full-length album Kydoimos (Κυδοιμος) on April 19th. Named after the ancient demon of war, this album explores ancient ways of battle in many forms.

Once again Therthonax, Kawir’s only founding member still in the lineup, and his allies dive into the world of old myths and old black metal with zealous rage and determination. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LIMINAL SHROUD — “MALASPINA”

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Jun 122024
 

Almost two years ago we had the pleasure of premiering Liminal Shroud‘s stunning second album All Virtues Ablaze. In an accompanying review I wrote:

Across four expansive tracks on their new album, the music itself is vast and towering, awe-struck and splendid, but also creates a sense of purging, of a kind of ruthless but necessary scourging, a furious confrontation against what’s dismal and discouraging.

In its changing moods the album at times seems daunted by the seeming futility of human existence, and at times it’s beautiful in its portrayal of melancholy, yet also seems to be a fierce rejection of beleaguered submission and an embrace of the horizon that might lie ahead. Like broken rocks buffeted by surging tides, people can withstand the assaults of life and endure, so it seems to say. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DARKEND — “VIATICUM”

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Jun 122024
 

(On June 14th Time To Kill Records will release the fifth album by the Italian black metal band Darkend, and today we’re premiering its full stream, preceded by an extensive review by our writer (and longtime Darkend fan) DGR.)

Even though it would be wonderful for every group we cover to achieve massive stardom, playng to gigantic crowds and existing as a perpetual part of the cultural zeitgeist – since that seems to be the only way we can completely guarantee someone is making a decent living playing music these days – a few artistic benefits are afforded to musicians who are currently dwelling in the underground, ever on the slow burn and amassing more and more notoriety over time, as opposed to a sudden viral explosion that sees them top of the world one week and then trying to maintain that for years afterward.

One of those is that you are free to move within the realms of an artistic spectacle far more than you might otherwise be given room to; every album becomes an opportunity to swing for the fences and execute upon ambitious and grand ideas while also giving room to reinvent oneself as much as you feel.

We bring this up in part because Italy’s Darkend have had a near-two-decade career at this point and it is one that has allowed them to be increasingly ambitious over the course of five albums, while remaking themselves into as much of a spectacle as they are a musical act within that time. Continue reading »

COWARDICE – ATAVIST

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 122024
 

(Andy Synn recommends making time to immerse yourself in the bleak beauty of Atavist, out now)

Damn, there were a lot of good albums released last week, huh? And I mean a lot.

Just off the top of my head (and not including Oubliette, who I’ve already written about) there’s Umbra Vitae, Terminal Function, Houle, Swelling Repulsion, Lascar, Brazen Tongue, Thanatotherion, Fractal Generator… the list goes on… only some of whom I’m likely to get to writing about before the month is over.

But the reason I picked Cowardice, out of all the aforementioned possibilities (and all the unmentioned ones), is because – in defiance of their chosen moniker – they’re clearly not afraid to take risks.

Why else would they choose to make their new album (their second overall, and their first full-length release in eight years) an absolutely massive double-disc affair, clocking in at just under eighty five minutes of sorrowful, yet spellbinding, Sludge/Doom?

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GOLGOTHA — “SPREADING THE WINGS OF HOPE”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 112024
 

Over the course of a career that began in 1992 and has continued fairly steadily ever since (interrupted by one long break following their third album in 2005), the Spanish band Golgotha have remained devoted to musical renditions of melancholy and desolate sorrow. They remain devoted to their own traditions in their newest album, and yet, as the album’s title itself portrays, they have not lost hope.

That album, Spreading the Wings of Hope, comes from a place of maturity and the depth of emotional reflection that only many decades of daily experience can bring — experiences of deceit and pain, of inner psychological trauma and persistent injustice in the outer world, but also experiences of resilience and beauty.

For Golgotha, it is evident, as they say themselves, that they still carry “the flickering flame of hope”: “It burns low, but it burns still…” That comes through in both the lyrics and the music on the new album, though what also comes through is that Golgotha have not forsaken the need to express the doom and desolation that continues to plague human existence, as it always has.

Spreading the Wings of Hope will be released by Golgotha‘s new label Ardua Music on June 14th, and we’re privileged to let you hear all of it today. Continue reading »

NÄCHTLICH — “EXALTATION OF EVIL”

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Jun 112024
 

(We present Vizzah Harri‘s review of the latest album by Toronto-based Nächtlich, which was released last month by Dreadful Lust Productions.)

Nächtlich have been around for a while now, inflicting a raw, vile and infernal brand of black metal on Canadian shores since their self-titled EP in 2017. Their discography is pretty extensive already and boasts no less than 3 demos, the same number in EP’s, ten splits with various other dealers of raw black, and on May 10th this year they released their third full-length, Exaltation of Evil. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: COFFIN CURSE

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Jun 112024
 

(For various reasons the interview you’re about to read got lost in the ugly bowels of the NCS HQ, and because it’s one of the best discussions Comrade Aleks has produced, thanks significantly to the flair of his conversation partner Max Neira, our editor is flagellating himself for the delay with extra-bloody vigor.)

Two years ago we did the interview with the Chilean band Inanna. You probably remember these tough guys who do top-notch death metal with a twisted Lovecraftian touch. Two of those guys also have their own death metal band – Coffin Curse. Max Niera (guitars, bass, vocals) and Carlos Fuentes (drums) started it in 2012, and since then they do not stop. No rest for the wicked, so you say.

A few days ago I heard the absolutely malevolent and bloody straightforward death metal album The Continuous Nothing, which is their second full-length. Memento Mori released it on April 22nd. As the official press kit states, you should expect “a logical continuation of that not-inconsiderable debut: timeless, taut, and terrorizing”. And there’s hard to add something else to this laconic and capacious definition.

Naturally we had a lot to discuss with the band, and Max Neira provided us this detailed and thoughtful interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: EL MORTA

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Jun 102024
 

(The Irish trio El Morta includes current or former members of Mourning Beloveth, but in this new configuration they’ve followed very different and much harder to pin down directions. They released their debut album last month, and around that time Comrade Aleks spoke with El Morta‘s Adrian, producing the following extensive and interesting interview.)

I know that besides me there are a couple of people here who remember the Irish death-doom band Mourning Beloveth and are waiting for a new album from them. They seem to be writing something, but it’s not clear how soon we’ll get it. Meanwhile, their much-ex-bassist Adrian de Buitléar and still-listed guitarist Brian Delaney and vocalist Darren Moore recorded their first album under the name El Morta.

The project previously launched two EPs, but although the Metal-Archives describe these records as “death-doom”, it is simply a label hung on El Morta by inertia. Their album The Man Who Laughs does indeed have doom forms and moods at its core, but this material gives a stronger impression of heavy, experimental, almost avant-garde psychedelia.

Vague instrumental images and a certain monotony of the narrative, cycle after cycle, song after song, keep the outline of the album unbreakable, although El Morta cannot be accused of monotony. The futility of existence, the exhausting pressure of reality, and some kind of latent premonition of trouble form a deafening emotional vacuum, a feeling of claustrophobia that is very obvious thanks to the detached voice of Darren. Strange, uncomfortable, and a bit crazy album. We discussed it with Adrian recently. Continue reading »

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