NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CELESTIAL SEASON

Jun 192024

(Last month Burning World Records (an affiliate of Roadburn Records) released Mysterium III, the newest album by the Dutch band Celestial Season, and a box set of all three Mysterium albums under the name Orbis Mysterium. Long in advance of the release Comrade Aleks conducted an interview with vocalist Stefan Ruiters which we finally present today.)

Celestial Season from the Netherlands was one of the really successful death-doom bands in the early ’90s. They didn’t reach the status of the UK Three, but the debut album Forever Scarlet Passion (1993) and, more importantly, the sophomore full-length Solar Lovers (1995) made their reputation with some interesting out-of-the-genre experiments. Blurred videos for ‘Decamerone’ and ‘Solar Child’ were a blast!

But the guys chose to change the direction dramatically towards stoner/doom stuff, and that led Celestial Season to lose their positions and disband in 2001. The band was brought back to life in 2011, but after a few efforts they didn’t release anything new until 2020, when the first album in twenty years, The Secret Teachings, saw the light of day. Since then, the band has regenerated almost entirely to the full original lineup and released two more albums in the vein of their early material – Mysterium I and Mysterium II. These albums embody beautiful and deep melancholic death-doom metal with growls, cello, and violin.

But what I need to tell you is that the band has Mysterium III on their schedule. Stefan Ruiters has growled in Celestial Season since 1991 to 1995, and rejoined the band in 2020. He answered our questions tonight.

Well… tonight… That “tonight” happened somewhere in November 2023, as the Mysterium III release date was scheduled for December 2023. But as far as I know, Roadburn Records had problems with the vinyl plant, so the release was delayed, and the album will see the light of day on May 17th, 2024. Okay, it was worth waiting for anyway. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CAILLEACH BHEUR — “CAILLEACH BHEUR”

Album Reviews, Premieres 1 Response »

Jun 182024

On June 28th Fiadh Productions will release the self-titled debut album of an unorthodox black metal band named Cailleach Bheur. They prefer to remain anonymous, but as their Scottish Gaelic name suggests (more about the name later), we’re told that all the members were based in Scotland 15 years ago, and one or more still are.

The themes of the album were also inspired by Scottish mythology and folklore, and the music has been in development for quite a long time – more than 10 years. Before we get to the music itself, in all its many eye-popping permutations, we’ll share with you a little more background about the album that we’ve been provided: Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME VI: DEATHFEST AND OTHER MADNESS

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Jun 182024

(After a slight delay following the expiration of May, Dan Barkasi rejoins us with reviews and streams of eight selected albums released during that month.)

To begin, a brief recap of Maryland Deathfest. If you attended, we can only hope it was as close to cathartic for you as it was for yours truly.

Having attended a ton of MDF’s in the past – I’ve lost count – this was unequivocally one of my favorite editions. The variety and top-tier quality of the musical performances was profound. Sinmara, Spectral Wound, Fossilization, Altars, Spectral Voice, and Imperialist were all acts witnessed for the first time, and each left a permanent impression. Heavy hitters such as Dismember, Ahab, Agalloch, Sodom, and Primordial each brought an undeniable presence to each of their shows that were wholly different, yet left the same elated feeling.

The biggest highlight, however, is this festival representing a gathering of lifelong friends that haven’t been seen in much too long of a time period, as well as making new friends, all of which we hope to see again very soon. Continue reading »

VALE OF PNATH: “BETWEEN THE WORLDS OF LIFE AND DEATH”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Jun 182024

(On May 24th Willowtip Records released a new album by the U.S. metal band Veil of Pnath. As is usually the case, DGR didn’t rush to prepare an early review but allowed the music to linger a while. Now his review is finished and available below.)

Vale Of Pnath are of a class of tech-death groups that never seemed to fully get their due. The Denver-based crew made themselves known at the right time, had the right scratchy logo, and had the right high-speed playing style to prominently place themselves in the world of the initial tech-death explosion as it quickly codified into its own subgenre rather than just a way to describe a much more complicated style of death metal that is more well-known for caveman slamming into the ground repeatedly.

Guitarist Vance Valenzuela is the only long-time member of the group still standing at this point, having been surrounded by a legion of incredibly talented musicians over the years. Maybe it was the ever-shifting nature of the group that was to blame? Maybe the revolving-door list of who would be in the lineup at any album? Maybe it was the sense that Vale Of Pnath was a machine, not just in the precision of their playing but in ‘parts’ changing themselves out, or maybe it was just the tad too long gaps between releases?

Regardless, it never seemed like Vale Of Pnath were fully able to achieve the relentless touring and constant social media renown as well as many of their fellow classmates did, despite having the body of material to back that up. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLACK HOLE DEITY — “SWARM ATTACK”

Premieres No Responses »

Jun 172024

For those of you who may be colliding with Black Hole Deity for the first time today, the band was formed in Alabama by Cam Pinkerton and Chris White, who were co-founders of the cult death metal band Chaos Inception. Cam then recruited Alec Cordero from the death metal bands Cruelty Exalted and Calcemia for lead-guitar duties and finally got none other than Mike Heller of Malignancy, Fear Factory, and Raven to handle the drumwork.

We had our first collision with them back in 2020, when they released their second single, “Railgun Combat” (writing about it here), and then had the pleasure of premiering their debut EP Lair of Xenolich the next year. As we wrote then, that EP (which was released by Everlasting Spew Records) was “an explosive assault that’s a pure adrenaline rush, as well as one that inflicts megaton levels of stunning destructiveness”:

“Listening to the EP, it’s very easy to imagine that you’ve been teleported straight into an alien war zone where advanced technologies are being deployed with both machine-like precision and breathtaking ferocity.”

Lair of Xenolich was such a breathtaking spectacle (and even more enjoyable for sci-fi nerds like us) that it was terrifically good news to learn that Everlasting Spew would at last be bringing us a Black Hole Deity full-length. Its name is Profane Geometry, and today you’ll have a chance to be assaulted by three of its tracks, one of which (“Swarm Attack“) we’re now premiering. Continue reading »

CRYPT SERMON -THE STYGIAN ROSE

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Jun 172024

(Andy Synn goes on an epic journey with the new album from Crypt Sermon, out now)

I know what some of you are thinking – “but there’s clean singing in this!”

I know this because, without fail, someone will make some version of this comment on our social media without thinking, a) perhaps they’re fully aware of that, or b) maybe this suggests that the site’s name shouldn’t be taken entirely seriously?

Sure, we’re partly to blame (actually, it’s Islander who’s mostly to blame, as he’s the one who came up with the damn name as a response to the early 2000s trend of bands shoehorning in big clean-sung choruses in a desperate attempt to appeal to the mainstream) but… c’mon folks, if you’ve spent more than five minutes with us here at NCS you must have noticed that we cover a lot of bands who don’t just use harsh vocals.

And one of those bands, whom we’ve covered numerous times, is Crypt Sermon, who just released what might be the best album of their career so far.

AN NCS PREMIERE: INTOLERANCE — “RITE OF PASSAGE”

Premieres No Responses »

Jun 172024

The ongoing revival of “old school death metal”, which in fact is the refurbishing of many schools, continues apace with the impending release of the second album by the Spanish band Intolerance.

Intolerance are a Zaragoza-based group who have already proven their ability to breath new life into the hideous old genre, building their own throne of putrefying skulls with a 2016 demo, a 2020 EP, their first album Dark Paths of Humanity (2022), and now a new full-length monstrosity aptly named Waking Nightmares of an Endless Void which will be co-released on July 22nd by Memento Mori and Godz Ov War Productions.

For more concrete reference points, the PR materials for the album refer to a solid foundation influenced by early Bolt Thrower, Grave, Asphyx, Morgoth, Entombed, Convulse, Obituary, and Unleashed, but now embellished with “ever-darker hues and an almost-evil melodicism” that “puts them closer to the likes of classic Unanimated, Dismember, Hypocrisy, Desultory, and earliest Necrophobic“.

But as concrete reference points go, nothing beats the music itself, and we have some of that for you today as we premiere the new album’s fourth track, “Rite of Passage“. Continue reading »

FESTIVAL PREVIEW: TOLMINATOR 2024

Metal News No Responses »

Jun 172024

(Our Slovenian compatriot Didrik Mešiček has prepared the following preview of the second edition of the Tolminator festival in his home country, which is coming up fast and looks well worth attending.)

After a successful first edition, Tolminator is back for its second year! For those of you unaware, since Metaldays has had its various debacles, Tolminator has now taken over the stunning festival location by the Soča river. The festival is limited to 5000 visitors and will take place between the 24th and the 28th of July so this is a good time to get your tickets for one of the most idyllic festivals in Europe.

Last year’s edition had a lovely and chill atmosphere and definitely felt very well organised – from what I could tell everything went rather smoothly. While the visitors weren’t that numerous last year (due to the festival being new and only announced in the autumn of 2022), it’s expected this year the festival could be close to selling out, which means there’ll be an even better atmosphere under the stage and more fellow metalheads to have fun with.

Of course, the most important thing is the lineup up and Tolminator will have four main headliners: Behemoth, Exodus, Electric Wizard, and Testament. The festival leans quite heavily into extreme metal, generally favouring thrash, black, and death metal although there’s the occasional stoner/doom band, as you can see, as well as some -core bands if you’re into that sort of thing. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: OCCULTA VERITAS, TODESSTOSS, MOUTH OF CEDAR, HORNED ALMIGHTY, SÓLSTAFIR, HEXEN HOUSE

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Jun 162024

To follow up on yesterday’s personal report: The food cooked deep underground turned out extremely well. Our fire continued to roar. The beer and wine didn’t run out. The forecast thunderstorms and hail didn’t arrive, though ominous clouds constantly raced across blue skies, and in the late afternoon they paused long enough to provide a brief drenching.

That did put a literal damper on our outdoor picnic, followed by scenes of people warming their backsides next to the fire bowl, with hilarious sights of steam coming off the butt-side of wet jeans. Not long after, people started going their separate ways just before sunset.

So, what might have been another late night for me turned into a relatively early collapse into bed. Yet I listened to no music yesterday other than vibrant songs from Mexico and Guatemala pumping from a boom box, with lots of marimba, accordion, and tuba in the mix. Today is also Father’s Day.

With all that, today’s collection of metal like yesterday’s isn’t as extensive as I’d like, but still worth your time (I hope you’ll agree). I’ve launched it with a trio of mind-benders, Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, BURIAL OATH, WHITE STONES

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Jun 152024

For this currently foggy-headed writer yesterday was a hell of a day and last night was a hell of a night. There was food grilled near hot coals, copious drinking, fire, and conversation far into the night among people who could barely understand each other. Deep underground with the oxygen cut off, a bigger bed of hot coals started cooking some things; today we will reconvene to discover the results.

Depending on those results we may eat grass and go our separate ways early, or it may be another late night. But yeah, it’ll probably be a late night regardless; there’s still plenty of beer, wine, and dry wood on hand.

And that’s an explanation for why this usual Saturday roundup is appearing so late and is so short, and a preview that Sunday’s black metal roundup may befall the same fate.

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