AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CADAVEROUS CONDITION — “THEY CAME FROM THE HILLS”

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May 022024
 

The Austrian extreme metal band Cadaverous Condition started in the early ’90s (their first demos were released in 1990-’92), and since then their discography has swelled significantly, though more than a dozen years have passed since their last album (Burn Brightly Alone), if one doesn’t count an album-length collaboration they did with Herr Lounge Corps in 2018.

Despite their significant number of releases, this seems to be our site’s first encounter with them. The musical histories we’ve been provided are intriguing, to say the least. We’re told that their path has taken “many twists and weird turns, incorporating neofolk (‘death folk’) and collaborating with a wide range of artists creating a weird yet coherent body of work”.

It’s a crooked path that reportedly made them the first death metal band to cover The Sisters Of Mercy and Death In June and included their own interpretations of songs by The Decemberists and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and collaborations with such acts as Nurse With Wound, Thighpaulsandra, Tobias Nathaniel (The Black Heart Procession), and the afore-mentioned Herr Lounge Corps.

They also did an art project with Bill Drummond (The KLF) involving a specially made CD and sending a message in a bottle from the shores of Iceland.

Having read all that, we really had almost no idea what to expect from their new album Never Arrive, Never Return, which is set for a June 14 release via The Circle Music. What we found is something fascinating, something clearly rooted in death metal but with tendrils that taste of other terrains. As a sign of what we found, today we’re premiering a lyric video for the new album’s chilling but powerfully captivating opening song, “They Came From the Hills“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND REVIEW): NAXEN – DESCENDING INTO A DEEPER DARKNESS

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May 022024
 

(Andy Synn descends into the depths of the new album from Germany’s Naxen, out tomorrow)

As I’ve said before, the Black Metal scene today – in all its myriad forms – is in such rude health that it seems like you can’t go more than a day without stumbling over a fantastic new artist or album to fall in love with.

The downside of this, however, is that with so much quality material on offer – from the rawest to the proggiest, and everything in between – it’s getting harder and harder for bands to stand out and make themselves heard.

But it’s clear that Naxen have been hard at work themselves over the last few years, carving out their own particular niche – somewhere between the hypnotic intensity of Mgła, the infectious energy of Woe, and the gloomy despondency of Ultha – where they can plant their seeds, nurture them, and watch them grow.

And the fruit of their labours – which we have the distinct pleasure of premiering for you all today – is their new album, Descending Into a Deeper Darkness.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: UNEARTHLY RITES

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May 012024
 


Photo by Lassi Kojola

(In two days from now Prosthetic Records will release the politically charged debut album by the Finnish death metal band Unearthly Rites, and to help pave the way we present Comrade Aleks‘ very interesting interview with vocalist Sisli and guitarist Santtu.)

Here’s a quite fresh and dirty entity from very North of Finland. Unearthly Rites was formed back in 2020, and since then they released only a self-titled EP in 2021… until now.

The lineup in Unearthly Rites includes members from the bands Dome Runner, Fosforos, Frogskin, Fuck-Ushima, Bolt Cross, Praise, etc, so this company of two ladies and three gentlemen seem to be quite busy with different sorts of underground activities. Yes, right, Unearthly Rites is a blackened death metal band, and one of the women is the person who roars in their full-length album Ecdysis.

Prosthetic Records are ready to release Ecdysis on May 3rd, so here we are to support this band with their absolutely crushing sound, a dedicated approach, and an attitude worthy of respect. Sisli (vocals) and Santtu (guitars) provided us quite an in-depth and interesting interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SELVANS — “IL CAPRO INFUOCATO”

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May 012024
 

The Italian artist Selvans probably needs no introduction to those who regularly visit our site, but for those encountering Selvans for the first time today, we’ll share a few words from Selvans‘ label Avantgarde Music:

The singer and keyboardist Selvans, plays black/heavy metal with prog-rock influences. Lyrics and concept are inspired by Italian folk-horror tales and imagery. After two full length albums, Lupercalia (2016, Avantgarde Music) and Faunalia (2018, Avantgarde Music) in 2021 he released The Dark Italian Art EP, an artistic manifesto that sees the team-up with the horror writer Luigi Musolino.

We can also share that Selvans will be following The Dark Italian Art with a new album. Though a release date hasn’t yet been announced, we’ve all been given a preview of what it will bring through Selvans‘ recent release of a single named “Il Capro Infuocato“. To help spread the word further, today we’re presenting a lyric video for the song. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DER GHUL — “THE RAT KING”

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May 012024
 

Vladimir Bauer is a musician originally from Odesa in Ukraine but based in Germany since 2017. He is best known for his band Schattenfall, whose music we’ve written about frequently over the years (as you can see here), and for his work in the early years of White Ward. But Bauer has another project named Der Ghul, and it’s the black metal of Der Ghul we’re focusing on today.

Der Ghul released a debut EP (available on Bandcamp here) named Pulse of Awakening in 2019 (which included Stefan Traunmüller as vocalist), and that will soon be followed by a debut album entitled Hunger Anger Decay, which is set for release on May 17th. One song from the album has been revealed so far, and today we premiere a second one — “The Rat King“. Continue reading »

MY DYING BRIDE: “A MORTAL BINDING”

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May 012024
 

(About 10 days ago Nuclear Blast released the 15th studio album from My Dying Bride, and DGR has sat with it long enough to now provide his thoughts below.)

My Dying Bride‘s newest release A Mortal Binding is a surprisingly turbulent album by My Dying Bride standards. Though My Dying Bride have been an adaptive beast over the course of a long-running career, the group have cycled back around into an interesting amalgamation of modern day doom and their early miserable forms.

Yet My Dying Bride have been the civilized and staid older-sibling of the doom scene, awash with despair yet seeming more ‘refined’ than their cohort bands. No stranger to longform song writing either, it hadn’t been until 2020’s The Ghost Of Orion that they forged themselves into a stately yet concise version of what they’d been before. Granted, they almost immediately followed that up with Macabre Cabaret, an EP with a ten-minute song as its opener, but it seemed like My Dying Bride had found a strong comfort zone with the fragile and mournful atmospheres of The Ghost Of Orion.

Which is what makes A Mortal Binding quite the followup. Continue reading »

GLASSING: “FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR”

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Apr 302024
 

(We present Wil Cifer‘s review of the new album by Austin-based Glassing, which was released last week by Pelagic Records.)

Twin Dream was a perfect album. Glassing are perfecting the art of perfection with From the Other Side of the Mirror. The heaviness here is more biting. The melodies are more textured and haunting. These are conclusions I came to only four songs in.

Granted, a piece like “Sallow” is more of an ambient interlude, but “Defacer” has serious sonic teeth, and can have you head-banging before your second cup of coffee. With Twin Dream what they were doing was more easily defined. It had hardcore kids making atmospheric sludge. This time around more colors of sound are being explored. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ULTIO — “A THOUSAND TIMES MORE”

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Apr 302024
 

On May 23rd Brucia Records will release Cor, a new album by the Italian black metal entity Ultio, the solo work of Giorgio Barroccu, who is also behind the music of Derhead. Brucia describes Cor as “the twistedly demented brother of The Grey Zone Phobia, Derhead‘s latest album released back in March 2023″. (We had some things to say about that album here.)

What does this mean? Brucia describes it this way:

Another side of the same, dark coin – Ultio shares Derhead‘s very same dramatic tension and despair, however showcasing here a magnificently unrestrained and raw soul: behind a gloomy wall of freezingly cold riffs and shrieking screams Ultio ascends maniacally, building a sense of impending peril and oppression – dissonance after dissonance. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MYRONATH — “THE VORACIOUS SPHERE”

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Apr 302024
 

The Swedish black metal band Myronath made their debut in 2019 with the full-length Into the Qliphoth, and two years later followed that with another album aptly named Djevelkraft. Now they’re returning with album number three, their most ambitious one yet, and it too has a very fitting title: Inferno, fitting not only because of the sensations of the music but also because the album is a conceptual work inspired by Dante‘s Inferno.

Inferno again features the work of former Ragnorak members Hellcommander Vargblod (vocals, bass) and Bjarkan (guitars), joined this time by guitarist Bathim and studio session drummer Calle Larsson.

In advance of Inferno‘s May 30 release date by the Dusktone label, they’ve already released a first single (with a lyric video) named “Purity Through Indulgence“, and today we present a second one, “The Voracious Sphere“. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 170): CLEARXCUT

 THE SYNN REPORT  No Responses »
Apr 302024
 

Recommended for fans of: Shai Hulud, Earth Crisis, Heaven Shall Burn

The end of another month means it’s time for another discography deep-dive, which this time focusses on the work of Metallic Hardcore marauders ClearXCut.

Unsurprisingly for a band who describe themselves as “a vegan, straight-edge collective” (one whose shifting line-up over the years has included various members of King Apathy, Heaven Shall Burn, and Implore, among others) the group have no problem proclaiming their beliefs and ideals up front, with songs about everything from anarchism to addiction to animal liberation to all-out class-war.

But, as the band have been keen to stress in various interviews over the years, their primary purpose as a group is not to preach or pass judgement – even though they are just as willing to be critical of the hypocrisy and toxicity present in their own scene as they are the problems of the wider world – but to engage and inspire others through both their actions and their art.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to agree with the message – I’m neither vegan nor straight-edge myself, but I still find the band’s idealism and integrity inspiring – to enjoy the music on its own terms, and so… without further ado… let’s get to it, shall we?

Continue reading »

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