NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: WARDRA — “SATURN’S CUTTING BLADES”

Apr 052024

Seven years have passed since the Russian black metal band Wardra released their debut album Небо медного цвета, but at last a second one is on the way, now set for an April 17 release by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Onism Productions (UK). The name of this one is Страж звёздных склепов (“Warden Of The Stellar Crypts“).

While the band’s first album could be considered an amalgam of traditional black metal and primitive mysticism, they’ve moved in a different direction on their new release — a movement into the endless darkness of space. As they describe it:

This is a story about the death of worlds on the endless fields of nuclear harvest and about a silent witness who will endlessly wander through the carpet of fragments of time, waiting for the beginning of a new world that writhes in endless convulsions of sleep, without hope of awakening. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SWELLING REPULSION — “SULLEN LIGHT OF EXPIRED STARS”

Premieres No Responses »

Apr 052024

We decided to begin our introduction to this song premiere by displaying the phenomenal artwork by The Masked Observer that adorns the cover of the album that includes the song, un-interrupted by the band’s logo or the album title. Gazing at it, you can surely understand why.

The choice of this cover art is the first clue that the style of death metal crafted by Swelling Repulsion on their album Fatally Misguided is itself unusually colorful and engaging, one that takes a familiar ~~landscape~~ soundscape and morphs it into something that the releasing label (Transcending Obscurity) rightly calls a “quirky hidden gem” unearthed from the underground.

But we have an even better clue about what this multi-national trio have done in their forthcoming second album, a clue provided by the song you’re about to hear — “Sullen Light of Expired Stars” — whose title is almost as intriguing as the artwork. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: WHO DIES IN SIBERIAN SLUSH

Interviews No Responses »

Apr 052024

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of E.S. from the Russian band Who Dies In Siberian Slush, whose latest album was released on the last day of 2023 by Solitude Productions.)

Who Dies In Siberian Slush is probably the longest-running active death-doom band in Russia. It was formed in 2003, but the first album Bitterness of the Years That Are Lost was released only in 2010. They developed a kind of their own aesthetic as they also used lyrics with Russian cultural references, like a poem by Nicolay Gumilev in one song or a dedication to the painter of tragic fate Boris Kustodiev in another, but at the end of the day, it’s “death-doom with trombone and Russian lyrics”.

The most up-to-date album Uroki Smireniya / Lessons of Humility is the personal and grim monolog of the band’s founder and the only original member, E.S. Here’s his interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INFESTUS — “FUGA NOCTURNA”

Premieres No Responses »

Apr 042024

Our site has had a long history with the German black metal band Infestus. Unlike some musical histories marred by mishaps and mediocrity, this one is fondly remembered, because although the music encompassed by the succession of Infestus releases (which is about to be six albums long) has never been entirely predictable, it has never been disappointing.

The history now continues with the newest Infestus album, Entzweiung, which is set for release by the band’s new label Talheim Records on April 19th. We’ll have more to say about the album as a whole in due course, but today our focus is on the song “Fuga Nocturna“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ICOSANDRIA — “A SCARLET LUNAR GLOW”

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres No Responses »

Apr 042024

Albums such as the one we’re presenting today tend to invoke thoughts of tapestries, kaleidoscopes, or panoramas — visual metaphors of change, often rich in detail and sometimes startling, that occur as the scenes pass across our eyes.

In the case of Icosandria‘s new album, the title itself invokes an unusual vision — A Scarlet Lunar Glow. Like the title, the music kindles the imagination into its own glow, though the glow also becomes fire as the manifold changes unfold. Continue reading »

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT – THE DEMON WHO MAKES TROPHIES OF MEN

Album Reviews No Responses »

Apr 042024

(We forced Andy Synn to listen to the new album from The Monolith Deathcult)

Our long-running relationship with Dutch deviants The Monolith Deathcult has been well-documented by now,

We’ve been friends, we’ve been enemies… and then there was that unfortunate incident where we all swapped brains… but our love for the band’s music has never waned.

The problem, of course, is that this means it’s impossible for us to be objective, or even pretend to be objective, about their new album – no matter what we say or do, whether we praise it or criticise it, someone is always going to find a way to dismiss what we say, regardless of whether it confirms or refutes their own biases.

But, as you may already have guessed, I still really wanted to write something about The Demon Who Makes Trophies of Men (which officially comes out tomorrow)… so what was I to do?

SEEN AND HEARD: MALIGNANCY, UMBRA VITAE, LIMBONIC ART, SUMAC

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Apr 032024

Photo Credit: Paul McGuire

Wallet- and pocketbook-protective dikes continue to fail at an alarming rate, deluging bank accounts with continuing torrents of new music. Yes, cheap-ass streaming services like Spotify might let your money keep its meager head above water for the time being, but at some point your conscience will assert its ascendancy, won’t it?

Way too much new music to cover comprehensively in this mid-week roundup. I just grabbed a few ugly gems as they swept by, with one hand still on the felled tree that’s serving as my temporary life preserver as the flood carries me toward that bridge pylon ahead. Hopefully we won’t hit it as hard as the Dali. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TENEBRIFIC — “LABYRINTH OF ANGUISH”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Apr 032024

Tenebrific is a new band from Australia, a studio project created by Adam Martin of Golgothan Remains and Sarcophagum, in collaboration with Cris Bassan from Decrepid. Their debut release (in which they’re aided by some special guests) is an EP fittingly named Labyrinth of Anguish, which is set for release on April 8th.

The band have described the EP (quite accurately) as a release that “offers a glimpse into the abyss of existential despair, inviting listeners to confront their own inner demons and navigate the labyrinth of anguish.” “Throughout 22 minutes,” they say, “we summon monstrous and hallucinatory blackened death deformations that echo the howls of tortured souls and the whispers of malevolent entities.”

Over the course of three substantial tracks, the EP progresses as a single cohesive and carefully planned journey, one that really must be heard straight through to get the full effect — and fortunately, that’s what you’ll be able to do further down in this article as we premiere the full stream. Continue reading »

KORPIKLAANI: “RANKARUMPU”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Apr 032024

(Below you’ll find Didrik Mešiček‘s review of Korpiklaani‘s new studio album, Rankarumpu, which will be released this Friday, April 5th, via Nuclear Blast Records.)

Korpiklaani is one of the first bands I ever properly got into – even though I thought they were way too heavy when I was a very, very different child at the age of about 13. For that reason, they’re one of those bands that will always be a bit more special as we’ve spent a lot of time together many years ago, and in my mind, a new Korpiklaani release can’t possibly be bad. Luckily, one is very close, as Rankarumpu will be released on April 5th through Nuclear Blast.

In more recent history, the band has oscillated quite wildly. From the 2018 release, Kulkija, which was widely considered not great and had an odd, somewhat melancholic, overarching sound that I can only describe as farmy, except for a few tracks that picked up the tempo and involved a bit more of that typical Finnish humppa, to 2021’s Jylhä, which, I still insist, is the band’s best album – at least musically. That is, however, not the same as being the most palatable or having the most drinking songs you can scream along to. Jylhä therefore showed maturity and renewed my faith in the Finns’ ability to write genuinely good music. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews No Responses »

Apr 032024

(Andy Synn presents four more handpicked morsels of metallic goodness from the last month)

I don’t think anyone is going to disagree with the following assertion, but… March was absolutely packed with new releases, any number of which could (and perhaps) should have been featured here.

Sadly, between the three of us (and our various (ir)regular contributors) we only have a limited number of hours in the day which we can dedicate to writing and reviewing… especially when you consider that we’d rather, wherever possible, provide some proper insight and analysis instead of just churning out a bunch of superficial – and largely interchangeable – puff-pieces just to get our numbers up.

With that in mind, here’s a short-list (ok, not that short) of artists I wish I’d written about… Apparition, Clarion Void, Convulsing, Horresque, Kollapse, Merrimack, Sacrificial Vein (absolutely love that one), Schattenfall, the flawed but fascinatingly ambitious debut from Waidelotte, Wounds… and which I hope you’ll still find time to check out.

Still, best not to focus on our regrets, eh? Especially since the four artists/albums I’ve selected for this edition of “Things You May Have Missed” – all of whom err on the more esoteric and/or unorthodox side, to a greater or lesser extent – represent some of the best that March had to offer.

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