SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): WHITE NIGHTS, ФИЛАНТРОПЪ, NYRST

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Feb 202020
 

 

Did you enjoy the musical chocolates in Part 1 of today’s round-up? I hope you did, and Ii hope you’ll like what’s next, which continues following the theme of diversity that was evident in the first installment.

WHITE NIGHTS

One look at the cover art (above) for White Nights‘ debut EP, Into the Lap of the Ancient Mother, gave me an inkling that it wasn’t going to be the kind of music I usually expect from Iron Bonehead Productions — and it isn’t. Actually, there are two different covers, one for the CD edition and one for the vinyl edition. Here’s the other one: Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: ICON OF PHOBOS / KATHEKSIS — “PRIMAL DEATH RITES”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 202020
 

 

It’s always a pleasure to find reasons to install the artwork of Paolo Girardi at the top of our page, and we have that pleasure again today. It’s an even greater pleasure when we discover that the music his creations introduce is just as striking as the art, which is true here.

On this occasion Signore Girardi‘s eye-catching painting adorns a split release entitled Primal Death Rites that will be released by the Los Angeles-based label The Elegy Ensemble on February 20th (today!). It includes one track each by the black metal bands Icon of Phobos and Katheksis, and to help spread the word we’re streaming both of them for you today. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): DESTROYED IN SECONDS, HEAD OF THE DEMON, KORGONTHURUS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Feb 202020
 

 

Imagine that you like chocolates (might not take any imagination). Imagine finding yourself in a giant chocolate store that’s offering free samples of hundreds of confections. No way you can try everything, and your stomach would explode even if you could. And then some friends walk in who’ve already tried a lot of what’s on offer and point out the really good stuff. Problem solved!

That’s kind of how today’s two-part round-up came together. Enjoy all the chocolates!

DESTROYED IN SECONDS

Here’s a band that most of the core group of hooligans at NCS really like, I think due in part to the band’s performance at Maryland Deathfest 2018, which most of us got to see. I received or saw messages from a lot of them soon after Destroyed In Seconds previewed the title track from their new album Divide and Devour, which they’re releasing on April 24th. It kicks a lot of ass. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NECROBODE — “SOB O FEITIÇO DO NECROBODE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 192020
 

 

The music of Necrobode is as infernally bestial, as merciless, and as death-crowned as all their outward trappings would suggest, from the cadaverous horned lord on the cover of their new album to their own savage, inverted-cross-wearing, spiked-gauntlet-brandishing visages. Their brand of corrosive black/death is sadistically brutalizing, mind-mauling, and vicious. But as you’re about to discover, there’s a lot more to their debut album besides naked hostility and a fiendish disregard for your mental and physical welfare.

That album, Sob o Feitiço do Necrobode, will be released on February 21st by Iron Bonehead Productions, a label that clearly knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff in sifting through the vast harvests of extreme metal. And today we’re bringing you a complete stream of the record — preceded by the following introductory review. Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2019: BULL ELEPHANT / DIMAEON / TRIANGLE FACE

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Feb 192020
 

 

(In this article Andy Synn combines reviews of three fine, stylistically divergent albums released in 2019 — by Bull Elephant (UK), Dimaeon (Netherlands), and Triangle Face (UK).)

Ok, Ok… I promise this will (probably) be the last time I go on about albums from last year that you and I may have otherwise skipped over or missed out on.

After all, it’s getting towards the end of February now, and the deluge of new releases and upcoming albums is really starting to ramp up, so if I don’t want to fall behind (any more than I already have done) then I really need to start focussing on 2020.

But I couldn’t let these three artists/albums pass by without making a bit of fuss over them, as while I didn’t get around to covering them when they were first released, I’ve spent quite a lot of time listening to them all recently, and needed to share my enthusiasm with you! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LYING FIGURES

 Interviews  No Responses »
Feb 192020
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us another interview, and this time he amicably interrogates two members of the French death-doom band Lying Figures, whose debut album arrived in 2017 and who are now working on a successor to that one.)

Lying Figures from the French city of Nancy isn’t the most active band in the world. They started to forge their death doom metal slowly in 2008, and their EPs From Nowhere To Nothing and A World Of My Own appeared in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Their full-length work The Abstract Escape saw the light of day three years after, and this Katatonia-inspired material drew the attention of Brave Murder Day fans easily.

Well, Lying Figures didn’t turn int0 a cult band the very day this album was born, but they’re interesting enough to approach them and learn more about the band’s current status. Matthieu Burgaud (guitars) and Frédéric Simon (bass) eagerly helped me with that. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NAWAHARJAN — “LOKABRENNA”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Feb 182020
 

 

Today we premiere the entirety of Lokabrenna, the hour-long debut album by Nawaharjan, the Berlin-based black metal band whose name reportedly was built from the proto-Germanic word for “Nawaz” (corpse) and “Harjaz/Harjan” (army). The album will be released by Amor Fati Productions on the 20th of February. While we have (as usual) impressions of the music to share with you, in this case it’s worthwhile to first share what has been disclosed about the album’s conceptual underpinnings, because that gives further depth to the abundant array of sensations provided by the songs. To quote from the press materials:

“Lokabrenna is a conceptual work based around the Thursian Brandawegiz system, which is built upon the nine locks of Sinmara’s chest within the dark, liberating side of Germanic mythology. Each of the songs on the album symbolizes one of these locks and acts as a devotional hymn to Loki and a way to unlock his potential within oneself. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ABORTED, MEDICO PESTE, NECK OF THE WOODS, CÉNOTAPHE, GRAFSTROEM, IDOLOS

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Feb 182020
 

 

I’m scurrying this morning, so I’ll dispense with introductory comments and get right to the music I’ve chosen for this round-up — but did you see Mitchell Nolte‘s fantabulous artwork on the cover of Aborted’s new three-track EP? Of course you did — how could you miss it? The EP is called La Grande Mascarade [sic], with a release date of April 17th.

MEDICO PESTE

I’ve previously spilled some demented words here about the truly demented first song and video (“God Knows Why“) presented in advance of the release of Medico Peste‘s new album, ב :The Black Bile. Now I can’t resist crowing again about this Polish black metal band because another song from the album has escaped out into the world. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARONIOUS — “AN ASSEMBLED REALITY”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 172020
 

 

Having made quite a strong impression within the realms of technical death metal with their 2014 EP, Truth In Perception, the Wisconsin-based quintet Aronious are now poised to release their debut album, Perspicacity, which is set for release on March 13th via The Artisan Era. In the works for many year, and meticulously composed and recorded, this first full-length is a concept album — and a musically ambitious one that doesn’t follow all the standard tech-death tropes that you’ve become accustomed to by now.

So far, The Artisan Era has released three tracks from the album as signs of those ambitions and powerful accomplishments, and today we’re presenting the fourth and final advance track (among a total of 13 on the full album) before the record’s release next month. The song’s name is “An Assembled Reality“. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE MASSACRE: “FEARMONGER”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Feb 172020
 

 

(Here we present Andy Synn‘s review of the long-awaited new album by Beneath the Massacre from Montreal, Quebec.)

Sometimes it’s hard to put into words exactly why certain bands “click” with you and others don’t.

And, before anyone chimes in with “but Andy, isn’t your whole job here putting things like that into words?” let me say… shut up, I’m not finished.

It’s particularly difficult at the more Brutal/Extreme/Technical end of the spectrum, where the “everything turned up to 11” approach of the bands means that the differences between them are, more often than not, more of a matter of gradient and nuance.

Can I tell you exactly why I find Wormed so ridiculously fun to listen to, while I find Brain Drill to be just ridiculous? Can I explain exactly why I can listen to Hideous Divinity over and over, but repeated exposure to Origin often just leaves me cold? Not easily, no.

But I can tell you just why I love Beneath the Massacre, and their new album, Fearmonger, so much. Continue reading »

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