AN NCS PREMIERE: SAEVUS FINIS — “AEONS OF SPIRITUAL STARVATION”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 072023
 

Seemingly out of nowhere the Portuguese band Saevus Finis has appeared, with a debut album named Facilis Descensus Averno that’s set for release on January 12th by Transcending Obscurity Records.

For the very few of you who don’t keep a Latin dictionary close to hand, Saevus Finis means “the savage end” and Facilis Descensus Averno means “descent to hell”. Entirely fitting, those words, because the Saevus Finis rendition of death metal on their debut is indeed savage and hellish — punishingly heavy and unnerving in the extreme, a musical fashioning of destructive ruination, sheer madness, and harrowing agonies that makes a startling impression.

As tangible proof of these opinions, today we’re presenting the third song from the album to be revealed so far. Continue reading »

BEER & LOATHING IN THE ROCKIES: DECIBEL METAL AND BEER FEST DENVER, 2023, DAY 1

 Concert Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 072023
 

(Denver-based NCS writer Gonzo didn’t miss the Decibel Metal & Beer Fest in Denver on December 1st and 2nd, and somehow he recovered quickly enough to turn in the following report on the fest’s first day — and he’ll be sending us a report on the second day as well.)

We all know the story with sequels – they rarely live up to the expectations set by their predecessor. The trend is so common that it makes one wonder why it’s seemingly always the case. Heavy lies the crown of precedent, I suppose.

Music festivals are not immune to this trend. The first go-round of any festival could easily be a trial-and-error situation resulting in way more “error” for most people’s liking. The logistics, planning, promotion, marketing, and everything that goes in between is a waking nightmare to comprehend, and it’s a hell of a lot easier for me to sit here and write about it than it is to organize and execute. When it’s done right, though, people will come back for Year 2, and they’ll bring their high expectations with them.

All that being said, after spending this past weekend at Summit Music Hall here in Denver for the second incarnation of Decibel’s now-annual Metal & Beer Fest, I can happily say that the curse of sequel mediocrity does not fucking apply here.

If anything, the bar has been thoroughly raised for this glorious weekend of revelry and ear-splitting savagery, even though my liver is scowling in disapproval as I type this. (Sit this one out, you whiny little mass of meat. You’ve suffered enough.) Continue reading »

CRUST – DISSOLUTION

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 072023
 

(Dissolution comes out on December 15 via Avantgarde Music, and Andy Synn tells you all about it)

It’s undeniable that Crust have been on fire for the last few years, with albums like 2020’s Stoic and 2021’s Wanderers gaining the band more coverage and praise than ever before (including from this site) and introducing even more ears to the band’s signature brand of doom-laden, sludge-laced Black Metal.

And now, with the upcoming release of Dissolution (out next Friday) it looks like they’re set to go three-for-three with what might just be their best work yet.

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: STAGES OF DECOMPOSITION — “SKID ROW SLASHER”

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Dec 062023
 

The decomposition of organic matter proceeds in stages. In humans, the process includes the body’s own chemical actions and putrefaction as well as the work of bacteria and, in the right settings, the feeding of worms, maggots, flies, and other creatures. But what must precede the increasingly disgusting stages of decomposition is… death.

With that learning in mind, it’s no accident that the brutal slamming L.A. death/grind band Stages of Decomposition chose that name for the music they intended to make, and have made — which is gutting, gruesome, and foul. But they are also clearly aware that death must precede rot and bodily ruination, and so their music is also ruthlessly lethal.

On their new album Raptures of Psychopathy, Stages of Decomposition lean into the most violent and punishing aspects of their sound, and we have a prime example in the new album track we’re presenting today, along with a blood-spraying video, in advance of the record’s February release by Gore House Productions. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RESIN TOMB — “PURGE FLUID”

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Dec 062023
 

When we see the name Resin Tomb the first words that come to mind, based on the previous releases of these Australians, are “bombardment”, “fragmentation”, and “incineration” — music used as weaponry — followed by thoughts of “agony” and “mental breakdown”. “Hellish terrors” is another phrase we’ve used in descriptions of their previous noise.

Of course, most surface-dwellers would recoil from anything so-described. In our case, it just makes us eager for more — and more is what we will have when Transcending Obscurity Records releases this harrowing band’s debut album Cerebral Purgatory next month, to help usher in the New Year with ruination.

So far, two tracks from the new album have surfaced (“detonated” is probably a better word), and today we’ve got a third one for you, one that is indeed destructive but one that also brings shivering chills. Its name is “Purge Fluid“. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Dec 062023
 

(Before he gets into his yearly retrospective Andy Synn wants to highlight four more albums from last month which you may not have heard)

Well, here it is, my last “Things You May Have Missed” column of the year, featuring four albums from November that I think you should all check out if you haven’t already.

That’s it. That’s the intro.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ATERRIMA — “A NAME ENGRAVED IN COLD SOIL”

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Dec 052023
 

Near the end of this past summer we had the pleasure of premiering (and reviewing at length) a fantastic new album named For the Good of the Realm by the Idaho metal band Weald and Woe, whose medieval-inspired music brought to mind the likes of Obsequiae, Véhémence, Darkenhöld, Immortal, and Ensiferum.

Two of the members of Weald and Woe (Brent Ruddy and Isiah Fletcher) are also members (along with Ted Clements) of a very different band named Aterrima, and they too will be releasing an album this year — in just a few days — via the same Fiadh Productions that helped usher For the Good of the Realm into the world.

Aterrima‘s first full-length is entitled A Name Engraved in Cold Soil, and we have a full stream of it for you today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ETERNAL STORM — “LONE TREE DOMAIN”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 052023
 

It’s already quite evident that as good a year as 2023 has been for metal, 2024 is going to start off with a big BANG! as a new universe of annual music begins another rapid expansion. Part of the early-year explosion is a new album by the Spanish progressive/melodic death metal band Eternal Storm that’s set for release by Transcending Obscurity Records on February 10th.

The album’s name is A Giant Bound to Fall, and it follows Eternal Storm‘s very impressive first full-length, 2019’s Come the Tide, which our own Andy Synn reviewed here, calling it “a brilliant album, from start to finish, and one which might just restore your faith in the Melodic side of Death Metal”.

To help pave the way for the new record, Transcending Obscurity has released two singles so far, and today we’re bringing you a third one — “Lone Tree Domain“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEEMTEE — “STRANGE AEONS & DELIRIUMS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Dec 052023
 

Every durable edifice, even a musical one, must have a solid foundation.

Well, that’s what some people say, probably including most listeners. But music whose foundations are constantly shifting and skidding, as if caught in an earthquake or morphing like some hallucinatory vision, can be far more interesting, even dazzling, if the architect is as talented as the person behind the Spanish band Deemtee.

This observation certainly held true for Deemtee‘s debut album, the aptly named Flawed Synchronization With Reality, which we premiered and reviewed (at great length) four years ago. In attempting to describe it we shared comparative references to Deathspell Omega, Oranssi Pazuzu, Valborg, Blut Aus Nord, and Ved Buens Ende — and repeatedly emphasized how unpredictable (and extraordinary) it was.

Now it’s time for foundations to liquify again, because Deemtee has a new album coming our way on December 7th via the Spanish label Darkness Within (a sub-label of Darkwoods), It also has a very apt title, given the nature of the songs: Strange Aeons & Deliriums. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2023: REVOLVER’S LIST OF THE 30 BEST ALBUMS OF 2023

 LISTMANIA 2023  13 Responses »
Dec 052023
 

As part of our annual LISTMANIA series we re-publish “best album” lists from some of the the few surviving print publications that cover metal, and from a handful of “big platform” sites that include metal in their on-line coverage, along with a range of other music genres and other aspects of popular culture.

We don’t re-publish those “big platform” lists because we think it’s likely to be a source of useful discovery for most of the people who come to NCS, though of course that’s possible. It’s really more a matter of peering at the surface world as a form of modest entertainment.

In that context, and only in that context, today we’re sharing Revolver‘s list of the “30 best albums of 2023”, which they recently published here. Continue reading »

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