AN NCS PREMIERE: CLOVEN — “THE MADNESS OF SERPENTS”

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May 212024
 

It seems unlikely that any musical artist records a cover of a song unless the song means something important to them. Oh, undoubtedly we might find examples where someone just made a cynical calculated effort to draft off the talent of someone else for their own benefit, but more likely it’s a sign of genuine affection and admiration, and that’s what we have in the song we’re premiering below.

In this instance the obscure Canadian solo project Cloven recorded a cover of “The Madness of Serpents” by The Devil’s Blood, expressly as a tribute to the late Selim Lemouchi. It may also be a farewell to Cloven as well as Lemouchi, though we understand that before the end comes there will be a Cloven album that includes the recording you’re about to hear. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISKORD — “ONWARD! TO NOWHERE”

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May 212024
 

This makes the sixth time we’ve written about releases by the Norwegian band Diskord since discovering them in 2013 and the third time we’ve premiered music from one of those releases. In straining to describe their methods, we’ve previously used such words and phrases as “bizarre”, “chaotic”, “mind-shearingly abrasive”, “disorienting”, “unpredictable”, “avante-garde-filtered and technically played”, and “a source of considerable fascination and continuous thrills”. As one of our writers wrote about their 2014 EP Oscillations:

[T]hey seem to have transcended not only genre boundaries, but the confines of flesh as well. They exist among the cracks in reality, guided by hidden horrors unknown to most in a realm where few have dared to venture. Oscillations is bestial discomfort refined, progressive while residing in primordial murky depths, an oasis for those who thirst for ghastly evil sounds, memorable riffs, and strange batshit insanity. Continue reading »

CONVULSING: “PERDURANCE”

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May 212024
 

(We present DGR‘s review of a new album from the Australian one-person band Convulsing, which was released this past March.)

If we can offer a bit of advice – armchair psychiatrists that we are around here – do not let anyone ever tell you that you’re going to have a good time with Convulsing‘s third album Perdurance.

Perdurance is not a ‘good times, happy fun times’ album. It’s a dissonant and ugly piece of work, one that is abrasive enough to smooth barnacles off of a ship. Perdurance is cavernous and noisey, Perdurance is expansive and heavy, but under no circumstances could you look at the bent contortions of Convulsing‘s third album and think to yourself ‘well, that’ll be a pleasant trip through the void’. Continue reading »

LIVE IN VIETNAM: SUFFOCATION, GATECREEPER, BLOOD SERPENT, THANH DUC, DIARSIA, DISTRICT 105 — 27 MARCH 2024

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May 202024
 

(Our Hanoi-based correspondent Vizzah Harri prepared the following report of a hell of a show that took place in Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, on March 27, 2024. Uncaptioned images in the article were made by him.)

The late eighties and early nineties must have been suffocating times – there were 6 bands formed around the same period with the name Suffocation. Though the band that formed in the same year that Soviet troops finally withdrew out of Afghanistan was the one that prevailed.

Suffocation needs no introduction for being groundbreakers in the genre of death regarding brutality and technicality. If anyone didn’t know, they’re from Long Island, home to the NYC boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, the former of which has some of the coolest metal bars any side of the Atlantic. I for one am really lucky to have not been born too late to witness Saint Vitus perform in the eponymous bar named after them.

Jesuit, if translated phonically, will sound like dễ sử in Vietnamese, which means ‘easy to use’ and the line followed unto the Latin of ‘lesous’ leads us to the catch 33 of salvation. These missionaries were extremely successful and had a massive influence on the eventual subjugation of the ‘J’ or ear-shaped French Indochina. An area that according to Wikipedia covered less ground than the three sovereign nations of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam of today.

Vietnam and Cambodia together are about 9 Long Islands smaller than France at 512,247 square kilometers (km2), which is about 20 Long Islands (3,629 km2) bigger than Arizona and the State of New York as one (436,554 km2). If you follow my bulletproof logic here… it’s been almost 20 years since Suffocation from Long Island visited this humid ‘little’ corner of the world. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OBSCENE — “THE REAPER’S BLESSING”

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May 202024
 

We are genuinely thrilled today to blow up a grenade of sights, sounds, and information regarding an eagerly awaited new album from the Indiana-based death metal extremists in Obscene.

The name of the new album, which is the band’s third full-length, is Agony & Wounds. It’s now set for release on July 12th by Nameless Grave Records. As you can see, it’s adorned by eye-catching and mind-bending cover art created by the wickedly talented Brad Moore.

The new music turns out to be every bit as macabre and mind-blowing as the artwork, though it is ruthlessly brutalizing as well, and thus it legitimately represents a significant step forward for a band that has already made a cult name for itself among death-worshipping denizens of the underground.

Which brings us to the first song from the album that you’ll be able to hear, and that we’re maliciously thrilled to premiere today. Get on your knees and prepare to receive “The Reaper’s Blessing“. Continue reading »

GATECREEPER – DARK SUPERSTITION

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May 202024
 

(Is the new Gatecreeper a trendkiller, or just a trend-follower? Andy Synn sets out to find out)

Let me ask you a question – how important is originality to you?

No, it’s not a trick question. After all, I’ve stated before that making a good (or great) album doesn’t necessarily require you to be particularly original – let’s face it, the Metal scene does tend to love a good throwback (sometimes too much) – as long as the execution and (more importantly) the songwriting are good enough.

Case in point – Gatecreeper‘s third album is basically a Dismember record in all but name.

But while Dark Superstition has definitely gained an advantage by standing on the shoulders of giants, it remains to be seen whether it has the songs to properly stand on its own two (or ten) feet.

Continue reading »

ULCERATE: “CUTTING THE THROAT OF GOD”

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May 202024
 

(Below you will find DGR‘s extensive review of the newest album from NZ’s Ulcerate, in advance of its June 14 release by Debemur Morti Productions.)

Weirdly enough, I had to check to see who had penned the last few reviews for Ulcerate’s releases as they’ve crossed our desks in the burnt-out husk that is more colloquially known as the ‘NCS Office’. The situation was one of those, ‘I’m pretty sure it was me, I am not a thousand percent sure it was me’.

You’ll forgive someone, of course, who has been spending a decent block of their heavy metal writing ‘career’ within the distant chasms of the Ulcerate discography for experiencing some sense of disassociation with the self. It turns out, it has in fact been yours truly for the most part, which means we can now add ‘Semi-Expert on Ulcerate’ to the resume, which’ll be only the third or fourth strangest thing on there, placed right up next to ‘balloon animal fluffer’. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: AQUILUS, OPPRESS., AKVAN, NON EST DEUS

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May 192024
 

I made a bare-bones start on the writing of this column yesterday, and then halted that in order to venture into downtown Seattle for what turned into a long night of talking, eating, and drinking with DGR and former NCS scribbler BadWolf.

I woke up very late this morning for me, head stuffed with fuzz, and feeling very tempted not to finish what I started yesterday. But since I missed doing this column last week due to Northwest Terror Fest and likely won’t do one next Sunday due to Maryland Deathfest, I forged ahead… sort of.

Instead of trying to put into words everything I have been feeling about the music I chose for today, I can only offer relatively short recommendations. The glass isn’t even half full, but at least it’s not an empty glass. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: THE TROOPS OF DOOM, SOL DE SANGRE, WEREWOLVES, COLDCELL, NIHILO, LACABRA, KYBALION, BALWEZO WESTIJIZ, KŌYA, WHARFLURCH, AMORPHIS

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
May 182024
 


Troops of Doom – photo by Cissa Flores

I wasn’t able to serve up a Saturday roundup last weekend due to working on Seattle’s Northwest Terror Fest, and it’s highly unlikely I’ll get one done next Saturday since I’ll be at Maryland Deathfest (if you’re there and spot someone who looks like a heavily tatted escapee from a nursing home, come say hi). So that makes this one kind of important, if only for me.

There’s gobs of new music to choose from, many more gobs than usual since I missed a week. And by the way, I’m using “gob” here as a word meaning “a large amount” and not its other meaning, i.e., “a lump or clot of a slimy or viscous substance”, though I have included a song off an album named Shittier/Slimier.

Ready, set, go! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PERVERSA — “THE TRIAL OF CHRISTIANITY”

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May 172024
 

On May 27th Satanath Records (Georgia) and Pluton’s Rising Productions (Poland) will co-release Under The Sign Of Blasphemy, the debut album from the Roman black/death metal band Perversa, and today we help introduce it through our premiere of an album track named “The Trial Of Christianity“.

The members of Perversa aren’t newcomers, having been involved in numerous other groups before this one, including Lord Vampyr, Malamorte, Handful of Hate, Massemord, Funeral Oration, and Iblis, but what brought these Italian musicians together under the banner of Perversa was a shared desire to practice satanic black metal in a most evil way — and that’s vividly borne out by the song you’re about to hear. Continue reading »

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