AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BLACK PESTILENCE–“THE DEVIL’S CONNECTION”

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Jul 072023
 


Photo Credit – Wikked Twist Media

Let’s cut to the chase and then go back and fill in how we got here.

The video you’re about to see for the new Black Pestilence song “The Devil’s Connection” uses the kind of long tracking shot that has fascinated fans of such works as the 1917 movie and “The Bear” streaming series, even if not nearly as long as those. Bassist/vocalist Valax starts swaggering toward us as the song begins, later slinging his bass over the shoulder just in time to execute his solo in the song, eventually joined by drummer Davey Hellfire and then guitarist Daniel Toews, also just in time for his own fret-melter of a solo.

Like his bandmates, Valax is masked, but you can imagine the vicious rage on his face just from listening to the gritty snarling intensity of his voice. As for the music around that, it’s… crushing. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FOSSILIZATION — “ONCE WAS GOD”

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Jul 072023
 

Conquered at the gateways of light
Enslaved in the heavens
Shadows taking over the skies
With infinite malevolence
Feathers of the glorious days are scorched
His kingdom is gone
The sun that once protected now hides
The moon that was the beacon now starves

…Our hunt shall be glorious….

Those are among the lyrics to be found in the song from Fossilization‘s debut album that you’re about to experience. It’s called “Once Was God“, phrased in the past sense because it narrates the vengeful execution of the almighty and all his heavenly minions. As you’ll see, the music is every bit as malevolent and murderous as the lyrical theme, and it revels in its slaughtering, but it also draws us into lightless pits of degradation and death. Continue reading »

KONSENSUS: “LIFE DEPRIVED”

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Jul 072023
 

(As you’ll see from the following review, DGR got his grind tank fully fueled up by the new album from the Greek one-person operation Konsensus that came out last month.)

The opportunity to open a review or writeup with ‘wow, it sure is a great time such and such genre’ is always an appreciated one. Cards on the table though, one of the best parts about being a grind fan and writing about grind music whenever the chance strikes is that it is generally always a good time for grind because the formula is so honed down and about as high or low stakes as you want it to be that someone out there, somewhere, will have picked up on the punk-as-fuck ethos of ‘what if we just play really fast and beat the hell out of the instruments behind it’ and more often than not, be pretty dang good at it.

There are obviously highlight releases every year – for fucks sake, this a Rotten Sound year – but if you likes you a good ole’ fashioned circle-pit riff and a whole bunch of energy being expelled outwards in a direction that boils down to ‘everywhere’, the hyperspeed musicians who make their grind out of all things blastbeats, heavy and fast, are able to provide. Greece’s one-man show Konsensus was one of those highlight releases back in 2021. Bravely launched during the glory years of endless frustration at people’s damned near-malicious ignorance and brilliantly armed to the teeth, New Age Of Terror was a solid hit to the system that promised a whole lot of fury for music in the future, and now in 2023 we have that in the form of a full-length under the title of Life Deprived. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TACOS! — “CHIN UP, TITS OUT”

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Jul 062023
 

“Wisconsin probes how 8 roller-coaster riders became trapped upside down for hours.” That’s the headline of a news article that surfaced this morning, just before we put the finishing touches on this article. Using ladder trucks to reach them, it took firefighters more than three hours to get all the passengers down.

To experience getting stuck upside-down on a roller coaster ride, it would have been easier for all concerned (though only slightly less scary) if they’d just listened to the new Tacos! song you’re about to hear.

You might get some sense of that just from gazing at the cover art for this Seattle band’s new album 3, which is headed for release in August via Portland’s Nadine Records. Seeing those three children dressed from an older era skipping through a field of skulls beneath interested vultures suggests a strange trip is at hand, and so it is. You’ll also get a good sense of that in listening to this new song, “Chin Up, Tits Out“. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

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Jul 062023
 

(Andy Synn presents four albums from the last month – or so – that you may have overlooked)

What is there to say about today’s selection of albums – which run the gamut from Hardcore to Black Metal to Death Metal to Doom – beyond the fact that you really should check them all out?

Well, hopefully a lot, because otherwise this is going to be a fairly short (and boring) article!

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GUTSLIT — “CARNAL”

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Jul 062023
 

Almost six years ago the Indian extreme metal band Gutslit released their eye-opening second album Amputheatre, and now we’re on the eve of release of their third album Carnal. As we did roughly six years ago for Amputheatre, today we’re hosting a premiere for the new album by these brutal death/grind marauders, but this time it’s the whole record you’ll have a chance to hear, all eight neck-wrecking and eviscerating tracks —

Carnal is the name of the new full-length, and as the band explain, it “explores the intricate struggles of the human psyche and the conflict between good and evil,” and features tracks that draw inspiration from infamous serial killers, offering a unique perspective on the human experience”. Carnal also marks the return of Aditya Barve (Skewered in the Sewer) on vocals and features guest vocals by Benighted‘s Julien Truchan on the track “Bind Torture Kill.” Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): UAMH — “AT THE EDGE OF THE LOCH”

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Jul 052023
 

On July 7th, Fiadh Productions will (with considerable delight) release At the Edge of the Loch, the debut full-length by the Montana-based atmospheric black metal artist Uamh. As the album title itself suggests, Uamh‘s music draws inspiration from Celtic traditions, and subtly interweaves old folk instruments, along with drumming that sounds more stripped-down and even primitive than flashy (but still makes a visceral impact).

On the other hand, with one prominent exception, the vocals take the form of raw black metal screams, and the music, which derives its greatest strengths from the ravaging and ringing power of the carefully layered guitars, is capable of searing the senses and melting hearts as well as opening the mind’s eye to breathtaking panoramas.

We have a lot more thoughts about each of the album’s five compelling tracks, all of which we’re sharing with you today in advance of the album’s release this Friday, but we ought to begin the introduction with Uamh‘s own words: Continue reading »

NOTT: “HIRAETH”

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Jul 052023
 

(What we have here is Todd Manning‘s review of Hiraeth, the new album by the duo Nott that’s set for release on August 18th by Silent Pendulum Records.)

It’s probably not helpful to call an album ‘heavy’ on a website such as No Clean Singing, but what I want to get across is that the new release by Nott, Hiraeth, is immensely, cosmically, insanely heavy. This duo, consisting of Julia Geaman on drums and Tyler Campbell on guitar, bass, and vocals, now hail from the Pacific Northwest and play a brand of death-doom that will surely cause California to fall into the ocean.

Starting with the opener “Torn”, Nott unleashes riffs that sound like a boulder being dropped off a skyscraper. They deal in a similar vein of apocalyptic atmosphere as Ulcerate but there exists an additional dimension of darkness here that sets them apart. When the occasional blast beat surfaces, there’s a darkness not unlike early Immolation. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: COFFIN MULCH

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Jul 052023
 

(Comrade Aleks admits that he has a tough time getting into death metal, but he has succumbed to the rough charms of Scotland’s Coffin Mulch, and you’ll get a sense why when you read his interview with the band’s vocalist Al today. The interview was conducted before Memento Mori‘s release of their debut album, which happened just a few days ago.)

Members of the Scottish death band Coffin Mulch played anything but death in their old days. The band’s bass-player Rich was doing traditional doom, new guitarist Derek (who joined in 2022) plays stoner still, drummer Fraser is in a sludge band, and vocalist Al sang in a couple of local bands too. But for five years now they have been cutting furious, sophisticated, and charged death metal with psychotic enthusiasm.

Spectral Intercession is their first full-length album, but even before that, the band did not sit idly and released a demo, and then a damn good EP. Coffin Mulch will enchant fans of old fashioned Swedish death metal and bands like Autopsy and Asphyx. Their focus, their passion, and their punk DIY vibe impress as well, and so I, a person who has a hard time getting into the cadaverous charm of death metal, strongly recommend you Spectral Intercession.

This killer interview with Al is another reason to pay attention to Coffin Mulch. (We thank Nathan Birk (Suspicious Activities PR) for organizing the interview.) Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FOSSA MAGNA — “FOSSA MAGNA フォッサマグナ”

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Jul 042023
 

Those who’ve come here today looking for riffs and melodies, uplift or succor, will leave empty-handed. What you’ll find instead is “a merging of harsh minds during even harsher times,” “relentless textural soundscapes and combative tones sharpened and pointed by design in order to scrape the listener clean to the bone”.

So says the French label WV Sorcerer Productions and its co-release partners Damien Records and Hell Simulation about the self-titled debut album by an international group of noisemakers who’ve chosen the name Fossa Magna. The participants in this collaborative effort are:

Astro (Japan):
Hiroshi Hasegawa 長谷川洋

Many Blessings (USA):
Ethan Lee McCarthy (Primitive Man, Vermin Womb)

Coalminer (Philippines):
Chester Masangya & Robert Glen Dilanco Continue reading »

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