NO CLEAN SINGING

BEER AND LOATHING IN DENVER: DECIBEL METAL & BEER FEST, ROCKY MOUNTAIN EDITION, 2022 – DAY ONE

Dec 132022

(Our Denver-based contributor Gonzo was in the right place at the right time for the Denver edition of the Decibel Metal & Beer Fest on December 2-3, and kindly provided us the following glowing report, complete with pairings and tqsting notes.)

Few pairings are quite as fine as loud music and weapons-grade fermented beverages.

And perhaps no publication has a better grasp of that fine tandem than Decibel, one of the few print magazines in heavy music that’s still going strong. Fortunately for those of us in the Rocky Mountains (and a good chunk of intrepid travelers), the good folks at Decibel announced this year that they’d be bringing their celebrated Metal & Beer Fest to Denver for the first time.

After soldiering through a glorious 48 hours of incredible music and outstanding ales, IPAs, stouts, lagers, porters, and everything in between, I can confidently say Decibel found the perfect location to invade for this festival. If only my eardrums and liver would agree. Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GOOD

LISTMANIA 2022 17 Responses »

Dec 132022

(Andy Synn kicks “List Week” into gear properly with a hefty collection of albums which, while maybe not top-tier – though some come very close – all have something to offer to the discerning metalhead)

Those of you who’ve been with us for a while will already be aware, but the primary purpose of this article is to serve as a resource for albums that you may not have been able (or willing) to listen to over the course of the last twelve months. It’s not ranked (obviously) but it is broken up into sections that should, hopefully, help you navigate by whatever different styles or sub-genres you’re most interested in, with links provided so you can listen to them at your convenience.

To save you any surprise, I’ll let you know right now that you’re not going to be seeing many of the “big” names – Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Decapitated, Machine Head, etc – here, both because they don’t really need any attention for us (I’d much rather focus on bands who don’t get even 1/10th the same amount of coverage) and because, to be brutally honest, I didn’t think any of them were particularly good…

You’ll also note the absence of some of the year’s most hyped releases (Chat Pile, Lorna Shore, Obsidious, Callous Daoboys) that, to be quite honest, just didn’t do anything for me, and I’m sure there are heaps of other albums that are going to be missing too, including a few (most notably the new Misþyrming) that I’m hoping to get around to writing about in the next few weeks.

That being said, if you don’t see something here that you expected, then don’t fly off the handle just yet… there’s still tomorrow’s list of the “Great” albums to come, and you might be pleasantly surprised as to what I’ve included in the top tier this year!

Until then, however, here’s 250-ish albums here for you all to check out, all of which have at least something to offer if you’re willing to give them a shot.

SEEN AND HEARD: THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT, TITHE, UBUREN, AMONG VULTURES, WINTER FIRES

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Dec 122022

As I explained in yesterday’s round-up, we’re now beginning a week when (by design) we don’t have the normal volume of premieres on the calendar. This gives me more time to stare at the wall (I swear there’s a face in that wood plank), pick lint from my navel, twiddle my thumbs, and try to pull together more round-ups of new songs and videos.

The timing is fortuitous, because despite the fact that only a couple of weeks remain in the year, new songs keep pumping out of the heavy metal firehose, and my list of them continues to metastasize. In trying to figure out which ones to recommend here, I decided to leave out some of the bigger names, such as the new songs from Memoriam and Ne Obliviscaris, and to end with a compilation that I’m making no effort to “review”. Continue reading »

MALLEUS: “THE FIRES OF HEAVEN”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Dec 122022

(Hope Gould returns to NCS with this lively review of the forthcoming debut album by Boston-based black metal band Malleus.)

In 2016, Boston’s Malleus served up a wholly satisfying slab of first-wave-worship black metal with their debut EP, Storm of Witchcraft. Unmistakably channeling Bathory’s evil, primitive approach to Venömhead proto-thrash, Malleus drive their freshly sharpened necromantic blade deep into the heart of black metal’s beginnings. While many bands tap into the same necrotic root, Malleus capture a true metal vitality that is often imitated and rarely replicated.

Revisiting this approach in the subsequent tease of an EP, Night Raids, the underground was left eager for a further glimpse into their portal of the past. At long last, the sinister portal has been re-opened with the announcement of their debut full-length, The Fires of Heaven, set for release on January 27^th through Armageddon Label. Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE DISAPPOINTING

LISTMANIA 2022 12 Responses »

Dec 122022

(Andy Synn begins his annual List Week with a collection of albums which perhaps failed to reach their full potential)

As I always like to stress, around this time every year, this particular article is not an excuse to be a troll or a hater (or whatever word “the kids” are using these days). Nor are we attempting to farm for clicks or cause controversy for controversy’s sake (and I’m sure at least a few of these picks will be controversial).

Because the truth is, I don’t hate any of these albums. Some of them I even think are pretty good, despite some obvious (and occasionally massive) flaws.

But in a world of (metallic) media that often seems loathe to offer even the mildest of criticisms – whether through fear of the resultant online backlash or an unwillingness to risk losing their precious access to the bigger, more famous names (who, let’s be honest, tend to get treated with kid gloves when, really, they should be being held to even higher standards) – I think it’s important to acknowledge that sometimes the bands we love don’t live up to our expectations… or their own potential.

In that spirit, then, let’s consider this a safe space, one where we can acknowledge that no band is perfect, and being disappointed by their new release doesn’t necessarily make you any less of a fan, even if it hurts a lot when it happens.

So, please, put down your pitchforks and douse your torches… and remember that we’re not here to hate, we’re here to heal.

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SUNDAY: ANTECANTAMENTUM, CRAWL, ENDLESS BORE, NOTHINGNESS

Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Dec 112022

Antecantamenum – Melpomenë

For people who showed up here expecting to find SHADES OF BLACK on this Sunday, you will find some black and “blackened” metal in this round-up, but I decided to expand the musical boundaries. I try to compile music across many metal sub-genres on Saturdays, but couldn’t manage it yesterday because of a Zoom meeting for my fucking day job that began at 8:30 a.m. and lasted until almost 1:00 p.m. It felt like the Bataan Death March except without actual deaths (though when someone dies in a Zoom call it’s not always immediately apparent).

It’s a shame that happened, because even though we’re getting very close to the end of the year, a ton of new metal continues to roll out and I really could have used two weekend columns to highlight some of the new songs and videos instead of just this one. But this one will have to do, at least for now. However, I do believe I can follow it with another one tomorrow. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CHOP7X — “TELL YOURSELF A LITTLE LIE / CHOSEN IGNORANCE”

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Dec 092022

(Christopher Luedtke introduces our premiere of a two-track blast from the cubergrind project Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop.)

Cybergrind has become a fluid, ever-evolving genre that can be a bear to keep up with. As far as genre conventions go, there the genre seems to be over-trying to move as fast as it can to shatter conventions. But that doesn’t mean it is devoid of more straightforward projects.

Cybergrind is not a young genre, it is just a more recently utilized one. It can be mad-scientist experimental or just straight noisy digital grind. The one-man-band Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop (or Chop7x if you’re nasty) falls into the latter category. Noisy and harsh, the project has been on an unrelenting path and is ready to step up its game on its latest singles “Tell Yourself A Little Lie” and “Chosen Ignorance.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PNAKOTIC MANUSCRIPT — “PETER THE HERMIT’S CURSE”

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Dec 092022

What we have for you now is the premiere of a song from the forthcoming debut album Dark Prometheus by the multi-national black metal band Pnakotic Manuscript. Both the album’s conceptual narrative and the band’s own name launched this writer on a series of internet searches.

The band’s unusual name seems to be a reference to mythic ancient and occult writings that may be rooted (at least in part) in Lovecraftian lore, which provide medieval descriptions of alien races populating the earth, strange cosmic deities, and legendary heroes. But this is only a guess.

As for the album, its central protagonist is the historical figure Peter of Amiens, also known as Peter the Hermit. A Roman Catholic priest, he was commissioned by Pope Urban II to command an armed pilgrimage from France to Jerusalem, and thus became a key figure during the military expedition known as the People’s Crusade and the First Crusade. Under his leadership, the crusaders also engaged in the torture and slaughter of Jews along the way. Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE EPs

LISTMANIA 2022 4 Responses »

Dec 092022

(Andy Synn kicks off his annual “List Week” a few days early)

Let me make one thing clear – what you’re about to read is in no way a “definitive” list of the “best” EPs of 2022.

Rather it’s just a round-up of all the various short-form releases – EPs, splits, and even the occasional “album” which I felt wasn’t quite LP sized when all was said and done – that I’ve had the pleasure of listening to over the last twelve months.

That’s something to bear in mind when you read all of my articles over the next week… there’s no such thing as a “definitive” or “exhaustive” list, not even here at NCS where we do our best to cover everything we can. There’s simply too much music released every year for any site, let alone any individual writer, to cover all of it.

Still, I’ve tried my best (even though, I have to admit, I didn’t write about anywhere near as many EPs as I actually listened to this year) and I hope you all enjoy the following collection of recommendations, including my personal favourites of the year.

HEADGORE: “A MEAL FIT FOR GOD”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Dec 092022

(Christopher Luedtke reviews a new EP by the Vegas band HeadGore, which just dropped yesterday. Prepare to have your head gored.)

The state of music today is a frankly daunting and overwhelming landscape. In the last few years alone so many sounds have been converged, soldered, and brought together by odd arcane alchemy in very quick succession. And as this internet experiment slouches onward at lightspeed it becomes increasingly more impossible to hear it all at once, much less in individual doses. It is a thought that crosses my mind as I listen to Las Vegas, NV nocore unit HeadGore. There is a lot going on and going down, and their latest EP A MEAL FIT FOR GOD is a snapshot into the alchemy of everything.

HeadGore has been putting out bizarre iterations of grind, cybergrind, death metal, and electronic music since their 2019 split with Shitnoise Bastards. At once they are primarily a band that fits into the grind category. They do blasts, and the music is fast and noisy, but they very easily transition into the noisecore/noisegrind categories, but then will also flip a track into an electronic break or turn it into an uncomfortable, swampy melodic section. The nature of things seems to be not confining or boxing oneself in, hence nocore. And this latest release A MEAL FIT FOR GOD is the band at their most experimental yet. Continue reading »

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