AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VISCERAL — “TOXIN”

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Nov 022022
 

When a solo creator enlists a stellar group of other performers to help realize his vision, there’s a risk that the creator will be overshadowed. In the case of the death metal project Visceral, the centerpiece is Portuguese musician and vocalist Bruno K. He’s no newcomer, as a glance at Metal-Archives proves, having been a member of the death/grind band Bowelrot, who released four demos and a split in the early ’90s, as well as other projects from that era and more recently the black/death bands Enlighten and In Tha Umbra.

So, he has some history, and no doubt it is his musical conception and songcraft that gives Visceral its true lifeforce. But as mentioned, he also recruited some very talented allies for the recording of Visceral‘s forthcoming debut album The Tree of Venomous Fruit, including drummer Menthor Serpens from Enthroned, Lucifyre, and Nightbringer (among others), bassist Alexandre Ribeiro from Grog and Earth Electric, and vocalist Guilherme Henriques from Gaerea and Oak.

What they have all accomplished together is a very impressive 11-song record that draws from old school death metal traditions but goes beyond those, and we have a prime example of that in the album track we’re premiering today through a guitar-playthrough video, one that’s aptly named “Toxin“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LICHT DES URTEILS

 Interviews  1 Response »
Nov 022022
 

(The debut album from Finland’s Licht des Urteils is set for imminent release by Purity Through Fire on November 4th, and to help herald its arrival Comrade Aleks conducted the following interview.)

Licht des Urteils are based in Tampere, Finland. This blasphemous sect has been active since 2019, and for three years they accumulated dark energies from their environment in order to put it all in their first full-length, Uhraamo. They sound evil and dangerous, just as real black metal should be. Licht des Urteils do their dirty job without compromises or doubts, as Flames shouldn’t cease and the Cult shouldn’t die.

But well, enough of empty words, as at the end of the day it’s all about Death and Satan. Continue reading »

DISILLUSION – AYAM

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 012022
 

(Andy Synn basks in the splendour of the new Disillusion album, out Friday on Prophecy Productions)

How exactly does one follow up an album which not only catapulted you back into the public eye after years of absence, but which was also – according to some people – on a par with the best thing you’ve ever done?

Well, the best course of action – if the upcoming new record from resurgent Prog-Metal powerhouse Disillusion is anything to go by – is that you don’t… or, more specifically, you don’t try to compete with yourselves.

Instead you take your time, follow your creative muse, and calmly (and confidently) continue to produce some of the very best work of your career.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: APPALLING — “PAVILION”

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Nov 012022
 

Let me put my cards on the table: I fucking loved Appalling‘s first two albums, 2017’s Secrets of the Adept and 2019’s Inverted Realm. Both of them were powerfully rendered amalgams of chaos and catastrophe, and well-calculated to infect the mind with memorable hooks in the midst of sensations that were both exhilarating and unnerving. Progress was also evident in moving from the first to the second, creating a conviction that these Virginians would continue striving to improve on a very solid foundation.

I make this confession because it means I was already prone to favor the band’s forthcoming third album Sacrilege, especially because it’s being released by a label that’s quickly proved to have dependably good taste (Personal Records) but also because it means expectations on this side were high. Was I disappointed?

Well, you can guess the answer to that question, given today’s premiere of a song named “Pavilion“, but I’ll eliminate the guesswork. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LETHAL OUTCOME — “SUICIDAL SACRIFICE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 012022
 

Because most visitors to our site are English speakers (to one degree or another), we’ve used English translations for the name of the band whose song we’re premiering today, and the song name as well. But the band themselves are steadfast in their use of the Russian language, both in displaying their name and in the rendering of the title of their debut album and all the song names.

And so we present the song “Суицидальное жертвоприношение” (“Suicidal Sacrifice”) from the album Избыточная Смертность (“Excessive Mortality”) by the band Летальный Исход (Lethal Outcome).

In their music, this group from the Urals have devoted their talents to old-school death-thrash, but with other ingredients in the mix, drawing their inspirations from the early works of Protector, Sepultura, Sodom, Obituary, Deicide, Mayhem, and Asphyx. The song we’re presenting today also proves the dynamism of the band’s songcraft. Continue reading »

GOATWHORE: “ANGELS HUNG FROM THE ARCHES OF HEAVEN”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Nov 012022
 

(Here’s DGR‘s extensive review of the new album by Goatwhore, out now on Metal Blade Records.)

There was a block of time during the decade that was the 2010s when it seemed like Goatwhore were unstoppable and ever-present. They released consistently good-to-great albums like clockwork and few bands out there embodied the concept of “professional homeless person” quite like this hard-touring group. It seemed like they were always on the road and ready to answer the call if there was a show that needed its ass saved from a last-minute cancellation. Hell, there were times when the band wouldn’t even be part of an event yet would somehow pop up within the area because what the hell else were Goatwhore going to do with their free time? Not play live?

That’s why sitting down and gazing over the numbers gap between the group’s 2017 Vengeful Ascension and their latest salvo in early October, Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven, and seeing the five-year mark just looks wild, especially for a band whose previous longest gap between releases was at best on the long side of three. One could only expect that we’d see a release from Goatwhore a whole hell of a lot sooner had we not had to effectively put the world on pause due to a worldwide plague, because otherwise the Goatwhore camp probably would have been out on the road and writing just as hard as they normally do. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 151): ABDUCTION

 THE SYNN REPORT  1 Response »
Oct 312022
 

Recommended for fans of: Leviathan, Behexen, Blaze of Perdition

Who knows what day it is today?

That’s right, it’s Synn Report day, and this month I’m turning my attention to all four full-lengths (including their recently-released new album, Black Blood) by the Black Metal sorcerer who goes by the name Abduction.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: STILLEKLANG — “FESTEN SCHRITTES”

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Oct 312022
 

Today we present the first formidable steps of a captivating German band named Stilleklang. What we have for you is a song named “Festen Schrittes” from Stilleklang‘s debut album TrÄnen der Vergangenheit Part 1, which will be jointly released by the Crawling Chaos and Schattenpfade labels on November 29th. It is a multi-faceted fashioning of black metal that’s elegant and poignant as well as harsh and livid.

As for those many facets, Stilleklang is the solo work of one Fabian, but he is accompanied on the album by drummer Marcus Röll (who is also responsible for the album’s wonderful artwork, which beautifully suits the mood of today’s song), known for his work in Herbstlethargie, Gernotshagen, BlutEck, and Eïs, as well as live performances with Firtan, and the wonderfully talented violinist M. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IFFERNET — “EMPTY TOMB”

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Oct 312022
 

It’s probably a mistake to try to sum up the early defining characteristics of second-wave black metal in broad strokes, because even then there was more diversity in the music than many people usually credit. But certainly one of those defining characteristics was a feeling of rebellion and rejection expressed in strikingly aggressive, and even hostile terms, drawing in part on the spirit of punk but making that spirit feel a hell of a lot more raw and dangerous.

But soon enough other moods began to be detected. It didn’t take long for adjectives like “grim” and “frostbitten” to surface and become staples, and not just because the breeding ground for the music tended geographically to be in cold northern climes. Looking back, it seems almost counter-intuitive for such scalding firebrand music to be characterized that way.

In part it was because haunting and harrowing elements of the supernatural were surfacing in both the themes and the atmosphere of the music, but that’s not the only explanation. It seems at least equally true that, along with rage and ferocity, some strains of the music also manifested an emotional spectrum that reached from melancholy to hopelessness and agony.

Which brings us, many decades later, to the French band Iffernet. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ARKÆON, HARVEST GULGATHA, INCANTVM, ÚZKOST, DØDSENGEL, WOLOK, DEVISER, ENDLESS LOSS

 SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Oct 302022
 

I was able to devote a lot of time to listening to new music this weekend, despite feeling borderline-miserable. One result was a big round-up of new music yesterday. Another result is this over-stuffed column of blackened sounds – advance songs from seven forthcoming albums, some with videos, and one very recent EP.

ARKÆON (Denmark)

Over the last six months or so, I, Voidhanger Records has been announcing new releases in batches. I’ve done my best to call attention to most of them as time has allowed, because (as usual for this label) they are so unconventional and interesting. From the latest batch I’ve picked music from two albums for this column, and the first of those is Parasit, the debut full-length from a veteran Danish trio who call themselves Arkæon. Continue reading »

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