TOP ALBUMS I DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO GET AROUND TO BEFORE THE YEAR ENDED CAUSE I’M A BUSY PERSON AND GOT THINGS TO DO, FUCK OFF, WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT – YES, THE WHOLE THING IS THE TITLE, INCLUDING THIS SENTENCE CONFIRMING THAT THE WHOLE THING IS THE TITLE.

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Mar 162023
 

(Tumbleweed Dealer‘s main man Seb Painchaud usually visits us once a year to share his eclectic year-end list, but he’s back now because turns out that list wasn’t complete. Buckle up for a wild ride.)

Wouldn’t be fair to me to call this one SHIT I SLEPT ON ‘cause I was honest about the fact I wasn’t done going through all my 2022 releases on my phone when I made my AOTY list (here), which seems like only a few days ago, but that’s just how time works now I guess.

Let’s keep blurbs short and the music flowing, I got tons of 2023 shit to get back to, and I feel my not-so-unique blend of outdated TV references, vulgar imagery, and constant swearing are wearing thin. Continue reading »

BIG O(AK): OAK, OMEGA INFINITY, OAK PANTHEON

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Mar 152023
 

(DGR was inspired to pick three particular albums from his backlog to review together, which is what you will find below the anime image above.)

Look, sometimes you lay out your “to listen to and potentially review” archives in such a way that the moment strikes you. This is one of those times where the exercise is likely to appeal to just me, and me alone, so indulge me, will you? as I crawl backwards to catch up with even more stuff that has managed to hit throughout the first quarter of this year. Sometimes you do it because the idea you had for the article photo is, in the long run, more than enough.

OAK – DISINTEGRATE

Portugal’s Oak are likely to grab people’s attention with their sophomore release Disntegrate. Their first for Season Of Mist – after debut Lone was handled by Transcending Obscurity – Disintegrate is a near forty-five-minute traversal through the roiling collision of the worlds of death and doom.

Ever-dedicated to their world-building, the two-piece comprising Oak have spent much of the lead-in to the release of Disintegrate painting their music with the visages of lumbering giants, collapsing mountains, and enough Misery to make a 1987 Barnes & Noble jealous. While the lyrical inspirations may be purposefully vague and presented as one large archival screed, the music is recognizably suffocating and slow, at times fitted more as “mood” than artistic piece. When the two lead videos for the album have the group drenched in either snow or fire – with little room for subtlety in between – then you certainly know that there is “something” present here that is going to grab people. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LATE NIGHT VENTURE — “V: BONES OF THE EXTINCT”

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Mar 152023
 

On March 17th, the Danish post-metal band Late Night Venture will release their new album V: Bones Of The Extinct via Trepanation Recordings and Vinyltroll Records, and today we present it in its entirety, along with many words of introduction.

But before we get to our own words, we want to share what the labels and the band themselves tell us about the album’s conception, because it adds useful insights into the multi-faceted power of the music. For example, this:

“‘Bones Of The Extinct’ is a text excerpt capable of containing all the album’s songs, which individually are images of unforeseen occurrences with irreversible consequences. The lyrics cast their gaze upon the world and can be characterized as grounded doomsday stories about conditions, which more or less concern all beings on the planet. This gaze is directed towards mankind and its nature, all our efforts in this world – and the consequences of our urge.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GRAUGEIST — “FORWARD THE DOOM”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 152023
 

Graugeist is the solo project of Sarghas from the southwestern German state of Saarland, a musician and vocalist who is also a member of Immorior, Nýr Gata, and Stardust. Graugeist is the new name of a project originally called Mirai. Under the Mirai name Sarghas released a four-song debut EP entitled Makkura in 2020. Under the new name, Graugeist will release a debut album named Heaven Denies near the end of April through Void Wanderer Productions and Kvlt and Kaos Productions.

That Makkura EP (here) is startling to hear. With hyper-voltage power it combines electrifying riffing that’s both scathing and sweeping, thunderous rhythmic momentum, the kind of torrential screaming that puts the hair up on the back of your neck, and monstrous roaring — but part of what makes it startling is that Mirai brought into play a kind of elaborate elegance in the guitar- and keyboard-work.

The music was thus simultaneously a breathtaking maelstrom with a lot of visceral punch and a near-theatrical pageant, interweaving glorious and enthralling melodies that sometimes seemed connected to traditions of many centuries past. The sound was raw and scorching, and the vocals were also relentlessly incinerating, but the music also rang almost clear at vital moments, and the intricacy of the songcraft made every song an eye-opening trip.

That experience would be enough to kindle anticipation and intrigue for the debut full-length of Graugeist, and we have the first sign of Heaven Denies in the song from the album we’re premiering today — “Forward the Doom“. Continue reading »

TOP 5 BOOZE RECORDS OF 2022 THAT AUTOMATICALLY REFILL YOUR EMPTY GLASS

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 152023
 


Robot God

(The title of this post points the way. Axel Stormbreaker wrote it.)

I don’t get new stoner rock. It’s too trippy, psychedelic, or even “forced” for my taste. Normally, psych aspects do provide some shaky thrills, but not if the said riffs sound watered down to a state of indifference. It’s become too blunt, devoid of all nerve, as if a magical fairy showed up, only to cut their balls off in an instant. And believe me, I ain’t edgy for the sake of it, I’ve overplayed albums I don’t dig to the point of exhaustion, just in case I might convince myself that, yes, yes, I get it now, it’s so great and I’m so excited….

….yeah, OK, I may sound a bit of an asshole here. But let’s be honest, most old-timers I’ve known have shared relative thoughts from time to time. It’s the way people are consuming music these days; they won’t digest it properly, so why should any band spend the next three years in crafting a record. Even if the outcome is bound to sound rushed, sloppy, or even tiresome to some, you receive no assurances your effort won’t drift overlooked in the maze of sordid mediocrity.

Still, you should know none of the following records are perfect by any means. But they do offer some hardened guts, honest riffs, and, perhaps, the needed touch that may intrigue a personal flare of interest. They may not count as the cream of the crop, but they’re far too enjoyable to just not recommend. So, to each his own, but this is my 2022 Dark Horse list of Top-5 Booze Records. With the exception of trendy doom, as I take no interest in bands who excel rather at smoking weed, than writing truthful, heartfelt riffs. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CUTTERRED FLESH — “THE SYMPTOMS OF PARASITE”

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Mar 142023
 

Two years ago Transcending Obscurity Records released the humorously named Sharing Is Caring, the fifth album by the Czech brutal death metal band Cutterred Flesh. We got the opportunity to premiere a very interesting video for the absolutely bludgeoning and eviscerating song “Good Boy” (again proving that these dudes have a twisted sense of humor). That song alone, and the album even more so, demonstrated the band’s capacity for inflicting bombastic, mind-mauling, and terrifically brutalizing punishment, while also throwing in unexpected changes that keep listeners perched on their toes.

Now Cutterred Flesh are returning with new music via the same Transcending Obscurity label, and once again we have the chance to reveal a new song and a lyric video from a forthcoming release. This one is named “Symptoms of Parasite“. As usual, we want to give you a little preview of what’s about to happen to you. But where to start? The bamboozling animated video or the bamboozling brutality of the music? Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NADSAT — “MAKE MY DAY”

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Mar 142023
 

We’re going to “cut to the chase” on the video we’re premiering today, and then tell you who’s behind what will happen to you when you press “play”.

The experience doesn’t last long — just a bit more than two minutes — but long enough to feel like your bones have been bruised or broken and your mind mauled by a collision of bleakness and rage. It’s just two men doing this work, a drummer who assaults the kit like it needs killing and a guitarist/vocalist who both adds to the physical trauma and sears the senses with the screams of his instruments (including the larynx). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DEMONSTEALER

 Interviews  No Responses »
Mar 142023
 


photo by Ashish Kamble

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview with Sahil Makhija, aka Demonstealer, whose star-studded new album The Propaganda Machine is set for release on March 31st by Black Lion Records.)

Sahil Makhija has been an active member of the Indian extreme metal underground for 25 years. Back in 1998 he started the Demonstealer solo-project, but his band Demonic Resurrection turned out to be more active and more successful. Since then Sahil took part in a few more bands, and most of them performed death metal laden stuff, and if it wasn’t enough he runs Headbanger’s Kitchen, an online cooking show where he cooks food and interviews members of other metal bands!

Right now Demonstealer demands more of Sahil’s attention as the project’s killer new album The Propaganda Machine is to be released on the 31st of March by the Sweden-based label Black Lion Records. The Propaganda Machine is bigger than just a solo album, as Sahil recorded it accompanied by experienced international musicians from extreme metal bands, and this material is remarkably extreme as well, and melodic.

And there’s an actual and sharp message behind The Propaganda Machine’s manifestos. This interview with Demonstealer will reveal more facts behind the project’s own story and the life of the Indian underground. Continue reading »

DOWNFALL OF GAIA – SILHOUETTES OF DISGUST

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 132023
 

(Andy Synn continues his long-standing relationship with Downfall of Gaia)

I still remember the first time I saw Downfall of Gaia live. To say I was blown away would be an understatement.

Of course, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. I had, after all, only recently declared their third album, Aeon Unveils the Throne of Decay, to be one of the best records of 2014 (a decision I still stand by).

In the years since then I’ve seen the band several times more – each time, arguably, even better than the last – and they’ve produced a further two (soon to be three) more albums, including another potential classic (only time will tell) in the form of 2019’s Ethic of Radical Finitude.

And now it looks like they’re about to add a third top-tier, A-list release to their catalogue in the form of their sixth full-length release, Silhouettes of Disgust, which comes out this Friday.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNPURE — “SMALL CROOKED BONES”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 132023
 

After a silence spanning nearly 20 years, Unpure are returning with a new album named Prophecies Ablaze, which will be released at the end of March by Invictus Productions and The Ajna Offensive.

Twenty years (or nearly so) is a long time, and even Unpure‘s last album (2004’s World Collapse) thus pre-dates the start of our site. From time to time we do divert from focusing on new music in order to dig back into histories we missed before our current interests in metal took root, but I don’t remember ever exploring Unpure‘s discography as it grew from 1993 through that last album. And so I’ve come to Prophecies Ablaze with no expectations.

That’s probably just as well, since the Unpure that recorded the album now includes two new guitarists, Watain‘s Pelle Forsberg and Degial‘s Hampus Eriksson, as well as erstwhile Degial drummer Emil Svensson (who apparently joined the band in 2019), with only vocalist/bassist Kolgrim remaining from all the earlier days. So it could be considered a re-start in more ways than one. Continue reading »

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