GONZO’S BIGASS END-OF-SUMMER ROUNDUP, PART II

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Sep 082022
 


Northless

(Our Denver-based friend Gonzo has brought us the second installment in a round-up of new albums that emerged this summer which caught his attention and kindled his enthusiasm. See check out Part 1, go here.)

When I’m doing these columns, there comes a point at which I just have to stop agonizing over what I’m going to include and decide on something. I guess this speaks to the quality of what’s come out since June.

That being said, here we go. And I’d be lying if I said this list looks exactly like I thought it would a week ago. Continue reading »

AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION – WOE

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Sep 082022
 

(Andy Synn lavishes praise on the new album from Sweden’s An Abstract Illusion)

This Friday is a big day for Death Metal fans, especially fans of the more Prog/Tech side(s) of the scene.

We’ve got new records from Fallujah (an even flashier version of The Flesh Prevails, for better or worse), Warforged (a much more coherent and consistently rewarding record than their debut, albeit one which still doesn’t feel like the band’s “final” form) and Revocation (which… I already reviewed and, spoiler alert, it’s great), as well as several more which I don’t even have time to mention here, let alone review.

But one album I feel compelled to write about is Woe, the upcoming second album from ultra-talented Swedish trio An Abstract Illusion.

Because while other bands might be getting the lion’s share of they hype and headlines this week, these guys could (and should) very well steal the show.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CINIS — “AEGIS”

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Sep 072022
 

The Polish death metal band CINIS has had a long career, with a 20th anniversary coming up next year, but they’ve not filled those decades with plentiful releases. A demo began their recorded output in 2005, but three years passed between then and their first album, The Last Days of Ouroboros, and six more years elapsed before the second one arrived, 2014’s Subterranean Antiquity. Even that significant interval was exceeded by the time that has trudged by before a third full-length was completed and scheduled for release, but at last it’s almost here.

Lies That Comfort Me is the name of the new one, and September 23rd is the date on which it will be discharged by the excellent Polish label Selfmadegod Records. Nine tracks long, it proclaims an unyielding homage to such formidable trans-Atlantic forerunners as Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Cannibal Corpse, while also linking arms with the stylistic influences of CINIS countrymen Vader and Decapitated.

You could say it’s a way of proclaiming that certain old schools of death metal are undying, and still live in the hearts of veterans such as these four. But fear not, Lies That Comfort Me isn’t some uninspired nostalgia trip, but a full-bore juggernaut fueled by fire and fury, with the kind of riff mastery that proves to be highly addictive, a rhythm section that knows how to groove hard, and enough changing facets to keep listeners on the edge of their seats throughout the whole thrill-ride.

Witness the song we’re presenting today — an electrifying rush named “Aegis“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EMBRACE OF THORNS — “THE BREATH OF THE BEAST”

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Sep 072022
 

With a career stretching back to the late ’90s and a sixth album on the way, Embrace of Thorns should need no introduction. One of the most formidable bands from Hellas, they have moved from strength to further strength, ever-advancing in their explorations of musical muscularity and mood, rendering creations of blackened death metal that both pulverize listeners and create compelling and harrowing atmospheres.

Some would argue that even 20 years into their career, they produced their best album in 2018’s Scorn Aesthetics, though others will steadfastly maintain that 2009’s Atonement Ritual or 2011’s Praying for Absolution are cult classics that have not yet been surpassed.

This kind of debate is likely to intensify with the advent of the band’s new album Entropy Dynamics, which is set for release on October 10th by Nuclear Winter Records. At a significant 50 minutes in length, it definitely won’t short-change fans, and that length alone is one sign of just how brightly the band’s creative fires continue to burn, and just how fervently they continue to explore wide-ranging dynamics in their ideas and in the kind of trip they wish listeners to take in their company.

Today we have an example of this in our premiere of the album’s second advance track, “The Breath of the Beast“. Continue reading »

CASTRATOR: “DEFILED IN OBLIVION”

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Sep 072022
 

(Our man DGR prepared the following review of a long-awaited debut album by NY-based Castrator, which is out now on the Dark Descent label.)

This is one that’s been hovering in the periphery for some time now, so it’s good to have the chance to finally dive into it.

Castrator are a project we’ve been watching for a while around these here parts. Although their activities have had long quiet periods – including those within this site’s general lifespan – there was never a sense that the group had split. The 2015 No Victim release has always lurked somewhere just off the purview but within sight, in part because the members of this particular death metal project were in so many bands that we have crossed paths with. For instance, their bassist R.M has time spent in both Derkéta and Gruesome.

In the timeframe between No Victim and the group’s newest album Defiled In Oblivion – released at the tail end of July – Castrator‘s lineup has changed somewhat, localizing its musicians a bit closer, but there is no question about it when it comes to the music. Castrator‘s death metal bona fides are fully realized, and the ten rumbling songs here – nine originals and one tackling of Venom‘s “Countess Bathory” – are demonstrations of that fact time and time again. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: EATEN BY SHARKS — “KILL AND CONSUME”

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Sep 062022
 


Photo by Lisa Thompson

I was a fully grown young adult when I saw the movie Jaws for the first time, but I had recurring nightmares afterward as if I’d been a child. The greatest source of those night terrors was the scene of Quint’s consumption by the Great White, screaming while being eaten alive. I’ve gone back to the movie over and over again since then, but I’m still horrified by that scene. The thought of any creature being eaten alive still viscerally revolts and frightens, even though it happens millions of times a day throughout the animal world, even if largely unseen.

Jaws obviously made an impact on the Ontario band Eaten By Sharks, but rather than run from its horrors they run toward them. Lifting a line from the movie when the shark first reveals itself to the cantankerous crew of the Orca in all its frightening immensity, they named their first release We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat.

That was back in 2013, and after almost nine years of silence since then, one might be forgiven for wondering if they’d succumbed to a watery demise themselves. But they’ve risen again, prowling the surface with razor fins slicing the waves, teeth bared, and a new album of heavy-grooved technical death metal named Eradication that presents a nautical-themed, first-person horror experience.

The album was just released last month, and to help spread the word we’re presenting a playthrough video of the song “Kill and Consume” that features the performances of guitar duo Chris Chaperon and Dan Okowinsky. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEATHSIEGE — “THRONE OF HERESY”

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Sep 062022
 

The origins of Deathsiege may be traced to a filthy rehearsal room in Tel Aviv Hell where drummer and main songwriter A.M. (Har, Kever, and more) began work on the project in 2019. Shortly thereafter he was joined by vocalist and guitarist J.S. (Svpremacist), and the two of them recorded their debut demo Cannibalistic Patricide that same year. If you know anything about the bands those two have on their resumes, it won’t surprise you to know that it was a ferocious and scathing outburst, rendering three tracks in less than seven minutes.

Having lit their flamethrower they kept firing it with another demo in 2020, and that’s where we first discovered their campaign of enraged ruination. Unworthy Adversary raced through seven tracks in less than 12 minutes, and in a review here we acclaimed it as “hellishly good”: “If it had been longer it might have put listeners at risk of adrenaline overload and ensuing stroke”.

Now here we are, on the other side of pandemic hell (or so we hope), and Deathsiege are ready to uncage their debut album Throne of Heresy via their new label Everlasting Spew Records. For this first full-length the original duo are joined by new main guitarist and songwriter T.D., turning the band into a marauding international trio. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 062022
 

(What albums did you miss last month? Andy Synn is here to tell you about a few of them)

August was… a pretty shitty month for me, all in all. For a variety of different reasons.

That’s probably why today’s edition of Things You May Have Missed is such a dark one – sometimes you just need a dose of darkness to help put things in perspective.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: BIFID CORPSE — “REAL RAW DEATH”

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Sep 062022
 

(In this feature Chris Luedtke introduces our premiere of a new EP by Chicago’s Bifid Corpse, which is being released today via Bandcamp and features a logo by Warhead Art.)

Since 2016 Chicago two-piece Bifid Corpse have been punching out heavy, punishing tunes that largely walk a fine line between death metal and grindcore. Frantic blasts, brutally heavy guitar, gruff throat-ripping screams and growls. On top of that, sprinkle in a little bit of beatdown and the occasional doomy section and you have an idea of what you’re walking into. After a slew of shorter releases, a three-way split with Surfer James and Pythian, it looks like the band decided to go out and smelt a bigger hammer, namely their latest release Real Raw Death.

The title could not be more fitting. Bifid Corpse have cranked up the heaviness and recording quality without sacrificing any of the rawness. Real Raw Death is an immediate sledgehammer shot to the speakers. Opening with “Severed Skewed Consumed” the band lead in blasting and swinging. The heaviness and riding that grind/death wave sets up the album well. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON LABOR DAY: INTO THE SILO, HUSSAR, FIRTAN

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 052022
 

In our never-ending mission to drown people in heavy music we have another roundup to start the new week. We’re doing this even though today is a national holiday here in the U.S., and the culmination of a 3-day holiday weekend. Canada also celebrates the same holiday today, the first Monday in September. Much of the rest of the world observes a similar celebration, but does it on May 1st.

The holiday is generically in honor of “workers”, but really began as a celebration of the labor movement (or “labour”, as they spell it in Canada). “Union” has become something of a dirty word in the U.S. over the last 40 years (in that time the percentage of American workers who belong to a union has fallen by half), though labor organization seems to be experiencing at least a modest resurgence in places like Starbucks shops, Amazon warehouses, and Google’s cafeterias. More power to them.

The holiday has really become just another excuse to have a 3-day weekend of sleeping, eating, drinking, and hanging out with friends. Here in the U.S., tradition also has it that you’re not supposed to wear white after Labor Day, since it unofficially marks the end of summer. But you probably don’t wash your underwear very often anyway, so you’re good. And who wears white band shirts, I mean other than Andy Synn?

Where was I?

Oh yeah… drowning visitors in heavy music. That mission goes on, ’cause we don’t observe holidays at this clinically obsessive place (as if you couldn’t tell from the three posts that preceded this one today). Continue reading »

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