NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: AGLO — “COLLECTOR”

Feb 082023

If I had had my wits about me I would have asked where Melbourne-based Aaron Osborne got the name for his solo death metal project AGLO. It sounds like “aglow”, but the only glow generated from the music is the kind of radiation from thermonuclear detonations that turns stone into molten glass. “Aglo” is also the Esperanto term for “eagle”, and there is indeed a ruthless raptor-like quality to the music as well (with listeners playing the role of field mice).

But it probably refers to neither of these things, especially since AGLO is inspired by Star Trek, and especially by the Borg, those cybernetic organisms whose mission is to assimilate the technology and organisms of other species into the hive-mind Collective that’s intent on achieving a kind of soul-devouring perfection. Perhaps AGLO is an acronym… and perhaps we’ll find out and let you know later.

But for now the focus should be on AGLO‘s new EP Into the Maze, which will be released by the wonderfully named label Gutter Prince Cabal on February 16th, and even more specifically on the song we’re premiering today — “Collector“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DYING FETUS, BURNER, DISCREATION, COMMON WOUNDS, SLAWIA

Feb 082023

Dying Fetus, photo by Scott Kinkade

Here we have a mid-week round-up of new songs and videos I want to recommend. I was very tempted to call it “PART 1”, because I have another collection already picked out. But I also have to finish the write-up for a premiere we’re hosting today, and I never know when my fucking day job will rear its head. So, I’ll refrain from promises and just hope the today’s second roundup works out. If it doesn’t I hope this will tide you over.

DYING FETUS (U.S.)

To start, here’s “Unbridled Fury“, a new Dying Fetus single (and video) that came out last Friday. I don’t suppose I need to say very much by way of introduction. Dying Fetus are an institution. Most everyone who visits this site knows the band’s music and knows whether they like it or not. The song will please those who do (it pleases me), and won’t interest those who don’t, because this is a rock solid Dying Fetus song. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: AMPUTATE

Interviews No Responses »

Feb 072023

(In today’s new interview Comrade Aleks engages in a very lively discussion with vocalist/guitarist Tom Kuzmic from the Portuguese death metal band Amputate, whose latest album was released last year by Massacre Records.)

The band’s name should tell you everything and you don’t need the crystal ball to learn what Amputate is about.

The core lineup of this Florida-styled death metal crew from Portugal located to Switzerland some time ago, but they keep on playing the same bloodthirsty razor-sharp stuff even in relatively comfortable Zurich. Their second album Dawn of Annihilation interested Massacre Records and these eight tracks of gore and the macabre have been available on CD and vinyl since October 2022.

Tom Kuzmic, the band’s front-man, consults us about sonic surgery and its contraindications. And how much of good old gore is left in Amputate? Let’s find it out. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Feb 072023

(Andy Synn recommends four albums from last month which you may have overlooked)

So we’re officially one month into the new year and… my list of artists/albums that we didn’t cover in January is already four or fives times longer than the ones we did write about.

Maybe it’s time to accept that it’s impossible for us to stay on top of everything, and just be happy with what we are able to do?

Hell, usually it’s another couple of months of stress and strife before I/we inevitably come to this realisation, so perhaps this is a sign of what I think they call “growth”?

Whatever… here’s four releases from January that you might have missed (but which, thankfully, we didn’t).

MITHRIDATUM: “HARROWING”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Feb 072023

(This is DGR‘s extensive review of the debut album by the multi-national band Mithridatum, recently released by Willowtip Records.)

Mithridatum are a new death metal trio that are part of a much larger musical wave taking place within the metal scene. Over recent years the concept of a dissonant death metal band has been a slow-growing sub-section of an already fractured and widely spread subgenre of metal to begin with. Reflective of the large motions in the quest for the nebulous ‘heavy’, many artists have found new vitality in making some of the ugliest and most unapproachable music out there, where a listener can recognize the barest components but otherwise spend just as much time fighting to find the appeal in any of it, or having the music actively reject the idea of approachability.

There’s so much incredibly cool stuff happening within the spinning vortex of sound that emanates from Mithridatum but you’re just as often subjected to nightmarish sonic hellscapes as best as the band could write them. Fascinating? Yes. Friendly? Not a chance in hell. Harrowing may be one of the more apt titles out there for the five songs and thirty-five minutes of music on the group’s first full-length release. Continue reading »

ALL OUT WAR – CELESTIAL ROT

Album Reviews No Responses »

Feb 062023

(Andy Synn has a few words to say about the new album from Metalcore legends All Out War)

From what I can tell, it’s common in a lot of genres for bands/artists to mellow out as they get older.

But I’m sure we’re all aware of a lot of exceptions to this particular “rule”… especially in the Metal/Hardcore sphere.

Case in point, while I wasn’t the biggest fan of All Out War‘s initial “comeback” album in 2017 (heck, I didn’t even end up reviewing it, despite my initial excitement) it felt like they really found a new gear, and a new level of intensity, with 2019’s Crawl Among the Filth (which I did review, and you can check that out here) which found the band embracing an even more “blackened” and grind-influenced edge.

And now, some 26 years since their debut, they’ve once again kicked things up a notch with Celestial Rot, which proves once and for all that some bands just get nastier with age.

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE GIANT’S FALL — “DARK INSIDE”

Premieres No Responses »

Feb 062023

In the annals of Greek mythology Talos was a giant bronze automaton, created by the god Hephaestus at the direction of Zeus, who gave Talos to the king of Crete to protect the island from invaders. To do so, Talos marched around the island three times every day and hurled boulders at approaching enemy ships.

At his core, Talos had one long vein running from his neck to his ankle, where the vein was closed shut by a bronze bolt. Within it flowed a mysterious life source of the gods that the Greeks called ichor. Talos met his end in the tale of the Argonauts, when the sorceress Medea induced Talos to dislodge the bolt, causing the ichor to flow out, exsanguinating him.

We summarize the tale of Talos because it is the conceptual core of the self-titled debut album by The Giant’s Fall, a Greek project that’s the experimental solo work of Mikebass (ex – Lucky Funeral & Bone To Rust) and whose name itself seems connected to the myth. The album’s song titles themselves point to the connection: “Ichor”, “Dark Inside”, “The End of Talos”, “The Giant King”, and “Hades Calling”, although it becomes clear that the album’s themes aren’t limited to the myth.

The Giant’s Fall was first released digitally by the band in December 2018, and then digitally by FYC Records on December 25, 2022. But FYC Records will also be releasing a limited CD edition of the album on February 28th, and to help spread the word we’re now premiering an official video for the album track “Dark Inside“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NIGHT HAG

Interviews No Responses »

Feb 062023

(Below we present Comrade Aleks‘ new interview with the crushing Virginia-based death/doom band Night Hag.)

Night Hag‘s debut full-length album Phantasmal Scourge was released one year ago by Rotted Life Records. However the band was founded somewhere in Virginia in about 2010 and its discography is far from poor, as it contains three demos, an EP, a split release, and even live album.

Jon Ransom (drums, vocals), Joe Arida (guitars), and Sam Fox (bass, vocals) are fans of macabre and savage death-doom metal, so covers of Mortician and Necrophagia sound natural in Phantasmal Scourge. There was no big news nor a new album’s announcement since its release, but Night Hag was in my “need-to-interview” list for nearly the entire year, and here we go at last.

Joe Arida (guitars) is going to tell us about Night Hag‘s dirty deals. Continue reading »

SANGUISUGABOGG: “HOMICIDAL ECSTASY”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Feb 062023

(Here’s Wil Cifer‘s review of the new album by Ohio-based Sanguisugabogg, released on February 3rd by Century Media Records.)

Normally this brand of death metal is not my thing. Early Cannibal Corpse was once my go-to for this kind of thing, which these days often gets labeled as gore-grind. These guys are clearly tired of being tied to such labels, and aside from the low guttural vocals, they have set themselves apart from being another spawn of Cannibal Corpse’s mutilated womb with their fetish for grooves. There is a pungent whiff of hardcore to some of their riffs, which have the breakdown feel.

Normally when it comes to a band that knocks my headphones back due to the sheer density of their sound, my first concern becomes, can they write songs? The first two here earned a thumbs up in this department. Thus the challenge for a band who lives off brutality for the sake of brutality was to keep interest. Which they did with their evershifting flow of groove-drenched riffs. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: FVNERALS, WALLOWING, MORTE FRANCE, FAGUS, SKOGNATT, AHASVER

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Feb 052023

I hope this Sunday is treating you well. Or maybe you’re landing here on Monday… or Tuesday… or (heaven forfend) on Hump Day (what a lot of time those people have been wasting).

My Sunday is off to a slow start, thanks for asking. I had a riot of a Saturday night. Splattered on the couch with the cats, binge-watching a fantastic series I don’t need to name (it was Slow Horses) until way late. So I was late to rise and feeling very groggy. But there’s nothing like plunging into a lake of black and black-adjacent metal (sometimes only barely black-adjacent) to kick-start your heart. Here’s what I surfaced with today: Continue reading »

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