AN NCS PREMIERE: 0N0 — “UNWAVERING RESONANCE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 102022
 

If you’re unfamiliar with the music of the Slovakian trio 0N0 (and shame on you if you’re not!), Metal-Archives will tell you that it’s “Experimental Industrial Doom/Death Metal”, which is a mouthful, and still not completely adequate. As we wrote here when we last had occasion to write about 0N0, “Eerie, chilling, tremendously heavy music” might be a different way of trying to wrestle their sounds into linguistic form, yet still misses some relevant adjectives.

That last visitation we made was through our premiere of the band’s tremendous 2019 split with Owl, and today’s reunion is prompted by their follow-on release, a new album named Unwavering Resonance.

Divided into four massive tracks that collectively just under forty minutes, it’s no easier to classify than 0N0‘s previous creations. It presents a sequence of extravagant, elaborate, mind-blowing, and jaw-dropping journeys so wondrous and frightening that they seem only barely tethered to the planet we call home. We have one of those excursions to share with you today, and it’s the new album’s title track. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T) – PART 2

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 102022
 

(We may be well into May, but Andy Synn still has albums from last month he needs to talk about!)

As I stated in last week’s column, I don’t plan to make a habit of this, but April was so packed with excellent new releases by relatively unknown bands that I had to split up my usual “Things You May Have Missed” column into two parts in order to feature as many of them as possible.

Of course, there are still several things I/we didn’t get around to writing about, including Azaab, Basatan, and – most notably – Dischordia, whose new album is currently sitting very high in my provisional year-end rankings.

But I only have so much space and/or time, and really didn’t want to extend this to a third part, so choices, and sacrifices, had to be made.

Still, I think you’ll be happy with the artists/albums I’ve selected for part 2 of “Things You May Have Missed” from last month, which this time includes some Prog and Hardcore influenced Post-Metal from Norway (Claimstaker), some esoteric and experimental Black Metal from Belgium (Dissolve Patterns), and a pair of bands from the good ol’ US of A, one dealing in gloomy shades of gargantuan Doom (Qaalm) the other delivering a noisesome plague of harsh Blackened Death Metal (Worn Mantle).

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ARKHAM WITCH

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 102022
 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks conversed with Simon Iff?, a fixture in The Lamp of Thoth and frontman of the UK heavy doom band Arkham Witch, who have lots of new things going on.)

Being born from The Lamp of Thoth secret lodge this band seemed to be just a funny side-project which soon eclipsed The Lamp itself. Arkham Witch balanced between heavy metal and doom in recording their debut On Crom’s Mountain (2011) in a very natural way, but soon Witch’s savage spirit was unleashed and the following albums Legions of the Deep (2012) and I Am Providence (2015), as well as a series of short but important EPs, showed the band’s true face. If there ever was any.

Dreamers of Lovecraft’s fantasies, true metal warriors of Manowar’s metal, and old-schooled admirers of Robert Howard’s talents, as well as Doom Cult believers, already heard Arkham Witch’s true English metal EP Three Bladed Doom (2021), and I believe you also know about their forthcoming full-length Swords Against Death. The band’s spiritual leader Simon Iff? (vocals) is beyond good and evil, but he was kind enough to spend some time answering my questions. ‘Cause I love The Lamp. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HORN — “VERZET”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
May 092022
 

One week from today the German pagan black metal band Horn will release Verzet, its ninth album in a musical career that now spans nearly two decades. As ever, Verzet is the vision and solo work of Niklas, aided by a few talented guest performers.

The album’s name is Dutch for “resistance”, and three of the tracks (“Galgenblech”, “Aufstand”, and “Verzet”) deal with the topic of rebellion, while others concern the importance of perseverance and principles (“A Hill To Die On”) and the concept of agency and the lack thereof (“Protektor”). But the song that Horn chose as the lead “single”, which was accompanied by a beautiful video, was “Alpenrekorder”, and it manifested a reawakening of the classic Horn style, with its roots in folkloric traditions and a reverence for nature. Continue reading »

ICARE – CHAROGNE

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 092022
 

(Andy Synn digs deep into the foul carcass of the new album by Switzerland’s Icare)

What would you say if I told you that one of the best Black Metal albums of the year so far – or, at least, one of the strongest contenders for that particular accolade – was a forty-three-and-a-half minute, single-track record from a Swiss grind band, based on the poem “Une Charogne” by Charles Baudelaire?

Would you call me a liar? A fraud? Would you think I was insane?

Well, in the grand scheme of things you might not be wrong, but – trust me – I’m telling you the truth this time.

Of course, referring to Icare as “just” a Grindcore band barely scratches the surface of their sound – they had, in essence, already transcended such a simplistic descriptor by the end of their first album, whose unique structure and flow showcased the group’s ongoing sonic evolution practically in real-time – but the general point still stands… sometimes the best things come from unexpected places, and in unexpected forms.

Continue reading »

BONG METAL ROUND-UP #1

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
May 092022
 


Bonginator

(We welcome a new writer to our putrid site, one who goes by the name fetusghost, and we’ll let him explain his particular interests in his own words.)

Hello, friends, and welcome to the first of hopefully many Bong Metal Round-ups. Bong metal, of course, is heavy metal from bands who have ‘bong’ in the name (eg, Bongzilla, Bongripper, Belzebong, etc). If pornogrind can be a genre, then why not bong metal? The round-up part comes from the fact that getting high leads to missed deadlines, so everything covered here has already been released and awaits your ears and hard-earned dough.

On another heavy metal website, staffed by fine and handsome writers, on the twentieth day of the fourth month of the (very shitty) year of 2020, I wrote a Bong Metal Primer. Having taken a hiatus and switched teams since then, it’s now back to the bongs for this dumb writer. I chose to focus on the underground (ie, I didn’t cover Weedsconsin, which is not Bongzilla’s best, but it’s still an excellent album and we should all be delighted that they are active again), and highlight each band’s most recent release.

As a final note before we do the damn thing, I would like to humbly request your suggestions and recommendations on all things bong metal/stoner metal/weird metal/etc. Holler at me in the comments, or send your electronic mail to bongmetal420@gmail.com, and gimme those sweet streaming links! Bong metal bands take precedence of course, but sharing awesome underground metal is my love language.

Now pack a bowl/hit the vape/roll a fatty, and join me on a Bong Metal Journey! Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DOEDSVANGR, ALBURNUM, TANTUM, CARRION BLOOM, THRALL, BERATOR, VØLUS, PHENOM, VINTERDRACUL

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
May 082022
 

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers, and as a reminder to those of you who were born of mothers (versus those who were the result of asexual reproduction). I intended to compile a roundup of new music yesterday, but was feeling under the weather. I’m feeling less incapacitated today, as you can tell from the volume of music in this week’s Shades of Black.

There’s a method to the way I organized the following songs. Words like “grim”, “depressive”, or “poisonous” may come to mind over the course of the first three tracks, and then things begin to turn more chaotic and violently unhinged, leading to a closing twist that’s more difficult to sum up.

DOEDSVANGR (Norway/Finland)

I’m beginning with a video for the song “As the Rivers Bleed Their Blessings” from Doedsvangr‘s newest album, Serpents ov Old, which was released by Debemur Morti last fall. The video was recorded at the band’s release gig for the album, which took place at Røverstaden (Oslo) on March 26th, 2022 (credit to Carl Eek of Necrolust Productions for filming and editing it). Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: WAKE, TEMPLE OF VOID, NIHILO, THUMOS, BASTIONS, CRUST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 062022
 

 

It’s another Bandcamp Friday today, when a bigger share of the money you spend on that platform goes to the artists and labels. So I made an extra effort to pull together a roundup of new songs and videos, even though I don’t have time to make it as extensive as I’d like. Here’s what caught my eyes and ears over the last 24 hours — and I’ll have more stuff to recommend on Saturday.

WAKE (Canada)

I’m starting with a new song and video for “Swallow the Light“, a track off these NCS-favorites’ new album Thought Form Descent. Its slashing and searing chords, electrifying drumwork, and torrid vocals will get your blood pumping, even as it creates moods of anguish, fear, confusion, and derangement. Often white-hot in its intensity, it will also give your neck a good workout. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MOONSHADE — “BLOOD OF THE TITANS”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
May 062022
 

Moonshade are a melodic extreme metal band from Porto, Portugal, who are now more than a decade into a promising career. Their second album, As We Set the Skies Ablaze, is now set for release on July 22nd. With one single from the album (“Epitaph“) already out in the world, today we’re helping spread the word about a second one, which is presented through a lyric video.

This newest single, “Blood of the Titans“, draws upon ancient Greek mythology to confront humankind with a choice, and fashion a message, and it does that through melodic death metal that’s electrifying in its vibrancy and magnificence. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HARVESTED — “HARVESTED”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 052022
 

Harvested are an Ottawa-based quartet (with members from Quebec as well as Ontario) who are on the brink of releasing their self-titled debut EP, and it is indeed an explosive debut. Drawing influence from the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Suffocation, Dying Fetus, and Hate Eternal, Harvested blast their way through five ferocious tracks that combine visceral destructive power, megawatt vocal intensity, and the kind of high-speed technically impressive performances that tend to pop eyes wide open.

That melding of speed, savagery, and technical fireworks makes the run through the full torrent of the EP an electrifying (and indeed breathtaking) experience, and it’s an experience we’re providing today through our premiere stream of the EP in its entirety. So, take some deep breaths, and proceed…. Continue reading »

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