NO CLEAN SINGING

MISERY INDEX – COMPLETE CONTROL

May 022022

(Andy Synn shares his thoughts on the new Misery Index album, scheduled for release next Friday)

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That’s how the hoary old cliché goes, right?

It just so happens, though, that it’s very much true in this particular case, as there’s no mistaking a Misery Index album when you hear it, whether you’re listening to their more overtly Grind-influenced early work, or their more recent, Death Metal focussed records, or anything in between.

That being said, it definitely feels – in hindsight – that the band’s post-Traitors transition into being a “pure” Death Metal act reached its apex (or nadir, depending on how you feel about it) on 2014’s The Killing Gods, with 2019’s Rituals of Power suggesting a slight return towards their thrashier, punkier roots in places.

That’s why it shouldn’t be too surprising, if you’ve been paying attention, to learn that on Complete Control the Baltimore bruisers have decided to let their inner Hardcore band out to play… and I couldn’t be happier about it.

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION: “THE EXUVIAE OF GODS — PART I”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

May 022022

(Wil Cifer wrote the following review of a new album-length EP by the Australian extreme doom band Mournful Congregation. The first in a two-part series of EPs, it will be released by 20 Buck Spin (North America) and Osmose Productions (everywhere else) on May 27th.)

When it comes to sub-genres in metal, funeral doom is one of my favorites. It is typically the more depressive of the doom sub-genres, though just playing at a dopamine-draining tempo is not the requirement to excel in this style. With any form of extreme music, the oppressive heaviness might be enough for the first song, then after that it boils down to the question, “But can you write a song ?”

Here is what puts this Australian band at the top of the funeral doom heap. They might even be the best, though Evoken is neck-and-neck with them. In saying that it means my expectations are high. What I hoped for was a new full-length album, since it has been four years since their last release. The reality is this is the first of a two-part series of EPs. We are getting three songs, one of these being a reworking of a song from their 1995 demo tape. Which, considering that was 27 years ago, makes this for all practical purposes a new song. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (WALPURGISNACHT EDITION): NEGATIVE PLANE, MONDOCANE, NOCTIS AETERNAE

SHADES OF BLACK 5 Responses »

May 012022

This week’s Shades of Black falls on May Day, the morning after Walpurgisnacht. That night, which of course has a significance that long pre-dates the German name, falls halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, and in old pagan traditions it was celebrated to mark the changing of the seasons, just as Samhain does six months later. And in the ancient folklore traditions, as on Samhain, the veil between the material world and the spirit world was thought to be at its thinnest.

Of course, in northern Europe the Church co-opted the pagan May Day, turning it into the feast day of Saint Walpurga, a German abbess honored for her success in putting an end to pagan sorcery (among other achievements), and on the night before it — Walpurgisnacht — bonfires were built to ward off witches and evil spirits in her name. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: PESTILENT HEX, BAT MAGIC, FALLUJAH, BLACKLIST

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Apr 302022

I’ve had a fuckin’ rough week, a classic example of the old adage that when it rains it pours. On top of continuing to help an injured loved one recover from physical trauma followed by surgery, I was slammed hard and repeatedly by my day job. Woe is me, indeed.

I largely ignored the thousand emails that poured into NCS since last weekend, and barely noticed the other places where I get suggestions of new music to write about. Blessed by a bit of peace this morning, I began going through the emails — and gave up after 15 minutes, overwhelmed by the scale of the task. I picked just a few things rather than completely abandon my roundup duties.

The first couple of selections probably reflect my current moods, which then got elevated by the third song. Of course I had to throw you a bit of a curveball at the end.

PESTILENT HEX (Finland)

I thought about saving this first track for tomorrow’s SHADES OF BLACK column, but the way things have gone over the past week I don’t know if there will be one. And besides, this song really grabbed me this morning, so striking while the iron is hot seemed like the right decision. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 145): INCANDESCENCE

THE SYNN REPORT 2 Responses »

Apr 302022

Recommended for fans of: Gaerea, Mgła, Dark Funeral

I have a confession I need to make. I lied to you all.

Last month I said that this month’s Synn Report wouldn’t be about another Black Metal band, since the previous four editions had all featured some form of Black Metal (though, in my defence, they were all very different takes on the genre).

But when I discovered that Canada’s Incandescence – a band about whom, I was shocked to discover, we’ve written very little over the years – had a new album out (featuring some of the best cover art of the year so far) I knew I had to break my promise.

Formed back in 2011 as a creative outlet for uber-drummer extraordinaire Philippe Boucher – known for his work with Beyond Creation, Chthe’ilist, First Fragment, and more – Incandescence now have four albums of epic, extravagant Black Metal to their name, and it’s high time you got to know their work.

So, without further ado…

AN NCS PREMIERE: ERNIA — “HELIUM-3”

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Apr 292022

The Spanish band Ernia made a concept album about feeling bad. The full title is How to Deal with Life and Fail: A Guide to Self-Improvement That Doesn’t Work in the Slightest. Does that idea sound depressingly (but also hilariously) familiar?

With that as its concept, how does the album sound? Well, take in the cover art by by Xabier Sagasta, and consider that Ernia‘s lineup includes two members of Wormed, and you’ll have a couple of good clues.

“Grindcore” might be the easy genre choice, but it’s an inadequate descriptor. Ernia are certainly capable of laying a high-speed barrage of cathartic destruction on you, but they’re even more interested in giving you a head-spinning adventure in every track, with an approach to songwriting and execution that’s intricate, unpredictable, ecstatic, and every bit as wild and colorful as the artwork.

As proof, we give you a first listen to the song “Helium-3“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: HOLY DEATH — “MORAL TERROR VOL. 1”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Apr 282022

It’s fair to say that we’ve been following the L.A.-based death-doom outfit Holy Death very closely ever since discovering their second EP in 2020 — following them like a panting dog scampering after a moving car, tongue wagging and slobber flying. In fact, the post you’re now reading marks the sixth time we’ve written about them in barely two years. Yes, we are big fans.

The occasion for today’s slobber is a new Holy Death EP, a two-song discharge entitled Moral Terror Vol. 1, so-named because it’s the first in a three-part series that the band plan on releasing this year. It’s set for digital release on April 29th, but we’ve got a premiere stream of its two diabolically punishing tracks today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BESTIALORD — “BLESS THEM WITH PAIN”

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Apr 282022

With two albums to their credit, released in 2018 and 2019, Bestialord may already be a name familiar to you, but for newcomers it’s a trio who came together in Wichita, Kansas in the fall of 2016. That trio — guitarist/vocalist Mark Anderson (ex-Manilla Road), drummer Chris Johnson (Sanctus Infernum), and bassist Rob Harris — pulled together strands of occult doom, primitive death metal, and other old-school influences to create some evil magic on those albums, but now they’ve got a third one on the way that might be even better.

The new album, Bless Them With Pain, is set for imminent release on April 29th by Satanath Records‘ label-partner GrimmDistribution, and today it’s our pleasure to share the title track with you. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ULTAR

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Apr 282022

(Comrade Aleks has completed a long-gestating interview with Denis Susarev from the excellent Russian post-black metal band Ultar, who will have a new album coming in 2022, and the results of this very interesting are set forth below.)

Post-black metal band Ultar from Krasnoyarsk was re-formed from Deafknife in 2016 and soon gained a reputation as a creative band with with good taste and vision. Speaking about Ultar’s creative side, I need to mention abother outfit featuring four of Ultar’s members – it’s Grima. Both bands perform black metal in a similar vein and yet both follow their own paths. While Ultar’s last album Pantheon MMXIX saw the light of day in 2019, Grima’s fourth album Rotten Garden was released in 2021, as well as the live album The Mighty Spirit.

I had my own interest in interviewing Ultar but the process dragged on for months, and you know what happened in February. However we’ve made the decision to complete and publish the interview now right after Grima‘s return from their short tour abroad. Naturmacht Productions brought Grima’s Siberian sorrows in Tallinn. Here are the words of Denis Susarev (guitars, keyboards):

“We recently returned from Estonia, where most of Ultar played a show in Tallinn as members of the Grima project, which may have been a bit of a precedent given what’s been going on in the world over the last few months. In spite of everything, the concert went just fine, Tallinn met us with a full hall of wonderful, kind and open people who received us wonderfully. It’s nice to see that our listeners understand that art in general and music in particular can and should be perceived outside the context of any political events, no matter what people around say about it. This is extremely valuable and we are grateful to everyone who shares this.”

And here we have Denis’ answers regarding Ultar and its perspectives. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THORIUM — “DANMARK”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Apr 272022

The heavyweight Danish death metal band Thorium are just a few days days away from releasing their fifth album in a career that’s now more than two decades in the making. With Denmark, they again prove both their devotion to undying traditions of the old school(s) and their talent for making them come vibrantly and viciously alive in the here and now.

Students and lovers of death metal know that there’s not just one old school of the craft, and Thorium draw their influence from multiple institutions — from the chainsaw chugging and creepy eeriness of Swedish death metal to the faster and more vicious variants from the old Floridian scene, and more besides (including a bit of “blackening” on some tracks). They engage in mayhem, but make abundant use of punishing groove, and they have an ear for ear-worm melody that makes the songs catchy as well as gruesome and exhilarating.

And so it’s a genuine pleasure for us to host a premiere stream of Danmark in its entirety, in advance of the April 29 release by Emanzipation Productions. Continue reading »

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