NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GRIEFBRINGER — “BLIND HARBINGER”

Oct 212022

We’ll allow Griefbringer to introduce themselves before we introduce you to their stupefying music:

“We’re all from the gloomy and dark side of the Italian scene, with 30 years of international experience in bands such as MONUMENTUM, HAUNTED, SCHIZO, HELL OBELISCO, just to name a few.

“Collaboration with the previous projects convinced us to get together and explore the depth of the soul in this new creature. Darkness and godliness of places and images are our most important source of inspiration.”

To render their visions in sound, Griefbringer draw upon the traditions of doom, sludge, and death metal, of a particularly pulverizing, mind-ruining, yet head-hooking variety. The results of their pitch-black craft will be revealed through a debut album aptly named The Horrible Wilting, which will be released on November 18th by Church of Crow Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LACHRIMA CORPHUS DISSOLVENS

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Oct 212022

(Comrade Aleks made a virtual journey to Bolivia to interview vocalist Antonio Ortiz, founder of the death-doom band Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens, and we have the results of that discussion here for you today.)

I knew nothing about the Bolivian metal scene until I found Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens. They identify their genre as atmospheric death-doom metal though I see there a blend of a few more extreme genres as well, but who needs tags except journalists and labels?

The band was formed in La Paz back in 2003 and their discography is built around one full-length album, The Truth Is Out There (2009), and a dozen other releases like demos, EPs, live albums, and splits.

I guess that it points to Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens’ underground approach and we’ll find out why from this interview with the band’s founder Antonio Ortiz (vocals). And it’s all about “human suffering, nature and universe” as Metal-Archives says. Continue reading »

GLASS OX – WINDS OF VIOLENCE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Oct 202022

(Andy Synn provides a last minute recommendation of the new album from Glass Ox, set for release tomorrow)

It’s pretty much an open secret that a lot of Metal media outlets still have a bit of a bias against all things ‘core.

Of course, that’s not the case here at NCS, as we definitely cover a fair bit of the ol’ Grind (mostly thanks to DGR) and even a healthy dose of Deathcore too (although, it must be said, most of this year’s “big” releases – you know who I’m talking about – have left me rather cold).

But when it comes to Hardcore… even of the “Metallic” kind… it tends to fall to me to highlight some of the new and notable releases, and I feel like sometimes I’m not doing a good enough job.

That being said, I’ve listened to, and lavished praise, on quite a few Hardcore (or Hardcore-adjacent) bands this year, and I’m hopeful that at least some of you out there will have been enticed to check out a few of the artists/albums I’ve covered so far this year, even if they aren’t necessarily in your usual wheelhouse.

In that spirit then, I’d like to bring to your attention the new album from Iowan trio Glass Ox.

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NARCOTIC WASTELAND

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Oct 202022

Photo Credit – Kenji Tsunami

(Drugs, Nile, touring, addiction, serial killers, Netflix, and narcissism? No topic was off-limits when NCS’s Gonzo recently caught up with guitarist, vocalist, and founder Dallas Toler-Wade and drummer Joe Howard from South Carolina-based death metal act Narcotic Wasteland on the Denver stop of their tour with Accept.)

How is touring with Accept going so far?

Dallas Toler-Wade: Good, man. It’s been an opportunity for us to get in front of more people. [Accept] packs houses, I mean – we’ve had like two sold-out shows this week. The Whisky was really close, too. I think there were like ten tickets left.

Has this been your biggest tour as a band? Have you felt like you’ve reached that “holy shit, we’re making it” moment?

Joe Howard: A lot of people still just kind of don’t know about us yet, but that’s changing. It’s just been great to see the exposure. At most shows, I’ll know at least five or six people. But these are some big crowds.

DTW: These are definitely some of the biggest crowds we’ve had so far. We did another tour with Malevolent Creation earlier this year and those were some packed houses on that, on their 30 Years of Retribution tour, so that was fun. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MACERATION — “LOST IN DEPRAVITY”

Premieres 1 Response »

Oct 192022

One month ago we were floored to discover a new single by the Danish death metal band Maceration, their first new music since the band’s first and only album (until now), 1992’s A Serenade of Agony. We hope you’ll forgive us repeating some of what we wrote last month, little knowing that we would have the opportunity today to help present another new single in advance of a new Maceration album’s release on November 25th via Emanzipation Productions.

In a time when metal re-births seem increasingly common, the resurrection of Maceration still seems worth an extra measure of attention, in part because for their new album It Never Ends… Dan Swanö has again stepped in to fill the session vocal role, as he did under the name Day Disyraa for Maceration‘s first album 30 years ago. Original guitarists Jakob Schultz and Lars Bangsholt are also back, together with bassist Robert Tengs and drummer Rasmus Schmidt (Illdisposed, ex-Myrkur). Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: EVEREST QUEEN / TERRA / VACUOUS

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Oct 192022

(Andy Synn presents three more meaty morsels of home-grown heaviness from the UK)

I’d like to begin this article with a quick apology to the bands involved – I had every intention of writing about you sooner (especially those of you I’ve written about before) but life… uh… got in the way.

Still, we’re here now, and even though these reviews are coming post-release I hope they bring all of you some new fans (and hopefully some new sales too). You deserve it.

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISADAPTIVE

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Oct 192022

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Sergey Naydenov from the Russian old school death metal band Disadaptive, whose new album Apocryphal was released just last month by Svanrenne Music.)

Here we have an old school death metal act from Russia – Disadaptive. It’s just two men – Sergey Naydenov (guitars, bass) and Dmitry Sokolov (vocals). The band’s story is brief yet the guys demonstrate some determination regarding their favorite genre, as they have recorded two EPs and a full-length album in the course of two years.

That album, entitled Apocryphal, was released during early September by Svanrenne Music and song names like “Mentor from Beyond the Grave”, “Crafted Abomination”, and “No Light from God” will give you a hint regarding the nature of their message. Also you’ll find an Autopsy cover here, and Disadaptive’s inspiration is clearer and sharper than a surgeon’s scalpel.

Sergey answered a few questions from our side and revealed some views on the local death metal scene. Continue reading »

IN MY DARKEST HOUR: CAVERNOUS GATE / DAEMOGOG / GEVURAH

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Oct 182022

(Andy Synn presents a triptych of terrifying – and terrific – recent releases)

I don’t know about you lot, but I’ve always found dark music to be a great comfort during dark times.

And, since I am going through a bit of a dark patch myself right now I thought it’d be a good time to share some of the music which is helping me through it.

Who knows, you might just discover your new favourite band/album!

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: BUNKER 66 AND LUCIFUGE — “OF LUST AND NIGHT”

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Oct 182022

It’s our fiendish pleasure today to present the premiere stream of a new split mini-album by the Italy’s Bunker 66 and Germany’s Lucifuge. Aptly etitled Of Night and Lust, it combines three exclusive tracks by each band, and it will be discharged on October 21st via Dying Victims Productions.

The press materials for the split brand it as “24 minutes of ancient speed metal sleaze and metalpunk ghoulishness”, and that’s true, but there’s a lot more going on here, the kind of music that will get heads spinning as well as hammering. Feral lust does indeed live in the music, but there’s hellish magic as well, and fiery glory. And like most excellent splits, the music of the two bands shares a kindred spirit, but with differences that contrast with, as well as complement, each other. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GGU:LL — “EX EST”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Oct 182022

Through their forthcoming second album the Dutch band Ggu:ll prove themselves absolute masters of lightlessness. They named the album Ex Est as a reference to the state after being, and “the realization that all that is, will someday not be”, and that “all is doomed to end up as a ruin of itself”. It poses the question whether there is a meaning in existence despite the realization that life itself is meaningless.

With such a daunting and borderline-nihilist conception at the core of Ex Est, it is no wonder that the music is so pitch-black and so harrowing. From the funereal bell-like clanging that begins the opening track “Raupe”, straight through to the final shattering wails of pain in “Voertuig der verlorenen”, Ggu:ll render a nightmare that feels all too real. Continue reading »

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