AN NCS PREMIERE: VULNIFICUS — “THE INCREDULOUS INVOCATION”

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Apr 192022
 

We’re about to turn our focus to a dangerous place where the vicious vectors of technical, brutal, and slamming death metal intersect, a place from which the U.S. band Vulnificus have launched their savage and scintillating attacks.

The band is a fairly new project, having formed just last year, but the project’s two members — multi-instrumentalist Wilson Sherels (Epidermolysis. among many others) and Eston Browne (Abolishing The Ignominious, ex-Gigan) — aren’t novices. That will become apparent from the song we’re premiering today from their second EP, Invocation, which is set for release on June 10th by New Standard Elite. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CONSECRATION — “THE DWELLER IN THE TUMULUS”

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Apr 192022
 

Cinis is the name of the forthcoming third album by the UK doom/death metal band Consecration. We’re told that the word is taken from the Latin and that it means “cold ashes, and has numerous associations with death, destruction and ruin, extinguished love and burnt-out hate” — which makes it a form-fitting title for the record.

As we’ve said more than once, we don’t usually copy-paste promotional material, preferring instead to create our own impressions independently and express them in our own words. But this is one of those rare instances where the words circulated by Redefining Darkness Records (who will release Cinis on June 17th) eloquently capture much of what makes this album so dauntingly powerful: Continue reading »

SOLUS EX INFERIS: “EXOGENESIS”

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Apr 192022
 

 

(This is DGR‘s review of a new EP released on April 15th of this year by the New York-based death metal band Solus Ex Inferis.)

Sometimes you land on a new release simply because you were curious as to what a certain musician might’ve been up to at a given moment. There are absolutely other avenues to discover music, but sometimes it’s just fun to go down the internet rabbit hole and see what other projects someone might be involved in. That is what led me to the death metal group Solus Ex Inferis and their newest release Exogenesis.

Every once in a while the thought that superhuman drummer Marco Pitruzzella has contributed work to something like twenty-plus projects will cross my mind. For the past few years he’s had credits on at least two-to-four releases, with Solus Ex Inferis becoming the latest project to which he’s contributed, adding to the vast body of work for this prolific musician.

Solus Ex Inferis are also one of a recent slate of death metal projects that have truly embraced being from all over the world, with Demonic Resurrection‘s Sahil Makhija (the Demonstealer) joining the fray alongside guitarist Dave Sevenstrings for their latest EP, while also calling in help from bassist Sean Martinez of Decrepit Birth/Muldrotha as well as some guest soloists.

What this translates to is the latest EP Exogenesis hailing from all over the world in the name of bulldozer brutality. You’ll know whether the twenty-five odd minutes of Exogenesis are for you if this statement gets you excited. Continue reading »

AN NCS PEMIERE: ANNIHILATION RITE — “DAMNATION CROWNS”

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Apr 182022
 

The name of the debut album by the German band Annihilation Rite is World Below, and that is where it takes us — to a blood-freezing subterranean domain of merciless terrors, endless torment, and utter downfall. It’s a cold nightmare world where bones are smashed and minds are ruined, and also a summoning of the Lord of Darkness to ascend, and retaliate against life.

This new entity is the solo work of Entweider, who is also a member of Crypt Witch, Dark Fields, Necrochaos, Sinister Downfall, Urschmerz. The music is branded black metal, but draws from death and doom metal as well, in order to make its rendering of ferocity and fear even more apocalyptic. And Annihilation Rite has written its rites in long form, in ways that become hideously spellbinding.

As a tangible sign of all these qualities, we have for you today the premiere of an album track named “Damnation Crowns“, in advance of World Below‘s April 28 release by Satanath Records. Continue reading »

CHOKE ME: “DEATH LIKE A SUNSET”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Apr 182022
 

(The California fastcore band Choke Me have quickly become a favorite of DGR, and thus he has enthusiastically dived into their music again with this review of their latest release.)

Choke Me‘s releases seem to appear with the suddenness of a high-speed car collision. It wasn’t that long ago we were talking about the three-piece group’s Hauntology EP,  and prior to that it didn’t seem that long ago that we were discussing the group’s full-length debut The Cousin of Death.

Then again, given the shared ideologies between the group’s punk, grind, and ‘fastcore’ collision of sound, it doesn’t shock that the crew manning the good ship Choke Me have also embraced the rapid-fire release schedule and record length of the grind contingent as well.

We’re probably a few months out from suffocating under an avalanche of splits and single releases if the patterns hold true. April 1st saw the release of the latest music from Choke Me, seemingly forming out of a static-charged aether into one quick explosion under the name of Death Like A Sunset, and like its immediate predecessor in late 2021’s Hauntology it discharges another six songs and sub-twenty minutes worth of music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: APARTHIVA RAKTADHARA — “NADA OF CREATION COLLAPSES ONTO PRIMAL BINDU”

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Apr 182022
 

Aparthiva Raktadhara‘s 2018 debut demo Agyat Ishvar popped a lot of eyes wide open, including ours. Even at only 12 1/2 minutes in length, it struck like a nuclear-tipped missile, often breathtakingly fast, cyclonic in the intensity of its riffing, and berserk in the ferocity of the vocals. Yet the frontal assault of the music didn’t completely obscure its intricacy or its insidiously seductive effects. It left us as intrigued as it did obliterated.

Now we’re about to have an even more formidable demonstration of this trio’s powers, because on May 20th Iron Bonehead Productions will release their debut album Adyapeeth Maranasamhita (আদ্যাপীঠ মরণসংহিতা). It was received, as the band explain, “as a burning revelation of riktata, realized within our hearts as we meditated under a Bodhi tree by the Ganges in Chanak, Uttar Kalikshetra, in fall 2019.”

Now that revelation has taken its complete form through sound, and we bring you part of that experience in today’s premiere of the album’s closing track, “Nada of Creation Collapses Onto Primal Bindu“. We think you’ll be quickly convinced that this isn’t like any other death metal you’re likely to hear this year. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISHARMONY — “THE CYNIC AND THE BEGGAR”

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Apr 182022
 

During 2017 and 2018 we devoted quite a lot of attention to The Abyss Noir, the second album by the Athenian metal band Disharmony, whose multifaceted musical textures have drawn comparisons to the sounds of Nevermore, Sanctuary, Judas Priest, Iced Earth, and Anthrax. Five years later, Disharmony are returning with their third full-length, Gods Made of Flesh, and it deserves a lot of attention to.

In its conceptual focus the music revolves around “the different kinds of Enslavery we all have to confront since the time we are born,” with each song reminding us of “the Divinity of our Spirit and the Chains it entails”. In the sounds themselves, Disharmony‘s influences and inspirations lead them into a captivating fusion of styles and sensations — which you’ll discover for yourselves through our premiere today of “The Cynic and the Beggar“. Continue reading »

A PANACEA FOR THE POST-TOUR BLUES

 MISCELLANY  2 Responses »
Apr 182022
 

(Andy Synn has a few thoughts to share, and a few bands to recommend)

As some of you may know, I’m in a band. And you may also know that we just spent this last weekend “on tour”.

Of course, I put “on tour” in scare quotes because, in reality, it was just a quick three-date weekender, and nowhere near the epic, continent-spanning effort those words often imply, but it was still our first chance to get back out “on the road” in a long, long time.

Even though it was only a short (but sweet) run of dates, however, we’re still all feeling the post-tour blues right now, especially considering the third (and final) show of the run was easily the best and we were all really settling into our groove and ready for more.

Alas, it was not to be (though we’ve got more dates in the works for June, and then we’re hoping to get across the channel for some EU dates in September/October, and even possibly looking to the US at some point next year) but we’re still left with a lot of really good memories, made a lot of new fans, sold a fair bit of merch (including several copies of the new vinyl edition of our latest album) and got to meet and see a handful of new bands to boot.

And it’s those bands I want to talk about today.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: УБИЙ, MISANTHROPIC RAGE, LIBUR NULL, AARA

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Apr 172022
 

Untitled 2022 artwork by Toshiro Egawa

 
Some days it’s harder to get going than others. For me it’s usually the weekends. I wanted to sleep for 10 or 11 hours last night, but only got 8, and maybe it’s true that a lot of sleep can make a person groggier than a small slice. Even after 8 hours I had to mentally whip myself to move, as groggy as a bear coming out of sedation.

I forced that awakening because I felt compelled to write this column, to maintain the Sunday tradition.  But I still slept late enough that there’s not much time before I have to leave the house to rendezvous with some friends. My spouse made the appointment, and set it for mid-morning. She knows about this column, but doesn’t consider it more important than social engagement. Well, she thinks all metal is awful, so that factors in too.

So here I am, stuck in a narrow space between sleep and closing the door behind me on the way out.  This is what I managed to pull together before the door closed. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: EXOCRINE, ORIGIN, UNTO OTHERS, WORMROT, PRIMITIVE MAN, GIN LANE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Apr 162022
 

I hope your weekend is off to a good start. I got my good start at a baseball home opener last night, arrived home late, and spent a chunk of the morning texting with fellow Mariners fans, still reveling in the ass-whipping they administered to the much-loathed Astros. Which is to say that this roundup will be a relatively short one.

A regrettably short one, because this past week was huge for new metal. I did a fairly good job making lists of new stuff I spotted, and it sure seemed like the torrent was greater than average. I basically just took random shots at some bands who have already proven themselves, and a few that seemed intriguing. To make the quick search a bit easier, I left all the black metal options to explore for tomorrow’s usual column. Be forewarned that this includes a couple exceptions to our rule about singing.

EXOCRINE (France)

To lead off we’ll go with a new Exocrine song, which two of my NCS comrades enthusiastically pushed my way. It’s the title track from the band’s fifth album, The Hybrid Suns, which Unique Leader plans to release on June 17th. Continue reading »

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