NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CATALYST — “WORMS AND LOCUSTS”

Sep 162022

As you can tell from the title of this feature, we’re about to premiere a video for a new song by the French technical death metal band Catalyst — one that they call “the fastest and most savage song” of their repertoire. It’s from their forthcoming second album, with the intriguing title A Different Painting for a New World. We have lots of interesting details to share about the band and the new record, but this is one of those times when we’re going to cut to the chase first.

What we’re chasing (or more accurately, what’s chasing us like a Formula One car with the agility of a cheetah) is the song “Worms and Locusts“. When we get to the details, you’ll learn that the song is part of an album-length conceptual narrative, and in the tale of this track a world is purified by apocalypse. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BURIAL

Interviews 1 Response »

Sep 162022

(The Italian band Burial’s latest album has been out for a while, but better late than never, Comrade Aleks has caught up with Leonardo and Enrico from the band and presents this interview with them.)

So what else is there? Another death-doom band with references to H. P. Lovecraft’s mythology? SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY! Well, yes, okay, okay… I’m ok, really…

When I see such tags, I send a message to the band immediately but somehow I skipped Burial’s release Inner Gateways to the Slumbering Equilibrium at the Center of Cosmos which saw the light of day through Everlasting Spew Records eleven months ago.

The band itself was founded by Leonardo Bellavista (guitars, bass) in 2012, and soon he got the company of Enrico Fagni (bass, vocals). They worked through Burial’s concept together, recording The Forgotten EP (2019) and the demo Presence from the Beyond (2019). The band remained a duet until 2020 when Samuele Scalise (drums) and Morgan (guitars) joined them in their unholy mess. All of the band’s members have rich experience as they spent many years in the Italian metal underground and played in different bands whose styles ranged from progressive thrash to death metal.

Burial stays far from regular death-doom, as these maniacs prefer its torturous form with a heavy emphasis on dirty and twisted death metal, but you know – Leonardo and Enrico can tell you that better. Hail Burial! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ATRUTA — “SŁAVA ČERAVIE-LILIT”

Premieres No Responses »

Sep 152022

The band name Atruta probably won’t be familiar to you, but the names Downcross and Khandra should be. We’ve written frequently and appreciatively about the music of those two black metal bands from Belarus (as you can see here and here, respectively), and that’s worth noting because Atruta is a new trio whose members come from those other two groups.

That pedigree alone should inspire intrigue about their music. There’s proven talent here, for sure, but what have these three chosen to do under the banner of Atruta?

The answer to that question lies in a debut album named Da Varot Apramietnaj, which will be released on October 5th by Cavum Atrum Rex (also based in Belarus). Drawing inspiration from medieval personifications of evil, with lyrical themes in their native tongue concerning darkness, evil, and death worship, they’ve recorded 8 tracks for the album, and we’re providing the first track premiere here today. Continue reading »

ACEPHALIX: “THEOTHANATOLOGY”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 152022

(This is Todd Manning‘s review of the fourth LP by San Francisco-based death/crust metal act Acephalix, which is set for release by 20 Buck Spin on September 30th.)

Five years is too long to wait for a new Acephalix record but that’s how long it’s been. And what a five years it’s been. Their new record, Theothanatology due out on September 30th via 20 Buck Spin, explores the idea of the death of god, an understandable train of thought where the daily news is nothing more than an autopsy of our dying civilization. The album oozes with all the pent-up anger, frustration, and anxiety of our modern world and channels it into the group’s trademark brand of atavistic, mongrel death metal. Continue reading »

DIABOLIC OATH: “AISCHROLATREIA”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Sep 142022

(We welcome the return of NCS contributor Hope Gould and her review a new EP by the Oregonian black/death band Diabolic Oath, out now on the Sentient Ruin label.)

Something evil haunts the Pacific Northwest. Beneath the quaintness of the moss and ferns lies a sickly, insidious rot. In recent years, the PNW’s underground has siphoned the contaminated soil of its foul minerals and tirelessly cultivates some seriously evil metal – and the soil is rich. This year alone has seen evil, grimy releases from the likes of Triumvir Foul, Hissing and Grave Infestation to name a few. Portland’s Diabolic Oath were cultivated from the very same soil, festered in it, and have again proven themselves to be a most odious force with their new EP, Aischrolatreia.

Diabolic Oath emerged conspicuously from the Oregon mire with their first full-length, 2020’s Profane Death Exodus. Setting them apart was their masterful use of fretless guitar and fretless bass to craft a warped soundscape over unconventional compositions. Aischrolatreia revisits this sound but takes on an even more hostile and raw approach. Bestial devotees are likely to find themselves being sucked into the aural filth while others who have not yet heard the call may find it a jarring journey. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SINNERY — “BLACK BILE”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Sep 142022

In just a couple of days the Israeli band Sinnery will release their second album, Black Bile. It comes a decade after the band’s formation and a long six years after their debut full-length, A Feast of Fools. To showcase what they accomplished in a first-class manner, they had the album mixed and mastered by Matt Hyde (Machine Head, Trivium, Slipknot, Bullet For My Valentine) and turned for the cover art to the legendary Travis Smith (yes, he’s earned that accolade).

“Death thrash” is the simplified genre description for what Sinnery do, but it’s the strong melodies and the variations among and within the songs that make the album such an adventure to experience from start to finish. Compared to the debut all those years ago, which was entirely written by vocalist/guitarist Alon Karnieli back when he was about 16-17 years of age, these tracks are more elaborate, more sophisticated, more reflective of different moods, while at the same time being more brutally extreme. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: GRIEF RITUAL / IRON TOMB / PEASANT

SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Sep 142022

(Andy Synn offers up three bite-sized yet blistering chunks of British Metal)

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that I’ve not written about many EPs so far this year, instead choosing to focus my increasingly limited time on getting as many full-length albums written about as possible each month (and, even then, I’ve still fallen woefully behind on my “to do” list).

It’s a real shame, as the humble EP so often gets overlooked already, despite the fact that the format is where a lot of bands do their best work.

Today, however, I get to make up for this oversight – at least a little bit – while also adding yet another string of excellent releases to my ongoing “Best of British” series in the form of a triptych of terrific EPs from Grief Ritual, Iron Tomb, and Peasant.

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SOLEMN CEREMONY (AND LUCIFER’S FALL, AND MORE)

Interviews No Responses »

Sep 142022

(Comrade Aleks managed to catch up again with Australian musician Phil Howlett and engaged in a discussion that ranges among a number of his bands and solo projects, including Solemn Ceremony, whose newest album was released this past June.)

Mister Phil Howlett from Adelaide is a dedicated metal warrior, and though he has that blackened thrash project Zlórtcht, he’s well-known mostly because of his doom band Lucifer’s Fall (which we interviewed a year ago) and his doom solo project Solemn Ceremony.

It’s hard to believe but even today playing metal in Australia could be a difficult task, as you’re unable to take part in bigger fests on a regular basis, as European or American bands are. The internet helps but not the way you need if you want to play your metal stuff live!

So Nine Records released Solemn Ceremony’s second album Demise on the 10th of June and we slowly lent a helping hand to Phil and that’s it, another entertaining and in-depth interview. Want to know how to play doom in Australia and not to be depressed all the time? Here we go. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEFORMATORY — “HARBINGER”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Sep 132022

Here on the unlucky 13th day of September the Canadian two-man wrecking machine known as Deformatory have returned to visit new death metal ruination on a pathetic world with a new EP named Harbinger. To help announce the EP, Deformatory are presenting it in its entirety as a music video that we have the ghastly pleasure of premiering down below.

This makes the fourth premiere we’ve hosted on behalf of Deformatory going back to 2015, including the video for a song off their mind-mauling 2021 album Inversion of The Unseen Horizon. We’ll crib some of our words from that premiere feature, because they’re still relevant as a harbinger of Harbinger: Continue reading »

ONLY DEATH IS REAL: INNUMERABLE FORMS / PHOBOPHILIC / TRIBAL GAZE

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Sep 132022

(Andy Synn presents his thoughts on three titanic slabs of Death Metal, all due for release this Friday)

If last week was a big one for fans of the more “techy” side of the Death Metal spectrum, then this one is at least as big a deal for those whose tastes run towards the grittier, riffier side of things that one might, if one were so inclined, refer to as “Old School”.

And yet I’d rather not put too much emphasis on that particular term, as while each of these three bands/albums is obviously following a path laid down by the genre’s “Old School” originators, they’re also taking steps – some small, some large – to push things forward in their own way (something which, let’s be honest, can’t always be said about a lot of the OSDM “revival” scene).

But even if you don’t agree with the above statement I think you’ll still find a lot to love within this article, because every one of these bands kicks a significant amount of ass.

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