AN NCS INTERVIEW: CRUZ

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Aug 172022
 

(We’ve already written enthusiastically about the first music disclosed from a forthcoming second album by the Spanish death/thrash band Cruz, and so it was a very welcome gift to receive Comrade Aleks‘ following interview of the band, via its drummer Xavi.)

Cruz was formed in Barcelona in about 2013. It took some time before these guys made a decision to perform thrashy death metal glorifying the holocaust of ecstasy and freedom in the name of Cosmic Chaos and Lovecraftian Horrors. And even though their first album Culto Abismal (2016) was recorded relatively fast, it took six years to finish the sophomore work Confines de la Cordura, which will see the light in September 2022 according to Nuclear Winter Records’ schedule.

And while we wait until the stars align let’s take a glimpse into the world of Cruz together with the band’s drummer Xavi. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DIABOLOGY — “BLACKBLOOD”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Aug 162022
 

With a band name that refers to the study, theory, and doctrine of devils, we would expect nothing less than devilish music from them, and Los Angeles-based Diabology deliver that in spades on their forthcoming sophomore album Father of Serpents.

With thrash as their backbone, Diabology flesh out their new album by drawing on a mix of other genre ingredients — not in some scatter-shot, “we can’t figure out what we want to be” kind of way, but with the kind of focus and self-assurance one might not expect from a relatively young group. The songs are electric and vividly dynamic, but cohesive — and of course fiendish. We have a prime example in the piratical track we’re bringing you today — “Blackblood“. Continue reading »

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE – CHILDREN OF THE GREAT EXTINCTION

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Aug 162022
 

(Andy Synn has not forgotten Becoming the Archetype… but will his faith be rewarded?)

Be careful what you wish for… that’s what they say, right?

And, let me tell you, I’ve been wishing and hoping for a new album from Becoming the Archetype ever since the group (at the time a very different entity from the one they started as) disbanded nearly ten years ago.

Well, now it’s finally here, reuniting the core trio of Seth Hecox, Jason Wisdom, and Brent Duckett, for the first time in over a decade, and it’s fallen to me to tell you all about it. And I’m not sure I’m ready.

But I’m going to try my best.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ALTARS ABLAZE — “FOR THE LIFELESS LOVE OF A CRUCIFIED CORPSE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Aug 162022
 

The Czech band Altars Ablaze began as the brainchild of Tomas Halama (of Heaving Earth) after his departure from Brutally Deceased. He approached other established musicians in the Czech extreme metal scene, and they coalesced behind a musical vision that sought a place between blasphemous death metal and militant black metal, with a desire to push that conception to the extreme but simultaneously to introduce the unexpected.

The bitter fruits of this vision are to be found in the band’s debut album Life Desecration, which is set for release on September 16th by the Czech label Lavadome Productions. Up to now two singles from the album have been released, and today we add a third one with our premiere of the song that opens the album, “For the Lifeless Love of a Crucified Corpse“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: APHONIC THRENODY, TYRANNOSATAN, AMMANAS

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Aug 152022
 

This is a rare weekday when we have no music premieres on the calendar, and thus I had some uncommitted time to use in sifting through the murky metal flood in search of other shiny nuggets. Coincidentally, it leads to the fifth day in a row when I’ve been able to pull together a round-up of new sights and sounds, creating our own flood. May you keep your nostrils above the tide.

For moi, part of the fun of these exercises is not just the process of making selections but the arranging of them. What comes first, what comes next, how to end? It’s as close as I’ll ever come to being a DJ. I wouldn’t be a very good one in any event, because the idea of enabling people to flow fairly smoothly from one thing to the next in a similar sonicsphere is usually uninteresting to me. Sometimes it’s more fun to create whiplash through abrupt shifts and jarring juxtapositions.

APHONIC THRENODY (International)

Aphonic Threnody never indulge any temptation for half-measures. The immense power of their funeral doom has proven to be unyielding, and so has the volume of the output. This year marks the third in a row to witness a new Aphonic Threnody album, following on the heels of The All Consuming Void and The Great Hatred. Moreover, those two were hour-long records and the one we’ll receive this year — The Loneliest Walk — is a double-album that’s almost 2 1/2 hours long. Continue reading »

BLACK MAGNET: “BODY PROPHECY”

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Aug 152022
 

(We had a torrent of reviews from DGR last week, and we have another one to kick-start this new week. The subject is the second LP from Midwestern US industrial metal outfit Black Magnet, which was released by 20 Buck Spin at the end of July.)

It seems only fitting, given the Author & Punisher and Lament Cityscape reviews that have floated across the site (one of which was the fault of yours truly), that at one point or another we were going to find our way to the doorstep of the industrial project Black Magnet.

The group’s recent album Body Prophecy was released at the tail end of July via 20 Buck Spin and is one of those releases where if you were curious in any sense what sort of music they made, you just had to see that the closing track was a remix by Godflesh‘s Justin Broadrick.

Black Magnet have been around for a few years now, though they are still a newer project, and Body Prophecy represents only the second full-length for the band. Arriving two years after their album Hallucination Scene, Body Prophecy tries hard to refine the band’s sound while also indulging in some hefty hero worship. It’s hard not to draw comparisons throughout the album as Black Magnet leans hard into the electronics-driven side of its sound, augmenting its guitar and hammering drums for something that could draw a wall of comparisons to groups like Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, and yes, the aforementioned Godflesh. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VOID ROT

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Aug 152022
 

 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of John Hancock, guitarist/vocalist from Minnesota’s Void Rot, who have a new EP out now on the Everlasting Spew label.)

Void Rot from Minneapolis got their portion of praise and positive reviews after the release of their debut album Descending Pillars two years ago. John Hancock (guitars, vocals), Will Bell (drums), Craig Clemons (bass), and Kent Sklarow (guitars) obviously know how to produce macabre and dangerous stuff! Their cyclopic slow death metal or colossal menacing death-doom was damn remarkable indeed, so I couldn’t just pass by their new release Telluric Dismemberment even though it’s just EP.

Here’s our conversation with John Hancock. Come and taste Void Rot with us. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: SIGH, ORM, VETER DAEMONAZ, SWARN

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Aug 142022
 

After three days of cruising along with lots of time to devote to NCS I ran into a wall. The demands of my fucking day job are unpredictable and weekends aren’t any more sacrosanct than they are at this site. So I had to work yesterday and this morning. You just never know when people will urgently need a delivery of toilet paper.

I finally did manage to squeeze in some listening and some writing for this weekly column, just so it wouldn’t completely go missing, but it’s shorter and more hurried than I wanted it to be.

SIGH (Japan)

To begin, we have a video for the song “Satsui” from the forthcoming 12th album by the remarkable (and long-lived) Japanese band Sigh. It’s the kind of song that’s capable of hooking people damned hard and damned fast. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: LIGHTLORN, OFFERNAT, RESIN TOMB, [4672], SEVENTH STORM, MAAHES, LUSTRE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Aug 132022
 

 

This makes three days in a row where I found enough time to compile a roundup of new music and videos. I can’t remember the last time that happened, but it was surely long ago. And not only was I able to do this three days in a row, but time also allowed me to pack an extravagant amount of music into this third compilation.

I also think it’s fair to say that what I picked ranges far and wide — and I’m not just talking about the bands’ global locations. I suppose it’s possible there’s someone out there who won’t find one damn thing to like among these seven songs, but I’d be surprised if that were true.

LIGHTLORN (Sweden)

I don’t usually lead off these collections with an unknown band’s very first published song, but this one dropped my jaw. I became so enthusiastic about such a welcome surprise that I would have been ashamed at myself if I hadn’t put it in the starting position. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MOTHER OF GRAVES, FACELESS BURIAL, SACRILEGIA, FAUSTIAN, EXORDIUM MORS

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Aug 122022
 

 

Yesterday I took the first step in a journey of a thousand miles — an only slightly exaggerated metaphor for the task of wading through all the recent songs and videos that might yield selections for these roundups. Today, as you can see, I managed to take a second step. By rough count that leaves about 2.5 million additional steps.

I’m beginning with artwork, unaccompanied by music (the column is called “SEEN and Heard”), but then moving into some new sounds and videos (and more cool cover art).

MOTHER OF GRAVES (U.S.)

This Indiana death/doom band released their debut EP in January of last year, and Todd Manning gave it a very good review for us. He concluded by hoping that a full-length would be close at hand. The hope is now fulfilled, because Wise Blood Records will be releasing the band’s debut album Where the Shadows Adorn on October 14th. And for that album the maestro Paolo Girardi created the stunning cover art you see above.

But what you see above is only half of the full painting. Here’s the complete work: Continue reading »

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