Sep 242021
 

 

Odds are, when you see references to black thrash it’s likely to be written “ripping black thrash”. But that’s the point, isn’t it? To get your heart pumping and your head moving, and to do it in a way that feels dangerously untamed, vicious, and yes, eviscerating. The music of Destructo is definitely all that, and it’s intoxicating too, the kind of experience that makes you go wild in your head.

The band’s name itself is reflective of their musical attitude. Further clues can be found in the inspirations of these Dutch deviants: Destructo was formed in 2018 as a side-project between erstwhile Dödsrit and Nuclear Devastation bandmates Soulcrusher and Motörphallus (and later joined by drummer Necrohammer) as a tribute to bands like Sarcofago, Syphilitic Vaginas, and Japan’s Sabbat, and in their forthcoming debut album they’ve also brought forward forward influences from Bathory, Hellhammer, and especially G.I.S.M., thus creating a bastard child of first-wave black metal and ’80s speed metal and thrash.

The album, fittingly entitled Demonic Possession, is indeed one very wild and blasphemous ride, a ten-track, 40-minute experience guaranteed to juice your adrenaline into overdrive. It’s coming out on November 19th via Dying Victims Productions, and we’re as happy as fiends to premiere a song from it that exalts the “Black Mark“. Continue reading »

Sep 242021
 

 

Portuguese black metal isn’t a monolithic or monochromatic sound, any more than black metal is in any other country. But it seems undeniable that one of the strongest and oldest strains of the black arts in Portugal is a particularly raw and hostile form of black metal. Among the progenitors of that movement are the two men behind Morte Incandescente, whose veteran talents have been built through involvement in an extensive array of bands over more than two decades.

They are perhaps best known from the work of their principal bands — Vulturius with IRAE and Nocturnus Horrendus with Corpus Christii — but Morte Incandescente has been much more than some side project. Indeed, on October 31st the band’s fifth album will be released through Signal Rex. What it shows is the benefit of veteran talent.

To be honest, a lot of raw black metal seems mainly calculated to inflict ruin, in the most ruinous ways possible, and that in itself can become monotonous and un-memorable. Morte Incandescente‘s new album, on the other hand, is definitely neither of those, as you’ll learn through the song we’re premiering today. “Nós Somos O Underground” (“we are the underground”) is primitive, feral, vicious, and viscerally gripping, and yet also remarkably dynamic and laden with many hooks. Continue reading »

Sep 242021
 

 

(In this extensive and enlightening interview Comrade Aleks checked in with Dale J. Williams, vocalist/guitarist of the fine Australian black metal band Vyrion, whose latest album Nil arrived last year.)

Vyrion’s track premiere… how long ago was it announced here? October 2020? I remember clearly how this black metal song from Australia stuck in my mind with its hard and solid delivery and minimalistic yet expressive artwork. I still believe that the visual side of any album is absolutely important, and Vyrion’s latest album Nil has it.

Also this band is one of the rare kind who prefer bigger concepts behind their stuff than medieval deviltry and church-burning, so I would point to intellectual lyrics as another of Vyrion’s merits. Actually there was no news from the band since the Nil release, and I sent them a message to see if they could answer a few questions for NCS. It’s the band’s founder Dale J Williams (vocals, guitars) who answers our call. Continue reading »

Sep 232021
 

 

Three years ago we got the chance to premiere a track from Imperialist‘s electrifying debut album Cipher, a sci-fi-themed work that the releasing label (Transcending Obscurity) introduced with references to the traditions of Necrophobic, Dissection, and Sacramentum, with nods to the thrashier dynamics of Aura Noir and Vektor as well. That album caught lots of eyes thanks to the cover art by Adam Burke, and the music opened lots of eyes too.

As you can see, Adam Burke has done it again with the painting emblazoned on the cover of this California band’s forthcoming sophomore full-length, Zenith. And we’re again getting the chance to premiere a song from the new record in advance of its November 26 release by the same Transcending Obscurity Records. Continue reading »

Sep 232021
 

(Andy Synn would like to remind you that while his country may be regressing, their music scene definitely isn’t)

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the news, the good ol’ UK is currently, well… fucked… especially when it comes to international relations and trade with other countries.

Thankfully, however, our homegrown music scene is as strong as it’s ever been, which is why I’m here today to recommend three recent releases which are well worth importing into your ears.

And I won’t even charge you anything for the privilege.

Continue reading »

Sep 232021
 

 

After releasing a debut demo (Red Messenger) in 2017 and a follow-up EP in 2019 (The Great Tribulation), the Canadian melodic death metal band Varius decided to really live the way their name sounds.

For their new EP Concordance (set for release on November 5th), diversity was the strategic goal. Each of the four tracks was primarily written by a different member of the band, and was then worked on by the band as a whole, lending a degree of consistency across the EP while also endeavoring to support the writer’s original vision. The result is that each track reveals different influences, including death metal, thrash, progressive, doom, and classic metal, augmented by some experimental twists.

What we have for you today is one of those four songs, and it’s full of dynamic surprises — a song that’s bombastic and brazen, savage and scintillating, mysterious and magnificent — and its name is “Concordance of the Legionfall“. Continue reading »

Sep 232021
 

 

The chain-wielding, blunt-instrument-bearing, masked marauders in Bloodmouth are bent on inflicting audio carnage. This Aussie band includes members of Canberra’s Ploughshare, Mental Cavity, and IEXIST, and through Bloodmouth they discharged their fury through a pulverizing amalgam of ’90s grindcore and death metal that pays homage to the likes of Dying Fetus, Pig Destroyer, Nasum, and Arkangel.

The band’s debut release is a vile and violent 20-minute scourge named Unmanned. It will be fully uncaged by Brilliant Emperor Records on October 29, and today we’ve got one of its visceral assaults for you to check out, a track named “Copcrocalypse“. Continue reading »

Sep 232021
 

 

(Here we have Comrade Aleks‘ interview of one of the two men behind the Hungarian death metal band Rothadás, who have a highly anticipated debut album coming out next month.)

Coffinborn, Cryptworm, Mörbid Carnage, Necrosodomy, Tyrant Goatgaldrakona… Such names! Why would someone who already plays all forms of macabre’n’morbid metal start another band? But Tibor Hanyi did.

This man indeed has around six active bands and Rothadás (“rot” in Hungarian) is a relatively fresh addition to this list. Tibor (bass, guitars) alongside Lambert Lédeczy (drums, vocals) started Rothadás two years ago, and while none would expect it, the UK-based label Me Saco un Ojo Records has announced the band’s debut release Kopár hant​.​.​. az alvilág felé will be released on the 12th of October.

The choice of cover artwork (above) was damn effective, so why not check out this killer death-doom piece and its intoxicating and striking aroma of coffins, crypts, and death? Continue reading »

Sep 222021
 

As promised, here’s Part 2 of a round-up of new music and videos I began yesterday (here, in case you missed it). I’ll dispense with further introduction and just get right to it….

DAKHMA (Switzerland)

There have been a few Dakhma’s out in the world, but this one is the Swiss blackened death metal band, whose works I once characterized as “foul, filth-ridden, fiery, and ferocious music that channels the feeling of ancient, implacable evil… and utter devotion to its ends. As they say in the trade, not for the faint of heart”.

I chose those words in the context of their 2018 debut album, and now they have a second full-length on the way. Not being faint of heart (at least not when it comes to music), I eagerly partook of the new record’s first advance track — which is the way today’s round-up begins. Continue reading »

Sep 222021
 

 

Slovenia’s Hellsword came together a dozen years ago, dedicated to the sounds of first-wave black metal, drawing inspiration from the likes of Venom, Bathory, and Hellhammer. With two well-received EPs to their name — 2011’s Blasphemy Unchained and 2014’s Sounding the Seventh BellHellsword are now on the verge of launching their first full-length strike: On September 24th their debut album Cold Is The Grave will be discharged by Emanzipation Productions, and today we’ve got the premiere of all nine tracks.

Lyrically, the band deal with topics such as devil worship, the end of the world, death, desolation, mortality, and the absurdity of human existence. And with such happy thoughts in mind, and a take-no-prisoners attitude, Hellsword deliver 42+ minutes of blazing heavy metal hellfire. Continue reading »