AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ILLUMINATION — “WORSHIP DEATH MORE THAN LIFE”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 012022
 

In a time marked by such a relentless torrent of new metal, adding to a sea of music that now spans many decades, what keeps ardent fans attentive and excited? In some instances it’s the thrill of new releases by bands who helped shape the course of the flood long ago and still survive. But in other instances it’s the excitement that comes from discovering unusual music by new groups, music that builds on tradition but takes the sounds in startling directions.

We have a great example of that latter phenomenon in the EP we’re about to premiere by the Brazilian band Illumination. It’s a tremendously accomplished debut EP that builds upon the band’s 2021 demo Occult Science, and its manifold successes are undoubtedly due to the previous experience of its three members, who have spent time in such bands as Nervochaos, Grave Desecrator, ColdBlood, Poem’s Death, and Aghory, among others.

The EP’s closest genre label might be atmospheric black metal, but as you’ll discover the music is a stylistic hybrid. A combination of the luminous and the lethal, it fits the band’s name, and it fits the name of the EP as well: Worship Death More Than Life. Continue reading »

NIGHTRAGE: “ABYSS RISING”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 012022
 

(Here’s DGR‘s review of the latest album by the melodic death metal band Nightrage, which was released a bit earlier this month by Despotz Records.)

It’s been a weird review batch given that February has granted a small collection of classically inclined melodeath acts.

Nightrage have had a surprisingly long-running career. They can count themselves as among a small handful who have had a surprising number of lineup changes throughout many years, yet through force of sheer stubbornness have somehow managed to continue not only to exist but also to put out quality melodeath releases.

Yes, nowadays they’re on the lighter side of the metal scale but Marios Iliopoulos has been a hallmark of consistency throughout his musical career and also criminally good at writing earworm guitar leads. Nightrage have been an ever-present underdog, even after having some famed vocalists and guitarists pass through their lineup. They’re a sleeker band now but one that hasn’t really seen too much movement in recent years in terms of people coming and going – save for the drummer position – meaning that the Nightrage you see now has become a pretty solid musical landmark, and one that since 2015’s The Puritan and 2017’s The Venomous have been terrifyingly good at the surgical strike of a melodeath song.

Abyss Rising makes no moves to change that. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EPIDEMIK — “NUKE WAR”

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Feb 282022
 

The Costa Rican band Epidemik released their debut EP, Murder By Command, in 2013. The group disbanded a couple of years later, and then revived but experienced a succession of line-up changes. At last a new line-up solidified, and the group began working on their first full-length, which is now ready for an April 4 release through the cooperation of GrimmDistribution (Ukraine) and Sanatorio Records (Costa Rica).

The band self-titytled this first album not only because it signals the resurrection of the group but also because it represents a stylistic shift. The band’s original old-school thrash influences haven’t vanished, but now they’re blended with death metal ferocity and more technical twists and turns. As a preview of what the new album delivers, today we’re premiering a track with a timely title: “Nuke War“. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 143): NON EST DEUS

 THE SYNN REPORT  2 Responses »
Feb 282022
 

Recommended for fans of: Spectral Wound, Uada, Woe

I don’t know whether it makes me a hypocrite (but, then again, aren’t we all?) but while I retain a more than healthy scepticism about any sort of so-called “supergroup” (sure, some of them are great, but most of them are just famous – and sometimes not-so-famous – musicians trading solely on their names to sell you their latest mediocre side-project) I have a lot more time for solo artists with multiple projects.

Actually, to be more accurate, I have a lot more time for those solo artists I actually like – as I am famously very picky when it comes to projects which are the product of just a single individual – which is why, upon learning that Non Est Deus was another artistic endeavour by the same person behind both Kanonenfieber and Leiþa, I knew I had to check it out.

As it turns out, not only is Non Est Deus a predictably excellent slab of sleekly savage, mercilessly melodic Black Metal – one that’s not afraid to groove, or gallop, as the situation dictates, while also being willing to throw in the occasional unexpectedly esoteric curve-ball just to keep you on your toes – it’s also actually an older and more prolific project that either of the other two, having already released both The Last Supper (2018) and There Is No God (2019), with a third album, Impious, set to be unveiled this Friday via Avantgarde Music and Noisebringer Records.

All of which, obviously, makes Non Est Deus a prime candidate for The Synn Report, so let’s cut to the chase and get to the music, shall we?

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: THE SPIRIT, SLAGMAUR, CULTED, THEBES, MOTSTAND, LENGUAJE DE VIBORAS, UNITED COLOR OF BLACK METAL

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Feb 282022
 

 

In normal times I would have posted this column yesterday, but I decided to devote yesterday to playlists of Ukrainian metal, which I hope you’ll explore (here and here) if you haven’t yet.

For this week’s black metal column I picked a variety of new songs and videos from among what I listened to in recent days, plus one big curveball of an album at the end that’s more than 18 months old.

THE SPIRIT (Germany)

To launch the column I picked the second single (with a video) to be released from this German band’s new album, Of Clarity and Galactic Structures. The new one, “Celestial Fire“, was preceded by the title track, which I’ve already written about here. True to its name, the new song blazes. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FATHER BEFOULED — “KATABATIC DELIVERANCE”

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Feb 282022
 

At one time or another every human being will become personally acquainted with horror. The horror of disease (mental and physical), the horror of violence, the horror of dying and death, the horror spawned by our own imaginations — one or more or all, they wait for us, as unavoidable as the sunset.

Tremendous amounts of human energy are devoted to keeping them at bay (fruitlessly), but once encountered they’re not easily forgotten. People try to whitewash them away with philosophies and prayer, but those are like thin coats of paint on a picket fence long gone to rot. Other people stare at them with clear eyes, refuse to look away, and even embrace them.

Which brings us to the unholy Georgia-based death metal band Father Befouled and the song we’re premiering from their new album Crowned in Veneficum. Continue reading »

IN SOLIDARITY — UKRAINE (PART 2)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Feb 272022
 

 

In Part 1 of this big collection of music I provided a long-winded introduction. If you want to read it, go here, but all I’ll say now is that I wanted to do something to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine in this terrible time for their nation.

Because today is the day of the week usually devoted to SHADES OF BLACK, I devoted Part 1 to the music of Ukrainian black and “blackened” metal bands. This Part includes songs by 12 Ukrainian bands in other genres of metal (though some charred music did find its way into this Part too).

As in Part 1, I’ve focused mainly on music released in the last few years, just as a way of keeping the collection from going on forever. As before, I encourage you to leave any further suggestions in the comments. And as before, I’m not including commentary or the usual links, just the music streams. Continue reading »

IN SOLIDARITY — UKRAINE (PART 1)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Feb 272022
 

 

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the tragedy that’s under way in Ukraine. With a mixture of fury and grief I read the news every waking hour, and dream about it in my sleep. The fact that my wife is half-Ukrainian has something to do with that, but I hope I’d feel the same way if she were half-Russian.

For many people around the world, it’s hard to know how to channel our feelings of outrage over Putin’s invasion, his incessant lies, his threats of nuclear war, and his repression of dissent into anything that seems like meaningful action. For most people, and especially those of us very far away from the borders of Ukraine, speaking out, pressuring political leaders to act, and providing moral and financial support to embattled Ukrainians — and not letting any of that support wane in the darker days to come — may be all we can do. It’s better than nothing.

This is just a metal blog, and so all we’re capable of doing through this channel is offering up music. Anti-war and anti-fascist music from any locale would be suitable for this time, but I want to focus on the music of Ukrainian bands, a small way of providing moral support. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: MESHUGGAH, FORNDOM, BLOODRED, SUFFER IN SILENCE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Feb 262022
 

 

If we let a day go by without posting something, will anyone worry that a catastrophe has befallen us? Some technological breakdown or illness or death in the ranks of those of us who toil here at NCS? Oh, probably not. Maybe just mild disappointment would befall some regular visitors, rather than severe anxiety or anguish. Maybe others would welcome a break from the daily torrent of new sounds.

But life is disconcerting enough these days without the experience of even mild additional disappointment. And so… here are a few new songs and videos, just a few.

MESHUGGAH (Sweden)

It’s hard not to mention the appearance of a new Meshuggah song and video even though everyone likely to visit our site already knows about it, especially because the video is so intriguing (and frightenig). The song’s stuttering and shivering grooves are relentless, and very catchy, and it succeeds in creating a spacey, futuristic atmosphere in keeping with Meshuggah‘s history of providing what seem line soundtracks to the rise of hideous machine intelligence. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TRACKS FROM A NEW SPLIT BY WORMED AND COPREMESIS

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Feb 252022
 

Today Buried Zine and Stay Free Recordings are releasing a limited-edition split by two bands who’ve made brutality a hallmark of their music, albeit in very different ways: the Spanish band Wormed and the deceased New York band Copremesis.

Buried Zine has explained that they selected these two bands and recordings for this collaboration “to celebrate the diversity and extremity of the brutal death metal scene, in both musical styles and conceptual approaches: Wormed‘s progressive brutality, extreme musical precision and galactic themes contrast to the base perversity of Copremesis’ raw and darkly humoured ultra brutal death metal”.

The split features two previously unreleased live recordings by both bands, pressed into 7-inch vinyl records of varying colors, and to help spread the word about the release we’re presenting premiere streams of one performance from the split by each band. Continue reading »

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