AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HUMATOR — “CURSE OF THE PHAROAH”

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Feb 252022
 

 

More than a dozen years have passed since the Italian/German death metal band Humator released their debut album Memories From the Abyss, but with a revamped line-up in place, and armed with a musical arsenal of obliterating and head-spinning proportions, they’re returning with a second album named Curse of the Pharoah that was inspired by Egyptian mythology and classic fantasy. It’s set for a February 28th release by the Italian label Time To Kill Records, but we have a full stream of it for you today.

This long-awaited return truly is an explosive one. With a modern production job that delivers both bunker-busting power and mind-piercing clarity where needed, the album spawns references to such old-school masters as Cannibal Corpse, Monstrosity, Suffocation, Sinister, and Morbid Angel, as well as the likes of Dying Fetus and The Black Dahlia Murder. The music is ruinously brutal and technically impressive, but displays a deft use of dynamism and melody that gives the tracks character and contagiousness. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LIGFAERD — “HIERUSALEM”

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Feb 242022
 

 

Active since 2005 (and even earlier under the name Hrapp), the Danish black metal band Ligfaerd are about to unleash fresh hell on earth through the release of their fourth album in March via the German label Vendetta Records. The name of the album is Salvator Mundi, and today we present its stunning cover art and first advance track, “Hierusalem“.

In this new song the riffing flies like a swarm of razors over a measured beat, and a trilling lead leaps forth like tendrils of aural flame. Heavy and heaving chords also reverberate in tones of oppressive gloom, dragging and clawing at the senses while paving the way for scorching vocal vitriol. When the lead guitar erupts again, there’s a feeling of frantic despair and pain in its sound. But in this dynamic song, there’s still more to come. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A DARK DAY: EVERGREY, INTOLERANCE, DESTRUCTION, QAALM, I AM THE NIGHT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Feb 242022
 


Evergrey

We’re just a heavy-music site, but it’s hard to ignore what’s happening in Europe right now as the world takes another big step backward into a darker time. That has influenced my musical choices in this collection. The song titles and some of the album titles seemed particularly appropriate. As always, the music streams are mostly brand new, and very good, and varied enough to suit many tastes.

EVERGREY (Sweden)

The first song is a hard-charging, emotionally fiery, and ferocious track, with a glorious guitar solo in the mix — and of course it’s a well-earned exception to our rule about singing. Excellent video too. “Save Us” comes from Evergrey‘s new album A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament), out May 20 via Napalm Records. Continue reading »

BEYOND THE STYX – SENTENCE

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Feb 242022
 

(Andy Synn goes a few rounds with France’s Beyond the Styx and their new album, Sentence)

As I’ve said several times before, my journey into Metal began with my discovery of Punk/Hardcore.

Beginning with bands like Thrice, AFI, and BoySetsFire I eventually gravitated towards more overtly “metallic” Hardcore groups like Earth Crisis, Zao, and Vision of Disorder, and it wasn’t long until I fell/dived headlong into the even heavier side of the Metal scene.

The thing is, while I never really felt like I fit in as a Hardcore kid – I wasn’t really into the fashion (I probably wear more basketball vests now than I ever did back then), I wasn’t vegan or straight-edge (I do about one non-meat day a week these days, and have been known to drink the entire NCS crew under the table), and always felt like karate-dancing in the pit was stupid (and even, arguably, contrary to what “the scene” was supposed to be about) – I never lost my love of the music.

And while recently this has manifested itself in a series of reviews of some killer Death Metal/Hardcore crossover albums (check those out if/when you have time), it was the release of Sentence by French Metallic Hardcore crew Beyond the Styx, which really took me back to my roots this month.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WORMQUIZITOR — “MAD CROWD”

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Feb 242022
 

 

On a day many of us will remember with sadness mixed with anger, the Belarusian band Wormquizitor gives us something to remember with pleasure, from an album that’s being released through the cooperation of a Ukrainian label and a Russian one.

The name of that album is Sickness Define: Society. As its name suggests it includes songs whose themes dwell upon the maladies of our modern civilizations — domestic and social violence, drug addiction, depression, herd mentality, obsession, and impunity. It’s the work of former members of Vox Mortuis, Tryzna and Fimbulvinter, who came together in Minsk to found Wormquizitor in 2019.

The music is not neatly defined in genre terms, though black metal and thrash figure in the outcome. As demonstrated by the song we’re premiering today, the name of which (“Mad Crowd“) is also a fitting headline for the day, killer riffs, ferocious vocals, and compelling rhythms also figure in the outcome. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SULPHUR NURSE — “ROOPKUND”

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Feb 232022
 

 

Sulphur Nurse is an international experimental noise/industrial trio consisting of Eeli Helin (Lung Knots, Fawn Limbs), Dan Dolby (Catafalque, Mastiff), and Matt Finney (Clawing, It Only Gets Worse). As you can see, the members have their own separate projects that pursue divergent paths. They brought their own influences and preferences into this project, and the tracks themselves present divergences, but something united these creative forces. What was it?

Listening to their debut album Roopkund (set for release by Tartarus Records on February 25th) suggests this unifying approach in their experimentation: Have nightmares, remember them, and then portray them with the most abrasive, dismal, dread-inspiring, and hallucinatory aesthetics possible. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BEYOND THE STRUCTURE — “WORMS OF CONSUMPTION”

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Feb 232022
 

 

Almost eight years have passed since the Estonian death metal band Beyond the Structure released their debut album Nauseating Truth. In those intervening years the band did their fair share of touring and released a 2018 EP named Machine of Progress, and line-up changes occurred as well. But now the band are returning with a new album named Scrutiny that’s set for release on April 28th by Vicious Instinct Records.

The new album reveals a band who bring notable technical skill to their performances and display adventurousness in their songwriting, and their lyricism is thoughtful and relevant to some of the most distressing aspects of human evolution and the trials of modern life. They’ve explained that, thematically, the album draws upon the works of Jean-Paul Sartre, the Strugatsky brothers, and Viktor Pelevin in ways that “deal with the crisis of existential existence, mass psychosis, and the inevitable catastrophes caused by the actions of a consumption-based society”.

Those themes come through loud and clear in the lyric video we’re premiering today for a body-mangling, head-spinning album track named “Worms of Consumption“ Continue reading »

BROOD OF HATRED – THE GOLDEN AGE

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Feb 232022
 

(Andy Synn opens his mind to the new album by one-man Prog-Death prodigy Brood of Hatred)

So, let me think, what do I know about Tunisia?

Well, I know it’s the Northern-most country in Africa, and predominantly Muslim, and I’m pretty sure I went on holiday there once with my parents when I was a kid… but other than that I don’t really know too much about it.

I know even less about its Metal scene, which appears to be extremely small and extremely underground, to the extent that the only two bands I’m really familiar with – Vielikan and Omination – are primarily written and recorded by the same individual!

As it turns out, Brood of Hatred main-man Mohamed Mêlki was also a member of Vielikan at one point, but has since branched out to craft his own particular brand of engagingly immersive Prog-Death, with The Golden Age (set for release this Friday) being by some margin his best work yet.

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DARKNESS EVERYWHERE — “THE SEVENTH CIRCLE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Feb 222022
 

 

The Bay Area melodic death metal band Darkness Everywhere bring proven talent to the table, harnessing the skills of vocalist/guitarist/drummer Ben Murray (Light This City, Wilderness Dream), guitarist Cameron Stucky (Crepuscle), and renowned producer/engineer Zack Ohren on bass. What’s more, their debut EP also includes guest vocal performances by Laura Nichol (Light This City), John Henry (Darkest Hour), and Xavier from Upon Stone.

The band’s chosen name provides a clue to their vision, but the EP’s title, The Seventh Circle, is an even more vivid signal. There they point to Dante’s Seventh Layer Of Hell, where acts of violence in life are punished in death through endless torture and agony. Souls are immersed in rivers of boiling blood and fire, imprisoned in gnarled trees where harpies feed, and abandoned on scorching plains.

Darkness Everywhere take us to this hot and unhappy place through the paths of seven tracks, each of which has a fittingly hellish theme, and we’ll lead you through each of them ion our premiere of the EP today in advance of its release on February 25th. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SUNTOLD — “THE HILL”

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Feb 222022
 

 

Once again the world finds itself on the precipice of invasion and armed conflict in Europe. One might have thought such days were long gone but now, astonishingly, memories have been revived of how world wars begin. It is thus fitting, even if coincidental, that today we’re premiering the first single by the part-American, part-Belgian black metal band Suntold, which itself delves into those chilling memories.

The name of the song is “The Hill“. In its lyrics it portrays fields drenched in the blood of many men and stinking of rotting flesh. It expresses the prayers of the living combatants that they may yet survive, that they might return to mothers, fathers, and brothers far away. It’s a timeless tale, of course, but the video roots the imagery in those global conflicts to which memories have now returned. Continue reading »

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