OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 22): FIRST FRAGMENT, OPHIDIAN I, HANNES GROSSMANN, STORTREGN

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Feb 012022
 


First Fragment

As explained yesterday, I decided to plow through my self-imposed end-of-January deadline for finishing this list because it became apparent to me that I had overlooked a number of tracks that really needed to be included. Worse than that, I had really given short-shrift to a few entire genres of extreme metal. Since one of my objectives for the list has been to give a snapshot of what the preceding year brought us across a range of genres, that deficiency needed to be remedied, at least to some extent.

Technical death metal is one of the genres that hasn’t really gotten the exposure it deserves in the list as it exists so far. Today’s installment is an effort to at least partially make up for that, and I’ve also included a technically adept band whose music is often classified as melodic black/death.

FIRST FRAGMENT (Canada)

“Let’s face it, 2021 has been a ridiculous year for the Tech Death scene.” That’s how Andy Synn began his review of First Fragment’s Gloire Éternelle, and who could argue with that? But it’s also fair to say that despite the intensity of the competition First Fragment still stood out. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISFUNERAL — “ETERNAL”

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Feb 012022
 

Those French metal dudes up there look like they’re having fun, don’t they? But how are they having fun with their music?

You would have some idea if you caught their self-titled 2017 debut EP, which was a wild, slaughtering romp of d-beat-infused old school death metal, packed with heavyweight chainsawing riffs, neck-smacking drumwork, insane vocals, and soloing that was both berserk and psychedelic, but with a songwriting dynamism that also dragged the music into ghastly graveyard gruesomeness.

Redefining Darkness Records did catch that EP, and became obsessed with it (having finally heard it, we can understand why), to the point that the label had to sign Disfuneral for the release of their debut album Blood Red Tentacle on April 15th of this year. The EP really was tremendously good, and the song we’re premiering from the album today is a bright sign that the new album will be too. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ABYSMAL DAWN — “NIGHTMARE FRONTIER”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Feb 012022
 

 

(On February 4th Season of Mist will release a new EP by Abysmal Dawn, and today we present DGR‘s review of the record, accompanied by a full stream that premiered today.)

Nightmare Frontier, the newest release from death metal crew Abysmal Dawn via Season of Mist, is an odd duck. Like many single releases that have been expanded into smaller EPs over the past few years as groups dig through their archives for value add-ons, Nightmare Frontier is a thematic grab bag that, thanks to its second song, makes a wide journey across the band’s career.

Containing one new song in the form of “A Nightmare Slain”, Nightmare Frontier then reinforces its first track with a new take on one of the group’s earliest songs, “Blacken The Sky”, and then further adds to it with two covers from surprising corners for the band with “Behind Space” and “Bewitched” – one interesting choice and one massively iconic song – for a total of a little over nineteen minutes worth of music.

Now granted, were this release just the single and the badass cover art by Pär Olofsson, you’d have a solid recommendation off the bat. But the other fifteen some-odd minutes of music make this one an oddball journey at the least. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 21): THE LURKING FEAR, ANTI RITUAL, HIDEOUS DIVINITY, HUSQWARNAH, ΣΧΕΔΟΝ ΝΕΚΡΟΣ, GATECREEPER

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Jan 312022
 


The Lurking Fear

 

We’ve had an unusually high volume of content at NCS on this last day of January, but our flood of posts on this Monday now comes to an end with this one, though not in the way I originally expected.

I had vowed to myself and to you  to close the rollout of this Most Infectious Song list today. But over the weekend I realized just how much I had overlooked, even after 20 installments and 65 songs (all of which you can find here). In part this was a result of consulting with my long-time NCS comrades Andy Synn and DGR (this is, after all, called “Our List”, even though the song choices are always my own decision). And so I’ve decided, after all, not to end the list today.

How much longer I’ll continue isn’t something I’ve figured out yet, but at least for a few more days and possibly to the end of the week, but not past that.

With all that said, here are five more songs for the list. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: IDOL OF FEAR — “CHEIROTONIA”

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Jan 312022
 

 

The Canadian band Idol of Fear took their name from a quote in Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 movie Det Sjunde Inseglet (The Seventh Seal): “We must make an idol of our fear and that idol we shall call God.” They recorded a three-song demo in 2013, and followed that with two full-lengths, All Sights Affixed, Ablaze (2014) and Grave Aperture (2018). On March 11th, they will add to those with a third album via their own Somnolence Productions label. Its name is Trespasser.

The band believe it is their most powerful and cohesive album to date, and they anticipate that listeners will hear a clear progression from their previous work — and might be taken aback. They expect that it will come out of nowhere for many.

In addition to helping spread the word about the impending advent of this new full-length, we’re also providing a tangible sign of what it holds in story for listeners, through our premiere of a lyric video for a song called “Cheirotonia“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ULTRA SILVAM — “FÖRINTELSENS ANDEVÄSEN DEL II”

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Jan 312022
 

 

Seemingly out of nowhere, Ultra Silvam‘s 2019 debut album (The Spearwound Salvation) exploded my head and those of many other listeners like a drone strike on an ammunition depot. I immediately became an enthusiastic fan and ultimately put one of the album tracks on our list of 2019’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs (here).

And so it’s been a thrill to discover that these bloody-minded Swedes are returning with a follow-up full-length, which will be released in February on a multitude of formats by Shadow Records (distributed and marketed by Regain Records). Its name is The Sanctity of Death, and it’s even more dynamic and stylistically multi-faceted than its predecessor, but no less explosive, electrifying, or virally contagious. As a nova-like sign of all that, we give you the premiere stream of a delirious song with a mouthful of a title: “Förintelsens andeväsen del II: Den deicidala transsubstantiationens mysterium“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CEREMONIAL CASTINGS — “DESECRATION OF GRACE”

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Jan 312022
 

 

2021 brought the 25th anniversary of Ceremonial Castings, the passing of a quarter-century career during which the band produced nine full-length albums and a slew of demos, EPs, and splits. The two brothers who joined forces in this endeavor — Jake and Nick Superchi — decided to commemorate the anniversary in extravagant fashion, by re-recording 18 of their classic songs, as well as two completely new and previously unreleased instrumentals by Nick Superchi, and to release the material in the form of a double album.

The name of that album (and suitably so) is Our Journey Through Forever. It will see the bold light of day on February 25th via the Eisenwald label, and to help spread the word we are today presenting a stream of one of the re-recorded tracks, “Desecration of Grace” (which originally appeared on 2005’s Immortal Black Art). Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 142): PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND

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Jan 312022
 

Recommended for fans of: Celeste, Dodecahedron, Imperial Triumphant

Let’s get this out of the way – Plebeian Grandstand‘s fourth album, Rien ne suffit was one of the best releases of last year, and the only reason it didn’t make an appearance in my “Critical Top Ten” was because… well, I only had so much space, and I’d already included several Black Metal (or Black Metal related) selections!

However, that raises an oft-contentious follow-up question – are Plebeian Grandstand a Black Metal band?

Quite a few people would say no – some because they believe that the band’s unique brand of enigmatic extremity lacks the “purity” of true Black Metal, others because they feel like calling them “Black Metal” is actually too restrictive, and fails to properly capture who the band are and what they do.

They’re both kind of right, to be honest, because while Black Metal is undeniably a massive part of their identity, their sound is also a wickedly harsh hybrid of Hardcore, Mathcore, Grindcore, and Sludge… along with an increasingly prominent electro-industrial undercurrent which has only added to the growing volatility of the band’s sound as they’ve mutated and evolved.

Luckily for you, you don’t just have to take my word for it, as this particular edition of The Synn Report gives you access to all four of the group’s albums, meaning you can make up your own minds!

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: KRALLICE, ANIMA HERETICAE, CHTHONIC CULT, “THRALL OF THE WINTER MOON” SPLIT, ENDLYSET

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jan 312022
 

You may have seen that I prepared a long installment of our Most Infectious Song list yesterday. That effort cut into the time available for me to finish the column you’re now embarking upon, especially because I had to leave the house by mid-morning to keep another commitment. So, I’m a day late with this.

What you’ll find here is a recently released complete album, a new video from a previously released EP, a new advance track, a new split, and an album released almost two months ago that I just discovered. There’s more death metal in the mix than usual for this column, but it would be fair to call those entries blackened death metal.

Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 20): PANOPTICON, GROZA, GRAVPEL, BLACK JACKAL, GENUNE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2021  4 Responses »
Jan 302022
 

 

Before we get to the music I have a few announcements:

First, Sundays at NCS are usually reserved for the SHADES OF BLACK column. I’ve made the music selections for it today, but it’s only partially written. Hopefully I’ll finish and post it before I have to depart the site this morning. Whether I do or don’t, my traditional efforts to blacken the sabbath influenced my picks for today’s installment of this list (to see the preceding picks, go here).

Second, my song choices for today’s segment are unusual because I’m opening and closing with two very long songs. Long songs can be fantastic, but I think it’s rare for them to strike people as “infectious”. I think both of these are, in the sense that they are both so memorable.

Third, I’ve been persuaded to break my self-imposed rule that this list must end on the last day of January. I’m going to keep it going for a few more days into February. More on that in what was supposed to be the last installment of the list tomorrow. Now let’s get to today’s selections…. Continue reading »

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