SHADES OF BLACK (PART I): KVAEN, CHAOS PERVERSION, BAALZAGOTH, CAILLEACH CALLING, TONGUES, YSYRY MOLLVÜN

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 232022
 

 

After exhausting myself yesterday preparing a 12-song round-up of new music and videos I thought I’d take it easy with NCS today, not completely abandoning the SHADES OF BLACK column but limiting it to about three songs. But after I started working my way through a list of possible choices I succumbed to compulsion. How could I leave this one off, or that one, or that one over there?

At the end of that agony I had 13 pieces of music I wanted to convey, most of them advance tracks from forthcoming records but with two EPs and an album in the mix. I arranged them as best I could and then chopped them into two parts. Here’s Part I (please apologize to your wallet for me).

KVAEN (Sweden)

In December I premiered a play-through video for the title track to Kvaen‘s fine new album, The Great Below. A few days ago a second song emerged, along with a lyric video. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: IMMOLATION, MIDNIGHT, THE HALO EFFECT, FETAL BLOOD EAGLE, MORMÂNT DE SNAGOV, NEBULA ORIONIS, FACELESS ENTITY, KONTUSION, DEATHBELL, SPIRITUAL DECEPTION, OLD IRON, GHOST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jan 222022
 

 

I hope you’re having a good weekend. I hope to make it better by sharing a dozen new songs and videos I picked after sliding down the interhole for hours early this morning. I made an effort to provide a broad span of genres, and to arrange everything so as to take advantage of the contrasts. I’ve also put every damned one of these tracks on my list of candidates for 2022’s Most Infectious Songs.

Also, when a round-up swells to these proportions I usually don’t take time to download/upload the artwork, but I made an exception today because there’s a lot of good cover art in this group, beginning with Eliran Kantor‘s stupendous painting for the new Immolation. Speaking of which….

IMMOLATION (U.S.)

Does anyone need any more reason to get stoked over a new Immolation album? I don’t see any hands up. I guess I could have skipped this first song and video. I guess you could skip over it too. But I’m getting more and more near-sighted, so I could have missed a hand, so here goes. Continue reading »

DEVIL’S LOOKING GLASS: “TREACHEROUS AUTUMNAL WISDOM”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jan 212022
 

 

The Devil’s Looking Glass is an old name for a jagged, vertical rock face that stands about 800 feet above a bend in the Nolichucky River in Unicoi County, northeastern Tennessee. The Nolichucky River is itself called The Devil’s Run or The River of Death because of the number of lives lost in its turbulent waters. The rock face is steeped in frightening and haunting lore. According to one source:

The rock formation locally known as The Devil’s Looking Glass claims its name from Cherokee Indians who could make out a terrible face when the moonlight shined on the rock face from a certain angle. Even in daylight, when the shadows fall just right, an evil face can be discerned. Some say more than one face can be seen. The Cherokee believed the rock face was a window into the netherworld, the abode of the devil, and they could see him looking out, as though he were looking at himself in a mirror…. Some travelers and sportsmen claim to see ghostly apparitions around the rock face or along the river below at night.

Another source reports: “Local folklore tells of cries of agony heard coming from the rocks and tales of an Indian woman who leaped from the top of the cliff upon learning her love had died in battle; she is said to now haunt the base of the cliff…. It’s not a place for the faint at heart”.

Devil’s Looking Glass is also the name taken by a Tennessee band whose album Treacherous Autumnal Wisdom was released by Moonlight Cypress Archetypes last November. I don’t know for a fact that the band took their name for the haunted rock formation discussed above, but in listening to the music it would make sense if they did. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 13): PRIMEVAL WELL, THY CATAFALQUE, VUKARI

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2021  2 Responses »
Jan 212022
 


Primeval Well

 

No, we’re not like an elevator in a hotel. We don’t skip 13. In my way of thinking, 13 is a lucky number — a prime one. And I’ve chosen three prime cuts to include in this installment of the list. The first two have important folk ingredients, from traditions separated by about 5,000 miles. The third one is more extreme than the first two, but is also intensely memorable.

To check out the songs on the list that have preceded these three, and to understand what the list is all about, use THIS LINK. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VULCANO — “VULCANO WILL LIVE FOREVER”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jan 202022
 

 

The Brazilian extreme metal scene has spawned a seemingly endless stream of savage musical thrills for decades. Many metalheads may have discovered some of South America’s deadliest exports through the early works of the now-legendary Sepultura, but if you dig deeper you’ll discover (if you don’t already know) the band that might have been ground-zero of the Brazilian death metal movement. The name of that band, which has influenced generations of extreme metal artists not only in South America but in Europe, is Vulcano.

Those pioneering barbarians, whose influence extends to black and speed metal as well as death metal, can trace their origins back to the early ’80s. Since then, albeit with a significant recording hiatus that began in roughly 1990 and inevitable line-up changes, they’ve released a dozen studio albums, along with live albums and shorter releases. And now they’re rapidly approaching the release of their newest studio full-length (their 19th release overall), Stone Orange, which will be forthcoming on February 4th via Emanzipation Productions.

Today we have the privilege of presenting the premiere of a lyric video for the new album’s closing track, “Vulcano Will Live Forever” — and when you hear it, you can truly believe the song’s title. Vulcano‘s career spans 40 years now (with no sign of stopping), and there’s clearly still fire in the belly, napalm in the veins, and blood on the teeth. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 12): CHAINSWORD, CHESTCRUSH, CHOIR

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2021  3 Responses »
Jan 202022
 


Chainsword

 

Can you tell how I settled on this trio of songs for today’s installment? Could it be that I focused on the “C’s” in my alphabetized list of candidates? Why yes, that could very well be true. In fact, it is true.

It also pleased me to choose songs that reflected the recommendations of my long-standing NCS comrades DGR and Andy Synn, plus of course one of my own choosing. Not that I would have picked a song just because DGR or Andy pushed for it, because this is my list after all, and they’re just my servants. But in my infinite wisdom I agree that their two recommended songs are worthy choices.

(You’ll find the preceding Parts of this list (and an explanation of what it’s all about) through THIS LINK.

CHAINSWORD (Poland)

After my Norwegian friend eiterorm brought the cover of Chainsword‘s 2021 album to my attention I readily agreed that we needed a five-nipple pentagram chain emblazoned on out site. Little did I know that the band’s just-released single from the album, “Daemonculaba“, would kick my ass as hard as it did. Continue reading »

SOM – THE SHAPE OF EVERYTHING

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Reviews  2 Responses »
Jan 202022
 

(Andy Synn provides another well-deserved exception to our usual rules with the new album from SOM)

What with it being a new year, I suppose now is as good a time as any for a little history lesson.

Long story short, back when Islander (and his two collaborators, whose names have long-since been stricken from the records in some sort of pseudo-Stalinist purge) first started this site the name was intended as something of a two-fingered salute to all those bands who, whether pushed into it by their management or simply because they were desperate to be popular, jumped on the “harsh verse, clean chorus” bandwagon.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of people – including our beloved overlord – were pretty pissed off that so many bands were willing to sacrifice their integrity and identity just to fit in with current trends… and so NoCleanSinging was born.

Of course, the name has always been somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and there’s no actual rules about what sorts of vocals that we’re actually allowed (or forbidden) to include… heck, if you take a minute to look at just some of the bands we’ve covered over the years – Chrome Waves, Katatonia, Klone… Brutus, Borknagar, Boss Keloid… Protest The Hero, A Swarm of the Sun, Junius… – you might even conclude that we actually love clean singing. At least when it’s done well.

And it’s the latter name from that list which leads us into the album I want to talk about today, as while SOM is made up of several ex-Junius members (along with musicians from Caspian and Constants) and shares several sonic similarities with that group, their second album, The Shape of Everything, finds the band stepping out of that particular shadow and fully coming into their own.

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KRALLICE, NEGATIVA, UNRU, HAUTAJAISYÖ, IMPLORE, BLAZEMTH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 202022
 

 

Here are a half dozen new tracks and videos from forthcoming records that caught my attention over the last 24 hours, and are worth your attention. I think you’ll find that altogether they make for an interconnected playlist that flows well.

KRALLICE (U.S.)

If there is now any kind of reliable forecast for new music from Krallice, it is to expect the unexpected. It seems evident that the many creative forces within the band are simply uninterested in plowing the same furrow twice, and instead they give free rein to what interests them and how they’re feeling at the moment. Like all good mavericks, the impulse to shake things up also seems to be alive and well. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 11): ZMARŁYM, XANATHAR, SIGNS OF THE DYING SUMMER

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2021  1 Response »
Jan 192022
 


Zmarłym

 

You could call this installment of the list a “Shades of Black” segment. Each band plays black metal, but the styles are quite distinct from each other. All three of these songs got stuck in my head the first time I heard them, and I still enjoy re-living the experiences many months later.

The grouping is book-ended by two Polish bands, with an Italian solo project in the middle, and I hope the songs I’ve chosen will induce you to explore the full releases they came from because all three are worth the time.

If you happen to be cruising into this list for the first time, you’ll find the preceding Parts (and an explanation of what this list is all about) through THIS LINK. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FERAL — “SPIRITUAL VOID”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 192022
 

(photo by Arbre E. Saldana)

The French crust/hardcore/grind band Feral chose their name for a reason that becomes obvious when you listen to their second album Spiritual Void. They attack almost relentlessly, with raw, no-holds-barred intensity — intensity that comes through in both the emotional fuel of the music and in its mauling and pulverizing sonic power. It is musical catharsis of a very high order.

The album is set for release on January 21st through Source Atone Records and Basement Apes Industries. For very good reason they recommend it for fans of All Pigs Must Die, Cursed, Napalm Death, and Trap Them (and we might add Misery Index and Rotten Sound to that list). You’ll understand the basis for those recommendations when you hear our premiere stream of the entire album… a handful of paragraphs from now. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries