NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ELDERWIND

Jan 072022

(Comrade Aleks delves into atmospheric black metal with this interview of Vyacheslav Oboskalov, founder of the Russian band Elderwind, whose latest album is 2021’s Fires.)

You can’t avoid atmospheric black metal nowadays. It’s sort of a cultural phenomenon, a friendly offspring of the most scandalous and extreme metal genre (as it was in ‘90s) which nevertheless doesn’t lose its connection to what came before it. Most of these bands prefer to channel different aspects of Nature through their music, some declare “a celebration for the death of man” and it seems to be a logical development of the genre. The growing popularity of atmospheric black metal, its connection with ambient and post music, just proves a suggestion that the scene lives and grows on its own.

The Russian atmospheric black metal act Elderwind was started by Vyacheslav Oboskalov twelve years ago. His home city Yekaterinburg is located on the Iset River between the Volga-Ural region and Siberia. A good place to play black metal. Elderwind’s albums’ titles Volshebstvo Jivoy Prirody (“The Magic of Nature”) and Chem Holodnee Noch (“The Colder the Night”) demonstrate the band’s ideology, and Elderwind built a good reputation with those releases — good enough to release a new album, 2021’s Fires, DIY and continue to get new listeners despite a lack of big labels behind them. It may be early to tell about the new album’s success, but if it is a success, then it’s well-deserved. Vyacheslav is here tonight to tell Elderwind’s story. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: HUMAN HARVEST, AEVITERNE, ARKAIK, MESLAMTAEA, PESTILENGTH, CORRUPTER, HYDRA, LOATHE

Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Jan 062022

There was a modest but noticeable slowdown in the release of new songs and videos over the holidays, but things have kicked back up into high gear again, as evidenced by the enormous number of tabs I’ve opened up for new music and video streams just since last weekend. I’ve made my way through many (but not all) of those and made the following selections across many metal sub-genres in the hope of brightening (and darkening) your day.

HUMAN HARVEST (Sweden)

A dozen years after the release of their second demo this death metal band (now the formidable duo of Jonny Pettersson and Jon Rudin) has crawled from its crypt again and fashioned a debut album named Flesh Sermons that’s been set for release on January 31st by Iron, Blood and Death Corporation. Last Monday saw the discharge of the album’s first advance track, a macabre monstrosity called “Blasphemy“. Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2021: ANKERKERIA / BLACK KNIFE / LUNAR ARK

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Jan 062022

(Andy Synn puts one final bullet in the corpse of 2021 with one last edition of “Unsung Heroes”)

I suppose it’s about time to stop looking backwards and start looking forwards at what the upcoming year has to offer us.

However, before that, I thought I’d take this chance to do one last “Unsung Heroes” post about three bands – all of whom were new discoveries for me – that I think you all need to check out, if you know what’s good for you!

OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 2): BURIAL IN THE SKY, DECREPISY, BOURN ULTRA

MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2021 No Responses »

Jan 062022

The first installment of this list orbited the cratered moon of black metal, and in this one I decided to chart a course through the death metal asteroid belt, sustaining destructive collisions along the way. These three songs differ significantly in their stylistic inclinations, which is just one small sign of how diverse death metal is, but of course what they share is a significant degree of… infectiousness. All three bands also happen to be from the U.S.

BURIAL IN THE SKY

This Philadelphia band’s 2021 album The Consumed Self made at least three of the year-end lists prepared by NCS writers. One of those (Andy Synn) also gave the album a thorough and nuanced review (here), another (DGR) also included a review when he put the album at the No. 15 spot of his YE list; and a third (Gonzo) anointed it as his album of the year, writing (here): “In a year with so many incredible technical death metal records, Burial in the Sky have created something that shakes itself loose from the rest of the pack. Their brilliant musicianship and airtight songwriting is a sonic killing machine that just puts them squarely into elite territory.” Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KANONENFIEBER AND LEIÞA

Interviews 1 Response »

Jan 062022

(Comrade Aleks delivered to us this interview of the German artist Noise, who is the man behind both Kanonenfieber and Leiþa, and a project named Impious. Due to no fault of Aleks or Noise, we allowed more than a month to go by before publishing it — but reading it now (and listening to the music) makes for a very good way to help begin the New Year.)

Black /death metal one-man band Kanonenfieber, which is focused on themes of World War I, and the depressive black metal project Leiþa have common origins – both are based in Bamberg, Bavaria and both are run by Noise. He launched Kanonenfieber’s first full-length Menschenmühle in February 2021 and Leiþa’s Sisyphus followed it in June 2021. It’s not just cool furious outbursts of anger and desperation but two very different works with very different stories behind them. And I’m glad what we managed to do this interview with Noise, which is here for you to read. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 1): GLIMT, SPECTRAL WOUND, TEITAN

MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2021 2 Responses »

Jan 052022

We seem to pick up new readers every year, even as some older readers finally give up and bid us an adios, with or without middle fingers raised. So I guess it’s still worth telling people what they’re getting themselves into with this series.

This is traditionally the last part of our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza, though I do know of one more year-end album list that we still want to post whenever it arrives. This particular series isn’t about best albums or best shorter releases, and it isn’t even about best songs. As the title says, it’s about “most infectious” songs. Some of those might be among the year’s best songs, but in every year there are stand-out songs that aren’t immediately infectious, and actually might never be. Conversely, there are some highly infectious songs every year that most people wouldn’t critically acclaim as great works of art.

The process of compiling this list is a bit bizarre, or at least very poorly planned. Let me explain: Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2021: BLIND TENDRIL / CARTHAGE / DREAMWELL

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Jan 052022

(Andy Synn continues his desperate attempt to cover everything he missed last year)

One thing I’ve been trying to get across with these “Unsung Heroes” posts is just how varied and versatile “the scene” is.

Case in point, today we’ve got a triptych of grungy, melodic grooves (Blind Tendril), blast-driven brutality (Carthage), and angst-ridden artistry (Dreamwell), which should provide something for a wide variety of tastes… and maybe even tempt some of you to experiment with something you wouldn’t usually listen to.

Who knows? All I can do is put the music in front of you. Whether you give it a chance or not is entirely your choice!

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): OAR — “THE BLOOD YOU CRAVE”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Jan 052022

The cover image on OAR‘s debut album The Blood You Crave is an evocative yet mysterious one, seizing attention through the juxtaposition of a vibrant blaze-colored swath of light (which might be interpreted as a window into another world) and a downcast figure perched on the edge of a daunting precipice. No less than the cover art, the music quickly seizes attention too, and doesn’t let go. It too blazes, and reveals harrowing emotional chasms.

Through six tracks and nearly 45 minutes of music these Australians embrace the hostility and aggressiveness of black metal but they give equal attention to the creation of mood and atmosphere, bringing into play ingredients of post-metal, doom, hardcore, post-punk, and shoegaze (among others). The songs all prove to be dynamic experiences, as is the album as a whole, and that versatility makes it even easier to get caught up in what’s happening, and to hang on ’til the end. Continue reading »

DGR’S 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE

Listmania 4 Responses »

Jan 052022

(Not long ago DGR passed the 10th anniversary of his writing for NCS, and in this essay he commemorates the milestone as only he would decide to do.)

With 2021 now fully acknowledged as having never existed and the realization that we are settling in for the second repeat of the year 2020 slowly dawning on the world, it’s time for all of the old machinery that keeps this site running from day-to-day to knock the rust off and get back into proper form.

The first writings of a new year – stop me if you’ve heard this before – are always a little difficult. Some of us may never stop in order to keep the gears turning but there are times where it is nice to take a break, remind yourself that you love doing this, and in general get away from the grind. Listmania season has always been a good one for me to do that because it also means I have a near-endless series of posts to go through and hit the ‘play’ button on, whirlwind-touring through the world of heavy metal and also taking advantage of the opportunity not to have to review much in order to go through some weird musical blind spots and rabbit holes. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: COFFIN RITES — “BURIED IN BLOOD”

Premieres No Responses »

Jan 042022

September 2021 brought the release of a new album named Human Erase by the Minneapolis-based extreme metal band Coffin Rites, preceded by a full premiere at Decibel, which rightly acclaimed the album as “one of the year’s most crazed black/death records”, but one that would also appeal to hardcore kids alike. “It has mood, menace, and a barrage of riffs like a doomsday air strike.”

If you haven’t heard the album, it presents a significant degree of diversity among the songs, each one telling its own story in different ways, and is well worth your time from beginning to end. But the way the album begins sets the hook hard and pulls you all the way in. It does that through the bone-smashing, flesh-scorching opening track “Buried In Blood” — and thus it makes a lot of sense that the band picked that song for the video we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

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