SEEN AND HEARD: OBSCURA, WHITE WARD, CELESTE, COGNITIVE, EX DEO, ENSHINE, ELDINGAR, ONE WITH THE RIVERBED, EDEN, OUR PLACE OF WORSHIP IS SILENCE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 162021
 

 

We’re not paid by the word around here (we’re not paid anything around here). But if we were, I wouldn’t make enough from this post to buy a cheap beer. Being short on time today, I’ve resorted to what I seem to be doing with increasing frequency in these round-ups, i.e., just foisting music and videos on you without commentary, artwork, or links.

Rest assured, however, that I’m foisting the following songs and films for a reason — because I think they’re worth your time. Or at least some of them will be worth your time, while others might not be your genre-cup of tea. I don’t expect that everyone out there will be as small-c catholic in their tastes as I am.

I did have enough time to briefly summarize the release info for the records that include the music I’ve chosen — or, regarding the first item, the artwork I’ve chosen, because there’s no music yet from that album. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HEXORCIST — “DENOUNCING THE IMMACULATE”

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Jun 162021
 

 

The title of Hexorcist’s debut album — Evil Reaping Death — is a vivid and entirely accurate signpost to what lies within, especially when coupled with the album’s evil and eye-catching cover art. And what lies within is fiendishly slaughtering old school death metal overlaid with the stench of the crypt.

With an attack firmly rooted in decades’ old traditions, these Floridian barbarians (whose line-up includes current or former members of such groups as Gnosis and Devastator) see no need to reinvent the wheel, and clearly have zero interest in following trends. But what they’ve done is so well-conceived and well-executed that the album is still likely to make an explosive impact among those who always hunger for maniacal metal of death.

The new album will get a lavish physical release, with Memento Mori providing the CD version, Unholy Prophecies the vinyl version, and Godz ov War the cassette version. The CD and tape editions will see release on July 26th, while the vinyl version will follow a bit later. And in advance of all that, today we’re premiering an album track that will give you an excellent preview of what to expect. Continue reading »

VORVAŇ – AWAKENED

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 152021
 

(Andy Synn returns to his roots with the new album from Russian Metallic Hardcore crew Vorvaň)

To quote a hoary old cliché… the only constant in life is change.

That’s true for pretty much everything, especially people (and what are bands if not the extension of the people in them?),

Let’s face it, I’m not the same person I was five, ten, twenty years ago. My life, my circumstances, my tastes, have all changed and evolved.

But, at the same time, you know what they say… the more things change, the more they stay the same… and one thing that hasn’t changed is my love and appreciation for a good bit of merciless Metallic Hardcore, and today’s particular slab of undisputed attitude comes straight from Russia (though definitely not with love).

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ARCHAEOPTERIS — “VISIONS CHAOTIQUES D’UN SONGE HALLUCINÉ”

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Jun 152021
 

 

The very strange last year has produced a fair share of musical collaborations that, seemingly out of nowhere, have emerged to reveal strange new visions. In some cases, musicians have used the occasion to branch out from the styles of music they had embraced in earlier times, as if the oppressiveness of the new age had become a well-spring of new freedom, or perhaps had led them to use their music as a “prison break” from the new confinement.

The debut EP by the French band Archaeopteris, which we’re premiering today, certainly seems to fall into that category. The group’s three members hail from various projects such as Croc Noir (black metal), Supertzar (doom/stoner), and Toward (folk), but the two long songs on Visions Chaotiques D´un Songe Halluciné represent something different, a kind of experimentation in sound that led the band into very strange territories. It is as if they had a collective vision, both disturbing and fascinating, and then found a way to represent it in what they executed. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ARCANE EXISTENCE — “THE ALTAR”

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Jun 142021
 

 

Originally launched as the solo project of Bay Area, California multi-instrumentalist Kiera Pietrangelo in 2016, Arcane Existence has blossomed into a full band. And as a full band Arcane Existence are now poised for the August 20 release of their second album Colossus, which traces a fantastical journey through a mythical land and weaves a musical tapestry of the narrative through an intriguing amalgam of symphonic black and death metal.

What we have for you today is the premiere of a song from Colossus named “The Altar“, and it’s accompanied by a video filmed by Benjamin Casias and directed and edited by Eric Tracy-Cohen which well suits the magic and menace that flow through the music. Continue reading »

MOROST: “FORGED ENTROPY”

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Jun 142021
 

 

(We present DGR’s review of the second album by the Slovenian progressive death metal band Morost, which was released this past spring.)

Morost are one of a handful of groups I came across during one of the many adventures where I sought groups from corners of the globe you may not normally cross paths with. This prog-death band hail from Slovenia, and their latest release – the mid-March album Forged Entropy – is the group’s second full-length, arriving nearly seven years after their debut record Solace In Solitude. In that time Morost has seen some shifts in its lineup, with three new people occupying different spots than on their debut.

At first glance Forged Entropy is a big album. The eight songs within its confines clock in at a little over fifty-five minutes, and considering that the first ‘song’ is mostly a two-minute intro track, the reality of it is that you’re looking at seven songs where the run time is commonly in the seven-to-nine-minute range. It’s one of those albums where the first impression is one of grand ambition that likely doesn’t hit every single note it’s trying to, but damned if the crew behind it aren’t enthusiastic in their execution, and that may just be enough to carry you through a listen. Continue reading »

AENAON: SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS AND A VIDEO PREMIERE FOR “GRAND NARCOTIC REHARVEST”

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Jun 142021
 

 

Here at NCS we’ve been ardent supporters of the Greek progressive black metal band Aenaon ever since discovering the wonders of their 2014 album Extance, which made no fewer than four different year-end lists published at our site, as well as a host of our reader’s lists. Ever since, we’ve been devoting a lot of attention to the adventurous creativity of this group (whose line-up shares members with Varathron and Katavasia), which was further displayed on their latest album, 2016’s Hypnosophy, and which we characterized as an alchemical work in which Aenaon drew together “a multitude of base elements from disparate genres and transmuted them in wizard-like fashion into music that’s rare and mesmerizing”.

But even before those two acclaimed records was the band’s debut full-length Cendres et Sang — and it happens that today is the 10th anniversary of its release. To celebrate that anniversary Aenaon have re-created one of their favorite songs from the album, “Grand Narcotic Harvest” — and thus re-named the new version “Grand Narcotic Reharvest” — and they filmed the recording session in a video that we’re premiering in this article. The re-recorded track will be available digitally — and today we’re also sharing another special announcement by Aenaon. Here is their statement: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FUNERAL CHASM — “MESMERISING CLARITY”

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Jun 142021
 

 

The song we’re presenting today from the debut album by the Danish duo Funeral Chasm is a formulation of funeral doom that seems to occupy a dream state between life and death. Haunting, harrowing, and beautiful, the multi-faceted track fashions both an experience of ghostly elegance and grandeur — and one of torment, turmoil, and ravaging upheaval.

At least lyrically, “Mesmerising Clarity” was based upon a pair of mushroom trips by the band’s Danny Woe, one so disturbing that he terminated the trip and a second that reached a point of completion and became therapeutic. Whether intended or not, the music seems to trace such an experience as well, though (as suggested above) the music is capable of generating other visions in the listener’s imagination, and of making other emotional connections. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER, AKVAN, IDOLOS, SKOGNATT, TRNA

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Jun 132021
 

 

Sadly, I’m hurrying to complete this Sunday’s collection because, not so sadly, I slept much later than usual. I didn’t get much of a head start on the column yesterday, so the preponderance of the effort was left to these rapidly waning morning hours. Fortunately, as always, you’ll have the music streams, which are more important than my too-meager words anyway.

As bookends for the collection I’ve chosen advance tracks from forthcoming records, and in the middle are three complete new releases.

DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER (Germany)

The opening song I’ve chosen, “Ymir“, combines dismal chords and sprightly, pinging keys, a skipping kind of march and a hammering gallop, nasty growls and scorching screams. The music becomes panoramic and magisterial, and flickering guitars give it bursts of ebullience, but the music’s overarching moods are ominous and anguished. The accompanying video is fascinating. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: BEHEMOTH, LORNA SHORE, ZEAL & ARDOR, SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL, NYTT LAND

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jun 122021
 

 

Well, this didn’t go at all like I expected.

First and foremost, I didn’t expect to write anything for the site today. Thanks to the revival of the Waxing Lyrical series by Sir Andy Synn (no, he hasn’t been knighted yet, but surely it’s just a matter of time, innit?), we had a Saturday post. No need for me to make one. I thought I’d just spend some time listening instead.

It happened that the first thing I explored was a new song and video by the Siberian shamans Nytt Land — and then unexpected things began to happen. I noticed a new Behemoth video in the YouTube sidebar that I hadn’t known about, so I watched/heard it. And then I noticed a new Lorna Shore video in the YouTube sidebar and thought, what the hell why not? And then the YouTube sidebars led me to Zeal & Ardor and Slaughter To Prevail. And now here we are. Continue reading »

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