SEEN AND HEAR ON A SATURDAY: AETHERIAN, AARA, KOLLAPSE, SOEN, 7.5 TONNES OF BEARD, SHEVILS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 302021
 

 

I picked a half-dozen songs for today’s round-up, most of which I paid attention to based on friends’ recommendations. It was easy to do that because I was already a fan of every group included here. If you don’t immediately recognize all the names, I’ll forewarn you that there’s a lot of whiplash in this playlist, which is to say that the music diverges sharply from song to song. On the other hand, the variety increases the odds that you’ll find something to like.

AETHERIAN (Greece)

I was so excited to find out that Aetherian would be releasing a new song and video yesterday. For a band that only have one EP and one album to their credit since the release of their first single in 2014 we’ve written about them literally a dozen times, including reviews of that EP and album. They earned all that attention because their brand of melodic death metal is so very good. Their melodies (which tend to lean on the melancholy side of things) are beautifully crafted and moving; when they charge hard, they’ll give your pulse rate a swift kick in the ass; and they always seem to have a few surprises up their sleeves as well. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 14): YOVEL AND OV SHADOWS

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  1 Response »
Jan 292021
 

 

Welcome to Part 14 of this list, in which I’ve turned again toward black metal, with two songs that made a deep impact the first time I heard them and haven’t loosened their grip over the months that have followed. To explore the songs that preceded them on this list, you’ll find them all behind this link.

YOVEL

“In the midst of a time when it is all too easy to feel desperate and demoralized by forces both human and viral that seem bent on crushing both life and hope, it is worth remembering that humanity has been here before. Remembering such times, and the efforts of valiant people who survived and transcended them, can itself furnish hope. And maybe we can learn something about how this is to be done, as well”.

Those words are how I began a review of Forthcoming Humanity by the Greek band Yovel, which preceded our premiere of a full album stream. In that remarkable album, Yovel devoted themselves to remembrance of such times. A concept album, it is based upon the poems of Tasos Leivaditis, a brilliant poet and a revolutionary, who himself lived through harrowing periods, including the second World War. Born in 1922, he died in 1988. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 130): STORTREGN

 THE SYNN REPORT  3 Responses »
Jan 292021
 

 

(In this first Synn Report of 2021 Andy Synn assembles reviews of all the albums by the Swiss band Stortregn leading up to their forthcoming fifth album Impermanence, which will be released on March 12th by The Artisan Era.)

Recommended for fans of: Naglfar, Necrophobic, Obscura

The proliferation and seemingly endless sub-division of genres can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how you look at it.

Some people (myself included) often find it useful to break down existing/evolving genres into more specific sub-styles to help categorise them for potential listeners. But others find the endless proliferation of new sub-styles and sub-genres to be pointlessly confusing and counterproductive.

The truth is, of course, that genre terms and genre boundaries are amorphous and permeable and often change over time, especially when it comes to what counts as “extreme” Metal.

Case in point, the music of Stortregn (who hail from Geneva, Switzerland) straddles the boundary between Melodic Black Metal and Melodic Death Metal – influenced as much by the seminal chill of Dissection and Dawn as it is the agile melodic menace of the early Gothenburg scene (particularly Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates) – while also, especially on their more recent records, adding a razor-sharp technical edge to their sound.

But don’t just take my word for it. With the group’s fifth album set for release in March (which I’m sure we’ll be reviewing in full closer to the time) there’s no better time than the present to delve into their discography. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): AD NAUSEAM — “IMPERATIVE IMPERCEPTIBLE IMPULSE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Jan 292021
 

 

On February 12th Avantgarde Music will release Imperative Imperceptible Impulse, the second album by the Italian band Ad Nauseam.

The label states that the album is not for everyone, but represents “the true meaning of Avantgarde”. And while that statement could be interpreted as a calculated effort to create intrigue, when you hear the album you will realize that it is honest and accurate. And hear it you shall, because below you’ll find our premiere of a full stream of the record.

It is indisputably true that Imperative Imperceptible Impulse is not “easy listening”. Although it includes moments that become eerily mesmerizing, most of the minutes are supercharged with maniacal energy and packed with mind-boggling instrumental extravagance. Though structures and repeating patterns can be discerned as they loop back around to where they began, the dominant impression of all the intricate permutations is one of madness run rampant, and the inventive use of dissonance and discord, executed with eye-popping technical prowess, creates an experience that is both dazzling and disturbing. Continue reading »

THE RUINS OF BEVERAST: A RETROSPECTIVE (AND A REVIEW OF “THE THULE GRIMOIRES”)

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Jan 292021
 

 

(The scheduled release by Ván Records of a new album by The Ruins of Beverast inspired our contributor Nathan Ferreira to prepare the following extensive retrospective on the band’s catalogue, as well as thoughts about the new album and its place within the ever-changing evolution of the band’s music.)

The Thule Grimoires is the latest work in a sprawling back catalogue that encompasses an incredible variety of unique textures which consistently go beyond what one expects out of a band in the atmospheric black/doom metal pantheon. Alexander von Meilenwald’s attention to detail in every facet of his music (composition, aesthetics, musicianship, lyrical themes, you name it) has long been the envy of one-man black metal bands everywhere. Everything about The Ruins of Beverast is cloaked in a sense of artistry and greater meaning that has grown and evolved throughout the band’s career.

Because of this, and because of the ridiculous amount of layers and themes in The Thule Grimoires, I felt it desirable to reflect on von Meilenwald’s back catalogue to give more context to what makes this band and this album so special.

Along the way, I’ve also included some streams for listening, as well as links to older interviews for anyone looking for a more detailed background on the origins behind this wonderful project; the man behind the music certainly has an erudite and articulate character, which only really comes out when he speaks and writes. Hopefully this write-up can succeed in doing a modicum of justice to such an astonishing career. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SHARED TRAUMA, [4672], CROSTA, HANUMAN, FELLAHIN FALL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 282021
 

 

Due to Andy preparing the review that accompanied today’s album premiere, I found myself with some spare time that I don’t usually have. What to do with that? I thought about continuing to play catch-up on my Most Infectious Song list by putting together a second installment for the day, but decided instead to listen to some new songs for the purpose of compiling a round-up. It didn’t take me long to find some that hooked me, in part because my comrade DGR pointed me to two of them.

SHARED TRAUMA (U.S.)

I’m beginning with the first of DGR’s suggestions. It’s the debut single from a new band named Shared Trauma, which was formed by former members of The Black Dahlia Murder (Ryan “Bart” Williams) and The Faceless (Derek Rydquist, Michael Sherer, Brandon Griffin), along with drummer John Thomas. The name of the song is “Radiant Prison“. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 13): KORONAL, CYTOTOXIN, DESTROYED IN SECONDS

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  4 Responses »
Jan 282021
 

 

And now we have arrived at the lucky 13th Part of this list, which happens to demonstrate three different ways, out of a great multitude of ways, in which extreme music can be highly infectious — though it must be said that all three of these create the effect with some damned potent grooves (some more punishing than others). But the ability of the songs to vigorously apply a crowbar to the crest of your lizard-like head isn’t all that goes on here.

KORONAL

Over the course of a decade working on NCS I’ve developed a pretty good idea about the tastes (even as they have evolved) of our longest-running writers, along with my own of course. If I imagine them as a grouping of Venn diagrams, there are definite regions of intersection, and Poland’s Koronal happens to fall within one of those. Which is to say that all of us old-timers thoroughly enjoyed their 2020 album, A Gift of Consciousness. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STARGAZER – “PSYCHIC SECRETIONS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 282021
 

 

(On February 1st Nuclear War Now! Productions will release the fourth full-length by the Australian genre-splicing band StarGazer, and today we premiere a full stream along with a review by Andy Synn.)

Australian alchemists StarGazer have always been a hard band to properly pin down.

Ask ten different people to describe them and you’re likely to receive ten different answers.

They’re a Black Metal band. Or a Thrash band. Or a Death Metal band. And what that play is either Progressive Black Metal, Blackened Thrash, or Technical Death Metal… or some uniquely unorthodox hybrid of all three.

Or maybe they’re something else entirely.

Long story short, no-one seems to be able to agree, and the various permutations of style and genre which people ascribe to the band are now almost as innumerable as the stars themselves.

And now, with the release of their long-awaited fourth album (which we’re premiering here today) it’s time for that debate to begin anew. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 12): ANAAL NATHRAKH, UNDERGANG, VILE CREATURE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  2 Responses »
Jan 272021
 

 

Well, look at what happened. No sooner than I said in the last installment of this list that I wouldn’t have time to double-up on these posts in an effort to catch up from six missing days of the rollout, now I’ve gone and done it. (But don’t expect that I’ll be able to continue doing it.)

Unlike most of these installments, I have no particular rhyme or reason why I grouped these three songs together. I’ve searched my subconscious to figure out why, and have come up empty. Maybe it’s simply because I couldn’t find other groupings in which they would comfortably fit. Maybe it’s because I imagined (with a grin) the whiplash effect they would have on you when listening to them back-to-back-to-back.

ANAAL NATHRAKH

No surprise here, it was guaranteed that something from Anaal Nathrakh’s Endarkenment album would be on this list. If there was any anticipation or intrigue, that might have come only from wondering which song I would pick, because there were so many worthy options. Indeed, after compiling the lists generated by our readers, by myself, and by my comrade DGR, there were almost a half-dozen candidates. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 11): NECROPHOBIC, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, SWEVEN

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  No Responses »
Jan 272021
 

 

Like all the best-laid plans of mice and men, my goals for the rollout of this list have obviously gone seriously awry. With Part 10 having gone up on January 18th, I’ve missed six weekdays. That’s six missing installments of the list that will be very difficult to make up if I stick to my plan of finishing the rollout by the end of January. Which means I will probably have to change that drop-dead date, because I’d really like to load the list with more tracks than the remaining days of this month will allow, and I’m still busy enough with other things that it’s unlikely I’ll be able to double-up the installments every day.

Anyway, on we go…

NECROPHOBIC

Necrophobic’s 2020 album Dawn of the Damned was one of those records that was home to multiple candidates for this list, and as I considered them, no one track clearly stood out above the others. In an effort to settle on just one song, I sought the input of Andy Synn. As usual, he was very little help. He suggested it would be a choice between “Mirror Black”, “Dawn of the Damned”, and “As the Fire Burns”, which simply confirmed my own selection of candidates — though I also had “The Infernal Depths of Eternity” in that group. Continue reading »

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