AN NCS PREMIERE: PALUS SOMNI — “SIDUS LUDOVICIANA”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 162021
 

 

Different formulations of extreme metal provoke thrills (and chills) in different ways, but if we’re honest, thrill-seeking explains a lot of the genre’s attraction among fans. We want the jolt to the nerves, the punch to our pulse-rate, the feeling of wild freedom — experiences that are harder to find in other kinds of music.

It’s often difficult to explain these attractions to people who are unfamiliar with metallic extremity — especially when the excitement is provoked by sensations of unearthly, blood-freezing terror. And that is the kind of experience that the trans-Atlantic band Palus Somni excel at creating. Their music is electrifying, and it creates a sense of wonder, but it seems to draw its power from hideous dimensions that exist elsewhere from our earthly domain. Continue reading »

UNFLESH: “INHUMATION”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 162021
 

 

(Here we have Nathan Ferreira‘s review of the forthcoming second album by New Hampshire’s Unflesh, which is set for release on April 2nd.)

I can’t remember where I first heard it, but use of the term “bread and butter listening” to refer to a certain type of album is an expression that’s always stuck with me. You know, the kind of thing that doesn’t do anything new, it just rules and you listen to it a lot. The stuff that scratches your most frequent musical itches, that album that you can just throw on at any time and you know it’s going to give you exactly what you need. Mood music? Who needs that?

Inhumation, the new album by tech-heads Unflesh, is exactly that type of snack for a tech-head like myself. Ever since Necrophagist burst onto the scene with their melodic, almost neoclassical angle on death metal and Obscura took extra steps in making it into a full-fledged substyle, this type of music has been by no means groundbreaking, but man is it ever tasty.

It’s hard to find new bands that can execute it properly, and if you do, they’re already snapped up by The Artisan Era as soon as they get noticed. That’s why I’m extra-intrigued that Unflesh has decided to go the independent route in releasing Inhumation – the album blew my mind halfway through the first proper track and there’s no way somebody from a label heard this and wasn’t similarly astonished. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VARMIA

 Interviews  1 Response »
Mar 152021
 

 

(We present DJ Jet‘s fascinating interview of Lasota, vocalist and guitarist of the Polish pagan metal band Varmia, whose new album bal Lada (recorded under very unusual conditions, as you will learn) was released on March 12th by M-Theory Audio.)

When forming the band in 2016 what was your mission or vision for this band?

Hi. Well the goal at the time was very simple. I had the album written and it had to be recorded. The concept was to do it live in a makeshift studio to avoid the “usual studio” vibe. So we ended up in an old barn that we rented for two weeks. After that I started to think how to release the album and that it would be great to play these songs live. Everything went together smoothly and people seemed to like it. So we put it out, settled as a band, and started to play the shows.

I always felt that this would be far more than just a single shot “project” (hate this term). Varmia appeared to me as a beast that needs to be fed. So we have been feeding it since 2016 now. Continue reading »

DVNE – ETEMEN ÆNKA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Mar 152021
 

(Andy Synn returns to the golden path to praise the new album from Dvne, out this Friday via Metal Blade)

As anyone who’s been following this site for more than a few years will be able to tell you, I absolutely love Asheran, the 2017 album from Scottish Post/Prog Metal prodigies Dvne.

Not only is it one of my favourite albums of all time, but it’s also one I legitimately consider to be among the best full-length records of the last decade (and I know quite a lot of our readers agree).

So when I found out that the band were not only working on a follow-up but had been snatched up by Metal Blade at the same time… well, as you can imagine my excitement levels went through the roof.

And now that the moment of its release is (almost) upon us, there’s just three questions about Etemen Ænka which need answering.

  1. Is it as good as (or even better than, if that’s possible) Asheran?
  2. Will it help the band reach a whole new audience and get them the attention and acclaim they deserve?
  3. Could it possibly, maybe, one day supplant its predecessor in my affections?

Well, the answers to those questions are, in order, “yes”, “I hope so”, and “only time will tell”…

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EREMIT — “ENSHRINED IN INDISSOLUBLE CHAINS AND ENLIGHTENED DARKNESS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 152021
 

 

Sometimes as you gaze through your musical playlist all you want is the quick hit, a burst of adrenaline, an episode of violence, a jolt to the muscle reflexes, a spinning centrifuge for your brain. And maybe at other times you just want to sink yourself into another world, to lose yourself in a different realm — even if it’s one where it seems all life is being methodically snuffed out. Sometimes becoming spellbound is the goal, even if the spell is darker than midnight.

Which brings us to “Enshrined in Indissoluble Chains and Enlightened Darkness“, one of the three massive tracks that make up the new album by Germany’s Eremit, which is set for release by Transcending Obscurity Records on June 11th, and which continues the mythological story arc that the band started on their debut album, Carrier of Weight. It is not a quick hit. It is an experience of the other kind, a complete immersion in a different realm, the makings of a pitch-black (yet often poignant) spell — a meticulously plotted pageant of pain created through a union of bleak, earth-shaking heaviness, wraith-like eeriness, and the voice of a man being destroyed. Continue reading »

MARE COGNITUM: “SOLAR PAROXYSM”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Mar 152021
 

 

(We present Nathan Ferreira‘s review of the new album by Mare Cognitum from Portland, Oregon. The album wll be released on March 19th by I, Voidhanger Records and Extraconscious Records.)

Honestly, I questioned even writing this review because one thing I prefer to do when I can is to give extra attention and appreciation to bands that go under the radar. But Mare Cognitum needs no introduction to most – they’re one of the defining modern black metal bands of the 2010s, to the point where I now see them mentioned as an influence in the promo blurbs of up-and-coming artists.

Jacob Buczarski, the project’s sole mastermind, runs his own label wherein he curates bands of a similar style and ethos, which itself includes scores of mind-bending music. The guy’s a damn black metal institution at this point, and the album I’m about to review is already sold out on Bandcamp (not on I, Voidhanger’s page, fortunately) weeks before it comes out on March 19th. Do I really need to hype this up any more?

Yes. Yes is the answer to that question. Solar Paroxysm is amazing, even with the high expectations that the previous albums set for it. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: SPHERE, SETH, EXAVERSUM, ZEIT, TRENCHES

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Mar 142021
 

 

I think of this week’s column as falling into two parts that I’ve arranged by design. The first part consists of three segments — advance tracks from three forthcoming album. Although I’d be foolish to claim they are completely similar, I think they do share certain ingredients and feelings that tie them together in ways that make for a very good mini-playlist. In the second part I’ve reviewed two albums (though one of them isn’t out yet) which I also think fit together. They are very different from the tracks in the first part.

SPHERE (France)

The first offering here is an 18-minute song named “Invocation” from the forthcoming second album (entitled π) by the French black metal band Sphere. It features a guest performance by Déhà. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: HIDEOUS DIVINITY, THE DROWNED GOD, CONAN, THY CATAFALQUE, SHINY DAGGERS, REAPER, GYAOS:DIABOLICAL, HALLUCINATION, BEAST MODE, THE SECOND FOVEA, WHEEL

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Mar 132021
 

 

I’m going to indulge myself and let you know what’s recently been going on behind the scenes here at our putrid site before we get to the music below.

As I moaned and bitched about over the last couple of weeks, I have indeed been crushed by a project for my day job. For many days last week I couldn’t do anything but write premieres I had promised to do, and for two of those days I couldn’t even do that. Thankfully, Andy Synn stepped in and did the editing and posting of some things written by others (and by himself) so that the site didn’t go dark.

While consumed by work, I couldn’t even pay much attention to our email or announcements on social media and music-related messages from friends. But the worst part of that project ended yesterday, and I did a little catching up (just a few days’ worth), enough that I made a list of 47 songs and videos to check out (I’m not making that up). Of course I’ve only randomly jumped around in that list. I’ll probably never get to the rest of it, much less everything else that came out while I was missing in action. From that random darting around I picked the following songs and videos. Continue reading »

A TALE OF TWO WOLVES

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 122021
 

 

(In this post our contributor Gonzo reviews two wolfish records which were released one week ago — and this dual review would have been published one week ago except for our editor (me) having been brutally distracted by his day job.)

I feel like the onslaught of high-quality albums we’re already seeing in 2021 is a promising sign. Either that or everyone’s going out of their fucking minds without shows, travel, and the requisite level of creative outlets. (Hopefully not for very much longer.) Whatever it is, it’s already March and this month is chock-full of music that sounds urgent as hell, commanding your attention when the rest of the world continues to unfurl from its unending corridor of suck.

Last week, though, we saw the release of new music from Wolf King and Wolfheart. If the old legends are true and there are in fact two wolves that live inside of us all, existing in a perpetual state of conflict over which one gets to wrest control of our collective psyche in some kind of moral struggle for the ages, then… I dunno, maybe they were just really into wolves? My metaphor game is leaving some serious shit to be desired today.

Fortunately, the music released by both wolves today is anything but lacking. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HELSLAVE — “ROTTING PILE OF FLESH”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 122021
 

 

Last month we had the fiendish pleasure of premiering the first single from the forthcoming second album by the Italian death-dealers Helslave. We don’t have a crystal ball, but we’ll still predict that their new album, From the Sulphur Depths, is going to become a huge favorite for fans of massive, marauding, deliciously gruesome old school death metal. And as a further teaser for its horrifying pleasures, we’re equally pleased to bring you the album’s second advance track today — “Rotting Pile of Flesh“.

We summed up that first single, “Unholy Graves“, as “bombastic chainsaw death metal of the finest kind, an electrifying, turbocharged thrill-ride that’s as crushing as a pile-driver and as ferocious as giant famished wolves on the hunt”. The song we’re bringing you today is just as exhilarating — even when the band introduce a ghastly change of pace. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries