NO CLEAN SINGING

OMINOUS RUIN- AMIDST VOICES THAT ECHO IN STONE

Mar 112021

(Find out what our man DGR thought of the new album from San Francisco’s Ominous Ruin, out now on Willowtip Records.)

Ominous Ruin‘s first full length album – after a string of demo’s and EPs throughout the late aughts – Amidst Voices That Echo In Stone starts in a very different spot from where it ends up.

The band’s sound is one of multiple extreme genres in all-out combat with each other, fully unloading from the hyperactive Tech Death scene even as it drains the arsenal from a very Brutal Death inspired segment as well.

It’s an ambitious album for sure, but not one that feels intentionally crafted to become a journey – more that it just wound up that way as songs morphed over time, from that previously mentioned superspeed blast festival into something weirdly proggy, incredibly dense, and all too willing to dive headlong into some profoundly (and joyously) dumb caveman chug all over the course of nine songs.

If it seems like the Bay Area crew are one of those amorphous bands able to reach tentacles into a variety of places and drag down so much of it back into their maw by that descriptor, you wouldn’t be too far off, but the fact that they make it work here…now that’s worth talking about.

SHORT BUT SWEET: DISTASTE AND INORGANIC

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Mar 102021

(DGR jumps back into action once again with a pair of short but sweet EP reviews)

Three months in and although the review slate so far has been oddly stop-start – understandable given the shitshow we’re slowly crawling out of, especially when we can start complaining about being buried by our day jobs again – we’ve had some very choice releases so far.

So I figured after a bunch of long ass reviews I’d try to pick a couple of EPs to keep things shorter for you all, even as I keep on digging through everything else as it’s the only thing keeping me sane.

Right now I present to you some very much up-my-alley style of music though, one Grind release that I’m convinced I have spelled wrong every time it appears (despite the fact that I copy and paste it off of the bandcamp every time) and one so firmly implanted in the Brutal Death concrete that using a jackhammer to get them out would just be added instrumentation for atmosphere.

AUTARKH – FORM IN MOTION

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Mar 102021

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the debut album from Autarkh, set for release this Friday via Season of Mist.)

Metal’s relationship with electronic music – in all its various forms – is a long and fractious one.

For every artist who wholeheartedly embraces the fusion between the two genres there are a thousand more simply going through the motions, adding a few half-hearted glitch effects and booming sub-drops in a desperate attempt to be “down with the kids” or because they think (incorrectly) that it will somehow make them sound “futuristic” and otherwise make up their complete lack of vision (I think we all know who I’m talking about).

Still, the number of successful hybrids (from Godflesh to Fear Factory to Author & Punisher) can’t be dismissed, and Black Metal in particular has a remarkable history of combining pulsing electronic beats and pounding industrial rhythms with ear-scraping riffs and throat-scarring shrieks.

Into this tangled tradition steps Autarkh, the new project from former Dodecahedron guitarist/composer Michel Nienhuis, whose debut album aims to build on that group’s short but impressive legacy – with all the untapped potential and weight of expectations that implies – while also further blurring the lines between the organic and the metallic, the animal and the artificial.

And while Form In Motion is neither the direct sequel to Kwintessens that some might have (erroneously) expected, nor the paradigm shift that it perhaps could/should have been, it is certainly one of the most unique and unorthodox albums I’ve heard so far this year, with a distinct voice and vibe all its own.

KORPSE: “INSUFFERABLE VIOLENCE”

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Mar 092021

(We present Aleksha McLoughlin‘s review of the third album from slam-tastic Dutch death-dealers Korpse, which came out recently on Unique Leader Records.)

2021 is already shaping up to be a better year than the 365-day horror story that was 2020, as we’ve already been graced with some truly excellent Death Metal releases, including Korpse’s third studio album, which is one of the best Slam records of the past five years.

And although it’s been a long time since the band released Unethical, all the way back in 2016, they’re as unflinchingly savage as they have always been.

This time around, however, in a similar vein to Vulvodynia’s 2019 record Mob Justice, Korpse have switched gears lyrically to address the horrors of the world, as opposed to gratuitous gore for gore’s sake, and it works well, as while Unethical only occasionally touched upon these lyrical beats, Insufferable Violence goes all in.

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CRUEL LIFE INSIDE — “ECLIPSIS VITAE”

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Mar 092021

With their debut album Eclipsis Vitae the Italian band Cruel Life Inside have created a thoroughly captivating experience from start to finish. Inspired by both a commitment to channeling dark and intense emotions, ranging from pain and rage to suffering and hope, as well as by the rich landscapes of their Calabrian homeland, C.L.I. lead the listener through a continuously ebbing and flowing experience that is often dreamlike but also titanically powerful.

In crafting this wide-ranging musical journey, the trio that make up C.L.I. have deftly interwoven a variety of stylistic ingredients that include atmospheric black metal, melodic doom, post-metal, and prog-rock, as well as bringing in instrumental textures that include lush cinematic soundscapes, classically inspired piano performances, and acoustic guitar, with vocals that vary between evocative clean singing to vicious snarls.

Today it’s our pleasure to present a full stream of this remarkable record in advance of its joint release by Casus Belli Musica and Beverina Productions on March 12th, preceded by a few more thoughts about what you’ll hear. Continue reading »

STORTREGN – IMPERMANENCE

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Mar 092021

(Today we present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Switzerland’s Stortregn, set for release this Friday via The Artisan Era.)

As some of you may be aware, I recently did a full, four album deep-dive into the discography of Melodic Black/Death Metaller’s Stortregn.

The benefits of this are two-fold. First off, it enabled me to re-acquaint myself with the band prior to the release of their new record. And, secondly, it means that I don’t have to waste time during this intro delving into the band’s origins and evolution – anyone who wants to do that should go check out the previous article from January – and can instead focus on the here and now.

This is particularly fortunate because their fifth album marks something of a turning point for the Geneva-based quintet, now signed to The Artisan Era, as they pivot even further towards a sound even more distinctly informed by the Melodic and Technical shades of the Death Metal spectrum.

AN NCS PREMIERE: GODLESS — “VAGINAL EMPATHY FOR THE MONARCH OF LUST”

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Mar 082021

The seeds of the Puerto Rican black metal band Godless were planted by its founder Gröfaz (a.k.a. Asaradel) a long time ago, in the winter of 1989. Since then, its history has been infamous. It’s reported that live Godless performances created controversy due to severely brutal and sick displays of self mutilation, blasphemy, and carcasses on stage, which led to a prohibition on them playing live. Line-up changes ensued, as they alway do, and eventually Gröfaz decided to make Godless a one-man band, but the music has remained ominous, sinful, misanthropic, perverted, and of course godless.

Over the course of the decade since its founding, Godless has released (in addition to early demos) a pair of EPs and three albums, and now an hour-long fourth one is on the way. Its name is Lustcifer, and it’s set for co-release by Satanath Records and The End Of Time Records on March 28th. From that album we are today presenting a track that’s stripped-down, primitive, carnal, and evil at its core. That track is “Vaginal Empathy for the Monarch of Lust“. Continue reading »

FRACTAL GENERATOR: “MACROCOSMOS”

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Mar 082021

(DGR catches up with the new record by Canada’s Fractal Generator, which was released in January by Everlasting Spew Records.)

You’ll likely be reading this one way out of chronological order given the tendency I’ve developed with this album to want to dive back in, write a little, crawl back out, and then dive back in again.

As a result, there’s been multiple discs from the moment this review started that have coasted into and out of my purview.

But, needless to say, as of recent I have been absolutely buried in a wall of incredibly dense Death Metal.

And while I’m talking about multiple albums one could also ascribe that feeling to Fractal Generator‘s newest album Macrocosmos all on its own.

AN NCS PREMIERE: SVART LOTUS — “UNDERGANG”

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Mar 082021

What we are about to present is, among other things, a fascinating case study in how talented musicians can take a song by a different artist with a dramatically different style from their own and transform it into something new — something of their own — while still retaining a connection to the original. Of course, you could just call it a “cover”, but that seems like an inadequate label for the kind of wonderful interweaving of artistry that has been created here.

The song in question is “Undergang“. It was written and originally recorded by a Norwegian folk musician named Stein Torleif Bjella, and it appeared on his 2013 album Heim For å Døy. The cover of the song, which we’re now premiering, was created by the Norwegian black metal band Svart Lotus, and it adds to the already significant proof that Svart Lotus isn’t just another black metal band, but a particularly distinctive one that goes its own (very captivating) way.

By way of background for those just now discovering the band, allow us to repeat a few things we wrote the last time we premiered a Svart Lotus single: Continue reading »

RIP LG PETROV (1972 – 2021)

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Mar 082021

Hey everyone, Andy Synn here.

We know we won’t be the only people reeling from today’s announcement but we still think it’s important to say just how saddened we all were to hear about the death of LG Petrov, the infamous, gravel-throated frontman of Entombed.

Both a beloved icon – it’s been gratifying, though still gutting, to see just how many bands and fans, people and publications, from across the scene have been deeply affected by this – and an all-round cool dude, from all accounts, LG’s ragged, instantly-recognisable roar was a huge part of a lot of people’s introduction to Death Metal, and a played a major role in Entombed‘s success down through the years, and his presence will be deeply missed.

So today we’d like to tip our hats and pour one out to a true Death Metal original, and take the chance not just to mourn his passing but to celebrate his life with a few of our favourite musical moments from the man himself.

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