SHADES OF BLACK (AND OTHER SHADES): THE STONE, COSCRADH, VALLENDUSK, THULCANDRA, SULPUR, FUOCO FATUO, CROSS VAULT, CTHONICA, EHNAHRE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Mar 072021
 

 

I want to thank those of you who have left comments or sent messages expressing sympathy and support for my current day-job misery. I was also surprised, and admittedly a bit disappointed, that a lot of people checked in on yesterday’s post even though I didn’t have the time to write about any of the music — or even listen to it! So I thought, what the hell, let’s do that again.

This column is usually devoted to black metal, and so I’ve started that way but also diverted from it. But yesterday one of our supporters (rodney) left a comment with some recommendations, and I thought I would include some of those here at the end, because he included some enticing descriptions of the bands and their music. Some of that music would seem to fit SHADES OF BLACK and some might not, which is true of my own choices

I again haven’t listened to any of this. As was true yesterday, I’m gambling, but these all seem like good bets. Continue reading »

(NOT) SEEN OR HEARD ON A SATURDAY: KRALLICE, MAJESTIC DOWNFALL, GRAVE MIASMA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 062021
 

 

As forecast last weekend, I’m not able to write my usual NCS weekend posts today or tomorrow. The project for my fucking day job has indeed been consuming me. I haven’t listened to any new metal over the last 4 or 5 days other than what I had agreed to premiere. I didn’t even have time to pay close attention to our in-box or use my other typical ways of ferreting out new music so as to add to my list of what to check out later.

However, a few things did jump out at me yesterday — a surprise new album by Krallice (they do love surprising people), a new 20-minute song off the new Majestic Downfall album, and a video for a new track by Grave Miasma from their next album. I would listen to and watch all of that today if I had time, which I don’t. But because I detest letting a day go by without having new music up on the site, I’m installing the streams of these three things below, even though I haven’t checked them out myself. But it’s a good bet they will be worth your time.

By the way, even though I can’t do more than this today, it would be great if you used the Comments to flag any other new music that would be good uses of listening time. And of course, feel free to let us know what you think about the following streams if you get a chance to hear them. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE AND A REVIEW: SCITALIS — “AWAKENING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 052021
 

 

Today the black metal band Scitalis from the north of Sweden make their debut with an EP named Awakening that’s being released by Vendetta Records, and to help spread the work we’re presenting a full stream of its six ravaging tracks.

Presented through a clear and powerful production (which makes effective use of channel shifting), the music is persistently pitch-black in its temperaments, though it explores them in dynamic fashion and with piercing, mood-altering melodies that become key ingredients within changing episodes of upheaval and surrender. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DECLINE OF THE I — “DIEV VIDE”

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Mar 052021
 

 

When writers characterize a piece of music as “ambitious”, that might mean different things to different people, but usually signifies an effort to reach beyond what is commonplace, perhaps through the use of unusual techniques or the creation of rare sounds but more often by trying to more fully engage the listeners’ imaginations and emotions — to create a sensation that takes them places far beyond mundane experience. In all those ways (and others), the new album by the French post-black metal band Decline of the I is ambitious, and it greatly succeeds in realizing those ambitions.

The name of the album is Johannes, and its ambitions actually extend beyond what we hear. For example, there can’t be many black metal albums out there which (as this one does) take their inspiration from the works of Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. And this album is also the beginning of a new trilogy, following this band’s completion of a previous one, which was inspired by the works of French surgeon and neurologist Henri Laborit.

We’ve already written about the first song that was revealed from the album (“The Veil of Splendid Lies“), and today we bring you a second one in advance of the album’s March 26 release by Agonia Records. Its name is “Diev Vide“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GREY AURA — “MARIA SEGOVIA”

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Mar 042021
 

 

You can guess even from gazing at the cover art for Grey Aura‘s new album (by Dutch photographer/artist Sanja Marusic) that you may be about to experience something that’s well off the usual beaten paths, and that turns out to be undeniably, unmistakably, true.

The album’s name is Zwart Vierkant, and it will be released on May 7th by Onism Productions. In creating it, this Dutch band from Utrecht have crafted a fascinating, hard-to-categorize musical narrative that is bound to a novel written by Grey Aura’s Ruben Wijlacker which follows the journey of an early 20th-century painter through Europe, a character who has become obssessed with the Russian art movement Suprematism.

Onism has provided a description of the album, which we’re going to share with you because it really does provide a good introduction to the music — but we will also be giving you a chance to actually listen to some of the music, through our premiere of the album’s opening track, “Maria Segovia“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ORECUS — “THE OBLITERATIONIST”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 042021
 

 

On March 12th the Swedish modern death metal band Orecus will follow up their 2016 Conclusion EP with a debut album accurately named The Obliterationist through Violent Groove (a label whose own name is entirely fitting for this band’s music). Today we present a full stream of the album, preceded by a preview of what you’ll be in for.

Orecus choose to begin the album with the title track, and it provides an explosive introduction to their terrifically destructive and disturbing strategies. It delivers jolting and jabbing riffs with pile-driving power and savage energy, accompanied by gritty, ferocious, belly-deep growls and attention-grabbing drum rhythms, which often provide a counterpoint to the rapid-fire riffing and which, in the chorus, transform into maniacal blasting as the music soars in delirious, blazing fashion. The song builds up to an even more brutalizing and compulsive hammer-sequence whose piston-driven blows will send your head pumping like an oil derrick. Continue reading »

THE CROWN: “ROYAL DESTROYER”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Mar 042021
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Swedish death metal band The Crown, who are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. Metal Blade will release the new record on March 12th.)

One thing I’ve learned, in all my years trapped on this primitive dirtball inhabited by psychotic apes, is that it doesn’t take much for human beings to give in to their tribalistic instincts.

Case in point, although we all know that music isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a competition, we sure do seem to love to pick our sides when it comes to pitting one band, or one genre, against another, and I’ll admit I’ve been just as guilty of this as anyone, especially in my younger days.

In fact, I remember quite clearly that, back in the early 2000s, when everyone else was still riffing on (and ripping off) Slaughter of the Soul I was that kid who was more than happy to tell whoever was willing to listen that they should be listening to Deathrace King instead, since The Crown were so obviously the superior band.

Of course, over the years I’ve grown up a lot and learned a fair few things, the most important of which is…

I was right. Continue reading »

BIOMORPHIC ENGULFMENT — “INCUBATION IN THE PARALLEL DIMENSION”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 042021
 

 

(This is Vonlughlios‘ review of the new album by the Thai brutal death metal band Biomorphic Engulfment, which will be released on March 31 by Show No Mercy Records, with cover art by Paolo Girardi.)

We are into March and so far there have been some great BDM releases. I am excited to see what the upcoming months have in store for the genre. But I know about one of them already — the debut album by Thailand’s Biomorphic Engulfment, Incubation in the Parallel Dimension, which is set to be released by Show No Mercy Records on March 31st.

The project was born in 2015 under the name Parasitic Infestation until they changed it in 2017 to their current banner. They released the following year a one-song demo called “Pestilent Microparasitic Domination” that at the time I did not get the chance to listen to (which I now regret). Continue reading »

SULLEN: “NODUS TOLLENS, ACT I: OBLIVION”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  No Responses »
Mar 032021
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Portuguese band Sullen, which will be released on March 5th.)

Despite our site’s somewhat controversial (and, let’s face it, slightly inaccurate) name, there are definitely some of those among our regular readers who actively look forward to the times when we recommend something that falls more on the melodic, harmonious, side of the Metal spectrum.

Recent years have seen us singing (no pun intended) the praises of bands such as Arctic Sleep and Ecclesia, Klone and Close the Hatch, Astronoid and Sinistro, and it was just a few short month ago that I declared the new Protest the Hero album to be one of the very best records of 2020.

All of which, I suppose, is my way of saying that while we don’t go to the clean-singing well that often, when we do it’s because we think it’s something you’ll really like.

Something like the brand new album from Portuguese prog-metallers Sullen. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: STONE HEALER — “WHENCE SHALL I”

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Mar 032021
 

 

We are surrounded these days by so much new music, perhaps in part an unforeseen by-product of lockdown days and an abundance of pandemic-provoked anxieties. Much of it is very good, even when the artists aren’t pushing boundaries, or maybe only nudging them a bit, like an elbow bump.

But every now and then we hear something that really makes us sit up straight and take notice, something that pulls together different stylistic ingredients in unexpected ways that shove through boundaries. And when that’s done by people who are unusually gifted instrumental performers but who also bring undeniable emotional power to their song-writing, well then it’s almost like a lightning strike through the top of your head.

And that brings us to North Carolina-based Stone Healer, whose new album Conquistador is all of those things and more. Continue reading »

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