SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): SNOW WOLF COMPILATION, SKORBVSTR, OUIJA

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Jul 252021
 

 

Thankfully I was able to finish the second installment of today’s column before having to turn to other things. But I have to make that turn quickly, so I’ll dispense with any further introduction.

SNOW WOLF COMPILATION

I’ve been meaning to write something in support of this extravagant compilation for the last week, ever since the official announcement of it last Monday, and then it occurred to me that putting it in a SHADES OF BLACK column would be the most fitting way to do that anyway.

The name of the compilation is This Wretched Earth. Presented by Snow Wolf Records, it includes tracks by 16 bands from 14 countries across 6 continents, and adds up to almost an hour and a half of music. It includes a number of groups I’ve written about in other editions of this column, as well as a lot of names that are new to me. It also includes a number of exclusive tracks not available anywhere else; I’ve determined that 10 of them aren’t listed on Metal-Archives. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): ΣΧΕΔΟΝ ΝΕΚΡΟΣ, VENEFIXION, SERPENTRANCE, IN THE COMPANY OF SERPENTS, TRIACANTHOS

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Jul 252021
 

I’m taking a chance calling this Part 1, since Part 2 exists only in my head at this point. But we need goals, right?

At least Part 1 is complete. What I chose for it is a collection of four singles from forthcoming releases and one complete album that just surfaced today. A couple of these aren’t black metal, strictly speaking, but I got so excited about them that I didn’t want to wait, and at least from my perspective they don’t seem out of place. My goal for Part 2 is a few more complete recent releases.

ΣΧΕΔΟΝ ΝΕΚΡΟΣ (Greece)

Erstwhile NCS contributor KevinP has been banging the drum among friends for this first song, and the song is a banger too. The big rumbling riff that opens the track is an immediate head-snagger, and the song just gets more addictive as the riffing becomes increasingly feverish. Embellished by a nasty tone, the guitars viciously roil, jab, and jolt, backed by viscerally compelling drumwork and bestial bellows and barks. It’s an adrenaline-fueling mix of skull-slugging grooves and boiling chaos…. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: ABORTED, BLEEDING MALICE, BORIS, CARNIFEX, EX DEO, EYES OF PERDITION, FERAL LORD, INFERI, LOTUS THRONES, SARS, SCHIZOGOAT, SOMNURI, WORM SHEPHERD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jul 242021
 

 

Those of us in the metal trade know that Friday’s have become a dumping ground, or a deluge from above, or a flood tide… pick your metaphor for a day when a ton of new songs and videos drop. Yesterday was in that vein. With help from some other NCS slaves I made a giant list, and did a freestyle kick through it. Found a lot to like, and decided to grab a baker’s dozen of tracks for your entertainment, all of which happened to arrive with videos.

In terms of verbiage, I’m just going to ejaculate my immediate visceral reactions without fully formed sentences or consistent punctuation. Unless I just keep quiet I don’t know how else to manage commentary on so many songs and films, and of course keeping quiet would be sheer torture for moi.

ABORTED (Belgium)

A creepy, horror-drenched intro opens the book on a jolting and blazing calamity that soon goes berserk… despite its title, the song doesn’t really drag you to hell, it fires you into hell with a howitzer… and all the devils are there, ready to rip and ruin… but also to reveal the sweeping, bombastic glory of their awful domain…. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ARSENIC ADDICTION — “MOON AND SUN”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  1 Response »
Jul 232021
 

 

Although the command in our site’s name has always been subject to exceptions, it’s nevertheless true that those exceptions are rare and must be well-earned. The singing in the song that’s the subject of a stunning video we’re premiering today is one of those well-earned departures from our usual nastiness — though it’s joined with throat-slitting vocal viciousness.

The song in question is “Moon and Sun“, a thoroughly gripping track from the third (and most recent) album by the band Arsenic Addiction from Salt Lake City, Utah, the title of which is XIX. As you’ll discover, if you’re not already familiar with the song, it’s a multi-faceted affair that brings into play ingredients of gothic metal, melodic death metal, and symphonic metal (among others). It’s heavy and hard-hitting but also completely enthralling, and it’s disturbing as well as beautiful. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LUTHARÖ — “LOST IN A SOUL”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jul 232021
 

 

After releasing a trio of EPs that includes 2020’s attention-grabbing Wings of Agony, the metal band Lutharö from Hamilton, Ontario are at last ready to present their debut full-length. Entitled Hiraeth, it’s now set for release on October 15th.

For those familiar with Lutharö’s previous output, the new album expands their sonic palette, interweaving ingredients from melodic death metal, thrash, and power metal, with occasional astute uses of orchestration. As the advance press for the album accurately states, Hiraeth delivers plenty of raw power and aggression but is equally effective in presenting emotionally potent and head-hooking melodies and creating hauntingly beautiful atmospheres.

And today we’re premiering a video for “Lost in a Soul“, a song that displays all those qualities in abundance. Continue reading »

SEPIROTH: “CONDEMNED TO SUFFER”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 232021
 

 

(This is TheMadIsraeli‘s review of the third album by the Dutch death metal band Sepiroth, which was released earlier this month via the Petrichor label.)

I’ve had a tough time finding death metal that appeals to me these days. I’ve found it so difficult to locate anything that isn’t drowned in gimmicks of rudimentary slam or isn’t consumed with trying to write shit that would’ve felt dated in 1995.  I may take some heat for this, but at least from my perspective it feels like right now this is the main sub-genre of extreme metal that’s really lagging behind in 2021, and it’s REALLY lagging behind.

Death metal requires riffs, actual composition, and song-writing dynamics to work well.  Especially when its vocal approach is typically not diverse, the music consequently has to do a lot around it to avoid monotony.

Well, I present to you today a death metal band that aren’t living in ’95, don’t waste your time with vapid slam and brutal death metal’s purposefully shit production, and actually sound like they’ve kept up with the genre past the year 2000. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: RYE / ROZH/ РOЖЬ

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Jul 232021
 

 

Comrade Aleks continues his recent excursion into interviews of artists with a bit of black in their veins, and his eloquent correspondent today is the man behind the Russian band Рожь, whose name means “Rye” and whose newest release is Вечное (“Eternity”).

The band’s logo is into English but its Cyrillic original title “Рожь” (which really means “Rye”) could be found everywhere. This one-man band from Russian Karelia was successfully hiding from our radars for a few years, and yet its debut full-length Вечное / Vechnoe (“Eternal”) couldn’t pass unnoticed even though it’s a DIY release.

Black metal, extreme doom metal, and echoes of shamanic folk ambient are entwined in one intensive hymn of death, decay, and cold soil. Dynamic and vivid, this album emits unstoppable waves of energies whose amplitudes vary from nihilistic negative to soaring ethereal tunes.

It’s time to dig out Rye’s roots with its founder Vladimir Frith. Continue reading »

SUPREME CONCEPTION: A REVIEW OF “EMPIRE OF THE MIND” AND THE PREMIERE OF “TRANSGRESSION II: SELF-DISCOVERY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jul 222021
 

 

(In this article we present Todd Manning‘s review of a new EP by the Czech band Supreme Conception which will be released on August 6th, and our premiere of a track from the EP.)

It’s easy to get Tech-Death wron;, endless flurries of indistinguishable notes make for unremarkable material. It’s a good thing then that Supreme Conception avoid the genre’s pitfalls on their new EP Empire of the Mind. The trio consisting of Michal Kusak (ex-Imperial Foeticide) on vocals, Martin Meyer (Heaving Earth) on guitar, and Aaron Stechauner (ex-Rings of Saturn) on drums, display plenty of instrumental prowess on these five songs, but also manage to create an engaging listening experience as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: REJECTER — “DOUBLE SPHINX AT THE ENTRANCE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 222021
 

 

We’ve had a lot of premieres at our site today already, but this final one definitely should not be overlooked, even though the band is an unheralded newcomer of undisclosed origin. A duo consisting of musician Carhaix SSP and vocalist G., they’ve taken the name Rejecter, which is a reflection of their rebellious black metal ethos — an embrace of “the yearning for freedom” (including freedom from the genre’s more rigid and dictatorial voices) and an encouragement of people “to repel the forms of authority that disrupt their lives”.

Rejecter’s eight-track debut album, The Vulgar Wine, is being presented by the anti-fascist black metal collective RABM, and today we’re premiering a multi-faceted and immediately gripping track named “Double Sphinx at the Entrance“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VEILBURNER — “VAULT OF HAUNTING DISSOLVE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jul 222021
 

 

In December 2018 our writer Andy Synn compiled reviews of all the albums released as of that date by Pennsylvania’s Veilburner, including their then-latest (and then-finest) record, A Sire To the Ghouls of Lunacy. In tracing the band’s evolution, he characterized the music as “warped and twisted, tumultuously technical and deviously discordant Black/Death Metal which doesn’t really sound exactly like anyone, or anything, else out there.”

And now here we are, two and a half years later, even more copiously surrounded by bands who have embraced “dissonant death metal” as their dominant style, and yet what Andy wrote at the end of 2018 still holds true: Veilburner still don’t really sound like anyone, or anything, else out there. Their newest album, Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull (set for a September 24 release by Transcending Obscurity Records), is abundant proof of that.

The new full-length is relentlessly fascinating and mood-altering, both horrifying and mesmerizing, ingenious as well as deranged, and thoroughly gripping from start to finish. Although only time will tell, it has all the earmarks of a record that will be remembered for a long time after it emerges in all its fiendishly spine-tingling and skin-chilling glory. As a further sign of this, today we’re premiering a stunning album track named “Vault of Haunting Dissolve“. Continue reading »

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