LISTMANIA 2020: UNDERGROUND METAL FOR THE TRVE CURMUDGEON (BEST OF 2020 EDITION, BY SURGICALBRUTE)

 LISTMANIA 2020  16 Responses »
Dec 292020
 

 

(For the 10th (!) year in a row, we asked our old friend SurgicalBrute to weigh in with his year-end list of favorite albums and/or EPs. As expected, his list adds many names that haven’t appeared before in our 2020 Listmania series, and this year there’s a definite lean into black metal.)

If 2020 had a face, I’d punch it.

Yes…deeply profound, I know, but what do you really expect me to say here? There’s really no point in sugar-coating things, because this year has been an absolute trash fire and we all know it. We’re all tired, we’re all pissed off, and we’re all just hoping that when that ball finally drops on December 31st a message doesn’t appear in the sky saying: “Tutorial completed…prepare for level one”.

Despite everything, or maybe because of it, one of the far-too-few few bright points to come out of this whole mess was the huge number of great metal albums that got released… something I’d say was especially true if you’re a black metal fan. That’s not to say there weren’t great albums coming out across all the various subgenres. I found more than enough from everywhere to make me happy, but as a genre that thrives on expressing negative feelings and emotions, black metal was tailor-made for a year like this and I can only assume the artists who create it must have noticed, because they seemed to have stepped up their game accordingly.

As a result, probably more than any other year-end list I’ve done for NCS, I’m going to end up favoring one subgenre more strongly over all the other styles I tend to enjoy… and I’m still only scratching the surface of the stuff from this year that I’d recommend tracking down.

Now with all that out of the way, same rules as always. No tech, no -core, no prog. Production values are optional, and my taste will always be better than yours… so kick back and enjoy the music. \m/ Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: A YEAR-END LIST FROM SEB PAINCHAUD (TUMBLEWEED DEALER LIST)

 LISTMANIA 2020  3 Responses »
Dec 292020
 

 

(Seb Painchaud, the main man behind the Montréal band Tumbleweed Dealer, has very expansive and very eclectic musical tastes, and a way with words, and so for a fifth year in a row we asked him to share a year-end list with us. As in every other year, his list pulls us off our usual beaten paths by highlighting some favorite releases that are way outside the usual metal lists.)

Throughout this cursed year of plague and idiocy, I kept coming back to one cosmic realization whenever I mass-consumed new albums: ‘Music does not exist in a vacuum’

It took the literal descent into madness that was the last twelve months for me to finally admit this to myself. I had always liked to believe that music is some sort of absolute truth with an exact value that doesn’t fluctuate once you’ve discovered it. But as I used my search for new releases to either escape my reality, to try to understand it, or to seek some way to relate to it, I had to finally admit to myself that whatever music is put out there at any point in time it becomes intertwined with that period in human history. It’s judged against what has come before, it’s used in relation with what is happening right now, and it will impact what has yet to be written. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EXIMPERITUS — “TAHÂDU”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Dec 282020
 

 

On the 23rd of April, 2016, I discovered a band from Minsk, Belarus, whose name was Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum and promptly wrote (here) about a newly released track from their debut album, the name of which, in truncated form, was:

Prajecyrujučy Sinhuliarnaje Wypramieńwańnie Daktryny Absaliutnaha J Usiopahłynaĺnaha Zła Skroź Šaścihrannuju Pryzmu Sîn​​-​​Ahhī​​-​​Erība Na Hipierpawierchniu Zadyjakaĺnaha Kaŭčęha Zasnawaĺnikaŭ Kosmatęchničnaha Ordęna Palieakantakta​​.​​​.​​.

On our Facebook page a note was left explaining that, in English, this means “Projecting the singular emission ov the Doctrine ov Absolute and All-Absorbing Evil through the hexahedral prism ov Sîn-Ahhī-Erība upon the hypersurface ov zodiacal arc ov the cosmotechnical order ov paleocontact founders the utterly ancient hypostases ov pre-axes civilizations actuate the resonance transformer ov temporally similar to the eternity ov the future in the towers ov Nwn-Hu-Kek-Amon’s obcervatory embodying the ashes ov Alulim into the ethereal matter to the west ov exoplanet PSRB 1620-26b”.

As I wrote at the time, the song I had found kicked massive amounts of ass, even if its title, and that of the album, and that of the band, were guaranteed to defeat all efforts of the human mouth to shape the letters into sound.

More than one year later I found myself in the position of premiering a song from the band’s next release, an EP whose title was far briefer, though no less cryptic: W2246-0526.

And then after that, in 2019, Eximperitus (even with copy/paste functionality I’d rather use this shortened form) released a single named “Tahâdu” that I managed to overlook. “Tahâdu” is also the name of an Eximperitus track that we’re premiering today, and I’m okay using the term “premiere” because I haven’t attempted to determine (and may not be able to determine) whether this is the same song that appeared earlier or has been revised in some way. In any event, it comes from a new Eximperitus album named Šahrartu, which seems to be the Sumerian word for “Devastation”. It will be released by Willowtip on January 29, 2021. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE SCALAR PROCESS — “INK SHADOW”

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Dec 282020
 

 

The Scalar Process are a French trio who will make their full-length debut in February with the support of Transcending Obscurity Records. As a technical death metal band, their advent comes at a time when their chosen genre is burgeoning, indeed splitting at the seams because it is so over-stuffed with bands both new and old. To stand out at such times is a formidable challenge, but not one that is daunting to this band at all. A feeling of confidence blazes through the music, as well it should.

Perhaps it’s a given that the performers are technically impressive, and they’ve composed their music in ways that allow those skills to shine, and thereby to make the songs electrifying. But this flamboyance is only part of the album’s attraction, because the band are equally skilled at creating contrasts, enabling dramatic changes of mood and the introduction of atmospheric elements that are vital in making the songs memorable as well as pulse-pounding.

We have a great example of these compositional ingredients in the song we’re premiering today, the intriguingly named “Ink Shadow“, which is the third song to debut so far from this new album, Coagulative Matter. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: A BRUTAL YEAR-END LIST FROM VONLUGHLIO

 LISTMANIA 2020  4 Responses »
Dec 282020
 

 

(For the 9th year in a row, here’s our friend Vonlughlio’s list of the best brutal death metal albums of the year that’s about to end.)

That time of year has arrived again for the year-rnf list and like every year I start by thanking Islander for letting me share my lists since 2012. As some of you might know (duh!!!) one of my favorite genres is BDM, and even though I listen to other genres as well, I want to focus more on BDM for NCS, since the staff does a great job in covering other genres.

I thought that this year would be different and that I would have an easier time doing my top 25 BDM albums for NCS. but no!!! It has been a difficult task like every other time. I have 30 or so releases that I enjoyed and not all of them would make the list.  Some will like what I’ve named here, and others may hate it, but that is life. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: INHEIN, TRUP, OMINATION, WAMPYRIC RITES, FIUR, STARER, CRUSTY OLD TOAD

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Dec 272020
 

 

Today’s column is a collection of substantial musical mood swings. I didn’t plan it that way, it’s just how it came together. I enjoyed the twists and turns and hope you will too.

INHEIN (Russia)

Suffering for iron-poor blood? Ass dragging like there’s a load of bricks in your stained shorts? Sinking like a stone beneath an endless ocean of listlessness? The first song in this playlist furnishes the remedy for all that, at least for six minutes. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD FOR A CHRISTMAS DAY (PART 2): CASAVIEJA, KNIVES, I AM A PREACHER, SKY PIG, HUMAN SERPENT

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 262020
 

 

Time has become ill-defined for me as for everyone else this year, but I do realize that it’s not still Christmas Day. I just couldn’t get Part 2 of this round-up finished in time to post it yesterday before having a virtual get-together with close family members. Probably just as well, because stacking this much new music on top of what was in Part 1 might have drowned you, especially on top of another installment of DGR’s mountainous year-end list, which (by the way) ended today without caving in the site’s foundations, though that was a risk that left me in a cold sweat all week.

For Part 2 I’m starting with an album and then moving onto a couple of EPs and a couple of singles.

CASAVIEJA (Guatemala)

When Rennie (starkweather) first urged me to listen to this band a week ago, their new second album had just come out. He said they were from “South of the Border, South of Heaven”, but I didn’t realize until later that they hail from Guatemala. Without intending to be condescending, that’s not a nation that spawns typhoon waves of extreme metal bands, a fact that just made me more eager to hear them. Continue reading »

DGR’s GRAND YEAR END ARCHIVE OF EVERYTHING HE ENJOYED IN 2020: THE YEAR THAT WAS A DECADE TOO LONG (PART 5)

 LISTMANIA 2020  11 Responses »
Dec 262020
 

 

(Morbidly worrying whether the combined tonnage of words and music might finally sink the site, today we publish the fifth and final Part of DGR’s 2020 year-end list, counting down his personal Top 10 albums, and then adding some “not heavy” favorites and some EPs to wrap things up.)

We made it to the end. I can’t believe it. They haven’t kicked me off the site yet and somehow my hands haven’t fallen off at the wrist. In my best Richard Attenborough voice, “Welcome, to the final ten”….”and a whole bunch of other shit”.

We close out the final ten by going on what I would deem an absolute adventure. There’s no real throughline here, just impressive album after impressive album, all of which come highly recommended. You’ll note a handful of bigger names but there were some serious surprises that hijacked my listening this year and I felt it right that they be rewarded thusly. I really do hope that if you’ve never heard some of these bands before that you’ll check them out, because the final five or so are an absolute cacophony and I loved every second of it.

As usual, because this is the finale of my personal year-end archive and once again there’s no space left in the site’s budget for fireworks, I’ve once again gathered together all of the EPs as well as the ‘not metal’ releases – I elaborate further there – in the hopes that if you’ve made it this far, then some shorter or some more out-of-left-field stuff might be worthy of looking into as well.

If you have made it this far, thank you so much for reading all of this. I say this every year because I both love and hate myself for doing it, but I truly do treasure the ability to just look back at the year and then splatter a tremendous amount of albums on the wall for me to then write about. The final ten await and I hope some surprises sit there for all of you as well. Let’s journey on. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD FOR A CHRISTMAS DAY (PART 1): SCARRED, VEGAS., SERCATI, BIPOLAR ARCHITECTURE, YOTH IRIA, HESPER PAYNE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Dec 252020
 

 

Childhood memories tend to be fuzzy, at least around the edges. I have some vivid ones, but can’t always place them in chronological order. For example, I have some very clear memories of opening Christmas presents with my brother, and the rest of my family happily watching our glee. Some of those happened on Christmas Eve, and some upon waking on Christmas Day. Having been infected by the Santa Claus myth, I assume the memories from the daybreak celebrations were the earlier ones, and the nighttime ones happened after our family figured out (rightly or wrongly) that we had wised up about the myth, but I can’t be sure.

What I do know is that the nighttime gift-openings were more magical, even if they didn’t square with the notion of deliveries by Santa and the reindeer while my brother and I were off in the Land of Nod. Maybe it’s because the lights and ornaments on the Yule trees shown more brightly (our family wisely turned off all other lights in the room). Maybe there are other reasons why those memories are more scintillating, but if so, those reasons are… fuzzy… kind of like the gauzy light that shrouds these recollections in my mind. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: A YEAR-END LIST FROM PROFESSOR D. GROVER THE XIIITH (PART II)

 LISTMANIA 2020  2 Responses »
Dec 252020
 

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: After a hiatus, we welcome back our old friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth (founder of The Number of the Blog, whose inspiration helped spawn NCS so many years ago), who again has brought us his year-end lists of favorite releases, both metal and not-metal. Yesterday the focus of Part I was EPs and singles, and today it’s albums. To repeat part of what Grover wrote in yesterday’s introduction:

“As with any of my previous lists, for some familiar with them, there are a few things to bear in mind. First, this list is entirely my own opinion and my favorite releases of the year, regardless of genre. While the majority of what I listen to is metal, not everything is, and my list will reflect that. Second, I listen to and enjoy a lot of music throughout the year, but to include it all on the list would be impractical at best. In years past I’ve included a list of honorable mentions, but those lists always ended up being stupidly long and ain’t no one got time for that.” Continue reading »

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