AN NCS PREMIERE: ANTHROPOPHAGUS DEPRAVITY — “TEMPLE OF SACRIFICE”

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May 122021
 

 

On July 2nd Comatose Music will proudly (and perhaps sadistically) uncage Apocalypto, the ghastly debut album of Anthropophagus Depravity from Yogyakarta in Indonesia, a record that Comatose sums up as “a gory tale of human sacrifice and mutilation delivered with fearsome musical prowess and ruthless, relentless force,” an album “spawned from nightmares” that “radiates fear and panic”, and one that will secure the band’s place “at the top table of brutal death metal”.

What we have for you today is the premiere of “Temple of Sacrifice“, a song that earns those words. It’s a cruel fashioning of terror in multiple visceral forms, an amalgam of cold, ruthless, methodical brutality and skittering, scrambling madness, all of it shrouded in an atmosphere of supernatural horror. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PASSÉISME — “CHANT FOR PARADE”

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May 122021
 

 

The French label Antiq Records has become a paramount global source for medieval black metal (though not only that), and while the label tends to focus on the music of distinctive French bands, its forthcoming release of the debut album by Passéisme shows this is not exclusively true. Granted, the band chose a French name and have drawn upon French poetry for some of their inspirations, but this trio make their home in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

Passéisme’s debut album Eminence (which follows their 2019 demo Austerity Parade) is a sequence of seven Chants, but while there is a sense of nostalgic reverence for older eras that does emerge in the music, these are not sedate or sober recitals. They are instead usually fast, fierce, and often explosively ebullient, the kind of music that super-heats the blood and spins the mind, while the lyrics often reflect savage condemnation. We have a prime example of this in the lyric video we’re premiering today for “Chant For Parade“. Continue reading »

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT: “V3: VERNEDERING”

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May 122021
 

 

(Despite the somewhat incestuous relationship between Andy Synn and the Dutch “Svpreme Avant Garde Death Metal” band The Monolith Deathcult, he has taken it upon himself to review their new album, which is set for detonation release on May 14th.)

As anyone around here will tell you, The Monolith Deathcult and I have a fairly long and sordid history together.

Not only have I written about pretty much everything they’ve ever done (especially if you take into account the edition of The Synn Report I did on them just over a decade(!) ago), but I’ve also helped them with their promotional materials, and even been on tour with them a couple of times.

All of this, of course, makes me both the best and the worst person to be writing about the band’s new album, as while I’ve definitely got the right background and the insider info, mainline straight from the source, to really dig into the nitty gritty of the record, I’m sure there’s also a fair few people who are (understandably) going to be questioning my ability to be fair and impartial right now.

But, ultimately, there really was no-one else here at NCS who could write this review (and not just because everyone else was too busy).

After all, we all know that the only way for any band – even one as utterly shameless and reliably critic-proof as The Monolith Deathcult – to be truly judged (and, hopefully, convicted) is by a jury of their peers… which is why I swear to you that what you’re about to read is nothing but the truth, the whole goddamn truth, so help me (please help me) god… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: 30 IMMOLATED; 16 RETURNED — “THE AUGURS OF SPRING (THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD)”

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May 112021
 

 

Sometimes in our song premieres (in this case one that’s presented through a lyric video), it’s best to cut to the chase and then come back and fill in the back-story. This is one of those times.

The song here, which is as fascinating as it is unnerving, is “The Augurs of Spring (The Burial of the Dead)“. It’s the second movement in a rendition of excerpts from Igor Stravinsky’s 1913 orchestral work The Rite of Spring, and the people responsible for this rendition have taken the name 30 immolated; 16 returned. The lyrics, which seemingly appear as random words, were inspired by T.S. Eliot‘s great poem “The Waste Land“.

A compelling rhythmic pulse runs through this performance, executed in different ways, from primitive, titanic pounding by all instruments to brittle chords or a popping snare (and more). Around that reflex-triggering pulse (which occasionally changes in jarring ways), madness ensues — a cavalcade of burbling bass notes, dissonant slithering, seething, and screeching guitars, frantic drum acrobatics, insectile fretwork fevers, and an array of caustic growls and howls whose lunatic vehemence is almost as unsettling as all the bizarre instrumental intricacy.

It is, in a word, wild. Stravinsky may be spinning in his grave, almost at the speed your own head will spin. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CLOAK OF ALTERING — “THE JESUSCRAFT”

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May 112021
 

 

In the neverending musical combat between catharsis and comfort, byzantine boundary-stretching and banal convention, Cloak of Altering continues to leave no doubt where its allegiances lie. In the band’s eccentric and perpetually experimental maneuvers, it seems dedicated to rooting around in our subconscious in a way that makes it difficult to keep certain things buried that perhaps we’d rather remain hidden, just as it provides a necessary outlet for its creator’s own unsettling and unpredictable impulses.

Yet every new excursion by the band provides a multitude of fascinations, no matter how disorienting they may become, further proof of which is provided in Cloak of Altering‘s new album, Sheathed swords drip with poisonous honey (set for release on June 4th by Brucia Records).

We have the premiere of a song from that album for you today, “The Jesuscraft“. The opening line of our introduction, which is a few paragraphs below, is this: “The song seems diabolically calculated to keep listeners continually off-balance.” Perhaps, then, there is some hilarity to be found in the comment about the song from Cloak of Altering‘s alter ego Mories (the fiendish mind also behind Gnaw Their Tongues, The Sombre, The Night Specter, Hagetisse, and Golden Ashes, among other projects): “The Jesuscraft is the most straightforward song on the album.” Continue reading »

MOROKH – ALL THE DARKNESS LOOKS ALIVE

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 112021
 

(Andy Synn dives back into the darkness once more with the new album from Russian Blackened Hardcore bruisers Morokh)

You know what they say… once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.

And, as it happens, this is the third album from Russia in just over a month that’s instantly established itself as one of my favourite records of the year, which suggests that either someone out there is purposefully targeting me and my listening tastes… or I’m just being paranoid (or am I?).

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ECLIPSER — “PAGES”

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May 102021
 

 

In its lyrics, the title track to Eclipser‘s new EP, Pages, reflects the dismay, despair, and disgust of a religious believer who has reached the shattering realization that what he has been promised in biblical pages are lies, and were instead only a means of indoctrination whose hollowness has left him hopeless, frightened, and enraged. As Eclipser themselves explain: “‘Pages‘ is the tale of a weary soul in search of faith. He seeks out God but finds only empty words and misery.”

In its amalgam of black and death metal, the song is equally shattering. It channels sensations of torment and turmoil in unnerving ways, plumbing the depths of a mind coming apart as its foundations fracture and become rubble, with nothing left to take their place. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WINTER ETERNAL — “CROWN OF STARS”

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May 102021
 

 

Take a moment to contemplate what black metal might sound like if created by a band named Winter Eternal on an album entitled Land of Darkness, with song names that include “The Illusive Wings of Death”, “Isolation”, and “Shaped By Grief”. Add to that the fact that the band’s sole creator chose the name “Soulreaper”, and then absorb the vision captured in the Land of Darkness cover art created by Joan Llopis Doménech.

You might then naturally have expectations of music that portrays oppressive gloom and snow-bound desolation, and perhaps even an icy and depressive indifference to life. It’s indeed true that Land of Darkness is home to a fair share of dark moods, but what might surprise you if you’re unfamiliar with Winter Eternal is that the music is also bright and poignantly beautiful, and capable of weaving immersive and wondrous spells. And the emotional core of the music is anything but lifeless and cold. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: BEASTLOR, I AM THE NIGHT, VERHEERER, DODSKOLD, ASCEND TOWARDS THE MOON, WICHER, BALMOG

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
May 092021
 

 

I think it’s fair to say that I’ve gone off the deep end. Between the new-music round-ups I prepared on Friday and Saturday and the column you’re now staring at, I’ve thrown out 28 advance tracks, EPs, or albums, almost all of which surfaced just within the last week or two. I don’t expect any normal person to pay attention to all of it, and I don’t really know how any normal person would pick and choose among all those tracks. So why have I done this? Don’t know… still waiting on the psychiatric evaluations….

BEASTLOR (U.S.)

I decided to begin with one of the two complete albums in today’s collection. It landed, fully formed and without warning, on the most recent Bandcamp Friday, two days ago. As you can see, I didn’t defer paying attention to it, because the man behind it is Mick Barr (of Krallice and Encenathrakh). Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: SOL DE SANGRE, OF WOLVES, CEREBRAL ROT, HIRSI, THE CROOKED WHISPERS, SVNEATR, CAVEMAN CULT

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 082021
 

 

Even after yesterday’s humongous round-up of new music, I’m still playing catch-up with new songs and videos, and picked seven more entries to include here today. These are mostly individual songs, but I’ve mixed in a pair of new EPs. As usual, part of my goal in making this selection was to provide diverse experiences.

SOL DE SANGRE (Colombia)

On April 30th this killer Colombian band released a new EP named Despair Distiller, and I’m way late in crowing about how really fucking good it is. Better late than never, I hope! Continue reading »

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