NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GLOOMY GRIM — “THEY ARE WAITING”

Apr 272021

It seems, as wise people have said for millennia, that all good things must come to an end. And so, after a career that has spanned a quarter-century, the Finnish symphonic black metal band Gloomy Grim will be releasing their final album later this month.

This new and last release is entitled Agathonomicon, and it includes 10 tracks that revel in darkness and horror. So far, two singles from the album have emerged, and today we bring you a third one — “They Are Waiting” — before Satanath Records and MurdHer Records jointly issue the entire release on April 28th. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): RIIVAUS, SHRINE OV ABSURD, RAAT, KWADE DROES

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Apr 262021

In Part 1 of this column yesterday I promised that Part 2 would includes streams of five complete released I’ve recently discovered and want to recommend. But being short on time, I’ve had to leave the fifth one for another day. Due to the same time constraints, I’ve included only some very high-level impressions of each of the other four by way of introduction, rather than attempting to write more thorough reviews.

RIIVAUS (Finland)

Riivaus is the solo endeavor of Hoath Daemnator, who under different pseudonyms is also a member of Sacrificium Carmen, Wömit Angel, and Nôidva (among other groups). Flying the Riivaus banner, he released a debut album in 2017 (Lyöden taudein ja kirouksin), which I haven’t heard, and about 10 days ago released a compact second full-length named Hehkumaton. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LUCIFUGE — “INFERNAL POWER”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Apr 262021

The German band Lucifuge was born in 2018 as the solo project of Equinox, who wasted no time rapidly discharging a demo, an EP, and the Ride the Beast debut album that same year. The creative fires burned just as hot and bright in 2019, resulting in two more EPs and a second album, Der AntiChrist.

And just last year, Lucifuge released yet another full-length (The One Great Curse) and a single that proved to be the title track to Infernal Power, the latest and most accomplished Lucifuge album yet, which is rapidly approaching its April 30 release date via Dying Victims Productions — and which we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): DJEVEL, NIGHT CROWNED, MEDIUM

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Apr 252021

Much like yesterday I got a very late start this morning, having enjoyed a long night of virtual carousing with a big group of co-workers at my fucking day job. Like yesterday I thought I’d just pull together a couple of things for this usual Sunday column so I wouldn’t be too late in posting it — and again reconsidered. Just too much stuff I want to share.

This two-part post thus provides a lot to take in. I’m confident that few people will enjoy everything I’ve chosen — though I’m equally confident you’ll find at least something to enjoy if you at least taste-test everything I’m recommending.

I organized this collection by beginning Part 1 with two singles that I thought were great companions for each other and then following them with a stylistically very different EP. Part 2, which I’ll post tomorrow, will include streams of five complete releases that I will only have time to introduce briefly.

DJEVEL (Norway)

Like the cover art for Djevel’s new album Tanker som rir natten, the second advance track released last week is lunar in its atmosphere, a wintry nightside excursion that’s deeply immersive. In its manifold sensations it’s dreamlike, depressive, menacing, and I’d go so far as to say romantic. But it’s as visceral as it is mesmerizing, thanks to Faust’s gripping drum performance (the vibrant timpani-like booming is an especially nice touch) and the warm companionship of the bass, performed by new member Kvitrim (Vemod, Mare), who also handles the harsh vocals. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: PORTAL, REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER, MOROKH, THIS ENDING, MORTUARY SPAWN, NADJA, ALUSTRIUM, BEAST MODE

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Apr 242021

Because I got a late start on the day and have a lot of personal shit to attend to, my original plan was just to pick a couple or three songs and make this an abbreviated round-up. But I kept coming across tracks and videos that I really wanted to share, so this collection mushroomed.

It also amused me, as it often does, to build in some stylistic whiplash, particularly in the arrangement of the last half of these picks. Hope you find something here that will make your day a better one.

PORTAL (Australia)

I probably overlooked one or more news missives, but I wasn’t aware until yesterday that Portal had a new album on the way. When I discovered that fact, it produced the kind of a blood-congealing yet spine-tingling experience I usually have when wondering what new horrors will be headed our way from this band. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GOAT AGGRESSOR (MALUM)

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Apr 232021

photo by Ville Ruusunen

(Karina Noctum has brought us the following interview of Goat Aggressor, a veteran drummer and member of the Finnish black metal band Malum, whose fourth album, Devil’s Creation, was just released by Purity Through Fire.)

In this interview with Finnish drummer Goat Aggressor we talked about his most recent release with the band Malum. The band offer a melodious harmonic sound with well-structured songs. Devil’s Creation is another gem for all those who like the Scandinavian underground. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MAJESTIC DOWNFALL — “A DYING CROWN”

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Apr 232021

A persistent favorite of this site, the Mexican doom-death band Majestic Downfall have already provided abundant proof of their formidable talents, having erected, through five albums and a pair of splits, an imposing sonic edifice that’s as magnificent as it is heart-rending. And now they’re approaching the May 21 release date of their sixth full-length, Aorta, which will be released by the new but rapidly growing label Personal Records — and it reveals the band at the pinnacle of their soul-shaking power.

Written and recorded during the pandemic, Aorta consists of four songs that collectively span 70 minutes, and those songs are expansive in ways that transcend mere length, ranging in their sensations (to borrow the words of the PR material) “from suffocating to vibrating, damning to liberating, utterly devastated to strangely hopeful – but always crushing, and devastatingly so”.

As further evidence of the truth of those words, today we premiere an Aorta song named “A Dying Crown“. Continue reading »

HIDEOUS DIVINITY: “LV-426”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Apr 232021

(DGR tends to move in fits and starts with his NCS writing, and this week he’s had a fit, with this being the third of his posts for us in almost as many days. Today’s subject is the new EP by NCS favorites Hideous Divinity, which is being ejected today (like a blooming facehugger) by Everlasting Spew Records and Century Media Records.)

Hideous Divinity‘s chosen subject matter of different films to frame their overwhelmingly hostile take on brutal death metal has proven fruitful for them over the years. The recent Cronenberg deep-dives have given them much to work from as they take their chosen genre and morph and contort it to fit their musical equivalent of a bulldozer being launched downhill in a mudslide into a suburb. Often stretched into full-albums, the film nods have been blatant, but LV-426 represents the biggest and most upfront statement of subject matter to date.

It’s already struck a chord around here, given the NCS crew’s fondness for the Alien moves to begin with, and so the group’s decision to tackle a more focused subject over the course of an EP was one we were guaranteed to be looking into. LV-426 consists of two original songs and one out-of-left-field yet surprisingly pragmatic cover song for a total of sixteen minutes of blindingly fast music. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DÖDSRIT, ANGSTSKRÍG, YOUR FAULT, GHOSTBOUND, UNENDLICH, HAGEL, GOATBLOOD

Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

Apr 222021

If extreme metal were a big map pinned to a wall and you got a running start and hurled the contents of a bucket of paint at it, the scattered blots would give you something like the following collection of songs and videos — though one of the splashes lands off the map altogether (I put that one dead center in this playlist, surrounded by everything else).

DÖDSRIT (Netherlands/Sweden)

I’m leading off with “Shallow Graves“, because it so thoroughly swept me off my feet right from the start, thanks to the thrill of its opening riff, the pulse-pounding impact of the racing drums, and the grandeur of the panoramic cascades. The song changes, moving through a variety of rhythms and tempos as well as variations in the riffing that alters the moods, though the vocals are blisteringly intense at all times. Continue reading »

AGELESS OBLIVION – SUSPENDED BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY

Album Reviews No Responses »

Apr 222021

(The long-awaited new album from Ageless Oblivion comes out next week on Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings, and Andy Synn wants you to know all about it, and why you should buy it)

It’s a common, and widely accepted, truism that you should never meet your heroes, because chances are they’ll only disappoint you.

The same could, and perhaps should, be said about listening to the long-awaited follow-up to one of your favourite albums, an album which has become accepted by many to be a modern-day classic.

After all, there’s simply no way it could live up to or even come close to satisfying the sheer weight of expectations surrounding it.

…or could it?

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