SEEN AND HEARD: CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX, OXALATE, REBAELLIUN, TENEBRA

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 292020
 

 

Happy hump-day. To help get you over the hump I compiled this short collection of new songs and videos from among others I checked out last night and this morning. Apart from the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed all of these, they give you a lot of variety. Surely you will enjoy at least one, if not all of them. If you don’t, we’re not offering refunds.

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX

The opening drum pattern in this first song and video reminded me of Kate Bush‘s hit from the mid-’80s, “Running Up That Hill”. Even if I hadn’t already been a fan of Crippled Black Phoenix and curious to see what they’d be doing on their new album, that alone would have rooted me in place for the rest of this ride — and what a wonderful ride it is. Continue reading »

QUESTION: “REFLECTIONS OF THE VOID”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Jul 282020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Mexican death metal band Question, which will be released by Chaos Records on July 31st.)

The annual battle for “Death Metal Album of the Year” is always a close-fought and contentious one, and 2020 is no exception.

So far I’ve seen a lot of people throwing their weight behind Ulthar’s Providence and Black Curse’s Endless Wound (and with good reason, because both albums are great), and there’s also been a hell of a lot of buzz about the new Necrot (which I’m sure we’ll be reviewing very soon) and, to a lesser extent, Draghkar’s long-gestating, soon-to-be-released debut.

However, from where I’m standing, it’s Reflections of the Void which is the real dark-horse contender for the title. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ÆPOCH — “THE SCRYER”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 282020
 

 

A little more than two years on from the release of their Awakening Inception debut album, the Ontario-based death metal band Æpoch are on the verge of releasing a new EP named The Scryer, a six-track, 30-minute offering that diverges in some ways from that full-length debut. The band themselves state that when these songs were originally written, their main influences were Death, Through The Eyes Of The Dead, and Abysmal Dawn, and they pursued musical ideas that were “much less progressive and technical than our more recent influences”.

But these are relative comparisons, because The Scryer is still home to a lot of full-throttle technical virtuosity and an unmistakably adventurous instrumental spirit. Yet the EP’s appeal also significantly derives from its exotic melodic qualities, which provide a unifying theme throughout this extravagant thrill-ride of an EP.

Today we’re happy to present a full stream of The Scryer in advance of its July 31 release, along with some detailed notes about what you’re about to hear. Continue reading »

ABRAMELIN: “NEVER ENOUGH SNUFF”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jul 282020
 

 

(Here’s Vonlughlio’s review of the new album by Melbourne-based Abramelin, which was released on May 15th of this year.)

Yes as we all know 2020 has been a year we would rather forget and move toward the future. Everyone has been affected in one way on another, but I’m not getting into that here. All I am going to do in these disturbing times is to wish all the best to all the readers of NCS and its staff — and of course to recommend some music.

No live shows, which is a bummer, but a least we are getting new music from different projects around the globe, so there is that (at least).  I am writing in this instance to speak about a surprise release by an underground band who after 20 years have released a new full-length that for me is comeback of the year. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: OTTONE PESANTE, SILVER KNIFE, EVOKE, 0-NUN, MÖRK GRYNING

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 272020
 

 

I’m trying to get back into the more normal swing of things after some recent disruptive events I’ve already written about. I made a start yesterday with a two-part SHADES OF BLACK, and am continuing today with this round-up of other music I’ve recently been enjoying. As you’ll see, I probably could have made this Part 3 of yesterday’s column, because it does lean pretty hard into blackened sounds.

OTTONE PESANTE

If you suspect, or perhaps have already concluded, that metal made exclusively with trumpet, trombone, and drums isn’t your kind of thing, I urge you (again) to reconsider. And if you’ve already embraced what Ottone Pesante do with those instruments, the first track in this collection will cause you to squeeze them harder to your chest (figuratively speaking, of course, because hugs may be disease-riddled these days). Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: HERESIARCH AND ANTEDILUVIAN — “DEFLESHING THE SERPENT INFINITY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jul 272020
 

 

Both New Zealand’s Heresiarch and Canada’s Antediluvian have already elevated themselves high up in the global pantheon of ruinous blackened death metal. It seemed inevitable that the day would come when they would join forces, and that day has arrived. They have combined their terrifying talents in a new split release named Defleshing the Serpent Infinity, which will be released on July 31st by Iron Bonehead Productions.

The split reveals both bands at the height of their powers, and displays what makes their particular forms of assault on the senses different from each other. Moreover, the split has been used as a vehicle for both bands to engage in experimentation, coupling forms of nightmarish ambient music to their more unhinged and apocalyptic sonic attacks. Today we make public the split in its entirety, preceded by a slightly revised version of a review we published weeks ago. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): PANZERFAUST, KALL, LUNE, GLEMSEL, ETERNAL BLOODSHED

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Jul 262020
 

 

For Part 1 of today’s column I picked a handful of individual songs and videos that were loaded with head-moving hooks, but still preserved a feeling of sinister menace. In this part I’ve gone in a different direction… though I’ve gone back in the other direction with the last selection. I’ve started with an advance track from a forthcoming album, and then focused on four complete releases, though a shortage of time has driven me to provide mere sketches instead of more thorough-going reviews.

PANZERFAUST

To begin, I’ve chosen “The Snare of the Fowler“, the second single from the new album by this stand-out Canadian band. Grim are the lyrics, ending with the statement: “There is no redemption arc in the records of eternal truths. Just an endless sequence of cross-currents to the terminus of all paradises lost”. But who with eyes to see could possibly deny that bitter arc, or the sentiments expressed in a preceding lyrical passage: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): ROTTING CHRIST, RAVEN THRONE, FINNTROLL, BLACK ROYAL

 SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
Jul 262020
 

 

The last 10 days have been rough. I mentioned last weekend that the virus had claimed the life of someone I was very close to, and my day job has simultaneously become very demanding. The combined impact has stressed my work at NCS. Just haven’t had the time or mental health necessary to plow through all the new music that is somehow still managing to come out.

For the first time in an unusually long time, I did do some updating of my out-of-control listening list yesterday, and checked out some of the more recent entries that I thought might be suitable for this column. I also re-listened to a few things I’d intended to write about before calamity struck. From those excursions I made selections that I’ve divided into two parts. The way I divided the groupings makes musical sense to me, but who knows if it will make sense to anyone else. Part 1 includes individual songs and videos; there are a bunch of full album streams in Part 2.

ROTTING CHRIST

My memory is spotty at the best of times, but I’m pretty sure that at least once before here at NCS I’ve mentioned that Rotting Christ were the first band who opened my eyes to black metal. That was about 13 years ago. Before that I’d dabbled a bit in the genre but wasn’t hooked, and then I discovered Theogonia, and the rest is history. Speaking of history, after being wowed by Theogonia I traveled further back and listened to some of RC‘s earlier output, including 1994’s Non Serviam, whose opening track was a song named “The Fifth Illusion“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WILLS DISSOLVE — “ECHOES” (AN EXCERPT)

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jul 252020
 

 

In 2018 Houston-based Wills Dissolve released their debut album, The Heavens Are Not On Fire…. Conceptually and lyrically, it was based on the Leonid meteor shower of November 1833, the first great meteor storm of modern times, in which hundreds of thousands of extraterrestrial projectiles blasted through the atmosphere per hour. In rural West Texas (as in other locales), it was mistaken as a sign from God, followed by destruction.

As fascinating as the concept was, in its meditation on religion, violence, and cosmic chaos, so too was the music. As our own Andy Synn wrote, it is “a phenomenal piece of Prog/Death wizardry….” “Clocking in at a mere five tracks but still supplying over forty-five minutes of spellbinding metallic magic, Wills Dissolve have produced something here that’s equally influenced by Edge of Sanity and Opeth as it is Isis and Neurosis, yet which effortlessly stands out as its own unique entity through a delicate blend of ambitious songwriting and artful execution.”

And now Wills Dissolve are returning with their second full-length, Echoes, which is a single 31 1/2 minute track. No sophomore slump here, once again the album turns out to be both conceptually and musically fascinating. Continue reading »

IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT: “ALPHAVILLE”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jul 242020
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of Imperial Triumphant‘s new album, which will be released on July 31st by Century Media Records.)

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Vile Luxury, the career-defining 2018 release from Avant-Black trio Imperial Triumphant, is a modern-day classic.

Unorthodox, unconventional, and uncompromising to a fault, its fusion of moody soundscapes, abrasive, blackened belligerence, and free-wheeling, jazzed-up instrumentation sounded like nothing else at the time, and still has very few peers or rivals today.

Such success, however, can easily be an albatross, a noose, a shackle, and it raises the question – how does any band, any artist, respond, react to, or reject, the pressure to follow up such a magnum opus?

The answer of course, is that they go bigger, go bolder… they go back in time and back to the future… they go to Alphaville. Continue reading »

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