AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SHATTER BRAIN — “LOREM IPSUM”

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Jul 242020
 

 

March 2020. Not so long ago, really, but the world was so different then that it seems like another era, or at least the beginning of a new era, as in fact it was.

In the middle of that month we premiered a video for a song named “Talk In Fear” off Pitchfork Justice, the then-forthcoming new album by Shatter Brain from Adelaide, Australia. Even then, the video already seemed like something from a by-gone day… a day when people could congregate in a bar and cause trouble. Even then, people were beginning to be limited to the internet as an available place for making trouble (and then they got to go to bars again, and now look how much trouble that has caused). The video also proved that Shatter Brain are probably a hell of a lot of fun to watch on stage, though in March it was mighty uncertain when they’d get to do that again.

Now here we near the end of July. Pitchfork Justice has been released (by Wormhole Death/Aural Music). And lo and behold we have another Shatter Brain video for you. This one, however, was made under the constraints of the pandemic. It’s still loads of fun to watch, and the music still kicks ass. The song this time, also off Pitchfork Justice, is “Lorem Ipsum“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SCORDATURA — “DISEASE OF MIND”

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Jul 242020
 

 

On September 25 Gore House Productions will release Mass Failure, the third album by the Scottish death metal band Scordatura. We expect neither delicacy nor mercy, but instead the kind of brutish and blistering treatment that our pathetic world so richly deserves. Based upon the first single from the album that we’re premiering today, “Disease of Mind“, those expectations will be fulfilled.

Where did those expectations come from? Let’s remind you: Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: RALF SCHEEPERS (PRIMAL FEAR)

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Jul 232020
 

 

(On July 24th — tomorrow — Nuclear Blast will release Metal Commando, the new 13th album by the German power metal band Primal Fear, and in anticipation of the release DJ Jet interviewed the band’s co-founder and frontman Ralf Scheepers — which we now present.)

 

Hi Ralf this is Jet of No Clean Singing how are you doing today?

-I’m good, thanks how are you? Thanks for having me here.

 

So Ralf you started Primal Fear back in 1997 — what were the early days like for the band?

-Feeling very fresh haha. So the early days were somehow like being very excited about doing something new, and as we came from different bands, like Sinner existed of course and I came from Gamma Ray, so for me it was just an initial start point to somehow continue my career with a new band. That was just amazing for me. So yeah it felt really good to write music again, to write heavy metal again the way we love it, it’s just great. Continue reading »

VOLTURYON: “XENOGENESIS”

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Jul 232020
 

 

(DGR reviews the new album by the Swedish death metal band Volturyon, which ViciSolum Records will release on July 24th.)

When it comes to death metal out here in our private corner of the far reaches of the internet, we’ve often found our fair share of comfort in the caveman-striking-rock aspect of the style. We’ve celebrated this ideal as being appropriately ‘stupid’ and embraced it. If you’re looking for chin-stroking and thought-provoking versions of the genre, you can look at other groups, and we’ve done our best to warn you what you’re in for, early on in our reviews, when it comes to those more primitive assaults. Sometimes, it’s been tempting to just post album art and have a review play out as the written equivalent of the Dead dove do not eat scene from Arrested Development.

The death metal collective Volturyon fall firmly in the caveman camp musically, although the band are a decidedly more modern take on the blastbeat-happy chainsaw riffage of current death metal than they are the classic hammering thud of death and roll – yet you can glance at the group’s collected album and EP artworks over their career and have a pretty good picture of what the crew sound like.

Which is why it’s nice that on the group’s newest album Xenogenesis – their first with vocalist Mikko Voutilainen handling monster noise duty – there are a handful of nuanced and subtle takes on current world events, approaching issues from a multitude of angles, recognizing the grey area that is often called ‘the truth’, and speaking on the economic impact these sorts of things can have on the…. just kidding. There’s a song on here called “World Pandemic” and if you’ve glanced at the album art and remembered what we were discussing in the opening paragraph then you know exactly what the song (and from a broader perspective, the musical stylings of Xenogenesis) are going to be about. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VERVAL — “BEELDENSTORM”

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Jul 232020
 

 

In early 2018 the Dutch atmospheric black metal band Verval opened a lot of eyes with their debut album Wederkeer. They didn’t pave the way to that full-length release with a sequence of demos or other shorter works, but simply sprang into being, though the album was the culmination of years of effort. Now this talented duo are returning with an astonishing new EP named Beeldenstorm. It will be released on July 24th — tomorrow! — but you’ll have a chance to become immersed in it today as we present a full stream of its three significant tracks, which together total almost 25 minutes of music.

Verval‘s two members — R. Schmidt (bass, cello, guitars, vocals) and drummer W. Damiaen — have been key participants in many other noteworthy bands, including Wesenwille, Laster, Mystagogue, and Sea of Trees. Only two of them here, but on Beeldenstorm they sound like an army, and what they’ve created will take your breath away. Continue reading »

GAEREA: “LIMBO”

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Jul 222020
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Portuguese band Gaerea, which is set for release by Season of Mist on July 24th.)

Isn’t it funny how the human brain unconsciously and involuntarily makes connections between things?

Case in point, I can’t think about, or listen to, Portuguese powerhouse Gaerea without also thinking about their cousins in Selbst and White Ward.

The connections between the latter two are quite obvious, as both bands released their debut albums within one month of another back in 2017, meaning they’re always going to be inextricably linked in my mind.

But Gaerea didn’t release their first album, Unsettling Whispers, until almost a full year later, making their relationship to the other two a lot more tenuous and complex.

Perhaps what it comes down to is the fact that, to me at least, these bands, both collectively and individually, are potential new standard bearers for Black Metal, both cognisant of the genre’s roots and rich history, but not limited by established traditions or old boundaries.

White Ward, of course, have already proven themselves with the release of Love Exchange Failure just last year, and the new Selbst album (set for release in a few weeks) looks set to do the same for them.

What then should we expect from Gaerea’s new album? Sophomore slump, or soaring new standard? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RESIN TOMB — “BESTIAL”

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Jul 222020
 

 

If you’re an extreme metal band and you name a song “Bestial“, you’d better be prepared to back it up. You’d better find your inner animal and uncage it, and that animal had better be terrifying. Let’s put your mind at rest right away (before we give you a chance to wreck your mind): Resin Tomb back up that song title to the bloody hilt.

This death/grind formation from Australia have clearly found their higher calling, which is the delivery of stunningly ruinous sonic savagery. The band features members of Siberian Hell Sounds, Descent, and Snorlax, so it’s not a complete shock that they’re capable of the shocking assaults you’ll find on their self-titled debut EP, which will be released on July 31st by Brilliant Emperor Records. But we hasten to add that, as “Bestial” itself proves, they’ve not burned the playbook of effective song-writing, even though they do such a frighteningly good job of incinerating and fragmenting everything in their path. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DARKENED — “THE OLD ONES”

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Jul 222020
 

 

The term “supergroup” is over-used and sometimes not entirely accurate, but it does come to mind in the case of the multi-national death metal formation Darkened. At a minimum, no one would dispute that the band is rich in experience and with a line-up pedigree that’s immediately impressive. Darkened‘s collective resume certainly played a role in drawing the attention of fans to their 2019 debut EP, Into the Blackness, and then the music on the EP did the rest of the job, proving that the band’s members were earning their accolades all over again and intensifying interest in what they might do next under the Darkened banner.

What they’ve done next is a debut album that will be released by the same label that helped usher that EP into the world — Edged Circle Productions. The imposing title of the full-length is Kingdom of Decay, and it will hit the streets (like a warhead) on September 11th. One electrifying song from the album is already out, and now we’re presenting a second one that’s perhaps even more dynamic and multi-faceted but no less adrenaline-charged. Continue reading »

VOIDCEREMONY: “ENTROPIC REFLECTIONS CONTINUUM: DIMENSIONS UNRAVEL”

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Jul 222020
 

 

(This is Todd Manning‘s review of the first full-length album by California’s VoidCeremony, which was released by 20 Buck Spin on June 26th.)

While some Death Metal bands try to streamline their sound to have hooks and conventional song structures, others seek to create obscure and challenging material that summons images of alien horrors and oddball geometries of terror. VoidCeremony certainly fall into the latter camp. Their debut full-length, Entropic Reflections Continuum:Dimensions Unravel marries progressive technicality with unrelenting brutality to create an incredibly powerful statement.

Consisting of Garrett Johnson on vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, Jon Reider on rhythm guitar, and Charlie Koryn on drums and engineering, VoidCeremony is full of powerhouse musicians. While plenty impressive on their own, they also enlisted the criminally underrated Damon Good (Stargazer, Black Cauldron Ram, Mournful Congregation) on bass for this album as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RUIN — “PLAGUE TRANSMISSIONS: VOL. 2”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jul 212020
 

 

The California death metal band Ruin released their first demo in 1991, and then nearly a quarter-century later they revived and re-formed. Since 2015 they’ve released two albums (Drown In Blood and Human Annihilation), but a much greater number of short releases, including EPs and splits. They’ve gotten into the habit of periodically releasing compilations that collect these shorter works, and the latest of those is what we’re bringing you today.

Plague Transmissions: Vol. 2, which will be released by Horror Pain Gore Death Productions on July 24th, collects Ruin tracks from a 2018 EP (Into Endless Chasms), a 2018 split with Anthropic, a 2019 EP (Death Tomb), a 2020 split with Abysme (Rotting Madness), and a 2020 EP (Infested Death) — 18 tracks at all. And a more vile and ghastly administration of obliterating punishment you could hardly imagine. Continue reading »

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