AN NCS PREMIERE: ONEIRIC CELEPHAÏS — “THE AEON OF DEATH”

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Jul 102020
 

 

The Obscure Sibyl is the debut EP of the Florentine band Oneiric Celephaïs. It begins with a conceptually linked triptych of songs inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and concludes with “Vǫluspá“, named for the first and best-known poem of the Poetic Edda and one of the most important primary sources for the study of Norse mythology. Of those opening three tracks, “The Aeon of Death” is the second. The band explain:

“‘The Aeon of Death‘ is inspired by Lovecraft‘s horror story “The Nameless City”. The descent of the narrator in the un-reverberate blackness of the abyss of the catacombs is an allegory for the katábasis of every Sibyl’s follower, a descent which leads to obscurity, depression and ultimately to death. ‘The Aeon of Death‘ represents the central part of the triptych of the EP: the sinking of man into the abyss gulfs served only to discover sights of woe and doleful shades”.

With a description like that one, you might be expecting an oppressive display of cavernous death/doom. Prepare to be surprised. Continue reading »

DISAVOWED: “REVOCATION OF THE FALLEN”

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Jul 102020
 

 

(Here’s Vonlughlio’s review of the long-awaited new by Disavowed, which will be released on July 31 through Brutal Mind, with artwork by Jorg de Vos.)

This time around I have the opportunity to write about Disavowed from the Netherlands and their upcoming album Revocation of the Fallen, to be released via Brutal Mind.  This is something that fans of this project have been waiting on for 13 years.

At the inception of this band back in 1994 they were known as Nocturnal Silence until they changed to their current name in 2000 and released the Point of Few demo. They released their debut album Perceptive Deception  the following year, and it’s considered a classic among BDM fans, one that is still consistently played across the planet. Continue reading »

ATAUDES: “MERECEMOS LA EXTINCIÓN”

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Jul 092020
 

 

(In this post Andy Synn reviews the debut album of the Argentinian band Ataudes, which was released on May 25th.)

Following on from yesterday’s trip to Chile today we’re hopping across the border to take a look (and a listen) at Argentinian duo Ataudes (Cristian Viegas and Jonatan Zarate), whose promising debut album delivers a mix of deathly intensity and blackened bite strongly reminiscent of early Extol. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DRAGHKAR — “AT THE CROSSROADS OF INFINITY”

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Jul 092020
 

 

At the Crossroads of Infinity is a lofty title for what turns out to be an ambitious album, a multi-faceted work of savagery and wonder, of awe-inspiring spectacle and wide-ranging emotion that sinks deep into bitter soil as well as extending its grasp out into the mysteries of the cosmos. That album is the debut full-length of the death metal band Draghkar, which will be released on July 27th by Unspeakable Axe Records, and today it’s our privilege to present an exclusive stream of the title track.

We also had the pleasure of premiering the band’s last outing, an eye-opening 2018 EP named The Endless Howling Abyss. Since then the band’s founder, southern California guitarist Brandon Corsair, has assembled a new line-up around him, which features a lot of well-known names in the metal underground, including vocalist Dan Butler (Vastum), guitarist K.S. Kuciemba (Drawn and Quartered), drummer Phil Segitho (Ecferus), and bassist Cameron Fisher. Together, they provide a powerful complement to Brandon‘s guitar performances and songwriting. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: A PAIR OF TRACKS FROM XYTHLIA’S “IMMORTALITY THROUGH QUANTUM SUICIDE”

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Jul 092020
 

 

We almost never cut-and-paste from PR material for music we choose to feature here. That’s a sign of laziness, and it by-passes the fun (and the challenge) of trying to come up with our own descriptive formulations. But here I can’t resist sharing some of the words that accompany I, Voidhanger Records‘ promo for Xythlia‘s debut album, Immortality Through Quantum Suicide, because they’re so spot-on:

“The solo project of US multi-instrumentalist/singer Nick Stanger (also active in the ranks of black metallers ASHBRINGER), XYTHLIA brilliantly blend the most extreme tech death/grind metal with VOIVOD‘s progressive/experimental approach and the mind-shattering guitar acrobatics of KRALLICE and OCRILIM. Immortality Through Quantum Suicide, the band’s first album is as creepy and weirdly fascinating as Carlos Agraz‘s stunning cover painting, where an alien creature performs a suicide ritual through the space/time continuum, furiously stabbing itself to death. It’s a cosmic self-murder, an outer-dimensional bloodbath, each blood drop a seed destined to spawn new and abhorrent life forms.” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ALEYNMORD, SVALBARD, EXITIUM SUI, STONEBIRDS, CARNATION

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Jul 092020
 

 

Despite my new-found strategy of limiting the volume of these round-ups in order to do more of them each week, I found enough time to include new music from five bands in this one. The new stuff I picked for today’s collection based on an early-morning listening session begins with two excellent Jakub Moth videos for a couple of dramatically impassioned songs, and the mood stays serious and intense for the two tracks after that. And then I decided to wrap things up with some good old death metal via Antwerp that’s just plain evil fun.

ALEYNMORD

The first song I picked is a track off the debut album of the wilderness-worshiping Oregonian duo Aleynmord. The album’s name is The Blinding Light, and it’s packaged with cover art by Jef Whitehead. As noted above, Chariot of the Black Moth created the beautifully haunting video for the track. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WINTER NIGHTS — “UNMARKED GRAVE”

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Jul 082020
 

 

From the introductory Scott Joplin excerpt to the suggestion that you take a shot, and the command to mosh, the lyric video we’re presenting today may give you some quick grins, but the only smiles you might get from the music will be evil ones — because while the the music is thrilling, it’s also dark and disturbing.

The song in question is “Unmarked Grave“, which is where the song’s protagonist asks to be buried. That song comes from the second full-length by the Brooklyn-based, guitar-driven melodic death metal band Winter Nights. Self-titled, the album is set for release on July 31st. Continue reading »

SATURNO: “MENHIR”

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Jul 082020
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the new album, released on May 30, by the Chilean band Saturno.)

One thing that I love about Metal (one of the many things I love about Metal) is how much of a global phenomenon it’s become.

And while the majority of coverage still focuses on bands from Western Europe and North America, we’re seeing more and more music from Africa, Asia, and Central/Southern America breaking through every year, reinforcing the fact that the love of the riff transcends all national boundaries.

With that in mind, today’s trip takes us to the West coast of South America to dance around the fire with Chilean Death/Doom quintet Saturno. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DAWN OF A DARK AGE — “LA TAVOLA OSCA”

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Jul 082020
 

 

Over time every music fan, including those of us who nourish our needs with extreme metal, discover our strongest preferences. We find what’s most appealing and we tend to stay with it, and we learn what sounds sour to our own ears and avoid it. Each of us also has different degrees of tolerance for musical adventurousness. It might be true that in the genres we love best that tolerance is more limited than in other genres where we usually have only a modest interest, if any at all.

Yet except for the most hidebound listeners, the prospect of discovering music that’s exploratory, that goes off the well-trod paths and introduces us to new terrains, is at least intriguing. And when the adventure succeeds, the discovery can become an even greater thrill than listening to music that satisfies our pre-existing and well-defined individual tastes.

That is precisely what happened to this listener while participating in the adventure of La Tavola Osca, the latest album by the Italian band Dawn Of A Dark Age. It proved to be a thrilling discovery for me, and thus the opportunity to share it with you today is also exciting. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CHAOS MOTION — “PERTURBATION OF A SPIN”

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Jul 072020
 

 

Chaos Motion drew an extravagant amount of attention to themselves last fall when they released their debut album Psychological Spasms Cacophony through Transcending Obscurity Records. Listening to the music was something akin to hearing a flock of starlings suddenly begin speaking in human languages, or witnessing a pack of wolves break out into improvisational dance, or perhaps seeing a falling star detour into tracing hieroglyphic letters across a night sky during its blazing descent through the atmosphere. A weird and wondrous experience it was — the words “mind fuck!” readily come to mind.

But despite all the attention, perhaps you missed the album? Well, that’s one reason bands create music videos months after a record’s release, to vacuum up a few more music fans who might not have been sucked into the music during the weeks surrounding its release or at year-end-list time. And a Chaos Motion music video is exactly what we have for you today — a video that’s especially riveting because it allows us to see with our own how the band’s two guitarists make such a cornucopia of bewildering yet strangely enthralling sounds. Continue reading »

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