FEASTEM: “GRAVEYARD EARTH”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 252020
 

 

(As part of his effort to circle back to earlier parts of the year and catch up on stuff we missed, DGR has a good time reviewing the nuclear shockwave of an album released in March by Finland’s Feastem.)

It’s tempting to write short reviews for grind albums, in part because in the time it takes to hammer out some words about them there’s a distinct possibility that you could loop around the whole disc four-to-five times. Feastem’s Graveyard Earth is no different in that regard: Released in March to close off a close-to-seven-year gap between full lengths, Graveyard Earth clocks in at a little under twenty minutes of drum kit battering and shrieking violence.

Grind albums trend toward being quick expulsions of auditory violence and Graveyard Earth is very comfortably nested in that musical family tree. It is – understandably – seething and mean, with a whole range of targets serving as musical clay pigeons for Finland’s Feastem to knock out of the sky, with only one song clearing the two-minute mark.

Feastem move fast and Graveyard Earth will likely toss its fair share of people to the side, and honestly, Graveyard Earth is easily one of those albums better suited for a specific mood. But if you need all-consuming blasts and guitar work that could power you through even the slowest of events, then Graveyard Earth is fantastic.

Especially the way everything hits after the opening bass guitar dirge in the title song, my goodness. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SHED THE SKIN — “THE FORBIDDEN ARTS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 242020
 

 

Regardless of how completely awful the current situation may be on almost too many levels to count, any year that includes a new album by Shed the Skin is a good year, and any day that gives us another chance to premiere their music is going to be a devilishly joyful one regardless of how miserable it might have been otherwise. It should also be a joy for all fans of evil but electrifying death metal.

We’ve been helping to spread the word about Shed the Skin for many years, but hopefully by now they don’t really need any more help. With a veteran line-up drawn from a host of well-known bands, they were able to hit the ground running with their 2014 EP Rebirth Through Brimstone and powered through to even greater acclaim with their first two albums, 2016’s Harrowing Faith and 2018’s We of Scorn. And now their steadfast label Hells Headbangers is poised to release their third album, The Forbidden Arts, on June 26th, and that’s what we’re giving you the chance to hear in full right now. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KEVLAR BIKINI — “QUENCH”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 242020
 

 

Almost a full year before COVID-19 was even a blip on the global radar screen, the Croatian band Kevlar Bikini were exhorting people to stay at home. Or maybe this hardcore punk trio were just voicing their own social disengagement. The title of their new fourth album, OPT-OUTism, which was released on May 22nd by Geenger Records, seems to brandish a philosophy of self-isolation. One of the songs on the album, “Quench“, makes it explicit — and lest you think that track was crafted to be especially relevant in the current viral age, the song was written in February 2019.

“Quench” is the subject of the video we’re premiering today. And for those of our usual metalhead NCS visitors who might be feeling either perplexed or skeptical based on the band’s name, put aside any such misgivings and just give the music your attention. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SEPULCHRAL CURSE

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jun 242020
 

 

(On July 31st Transcending Obscurity Records will release the debut album by the Finnish band Sepulchral Curse, and thus it seemed a good time for Comrade Aleks to get in touch with the band, and this discussion followed.)

NCS’ constant readers may remember the Finnish bands Solothus and Yawning Void. We spoke (here and here) with members of these extreme doom acts some time ago. I wasn’t surprised when I found Turku-based death metal band Sepulchral Curse with three members from Solothus / Yawning Void in its lineup. As both mentioned interviews were equally cool, and the preview of Sepulchral Curse’s debut Only Ashes Remain sounds promising, it was natural to get in contact with them. And this chat with two Ragnarock heralds Jaakko Riihimäki (guitars) and Tommi Ilmanen (drums, vocals) won’t disappoint fans of the good old death metal concept behind it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEAD SUN — “A/B”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 232020
 

 

This song doesn’t go where you think it will. How it starts and how it ends are two completely different experiences. The band build a bridge between these two places over the course of the passing minutes, using the sound to carry you across a chasm — though what’s really happening, as you’ll discover, is that their bridge is carrying you into that chasm.

The song we’re presenting is the title track to A/B, the debut album of the Chicago band Dead Sun, which will be released on August 21 by Flesh and Bone Records. Their music is a bit off our usual beaten paths here at NCS — “slowcore/doomgaze” is one genre descriptor you might see, and there’s singing. But the emotional darkness in the music suits our tastes, and the phased transition that happens within this particular track has proved to be persistently enthralling even after many listens. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SANITY CONTROL — “WAR ON LIFE”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Jun 232020
 

 

Imagine yourself strapped into an electric chair with an executioner who’s having fun maniacally flipping the switch on and off faster than a rat darting through a maze while another rabid maniac brays and barks in your face. Alternatively, if that sounds painful instead of exhilarating, imagine yourself bouncing off the walls like a ball bearing in a container locked into a pneumatic paint shaker. Still sound painful? Give me a minute and I’ll come up with another metaphor — because there’s not one damned thing painful about listening to Sanity Control‘s “War On Life“. It’s a mosh-triggering thrill-ride that’s likely to put a big stupid grin on your face.

As much of a blast as this new song is to hear, it’s also a destructive rocket fueled by fury and disgust. The band explain the song’s title, which is also the title of this Polish group’s forthcoming debut album: “Humans are the most destructive force on Earth. We live to kill and exist only to exploit everything that surrounds us. We are at war with life, at war with ourselves, and at war with this planet in which we live. In the end, can anything be saved?”

Good question. Especially because life is fighting back against us, and holding its own so far against our crumbling lines of defense. Continue reading »

WEARING A MASK DOES NOT MAKE YOU OPPRESSED PLAYLIST (BY NEILL JAMESON)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 232020
 

 

(So far, Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood) has shared with us (here,  here, and here) three playlists of musical suggestions to help us get through the current plague time, and today he follows those with a fourth selection.)

As I said before, I wanted to do four of these things, with the intent that they would help people stuck indoors find something new to listen to and to help the artists involved since our world was basically put on ice for a bit.

Through the first three of these it seemed, for the most part, that people were being responsible and doing their part to get through this shit as painlessly as possible. But, this is America and people somehow think every small inconvenience is an affront to their freedom. And our fine fellow citizens seem happy to protest science like it’s a goddamned wizard’s spellbook and raise their concerns until something actually happens worth raising a ruckus for, but seems a lot of the same people bitching that a mask somehow makes them less free button the fuck up. Continue reading »

AETERNAM: “AL QASSAM”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 232020
 

 

(Three months after its release, DGR finally dug into the fourth album by the Québec band Aeternam and is damned glad he did, as explained in this extensive review.)

Easily one of my biggest brick walls in terms of recent writing, because I have kept going back to it, over and over.

I wracked my brain for a while wondering where exactly I had picked up on Montreal’s hybrid symphonic death/folk/blackened-death metal group Aeternam and their new disc released in March, Al Qassam. It’s been a ghost haunting the backlog for a little while now, until it occurred to me that we hadn’t really covered the lead-up to their new disc at all.  Our most recent mention of them was due to vocalist/guitarist Achraf Loudiy appearing on Egyptian death metal group Scarab’s new disc, Martyrs Of The Storm — also released in March.

The whole reason they’d remained in the ‘keep an eye on’ pile was due to a handful of enthusiastic reader recommendations for them in previous years during our year-end list roundups. In fact, I think both 2012’s Moongod and 2017’s Ruins Of Empires are part of my collection now due to those recommendations. So, Al Qassam and its excellent cover art have been waiting for a proper look up and down almost since its announcement.

Given my current quest to sweep through the early parts of the year for anything we might’ve missed on top of the usual collection of albums I’m prone to dive into, finally diving headfirst into Aeternam’s latest felt like a natural thing to do. And wow, what a fantastic choice that has been proving to be. Continue reading »

AN NCS PLAYTHROUGH VIDEO PREMIERE: KAKOPHONIX PERFORMS HIS CELLO PART OF ABIGAIL WILLIAMS’ “BLACK WAVES”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Jun 222020
 

 

During these last few months of covid lockdowns and social distancing, playthrough videos have proliferated like wildflowers in the spring, as ways for musicians to burn off some pent-up energy and to remind us that their bands still exist, even though they haven’t been able to gig and tour. The videos have not all been of equal quality, nor have they been uniformly interesting. And to be honest, we’ve resisted overtures to premiere playthrough videos, preferring to continue concentrating on new music rather than performances of songs that have been out in the world for a while.

But this video premiere is one we couldn’t resist.

In the first place, the subject is “Black Waves“, a tremendously good song from an album all of us here liked A LOT — Abigail Williams‘ 2019 album Walk Beyond the Dark (and you can and should read Andy Synn‘s review of it if you haven’t yet delved into the record).

And in the second place, the play-through is performed by cellist Kakophonix, whose contributions to the album were a significant factor in building the moments of haunting grandeur and epic atmosphere within the record, and it’s fascinating to watch and hear his performance. Continue reading »

ACHERONTAS: “PSYCHIC DEATH: THE SHATTERING OF PERCEPTIONS”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Jun 222020
 

 

(On June 26th Agonia Records will release a new album by the Greek coven Acherontas, and today we present Andy Synn‘s review of this eye-opening, mind-expanding new record.)

The only constant in life, or so they say, is change.

But that doesn’t mean change is always good, or even wanted, especially when it comes to music.

By the same token, however, bands who refuse to change, refuse to progress, run the risk of sinking into a swamp of creative stagnation from which it’s often impossible to escape.

It’s a conundrum. How much change is too much… and how much is not enough?

Eight albums into their career, it seems like cult Black Metal coven Acherontas have found their own answer to this question, as while Psychic Death may not have shattered my perceptions of the band, it’s certainly made me rethink how I perceive their music. Continue reading »

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