END: “SPLINTERS FROM AN EVER-CHANGING FACE”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 102020
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the debut album by END, which was released on June 5th by Closed Casket Activities.)

For years the UK and the USA have enjoyed (and endured) something called a “special relationship”.

This strange, strained, frequently estranged, situation has – for better or worse – resulted in an ongoing, tit for tat, “anything you can do we can do better”, back and forth between the two nations that has led both to the creation of some amazing art… and some pretty terrible political decisions.

The latest entry into this co-dependant cultural exchange is Splinters from an Ever-Changing Face, the debut album from pseudo-supergroup END, a band who seem to have spent quite some time listening to the collective works of Anaal Nathrakh and thinking “oh yeah, we can do that…” Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MERIDIAN DAWN — “ICONIC”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jun 102020
 

 

To borrow the words of Mark Twain, reports of the death of melodic death metal are greatly exaggerated. Granted, there have been times over the last decade when it seemed the genre was on life support, but every now and then a band will come along and slam on the defibrillators with exhilarating effects. Meridian Dawn are one of those bands, a small collective of experienced musicians with differing nationalities who’ve been united by a passion for that hard-to-kill genre, and with the talent to give it a high-voltage kick-start.

Originally formed as a side project by vocalist Antony Hämäläinen (Nightrage, Armageddon, Crystal Tears) and guitarist/bassist Nick Ziros (Into The Moat, Remembering Never), Meridian Dawn released their debut EP in 2014, and now, six years later, they’re returning with a debut album. Entitled The Fever Syndrome, it will be released by Seeing Red Records on July 10th, and today we’re in the fortunate position of presenting a lyric video for its electrifying first single, “Iconic“. Continue reading »

REVIEWS: CENTINEX (“DEATH IN PIECES”) AND NEXORUM (“DEATH UNCHAINED”)

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 102020
 

 

(In this post DGR reviews two new albums, one by Sweden’s Centinex released by Agonia Records on May 29th, and one by Norway’s Nexorum released by Non Serviam Records on March 6th.)

 

CENTINEX – DEATH IN PIECES

The path Centinex have charted since their return in 2014 has been an interesting one, if not one of the more uncompromising returns out there. They’re a band who are meant to be taken at face value, a death metal group playing the most stubborn version of it that they can, and benefiting from a renewed interest in that particular sound right around the time they came back.

The band exists partially as the other side of a death metal coin for bassist Martin Schulman (and at this point basically the last one standing of the earliest formations of the band) with the other half being a more modern-oriented death metal group with former Centinex members in the form of Demonical. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VALDRIN — “EFFIGY OF NIGHTMARES”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 092020
 

 

On their new album Effigy of Nightmares the Cincinnati band Valdrin have used their music to illustrate an epic narrative, and as the title suggests, it’s a nightmarish one. Like their previous album, 2018’s Two Carrion Talismans, the new record focuses on the antagonist of the band’s self-created Ausadjur mythos, a being named Nex Animus. As the band explain: “The story chronicles the tour of a nameless narrator through the halls of Hosptium Mortis, the nightmare hospital below the Orcus underworld itself, where Nex tortures and lobotomizes the dissident gods of his domain.”

Even that brief verbal synopsis has a chilling effect. But the ways in which Valdrin‘s harrowing new music guides us through this frightening netherworld are even more chilling, more threatening to a listener’s sanity, and much more likely to haunt listeners’ dreams for a long time to come. Set aside half an hour and prepare yourself for an experience in electrifying audio terror as we present a full stream of the album in advance of its June 12 release by Blood Harvest Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BOB MALMSTRÖM AND DISPYT

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 092020
 

 

In this unusual year of 2020 the Finnish “borgarcore” band Bob Malmström are celebrating their tenth anniversary. In addition to popping champagne and blowing out candles they chose to commemorate the occasion by releasing a series of three split 7″ vinyl records.

In the first of those, Sälj Åland, they teamed up with the long-running Finnish melodic hardcore band The Enchained (whose history extends back to 1997). Bob Malmström‘s side of the split included two tracks, and in January we premiered the band’s video for the title song.

Two months after that first split, the band released the second one with Tvärnitad from Sweden (which we’ll comment on below, since we failed to do so in April), and now the time has come for the third split to be revealed, on the eve of its June 10 release. This latest split includes the music of the Finnish black ‘n’ crust band Dispyt (whose ranks include Mathias Lillmåns of Finntroll and …and Oceans fame), in addition to Bob Malmström‘s own contributions. Continue reading »

POST MORTAL POSSESSION: “CATCOMBS OF BEDLAM”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 092020
 

 

(Here, Vonlughlio reviews and recommends the new album by Pittsburgh’s Post Mortal Possession, which was released on May 30 of this year.)

This time around I have the opportunity to talk about the band Post Mortal Possession, who first gained my attention back in 2018 with their debut album Perpetual Descent released by Lord of the Sick Recordings.  Before that I had no idea of this project and their previous EP’s released in 2014 and 2016, but the debut album was a great balance between tech and BDM elements, and the varied vocals patterns stood out for me a well.

Since I was not familiar with their EP’s, I decided to listen to them. They had a different vocalist for those releases, and I must say that the music was nothing groundbreaking, but nonetheless good stuff which  showcased the musicians’ amazing potential (the vocals were kind of a hit-or-miss with me, depending of the songs). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SEPULCHRAL CURSE — “CHURCH OF LOSS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 082020
 

 

Four years ago we premiered a song from At the Onset of Extinction, the eye-opening second EP of the inventive Finnish death metal band Sepulchral Curse (which includes members of Solothus and Yawning Void). We must not have screwed that up too badly because we’ve been invited again to host a Sepulchral Curse song premiere, this time from their debut album Only Ashes Remain, which is set for a July 31 release by Transcending Obscurity Records.

This is an album we’ve been eagerly awaiting, given the striking impression created by that previous EP, which was the band’s second release. If you’ve had your eyes and ears open, you’ve already discovered some of the fascinations in this band’s unusual amalgamation of stylistic ingredients, through track premieres at Decibel and T.O.‘s YouTube channel. And the one we’re presenting today, “Church of Loss“, is no less viscerally electrifying, mentally engrossing, and emotionally powerful. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DIABOLIC OATH — “APOCRYPHAL MANIFESTATIONS”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 082020
 

 

How does a band who are devoted to the most ruinous amalgamations of death and black metal stand out from the underground hordes who profess the same kind of devotion? Where the sonic expression of hell on earth is the dominant aesthetic, how does one advance beyond the orthodoxy of extreme audio annihilation? Diabolic Oath has an answer — actually, many answers, as revealed on their debut album Profane Death Exodus.

This Portland, Oregon band seized the attention of Sentient Ruin Laboratories, who are poised to release the album on June 26th. The alliance of that label alone is a sign that Diabolic Oath have concocted something unusual, something that builds upon the influence of such bands as Teitanblood, Immolation, and Bestial Warlust. And as a further sign, today we present the album’s fifth track, “Apocryphal Manifestations”. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 3): BLACK CROWN INITIATE, DESCEND, PYRRHON, SKELETON, THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE, TORTURE TOMB, VOLTURYON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 082020
 

 

If you’re seeing this before seeing the first two Parts of the round-up, I hope you’ll check out Part 1 and Part 2. After a lot of singing in Part 2, we’re moving back into music that’s more in line with the site’s name.

BLACK CROWN INITIATE (U.S.)

The kaleidoscopic opening track in this collection moves from mystical and mesmerizing sounds into the embrace of humming low tones and head-hooking beats (and singing), and from there into a grim, ravaging, bullet-spitting attack, augmented by doses of vocal ferocity (as well as flaring melody and soaring song). Skittering, darting, and delirious fretwork and blaring chords propel the song to fiery heights, and the singing becomes spine-tingling. A welcome return from these talented dudes…. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2): OCEANS OF SLUMBER, ABYSMAL DAWN, DAWN OF SOLACE, EXECUTIONER’S MASK, KAIRON; IRSE!, WARDRUNA

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jun 072020
 

 

I’m not as prone as some writers around here to make exceptions to our rule about singing (I’m looking at you Mr. Synn), but I fell prone before all the singing voices in this selection of songs, and the music that accompanies them. But don’t worry… in the next installment of this post I’m sure I’ll revert to the usual nastiness.

OCEANS OF SLUMBER (U.S.)

I guess most people know by now that Cammie Gilbert has a stunning voice. If you don’t know, you’ll find out through this first song and video. You’ll also find out she has some very talented people behind her, including drummer Dobber Beverly, who plays in a lot more extreme bands than this one and delivers a beautifully nuanced performance. Continue reading »

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