DOOMSDAY, PART 2: CLOSE THE HATCH / SEA / WITHOUT LIGHT

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
May 272020
 


Close the Hatch

 

(Andy Synn continues his week-long foray into the realms of doom with another trio of reviews today. If you missed Part 1, you’ll find it here.)

For the second part of this week long doom-odyssey we’re tacking into sludgier waters, tinged here and there with currents of Post-Metal melancholy, so if that’s not your sort of thing… well, the lifeboats are over that way.

Still, if you do choose to abandon ship at this point you’re going to be missing out on three absolutely killer albums, at least one of which is firmly in contention for a spot on my “Critical Top Ten” list at the end of the year. Continue reading »

GRIMENTITY: “TO PERFECTION”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
May 272020
 

 

(Vonlughlio has brought us another recommendation, which he describes in this post — a 2020 demo by a relatively new band from Belarus.)

Being able to write here on NCS about the bands in one of my favorite genres (Brutal Death Metal) is something that I have been grateful for, to help spread the word with the hope that readers will find something they might like.

I am always on the lookout for releases coming up from new and unknown bands that will grab my attention. So on that note, I have to write about a band called Grimentity who released their three-song promo To Perfection this past February — two original tracks and a Lock Up cover.

The project is a trio hailing from Minsk, Belarus, that was born in 2018, combining death and grindcore elements.   Soon after their birth they released their first demo The Power of Broken, with two songs that gave a great representation of their music.  The band is Roman Drobishevski (drums), Pavel Lapkovski (guitar, vocals), and Nikita Metelskiy (vocals, bass). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CRYPTONIGHT — “ABSTERSION”

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 262020
 

 

Cryptonight’s song “Abstertion” (the title of which refers to the action or process of cleansing) is an unnerving experience, and also a bone-smashing one. Stripped-down and primeval in its sensations, it pounds with crushing drum blows and near-atonal chords, the combined effect of which is something like a series of meteor impacts on granite monoliths. Interspersed with those titanic detonations are sharp bursts of dissonant shrieking tones — and the vocals themselves have a screeching, nerve-abrading quality (sometimes paired with malevolent roaring).

The combined effect of all these sounds is nightmarish. And the utter nihilism and disgust for humanity represented in the viciously declaimed lyrics makes the experience even more nightmarish. And to pour more salt in the wounding of your dreams, the lyric video we’re presenting takes us on walk through haunting, barren woods in the dead of night.

There’s only one reprieve…. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): EXAUGURATE — “CHASM OF RAPTUROUS DELIRIUM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
May 262020
 

 

Death looms large in Exaugurate’s vision of death metal, but it is not a vision of sudden death or the endless void that would follow it. Instead, their malevolent and morbid music channels raging infection and delirium, protracted misery, the ravages of despair, the foul rot of untreated corpses, and the crushing grief of those left behind. Their death metal is a contagion shaped in sound, in the full expanse of its ravages, and so seems entirely appropriate for the current plague year.

Exaugurate’s debut EP, Chasm of Rapturous Delirium, will be released on May 29th by the Maryland-based label Rotted Life. It contains four monstrous abominations, and we’re streaming all four of them today. Continue reading »

COVER YOUR FUCKING MOUTH IF YOU COUGH NCS PLAYLIST III (BY NEILL JAMESON)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 262020
 

 

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

I’ve been a little slower than I wanted to be with this third quarantine playlist, slow to the point where the country decided the virus is like black metal and moved on to grind.  Or something like that, I’m probably mixing my irritations up. But much like your desire to hug all the homies “when this is over” these playlists aren’t going away. Well, after the fourth one it will, but let’s suspend disbelief for a minute because these are TRYING TIMES and my inability to get a haircut makes it illegal for me to be in close proximity to a school. Catch-22 though, there’s no kids in there anyway.

Moving on. I think the format to this is pretty much established, especially since I see a few people biting off it, terminology and all, so let’s get into it. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TEMPLE OF VOID (ALEX AWN)

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 262020
 

 

(We’ve made no secret about how much we like the music of Temple of Void, and so it’s a real pleasure to present Comrade Aleks‘ extensive (and very interesting) interview of ToV guitarist Alex Awn.)

NCS’ faithful followers may remember a cool interview we did here with Michael Erdody in December 2017. He plays guitars in the psychotic doom death sect Acid Witch and growls in Temple Of Void, a more straightforward death doom band at that moment. Both bands had new releases back then and we had a lot to discuss.

Shadow Kingdom Records have now released Temple Of Void‘s third full-length album, The World That Was, on the 27th of March, 2020. I expected from the band that they would go deeper into the realms of death, but the reality turned a different way. Alex Awn (guitars) provided us with a great interview telling us about Temple Of Void‘s new aspects. Continue reading »

DOOMSDAY, PART 1: EXGENESIS / FUNERALOPOLIS / SORCERER

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 252020
 


Sorcerer

 

(With this post Andy Synn embarks on a week-long excursion into shades of doom, beginning with this trio of reviews.)

So far this year the majority of my writing has tended to focus more on the Death and Black side(s) of things, with maybe a bit of Tech/Prog/’core thrown into the mix when the mood strikes me.

But, for whatever reason, very little from the doomier end of the metallic spectrum has grabbed my attention.

This was a little concerning. After all, every year there are several doom-laden diamonds which make my “Critical Top Ten List” with ease – the last few years alone have given us fantastic albums from Fvneral Fvkk, Sinistro, Loss, and more – but so far 2020 seemed to be really lagging behind.

Or so I thought… because over the last couple of weeks I’ve dug up, unearthed, or just randomly stumbled across so many brilliant Doom (or Doom adjacent) albums – some not yet released for public consumption, some a full five months old already – that I’ve decided to dedicate this entire week to the dreary, desolate, delights of the genre, beginning with the new albums from Exgenesis (CO/SE), Funeralopolis (CH), and Sorcerer (SE). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BOREAL HYMN — “MAN OF IRON” (BATHORY COVER)

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 252020
 

 

Last fall the Vancouver band Boreal Hymn made a very auspicious debut through a demo entitled Tundra. Uniting the exceptional talents of Bronson Lee Norton (the vocalist of Seer and Eyes Without A Face) and instrumentalist Colby Hink (of Wormwitch and ex-Old Graves), Boreal Hymn created a musical experience that could easily be called transportive.

To paraphrase some of the the words of acclaim from commenters on the demo’s Bandcamp page, the music was a shifting slice of dark pagan metal incorporating dark growls, lofty vocals, and evocative chants, conjuring visions of crackling fires, hoary trees, and vast open spaces — evocative and expansive. And to repeat some of what I wrote about the demo at that time, the sensations of the music ranged from cold and dismal to fiery and majestic, sometimes undeniably bleak, but persistently enchanting.

And so it’s a real pleasure to premiere a new Boreal Hymn recording today — a cover of Bathory’s classic “Man of Iron” from Blood On Ice (1996) — especially because Boreal Hymn will be donating 100% of the sales in May to The Canadian Mental Health Association for Mental Health Awareness month. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SHEZMU — “À TRAVERS LES LAMBEAUX”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
May 252020
 

 

In its earliest formation the Montréal band Shezmu was a duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Olivier Bérubé Emond (aka Comte Bergaby) and drummer Marc-André Labonne. Following their self-release of a demo and two EPs under the banner of Les Fleurs du Mal Productions (with the second also being co-released through Iron Bonehead Productions), they were joined by bass player Yanick Tremblay-Simard (Sol Miracula, Aiauasca), and that trio recorded a debut album entitled À Travers Les Lambeaux, which is now set for release on July 27th by one of our favorite labels, Krucyator Productions.

As on their previous releases, Shezmu’s lyrical themes for the new album draw upon ancient history, but here the songs explore the themes of rage, sorrow, and madness. Employing ingredients from the realms of doom, black metal, and death metal, Shezmu’s music channels these sensations and experiences, reaching depths of profound anguish and manifesting the triumph of darkness over sanity.

Today we present the album’s title track, which the band tell us is “about suppressed emotions and actions — feelings that, a long time ago, were part of the human routine, but which are now considered unacceptable, even illegal”. The song explores themes such as “violence, loss of control, and the virtues of death.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NEXION — “REVELATION OF UNBEING”

 Premieres  1 Response »
May 252020
 

 

The first full-length album of the Icelandic band Nexion is a union of literary, visual, and musical art that makes a striking impression. In all those respects, the artists have aimed high, and they’ve achieved their integrated visions in unusually impressive fashion.

The album is Seven Oracles, and it will be released by Avantgarde Music on June 20th (the Summer Solstice). On the cover is a rendering of a seven-headed beast, each one representing an oracle, each one with its own message and its own song. The messages are revealed in powerful lyrics, which are beautifully displayed through hand-crafted calligraphy in the 16-page booklet accompanying the record, each page further illustrated by the hand of Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal, who created all the album art and the calligraphy.

These seven messages and the music accompanying them are all connected, and we’ll come back to that subject before we leave you. But first we’re honored to premiere one of the seven oracular messages from the album, a song named “Revelation of Unbeing“. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries