GUT: “DISCIPLES OF SMUT”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 042020
 

 

(Vonlughlio prepared the following review of the new album by the German band GUT, which was released by Splatter Zombie Records on May 15th.)

I have to say that I love comeback stories, just as many others around the globe do, and when the comeback is unexpected it’s even better. Of course, the most important aspect of story is still always the music.

The subject of today’s comeback tale is the German death/gore/grind band GUT, who have been around since the early ’90s. For me their 1995 album Odour of Torture is a pure delight for fans in the genre, and so underrated in my opinion.  After that came some splits and EPs the same year — and then came silence. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LJOSAZABOJSTWA — “GŁORYJA ŚMIERCI”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 042020
 

 

We’ve been following the progress of Ljosazabojstwa (from Minsk, Belarus) since the beginning, reviewing their debut 2016 debut demo (here), reviewing and premiering their 2017 debut EP Sychodžańnie (here), and reviewing their second EP, 2019’s Lszb (here). It is thus a welcome occasion for us to now premiere and review the band’s debut album, Głoryja Śmierci, which will be released by Godz Ov War Productions on June 8th.

While we’re incapable of pronouncing Ljosazabojstwa‘s name, we understand that in English it means “murder of fate”. We’re also incapable of pronouncing the Belarusian titles of the five substantial tracks encompassed by the new album, whose lyrics are also in the band’s native tongue, but the music speaks for itself, sometimes in a language we can all understand and sometimes in the esoteric incantations of black magic. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET (PART 1): HERESIARCH, ANTEDILUVIAN, VEGAS, LIKTAL

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 042020
 

 

I’m way behind in compiling round-ups of new music and video streams, but nevertheless I thought I’d use this time to recommend a collection of recently released EPs, and to offer a few words about a forthcoming split. All but one of the EPs are debut releases; the one that’s not is actually a preview of a forthcoming album. The split comes from two well-known bands (at least in the underground) whom we’ve written about extensively in the past.  Sadly, I don’t have any music streams from the split that I can share with you at this point, which makes its inclusion here a rarity.

As you can see, I divided this collection into two parts, with the second half coming later today.

HERESIARCH / ANTEDILUVIAN

The split I just mentioned is entitled Defleshing the Serpent Infinity. It will be released by Iron Bonehead Productions on July 31st. New Zealand’s Heresiarch contributes three tracks to the split, and Canada’s Antediluvian joins in with two. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SERENE DARK — “TRANCE OF DISINTEGRATION”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 032020
 

 

After 12 years operating under the name Endemise, the Ottawa band Serene Dark had undergone so many line-up changes and alterations of musical direction that the time seemed right for a new name. They chose their new moniker, as guitarist Dale Sauve has explained, to reflect the band’s current musical approach — it “can be soothing and melodic at times, and dark and heavy at other times, so Serene Dark was a perfect fit.”

The band have also shed some light on the concept behind their new album Enantiodromia, which will now be released on July 17th (a virus-related postponement from its original street date): Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SANCTIFYING RITUAL — “SANCTIFYING RITUAL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 032020
 

 

Germany’s Sanctifying Ritual first staked their black flag in foul underground soil with their first demo back in 2009. They followed that with another demo three years later, and then came the Storm of Devastation EP in 2013 — after which the band fell silent. But now they have come roaring back with a long-awaited debut album which bears the band’s name. It will be released by the esteemed Iron Bonehead Productions on June 5th, with a digital edition available that day, as well as CD and vinyl LP formats also becoming available.

The new album, which we’re giving you the chance to hear in full today, could easily have been given the title of the band’s first demo — Sadistic Death — because that’s the kind of feeling it breeds. The music incorporates a range of stylistic ingredients, but everything sounds saturated with evil — not cold and brooding menace but poisonous, rampant, and blood-spraying malignance, nothing you could reason with or resist, a combination of seething pestilence and knives-out malice, of supernatural riot and noxious rot. Continue reading »

MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY: “FEROX”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jun 032020
 

 

Make Them Die Slowly was White Zombie‘s second album, released in 1989. Before that it was the name used in the U.S. for Cannibal Ferox, a 1981 Italian cannibal exploitation horror film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi. According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, “upon its release, the film’s US distributor claimed it was ‘the most violent film ever made'”, and it was reportedly banned in dozens of countries, “although this claim is dubious”.

And it’s the name of a new band formed by Mick Kenney of Anaal Nathrakh (who will themselves have a new album ready for release this coming fall). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WITCHING — “VERNAL”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 032020
 

(Accompanied by the following review written by Andy Synn, we present the premiere stream of Vernal, the new album by Witching, which will be released on June 5th. It features cover art by Alex Eckman-Lawn.)

Life often throws up some strange coincidences, does it not?

Case in point, we almost missed out on hosting the premiere for this album, the debut full-length from Philadelphia quintet Witching, as the initial invitation to do so wound up getting buried in our ever-overflowing inbox.

Wouldn’t you know it though, the same day I got in touch with Islander to see if we had received a promo for the album (having become enamoured with the handful of pre-release tracks available on the group’s Bandcamp page) we also received a follow-up email from the band’s PR rep, with the final result that we agreed to combine my review with the premiere you’re about to listen to.

Like I said, coincidence is a strange, but sometimes extremely satisfying, thing. Continue reading »

EVISORAX: THE PREMIERE OF THE “DRAW THE LINE” VIDEO AND A REVIEW OF “ASCENSION CATALYST”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Jun 012020
 

 

We’re premiering a video here. It’s for one of 15 tracks on the new album, digitally released in April, by the British grindcore band Evisorax (with a vinyl edition coming from 7Degrees Records). But although you can find a track listing on Metal-Archives, the album is presented on Bandcamp as one track of nearly 28 minutes in length, and that’s exactly how it should be experienced — because it’s definitely not a “typical” grindcore record. Of course, you should watch and listen to the video, but definitely do not stop there.

The album, Ascension Catalyst, gradually builds toward an explosion of deranged off-planet warfare, which is insane when it happens, and then slows again at the end, descending into bizarre chaos. In between, things generally stay at a fever pitch — but not always. You really won’t see everything coming, in part because at some point your eyes may roll back into your skull. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THE HALLOWED CATHARSIS — “KILLOWNER”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Jun 012020
 

 

Killowner is the new EP by The Hallowed Catharsis, who make their home in Vancouver, BC. Over the course of six compact songs they tell “the desperate story of the end of life for a mutated human pet of an elitist extraterrestrial master after she has lost her merit and attempts at having her breed prove futile”. Consistent with the narrative concept, the music itself seems extraterrestrial, and it’s a wild thrill-ride from beginning to end.

“Unhinged progressive death metal” is the formulation applied to the music by Lacerated Enemy Records, who will release the EP tomorrow (June 2nd), and you’ll understand why when you hear it. And hear it you can, because we’re presenting a full stream right now. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HEAD OF THE DEMON

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jun 012020
 


Photo by Linn Vilmann

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with Konstantin, a key figure within the Swedish band Head of the Demon, whose new album was just released at the end of April by Invictus Productions and The Ajna Offensive.)

Head Of The Demon from Sweden is one of those rare remarkable bands who have established their own individuality. Originally they mixed doom, a bit of black metal, and obscure rock influences with a Middle Eastern atmosphere of occult worship. But their debut Head Of The Demon (2012) and thr sophomore album Sathanas Trismegistos (2016) have their own distinctive features, and a new album with the title Deadly Black Doom leads even further through hallucinogenic fumes of thick toxic incense.

I’ve tried to find out about Head Of The Demon‘s roots with the help of Konstantin (guitars, bass), and this is where it leads us… Continue reading »

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