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 »

SOJOURNER: “PREMONITIONS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 252020
 

 

(Seattle-based NCS contributor Gonzo has provided the following review of the new album by the multi-national band Sojourner, which is out now on Napalm Records.)

In all its forms and mutations, you could use a lot of adjectives to describe metal: Brutal. Powerful. Aggressive. Loud. Dynamic. Technical. And dare I say: Beautiful?

Some bands dabble in a “pretty” side at times, and it might work for them as a temporary gimmick or when forcing it into the occasional power ballad. But avid listeners are gonna know when you’re phoning it in, and as a result, the “beautiful” side gets buried under layers of the aforementioned adjectives. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with sheer, unabashed brutality (we ARE metalheads, for fuck’s sake), bands that succeed in combining the beautiful with the brutal can wield an almost overwhelming amount of power when they use it to write songs.

This brings us to Sojourner, a six-piece multi-national atmospheric black metal band, and their monumental new album Premonitions. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): ÁRSTÍÐIR LÍFSINS, SIELUNVIHOLLINEN, KANGEHEET, PROSANCTUS INFERI, FIDES INVERSA

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
May 242020
 

 

As you can see, I’ve managed to complete the second Part of today’s column in time to post it in its usual Sunday space. I hope you’ll find everything here as exciting as I have.

ÁRSTÍÐIR LÍFSINS

2020 has been a miserable year in most respects, but a great year for the Icelandic/German band Árstíðir lífsins. They contributed a tremendous song to Aldrnari, the tremendous album-length split with Carpe Noctem (reviewed here) that was released in April, and on Friday they digitally released their new album Saga á tveim tungum II: Eigi fjǫll né firðir (physical editions will follow from Ván Records). It is (you guessed it) tremendous. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): ENSLAVED, SOMBRE HÉRITAGE, KALL, UBUREN, XIFICURK

 SHADES OF BLACK  7 Responses »
May 242020
 

 

At the risk of overwhelming our visitors (a constant risk around here), I have again found so many new songs I’d like to recommend that I thought it best to divide today’s column into two parts, and will do my best not to become too verbose so that I have time to finish Part 2 in time to post it today — because Monday is going to be loaded with new things too.

ENSLAVED

I haven’t tried to find out how Enslaved’s new single is being received among fans and the metal press. I, for one, think it’s fantastic, and would rather not spoil the feeling by coming across some grim cur who’s sour about it. Not because I actually think anyone is entitled to be sour about it, but metalheads being metalheads, it’s inevitable. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2): SEROCS, STIGMATIZED, SOULROT, TEMPLE NIGHTSIDE, ULCERATE, VALGRIND, ZMEY GORYNICH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
May 232020
 

 

We’re now continuing on with the mega-collection of new songs and videos we began here yesterday, resuming our march through the alphabet beginning with the letter S.

SEROCS (International)

To begin, we’ll throw your brain into a blender set to puree. “Building A Shrine Upon Vanishing Sands” is a brutalizing, electrifying, high-speed carnival ride. The percussive power of the song is punishing, and the vocals (also discharged at high speed) are rabid, while the darting and swirling fretwork is wild and exultant. The guitar soloing is nothing short of spectacular, and propels a song that was already an ecstatic thrill-ride way up into the stratosphere. If the track doesn’t leave you with an ear-to-ear grin, the virus may have mutated and given you facial paralysis. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 1): CONVOCATION, GRRRMBA, BORU, HEBOÏDOPHRENIE, HYLE, LVA, MANTAR, PULSE, ROPE SECT

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 222020
 

 

Time for me to resort to this format again in an effort to pack in as many new songs and videos as I can — a format that’s short on words (and cover art) and long on sounds. I’ve alphabetized the selections by band name and then divided this mega-roundup into two Parts. Part 2 isn’t quite finished, so you’ll have to tune in here tomorrow to catch the rest.

CONVOCATION (Finland)

We begin with frightening yet enthralling funeral doom that has the gravitational force of a black hole yet also levitates — monstrous groaning and pounding heaviness speared by gleaming shards and surrounded by shimmering effervescence and shuddering feverishness, with a haunting instrumental break and an atmosphere that becomes one of ominous majesty.  The variable vocals (both harsh and clean) are absolutely stunning in their intensity, to the point of being terrifying…. and presented through a video that’s also fascinating. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ATRÆ BILIS — “PHANTOM VEINS TRUMPET”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
May 222020
 

 

Atræ Bilis trace their inception to a chance encounter in a Vancouver record store between guitarist David Stepanavicius and drummer Luka Govednik. It didn’t take long for the ideas to begin flowing and the jamming to start. A wide range of influences naturally worked their way into the creative process, though as Stepanavicius tells it, there were no preconceptions about what the music would sound like — and the debut album of Atræ Bilis (a Latin phrase for a malady that translates to “black bile”) is indeed difficult to shoehorn into any rigid genre definition, though death metal (of varying kinds) is at its core.

That album, Divinihility, will be released by Transcending Obscurity Records on August 14th, adorned by the typically terrific artwork of Adam Burke. Today we’re premiering a video for a song off the album named “Phantom Veins Trumpet“, and it vividly displays the band’s multi-faceted yet cohesive songwriting talents, and the tremendous energy of their sounds. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: ANTE-INFERNO / BURIAL / PATRONS OF THE ROTTING GATE

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May 222020
 


Ante-Inferno

 

(Andy Synn delivers another installment of his occasional series devoted to reviewing releases by bands from his UK homeland.)

So how’s everyone doing? Going a little stir-crazy? Trust me, I know the feeling.

While I’m lucky enough to still be working right now (and my foresight of buying up an entire home gym’s worth of equipment over the years is really paying off) the days are definitely starting to all blur together… heck, I’ve got a four-day weekend coming up starting tomorrow, but I’m not really all that sure what I’m going to do to try and differentiate it from the rest of the week, apart from maybe (hopefully) getting to sleep in.

One thing that’s helping me to maintain my always tentative grip on sanity, however, is music, and I’ve uncovered, discovered, or re-discovered, a whole host of bands during the lockdown period which I’m eager to share with you all, so today I’d like to direct your attention to the recently released albums from Ante-Inferno, Burial, and Patrons of the Rotting Gate. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: CHAOS CASCADE / KAPALA — “CONTAMINATION ALLIANCE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 222020
 

 

You listen to this new split by Chaos Cascade and Kapala and you get the sense that they don’t think the viral plague is acting fast enough. They’ve formed a Contamination Alliance to accelerate the extermination, aided by a conspiracy with Dunkelheit Produktionen who will release this audio warfare on vinyl (July 18) and digitally (May 23rd).

Germany’s Chaos Cascade, ever-prolific, returns to the slaughter grounds after two other splits and an EP also released this year. The Chaos Cascade track on this new split is “Wreak Havoc“, and that’s exactly what it does. Continue reading »

RANNOCH: “REFLECTIONS UPON DARKNESS”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
May 212020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the astonishing new opus from the genre-bending UK band Rannoch, which is set for release on May 25th.)

How does one measure ambition?

How do we quantify it and qualify it? How do we analyse and assess it? How do we judge whether one band’s ambition to be the heaviest/fastest/most technical is somehow inferior/superior to another band’s desire to cross-pollinate multiple styles and sub-genres to create something entirely new?

And what of those bands whose central ambition is simply to be the best that they can be and to write the best songs possible? Are they any less worthy than the band who just wrote an hour long, single-track, Prog-Metal odyssey?

All these questions, and more, were floating around my head while listening to the exceptional new album from Rannoch. Continue reading »

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