AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NATTVERD — “STYGGDOM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  5 Responses »
Jan 282020
 

 

In the summer of 2017 we had the good fortune to premiere a full stream of Vi Vet gud Er En Løgner (We Know God Is A Liar), the debut album by the Norwegian band Nattverd, which we introduced with these words: “Seemingly out of nowhere comes one of the best black metal albums of 2017, one that is simultaneously rooted in the decades-old traditions of cold Norwegian black metal and yet so vibrant and multifaceted, and so sure-handed in its songwriting and execution, that it breathes new life into the sounds”.

Today we are equally fortunate to premiere the remarkable full-length follow-up to that great debut. The new album is named Styggdom, and it will be released by Osmose Productions on January 31st. Continue reading »

INTERVIEW AND ALBUM STREAM: A SPLIT BY PANOPTICON AND NECHOCHWEN

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Jan 282020
 

 

EDITOR’S NOTE:

On January 31st Bindrune Recordings will release two album-length splits, one by Panopticon and Nechochwen, and the other by Panopticon and Aerial Ruin. Today, Bindrune has made both albums available for streaming, and in addition to presenting streams of both albums we’re also sharing interviews we did with all three bands after we had a chance to spend some time with the music.

In this post we talked with Austin Lunn of Panopticon and Nechochwen about the music on their split. On the Panopticon side, Austin Lunn recorded one very long song (“Rune’s Heart”), and Nechochwen contributed four brand new tracks. I’ve shared some thoughts about the songs by each band in the course of the interview, but in a nutshell this is a powerful album that brilliantly displays the formidable talents of each band, and one that should not be missed.

The split features artwork by Austin Lunn and it’s available for pre-order on vinyl HERE, and digitally HERE.

And now, let’s turn to the interview: Continue reading »

INTERVIEW AND ALBUM STREAM: A SPLIT BY AERIAL RUIN AND PANOPTICON

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  2 Responses »
Jan 282020
 

 

EDITOR’S NOTE:

On January 31st Bindrune Recordings will release two album-length splits, one by Panopticon and Aerial Ruin, and the other by Panopticon and Nechochwen. Today, Bindrune has made both albums available for streaming, and in addition to presenting streams of both albums we’re also sharing interviews we did with all three bands after we had a chance to spend some time with the music.

In this post we talked with Austin Lunn of Panopticon and Erik Moggridge of Aerial Ruin about the music on their split, which is entirely acoustic music that presents a very introspective and personal journey for both musicians. On the Panopticon side, Austin Lunn recorded two original songs and also covered country songs by Blaze Foley and Chris Knight. On the Aerial Ruin side, Erik Moggridge unveils five new original songs.

The album, in a word, is spellbinding. It features artwork by Austin Lunn and is available for pre-order on vinyl HERE, and digitally HERE.

And now, let’s turn to the interview: Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2019’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 18): SŪRYA, DIMHOLT, EXCRUCIATION

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2019  2 Responses »
Jan 282020
 

 

Welcome to Part 18 of this expanding list. I’m a day late posting this one because yesterday turned out to be very busy. I’ll figure out a way to make up for that missed day.

This is another episode in which I decided to hook together three tracks that are stylistically dissimilar from each other, just to make sure I got them on this list before running out of time. But I do think the flow from one to the next makes this a good and dark little playlist, in addition to providing recognition to three addictive tracks that I’ve found myself returning to again and again.

(To see the songs that preceded these on the list, go here.)

SŪRYA

I don’t always have time to immediately listen to albums reviewed by other NCS writers that I’ve not yet heard. But eventually I get around to them, and that’s what happened with Sūrya’s second album, Solastalgia, which was released by Argonauta Records last summer. I read Andy Synn’s review of the album in the course of getting it ready for posting, but couldn’t immediately give it a listen even though he said some very nice things about it and even though I was a fan of the band’s full-length debut, Apocalypse A.D. (2015). Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TURIAN — “SPIRAL & THE HERMIT”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jan 272020
 

 

On March 20th the Seattle-based grindcore band Turian will release their third record, which will be self-titled, adding to a discography that includes 2017’s Voiceless and 2018’s The Near Room. To give fans a preview of the new album, Turian are releasing a two-song excerpt — Spiral & The Hermit — and we’re helping spread the word through a premiere stream on the day of its release.

Turian’s brand of grind pulls from a lot of different strands of music, with thrash, punk, and noise rock in the mix (among other ingredients), and you’ll discover through just these two new tracks that they’re adept songwriters, delivering adrenaline fueled music that’s packed with twists and turns but also seasoned with head-busting grooves, and their creations turn out to be damned contagious as well. Continue reading »

LEECHED: “TO DULL THE BLADES OF YOUR ABUSE”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jan 272020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Leeched from Manchester in the UK. The album will be released on January 31st by Prosthetic Records.)

There is a certain type of Metal fan – and, to be clear, it’s by no means all, or even a majority, simply a certain type – who, no matter how underground or alternative they consider themselves to be, continues to crave (consciously or unconsciously) the acceptance of the mainstream.

I’m sure you know who I’m talking about. They’re the ones who are always quick to share those “10 Ways the Metal Scene Needs to Change” articles (which always just advise becoming more like Pop and/or Rap). The ones who go crazy online for the latest big name artist engaging in a fifteen-minute flirtation with the most anaemic form of “Metal” they can get away with. The ones who believe a band’s most “accessible” album is always their best, and are willing to jump through all sorts of (il)logical hoops to explain why this shift towards a more mass-appeal sound is actually a daring display of artistic expression… and not just a cynical move designed to sell more product.

And, you know what? I get it. After all, a lot of us probably grew up as the slightly weird kids, the ones with the odd, nerdy hobbies and perpetually “uncool” music taste, simultaneously desiring and disdaining the attention and validation of our peers. And, no matter how old we are, how confident we might appear, a lot of us never fully grow out of this. We still want, on some level, to belong.

The thing is… some music is never going to belong. And a band like Leeched are simply incapable of pandering to the mainstream. They’re too ugly, too uncompromising, too listener un-friendly, to ever dream of fitting in or selling out. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SUMMON — “HELIOS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Jan 272020
 

 

If you have been searching for the soundtrack to your worst nightmares, you have come to the right place. What we have for you today is a full stream of Helios, the new EP by the three Portuguese black/death demons who call themselves Summon. Consisting of three horrifying assaults on the senses, Helios will be released on February 2nd under the hammer of Godz Ov War Productions.

For those unfamiliar with Summon, their two preceding releases were the Aesthetics of Demise EP in 2017 and the Parazv Il Zilittv full-length in 2018. As those records have already revealed, but this new EP demonstrates without question, Summon are not content merely to deliver barbaric assaults of battle-zone chaos (which they do quite powerfully). Their music equally creates atmospheres of unearthly malignancy and apocalyptic doom. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): AEONIAN SORROW — “A LIFE WITHOUT”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 272020
 

 

Lovers of enthralling musical misery and cathartic, crushing power have a prize awaiting them on the near horizon, because on January 27th the multinational funeral doom band Aeonian Sorrow will release a mesmerizing and majestically tragic new record named A Life Without, which we are streaming in its entirety today.

This new release follows the band’s 2017 single, “Forever Misery“, and their 2018 debut album Into The Eternity A Moment We Are, and reflects the work of a revised and solidified line-up. For this recording, the band’s founder Gogo Melone (singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and lyricist) was joined by harsh vocalist Ville Rutanen (Red Moon Architect), guitarist Jukka Jauhiainen (Red Moon Architect, Crimson Sun) and drummer Daniel Neagoe (Shape of Despair, Clouds, Eye of Solitude), in addition to previous guitarist Taneli Jämsä (Ghost Voyage, Hukutus) and bassist Pyry Hanski (Mörbid Vomit, Before the Dawn etc.).

While some might call the record an EP, its four tracks are each substantial in length, adding up to more than 35 minutes of dolorous and devastating sounds. And each track is an involving and overpowering experience, each one in its own way portraying (to quote the band) “the eternal sorrow and misery above the earth, the slow death of our souls plus our human nature and instincts under the ownership of grief and pain”. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GRACELESS (REMCO KREFT)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jan 272020
 


Photo by: Eva Nagler Photography

 

(Comrade Aleks was fortunate to get this recent interview with Remco Kreft (Soulburn, Bodyfarm) about his OSDM band Graceless, who will be releasing their second album on March 27th through Raw Skull Recordz.)

Created in June 2016, this quite extreme and merciless death doom act consists of two of Soulburn’s members – Remco Kreft (vocals, guitars) and Marc Verhaar — alongside Björn Knäckebröd (guitars) and Jasper Aptroot who gained experience in local brutal acts like Celesterre, Nailgun Massacre, and Xenomorph. Since Graceless’ founding they have stay focused, bitter and angry.

The band’s sophomore album Where Vultures Know Your Name will see the light of day through Raw Skull Recordz on March 27th, 2020. I consider myself a lucky guy, as I’ve already heard this Armageddon-evoking album, which surpasses their debut work Shadowlands (Raw Skull Recordz, 2017). And moreover, I was lucky enough to get in contact with Remco and learn more about Graceless’ dark truths. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2019’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 17): SARGEIST, DARKEND, TOTENGOTT

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2019  2 Responses »
Jan 262020
 

 

I’m writing this on Saturday, to make sure I’m able to post it on Sunday — because there’s a more than even chance that my head won’t be functioning very well on Sunday morning. I’m going to an annual party tonight (to celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns), and based on past experience I’ll drink way more single malt whisky and sleep less than is conducive to the formation of sentences the next day.

For the same reason, the odds are high that I don’t get a SHADES OF BLACK column written for Sunday (I also do remember that I never finished Part 2 of last Sunday’s column). So, to partially make up for that, the songs I grouped together in this Part 17 of the list fall into the categories of black or “blackened” metal.

SARGEIST

In the 2018 edition of this list (here) I included the title track from Sargeist’s brilliant last album, Unbound. Given that the band have established about a four-year cycle on their albums, I figured it would be 2022 before we got more new music from them. But at the beginning of the last week of 2019 they dropped a surprise EP named Death Veneration. Continue reading »

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