OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 1): DEVIL WITH NO NAME, THE FUNERAL ORCHESTRA, MEGAKILL PARANOISE, MISANTHROPIC AGGRESSION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Apr 232020
 


Devil With No Name

 

I compiled this round-up three days ago. Different things prevented me from posting it until today, including distractions from my day job, bad things happening to people close to me, and just the general malaise I’m feeling under the current awful circumstances we’re all living with. A lot of other new music has emerged since I originally chose these songs, but I’m not going to sacrifice more time by trying to figure out what to add and what to drop.

The list consists of music from a dozen bands. I alphabetized them and divided this into three parts, four bands in each one. I have some other posts to finish for today, so these won’t roll out one after another. There’s always the chance I won’t even get all three parts up on the site today. The same factors that delayed this roll-out haven’t gone away.

All of us here hope all of you are well and safe, and that you’ll find something to like in this round-up. Continue reading »

KATATONIA: “CITY BURIALS”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  5 Responses »
Apr 222020
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Sweden’s Katatonia, which is set for release on April 24th by Peaceville Records.)

It’s probably worth pointing out, right at the start, that City Burials is not – despite what you might read elsewhere – the best album of Katatonia’s career.

Neither, however, is it their worst, as some others, angry that the band haven’t produced exactly what they wanted, would have you to believe.

What it is, is an intriguing, emotive, yet oddly uneven, collection of songs which vary in tone and texture – some erring more towards the band’s classic brand of metallic melancholy, others leaning more towards gleaming, gloomy goth-pop – but which are all, ultimately, tied together by the sublime vocals of Jonas Renske, who gives what could very well be a career-best performance. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FUNERALOPOLIS

 Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 222020
 

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with members of the Swiss death/doom band Funeralopolis, whose latest album will be released on April 27th by Memento Mori.)

Despite being named after an Electric Wizard song back in 2009, Funeralopolis perform hard-as-hell death doom on a verge of slowed-down death. And if you’re tired of waiting for a new Asphyx or Autopsy release, you should give a chance to this band of punishers from Switzerland. Especially now, when after being on stage for about 10 years, the guys have recorded a killer full-length album, their first one, …Of Deceit And Utter Madness.

Let’s hope that Memento Mori Records will be able to release it on April 27th as it’s scheduled. Meanwhile we had a cool chat with Sodomator Of The Doomed Venus a.k.a Nico (bass), Chanting Ghoul of Ravenous Redemption a.k.a. Thuri (guitars, vocals), and Invoker of the Ancient Deathtune a.k.a. Pascal (guitars). Be ready for horrors of death and doom! Go! Continue reading »

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

 Premieres  1 Response »
Apr 212020
 

 

Expunged is a new Canadian death metal band, barely a year old at this writing, but their debut self-titled EP which we’re premiering today quickly blasts away any idea that its members are newcomers just taking their first tottering steps. And indeed they are not tyros.

The band is the brain-child of W.D., who has been the principal member of Dead Soul Alliance, and before that the guitarist of Evolution Fail, whose demo was released in 1997. Joining him in Expunged are drummer K.F. from the old-school death metal band Töteblut and vocalist/bassist J.S. (aka Jo “Steel” Capitalicide from Ice War, among other bands).

The experience shows on this new EP. It is a stunningly good musical house of horrors, one that draws influence from a range of Swedish and Finnish death metal bands going back to the late ’80s and early ’90s. But rather than sounding like some kind of retrograde re-hash, Expunged is an electrifying experience, one that delivers cold, crushing power, lunatic frenzies, ghastly atmosphere, and the kind of melodic and rhythmic accents that make these five songs memorable. Continue reading »

AN NCS TEASER REVEAL: INSTIGATE — “ECHOES OF DYING WORLD”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Apr 212020
 

 

We don’t often devote our premieres to mere teasers of new music — in fact, today may be the first time we have ever done it. But in this case we couldn’t resist. What you’re about to see is a video that reveals details about an exciting new band as well as a taste of the explosive and electrifyingly brutalizing sounds they are concocting in the unusual recording process that has now become a necessity in these times of viral plague.

The name of the band is Instigate, and it first drew our excited attention because of the people who are in the line-up. As the video explains, the idea for Instigate sprang from the mind of guitarist Stefano Rossi Ciucci, who is a member of the Italian death metal band Bloodtruth, whose music we have featured more than one at NCS, most recently in our December 2019 premiere of a video for a track off their ravaging 2018 album Martyrium, released by Unique Leader Records.

Rounding out the Instigate line-up are Bloodtruth bassist Riccardo Rogari, vocalist Stefano Borciani from Demiurgon, and drummer extraordinaire Kevin Talley, who has performed with the likes of Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Misery Index, and Chimaira. Continue reading »

URSA: “MOTHER BEAR, FATHER TOAD”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 212020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by California’s Ursa, which was just released yesterday.)

While NCS may have a reputation for focussing mostly on Death and Black Metal, the truth is that we don’t like to limit what we cover to just a small sub-set of styles. As long as it’s got a sufficient metallic component, and a certain level of quality, we’ll be more than happy to give it a shot.

Over the years we’ve become particularly fond of the doomier side of Metal, in all its grim and gloomy varieties, to the point that you’re guaranteed at least one (or more) slot dedicated to dark, doomy goodness in every one of my/our year-end lists.

Last year it was the sublime Carnal Confessions by Fvneral Fvkk which took the honours, and in 2018 the medal went to Dor by Clouds, while 2017 saw albums from Loss, Foscor, and Paradise Lost all make the cut (and, FYI, I’m only just now realising how Doom-heavy that particular list was).

So far 2020 has already delivered its fair share of doom-laden delights, from the rugged, riff-heavy swagger of the new Solothus (which I touched upon briefly here last week), to the grandeur and gravitas of Loviatar’s Lightless (which hopefully I’ll get around to covering properly sometime soon), and several more which I’m sure I’m forgetting about.

And now it’s time for URSA to stake their claim with the release of Mother Bear, Father Toad. Continue reading »

HAIL SPIRIT NOIR: “THE FIRST APE ON NEW EARTH”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Apr 212020
 

 

We have a lot of things planned for today at our site, including an album review, a couple of premieres, and a gigantic round-up of new music, but I’m getting a slow start on readying any of those posts for publication. But then I saw that Hail Spirit Noir had revealed the first excerpt from their new album, and that solved the problem of how to begin the day without further delay.

We don’t usually feature only one new song in a post unless it’s a premiere, but our affection for this Greek band runs deep, as does curiosity about what this new album will sound like, given the fascinating shifts in style that have already occurred over the course of Pneuma (2012), Oi Magoi (2014), and Mayhem In Blue (2016). Of course, as the band’s first three albums have already proven, one song drawn in isolation from the rest of an HSN release doesn’t completely represent what the rest of the record will sound like, because the band have an adventurous streak in them.

But beyond what can be gleaned from the new song that debuted today (“The First Ape On New Earth“), we do have this accompanying statement by the band about the album, the title of which is Eden In Reverse: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GOLDEN LIGHT — “SACRED COLOUR OF THE SOURCE OF LIGHT”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  6 Responses »
Apr 202020
 

 

Golden Light are a new band formed by E. Henderson (also of Njiqahdda), who handles all instruments and sounds, and vocalist Meghan Wood (Crown of Asteria). Their debut album, Sacred Colour of the Source of Light, will be released by Iron Bonehead Productions on April 24th. William Blake‘s painting “The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun” makes for a perfect cover, given the nature of the music.

Regarding that nature, Iron Bonehead’s publicist has written of these four songs (three of which are of significant length), “their spectral sorrows shoot a brilliance that’s blinding and bellicose in equal measure: a mystical, sun-drenched swarm of sound that embodies and defies black metal simultaneously, orthodoxy UN-done and recast”.

The tendency to portray the music in words used mainly for visual experience is irresistible (as you will see), but the music also has a near-relentless physical momentum that in itself becomes a method of creating a trance, as well as a multi-faceted effect on the emotions. Continue reading »

IRIST: “ORDER OF THE MIND”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 202020
 

 

(Andy Synn recently wrote a three-line haiku of the new album by Irist, but now we have a second (and lengthier) opinion by Seattle-based writer Gonzo. The album is out now via Nuclear Blast.)

Atlanta sludge/prog unit Irist may be only one album into their young careers, but one listen to their ferocious debut Order of the Mind would have you believe otherwise. Both satisfyingly brutal and tastefully melodic throughout, the album displays the precise technicality of Mastodon and Gojira mixed with the savagery of early Soulfly. The result is something that scratches an itch you might not even realize you had.

Boasting thunderous riffs, head-nodding grooves, vocals that blast like sandpaper on balsa wood, and a rhythm section that sounds determined to use your head as a snare drum, Order of the Mind pummels its way through its 10-track length like it has something to prove. Given that it’s a major-label debut, maybe that was intentional. What it proves, though, is something bigger — it sees Irist obviously paying homage to the influences of the aforementioned bands, but it adds a layer of originality that’s markedly harder to pull off. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: “LEVIATHAN III”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 202020
 

 

The German band Bait (whose three-man line-up includes a member of Der Weg einer Freiheit) embarked on its musical journey in 2013, and it has indeed been a journey. Embracing bruising metallic hardcore as its focal point, the band has moved in other directions, principally blackened ones but also incorporating ingredients of sludge and doom, with an increasing atmospheric content, without completely abandoning the animating spirit and iron-hard grooves of hardcore, or the scraped-raw fury and anguish of the vocals.

For the moment, the band’s journey has reached a culmination in their intense new album Revelation of the Pure, which the releasing label Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions describes as “a piece of shear nihilistic and utterly destructive music”. This new record will be digitally released on May 22nd, with physical editions to follow, and what we have for you today is a lyric video for a track from it called “Leviathan III“, which as its name suggests is linked to tracks from the band’s first two releases. Continue reading »

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