IN MOURNING: “GARDEN OF STORMS”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 032019
 

 

(Accompanied by a full stream of the album, this is TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new album by the Swedish band In Mourning, which will be released on October 4th by Agonia Records.)

I’m kind of in a strange place when it comes to In Mourning. As far as melodic death metal goes, they are one of the genre’s best exports and one of the best bands of the style in a modern era extremely lacking in such. However, I feel that with the band’s last record, Afterglow, they started to make a very deliberate departure from what defined them and revealed an interest in expanding their horizons. I loved Afterglow, but it became impossible not to notice the band engaging in a little more ’70s prog death, and adopting some black metal and more post-y elements into their sound. In Mourning aren’t what I first looked to them for any more, not that that’s at all a bad thing, but the new path they are treading feels like it’s a work in progress.

That isn’t to say the band’s new album Garden Of Storms isn’t good. It’s fantastic, and it’s a super step up from Afterglow in just about every way, but it also definitively signifies that the band are done with their take on the doom-driven melodic death metal style and want to be more of an amorphous progressive band with a death metal foundation. Continue reading »

HIGHER CRITICISM: SLAYER (PART 13) — “REPENTLESS”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Oct 032019
 

 

(In the penultimate installment of a series devoted to a retrospective chronological analysis of the discography of Slayer, today TheMadIsraeli addresses the band’s last album, 2015’s Repentless. Links to all preceding segments of the series are at the end of the writing.)

After the absolute disappointment of World Painted Blood, Slayer would undergo a massive tectonic shift upon the death of founding member, guitarist, and key song-writer Jeff Hanneman.

This was a tragedy to be sure. Hanneman was responsible for many of the band’s best songs and he was a half ‘n’ half of a song-writing duo with Kerry King.  There were obviously concerns among fans that any future material would be heavily impacted by his absence. A lot of people at the time claimed Slayer should just hang it up, with a solid enough catalogue to go out on, and despite my feelings on World Painted Blood I agreed at the time.

I think on some level though, they knew World Painted Blood was a bad move, because the band’s final album Repentless may be unapologetic in its core message as a record, but it is definite repentance for the album that came before it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE DROWNING — “HARROWED PATH”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 022019
 

 

The Welsh death-doom band The Drowning have been active for more than 15 years, and in that time have released four albums and a pair of shorter releases, and the fifth full-length, The Radiant Dark, is now headed for a November 8 release by Transcending Obscurity Records. As a sign of what it holds in store we’re presenting today the premiere of the third track to surface so far, this one aptly named “Harrowed Path“.

This new song provides a great example of The Drowning‘s ability to meld emotionally dark melodies, shattering vocal intensity, and head-hammering aggression, channeling both grief and rage in powerful fashion. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DYSANGELIUM — “DEATH LEADING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Oct 022019
 

 

Five long years ago we premiered the terrorizing second demo (Leviaxxis) by the German black metal band Dysangelium, and then had some very positive reactions to their debut album Thánatos Áskēsis, which followed later that same year. Now, at last, a second album is on the horizon like a looming storm.

Death Leading will be released by W.T.C. Productions on October 8th, and as you’ll discover through our premiere of a full album stream, it marks a triumphant return, presenting music of frightening power and wholly immersive effect, remorselessly carrying the listener ever deeper into an other-dimensional black vortex from which there is no escape, as mesmerizing as it is fearsome. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MARTYRDOOM

 Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 022019
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us this interview of the up-and-coming Polish band Martyrdoom, whose debut album was released in 2017 by Memento Mori.)

As many of the brutal death-doom scene veterans are not hastening to grind us with new full-length albums, and there haven’t been new albums from Asphyx, Autopsy, and Cianide for a while (okay, the last one is going to return with the EP Unhumanized later this autumn), it’s good to take a listen to some of those guys who try to keep the old school vibe of the ’90s alive. Martyrdoom from Warsaw is one of those bands.

Formed in 2010, they released a straightforward grim demo, Twisted Perversions (yep, pretty primitive), in 2013, and a more sophisticated full-length work Grievous Psychosis saw the light of day in 2017. The album has its charm, so I was wondering when they planned to return with a sophomore album… Thus we organized this conversation with one of Martyrdoom’s founders, Grzegorz Młynarczyk (guitars). Continue reading »

VUKARI: “AEVUM”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Oct 022019
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s enthusiastic review of the new album by Chicago’s Vukari, which was released on October 1st by Vendetta Records.)

Remember some time ago… last week… when I said that 2019 has been a banner year for Death Metal?

Well, I wasn’t wrong. But did you also know it’s been a hell of a year for Black Metal too?

Just scratching the surface of the last nine months or so I can think of albums from (let me just stretch a bit first)…Consummation, Barshasketh, Misþyrming,Sinmara, Enthroned, Idolatry, Vanum, Mephorash, Kampfar, Idolatry, The Negative Bias, Panzerfaust, Mgła, Deadspace, Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, Neptunian Sun, Advent Sorrow, Blut Aus Nord … and we’ve still got new records from Mayhem, Schammasch, Abigail Williams, Dawn Ray’d, The Great Old Ones, and more, to look forward to.

This week, however, it was the turn of Chicago quartet Vukari to make their case for why their new album deserves to stand alongside the very best Black Metal that 2019 has to offer. Continue reading »

HIGHER CRITICISM: SLAYER (PART 12) — “WORLD PAINTED BLOOD”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Oct 022019
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli has reached an ugly point in his chronological series on the discography of Slayer, with the subject now being the band’s 2009 album World Painted Blood. Links to previous installments in the series are at the end of this post.)

World Painted Blood was heavily marketed as a “return to form”, a throwback album to Slayer’s glory days, and the fanbase seemed to eat the PR campaign for this album the fuck up.  Lots of music journos at the time heaped endless praise onto this album. I was excited for this record, because while I had enjoyed Slayer’s more modern direction I had faith the band could reproduce something as good as Reign In Blood or South Of Heaven.  I pre-ordered the album, received my copy, popped it in and began listening.

I wish I could get that money and time back. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SLUTVOMIT — “COPULATION OF CLOVEN HOOVES”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 012019
 

 

Seattle-based Slutvomit released their debut album Swarming Darkness six years ago through Invictus Productions, and left incinerated wreckage in their wake. Summed up by one prized reviewer (autothrall) as “dirty vest-slinging speed-death thrashing black madness”, it demonstrated a ton of high-octane energy, authentically barbarous and blasphemous spirit, and fiendishly impressive instrumental skill. In the years since then there have been some line-up changes, and as their new album proves, a lot of honing of their blades to an even sharper edge.

It’s commonplace for labels, publicists, and bands themselves to say that a group’s newest release is a step ahead of their last one, but here it’s verifiably true. Slutvomit‘s second album, Copulation of Cloven Hooves, again due for release by Invictus Productions (on October 4th), takes every good quality from their debut album and elevates it, while retaining the music’s capacity to set your hair on fire and race you ’til you’re out of breath. Continue reading »

IRKSVM: “MORIBUND”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 012019
 

 

(Our contributor Vonlughlio hereby proves that he does listen to varieties of metal other than Brutal Death, and here he recommends the debut album by the Seattle-based black metal band Irksvm.)

Today’s subject is the black metal project Irksvm from Seattle, Washington, whose debut album Moribund was released via Vargheist Records this past August 30th.

As some of you dear readers might know, Brutal Death Metal is one of my favorite genres and I tend to concentrate my write-ups on bands in that realm, since others here at NCS do a fine job covering all the other genres. But from time to time I do review bands who are not BDM and have made an impact on me, as Irksvm did.

For this particular case, I was not familiar with their music, but became really impressed by how good this offering is. The mastermind behind this band is Duncan Mccue (Doctor Professor, Incestuous Impregnation, Marburg) who does all instruments and vocals. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ERIC CLAYTON (SAVIOUR MACHINE, ERIC CLAYTON & THE NINE)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 012019
 

 

Editor’s Note: Our occasional contributor from Greece, John Sleepwalker, conducted this interview of Eric Clayton shortly before the recent performance of Eric Clayton & The Nine at the Demon’s Gate Festival 2019 in Athens, Greece. Clayton is perhaps best known for the band Saviour Machine that he formed in 1989 with his brother Jeff, which has reunited following an extended hiatus and is at work on a new album, as well as Eric Clayton & The Nine.

John Sleepwalker also asked us to specifically mention that, as the following interview began, Eric first wanted John to tell him some things about himself before the questions began, so he could get to know the person behind them, which seems to be an uncommon occurrence in interviews.

This interview was first published (in Greek) at Avopolis. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries