AN NCS INTERVIEW: SUN OF THE DYING

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Dec 162019
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has had a very busy fall, and as a consequence we have many of his interviews lined up to appear between now and the end of 2019, including this discussion with members of the Spanish doom/death band Sun of the Dying.)\

Here we have Madrid-based Sun Of The Dying, a band that has developed shortly from a quite depressive yet melodic doom death metal of their debut album The Roar Of The Furious Sea (2017) to the richer melancholic and atmospheric themes of their brand new album. The Earth Is Silent saw the light of day on the 29th of November through Art Of Propaganda, and the band sounds really updated, and that’s not only because of a new vocalist on board.

It’s something rare, but almost the whole band took part in this interview. Let me introduce you to – Daniel Fernández Casuso (guitars), Eduardo Guilló (vocals), David Muñoz (keyboards), Jose Yuste (bass), and  Roberto Rayo (guitars). I don’t know why Sun Of The Dying’s drummer  didn’t take part into this — I hope he’s fine there. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2019: A YEAR-END LIST BY DGR (PART 1)

 LISTMANIA 2019  2 Responses »
Dec 162019
 

 

(Today we begin a week-long rollout of a 2019 Top 50 list by NCS scribe DGR, counting down in groups of 10 each day this week — or at least that’s the plan.)

These year-end archives — I’ve ceased any pretense of them being a list other than by the most basic description until the final ’10’ — are always a blast to write. They provide me an opportunity to be my most verbose while also touching base with everyhting that I enjoyed this year, including the many others I wound up bubbling out in my quest to finally have a ‘neat’ top 50 without a bunch of qualifiers.

This year was especially difficult on a personal front — which I’ve made small mention of, but there’s no need to have me dump that upon you in detail — and it resulted in a about a three-month period this year during which I wound up having to check out of heavy metal entirely. Turns out a musical genre that prides itself on being a sort of explosive catharsis isn’t exactly what one might need when going through massive life changes. So, part of 2019 has been me playing a very fucked-up and bizarre form of catch-up while also keeping in mind that I was going to do one of these before the year wrapped up and desperately wanted to dance around any sort of recency bias. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: CARCASS, GODTHRYMM, THE HU, PSYCHOTIC WALTZ, BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE, KËKHT ARÄKH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Dec 142019
 

 

Friday nights are usually perilous for yours truly, and tend to portend ugly Saturday mornings. Last night, however, I was a good lad. After only a moderate amount of drinking to celebrate the end of the work week I made it home at a reasonable hour, only to discover that my spouse had already conked out. With her solidly in the Land of Nod after what had been an exhausting week for herself, I spent a couple of hours listening to new music before conking out myself.

From that experience I picked the following new stuff — a smattering of bigger and lesser-known names, and kind of a weird scattering of sounds and styles that nevertheless made sense to me as a playlist. Whether it will make sense to you is of course a different question.

CARCASS

What do you think of the new Carcass single? Surely you’ve already heard it. As the first new song in six years from one of metal’s most revered names, it escaped the attention of only those who live under rocks. If you’re only now peering from beneath your own rocks, I’d suggest you give it a whirl. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: OF WOLVES — “BALANCE”

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Dec 132019
 

 

When we first encountered Of Wolves in 2013, through their album Evolve, we wrote: “These three working men in Chicago are fed up, frustrated, and pissed off. They vent their fury at everything from churches to governments to pervasive greed to the treatment of Native Americans to the mass of their fellow citizens (aka “sheep”) who allow themselves to be brainwashed, duped, and distracted from protecting their own self-interests — and they don’t mince words about it. As they say, ‘Life has been rough, the music is therapy.’ Apparently, the therapy consists of taking a whole kitchen sink’s worth of musical influences and interests and letting them spill out in a flood of exuberant creativity.”

And now here we are, many years later. The world around us hasn’t gotten any better, only more fractured, delusional, hate-filled, and desperate. Needless to say, Of Wolves haven’t become any more sanguine about the direction of politics, culture, or life in general. They’ve had their own ups and downs as well. They started teasing a new album entitled Balance more than two years ago, projected for release by Cimmerian Shade, but the label owner’s illness ultimately doomed those plans. And so the band are looking again for a label, though they’re not going to allow that search to delay the album release for much longer (more on that later), and in the meantime are working on new music with plans to record it in the first quarter of 2020.

In January of this year the band released a three-part track from Balance (available here), after having rolled out each of those three parts individually, and now we’re presenting the title song, accompanied by footage of the band’s performance filmed by Mok Films at the Doomed & Stoned Festival. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLIGHTED — “REQUIEM BEREFT”

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Dec 132019
 

 

Many years ago, in 2012 to be precise, we discovered a hellacious Tennessee death/grind outfit named Manic Scum, and showered praise not only on the EP released that year (Better Left Undead) but also a subsequent EP (Carbonized) that was released in 2017. We haven’t seen any new Manic Scum depredations since that last EP, but we have learned that members of the band have joined forces with other friends in a new group named Blighted, whose interests focus on old-school melodic death metal (with some blackening in the mix) that’s influenced by bands like Dissection, At The Gates, Dismember, Emperor, and Necrophobic.

Blighted’s debut EP will be released on January 4, 2020, and today we’re premiering the second track from it revealed so far, a sonic tapestry or turmoil and torment named “Requiem Bereft“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MORBID STENCH

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 132019
 

 

(You may have noticed that during much of 2019 Comrade Aleks has turned his interests in doom in, shall we say, nastier and more deathly directions, and continues that pattern with this interview of The Master Butcher, vocalist of the Central American band Morbid Stench, whose potent debut album was released just a few months ago by Putrid Cult.)

Morbid Stench… Do you feel that taste on the tip of your tongue? A stench of death, doom, and Central American swamps? It’s an international project, as the Morbid Stench members live in both El Salvador and Costa Rica, and are members of such death bands as Conceived By Hate and Insepulto, which names are probably better-known to the NCS audience.

This band is relatively new – it was founded in 2014 and the full-length Doom & Putrefaction, released on September 30th by Putrid Cult, appears to be their first big work. Why not learn more about its rough, straight, and really morbid aesthetic with their vocalist The Master Butcher? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LESATH — “SACRED ASHES”

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Dec 122019
 

 

On January 6, 2020, the label alliance of Casus Belli Musica and Beverina will release the debut album of a mysterious atmospheric black metal band named Lesath, whose location and membership remain undisclosed. The album’s name is Sacred Ashes. It consists of six tracks, but really four songs, because two of those four are divided into two parts in the track list.

In September of this year, Lesath (and subsequently the two labels) released one of those two-part songs, “Like the Wind“, which we reviewed here. In November we presented the second half of the other two-part song, “A New Life“, which like the first single was presented with its own artwork. And today we add to these musical revelations with the premiere of the album’s title track, “Sacred Ashes“. Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2019: DÖ / HELA / PÉNITENCE ONIRIQUE

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Dec 122019
 


DÖ

 

(Before the year wraps up, Andy Synn is continuing to help spread the word about 2019 albums to which we haven’t devoted sufficient attention — with three more given the spotlight in this post.)

Depending on what time, or what day, you’re reading this, there’s a chance I’ll either be onstage, setting up, or in transit, as this week we’re playing a short run of shows supporting Hour of Penance and Dāmim.

That’s not an attempt to brag, by the way, even though it is very cool, just an explanation as to why this will probably be the last thing you read from me this week, and why I’ll probably be even slower than usual at responding to any comments or questions.

What I’m going to leave you with is another triptych of meaty metallic morsels for you to sink your teeth into, including the psychedelic Cosmic Doom of DÖ, the gloomy glamour of Hela, and the blackened brilliance of Pénitence Onirique. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KAWIR — “TYDEUS”

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Dec 122019
 

 

It seems that every time I write about Kawir, over a span of many years, I feel compelled to introduce them anew, because although they’ve been around since the early ’90s and were as important to the character of Greek black metal as bands such as Rotting Christ, Varathron, and Necromantia, I worry that they still don’t get the high level of recognition they deserve. And despite their longevity, Kawir are one of those rare bands for whom long years haven’t diminished the blaze of their creative fires.

I was a huge fan of their last album (reviewed and premiered here), 2017’s Εξιλασμός (Exilasmos), and now Kawir are following that wonderful record with a new album named Adrasteia, which is set for release on January 10, 2020, by Iron Bonehead Productions. As usual, Kawir have drawn upon Greek mythology for their inspirations and lyrical themes, and they’ve also enlisted some notable guests — Macabre Omen’s Alexandros on all clean vocals, Norwegian vocalist Lindy-Fay Hella on the song “Colchis,” and Melechesh’s Ashmedi performing a guitar solo on “Danaides.”

We’ve previously commented (in glowing terms) about the album’s first track, “Lemniades“, and today it’s our good fortune to present a second one — “Tydeus” — named for a mythic hero, a prince of Argos by marriage into the fanily of King Adrastos, and one of the “Seven Against Thebes”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DAWN OF SOLACE, TURIA, TOMBS, AINSOPH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 122019
 

 

It’s been another of those weeks when the rest of life has rudely intruded on my NCS time, and so I haven’t been keeping up very well with new songs and videos. Haven’t even had time to add to my list of things to check out based on what has popped up in the various sources I use. Still, I did pay attention to the following four new songs, and the attention was rewarded.

Be forewarned: If you come to NCS expecting us to rigidly adhere to the site’s title, today’s collection includes a couple of exceptions — two of four.

DAWN OF SOLACE

Fourteen years is a very long time between albums. And in the case of Dawn of Solace, there was no reason to expect a follow-up to The Darkness (released in 2006), because in 2013 the band’s alter ego Tuomas Saukkonen announced the interment of all of his previous bands and projects, and the decision to replace them all with Wolfheart.

But now there will be a second Dawn of Solace album, the title of which is Waves. It’s set for release on January 24th by the new label Noble Demon (who will also be releasing the debut album of Night Crowned, for which we hosted a song premiere last week). Continue reading »

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