BLACK CURSE: “ENDLESS WOUND”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 142020
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the debut album by Colorado’s Black Curse, which was recently released by Sepulchral Voice.)

To paraphrase a very tall, very shiny, Russian man:

“…four or five moments… that’s all it takes to be a hero make a good album…”

And, you know what? He’s right. If your album has four or five moments, four or five songs, which truly stand out, and stand the test of time, then you’re probably good.

The thing is, really great albums, albums like Endless Wound, don’t just settle for four or five moments per record, they offer up four or five of these moments in practically every song! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TITAAN — “ITIMA”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 132020
 

 

In the broadest and most simplistic terms, the monumental new album by Titaan is a sequence of startling juxtapositions of sound and atmosphere. A single track of more than 46 minutes in length, Itima operates like a musical flux capacitor, capable of sending listeners through time into an ancient age as well as far into the future. And the music is itself constantly in flux, flexing between states of overpowering, densely layered chaos and mystical yet morphing ambient drift into wondrous and blood-freezing realms.

As in the case of Titaan’s debut album Kadingir, the project’s alter ego Lalartu (whose identity and location remain a mystery) has worked alone, which makes the extravagant achievements of Itima all the more jaw-dropping. It is evident that this massive composition required meticulous planning and is the result of extensive attention to detail, everything well-calculated to pitch the listener into a gigantic and perilous labyrinth of sounds and sensations that seem completely divorced from mundane earth-bound existence.

To be sure, the full experience requires patience, but on the other hand it doesn’t take long to become transfixed by what’s happening, and to lose track of time as the music’s rituals hurl you without warning across millennia and into mystifying dimensions both nightmarish and celestial. Today we’re providing the chance to lose yourself in the labyrinth of Itima through a fukll stream of the album in advance of its April 16 release by ATMF. Continue reading »

OLD MAN GLOOM: “SEMINAR IX: DARKNESS OF BEING”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 132020
 

 

(Seattle-based writer Gonzo returns to NCS with this review of a new album by the star-studded Old Man Gloom, whose release day was accelerated by the band and Profound Lore Records and is out now.)

Never the types to be conventional, post-hardcore/sludge superheroes Old Man Gloom have again released not one, but two, new albums: Seminar VIII: The Lightness of Meaning, and Seminar IX: The Darkness of Being. Originally not scheduled to be released until May 22, the band decided to stagger the double effort with a surprise release of Seminar IX back in late March. Seminar VIII will keep its original release date of May 22.

To limit any head-spinning confusion, this review covers Seminar IX.

Confused yet? Good, me too. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FLUISTERAARS

 Interviews  8 Responses »
Apr 132020
 

 

(In this feature our new contributor Mike Johnson spoke with a member of the Dutch duo Fluisteraars (Bob Mollema and Mink Koops), whose new album Bloem is out now via Eisenwald.)

 

You guys clearly try to recreate a certain type of landscape in your sound. Each album evolving little by little. Translated to English (as I am an inept American) the newest release entitled Bloem means “Flower”. I am curious, as this album seems to be a symbol for this project in general. I feel the album starts furiously in a whir of black metal only to bloom into a more true atmospheric and melodic sound similar to that of a flower. Was this possibly a thought behind the album?

It was not a thought from which we made the album. More an unconscious competent choice that felt logical during the making process. Because if our opening track were in the middle it would not be right for us. The placement of the songs on an album apparently contributes a lot to the concept and that is good proof that music can be very narrative. Thank you for the observation. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ANAMNESI, HORNWOOD FELL, IXAXAAR NEXIA, FUNERAL RITES

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Apr 122020
 


Emanuele Prandoni, the man behind Anamnesi

 

After writing this morning’s premiere feature for a song by From the Vastland (which I urge you to hear if you haven’t), I succumbed to a plague. No, not that plague, a plague of laziness. By the time I roused myself out of the stupor, hours had passed. To keep this post from appearing too late in the day, I did some painful cutting back of what I had planned to include. But what’s left here is very, very good.

ANAMNESI

“S’Enna e S’arca“, the second single from a new album by the Italian band Anamnesi, is a magnificent song and a multi-faceted one. Its anchor point is a combination of deep drilling riffs and high swirling ones, the combination creating a feeling of cold cruelty and fevered anguish over heavy drum thunder, slashing cymbals, and scintillating fills. The song includes bestial vocals and a variety of sharp rhythmic breaks that introduce booming and jolting sensations. The music is perpetually accented by riveting drumwork and by morphing guitar emanations that seem increasingly bleak and haunting, but with sounds that also resemble birdsong at one point.

The sharpest break comes near the middle, when the music transforms into mystical keyboard ambience before the drum and bass mount a methodical and magisterial skull-pounding assault, and those glimmering and gouging riffs return. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: FROM THE VASTLAND — “KHAN E AVAL”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 122020
 

 

Working alone (or mostly so), Sina began writing and recording black metal in Iran many years ago under the name From the Vastland, indulging his love of old school Scandinavian black metal in a place where the performance of such music was banned by the government. From the beginning, he has made the culture of his homeland a part of his creations, writing lyrical themes that draw upon ancient Persian mythology and history — epic tales of battles between darkness and light, good and evil, gods and devils — and weaving touches of Persian melody into the fabric of his songs.

Life for Sina took an unexpected turn when he was contacted by the Norwegian producer of the black metal documentary Blackhearts (eventually released in 2017) and became a part of that film, which in turn led to the opportunity in 2013 to perform at the Inferno Festival in Oslo. There he was joined for the performance by a backing band that included such luminaries as bassist Tjalve (Horizon Ablaze, Svartelder, ex-1349, ex-Den Saakaldte) guitarist Destructhor (Nordjevel, Myrkskog, ex-Morbid Angel), and drummer Vyl (Whoredome Rife, ex-Keep of Kalessin, Gorgoroth). And that in turn led to the opportunity for Sina to move to Norway, which he did in 2014.

From his new home in the cradle of black metal, Sina has continued to record and to perform at both Norwegian events and international festivals. His newest album, The Haft Khan, will be jointly released on April 30 by Satanath Records and Iron, Blood And Death Corporation — and today we present a lyric video for the new album’s opening track, “Khan e Aval“. Continue reading »

STAYING IN TOUCH (WHILE STILL NOT TOUCHING)

 Off Topic  41 Responses »
Apr 112020
 


foggy morning where I live

 

On another Saturday three weeks ago (here) I invited visitors to our site, whether old-timers or newcomers, to talk with us and each other about what was happening to them and their communities in this time of the virus and how they were feeling about it. Time has seemed disjointed and hard to track since then, and even before then. For some people it might seem to have slowed down or sped up, but I suspect for most of us it has simply stopped, or become like a directionless soup of events.

Looking back at the previous version of this invitation three weeks ago, I thought of all the things that have changed dramatically in the outer world since then, but also how little they have changed in terms of my own daily existence, mostly bottled up here inside my home with my wife and two cat-children. On the other hand, I can’t say I’ve successfully adapted to this strange new world of isolation and invisible threat. I think others have done a good job of adapting, and others have gone steeply downhill. But I suspect that even the most naturally reclusive types have missed human contact — real face-to-face contact.

We are social animals, and swapping stories over the internet isn’t really an adequate substitute for the physical interaction that’s gone missing. But it may be therapeutic at some level, and entertaining at another one (the previous version of this post certainly generated a lot of interesting comments), and so I’d like to repeat what I did three weeks ago and invite whoever happens to encounter this post to do some sharing of their lives and thoughts. The suggestions are the same as before: Continue reading »

PANDEMONIUM: ENSHADOWED, KARMACIPHER, EXGENESIS, GRUESOME, JUST BEFORE DAWN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Apr 102020
 


Enshadowed

 

I wondered whether the words “pandemic” and “pandemonium” were linguistically related. So I did some research.

“Pandemic“, a word that originated in the 1660s in reference to disease, means “incident to a whole people or region” and derives from the Late Latin word pandemus, and in turn from the Greek pandemos, meaning to “pertain to all people; public, common” (from pan– “all” and dēmos “people”).

On the other hand, “pandemonium” was coined by John Milton in 1667 in Paradise Lost (though he spelled it “Pandæmonium”) as the name of the palace built in the middle of Hell, “the high capital of Satan and all his peers,” and the abode of all the demons. He built the name from the Greek pan– “all” and the Late Latin daemonium (“evil spirit”), which in turn derived from the Greek daimonion (“inferior divine power”) and daimōn “lesser god”.

So, although pandemics often produce pandemonium, as we’re witnessing, the words aren’t very closely related.

Now that we’re finished with your home-schooling for the day, let’s move on to the musical pandemonium I selected for this round-up. By coincidence, all the music comes from bands who are established favorites of our site. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KURNUGIA — “PERVERT THE PIOUS”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 102020
 

 

Hell of an album cover, isn’t it? Kudos to Mark Cooper (Mindrape Art) for that. And kudos to Kurnugia for making the kind of music that merits such ghastly supernatural visuals. “Evil, rotting and heinous death metal” is how the Memento Mori label’s publicist describes this Cleveland band’s new album, Forlorn and Forsaken, and that’s a dead-on description.

If you were to see those PR materials, you would also find references to the legendary names of Immolation, Grave, Incantation, Autopsy, Entombed, Cianide, Morbid Angel, Dismember, Death, Unleashed, Deicide, and Benediction. A big list, to be sure, and also an appropriate one, because the veteran line-up of Kurnugia not only relish the formative sounds of those groups in the early ’90s, but also have a remarkable talent for allowing this range of foundational influences to flourish in their music in ways that would make all those bands damned proud — as you’ll see when you listen to “Pervert the Pious“, the absolutely electrifying song we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

PURE WRATH: “THE FORLORN SOLDIER”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 102020
 

 

(The following is Mike Johnson‘s review of the new album by the Indonesian black metal band Pure Wrath, which was released on March 6th by Debemur Morti Productions.)

It is strange to think how innovation of technology has allowed us to reach anyone around the world. However it also seems to have been accompanied by a major decrease in the educational focus on the history of other countries around the globe. Being educated in America, classroom sessions regarding history only focus on major events within American history. The rest of the world’s history is glazed over for almost the entirety of the year.

Pure Wrath, however, does their part to change this with their newest release entitled The Forlorn Soldier. Hailing from Indonesia, Ryo, the sole member, offers a unique blend of Atmospheric Black Metal that has strong Winterfylleth, Saor, Panopticon, and Sojourner influences. But it is interesting for other reasons as well. Continue reading »

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