AN NCS PREMIERE: IN TENEBRIZ — “BITTER WINE OF SUMMER”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 102020
 

 

How long ago has it been since I read the great Ray Bradbury‘s Dandelion Wine? Long enough that the passage of years could be measured as a geologic epoch. And I hadn’t thought of the book in a very long time until seeing the title of the new album by In Tenebriz, Bitter Wine of Summer, and reading that the allusion to Dandelion Wine was no accident. That set my memory trolling back through the years, rekindling thoughts of that tale about the summer of two young boys in a fictional place called Green Town, and the experiences it captured of joy, sorrow, youth and old age, terror and fantasy, and the realization that death comes for us all. I re-discovered this passage from the novel, spoken from the mind of its protagonist:

“So if trolleys and runabouts and friends and near friends can go away for a while or go away forever, or rust, or fall apart or die, and if people can be murdered, and if someone like great-grandma, who was going to live forever, can die… if all of this is true… then… I, Douglas Spaulding some day, must…”

Drawing inspiration from Dandelion Wine is a rarity in the world of extreme metal (does anyone know of another instance?). The album’s cover art is, to put it mildly, also an exception. It is also connected to the music, as described by the labels who are releasing the album, but the words probably come from the man behind this Russian atmospheric black metal band: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEATH COURIER — “AS HEAVEN BLENDS WITH ROT”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Apr 092020
 

 

The name Death Courier has a history in the Greek metal scene that goes back to the first of their early demos in 1987, and with an extended break that began after the release of their 1992 debut album (Demise), that name is still alive. Their first studio after the band revived, Perimortem, was released in 2013, and now a long seven years afterward Transcending Obscurity Records has set June 5th as the due date for Death Courier’s third record, Necrotic Verses.

The first song released for listening off the new album was “Mourning Ecstasy“. It’s a fast death/thrashing escapade — an electrifying torrent of thunderous drumming, ecstatically vicious riffing that seethes and pummels, and vocals that sound like a rabid mastiff. It’s over almost before you know it, but the kind of song that leaves you hungry for more, which is why it made a good choice for the album’s first teaser.

But now it’s time for all you miscreants to be fed again, and we’re here to help stuff your head with graveyard nutrients as we premiere a song that reveals other dimensions of Death Courier‘s morbid and malevolent talents. Continue reading »

 LEBENSSUCHT: “-237,15°C”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 092020
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the anxiously awaited debut album by the German/Austrian/Belgian band Lebenssucht, which was released on April 7th through Thanatoskult.)

I don’t have kids (nor do I want them) but I have to imagine that the feeling I get watching certain bands develop is the same one which a proud parent must get when watching their child first learn to walk, or talk… or give up their dreams and settle into a life of soul-crushing drudgery.

Ok, maybe it’s not exactly the same, but it’s definitely rewarding to see bands you’re invested in, particularly ones you’ve been following since their very beginning, living up to their potential.

Case in point, multinational Black Metal collective Lebenssucht, who I/we have been following at NCS since their debut EP, Fucking my Knife, have finally released their first full-length album this week, and it’s one hell of a ride. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARMNATT — “DENSE FOG”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 092020
 

 

Like a lusting vampyric demon stinking of sulphur and hungry for innocent flesh, the Portuguese black metal band Armnatt have stoked their hate, strengthened their poisonous spells, and risen again from their catacombs with a second album, six years after their Darkness Times debut. This new one, Dense Fog, will be released on May 1st by Signal Rex, and today we premiere the title track.

As manifested through this new album, Armnatt have created music that is stripped-down, raw, and carnal, as well as supernatural, deeply sinister, and perversely seductive, its cruelty matched by its chilling charisma. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: BLACK CURSE, HORNWOOD FELL, CZERŃ, LESSER GLOW, TERRESTRIAL HOSPICE, AEONIAN SORROW-CLOUDS, THE COMET IS COMING, AYYUR, HEGEMONY

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 092020
 

 

Here we go again. I decided not to alphabetize the bands today, but focused instead on structuring this a bit like a playlist of new music, with some ebb and flow and movement among genres as you go through it. I also threw in a curveball, as you’ll see.

BLACK CURSE (U.S.)

Chaotic, violent black/death with mutilating levels of distortion and explosive skull-busting rhythms, coupled with an amalgam of malevolent roars, grotesque growls, unhinged shrieks, and freaked-out, ear-shredding leads. The music also devolves into massive doom stomps saturated by musical misery and accented by gouts of splintering pain. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VALLEYS — “MOON CHILD”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 082020
 

 

Last October Tragic Hero Records released the powerhouse third album by the North Carolina metalcore band Valleys. Aptly entitled Fearless, it represented the culmination of a process of perseverance, with themes that focused on life-changing personal struggles, as well as symbolism directed to the country’s tumultuous political climate and social unrest, inspired by a desire to speak up for the marginalized among us who can’t be heard.

Today we’re presenting a mysterious (and eventually gore-ridden) music video for one of the most explosive and head-spinning tracks on the album, a song called “Moon Child“, along with an interview of the band that focuses on that video as well as the music. Continue reading »

DERANGED: “DEEDS OF RUTHLESS VIOLENCE”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 082020
 

 

(Here’s Vonlughlio’s review and recommendation of the new album by the Swedish death metal band Deranged, who began life in 1991, and whose latest full-length is out now via Agonia Records.)

I am now here to write about a band I have been a fan of since the late ’90s and believe have always been consistent in their vision of BDM over the years. That band is Sweden’s Deranged and they just released Deeds of Ruthless Violence on March 27th via Agonia Records.

This is one band whose music I have enjoyed and still ask myself why it does not have the recognition it should. I mean, sure, they have fans around the world and are well-respected but I wish more for this project. They have been consistent with their art and vision and have released music that has transcended the test of time. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DOWNCROSS — “CURRENT TOWARDS END”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 082020
 

 

The Belarusian black metal band Downcross made a startling debut with their first album, Mysteries of Left Path. To paraphrase what we wrote in introducing our premiere of the album early last year, every one of the eight tracks on the album was emotionally powerful, and powerful in the production of their sound. They included magnetically attractive melodic hooks and shifts among contrasting moods within each song — from cold-hearted to glorious, from bereft to barbaric, and much more.

There was also heavyweight heft in the low end, and tremendous, penetrating, gleaming vibrancy in the guitar tones (without becoming completely “clean” in their tone). The drumming rocked and romped as often as it thundered, and there were as many hook-laden strummed chords as the dense wash of blazing tremolo vibrations.

The duo of vocalist/drummer Ldzmr and guitarist Dzmtr quickly proved that their debut was no fluke, because their second album (which we also premiered last fall), What Light Covers Not, was also tremendously good, and further vivid evidence that Downcross are gifted songwriters. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ECLIPSE OF THE SUN — “WORLD WITHOUT WORDS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 072020
 

 

Five years on from their debut album Daimonion, the Hungarian band Eclipse of the Sun now return with a second full-length, Brave Never World. It presents music that has evolved into an epic formulation of doom/death metal, combining dramatically varying vocals, dark melodies, granite-heavy riffs, and astute use of symphonics, which in union present stirring yet gloom-cloaked experiences on a monumental scale, interwoven with passages of poignant sorrow.

The labels that will release the album on April 25th, Satanath Records and More Hate Productions, recommend it for fans of Isole, Paradise Lost, Swallow The Sun, My Dying Bride, and Amorphis, which of course is very good company to be in. Apart from the appeal of those references, we also have tangible evidence of what Eclipse of the Sun have accomplished on this new album, because today we’re premiering a multi-faceted and relentlessly gripping song called “World Without Words“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SINISTRAL KING — “SERPENT UNCOILING”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 072020
 

 

Sinistral King is a new formation that only began to take shape in 2018, but its members are not newcomers to the dark musical arts of death and black metal which form the backbone of this new band’s music, because Sinistral King‘s line-up features members of Unlight (Germany), Triumph of Death (Swizterland), and Vredehammer (Norway). But while each of the members brought their own experiences and influences to this new endeavor, they have not been confined by them, but have also integrated other stylistic ingredients into their songwriting and execution, which is richly displayed on their debut album, Serpent Uncoiling.

This new record consists of five significant tracks, each of which creates dramatic contrasts yet also draws all the differing movements together in unifying ways that manifest pitch-black occult darkness. Their success in doing so is vividly displayed by the album’s title track, which we’re premiering today in advance of the album’s release by Vendetta Records on April 24th. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries