MONTE LUNA: “DROWNERS’ WIVES”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 302019
 

 

(This is Todd Manning‘s enthusiastic review of the new album by the Texas band Monte Luna, which is out now via Argonauta Records.)

In 2017, Monte Luna dropped their debut full-length on an unsuspecting world, a sonic concoction of crushing sludge and doom mixed with psychedelic tones of weird horror and fantasy. Now they have returned like a lost tribe of barbarians charging across the wasteland. Their follow-up, Drowners’ Wives, was released on October 4th. courtesy of Italian label Argonauta Records.

For those who heard the massive sweep of the duo’s self-titled debut, they will be glad to know that the band have held onto their previous ambition. Yet the path to Doom-ridden bliss is different than before. Where in the past guitarist/vocalist James Clarke pounded out massive Conan-inspired riffage while drummer Phil Hook hammered away at Godflesh-like beats, Drowners’ Wives lets the Melvins influence shine though, primarily through massive vocal hooks. At the same time, there is a thick layer of psychedelia applied liberally over the proceedings that contributes greatly to the overall character of the album. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OBSIDIAN TONGUE — “RETURN TO THE FIELDS OF VIOLET”

 Premieres  6 Responses »
Oct 292019
 

 

It has been a long wait, six years now since Obsidian Tongue‘s wonderful second album, A Nest of Ravens in the Throat of Time, albeit with some great work in evidence through their track “The Lakeside Redemption” on a four-way split in 2015 (Northeastern Hymns). In that time guitarist/vocalist Brendan Hayter has joined forces with a new drummer, the formidable Ray Capizzo of Falls of Rauros (and a live member of Panopticon), and together — at last — they have completed a third full-length, simply entitled Volume III.

Today it’s our great pleasure not only to assist in announcing this Maine band’s new album — which will be released by Bindrune Recordings on January 31, 2020 — but also to premiere a stunning song from the record named “Return to the Fields of Violet“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DIE KUNST DER FINSTERNIS — “REVENANT IN A PHANTOM WORLD (QUEEN OF OWLS ADDENDUM)”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 292019
 

 

“Die Kunst der Finsternis plays Horror Metal exclusively.” So says this Sweden-based band, the macabre solo project of Deacon D. (also a fixture in Hetroertzen), and truer words were never spoken. There is equal truth in the title of the band’s third album, Revenant in a Phantom World (Queen of Owls Addendum), because the music does indeed sound like the expressions of one who has known death and returned from its domain to haunt the living, or to feed upon their blood. It also captures the transformation that listeners risk by becoming immersed in its deeply chilling sensations.

It’s the kind of album that kindles the imagination, in very discomfiting ways, and perhaps is best described by the visions it spawns rather than by a dissection of its ingredients, which include bits and pieces of black metal, death metal, gothic melody, and a cavalcade of demonic voices, all interwoven through the experimental and expressionistic imaginings of its creator. Continue reading »

BACK AND FORTH: DEIVOS, PERIHELION, REVEL IN FLESH, OSI AND THE JUPITER, NEKRO DRUNKZ, MENTAL CAVITY

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Oct 292019
 

 

I really like all the songs you’ll find below. Only problem is that I don’t have much time to write about them, so I’m forced to just blurt some brief blurbs.

You may have noticed that I have a different title for this post than the usual “SEEN AND HEARD“. That’s because some of these songs go hard and some go a bit softer in comparison, and I’ve arranged them in alternating fashion (until we get to the end, when I’ve doubled down on the hard stuff)

DEIVOS

What a welcome return this is. The Polish death metal destroyers Deivos have a sixth album named Casus Belli that’s headed in our direction via Selfmadegod Records, with a November 29 release date. The first advance track, “Ataraxy“, is what I’ve picked to launch this round-up. Continue reading »

DAWN RAY’D / UNDERDARK / ARBORICIDIO – NOTTINGHAM 25/10/19

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 292019
 

 

(For the second day in a row we have a show review by Andy Synn, this time devoted to performances by Dawn Ray’d, Underdark, and Arboricidio in Andy’s hometown of Nottingham, UK, on October 25th, 2019.)

Two shows in two days? How rock and/or roll of me!

All joking aside, seeing two of the UK Metal scene’s current standard-bearers – Conjurer yesterday, Dawn Ray’d tonight – playing my home town was an opportunity I wasn’t going to miss, especially since the latter show (the one you’re about to read about) was being held at Stuck On A Name Studios, which is where I/we practice and record too! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MORTE

 Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 292019
 

 

(With pleasure, we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Nicolás Ballarini, drummer and co-founder of the Argentinian death metal band Morte, along with excerpts of their music.)

You know – I’m always greedy for almost everything with a “doom” tag upon it. Thus I’ve found Morte from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and it was quite an awkward situation ‘cause, listening to their violent and bloody album Miasma, I started to calculate how much doom they really have in their death.

Yes, it’s the same controversial situation as with Cianide or Autopsy, when death metal influences certainly dominate over everything, but so what? Here we have this interview with Morte’s drummer Nicolás Ballarini, and as you will get, this band absolutely fits the “no clean singing” tag. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LVXCAELIS — “MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Oct 282019
 

 

Now fourteen years into their existence, the Chilean black metal band LvxCaelis have produced their strongest work yet, a ravishing third album entitled Maher Shalal Hash Baz that will be released by Lamech Records, fittingly on October 31st.

Pursuing ancient occult and mystical themes across seven tracks, the trio of Irad (guitars/vocals), Nimrod (bass), and Frater B. (drums) create a sonic tableau of varying sensations, from plundering cruelty to chilling reverence, from crushing bleakness to carnal swagger, from terrifying splendor to chaotic ecstasy — and all of it cloaked with a mantle of menace and mystery. Today we give you the chance to hear all of it. Continue reading »

CONJURER / EARTH MOVES / ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE – NOTTINGHAM 24/10/19

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 282019
 

 

(Andy Synn turned in this review of the performances by Conjurer, Earth Moves, and Armed for Apocalypse on October 24, 2019, in Nottingham, UK.)

Despite all evidence (or lack thereof) to the contrary, I’ve actually been to quite a few gigs this year (including three different festivals), even though I haven’t necessarily been writing about them all.

As a matter of fact, I even saw tonight’s openers headline a different venue here in Nottingham a few months back, and although I didn’t end up reviewing that particular show it definitely made me keen to get down this evening in time for the early start (with doors opening just after 18:30) so I could catch them again! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: REMOTE VIEWING — “A DOG IN THE OVEN”

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Oct 282019
 

 

As we all know, musical heaviness comes in different shapes and sizes. Heaviness, for example, might be measured by the brute-force impact of low-frequency distortion and punishing drumwork. On the other hand, it might be gauged by a measure of emotional weight, by the transmission through bleak melody and tormented vocals of pain, grief, and despair. The song we’re presenting today by the London band Remote Viewing combines heaviness in both of those senses, and the consequences can be devastating.

“A Dog In The Oven” is the name of the track we’re premiering, and it’s one of eight on the band’s new album, It’s Better This Way, which will be released on November 29th by Sludgelord Records. Continue reading »

SARTEGOS: THE PREMIERE OF “AS DEVESAS SOM DOS LOBOS” AND A REVIEW OF “O SANGUE DA NOITE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 282019
 

 

(On November 29th I, Voidhanger Records, in collaboration with Blood Harvest Records, will release the debut album of the Galician black metal band Sartegos. Today we’re premiering a song from the album, preceded by a review of the album by guest contributor Conchobar.)

 

“Behold, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into it.
May it be cursed by those who curse the day — those prepared to rouse Leviathan. May its morning stars grow dark; may it wait in vain for daylight; may it not see the breaking of dawn.…”

Job 3:7-9.

Darkness has an odd ontology; the metaphysics of night are pluripotent but also polysemic. Shadow has with it the dusky, twilit sense of a lessening, but also the waxing of a distance from daylit realities. There is, as night advances, a thickness and a viscosity in its tendrils – it stains and layers the fading of light. And as it advances, it consumes. Not ravenously, but purposively, relentlessly, indefatigably. The negentropic islands of solar reality are slowly blotted out by the obscurations of a lunar regime.That nocturnal density – its flows and coalescences, pulses and coagulations, are the blood of the night – o sangue da noite. Continue reading »

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