THE SYNN REPORT (PART 113): IMPLORE

 Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT  1 Response »
Sep 302019
 

 

(For this month’s Synn Report, Andy delves into the discography of the German band Implore, including their latest full-length, just released by Century Media.)

Recommended for fans of: Nasum,Trap Them, Ancst

Sometimes the self-imposed restrictions I’ve put in place around this column do make things a little difficult.

Case in point, simply picking three bands for the “Recommended for fans of…” section above proved to be a surprisingly difficult task, as Implore’s sound could potentially appeal to a wide range of listeners.

At their heart the quartet are a belligerent Death/Grind act, but this description doesn’t tell the full story, as while the speed and structure of the tracks recalls Grindcore godfathers like Nasum and Rotten Sound, and their meaty, Swe-Death guitar tone is equal parts Grave and Dismember, there’s also a distinct Crust/Hardcore element that would appeal to fans of everyone from Earth Crisis to Martyrdöd, as well as a touch of blackened spite reminiscent of Anaal Nathrakh at their grindiest, and some hook-heavy riffs and melodies that aren’t a million miles from At The Gates or Darkest Hour at their punkiest.

But Implore don’t actually sound exactly like any of these bands when all is said and done. They just happen to hit that sweet spot where fans of these bands, if they’re open-minded enough, will be able to appreciate what they do, no matter whereabouts on the Metal spectrum they come from. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: VOID PRAYER, VERHEERER, DISHARMONY, BLOT & BOD, DIE KUNST DER FINSTERNIS, LESATH

 SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Sep 302019
 

 

I can’t think of anything very coherent to say by way of introduction this week, perhaps because the music below has rendered me incoherent. [Correction: more incoherent.] So let’s just go right in:

VOID PRAYER

Void Prayer (previously known as Cave Ritual) are from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its members are part of the Black Plague Circle, which also includes Nigrum Ignis Circuli, Deathcircle, Niteris, and Obskuritatem. Their previous releases under the Void Prayer name include a 2014 self-titled demo and a 2017 debut album, Stillbirth From the Psychotic Void, neither of which I’ve heard, but about which I’ve heard good things.

The Signal Rex label will be releasing a new Void Prayer three-track promo tape called L’appel du vide (“the call of the void”), and the first song in this collection is its title track. Continue reading »

HIGHER CRITICISM: SLAYER (PART 10) — “GOD HATES US ALL”

 Album Reviews  26 Responses »
Sep 302019
 

 

(Forging ahead with a series devoted to a retrospective chronological analysis of the discography of Slayer, today TheMadIsraeli has made his way to the band’s 2001 album God Hates Us All. Links to all preceding segments of the series are at the end of the writing.)

God Hates Us All is a great album.  If you disagree, you’re wrong.  If you are the type to make assertions that it’s nu-metal or Slipknot-esque, wrong again.  If you disagree that this is the most brutal and unrelenting Slayer have been in their entire career (yes really) you are wrong one more time.

You can dislike the more personally grounded lyrics and the degree of profanity, sure, but no sane person who likes metal should dislike the music itself, and if you once did, maybe it’s time to revisit and reconsider.  God Hates Us All is about the most bitter, belligerent, and intense album the band have ever written.  It certainly isn’t their best, but it’s a fantastic record with an uncompromising dedication to being as violent and oppressive as possible, and I love it for that.  Tom Araya has never sounded better than on this album, and it includes some of the band’s best material, period. Continue reading »

DEATH RITUALS: SNĚŤ, RATTENFÄNGER, VACIVUS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 292019
 


Sněť

 

I think I’ve figured out what I want to do with today’s usual SHADES OF BLACK column, but before I get to that I couldn’t resist compiling the following stupendous songs by three monstrously good death metal bands. They just seem to belong together. (And because Saturday night carousing led to a slow start to Sunday morning, it may be tomorrow before you’ll see SOB.)

SNĚŤ

In the Czech language Sněť seems to mean gangrene, and that’s the name chosen by the quintet from Prague whose debut demo I’ve chosen to begin the slaughtering. It was released as a name-your-price download in April, and I finally learned about it (recently) thanks to a recent recommendation from Rennie (starkweather), who continues to be a reliable source of great discoveries.

There’s not a lot of music on the Sněť demo, just two compact tracks, the first of which is an instrumental, but man, do they make a titanic impact. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: DEADSPACE

 WAXING LYRICAL  No Responses »
Sep 282019
 

 

(In this week’s edition of Andy Synn‘s series devoted to lyrics in metal, he presents the responses of Chris Gebauer, lyricist/vocalist of the Australian post-apocalyptic black metal band Deadspace.)

Having the platform I have here at NCS is both a privilege and a responsibility, and one I don’t take lightly.

The best thing about it, of course, is being able to introduce our readers, whoever and however many of them they are, to new bands, new albums… new music in general… that they might not have otherwise stumbled across or thought to check out if left solely to their own devices.

In the case of Australian Black Metal crew Deadspace I think I’ve definitely done my part to raise their profile (on this website anyway) as I have, over the course of the last two years, written about the band no less than five times, covering five different releases (two EPs and three albums).

And so, with their most recent full-length record, The Grand Disillusionment, being released just last month, now seemed like the perfect time to make contact with the band’s frontman, Chris Gebauer, to find out exactly what fuels the group’s prolific output and how their story, and their message, has evolved as a response. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 3): SCHAMMASCH, CHERNOTA, FAYENNE, FLUKT, KALT WEISS

 SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Sep 272019
 

 

I did promise there would be a third Part to the SHADES OF BLACK column I began last Sunday. Only thing is, I made the promise three days ago. It’s been one of those weeks.

Since I originally chose the music for what evolved into this Part 3 (choices I made last weekend), a lot more worthy black metal has surfaced, creating some decision-making difficulties. To cut that Gordian knot I just decided to stick with my original choices and add only one thing that emerged this week, which is the first item below. I’ll save everything else for the regular Sunday SOB feature this weekend, and do my best to keep that one from morphing into another multi-part week-long form of musical cell division.

SCHAMMASCH

Perennial NCS favorites Schammasch are following their titanic 2016 album Triangle with a new one named Hearts Of No Light. It’s not as sprawling an album, and undoubtedly will present other signs of change, since that’s been one of the band’s hallmarks as they’ve evolved. I suspect we’ll have a review in the near future, but today the subject is the first “single”, “Rays Like Razors“. Continue reading »

…OR GIVE ME DEATH!

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Sep 272019
 


Photo by Rahul Raveendran

 

(In this article Andy Synn reviews new albums by the Texas band Creeping Death (due for release today via eOne) and Denmark’s Baest (out now on Century Media).)

2019 has, I think we can all agree, been a banner year for Death Metal.

Old bands have rekindled their flames, new bands have exploded into life, and several bands previously on the cusp of greatness have finally stepped up to seize the torch for themselves.

Just off the top of my head the past nine months has seen us graced with albums from (deep breath)… Abominism, Blood Red Throne, Witch Vomit, Gomorrah, Entombed, Krypts, Vitriol, Venom Prison, Disentomb, Devourment, Nucleus, Nocturnus, Tomb Mold, Fuming Mouth, Towering, Iron Flesh, Misery Index, Altarage… with new albums from Hour of Penance, Hideous Divinity, Cattle Decapitation, Konkhra, and more still to come… and that’s barely even scratching the surface!

But there are two albums not mentioned on the above list, one of which came out a few weeks ago, the other which is being released today, that you shouldn’t let pass you by, and those are Venenum by Danish death-dealers Bæst and Wretched Illusions from Texan tormentors Creeping Death. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NEKROSITY — “VOID GAZER”

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Sep 272019
 

 

After a decade-long life that until today had yielded only two demos in 2913 and 2015, the Swedish death metal band Nekrosity have at last released a debut album, the name of which is Void Gazer. It’s the kind of release that obviously reveals not only a deep affection and understanding of death metal’s golden age (as represented on both sides of the Atlantic) but also a level of song-writing and performance skill that displays maturity (three of Nekrosity’s members are also current or former participants in Sadistic Grimnness, whose roots go back 20 years)… and a hell of a lot of hard work. It’s such a damned good album, and so capable of appealing to even jaded fans of old school death metal in its differing formulations, that we enthusiastically seized on the opportunity to help spread the word through this feature.

The reference points are indeed varied — from Grave and Asphyx to Autopsy and Death, from old Entombed and Necrophagia to Morbid Angel and Slayer (and a mention of Demonical among more latter-day bands isn’t out of place either) — but the proficiency with which Nekrosity fluidly combine those influences in Void Gazer makes the album stand out in the vast pack of bands that have been part of the death metal revival over the last decade. Continue reading »

HIGHER CRITICISM: SLAYER (PART 9) — “DIABOLUS IN MUSICA”

 Album Reviews  12 Responses »
Sep 272019
 

 

(This is the ninth installment in a series by TheMadIsraeli devoted to a retrospective chronological analysis of the discography of Slayer, and today’s subject is the band’s 1998 album Diabolus In Musica. Links to the preceding installments are at the end of this post.)

While people point to God Hates Us All quite often, I’ve always felt that the real black sheep in Slayer’s body of work (even more so than the album covered yesterday) is this album right here, new logo and all.

I actually have a soft spot for Diabolus In Musica. I like MOST of it.  It has some awful songs, but the good songs on it are VERY good.  What I respect first and foremost about this album is just Slayer’s willingness to try new things.  I will say, the fact that the album plays to the particular bents it does shouldn’t be a huge surprise, looking at the band’s preceding discography. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: VENEREAL BAPTISM — “REPUGNANT CORONATION OF THE BEAST”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 262019
 

 

On the surface (and it’s the kind of surface you don’t want to touch without wearing surgical-grade antiseptic gloves), the South Texas black metal band Venereal Baptism is naaaasty. From their band name to the outrageous song titles on their new album Repugnant Coronation of the Beast, they just blare filth and depravity (and a complete disregard for modern mores and tender feelings) straight out of a bullhorn. It’s all so over the top in its offensiveness that it might even make you dubious about listening.

However, if you choose not to subject yourself to the full album riot that we’re premiering today on the eve of the record’s release by Osmose Productions, you’ll be missing a balls-to-the-wall thrill-ride, and one that proves to be fiendishly addictive. Continue reading »

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