AN NCS PREMIERE: ARCADA — “LUNAR POSSESSION”

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Feb 262020
 

 

It sometimes happens that we come across an eye-opening advance song from a forthcoming record by a band we aren’t familiar with, and then unexpectedly get the chance to present another song from the album ourselves, and that’s what happened here.

Earlier this month I encountered the tremendous title track from Projections, the first full-length by the Peruvian black metal band Arcada, which adds to a discography that includes three demos and an EP. The song is a multifaceted experience, one that includes elements suggestive of unearthly grandeur and reverence but also channels moods of anguish and hysteria. A wailing and weeping sound emerges in one of the recurring melodic motifs, and there’s a mournful moodiness in the bass tones. The vocals themselves seem wildly distraught (as well as vicious), and they’re wide-ranging in their expressions, though all the expressions are scarily intense.

And now we present further proof of Arcada‘s impressive talents in a song from Projections called “Lunar Possessions“. Continue reading »

BLACK ROYAL: “FIREBRIDE”

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Feb 262020
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Finland’s Black Royal, which was released by Suicide Records on February 14th.)

Maybe it’s just me (I don’t think it is, but you never know) but it seems like the last several years have seen quite a lot of bands, both old and new, turning back to the “old school” for inspiration.

And while there are lots of speculative, pseudo-psychological reasons for why this might be so (there’s certainly something to be said for the idea that during unsettling or uncertain times we’re more likely to cling to what’s familiar), I honestly think that the best explanation for this recent “old school” resurgence is that quite a lot of bands have simply grown dissatisfied with what more modern trends have to offer them (and, in turn, demand from them).

Of course, this isn’t necessarily anything all that new. Metal has, after all, often been quite an insular scene, with a large fixation on its own history, and practically every year sees the emergence of yet another wave of “retro” groups trying to recapture the spirit and the sound of Metal’s “golden age”… mostly without really adding anything to it.

But, of late, I’ve really taken note of how many bands have been trying to do more than just imitate the classics by taking and twisting them into fresh new shapes, repurposing clichéd ideas for new purposes, and by mixing and matching “timeless” elements in ways which would once have been unthinkable.

I’m sure we can all think of lots of current/recent examples of this (Chapel of Disease immediately spring to mind). But the one I want to bring your attention to today is the brilliant second album from Finnish riffmongers Black Royal. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ANTICHRISTIAN (TSJUDER, BEATEN TO DEATH, GOTHMINISTER)

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Feb 262020
 

 

(Karina Noctum conducted this extensive interview with the prolific and multi-faceted drummer AntiChristian, touching upon many subjects, including the activities of three of the very different main bands he now plays in.)

AntiChristian is a Norwegian drummer known for playing in Tsjuder and Gothminister. He also plays in a less-known band called Beaten to Death that is getting increasingly more recognition both in Norway and elsewhere. This interview includes some in-depth questions about BtD since it is a pretty interesting and unique band that picked up my attention since the beginning. In addition to drum-talking, there is also some cool news when it comes to Tsjuder and Gothminister, which will most likely be topics for in-depth interviews in the future. Continue reading »

LYCHGATE: “ALSO SPRACH FUTURA”

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Feb 252020
 

 

(This is Todd Manning‘s review of the new EP by the UK-based progressive black/doom band Lychgate, which will soon be released by Debemur Morti Productions.)

It’s getting hard to ignore Lychgate, not that anyone should be trying. This UK based Extreme Metal band continue to push their awe-inspiring blend of Black Metal, Death, and Doom into more progressive and experimental realms with each release, and their latest EP is a case in point. Also sprach Futura is due out on Debemur Morti Productions on March 13th and illustrates beyond any doubt that Lychgate is one of the most exciting bands going right now. Continue reading »

PSYCHOTIC WALTZ: “THE GOD-SHAPED VOID”

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Feb 252020
 

 

(Seattle-based NCS contributor Gonzo brings us this review of the the fifth studio album by U.S. progressive metal pioneers Psychotic Waltz, and their first music in 23 years, released on February 14th by InsideOutMusic.)

Maybe it’s just me, but I love it when a criminally underrated band emerges from the ether after years of radio silence and releases some of their best work. Since that seems to be the trend lately for metal bands, reformed prog metal gurus Psychotic Waltz have decided to follow suit, surprising the world with the release of their newest album, The God-Shaped Void. Continue reading »

REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER: “ASCENSION”

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Feb 242020
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the French band Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, which is set for release by Season of Mist on February 28th.)

One thing which struck me, in a way that it didn’t first time around, when listening back to the first two albums from underrated Black Metal coterie Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, was just how much their sound, their style, and their whole approach, reminds me of Abigail Williams.

Seriously, just take a listen to the slow-burning menace and spiteful savagery of songs like “They Came… To Take Us” and “The Incandescent March” (from 2015’s Exile) and try to tell me you don’t see/hear the resemblance to Ken Sorceron and co. circa In The Absence of Light/Becoming.

Of course the fearsome French five-piece are far more than just a European derivative of their American cousins, and others have also pointed out some of the band’s sonic similarities to artists like Altar of Plagues, Amenra, and their countrymen in Celeste too, but now that I’ve made this connection in my mind it’s impossible for me to un-hear it.

It also makes me wonder whether the reason for the band’s relatively low profile, at least when compared to some of the French scene, might be because – much like Abigail Williams – they don’t neatly fit into some people’s perceptions of what a Black Metal band should sound like or how they’re supposed to present themselves.

But, just one listen to Ascension makes me think that not only are Regarde Les Hommes Tomber fully aware of all this, they also don’t give a damn about fitting neatly into anyone’s preconceptions. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GOHRGONE — “WEAK ONES DECEIVED”

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Feb 242020
 

 

In the well-made video we’re about to present, an ancient warrior draws his sword and makes his way by torchlight into a deep and ominous cavern, drawing closer and closer to the three hooded figures he seeks, three blind sisters who share only a single eye among themselves. By stealth he steals the eye from the witches, holding it as ransom until they tell him what he wishes to know.

Also lit by torchlight, the French death metal band Gohrgone also appear in the video, performing “Weak Ones Deceived“, a song from their most recent album In Oculis, with increasingly harrowing intensity, matching the tension and frightfulness of the tale that’s also depicted in the film. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ETHIR ANDUIN — “LAST STRUGGLE”

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Feb 242020
 

 

Alexander Ivanovich Vvedensky was a Russian poet who died in 1941 at the age of 37, and whose work is said to have had a formidable influence on “unofficial” and avant-garde art during and after the times of the Soviet Union, though his writing was little-known in Russia until long after his death. During his life he faced repeated arrest and died while being transported to one of Stalin’s Gulags.

One of Vvedensky’s poems, “Potets“, recounts the experiences and reflections of a dying man, including his last conversations with his sons. The poem inspired the Russian band Ethir Anduin to create the song we’re premiering today from Ethir Anduin‘s new album, Pathway To Eternity. The Agony. It is one of eight substantial tracks on the album (collectively they amount to 80 minutes of music), each one with its own concept, but in the aggregate forming a diverse yet unified whole.

The album, which will be released by GrimmDistribution on March 16th, also marks a turning point for Ethir Anduin. The band was formed in 2006 as the solo project of A.V. Fenrir, and while guest vocalists appeared among the seven albums preceding this one, Ethir Anduin now has an official vocalist named Luka, who makes her first appearance with the project on this new album. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TETHRA

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Feb 242020
 

 

(This new interview by Comrade Aleks takes us through an extended discussion with vocalist/lyricist Clode Tethra and guitarist Federico Monti , members of the Italian death-doom band Tethra, whose new album will soon be released by Black Lion Records.)

Tethra are a death doom band from Italian Novara, Tethra spend their twelfth year on the scene, and there are two full-lengths plus one EP in itheir discography. Oh, correction – their third album Empire Of The Void is planned to be released by Black Lion Records on the 20th of March.

The album sounds both familiar and refreshingly new. Familiar because it radiates that warm melancholic vibe of classic mid-tempo melodic doom death. Refreshing because of its potent sound and its richness. It’s interesting how Tethra survive – and not just survive but succeed, as the only original member is Clode Tethra, who has provided both deep growling vocals and amazing clean singing in the band since 2008. Other members are relatively new, including guitarist Federico Monti who just left the thrash death band Total Death in order to join Tethra in 2017. Clode and Federico tell Tethra’s story tonight. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: INHUMAN — “CAREFUL WHAT YOU FEAR”

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Feb 232020
 

 

At some point in the past, I forget when, one of my NCS comrades argued within our group that we should be more careful in our description of a certain sub-genre of death metal, to make clear that it’s really not a single monolithic sub-genre at all.

If memory serves, he contended that the term “tech-death” should be reserved for bands (many of whom are in vogue these days) who rely on blizzards of frantically discharged, maniacally veering notes and hyperventilating drum work, i.e., the kind of stuff that seems mainly designed to showcase speed and dexterity, everything dialed up to 11, without necessarily producing anything coherent — and sometimes forgetting the DEATH METAL part of the genre descriptor.

On the other hand, he argued, the term “technical death metal” — or as I might call it, technical DEATH METAL — should be reserved for bands who are really death metal groups at heart, with all the gruesome savagery that term usually connotes, but accent their barbarism with technically impressive accents, and do so in service to actual structured songs rather than just putting on chaotic displays of instrumental pyrotechnics.

Which brings us to Inhuman from Costa Rica. Continue reading »

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