OVERFLOWING STREAMS: WOLFHEART, WARDRUNA, DEVANGELIC, ON THORNS I LAY, TETHRA, BLAZE OF SORROW, DÄMMERFARBEN, EXHORDER, TRIBE OF PAZUZU, TURMION KÄTILÖT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 222020
 

 

I’m about to drive to Portland with friends to take in a mainly acoustic show by Austin Lunn (Panopticon), Aerial Ruin, and Mike Scheidt of Yob. That means I probably won’t have a SHADES OF BLACK column on Sunday, though I’ve already written a premiere for that day, so we won’t leave you completely lonesome tomorrow. As for today, I’ve resorted to the “Overflowing Streams” format because there are SO MANY new songs and videos I’ve been enjoying that I didn’t want to cut the list back, and don’t have time to write about them.

Almost everything here surfaced over the last 48 hours. Perhaps needless to say, there’s a lot of variety on offer. I don’t expect anyone (but me) to get a kick out of all this, but hopefully you’ll find at least one or two things to like. Continue reading »

CULT OF FIRE: “MOKSHA / NIRVANA”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Feb 212020
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new double-album by the one-of-a-kind Czech band Cult of Fire, which has been released today.)

Czech Black Metal collective Cult of Fire have never been ones to follow the stereotypical path.

Whereas much, if not most, Black Metal styles itself as adversarial – not surprising considering the genre’s rebellious roots – Cult of Fire have always seem less concerned with pushing back against the outside world and more focussed on exploring their own inner world, taking instead their inspiration from Buddhist teachings and Vedic mysticism.

In their own way, of course, this makes them just as iconoclastic as the most rabidly anti-Christian of tremolo-abusers, except that instead of seeking to define themselves by what they’re against, Cult of Fire seek only to define (or redefine) who they are, their true spiritual selves.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising then that the band’s latest musical exploration (released digitally today, with a physical release following next month) comprises a double-disc duology of scorching sounds and meditative moodscapes, as we all know that the search for wisdom is both endless and eternal, and knows no bounds. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AODON — “L’INFIME”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 212020
 

 

The French metal band Aodon made an auspicious debut with their 2016 album Sharphood, but in the roughly four years since then, the band’s composer, lead guitarist, drummer, and screamer M-kha has clearly taken giant strides in the realization of his musical visions, as revealed on Aodon‘s new album 11069, which will be released by Willowtip Records on March 27th. The music here, which is richly textured, seamlessly combines black metal with elements of post-metal, creating immersive and emotionally evocative atmospheric sensations with harrowing intensity, blending mesmerizing melodies capable of both inducing uneasy reveries and soaring to epic heights while also channeling fury and despair with spine-tingling power.

The first single from the album, “Les Rayons“, was a rapid introduction to many of these aspects of 11069, and today we have further evidence of the album’s gripping dynamism through our premiere of the multi-faceted track “L’Infime“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CULT BURIAL — “SORROW”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 212020
 

 

One month ago we came across the debut release of a one-person project from London named Cult Burial. It was a single song named “Consumed“, and its amalgamation of black, death, and doom metal did indeed prove to be an all-consuming experience that enveloped listeners in the bleak and desperate sensations channeled by the music’s creator. Given the striking impression made by that first release, we jumped at the chance to present Cult Burial’s second single today, a track called “Sorrow“.

The lyrics of the new song are no more hopeful than those in “Consumed”, and the music is no less intense. Harrowing roars and mind-scraping shrieks reverberate above moody bass moans, head-hooking drum patterns, feverish riffing, and wailing ethereal tones which add a disturbing aura of eeriness to the music’s sense of inner tension and angst. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): WHITE NIGHTS, ФИЛАНТРОПЪ, NYRST

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 202020
 

 

Did you enjoy the musical chocolates in Part 1 of today’s round-up? I hope you did, and Ii hope you’ll like what’s next, which continues following the theme of diversity that was evident in the first installment.

WHITE NIGHTS

One look at the cover art (above) for White Nights‘ debut EP, Into the Lap of the Ancient Mother, gave me an inkling that it wasn’t going to be the kind of music I usually expect from Iron Bonehead Productions — and it isn’t. Actually, there are two different covers, one for the CD edition and one for the vinyl edition. Here’s the other one: Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: ICON OF PHOBOS / KATHEKSIS — “PRIMAL DEATH RITES”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 202020
 

 

It’s always a pleasure to find reasons to install the artwork of Paolo Girardi at the top of our page, and we have that pleasure again today. It’s an even greater pleasure when we discover that the music his creations introduce is just as striking as the art, which is true here.

On this occasion Signore Girardi‘s eye-catching painting adorns a split release entitled Primal Death Rites that will be released by the Los Angeles-based label The Elegy Ensemble on February 20th (today!). It includes one track each by the black metal bands Icon of Phobos and Katheksis, and to help spread the word we’re streaming both of them for you today. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): DESTROYED IN SECONDS, HEAD OF THE DEMON, KORGONTHURUS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Feb 202020
 

 

Imagine that you like chocolates (might not take any imagination). Imagine finding yourself in a giant chocolate store that’s offering free samples of hundreds of confections. No way you can try everything, and your stomach would explode even if you could. And then some friends walk in who’ve already tried a lot of what’s on offer and point out the really good stuff. Problem solved!

That’s kind of how today’s two-part round-up came together. Enjoy all the chocolates!

DESTROYED IN SECONDS

Here’s a band that most of the core group of hooligans at NCS really like, I think due in part to the band’s performance at Maryland Deathfest 2018, which most of us got to see. I received or saw messages from a lot of them soon after Destroyed In Seconds previewed the title track from their new album Divide and Devour, which they’re releasing on April 24th. It kicks a lot of ass. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NECROBODE — “SOB O FEITIÇO DO NECROBODE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 192020
 

 

The music of Necrobode is as infernally bestial, as merciless, and as death-crowned as all their outward trappings would suggest, from the cadaverous horned lord on the cover of their new album to their own savage, inverted-cross-wearing, spiked-gauntlet-brandishing visages. Their brand of corrosive black/death is sadistically brutalizing, mind-mauling, and vicious. But as you’re about to discover, there’s a lot more to their debut album besides naked hostility and a fiendish disregard for your mental and physical welfare.

That album, Sob o Feitiço do Necrobode, will be released on February 21st by Iron Bonehead Productions, a label that clearly knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff in sifting through the vast harvests of extreme metal. And today we’re bringing you a complete stream of the record — preceded by the following introductory review. Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2019: BULL ELEPHANT / DIMAEON / TRIANGLE FACE

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Feb 192020
 

 

(In this article Andy Synn combines reviews of three fine, stylistically divergent albums released in 2019 — by Bull Elephant (UK), Dimaeon (Netherlands), and Triangle Face (UK).)

Ok, Ok… I promise this will (probably) be the last time I go on about albums from last year that you and I may have otherwise skipped over or missed out on.

After all, it’s getting towards the end of February now, and the deluge of new releases and upcoming albums is really starting to ramp up, so if I don’t want to fall behind (any more than I already have done) then I really need to start focussing on 2020.

But I couldn’t let these three artists/albums pass by without making a bit of fuss over them, as while I didn’t get around to covering them when they were first released, I’ve spent quite a lot of time listening to them all recently, and needed to share my enthusiasm with you! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LYING FIGURES

 Interviews  No Responses »
Feb 192020
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us another interview, and this time he amicably interrogates two members of the French death-doom band Lying Figures, whose debut album arrived in 2017 and who are now working on a successor to that one.)

Lying Figures from the French city of Nancy isn’t the most active band in the world. They started to forge their death doom metal slowly in 2008, and their EPs From Nowhere To Nothing and A World Of My Own appeared in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Their full-length work The Abstract Escape saw the light of day three years after, and this Katatonia-inspired material drew the attention of Brave Murder Day fans easily.

Well, Lying Figures didn’t turn int0 a cult band the very day this album was born, but they’re interesting enough to approach them and learn more about the band’s current status. Matthieu Burgaud (guitars) and Frédéric Simon (bass) eagerly helped me with that. Continue reading »

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