AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CRYPT DAGGER — “THE GOD FUKK YOU”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 112020
 

 

It didn’t take long for Germany’s Crypt Dagger to rip their way into the consciousness of certain segments of the underground (the crevices inhabited by denizens who like their music blasphemous, belligerent, and brazen). They detonated a two-song demo last year and then soon followed that with the four-track EP Tales of Torment, which one publicist has aptly characterized as “filth-banging, black-as-pitch SPEED METAL with a heavy debt to punk, as well as such surprising influences as Devo, The Mummies, and early B-52s“.

Wasting no time in building on the nasty impressions made by that EP, Crypt Dagger have brewed up a new eight-song inferno entitled From Below, which will be released by Dying Victims Productions on March 27th. It includes those four tracks from Tales of Torment plus three brand new onslaughts, and a cover of Dead Moon‘s “5440 or Fight”, adding up to 24 minutes of mayhem.

Today we’re premiering a lyric video for one of the new songs, the one that indelicately opens the new release: “The God Fukk You“. Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2019: MALEVICH / OUR EARTH IS A TOMB / UMBRA CONSCIENTIA

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Feb 112020
 


Malevich

 

(In this post Andy Synn combines reviews of three recommended albums that we largely overlooked last year.)

This week is, thankfully, notably less busy in terms of new releases than the last one was.

In fact the only ones which really jump out at me are the new Ihsahn EP, Telemark (which, as a long-time fan of the man’s work, I found to be a big disappointment), the highly-anticipated full-length from Godthrymm (about which I’ll be writing more later in the week), and the debut record from Washington-based Black Metallers Izthmi (which I’ll also be writing about very soon).

So, taking advantage of this temporary lull, I’ve decided now is the perfect time for another look back at last year so as to give some belated attention to three artists/albums which I/we otherwise didn’t get around to covering at the time. Continue reading »

RENATO GALLINA (diSEMBOWELMENT): “NIGHTSIDE OF EDEN”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 112020
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us not quite a premiere, but close to it, a sharing of a re-recorded track by the founder of diSEMBOWELMENT, which he introduces as follows.)

Being formed in 1989, Melbourne, Australia’s diSEMBOWELMENT turned out to be one of death-doom metal’s obscure pioneers with their own original sound. The band was active for just four years, but they managed to get a deal from Relapse, and their one and only full-length album Transcendence Into The Peripheral remains one of those innovative albums which is usually mentioned as a “must hear” release.

In 2019, Renato Gallina, the founder behind diSEMBOWELMENT, felt a powerful urge to re-visit the track, “Nightside of Eden“, which was featured on this one and only album. Gallina (as he has stated) was always “incredibly dissatisfied with this version” and has told us that it “was the weakest and most regretful moment on the album”. Almost three decades later, the track, as he stated, “has been re-contextualised and is finally true to how it was originally meant to sound”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HAISSEM — “BLACK TIDE DOMINION”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  3 Responses »
Feb 102020
 

 

Haissem is a melodic black metal band started by Ukrainian musician and vocalist Andrey Tollock in Donetsk in 2014. With him working as the sole performer, Haissem released albums in 2016 (Maze of Perverted Fantasies), 2018 (Panacea for a Cursed Race), and 2019 (Demonotone), as well as a pair of EPs in 2017 and 2019. Over the course of those releases, Haissem’s creativity has expanded from a stylistic affinity for melodic black metal rooted in the ’90s into music of greater variety and more diverse stylistic influence.

Haissem’s newest output is an album named Kuhaghan Tyyn (which means “The Evil Spirit”) that will be released by the band’s new label Satanath Records on March 22nd. As compared to previous records, this one includes a greater use of synthesizers (though they are still subtle) as well as guest performers on specific tracks, including female vocalist Alyona Malytsa, harpist D. Vander, and cellist Alexandra Zima — the latter of whom makes an appearance on the song we’re premiering today , “Black Tide Dominion“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BORGNE — “JE DEVIENS MON PROPRE ABYSSE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 102020
 

 

Originally the solo project of Bornyhake (whose name has been associated with a significant number of other groups), but eventually expanding into a full band, the Swiss entity Borgne released their first album in 1998, and their path since then has resulted in eight more full-lengths. The most recent of those, entitled Y, will be released by Borgne‘s new label Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions on March 6th.

Borgne‘s musical hallmark has been the integration of industrial music into black metal, with an increasingly atmospheric quality that combines with the compulsive mechanical rhythms and intense, ravaging aggression. We have a prime example of these aspects of Borgne‘s music to share with you today, as we premiere the new album’s second track, “Je Deviens Mon Propre Abysse” (I Become My Own Abyss). Continue reading »

A DOUBLE TECH-DEATH EP RECOMMENDATION: FROGG AND ERGODIC

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Feb 102020
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli provides recommendations and brief reviews for two EPs, one by the Connecticut band FROGG released in January of this year, and one by North Carolina’s Ergodic coming out in March.)

Sometimes nothing hits you like a simple, effectively written, and short EP. It’s even more impressive when the band reveal themselves to be onto something at another level, or at least a clearly high-quality band who understand their own influences and where they want to take those influences.  FROGG is such a band, combining a good deal of modern and progressive influences to release a debut EP (A Reptilian Dystopia) that represents, at the very least, a promising new face in the technical death metal space. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: STEELFEST 2020

 Interviews  No Responses »
Feb 102020
 

 

(Atlanta-based NCS contributor Tør is hoping to attend the 2020 edition of Steelfest in Hyvinkää, Finland, on May 15-16. This year the open-air festival will include such bands as Deicide, Sodom, Moonsorrow, Primordial, Venom Inc, Nifelheim, Impaled Nazarene, and many more. In this interview, Tør spoke with Steelfest founder Commander.)

 

Tell us a little bit about the concept and history behind Steelfest. What motivated you to organize it and how is it different from other metal festivals?

Steelfest started over a decade ago, 14-15 years ago, as a private “festival.” In the beginning, it was just local bands, friends, and lots of beer. I think in the first few events, there were more band members than the audience. So just the normal underground activity as usual.

I don’t remember how it happened but one day we just decided to change the venue and try to sell some tickets. We didn’t really think about what kind of bands or genre we wanted to focus on. We just invited bands what we liked at the time, and of course those we could afford to invite.  In the first years, we had seven guys doing this and it really showed in our lineups. So, we didn’t have much of a [cohesive] idea about what we were doing or what kind of festival we wanted to do.

Nowadays, there are just two guys including me behind our events. So in the last four or five years we have founded the path that Steelfest is now on. As we concentrate on the underground and extreme side of black/death metal and other obscure controversial stuff, I would like to think that Steelfest is different because of its whole atmosphere. Atmosphere made by the venue, bands, audience and all of Steelfest’s volunteers crew. Usually, Steeefest includes some rare artists which you cannot find in other festivals. So maybe that also is something that is unique to us and what we are known for. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): SCÁTH NA DÉITHE, ERGHOLAE SOMPTATOR, KANGEHEET, PAGANLAND

 SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
Feb 092020
 

 

Well, I did manage to complete Part 2 of this column in time to get it on the site before my NCS time ran out today. However, I did have to make a few compromises because of the shortness of time. For one thing, I had planned to present four full releases, but replaced one of those with a couple of tracks from a record that isn’t yet released. For another, I wrote much less about the first release below than I had wanted to. So it’s another case where the music will mainly have to speak for itself, with my role limited to (hopefully) inducing you to listen.

SCÁTH NA DÉITHE

I reviewed this Irish band’s debut EP in 2015, acclaiming it with words such as these:

“Structured with plenty of twists and turns into new regions of a phantasmic soundscape, this EP is never dull despite the length of the two longest songs. The time passes before you know it, you blink yourself out of a doomed reverie, and you wonder where you are.”

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): …AND OCEANS, LIVING GATE, ARS VENEFICIUM, ENEPSIGOS, ARCADA

 SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Feb 092020
 

 

I have significant ambitions for this Sunday’s column, but it’s only half-written, and you know how ill-advised it is for me to announce a two-part thing when the second part is just swimming in my head instead of securely captured on a hard-drive. But I never learn, no matter how hard-taught the past lessons, and not just when it comes to blogging (yesterday’s day-long hangover proves that).

Anyway, I can confidently state that Part 1 of this post includes advance tracks from five forthcoming records. Less confidently, I can say that Part 2 will include four complete new releases.

…AND OCEANS

“Well I have to admit to never having heard of …and Oceans before, and also admit to mainly being drawn to listen to this track based on the click-worthy cover art. But I’ll just say this is infectious like the plague.”

That was the message I received from our old pal Booker last week concerning “The Dissolution of Mind and Matter“, an advance track from this Finnish band’s new album, Cosmic World Mother. Somewhere up above that message in our nightmare of an in-box I found the link for our promo of the album, which I will soon explore. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: RORCAL

 WAXING LYRICAL  1 Response »
Feb 082020
 

 

(After a months-long hiatus, Andy Synn has brought us a new episode in this series devoted to lyrics in metal, revealing the thoughts of Yonni Chapatte, vocalist of the Swiss band Rorcal and of the band Kehlvin.)

In case you haven’t noticed I am a HUGE fan of Blackened Sludgemonsters Rorcal.

Just read my write-up of their most recent album, Muladona, in my Critical Top Ten list from last year if you don’t believe me!

Heck, if not listening to the band myself I’m probably extolling their many virtues to someone else, trying to get them to do so, and anyone who counts themselves a fan of artists like Inter Arma, Lord Mantis, Phantom Winter, or Dragged Into Sunlight should make sure to blitz their way through Rorcal’s back-catalogue ASAP.

Before that, however, you might want to give the following article a read, where the band’s vocalist, Yonni Chapatte goes into great detail about his background, his methods, and the various concepts which underpin Rorcal’s work. Continue reading »

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