AN NCS EP PREMIERE: DIKASTERION — “STAVELOT 1597 / ROME 897”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 062019
 

 

Building on the strength of their slaughtering 2018 debut demo, the Belgian black/death band Dikasterion have escaped Hell again, and brought much of Hell with them in a new two-track release coming our way via Amor Fati Productions on September 9th — next Monday. If you think those references to hellish power were exaggerations, just listen to Stavelot 1597 / Rome 897 (which we’re giving you the chance to do a bit further on in this post).

Only two songs long, this is the kind of pull-no-punches barbarity capable of leaving a listener mind-mangled but crackling with electricity and wishing it were longer. Make no mistake, it’s a cruel and ugly assault on the senses, not any kind of experience for the faint of heart. But as toxic, brutish, and maniacal as the music may be, these sulfurous, diabolical assaults get the pulse pounding with primal power. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WELLS VALLEY — “PLEROMA”

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Sep 062019
 

 

Music can cause us to move and shake, to throw our heads back in joy or hammer them like ecstatic pistons, caught up in the thrill of being alive. Music also has the capacity to fire the imagination, to cause our minds to spontaneously conceive unbidden images and experiences that never actually happened, to carry us away to places we’ve never visited and that may not actually exist, to create spells that may haunt us for reasons we might not be able to readily identify.

Both kinds of music — the fun kinds and the more profound and mysterious varieties — can stay with us, but the latter often seem to settle in more deeply and to make mental and emotional connections that are longer-lasting. It’s fair to say that the new Wells Valley track we’re presenting today is of that variety, an immersive and spellbinding experience that sends the mind’s eye off into realms of the imagination while also evoking powerful emotions that might not be anywhere near the surface of your feelings when the song begins.

Because “Pleroma” is that kind of experience, it’s entirely fitting that this Portuguese band has presented it through a transfixing video (directed by Guilherme Henriques) that is itself a flight of the imagination, a sequence of surreal visions that sometimes seem to lurk at the edge of reality, reminiscent of sights that sometimes seem familiar but are bent from the normal frames of reference, but sometimes seem utterly alien — and frightening. Continue reading »

MGŁA: “AGE OF EXCUSE”

 Album Reviews  43 Responses »
Sep 062019
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Poland’s Mgła — and some personal reflections on controversies that have swirled about the band and how they have affected reactions to the music.)

Confirmation bias is a hell of a thing. We see what we want to see, we hear what we want to hear, we believe what we want to believe.

It’s possible to be aware of it, and to guard against it to an extent, but none of us are entirely immune to it.

It’s a very human thing after all, based on the availability of information, the heuristic shortcuts we use to analyse it, and an inescapable egotism which leads us to prioritise what we agree with/what agrees with us, over what runs contrary to our current worldview.

And nothing has crystallised this quite as much in recent times as the surprise release of the new Mgła album earlier this week. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: EXCRUCIATION

 Interviews  1 Response »
Sep 062019
 

 

(Our Russian friend Comrade Aleks returns to NCS with this new interview of Eugenio Meccariello, vocalist of the long-running Swiss band Excruciation, whose latest release (via Auric Records) is a substantial compilation of rare songs that have been produced since their reunion in 2005.)

Originally formed in Zurich in 1984, Excruciation seems to be one of first death-doom bands. They did some successful experiments ’til the late ’80s and gained a reputation with a bunch of demos and the Last Judgement EP in 1987. They almost recorded a full-length album, but the band was split up in 1991. Who could expect that Excruciation would return in 2005 with new material, and with all original members in the lineup? However, their reunion EP Arise did lead them to a series of new releases including four full-length albums and nearly a dozen shorter recordings.

The band’s fresh compilation [e]met sums up Excruciation’s non-album legacy, and this 16-song collection will give you a pretty good impression about their way into this crude, heavy, and yet emotional doom-death metal. Excruciation’s vocalist Eugenio Meccariello sheds light on [e]met and the band’s current status. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SACCAGE — “LA KERMESSE DU CHARNIER”

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Sep 052019
 

 

Now well into their second decade of existence, the Québec City band Saccage will be releasing their third album, Khaos Mortem, on September 20 through a triumvirate of labels. The name of their first album — Death Crust Satanique — provides a succinct summing up of their sound, but although the new album continues to lash together death metal and crust, it leans harder into the elements of death metal, creating an experience that’s heavier, darker, more brutal, more crushing — and absolutely explosive.

The new album also unmistakably displays the collective experience of the band’s members. They’re sonic executioners to be sure, but the performances are sharp as well as lethal, and the songs prove to be dynamic and multi-faceted, without diminishing the fury that propels them. We have a prime example of those qualities in the track we’re presenting today — “La Kermesse Du Charnier“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PHOBOPHILIC — “DIMINISHED TO UNBEING”

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Sep 052019
 

 

Like many (but not all) music writers, we prefer to concoct our own impressions and descriptive phrases for what we hear rather than lazily falling back on the PR verbiage that accompanies the music we receive, which isn’t exactly a disinterested assessment to begin with. On the other hand, sometimes the PR material nails it. A case in point: the press material for Undimensioned Identities, the impressive second demo by Phobophilic from Fargo, North Dakota. As recounted by Rotted Life Records and Blood Harvest Records, who will be releasing the demo in the U.S. and Europe, respectively:

“Undimensioned Identities is a tilted and deranged-enough variant of old-school death metal that it’s clear the four-piece are more focused on looking forward than backwards. Propelled by protean and corkscrewing riffs, the four tracks here are crafted with methodical precision, evoking majestic Lovecraftian horrors and creating cataclysmic maelstroms of madness and rot, while delivering a skillfully enunciated performance with a detailed production that never slips into the brackish sonic murk that’s typical of newer bands schooled on the seminal Incantation sound”.

Some nice turns of phrase in there, and better yet, it’s all true. Of course we have some words of our own, but better yet we have the premiere of a song from the demo named “Diminished To Unbeing“, presented through a video of the band’s performance of the song. Continue reading »

NEPTUNIAN SUN: “THE BLACK LIGHT THAT BLINDS US”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 052019
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Spanish trio Neptunian Sun, which was released on June 13th of this year by South Coast Production.)

I don’t know about the rest of you, but this week so far has been one kick in the teeth after another.

Don’t get me wrong, lots of people have things worse than I do, but I’d be lying if I said the personal, professional, and musical setbacks of the last few day’s haven’t left me feeling bruised, bitter, and a little bit broken.

Different people, of course, respond to situations like this in different ways. Especially when it comes to their listening habits.

Some people like to listen to bright, uplifting music, stuff designed to help them rise above their circumstances and get them through the dark times.

But others prefer to embrace the darkness, to know it, to feel it, to experience and express it on an intimate level, in an explosion of visceral, cathartic release.

Which is why I’ve been listening to the latest album from Neptunian Sun a lot recently. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RIPPER — “SENSORY STAGNATION”

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Sep 052019
 

 

If you’re unaware that Unspeakable Axe will be releasing a new Ripper EP on September 30, that means you haven’t been checking in with us every day (shame on you!). We’ve written enthusiastically about the first single from that EP here, and we’ve also reviewed the EP as a whole. In a nutshell, it’s fantastic. That should come as no shock to anyone who’s familiar with this Chilean band’s previous work, but what might be surprising is how much further they’ve spread their prodigious (dragon) wings through these five new songs.

The name of the new EP is Sensory Stagnation, which is an interesting title, because the music is instead the antidote to sensory stagnation. It’s hard to comprehend how anyone could be bored with the state of metal these days, though some über-elitists profess to be. But for any benighted souls who do think metal is stagnating, Ripper’s newest offering will wake you up just as effectively as taking a seat in Old Sparky and riding the lightning. As proof of that, we’re following up the EP’s first advance track with a premiere of the title song today. Continue reading »

EXHORDER: “MOURN THE SOUTHERN SKIES”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 052019
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the first album in 27 years by NOLA’s Exhorder, which is due out September 20th via Nuclear Blast Records.)

I think if you’re Exhorder, you’re aware there’s an immense weight of expectation upon you in making a comeback.  Many classic or genre-defining bands have tried comebacks, especially in this last decade. Carcass did it and released what was IMO a pretty mediocre album that grasped at the straws of their former glory. At The Gates came back and have released two albums that were so good and consistent it was as if they had never left. A lot of us I know were pretty eager and interested to know how Exhorder would choose to go about a comeback of their own.

Exhorder may be aware of expectations, but as I hear it, Mourn The Southern Skies is a mission statement of a band who simply doesn’t give a fuck about what people expect from them. Continue reading »

SLEEPING ANCIENT: “THERE IS NO TRUTH BUT DEATH”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 042019
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the debut album by Houston-based Sleeping Ancient, which will be released digitally on September 6th, and on vinyl by via Viridian Flame Records.)

Personally, professionally, and musically, it’s been a very busy year for me so far, and I haven’t been able to listen to (or write about) half the artists and albums I wanted to.

Nor does it look like the rest of the year has any intention of slowing down in this respect, as my list of upcoming albums (and, I need to stress, these are only the ones I know about for certain, there’s certainly going to be many more surprise releases and new discoveries along the way) is already longer than I can possibly handle.

And, chances are that some of you are in exactly the same boat.

But, rather than try to help, I’m instead going to make things even worse by suggesting you check out yet another album which has real potential to end up on a few End of Year lists come December.

Interested? I knew you would be. You just can’t help yourselves. Continue reading »

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