SEEN AND HEARD: KONKHRA, GATECREEPER, THE HOLEUM, TYRANT GOATGALDRAKONA, ATAVISTIK DEATH POSE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 042019
 

 

Sometimes there’s a through-line or organizing principle of some kind in the selections I make for these round-ups. Sometimes it’s just what the category tag says, the one I chose almost 10 years ago for posts like this one — Random Fucking Music — just a random scattering of things I’ve happened upon and enjoy.  Today, I do think there’s a through-line: Almost all of the following tracks are neck-wreckers, though I’ve put one track in the middle of the run that’s less brutishly head-moving and more progressively dynamic (though I think you’ll want to move your head to that one as well).

KONKHRA

Formed in 1989, the Danish death metal band Konkhra had quite a run, releasing six studio albums, a live album, and a handful of other shorter releases from 1990 through 2009 — and then the machine ground to a halt. However, now ten years later, Konkhra have revived, and if Metal-Archives is to be believed, the current line-up dates back to the recordings of the early and mid-90s. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE GREAT OLD ONES

 Interviews  1 Response »
Sep 042019
 

 

(Our Norway-based contributor Karina Noctum brings us this new interview of Benjamin Guerry of the French Lovecraft-inspired post/black metal band The Great Old Ones, whose new album Cosmicism is set for release on October 22nd through Season of Mist.)

I’ve been a fan of The Great Old Ones ever since they released their very first album, Al Azif, in 2012. I really like their elegant (the French way) atmospheric Black Doom Metal. Their latest album, Cosmicism, is pretty sinister and able to take you right to the Cthulian mood of despair and misery in a long journey. I have listened to TGOO while journeying through desolate, barren, and frozen landscapes, so I have had time to reflect about the mood and the Lovecraftian theme, but even if one can’t really experience the music in such an environment, one can certainly imagine it.

Cosmicism is a fine example of what Lovecraftian-inspired metal should be like in terms of how to convey the right mood. It is pretty much a showcase of the band’s talent and of the experience gained throughout the years in weaving atmospheres and experimenting with mixing genres and varied tempos. It was thus a pleasure to exchange questions and answers with the band’s vocalist/guitarist Benjamin Guerry: Continue reading »

BEYOND THE GATES FESTIVAL 2019

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 032019
 

 

(Our Atlanta-based contributor Tør was fortunate to attend the 2019 edition of the Beyond the Gates festival in Bergen, Norway (headlined by Watain, Mayhem, Emperor, and Abbath), which took place on August 21-24, and he provides the following thoughts about the experience, and a treasure-trove of his own wonderful photos.)

Beyond The Gates VIII has just wrapped up and I am back in my Airbnb room — the cool Bergen breeze is coming in through the open window. It has been one hell of a festival with all three days providing quality entertainment for all who were lucky to witness it. I have lots of things to say about the festival itself, the city of Bergen, the country of Norway, and the friends I met along the way: things about why Norway is one of the happiest countries in the world, how Bergen is one of the liveliest cities I have visited, and why metal has become such an international phenomenon. However, those are heavy subjects for my tired soul and best left for another time. For now, a brief overview of the last three days will suffice. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SLAUGHTBBATH

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Sep 032019
 

 

You might be surprised to learn that the Chilean band Slaughtbbath hail from San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, a small countryside town that we’re informed has no metal scene at all. It is an unexpected source for the kind of absolutely electrifying and utterly ferocious power that this demonic trio have channeled through their amalgam of black metal, death metal, and thrash — a power surge that has punched straight through the red zone on their new album Alchemical Warfare, which will be released by Hells Headbangers on September 6th — and which we’re proudly premiering today.

The band waste no time releasing the whirlwind, opening the album through “Ritual Bloodbath” with the sounds of utter mayhem and then a lightning storm of brazen, blaring riffs, rampantly maniacal drumming, and utterly vicious vocal barbarism. Those sounds are delivered with explosive volume and intensity. The guitar leads writhe like fire elementals freed from their magical chains. The percussive propulsion is both turbo-charged and seems to change in the patterns and progressions from second to second. The vocalist ultimately resorts to wild screaming, caught up in the incendiary madness of this music — and who could blame him? Continue reading »

ACHERONIAN SCAR: “GATE INTO THE ABYSS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 032019
 


I’m Back.

 

(TheMadIsraeli returns to NCS after a hiatus with this review of the debut album by the Swiss band Acheronian Scar, which was released yesterday.)

The symphonic death metal space has long been dominated primarily by SepticFlesh and Fleshgod Apocalypse as its gatekeepers. Both have become legendary bands in their own right who’ve released a decent catalogue of powerful, majestic, yet brutal and sinister death metal inn which they’ve attempted to mix classical elements and instrumentation in a way that meshed. I, however, feel both bands have gotten a little too comfortable. Both Fleshgod and SepticFlesh feel like they are leaning back on the gimmick of their orchestral elements, and foregoing the need to push the metal instrumentation and composition aspects of their material. For me, the last two albums from both bands ended up being forgettable and lacking in substance.

Acheronian Star are the meteor-killing-the-dinosaurs moment for symphonic death metal in my mind, and the best band I’ve heard attempt this style. They precisely attack the style’s greatest weakness, an over-emphasis on the symphonic and a belittling and simplifying of the death metal part of the music. They boast technical musicianship and compositions that rival Obscura and Beyond Creation while employing a stripped-back orchestral presence that carries the majesty and vitriol of albums like Fleshgod’s Agony without relying on the orchestral gimmick. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NACHTTERROR — “SEA OF DREAD”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Sep 022019
 

 

Nachtterror‘s new album Judgement is one of those rarities that lavishly combines music and visual art, presenting a separate piece of painted artwork for each track — and it’s even more rare because the visual artist is also one of the band’s two vocalist/guitarists. You can see his album cover above — which we’re presenting for the first time — and after the jump you’ll see his evocative art for the song, “Sea of Dread” that we’re premiering today in the run-up to the album’s October 10 release by Hypnotic Dirge.

Judgement is this Saskatchewan symphonic black metal band’s first release since their 2015 split with Altars of Grief, entitled Of Ash and Dying Light. That split made a huge impact on those of us here at NCS, and on many other listeners. We had the privilege of premiering a track from that split by each band, and Nachtterror‘s contributions to the split displayed gripping dynamism in their compositions and an ability to create enveloping atmospheres of darkness around the ebbs and flows of intensity.

Since then, as this new song reveals, they’ve become even more accomplished in their craft, though that shouldn’t be surprising since Judgement has been nearly 10 years in the making. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IGNIVOMOUS — “SHACKLES OF THE DEMIURGE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 022019
 

 

Within the wide-ranging expanse of death metal some bands devote themselves to music of monstrous, primeval power, ruthlessly savaging the mind with the sounds of violence, oppression, and horrifying degradation. The Australian band Ignivomous are within that lineage, and have been honing their evil craft for more than a decade. Their growing mastery is on full display in their new album, the first one since 2012’s Contragenesis. Entitled Hieroglossia, it will be released by Nuclear War Now! Productions on November 15th.

For this ravaging new album the band’s core membership of Sean Hinds (guitar), Chris Broadway (drums), and Jael Edwards (vocals) has remained in place, augmented by the recording debuts of guitarist Lewis Fischer (Altars) and bassist Chris Jordon (Inverloch, Eskhaton). Thematically, we’re told, “Heiroglossia continues Ignivomous’ investigation into topics of Philosophical pessimism, influenced by the works of Thomas Ligotti and E.M. Cioran, and Gnostic concepts of the fallen and hostile nature of the material world.”

Today we’re presenting a new song from Heiroglossia, but before we get to today’s premiere, let’s first consider a previously released song from the album, because you’ll encounter it first in the Bandcamp player below. Continue reading »

DISILLUSION: “THE LIBERATION”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
Sep 022019
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the German progressive metal band Disllusion, which will be released on September 6th by Prophecy Productions.)

As we’re all aware, music isn’t a competition. But it’s hard, dare I even say impossible at times, not to compare and contrast artists/albums and pit them against one another, weighing up their relative merits, in order to conclude, subjectively at least, which is somehow “better”.

Consider, for example, the comeback album from German Prog-Metal sensations Disillusion.

For those unfamiliar with the band, over the course of these seven tracks you’ll encounter echoes of the cinematic style of Devin Townsend, the epic riffage of Insomnium, the moody melancholy of In Mourning, and the intricate songwriting of Opeth, all interwoven in a way that’s not only far more cohesive and coherent than the most recent release by the former, but which suggests that the latter three will have to produce something truly special in the next few months if they’re not going to be outdone.

For those who already know Disillusion, however… all I really need to say is that The Liberation isn’t just the long-awaited follow-up to their semi-legendary debut (sorry Gloria fans) but might just be even better. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): FERALIA, ARCTOS, DOLD VORDE ENS NAVN, OSSOMANCER, HAR

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Sep 022019
 

 

HA!  Surprised you, didn’t I? I already posted a SHADES OF BLACK column in its usual place yesterday, and I didn’t hint that there would be a second column this week. Or at least I didn’t give any hints yesterday. I did hint last Sunday (a week ago) that I had a second Part in the works. I just didn’t get it finished before the hectic weekdays began. But this is that second Part which I had planned 8 days ago. That makes the music a bit dated, but no worse the wear for that.

I’ll also wish a Happy Labor Day to those of you in the U.S. and Canada who are enjoying the holiday. You gotta love a holiday that celebrates labor by giving people an excuse not to work.

FERALIA

On August 11th the Italian black metal band Feralia released their first single, “Conception“, which was also the first excerpt from their album, Helios Manifesto. The album is described as “a concept that runs through the mystical / initiatory path of man as ‘god’ of himself, using sometimes Aleister Crowley and thelemic extracts to explain with images an esoteric and initiation mood”. On this album the trio of Italian musicians are accompanied by Tibor Kati (Negura Bunget, Sur Austru) as the lead singer. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: MAYHEM, PLATEAU SIGMA, NEBULA ORIONIS, MARTELO PERPETUO, KOSTNATĚNÍ, GORRCH

 SHADES OF BLACK  12 Responses »
Sep 012019
 

 

I usually don’t include new songs by the truly “big name” bands in these columns, because anyone who cares about black metal will have already discovered them, and often because there’s better stuff churning deeper in the underground. But I made an exception today, for reasons to be explained, and then moved on from there deeper into subterranean recesses. I’m kind of proud about the way the music flows in this collection. You can decide for yourselves whether, as a playlist, these selections work well together.

MAYHEM

The Internet loves “best of” lists, especially in genres of entertainment. If you peruse any of the many web lists of the best black metal of all time it’s inevitable that you will see De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. That release happened 25 years ago, but even if Mayhem had never recorded anything else they probably would have already assured themselves an important place in the history of black metal.

But of course they went on to release four more albums of (it must be said) uneven quality, along with a slew of compilations, live recordings, and other scattered short things, all of which together demonstrate that from humble beginnings Mayhem has mutated into a formidable business enterprise. Continue reading »

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