WAXING LYRICAL: DĀMIM

 Interviews, WAXING LYRICAL  No Responses »
Nov 232019
 

 

(Andy Synn returns with another episode in his series on metal lyrics, and today we have answers from Nathanael Underwood, lyricist/vocalist/guitarist of the UK death metal band Dāmim, whose latest album was released in June of this year.)

To quote my own review, the new record from Progressive Death Metal maestros Dāmim is “an album that doesn’t just stand on the shoulders of giants, but is more than capable of standing right alongside them.”

And since I’m such a fan of their new album, not to mention the fact that I’m going to be playing a short run of shows alongside them next month, I thought it was high time we heard from frontman Nathanael Underwood about what exactly it is that makes the band’s difference engine tick. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HVILE I KAOS — “GRAND DARKNESS ENGULFS”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Nov 222019
 

 

The music of Hvile I Kaos is, in some very obvious ways, radically different from what you’ll encounter on most days at NCS. But in other ways it is very much in keeping with the kind of music that typically gets us excited. It seems to function almost like a version of spiritual black metal from an alternate dimension, even though it is predominantly performed with an instrument from the dimension we know. It just happens that the instrument is a cello.

Self-identified as “black ritual chamber musick,” the creations of Hvile I Kaos (which is Norwegian for “to rest in chaos”) occupy a space that is in between extreme metal and classical music, an abnormality in both worlds, creating a world of their own as they unfold. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say “a world of his own”, since those creations are the work of a single California-based multi-instrumentalist (with a bit of vocal assistance here and there) who goes by the name Kakophonix.

We’ve written about Hvile I Kaos on multiple occasions, most recently in June of this year when the subject was a remarkable cover of “Strange Gateways Beckon” by Tribulation (which you can find here). At that time we reported the exciting news that Hvile I Kaos was putting the finishing touches on a new EP entitled Black Morning, Winter Green. That work, which was nearly 10 years in the making, has now been completed, and the EP will be released on December 6th by Red Nebula. One of its three main tracks (“An Inviting Afterglow“) has already been revealed, and today we present another: “Grand Darkness Engulfs“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SERPENT EATER — “DEAD SPIRITUALIST SILENT”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Nov 222019
 

 

Lord Mantis, All Pigs Must Die, Cult Leader, Disfear, Converge, God Mother… those are the names used by the collective of labels who are releasing the German band Serpent Eater‘s second album as a way of catching the interest of fans. They certainly caught our interest, and it turns out that the harrowing formulations of blackened hardcore that Serpent Eater discharge through this new album do indeed make such references relevant.

That collective of labels — 7Degrees, Wooaaargh, and Alerta Antifascista — will release Vanitas on January 17, 2020, and while that distant release date requires patience, we think you’ll agree that the first song from the record that we’re presenting today will make the wait well worth it. Continue reading »

DECOHERENCE: “EKPYROSIS”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 222019
 

 

(Today Sentient Ruin Laboratories is releasing the debut album of the multinational black metal entity Decoherence, and to commemorate the occasion we have Andy Synn‘s laudatory review of the record.)

It still never fails to surprise me, although I probably should have learned by now, how conservative and parochial some Black Metal fans can be.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer that every genre (not just Black Metal) has certain key features, certain boundaries, which define them, but it’s not hard at all to find bands pushing and exploring and expanding these boundaries in a way which still maintains the fundamental essence of the style.

That’s not enough for some people though, especially in Black Metal, where the issue of what is “true” and what is “false” often gets simplified down to “whatever I happen to like is real Black Metal, and whatever I don’t like isn’t”.

Still, even the most obsessive and obdurate of refuseniks will have a hard time denying that Ekpyrosis is one of the best Black Metal albums of the year. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ANATOMIA (TAKASHI TANAKA)

 Interviews  1 Response »
Nov 222019
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us this very interesting and informative interview with Takashi Tanaka, drummer and vocalist of the formidable Japanese death-doom band Anatomia.)

There’s a sort of niche genre – something between crude, quite extreme death metal and death doom. It was set by Asphyx and Autopsy back in the early ’90s, and a good amount of bands carry on this tradition of mixing these sonic elements with brutal lyrics and straightforward delivery. Japan has two main bands of that kind – Coffins and Anatomia. You could see interview with Coffins here in November 2018, and now it’s Anatomia’s turn. Why?

Well, this band always has a new release. Yes, there are only three full-lengths in their discography, but just add to this score 14 split releases and 5-7 releases of other formats and you get a full picture.

Takashi Tanaka (drums, vocals) runs three more bands at the same time, so I believed it was wise to focus only on his Anatomia achievements. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NOTT — “4”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 212019
 

 

This makes the second time in as many years that we’ve hosted the premiere of music by the Italian black metal band Nott, which is the creative vehicle of the lone wolf Mortifero from Lombardy. Last year the occasion was a song from an EP named Vestigium Mortis, and today it’s the advent of Nott’s fourth album, simply entitled 4.

Like the album title, the eight songs presented here are identified by numbers — chapter numbers in a musical volume. And this particular volume of Nott’s works will be released on November 30th by Third I Rex, in advance of which we’re hosting this complete stream of the music. Continue reading »

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY TO US!

 Birthday Posts, Metal News  50 Responses »
Nov 212019
 

 

On November 21, 2009, I made the first post at this blog, which, with tongue partially in cheek, I had decided to name NO CLEAN SINGING. I started it on a lark. I had no training or experience as a music writer. I had only scattered bits of knowledge about the long history of metal, because until recently I had spent my decades of time on earth mainly listening to other kinds of music. What I did have was a burgeoning attraction to heavy music and a lot of curiosity. Back in those early days of the blogging phenomenon, you really didn’t need much more than that to start out. Probably still don’t.

Of course, the intensity of my own interest and the ease of starting up didn’t mean that anyone would pay attention to NCS — and I didn’t expect that or need it. NCS existed as a hobby, for want of a better word, that I hoped would be an enjoyable diversion for me from the grind of daily life. That was the sum total of my motivation. If you had told me back then that I’d still be doing it 10 years later, and that NCS would achieve a certain level of global notoriety, I would have laughed so hard that I’d have been left gasping for air.

On this milestone birthday, I’ve thought about why, unexpectedly, we’re still here, and what has changed from those earliest of days. Continue reading »

OBSEQUIAE: “THE PALMS OF SORROWED KINGS”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Nov 212019
 

 

(Our old friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth (ex-The Number of the Blog) returns to NCS with a review of the new album by the Minnesota “castle metal” band Obsequiae, which will be released by 20 Buck Spin this coming Friday, November 22nd.)

Joyous greetings and salutations, friends. Evidently, it’s been four years since Obsequiae graced the metal world with Aria Of Vernal Tombs, an album that came more or less out of nowhere to become my favorite album of that year. Following that, rather than wearing out its welcome, Aria instead settled further into my consciousness, cementing its status as my favorite black metal album ever and seizing a likely spot as one of my ten favorite albums ever.

Friends, given the volume of music I listen to on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis, this is no small thing.

Really, though, even as Aria settled around my brain like a comfortable chair around your butt, I found myself craving more, and so when I discovered that they finally had a follow-up album in the works, my excitement was palpable. (Entertainingly enough, there exists a possibility that I may have offered favors of a sexual nature to Islander in exchange for the procurement of a promo copy of the album, although I will neither confirm not deny such rumors. I can admit, however, that once said promo was acquired, it became the only thing I listened to for at least a week.) Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THE DRIFT — “SEER”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 202019
 

 

This coming Friday, November 22nd, the South African sludge metal band The Drift will release their third album, Seer, which forms the final installment in the Deluge trilogy that began with 2013’s Dreams of Deluge and 2015’s The Mountain Star. The new album is packed with ideas and diverse experiences, so much so that calling The Drift a sludge band is a great oversimplification, even if that label does accurately capture a part of their sound (but only a part).

The Drift sum up Seer as “the sound of introspection, with tracks ranging from claustrophobic and frenetic to open and expansive”, and that is accurate, but that too only scratches the surface of the broad spectrum of sounds and sensations that a trip through Seer reveals. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THIRD CHAMBER — “HARVESTING OUR DECAY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Nov 202019
 

 

Although Harvesting Our Decay is the debut EP by Calgary-based death metal band Third Chamber, this is another example of a band whose members have a long history in the underground scene, in this case having performed with numerous Calgary groups, including Culled, After Earth, Meddigo, False Flag, WAKE, Disciples of Power, Exit Strategy, and Razorwing. And as some of those names suggest, Third Chamber‘s line-up — drummer Dustin Hahn, guitarists Jamie McIsaac and Jay, bassist Russ Gauthier, and vocalist Shane Hawco — have brought elements of grindcore and hardcore into their death-dealing metal.

The result of their collaboration, as vividly revealed on Harvesting Our Decay, is music that’s explosively powerful, making ample use of pulverizing grooves, maniacal riffing, and hair-raising vocal ferocity, while also paying attention to tempo dynamics and incorporating an array of dark melodic flavors that help give the music a memorable character.

The band will release Harvesting Our Decay on November 22nd, but we’re giving you the chance to check out all 21 minutes of it today. Continue reading »

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