AN NCS PREMIERE: HELLVETRON — “DRACONIAN WITCHBLOOD”

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Jun 212019
 

 

Fear and dread, and a certain tingling up and down the spine, are perhaps the dominant sensations that should accompany the announcement of a new album by the Texas duo Hellvetron, whose members have also wrecked havoc through such other formations as Nexul and Black Witchery. Seven long years have passed since Hellvetron’s debut album, Death Scroll of Seven Hells and Its Infernal Majesties, but at last a new one will be upon us come August 16th, through the devilish ministrations of Iron Bonehead Productions.

The portals of Hell open wide through this new album, whose title — Trident of Tartarean Gateways — foreshadows the sulfurous abominations and terrible majesties that reveal themselves through its nine tracks. Similarly, the title of the song we present today — “Draconian Witchblood” — presages both the severity of the punishment it metes out and its air of poisonous enchantment. Continue reading »

ABYSSAL: “A BEACON IN THE HUSK”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jun 212019
 

 

(What follows is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the UK’s Abyssal, which is being released today by Profound Lore Records.)

Over the years only three bands have been deemed worthy of making repeat appearances in my end of the year “Critical Top Ten” list.

Those bands are Alkaloid (The Malkuth Grimoire, Liquid Anatomy), Cattle Decapitation (Monolith of Inhumanity, The Anthropocene Extinction), and Sulphur Aeon (Gateway to the Antisphere, The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos).

But, with the release of A Beacon In The Husk, out today via Profound Lore, there’s a very good chance that Abyssal – whose third album, Antikatastaseis, made an appearance on my 2015 list alongside several of the other records mentioned above – might just be joining them. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FAWN LIMBS — “PINES”

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Jun 212019
 

 

The thrill of witnessing destruction is a large part of Fawn Limbs‘ appeal, like the excitement of being present at the implosion of giant buildings to create space for something new. But there are other thrills within the mayhem of their music which derive not from chaos but from the almost machine-like precision of their otherwise freakish demolition jobs. This may seem paradoxical, but you’ll see what we mean when you check out the song we’re premiering today.

The song is “Pines” (which does not refer to trees) and it comes from this trans-oceanic trio’s debut album, Harm Remissions, which will be released on August 2nd. The album is an amalgamation of grindcore, math-metal, and noise, created by Finnish guitarist/vocalist/noise-producer Eeli Helin and the Pennsylvania-based rhythm section of Lee Fisher (drums) and Samuel Smith (bass). The album also includes guest vocal appearances by Andrew Hawkins (Baring Teeth), Champ Morgan (BLK OPS, Derelict Satellite, Kill the Client), and Mitchell Luna (Maruta, Noisear). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEEMTEE — “FLAWED SYNCHRONIZATION WITH REALITY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  10 Responses »
Jun 202019
 

 

And now for something completely different, and quite extraordinary on multiple levels — a smorgasbord of strange delights, mind-warping delicacies, and blood-freezing terrors for the adventurous listener, a work of mad and marvelous genius that discerning consumers of sound will not soon forget. This is Flawed Synchronization With Reality, the debut album by an experimental black metal project that has taken the name Deemtee.

Deemtee is the work of Spanish multi-instrumental artist NHT from Garth Arum, As Light Dies, and Aegri Somnia — though one should not be misled into guessing that this record will be in the vein of any of those other bands. Perhaps the best way to begin (succinctly) is to share some of the descriptive references in the press materials that have paved the way for the record’s June 22 release (by GrimmDistribution and Suprachaotic Records): Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HIGH FIGHTER — “DEAD GIFT”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 202019
 

 

The music of the German band High Fighter now exists in apparently opposed but interchangeable states. Rather than juxtapose their contrasting stylistic ingredients like hard veering lane changes on some musical Autobahn, however, they’ve created songs that are more like the confluence of river systems, all joining to flow powerfully forward in an intermingling of upstream sources.

The band’s new album, Champain, will be released on July 26th by Argonauta Records. As a follow-on to their 2014 EP The Goat Ritual and their 2016 debut album Scars & Crosses, it is itself the product of new soundscapes through which the band have passed, as if other tributaries have joined this river in new convergences on its rush to the sea. The Goat Ritual has been left far behind, and Champain certainly isn’t Scars & Crosses Part 2 either. The song we present today, “Dead Gift“, makes that plain, and could stand as a proud emblem of this river’s new course. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SVARTTJERN

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Jun 192019
 

 

NCS contributor Karina Noctum, based in Norway, talked to Hans Fyrste (ex-Ragnarok) about his band Svarttjern, which also counts in its ranks Grimmdun (drums), HaaN (guitars), and Malphas (bass), who are currently in Carpathian Forest, and guitarist Fjellnord (Magister Templi). They are on Soulseller Records and currently recording a new album. The conversation revolves around the band’s personal significance, the lyrical themes, and different perspectives when it comes to music and record labels, among other things… All photos accompanying the text are the work of Silje Storm.

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How would you describe your sound and how does it stand out from other bands in the scene?

That’s a hard question, but I think that over the years Svarttjern has kept on going with doing what we want to do and I think our thrash influences have grown more and more. At the same time we have gotten more in-depth in Black Metal, which is more of the aggressive nature of the music. I don’t really know how to describe it, but I think we can say it’s dirty music with a touch of elegance. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WARCRAB — “KRAKEN ARISE”

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Jun 192019
 

 

For my comrades and myself here at our putrid site, WarCrab’s second album, Scars of Aeons, was one of the biggest, brightest, and stupendously heaviest discoveries of 2016. Grant Skelton named it to his list of the year’s best death metal albums. I included a track from the album on our list of 2016’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. And Andy Synn praised the album in his review with these pungent words:

“With a sound that can best be described as a humongous hybrid of the chugging, churning assault of classic Bolt Thrower, the swaggering, sludge-soaked grooves of Crowbar, and the sheer, merciless morbidity of Autopsy at their doomiest, Scars of Aeonsis one heck of a weighty listen. There are riffs here which are heavy enough to break an elephant’s back, and slithering grooves as thick and meaty as an anaconda on steroids.

“In fact I’m surprised this album doesn’t come with an attached safety warning and a recommendation that listeners wear a hard-hat at all times in order to prevent cranial trauma. It really is that [expletive deleted] heavy!”

The news that these sludge/death heavyweights would be releasing a third album this summer (through Transcending Obscurity Records) was thus cause in these quarters for a mixture of excitement and dread — the skull fractures from the last record are almost healed, but new ones will undoubtedly now be opened, and there’s no getting back those inches of height lost in the last pounding, only more to lose as WarCrab drive us into the pavement once more. Continue reading »

A REPORT FROM ICELAND: ASCENSION FESTIVAL MMXIX (PART 2)

 Concert Reviews  6 Responses »
Jun 192019
 

 

Yesterday I wrote about almost everything that mattered to me about the recently concluded Ascension Festival MMXIX in Mosfellsbær, Iceland, EXCEPT the music. If you happened to wade through that long post, you’ll know that a lot of things mattered to me besides the music — and I think most other people who attended the event experienced the same extremely positive feelings about what surrounded the sounds. But I suspect all that enthusiasm would have been diminished significantly if the music hadn’t also been great.

Fortunately, it was. With very few exceptions, my own reactions to the bands’ performances ranged from pleasantly happy to wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and aghast in wonder. All that good feeling easily carried over into conversations with friends and new acquaintances in between sets, in beautiful surroundings and sustained by good food and drink. In turn, the fun of that camaraderie carried right back over into the music hall for the next set, in a kind of thrilling feedback loop. Continue reading »

A REPORT FROM ICELAND: ASCENSION FESTIVAL MMXIX (PART 1)

 Concert Reviews  18 Responses »
Jun 182019
 

 

(It is Monday as I write this, though it will be Tuesday before you see it, as I agreed with Mr. Synn to post his own reminiscences about Ascension Festival on Monday. All the photos are my own, unless otherwise noted.)

I had a restless period of half-sleep on Sunday night. In part that was due to the sweltering conditions in my Reykjavik hotel room. The sun, which briefly dims in Iceland this time of year but never sets, had warmed it up during the afternoon and the two small windows were restricted in how far they would open, rationing the amount of cool air that could come in. I missed my second-floor room at the Hotel Laxnes in Mosfellsbær where I could keep the door to a balcony wide open, and all the windows gaping, and enjoy the breeze ruffling the gauzy curtains until the land of Nod fully took me.

But mainly my restlessness derived from the fact that I couldn’t shut off my brain. It was still flooded with memories of Ascension Festival MMXIX, which ended in glorious fashion at roughly 2 a.m. on Sunday morning in Mosfellsbær. Of course, many of those memories were re-playing the music that had bombarded and mesmerized the senses over three days, but an equal number that continuously flashed through my mind in that half-waking, half-dreaming state were of other aspects of the experience that had become just as indelible as the sights and sounds from the stage. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MURK RIDER — “DESCENT”

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Jun 172019
 

 

For many music fans what inspires artists to create their records is of secondary importance, if it’s a subject of interest at all. What matters more is what the music inspires within the listener. After all, what we take away from the experience, what makes immediate impressions and creates lasting memories, is in part a function of who we are, and might actually have little to do with what drove the creativity of the musicians.

Yet in some cases the back-story leads to a deeper appreciation of the sounds, and can become interesting in its own right. We have one of those cases here, in the story of Murk Rider and their debut album Exile of Shadows — a conceptual work that consists of three tracks ranging in length from 21 minutes to 30 minutes, one of which (the album opener) we’re presenting today. Continue reading »

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