CONJURER: A REVIEW OF “SIGILS” AND THE PREMIERE OF “ACROSS THE VOID”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 022019
 

 

(In this post Todd Manning reviews the new album by Indiana’s Conjurer, which will be released on April 5th, and introduces our premiere of a song from the album.)

There is a tendency in the world of Metal to try to overload every available inch of sonic space with brutality. It’s an understandable and often effective approach, but at times, bands who utilize a more stripped-down strategy are equally capable of blowing the listener’s mind and ears. It is this kind of sense of refinement that is evident in spades on the new album Sigils by Indianapolis-based Sludge/Doom quintet Conjurer.

For anyone familiar with their debut, Old World Ritual, their latest is not a radical departure from the sound they established there, but is a logical and powerful step forward. Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: HYPOCRISY AND FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE — LIVE IN ATLANTA, MARCH 27, 2019

 Concert Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 022019
 

 

(On March 27th our Atlanta-based contributor Tør made his way to The Masquerade venue to take in performances by Aenimus, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Hypocrisy as part of their ongoing national tour. He sent us this report, along with a large batch of his own excellent photos from the show. For a full list of remaining dates on the tour, go here.)

I walk in late and it’s already happening. Openers Aenimus have just taken the stage and are blazing through their set. The crowd is into it: with every riff, the front-row crowd inches closer to the stage monitors. I stand on the side and enjoy the gig -— I like what I’m hearing. The metalcore-tinged proggy riffs take me to a place I’ve been to before but can’t quite recall. I’ve liked what I’ve heard of the new album, Dreamcatcher (Nuclear Blast) so far, and the band doesn’t disappoint live. Despite the solid start to the night, nothing prepares me for what is to come soon. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ACRITARCH, CEDITH, FRONTIERER, THE HOWLING VOID, MESSA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 022019
 

 

I never learn. I have music from 10 bands that got me very excited this past weekend (on top of the 7 I wrote about in SHADES OF BLACK on Sunday). Ten is too many for a single post, which means I’m splitting this up, and the thing I never learn is that my best-laid plans always get dashed on the rocks by other life pressures. In my head, I feel that if I put my back into it, like a shackled oarsman on a Roman galley, I can get the second part done. In my head, I also think the odds are that the vessel will ram some Macedonian pirate vessel and sink like a stone.

The music of these 10 bands is all over the place. I usually have inspirations about how to organize the music in these round-ups so there’s some kind of flow. This time, I came up short. It’s all just so different. So I arranged everything in alphabetical order by band name, for want of a better idea. We have A-M here; maybe we’ll have the rest of the alphabet later. Ramming speed!

ACRITARCH

I got quickly addicted to this new release by Acritarch, before the archaeological ministry of my memory could excavate the recognition of who was behind it. Fortunately, Rennie of starkweather, whose mind is so much more agile than my own, knew who it was immediately, and told me. No wonder the album is so damned good. Continue reading »

AXIS OF DESPAIR: “AND THE MACHINE ROLLS ON”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Apr 022019
 

 

(Here’s DGR’s review of the new EP by Sweden’s Axis of Despair, which was released in February.)

While a lot of reviews so far this year have been the result of my waiting to see how an album sits with me post-release, or the more common reason of playing desperate catch-up with all the stuff I want to write about, the release of Axis Of Despair‘s latest EP And The Machine Rolls On — with Selfmadegod handling black and pink vinyls of the release — is one that legitimately just flew under our radar.

Released in early February, And The Machine Rolls On contains another six songs of the musical spasm that Axis Of Despair call their branch of grind. The group recorded it during the sessions for last year’s Contempt For Man release, and it runs about nine minutes in length. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEIPHAGO — “I, THE DEVIL”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 012019
 

 

“Avant-garde” might not be the first adjective that springs to most people’s minds in thinking about Deiphago. “Bestial”, “violent”, and “Satanic” might come first. But this band’s music completely fits the definition of “avant-garde”, which applies to works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox, characterized by nontraditional aesthetic innovation and a dedication to pushing the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm.

All of those qualities apply to Deiphago’s music, but never more so than in the case of their new album I, The Devil. Of course, the music is also bestial, violent, and Satanic. And of all the songs on this remarkable new album, perhaps none of them captures all these sensations as powerfully as the title track, which we present today in advance of the record’s April 30 release by Hells Headbangers. Continue reading »

A DIRTY (BLACK) HALF DOZEN: AKROTHEISM, DIM AURA, KHNVM, NORDJEVEL, SCHATTENFALL, TOTALED

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 012019
 


Akrotheism

 

(Andy Synn prepared the following reviews for six new albums from the realms of black metal.)

It’s already the first of April and, somehow, I am already about six months behind in my reviews for 2019.

To try and address this problem, this week I’m going to be grouping together a bunch of different bands/albums to try and simultaneously clear some of this backlog AND get the word out about a few new (or relatively new) releases I think you all need to hear.

So let’s begin with six (well, five and a half) examples of the black (Metal) arts, shall we? Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: BOB MALMSTRÖM — “LÄNGE LEVE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 012019
 

 

We welcome the return of Bob Malmström to our putrid site! It may be April Fool’s Day, but that’s no joke. They really do have a new EP ready for release on April 5th (the name of which is Länge Leve) and we really do have a complete stream of it to share with you today.

Now, I do realize that, instead of applauding, the first reaction of many of you will be “Bob who?” After all, a long three years have passed since we last devoted attention to the band. But they are hardly newcomers to NCS, even though their music isn’t always right in our wheelhouse. In fact, hosting today’s premiere is something of a reunion, like the visit of cousins you haven’t seen in a long time, who set your house on fire the last time they came around. Continue reading »

DESERTED FEAR: “DROWNED BY HUMANITY”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 012019
 

 

(This is DGR‘s review of the new album by the German death metal band Deserted Fear, which was released by Century Media in February.)

Deserted Fear sound absolutely massive on their fourth album, Drowned By Humanity. Having released discs at a fairly steady clip – one every two years for the most part – the Deserted Fear crew have had plenty of opportunities to iterate and expand upon their sound – and also to keep to the black-and-white-skulls motif that makes up a majority of their album artwork.

They have found themselves lying somewhere in the realm of a slightly more melodeath-leaning Kataklysm, with an album (to repeat) written to sound massive. Drowned By Humanity is built around big riffs, big grooves, and big hooks, making its forty-some-odd minutes feel like a hell of a lot longer. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: THIS GIFT IS A CURSE, ISSFENN, TIME LURKER, SAMMATH, VERWÜSTUNG, ZATEMNO, DE DOUĂSPREZECE STATUI ALE STĂRILOR DE UMBRĂ ALE SUFLETULUI

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Mar 312019
 

 

I had decided to limit this week’s column to advance tracks from forthcoming albums, but then couldn’t resist adding a single-song EP that was released on Friday (by that band in the post title with the mile-long name). I’m hoping to do another SHADES OF BLACK round-up devoted to highlighting a few recent albums, but since it’s only an idea right now, I’m not going to call this post Part 1; Part 2 may remain only an idea, depending on how the next 24-48 hours go.

Obviously, I really like everything you’ll find in this collection. Some of the music is so scorching it might leave you with third-degree burns. Other tracks are more atmospheric. And I think you’ll be surprised by some of what you find here as well. So please do give everything a chance.

THIS GIFT IS A CURSE

On their last album, All Hail the Swinelord (2015), This Gift Is A Curse made music that ruthlessly takes you apart and sends what’s left of your mind into a very dark place. It was stupefyingly heavy, implacably savage, and frighteningly eerie. We premiered one song from the album and a video for another song, but I failed to review the whole thing. I’ll have a second chance to do right by this Stockholm band, because they now have another album on the horizon. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 107): LANDMINE MARATHON

 THE SYNN REPORT  1 Response »
Mar 302019
 

 

(In this March 2019 edition of THE SYNN REPORT Andy looks back at the four albums released so far by Arizona’s Landmine Marathon.)

Recommended for fans of: Gatecreeper, Bolt Thrower, Venom Prison

So the original plan for this month’s edition of The Synn Report was to feature the work of one-man Black Metal malcontent Abduction so as to line up nicely with the release of his brand new album.

Unfortunately, what Islander didn’t tell me was that he’d already arranged for a premiere (and review) to go live yesterday… which just goes to show that it’s important to communicate, kids! (Editor’s intrusion: Andy listed “mind-reader” on his resume. Mere puffery, apparently.)

Thankfully, I have a huge list of alternative Synn Report candidates to select from, which made the whole process a lot easier than you might imagine, especially since I’ve been itching to write about Arizona Death Metal quintet Landmine Marathon for ages! Continue reading »

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