NO CLEAN SINGING

WAXING LYRICAL: “ARSIS”

Oct 202018

(In this new edition of our series devoted to lyrics in metal, Andy Synn posed his usual questions to James Malone, vocalist/guitarist of Arsis, whose new album Visitant will be released on November 2nd by Nuclear Blast and Agonia Records.)

If memory serves, my introduction to Virginia-based Technical/Melodic Death Metallers Arsis was way back in 2005 when I stumbled across the shamelessly epic, ultra-bombastic title-track from their recently-released EP, A Diamond for Disease.

Unsurprisingly, I was instantly hooked by the band’s mix of scorching intensity, fret-melting technicality, and shameless, scornful swagger – a sound that was part Carcass, part Death, part Motley Crue – and immediately went out to pick up a copy of the EP as well as their debut album, A Celebration of Guilt (which still stands as, arguably, one of the best Technical and/or Melodic Death Metal albums of all time).

In the years since then I’ve followed the band closely through all their ups and downs, watching as they honed their craft across multiple albums, sticking by them through all their struggles with ill health and line-up changes (including a period where it felt like the group was serving like a boot camp for guitarists looking to level-up their skills before joining bigger, more famous bands), and have always felt like they deserved far more critical acclaim and commercial success than they received.

I am therefore extremely pleased, and more than a little proud, to have (somehow) convinced James Malone, the band’s vocalist/guitarist and prime mover, to participate in this edition of Waxing Lyrical, where he talks about his love of King Diamond, the unexpected influence of Catholicism on the band’s early records, and the surprisingly deep emotions underlying their new, Horror-themed album, Visitant. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: VOIDHAVEN — “VOIDHAVEN”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 4 Responses »

Oct 192018

Today is the release date (through Solitude Productions) for the debut EP, self-titled, of the German band Voidhaven, whose line-up includes members of Crimson Swan and Ophis — and it proves to be a masterful interweaving of traditional doom metal and doom-death that plumbs depths of hopelessness and misery yet has the capacity to send the heart soaring.

Voidhaven is now available for listening through YouTube and Bandcamp streams that we can share with you. It consists of two songs of approximately nine minutes apiece — long enough to cast powerful and lingering spells, but not too long, never risking a fall into monotony. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GATHERING DARKNESS — “THE INEXORABLE END”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Oct 192018

It’s probably a common phenomenon among metal fans to make guesses about a band’s musical genre based on their choice of name. The name Gathering Darkness, for example, might suggest flavors of doom, and when the band first formed 20 years ago, their focus was indeed on a doom-drenched variant of death metal, as reflected in their first demos. But as the years passed, the sound changed, and the suggestion of a dark, atmospheric, doom-centric focus which the name might still convey is no longer reliable.

As the interests of this Spanish band evolved, the focus turned to brutal death metal, but that genre label might itself be a misleading indicator of what the group have created for their new EP, The Inexorable End, which is being released on October 21st in celebration of their 20th anniversary, and which we’re presenting in a full stream today. Continue reading »

UN: “SENTIMENT”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Oct 192018

(These are Grant Skelton‘s thoughts about the remarkable new album by the Seattle-based funeral doom band Un, which is out now via Translation Loss Records, along with thoughts by vocalist/guitarist Monte Mccleery.)

In Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote:

“What have we in common with the rose-bud, which trembleth because a drop of dew hath formed upon it?”

A rose is a floral archetype. For centuries it’s been associated with romance, youth, and sensuality. Furthermore, it represents a paradox — a juxtaposition of beauty and pain. A rose is beautiful to behold with the eye, but painful to hold with the hand. In Nietzsche’s metaphor, the rose trembles. It trembles because it has been acted upon by precipitation. By the vicissitudes of nature. By the weight of something it needs to survive. While precipitation is a source of nourishment, an excess of it can be fatal to the rose. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EDREMERION — “AMBRE GRIS”

Premieres 1 Response »

Oct 192018

I’ve been grappling with words, trying to find the best means of capturing the impact this new song has made on my impressionable mind, and only an agreed deadline has brought my struggles to a halt. I wonder why I struggle, since you’ll be able to listen for yourselves, but I guess it comes from a need to share my enthusiasm in a way that honors the artists who brought it about. So, here we go…

The song here is the title track from Ambre Gris, the debut album by the French avant-garde black metal band Edremerion. Two EPs preceded this album, but the line-up has changed since those were released, and I confess that I haven’t heard them anyway. Even if I hadn’t learned through experience that the labels responsible for this release dependably make good choices, I would have checked out Ambre Gris based on the labels’ comparative references to the likes of Ved Buens Ende, DHG, Ulver, Fleurety, Virus, and Satyricon. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLOODBATH, TAUR IM DUINATH, FACELESS BURIAL, DUST PROPHET

Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Oct 182018

I think this must be a first — for five days in a row I’ve had enough time to compile a round-up of new songs. Doesn’t mean I’m anywhere close to catching up with everything I’d like to recommend, but it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Today, I chose the first four good songs I found when I began scrolling through the morass of e-mails that had arrived at NCS overnight and this morning. Not exactly the most thorough method of making a selection, but it had the coincidental benefit of presenting some pleasing variety, as you’ll see….

BLOODBATH

“Chainsaw Lullaby” is a clever and amusing title, and of course it makes no secret about the meat of the sound. But before we get to this new song off Bloodbath’s forthcoming album, The Arrow of Satan is Drawn, let’s here from Anders ‘Blakkheim’ Nyström about the track: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PANNYCHIDA — “HARMONIOUS MECHANISM”

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Oct 182018

After three years of toil, the Russian death metal band Pannychida have completed their new album, Missense Mutation, and it’s now set for release on October 31st by Satanath Records and More Hate Productions. And guess what? We have a song premiere for you, a track off the new album named “Harmonious Mechanism“.

It would be fair to characterize the music as old school death metal, but of what kind? The releasing labels recommend the music for fans of Death, Pestilence, and Suffocation, and that provides some guidance. As for this song, let’s just say that if you’re feeling sleepy when you begin to listen, you won’t feel that way after you finish. Despite a sudden onset of sore-neck syndrome, you might instead feel like careening off the walls in a burst of savage merriment (or at least nodding your head and smiling in evil satisfaction). Continue reading »

BARÚS: A REVIEW OF “DROWNED” AND THE PREMIERE OF “DISSEVER”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Oct 182018

(On October 22nd Memento Mori will release Drowned, the debut album by the French band Barús, and in this post Andy Synn reviews the album and presents our premiere of a track from it named “Dissever“.)

It’s always gratifying to see a band you love grow and evolve, especially if it’s a band you’ve been into right from the very start.

Case in point, we’ve been fans of French Death Metal quartet Barús ever since the release of their self-titled EP back in 2015 (you can read more about that here) and I’m pleased to say that, despite having to wait over three full years, our patience is about to be richly rewarded with the advent of their long-gestating debut album, Drowned. Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: MOTSTRØMS

Concert Reviews No Responses »

Oct 182018

(One of our Norway-based contributors, Karina Noctum, prepared this evocative review of the Motstrøms concert on September 29 at the Myrens Dam in the heart of Norway’s Telemark region. All of the accompanying photos were taken by Andrea Chirulescu.)

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Motstrøms, which translated from Norwegian means “against the current”. Motstrøms was a celebration of a long and many-faceted musical career. It was about Emperor, Ihasahn’s solo project, the projects he has developed together with his wife Heidi Tveit, as well as the musical contributions of significance from other important musicians such as Leprous and Raphael Weinroth-Browne, among others.

Motstrøms is a fitting name indeed, taking into account Ihsahn’s musical character. I was excited when I first heard about it, and felt right from the beginning that it was going to be a special evening. I started getting “the I can’t believe I’m here” feeling just before arriving, the kind of feeling I do not get in Oslo anymore. Besides, Emperor were going to play some songs, and I had to be there. I have been following pretty much every Emperor concert I could attend, and I’m grateful for any new concerts because I know it will stop abruptly some day, and that will be it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INDESIDERIUM — “THE CONQUEROR’S RETURN”

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Oct 172018

“The Conqueror’s Return” is the name of the song by the California black metal duo Indesiderium that we bring you today. The music’s mid-paced momentum and the almost stately cruelty of the riffs is consistent with the august occasion suggested by the song’s title, but you also powerfully sense in the music that there is blood on this conqueror’s hands that won’t wash off, and a smell of death in his nostrils that won’t go away.

“The Conqueror’s Return” comes from Indesiderium’s new album Of Twilight And Evenfall..., which will be released by Satanath Records on October 30th. On this album, the core duo of vocalist/guitarist/bassist Atrum Lorde and drummer/keyboardist Mattias are joined by guest lead guitarist Hell Messiah from the US death metal band Gravehill. Continue reading »

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