AN NCS PREMIERE: HUMANITY ZERO — “RULER OF THE ULTIMATE VOID OF CHAOS”

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Oct 112018
 

 

Originally the solo project of musician Dimon’s Night, the Greek band Humanity Zero produced six releases from 2008 through 2014 — roughly one per year. More time than that passed before the band released its Withered In Isolation album in 2017, and that stretch of years brought about not only changes in line-up but also significant changes in sound. Where previous recordings embraced death metal in the vein of such bands as Death, Hypocrisy, Unleashed, Nile, and Immolation, Withered In Isolation took a turn in a more doom-dominated and atmospheric direction, as reflected in a song we premiered last year, which included grieving guitar melodies and the soulful lament of a violin.

The band have quickly followed last year’s album with a new one that will hit the streets on October 26th. Entitled Proselytism, it again reflects a change in line-up — Dimon’s Night has now taken over all the instruments, and he’s joined here by new vocalist/lyricist Kydoimos (Misanthropy Apotheosis) — as well as a further evolution of sound, presenting music that (in the words of the labels handling the release) “is slower, deeper and haunting yet more atmospheric and punishing than any other Humanity Zero release”. Continue reading »

EVOKEN: “HYPNAGOGIA”

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Oct 112018
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Evoken, which will be released by Profound Lore on November 9th.)

Funeral doom might be my favorite subgenre of metal, with depressive black metal not far behind. It invokes deeper emotional layers and creates powerful sonic places than doom bands content with just worshipping Black Sabbath. Jersey doom band Evoken might be America’s best when it comes not only to funeral doom, but to doom as a whole.

On their new album Hypnagogia they pick up where they left off with Atra Mors. There are a few changes, such as synths being more prevalent in the mix, which creates thicker atmosphere. Mood-wise the album is dark yet not as filled with despair as the previous album. Lyrically, it uses World War I as a metaphor regarding more personal topics. This is done without the need to maintain some contrived narrative that concept albums tend to have. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RODENT EPOCH — “RODENTLORD”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Oct 102018
 

 

The advance press for Rodent Epoch’s debut album, which emphasizes “the filth and fury for which Finnish black metal has become renowned”, its “crude ‘n’ rude aesthetic”, and its “rockin’ thrust”, is accurate as far as it goes, but in my humble opinion those evocative phrases really don’t do Rodentlord justice. The music certainly reaches cathartic heights of punk-fueled snarling, savage lust, and devilish depravity, and there’s a blasphemous, fuck-the-world sensibility to the lyrics, but there’s a lot more going on here, too.

Of course, you won’t have to take my word for it, since what we’re bringing you today is a full stream of the album in advance of its October 12 premiere by Saturnal Records, but I’ll nevertheless attempt to explain why the album amounts to so much more than raucous deviancy and carnal lust. Continue reading »

SEPREVATION: “INTO THE BLACK”

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Oct 102018
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by the English death metal band Seprevation, which was released on September 9th.)

The last time we checked in on Bristolian Death/Thrash droogs Seprevation was… just over a year ago, when they released their Echoes of Mercy EP (and you can read all about that here).

Luckily they haven’t been resting on their laurels in the intervening time, and have not only been gigging their collective arses off, up and down the country, but have also spent some time putting together this brand new collection of sonic savagery which I’m pleased to be able to draw your attention to today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FROM THE VASTLAND — “AGAS”

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Oct 102018
 

 

Working alone (or mostly so), Sina began writing and recording black metal in Iran many years ago under the name From the Vastland, indulging his love of old school Scandinavian black metal in a place where the performance of such music was banned by the government. From the beginning, he has made the culture of his homeland a part of his creations, writing lyrical themes that draw upon ancient Persian mythology and history — epic tales of battles between darkness and light, good and evil, gods and devils — and weaving touches of Persian melody into the fabric of his songs.

Life for Sina took an unexpected turn when he was contacted by the Norwegian producer of the black metal documentary Blackhearts (eventually released in 2017) and became a part of that film, which in turn led to the opportunity in 2013 to perform at the Inferno Festival in Oslo, thanks in part to the work of a foundation established by Indie Recordings aimed at supporting bands who had spread their music in defiance of governmental oppression. There he was joined for the performance by a backing band that included such luminaries as bassist Tjalve (Horizon Ablaze, ex-Den Saakaldte, ex-1349), guitarist Destructhor (Myrkskog, Zyklon, ex-Morbid Angel), and drummer Vyl (Keep of Kalessin, Gorgoroth-live). And that in turn led to the opportunity for Sina to move to Norway, which he did in 2014.

From his new home in the cradle of black metal, Sina has continued to record and to perform at both Norwegian events and international festivals. His newest album, Daevayasna, will be jointly released on October 25th by Satanath Records (Russia) and The Eastern Front (Israel) — and today we present one of the new album tracks, entitled “Agas“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): PA VESH EN — “CHURCH OF BONES”

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Oct 092018
 

 

Many of the more adventurous and steel-nerved among you will have already discovered the terrible wonders to be found in the music of Pa Vesh En. After all, in 2018 alone this remarkable black metal project from Belarus has already released through Iron Bonehead Productions the Dead Womb demo, a two-song 7″ named A Ghost, and a split album with Temple Moon. But all of those recordings were preludes to what you’re about to hear, a debut album named Church of Bones that Iron Bonehead will release on October 12th.

As the album’s title might suggest, these seven tracks sound as if they were recorded in a vast sepulcher far beneath the surface of the earth, all the shuddering and shattering tonalities drenched in reverb, the music profoundly haunting and deeply oppressive in the weight of the desolation it conveys. The album is sweeping in the scale of its apocalyptic grief and shattering in the intensity of the pain it channels into sound — an expression of emotional collapse that’s so profound it begins to seem majestic, an intense and immersive experience so all-consuming that it swallows up the listener, as if engulfed by the maw of a leviathan. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OBLIVION — “FORGOTTEN BROTHERHOOD”

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Oct 092018
 

 

As we reported last month, long-time NCS favorites Oblivion are returning with a new, self-titled album that’s currently slated for release on January 21, 2019. Also last month, the band released the new album’s first single, “True Awakening“, which was written (as they explained) “from the subjective perspective of the emerging ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) as it is first awakening and becoming aware of its powers and the world it inhabits”. Fittingly, the song’s long introductory passage exudes an aura of ominous foreboding as it methodically piston-pounds the listener’s skull and swirls about like artificial neurons growing and seeking connections.

“True Awakening” proved to be an explosive lead-in to the album, its rhythms eventually shifting into a galloping gear, the music surging, battering, and thundering, with ghastly vocals augmenting the music’s atmosphere of blistering and brutish violence, and a solo at the end, both queasy and questing, leading into one final obliterating onslaught.

Oblivion has planned to release further singles every month from now up to the release date, and we’re getting to help spread the word about the second one today. The name of this one is “Forgotten Brotherhood“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NORDLAND — “THE ROOTS IMPALE THE DEAD”

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Oct 092018
 

 

The time has again arrived for us to check in with Nordland, the one-man black metal band from the damp east coast of England, whose distinctive musical contemplations of a pagan past and looming death have gripped our attention in past releases, the last of which was the excellent European Paganism album in 2017. Not one whose creative inspirations go dormant for long at a time (or maybe ever), Nordland’s creator Vorh has recorded a new album named The Dead Stones which will be released on October 24th by the Russian labels Satanath Records and More Hate Productions.

I wrote of the music on the last album that Nordland had “succeeded in maintaining connections to some of black metal’s most revered (and most copied) traditions, while also embellishing and changing the methods of expression in ways that stand out from the pack”, creating music that was “so complex, so intricate, and so kaleidoscopic in its changes that it also merits adjectives like ‘progressive’ and ‘avant garde'”. Nordland’s propensity for crafting ever-changing musical expressions that take listeners outside of themselves into a different imagined world is on display again in the song from The Dead Stones that we’re premiering today — “The Roots Impale the Dead“. Continue reading »

CARTHAGE: “PUNIC WAR!”

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Oct 092018
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by the Greek death metal band Carthage, which was released on October 5th by Amputated Vein Records.)

I don’t know about you guys, but I am absolutely swamped at the moment, with various issues in both my personal and professional life constantly competing for my valuable time, which is leaving me with surprisingly few opportunities to put digital pen to electric paper and get some damn writing done!

Ok… breathe… phew… anyway…

Despite all of this, however, I’m going to endeavour to get as many pieces published this week as I can – including a mix of big names and new contenders – starting with the debut album from Greek Death Metal duo Carthage. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MAJESTIC DOWNFALL, ERYN NON DAE., BURIAL OATH, DEMONBREED, NYREDOLK, RIBBONHEAD

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Oct 092018
 

 

I’ve chosen so much new music to feature in this stylistically eclectic round-up that I’m going to dispense with any further preface and just get right to it.

MAJESTIC DOWNFALL

“Veins” is the first track released (just yesterday) from Majestic Downfall‘s new album, Waters Of Fate, which will be released on December 7th by Solitude Productions and Weird Truth Productions in Europe and Asia and by Chaos Records in the Americas. If you couldn’t guess based on how much praise we’ve heaped on this Mexican death/doom band over the years, this album is one we’ve been eagerly looking forward to. If possible, I’m even more eager now that I’ve opened those Veins. Continue reading »

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