AN NCS PREMIERE: INVOCATION OF DEATH — “THE ART OF THE DEFORMED”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 082018
 

 

It’s really hard for me to imagine that any died-in-the-wool fan of morbid, old school death metal won’t embrace the song we’re about to premiere by Invocation of Death — even the cold-hearted curmudgeons who sneer and sniff at anything recorded after about 1995. The song is just so brimming with gruesome life, and so packed with changing tempos and addictive riffs.

The song in question is “The Art of the Deformed“, and it closes Into the Labyrinth of Chaos, the debut album of this Salvadorian group (who originally called themselves Antares Death) which is set for release on October 18th by GrimmDistribution (Ukraine) and Morbid Skull Records (El Salvador). Continue reading »

THE HERETICS FORK: “TORMENTORE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 082018
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio’s review of the debut recording by The Heretics Fork, which will be released by P2 Records on October 31st., and whose name refers to this torture device used in the Inquisition.)

For me 2018 has been a good year in music, across different types of metal genres. As some of you know by now, I usually review albums in the BDM genre, though from time to time I do write about albums outside that genre. This time I’m about to speak of a band that took me by surprise, which I discovered through a FB post in a group I am part of.  The band is The Heretics Fork.

We don’t know where they are from or who the musicians are behind this project. The only thing we know is that they are signed to the P2 label from New York. This label serves as a distro as well. They were responsible for the release of Encenathrakh’s debut self-titled album (which Islander reviewed here) — one of the craziest BDM projects ever to be released. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NOISE TRAIL IMMERSION — “REPULSION AND ESCAPISM II”

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Oct 082018
 

 

“Repulsion and Escapism” is a suite of torment and pain, agonized searching and bitter discovery. On the new album by the Italian band Noise Trail Immersion, Symbology of Shelter, the track is divided into two parts, and we have Part II for you today, presented through a lyric video that combines words, imagery, and sound into a powerful holistic creation.

If you managed to come across the first advance track from this album (“Mirroring”), which premiered at Invisible Oranges last month (or the band’s previous releases), then you already know the seriousness of NTI’s thematic focus, and the staggering intensity of their music, which IO accurately described as “infectiously visceral but, at times, utterly cacophonous”, with the album as a whole “play[ing] like one big emotional arcing narrative”. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: KJELD, HOMSELVAREG, DEATHHAMMER

 SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Oct 082018
 

 

You may have noticed that we had no new posts at the site this past weekend — no Waxing Lyrical interview, no Shades of Black column, and nothing else. But rest easy — we are, in fact, still alive and well.

Mr. Synn played Mammothfest with his band Beyond Grace, and I spent the weekend in southern New Mexico at an annual outing of the business I work for when I’m not doing NCS stuff, and so neither of us had time to handle our usual weekend responsibilities. I guess I should have said something about these plans, in order to avoid the severe anxiety and heartbreak that our absence must have caused among the millions who looked for us and found nothing but the final post from last Friday.

My own activities not only prevented me from writing anything this weekend, they also prevented me from listening to as much new metal as I usually do on the weekends. I’ve got a shitload of catching up to do, which I’m thinking is a practical impossibility since I’m sitting here looking at the schedule of 11 song and album premieres I need to write this week, including the two coming today. But I will at least do this Shades of Black post, even if a day later than expected and even if the reviews are pitifully brief for music of such blazing power. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KVLT OF EBLIS — “PORTAL UTÉRICO”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Oct 052018
 

 

Shades of red and black dominate the color scheme of the video we’re presenting, as the hooded, cloaked, and corpse-painted quartet in Kvlt of Eblis perform their musical conjurations, surrounded by candle smoke and skulls. This particular black spell is named “Portal Utérico“, and it’s the final track on this Colombian band’s debut album, Templo de la Serpiente Negra, which was released by Morbid Skull Records on August 31st.

As this coven of two women and two men immerse themselves in the performance of the song, it’s easy to become immersed in the sounds as well, especially when it becomes apparent that the shape of the music is changing as the minutes pass. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GLOOMY GRIM — “STARS ABOVE ME”

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Oct 052018
 

 

On October 20th GrimmDistribution (Ukraine) and MurdHer Records (Italy) will release a new EP by the Finnish symphonic black metal band Gloomy Grim entitled Obscure Metamorphosis, and today we present the second track in the EP’s running order, “Stars Above Me“.

This makes the third year in a row when we’ve premiered music off different releases by this band, but a few words of introduction might still be warranted for those who are encountering their music for the first time. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INFESTUS — “THRYPSIS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Oct 052018
 

 

(On October 5th, Debemur Morti Productions will release the new album by the German band Infestus. Here, we present the premiere of a full album stream, preceded by Andy Synn‘s review.)

Read about, or write about, Metal for any appreciable length of time and you’ll probably notice that we talk about evolution a lot.

In particular, we frequently refer to (and argue about) the ways in which bands evolve, or choose not to evolve, over time, and the lengths they’re willing to go to in order to develop, refine, or maintain their sound.

Some bands, of course, are like sharks – musical predators perfectly suited to their environment, with no need (or desire) to change what they do or how they do it – while others are more mutable in nature, and don’t just embrace change, but actively pursue it.

Infestus are one such band. Continue reading »

HISSING: “PERMANENT DESTITUTION”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 042018
 

 

(This is Todd Manning‘s review of the debut album by the Seattle band Hissing, which will be released by Profound Lore on October 26th.)

Barely any time has passed since Profound Lore Records unleashed the aural savagery of Infernal Coil’s Within a World Forgotten upon the world, and now they are already back at it with the debut full-length by Seattle-based trio Hissing. Titled Permanent Destitution, this album capitalizes on the buzz around their 2016 self-titled seven-inch and also a well-received split with noise mongers Sutekh Hexen. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ZEALOT CULT — “SEA OF SUFFERING”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Oct 042018
 

 

At the end of August I encountered “Blades of Jihad“, the first advance track from Spiritual Sickness, the debut album by the Irish death metal band Zealot Cult. Afterward, I suspected that I had a cretinous expression on my face while listening — mouth open, eyes glazed, perhaps a few rivulets of drool seeping out of my maw. The song begins strong, and the WOW factor only multiplies as the minutes pass.

Since then we’ve been given the opportunity to premiere a second advance track from the album, which you’ll find at the end of this post, below an assortment of borderline-demented verbiage. “Sea of Suffering” is a different beast than “Blades of Jihad“, but also left me gobsmacked. Continue reading »

A DIALOGUE ON THE “DEATH OF GENRES”

 Mosh Pit  15 Responses »
Oct 042018
 

 

Two days ago Metal Hammer published an essay entitled “I witnessed the death of genres“, in which the author raved about the live performance he’d recently witnessed by a band named  Scarlxrd, praising the artist’s hybridizing of musical styles from different genres, including metal. The article ended with these words:

“Where else will you find a night of music so indebted to aggressive metal and hip-hop, but unafraid to introduce AC/DC and Oasis into the mix? This is the future of music. Just music. Nobody cares about your arcane genre tags or inexplicably niche sub-genres that only two bands fit into, it’s all just sound, we’re in a genre fluid world and you should embrace it. Music is beautiful and narrow-mindedness is ugly.

“Be part of something, be part of everything.”

This provoked a Facebook status by my NCS colleague Andy Synn. By the time I saw it, it had drawn a large number of comments and exchanges, and one of those dialogues was with our mutual friend and former NCS scribe Joseph Schafer (who now writes for such publications and sites as DECIBEL and Noisey, after a stint as Invisible Oranges‘ editor). Continue reading »

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