WAXING LYRICAL: PHANTOM WINTER

 WAXING LYRICAL  3 Responses »
Sep 152018
 

 

(In this week’s edition of Andy Synn’s WAXING LYRICAL the focus is the lyricism of the German band Phantom Winter, as discussed by vocalist/guitarist Andreas Schmittfull.)

The name Phantom Winter should be familiar to most readers of our site as we’ve written about the German quintet several times, heaping a large amount of praise on their visceral brand of Blackened Sludge Metal over the years, as well as engaging in numerous discussions about their rigorously shaped and savagely delivered philosophical and socio-political lyrics.

It should be no surprise to learn then that the band’s vocalist/guitarist (and primary lyricist) Andreas Schmittfull had a lot to say and a lot of interesting insight to offer when I (finally) managed to pin him down for this edition of Waxing Lyrical.

So, without further ado… take it away Andreas! Continue reading »

VOID OF SILENCE: “THE SKY OVER”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Sep 142018
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the latest album by the Italian band Void of Silence, which was released earlier this year by Avantgarde Music.)

I’ve had Italian Post/Doom Metallers Void of Silence lined up for an edition of The Synn Report for quite a while now, as it’s long felt to me like their signature combination of titanic riffs, symphonic keys, riveting vocal melodies, and ambient industrial embellishments, has the potential to really speak to a significant segment of our readership.

However a few different factors have all combined to the point where it simply made more sense to (finally) review their new album (their first after a lengthy, eight-year-long, hiatus) in isolation, particularly since, in my humble opinion at least, it’s one of the very best records of 2018. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: TRUENT — “TO END AN ANCIENT WAY OF LIFE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 142018
 

 

The Vancouver, BC, band Truent made their impressive recording debut last year with an EP entitled Faith in the Forgotten, and they’re following that one with an even more impressive EP, To End An Ancient Way of Life, which we’re highlighting today — the day of its release — through the premiere of a full stream.

The four tracks on this new EP provide a turbocharged thrill-ride, each song displaying flamboyant technical fireworks, but within a framework of tremendously punishing and head-hooking grooves, and threaded with through-lines of melody (both bleak and boisterous) that further stick the songs in your head. The impact is ferocious, frequently explosive, and persistently electrifying. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CARBON COLOSSAL — “A GATHERING OF SERPENTS”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Sep 142018
 

 

When Austin Weber reviewed the 2017 debut EP of Carbon Colossal for us he wrote, “The Disassembly of Earth is some sort of technical doom from hell, gone a death-metal-infused path, with fleeting blasts of black metal peppered in between all that… the three songs here forming an all-around vicious and ultra-dissonant heavy machine the likes of which show a ton of promise….”

This California duo (vocalist Llysywen and multi-instrumentalist Galaeth) have now recorded a debut album entitled Celestial Eels, which they have set for release on December 1st, and today we’re helping spread the word about a nightmarish album track called “A Gathering of Serpents“.

Although the track is nearly 10 minutes long, it never flags, nor runs any risk of losing its paralyzing grip on a listener’s sanity. It’s simply too shocking and too well-calculated to destabilize and invert rational thought for that. The music is a dissonant black/death fugue of madness and despair that both fucks with your inner ear and applies a hatchet to any sense of well-being that might comfort you in these dark times. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MORBID MESSIAH — “GRAVEYARD HEADHUNTER”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Sep 142018
 

 

The appearance of Morbid Messiah is deceptive. This death metal quartet from Guadalajara, Mexico, look very young — no doubt because they actually are very young, especially in comparison to ancient creatures such as this writer. But when you listen to their music, you realize that they must have old souls — the souls of corpses who perished in horrible fashion and have been reanimated into ghastly new lives.

Morbid Messiah‘s debut EP, In the Name of True Death Metal, was self-released in 2016 but was soon given a sold-out tape treatment by Godz ov War Productions. Their new album, Demoniac Paroxysm (adorned by the distinctive cover art of Mark Riddick), has attracted even more label interest, with a CD release coming on October 22nd via Memento Mori and a vinyl edition in the works from Unholy Prophecies.

One song from the album (“Howling From the Grave“) has crawled from the crypt already, and today we have a second one: “Graveyard Headhunter“. Continue reading »

SINSAENUM: “REPULSION FOR HUMANITY”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Sep 142018
 

 

(This is TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new album by the multinational collective Sinsaenum, which was released last month.)

Sinsaenum is a weird band, in the sense that I think supergroups usually end up being failures, but Sinsaenum are not.  The music they write is good, but they also serve as a case study for one of the bigger problems that comes from forming a supergroup in the extreme metal world:  When the membership of a supergroup is diverse, and when efforts are made for each member’s background to be represented sonically, that can lead to albums that are… fragmented, to say the least.

Sinsaenum, the brainchild of Joey Jordison and Frédéric Leclercq, boasts alumni and current members of Dragonforce, Mayhem, Dååth, and Slipknot, just to rattle off the big names, and their new album sounds like they don’t know what they want to be, even if the resulting product is still in my mind fairly excellent.

The thing is, even the fragmented, stylistically inconsistent nature of Repulsion For Humanity isn’t even consistent. Among the various pure death metal metal, pure black metal, and straight-up groove and nu-metal-bordering tracks on the album, there is a blackened death metal mix on songs in the latter part of the album that very distinctly stands out, and sounds like something the band could make an identity out of. I enjoy all of this album, but I have no doubt that many people will have a hard time finding a baseline to dial into. If there is one, it’s on those latter tracks. Continue reading »

QUICK HITS: BLOODBATH, SLAEGT, ENTROPIA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Sep 132018
 

 

The flood of new metal continues unabated. Since yesterday’s round-up, I’ve accumulated more than a dozen new tracks (not to mention newly released EPs and albums) that I’m itching to hear, on top of all the others I didn’t have room to include yesterday. In an effort to keep at least my nostrils above water, I’ve picked three new ones (two of which come with videos) to quickly launch at your heads today.

BLOODBATH

Those who live under rocks are unaware that Bloodbath have a new album coming out next month. Everyone else knows. Now there’s a first single to be consumed, the name of which is “Bloodicide“. And guess what? It includes guest vocal appearances by Jeff Walker (Carcass), Karl Willetts (Bolt Thrower/Memoriam), and John Walker (Cancer). Before you enjoy the song, enjoy these quotes from two of the guests: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GNOSIS — “THE OFFERING OF SEVEN”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 132018
 

 

Ancient evil lives within The Offering of Seven, the new album by the Floridian black metal band Gnosis. The band twist their music into different cruel and often frightening shapes, through changing cadences and accented in different ways, but the atmosphere of the album is persistently and powerfully sinister.

The music is atavistic in more ways than one. It not only triggers primordial moods and primal reflexes, the music harkens back to the Greek black metal of the early ’90s, inspiring memories of such influences as Varathron and Thou Art Lord, as well as Mortuary Drape and Mystifier. And we have a full stream of the album for you today. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ASBEST — “THEY KILL”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 132018
 

 

It’s a tough call whether the music or the imagery in this new video is the more intense, the more disturbing, and the more captivating aspect of the experience — not that we must make a choice, of course. The fact that both the song and the film are so gripping (and so unnerving) just makes the integration of the two unusually compelling.

The song is not brand new. “They Kill” was the first single released earlier this year from Driven, the new album by the Swiss trio Asbest, which will hit the streets on September 28th via Czar of Bullets and A Tree In A Field Records. But even if you’ve heard it before, it’s not the kind of thing whose novelty wears off easily. And if this video provides the occasion for you to hear it the first time, you couldn’t find a better introduction to the song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MARCHE FUNÈBRE — “DEATH WISH WOMAN”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 132018
 

 

When my NCS comrade Andy Synn made the Belgian band Marche Funèbre the subject of his 44th Synn Report almost five years ago, reviewing their debut EP and first two albums, he recommended them for fans of My Dying Bride, Eye of Solitude, and early Paradise Lost. He wrote: “Desolate and depressive, ominous and oppressive, their often lengthy, drawn out songs are simultaneously draining and invigorating – at times they hit with instant impact, at others they build slowly and insidiously, insinuating themselves into the darkest corners of your mind.”

Since then the band have released one more album, 2017’s Into the Arms of Darkness, and a pair of splits. And now, to celebrate their tenth year of life as a band, Marche Funèbre have recorded a new four-song EP that will be released on October 14th by GrimmDistribution and Cimmerian Shade Recordings. Death Wish Woman is its name, and what you’re about to hear is its title track — and if you’ve never heard this band before, you’re in for an electrifying surprise. You might be in for an electrifying surprise even if you have heard their music before. Continue reading »

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