AN NCS PREMIERE: SUNFLO’ER — “INVERTED CROSS TATTOO”

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Sep 122018
 

 

Writing more than a few words about “Inverted Cross Tattoo” runs the risk that it will take you longer to read them than to just listen to the song. Heedless of the risk, we will barrel ahead anyway, which is actually sort of appropriate since Sunflo’er themselves barrel ahead, heedless of risk.

There’s an unmistakable air of spontaneity about this song, which is loaded with exuberant twists and turns that are capable of both flipping your brain upside down like a frying egg (but not “over easy”) and leaving bruises on your kidneys. “Experimental hardcore” is a suitable label for the music. “Neuron-melting brawler” might be another. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SEPULCHER — “PANOPTIC HORROR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Sep 122018
 

 

Welcome to Bedlam!

I can think of no better greeting to give you for the lawlessness, the pandemonium, the sheer uproarious (and often macabre) extravagance that awaits you within Sepulcher’s new album, Panoptic Horror. The faint of heart will shy away, but those who hunger for the taste of barely contained yet sharply executed mayhem will find a true home here. Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN PRESENTS: REVIEWS IN HAIKUS (VOID RITUAL)

 Album Reviews, Reviews In Haikus  No Responses »
Sep 122018
 


 

(After a five-month hiatus, we present another edition of Andy Synn’s three-line album reviews.)

For various reasons (which I don’t plan on getting into here) it’s been quite some time since we’ve published a new set of Reviews in Haikus here at NCS.

Today’s edition is a little bit different than usual, however, as it trades-in the traditional format of featuring three albums from three different bands in favour of featuring three albums by one single artist, the prolific Black Metal poet known as Void Ritual, who has quickly (and rightfully) established himself as one of the most vital new voices in the US scene. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CIRITH UNGOL, CULTES DES GHOULES, HELRUNAR, WITCHTHROAT SERPENT, GEVURAH

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Sep 122018
 

 

Heavy metal’s fascination with the occult has deep roots and shows no signs of weakening. It is manifested in many ways, not all of which can be reconciled into some philosophically consistent gestalt, running the gamut from sorcery and witchcraft to elaborate schools of satanism, from the Dark Lords of Middle Earth to the horrors conceived by Lovecraft.

To this day, the embracing and channeling of evil cuts broad swaths across metal genres (white magic fell before the power of black magic within heavy metal in its infancy), though how we should understand the concept of “evil” and why it’s such a persistent feature of metal are subjects beyond the scope of this post. The subjects are on my mind simply because they had something to do with why I chose the following five new songs for this round-up, all of which appeared (in many instances without warning) over the last 24 hours.

CIRITH UNGOL

The first bolt from the blue took the form of the first studio recording by these Kings of the Dead since the release of Paradise Lost in 1991. It’s a single named “Witch’s Game“, which was recorded for inclusion in the forthcoming animated movie The Planet of Doom (more info about that here). The B-side of the single is a live version of “Doomed Planet” as performed at Germany’s Hammer of Doom festival in 2017. As you can see, it comes with stunning cover art by Michael Whelan. Continue reading »

PYREXIA: “UNHOLY REQUIEM”

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Sep 122018
 

 

(On September 14th Unique Leader Records will release a new album by NYDM band Pyrexia, and here we have Vonlughlio’s review of the album.)

As I sit in the santuary part of the house on a Saturday night, being sick, I have been thinking about the early- and mid-’90s living in the Dominican Republic and being a metalhead. It was a time when you would go to small get-togethers and see local bands perform, and to talk music with that guy who seemed to have all the info, as well as cassettes (I’ve mentioned him in some of my previous small write-ups). Sure, it was not a perfect time, but people weren’t uptight, and if you liked a band, cool, and if not, that was cool too. Nowadays, well, it’s not the same, but I won’t get into that.

So, why was I going back down memory lane?? Well, it’s because I had been given the opportunity to write about Pyrexia’s new album, Unholy Requiem. This band, founded in 1990 in New York, made waves in the scene with their demos and their 1993 debut album Sermon Mockery, one of the best Death Metal albums to be released and a true classic, at least for me. That album is ferocious, unapologetic, and in-your-face, with everything working together perfectly, from the riffs to the vocals, the drums, and the production work. This band, along with Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, and Dehumanized, were bands who left a mark in the scene, and that will be forever evident. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KRIGSGRAV — “THE END (FOREVER MOURNE)”

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Sep 112018
 

 

I first learned of Krigsgrav almost four years ago when Panopticon’s Austin Lunn included their third album The Carrion Fields on his 2014 year-end list at our site, praising it as “a fantastic release” with “the unique sound that American folk/Black metal has become known for, but with some Brave Murder Day thrown in there for good measure”. Two years on from that well-received third album, we had the privilege of premiering their next full-length in 2016, Waves of Degradation, which moved me to write: “As you listen to this largely mid-paced music, it’s not hard to imagine weary souls crossing the plains, hiking through rain-drenched primordial forests, or crossing ice-bound mountain passes. The music is both earthy and mystical, storming and plaintive.”

Krigsgrav have undergone some changes since then, amicably shrinking their line-up to guitarist/vocalist J. Coleman and drummer/bassist David Sikora, and they’ve recorded a new album named Leave No Path to Follow. The changes go beyond the line-up, as reflected in the music on this new record. But the emotional power of the songs is undiminished, even as the band’s musical evolution has continued.

Two songs from the album have been made available to the public so far, and we’re adding a third one today, the last original track on the album before a closing cover of Katatonoa’s “Brave” (a choice that itself will tell you something about the band’s current direction). Its name is “The End (Forever Mourne)“, presented here with video accompaniment. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WILLS DISSOLVE — “SO DO NOT MISTAKE THESE ASHES”

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Sep 112018
 

 

So much obvious contemplation and care has gone into the debut album, The Heavens Are Not On Fire, by the genre-bending Houston band Wills Dissolve that it became a many-layered artistic achievement, from the conceptual framework to the album art to the music, which is itself multiply textured, technically impressive, and constantly changing but coherent.

Perhaps it’s best to begin with the album’s concept, which is itself fascinating. It’s based on the Leonid meteor shower of November 1833, the first great meteor storm of modern times, in which hundreds of thousands of meteors blasted through the atmosphere per hour. In rural West Texas (as in other locales), it was mistaken as a sign from God, followed by destruction. From that event, Wills Dissolve have crafted a musical meditation on religion, violence, and cosmic chaos  — or as one band member has remarked, “the grave consequences of misapplied dogmatic zeal.”

The concept is reflected in the album title, but also in the song titles themselves, which together form a sentence: “The heavens are not on fire, so do not mistake these ashes for signs from on high on this cold November night, 11-13-1833“. Continue reading »

LOOSEN YOUR MIND: THOREN, POTMOS HETOIMOS, MILLI TAÇMIRAT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 112018
 

 

My original idea for this post has morphed a bit as I’ve discovered more music, but the core of the idea is the same. Although the music here is radically different in the most obvious of ways, all of it seems connected to me, in the sense that all of it effectively severed my usual currents of thought from their moorings and turned them in different, and bewildering, directions. The last of these songs isn’t metal at all, in the way we usually think about heavy music, but it’s just as mentally unmooring as the other tracks.

At times like these, it occurs to me again that music which knocks you off-balance, which shoves you outside your normal comfort zones, can sometimes be the most fascinating.

THOREN

Roughly two years ago our friend and former NCS contributor Austin Weber presented our premiere of an album named Brenneburg by an instrumental trio from Michigan who call themselves Thoren. In attempting to capture the sensations of the music, Austin made frequent references to Dysrhythmia, while observing that Thoren “seem to be coming from an even more alien and discordant place than the off-the-wall realm where Dysrhythmia comfortably reside”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: APNEICA — “ASTRATTA SOLITUDINE”

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Sep 112018
 

 

The Italian doom/death band Apneica first took shape on the island of Sardinia in 2007 as the solo project of guitarist Alessandro Seghene. As the years passed Apneica grew into a full band and released two albums and an EP. After multiple changes in the line-up, Apneica’s formation now includes bassist Francesco Pintore, drummer Giuseppe Fancellu, vocalist Ignazio Simula, and guitarist Alice Doro, in addition to founder Alessandro Seghene. They’ve recorded a new album named Tra Rocce e Cortecce, which also includes the participation of female vocalist Piera Demurtas and folk artist Andrea Pisu, who performs the launeddas, a Sardinian cane flute.

Tra Rocce e Cortecce will be released on October 19th by the Russian label GS Productions, and we’re very happy to bring you its first single today, a stunning track named “Astratta Solitudine“. Continue reading »

TERRORIZER: “CAUSTIC ATTACK”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Sep 112018
 

 

(We present Todd Manning‘s review of the new album by Terrorizer, set for release by The End Records on October 12th.)

There’s no need to belabor the point that most metalheads feel a sense of trepidation when a band known for their old school classic output puts out new material in this day and age. Admittedly, Terrorizer have been back for a while now, first with 2006’s aptly titled Darker Days Ahead, followed by 2012’s Hordes of Zombies. Each release has featured shifts in lineup, and their newest, Caustic Attack, is no different. But with Pete Sandoval as the only remaining member from both the original and the subsequent lineups, how does Terrorizer now intend to capture the essence of their own sound?

We’ll come back to that question in just a minute. First, let’s talk about who is in the new lineup. For Caustic Attack Pete Sandoval recruited Sam Molina on bass and vocals along with Lee Harrison on guitars. Both are primarily known for their work with Death Metal heavyweights Monstrosity, with Harrison’s tenure as the band’s drummer stretching all the way back to 1992’s classic Imperial Doom. Continue reading »

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