AN NCS PREMIERE: P.H.O.B.O.S. — “SMOTHERED IN SCORIA”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 082018
 

 

The abstract cover art by Synckop for the new album by the French band P.H.O.B.O.S. is remarkably vibrant, yet enigmatic.  It could be seen as a pure abstraction, the colors and shapes evoking an emotional response that’s dependent at least in part on what the viewer brings to the experience. But when you listen to the music of P.H.O.B.O.S., you may see it in a different way. You may see in it the emergence of a terrible visage, an inhuman one streaked in blood.

“Smothered In Scoria” is the name of the song we’re presenting today, the one that closes this eight-track album, the name of which is Phlogiston Catharsis. It has the capacity to pin the listener in place like a moth affixed to a display, still wriggling. Visions of immense and implacable terror rise up through the music; the peril is palpable, the impact of the sound riveting but unnerving. Continue reading »

INFURIATE: “INFURIATE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 072018
 

 

(Our friend Vonlughlio prepared this review of the debut album by Texas-based Infuriate, which will be released by Everlasting Spew Records on August 31.)

2018 has already been a great year for Death and Brutal Death, and one of the things I’ve enjoyed more is the discovery of bands I’ve never heard before, just to be blown away with their music. Galvanizer was one of those bands and now their label mates Infuriate (both on Everlasting Spew Records) have just left me speechless with their self-titled debut album, set for release on August 31st.

My friend, Mr. Vespasiani was the guilty party who introduced me to this band and I am glad he did, since this has to be on my favorite debut-album list of all time (yes, I keep a list of those). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SONS OF ALPHA CENTAURI — “SOLAR STORM”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Aug 072018
 

 

It’s rare to find a video that suits a piece of music as well as Simon Risbridger‘s video for “Solar Storm” by the UK band Sons of Alpha Centauri. You listen to the song, and you can’t help but feel it’s telling a story, even without the narration of a vocalist. Your imagination will reflexively want to fill in the details in its own way, but the collaboration of the band with this director has produced a damned fine vision of their own, one that’s as much fun to see as the song is to hear.

As they say in the trade, it was a long wait for SOAC‘s new album, Continuum, which includes this song. It arrived on June 1st via H42 Records and Cobraside Records, a mere 10 1/2 years after the band’s self-titled debut album. There were a handful of splits in between, but nothing of the size and substance of this new record. Contrary to the proverb, good things don’t always come to those who wait, but they certainly did for us in this instance, and “Solar Storm” is a prime example of Continuum‘s rewards. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PSYKOPATH — “PRIMAL INSTINCT”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Aug 072018
 

 

Every genre of metal has its own distinctive hallmarks, the sounds you expect, the sensations you look for and maybe hunger for. Thrash is electrification. At its most exciting, at least for this writer, it’s even more than that — it’s thermonuclear incineration, the kind of full-throttle rush that not only lights up your bloodstream and triggers the reflex muscles in your neck but also sounds viciously unhinged. That kind of thrash doesn’t grow on trees, especially when it turns out to be addictive as well as ferocious. Psykopath have got that kind of stuff — the right stuff.

This young Norwegian band from Bergen have recorded a new three-track EP named Primal Instinct that’s explosive and contagious. In addition, it has impressive style and flair. The cover art by the great Kim Holm nails the feeling. We’re very happy to present the EP’s title track to whet your appetite in advance of its August 24 release by Loyal Blood Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ENDLESS DISEASE — “HAIL THE COMING END”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 062018
 

 

Destroy Your Fucking Life. Our Dawn Is the End. There Is No Hope. Supreme Misanthropic Darkness. And now Hail the Coming End.

Those are the titles of the releases so far by the Texas band Endless Disease, the last of which is out today. The titles alone, not to mention the band’s name, proclaim a world-view steeped in bleakness and boiling with disgust. If there is any hope here, it seems to be the hope that the pestilence of human existence will be extinguished sooner rather than later… and not one tear will be shed by this band when that day arrives. And therein lies a paradox about the music — because the music is electrifyingly alive, like a fight that will rage to the bitter end. Continue reading »

OMNIUM GATHERUM : “THE BURNING COLD”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Aug 062018
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Finland’s Omnium Gatherum, which will be released by Century Media on August 31st.)

Before I kick this review into high-gear, I want to clear something up once and for all… despite sharing some superficial similarities (and, these days, a guitarist), Omnium Gatherum and Insomnium really don’t sound all that much alike, and it would take a truly committed contrarian to suggest otherwise at this point.

Truth be told, regardless of whether you think they ever even sounded all that much alike in the first place, the differences between the two bands have only become more pronounced over the years, as while the latter have spent their time pursuing a moodier, more melancholy sound, the shameless synths ‘n’ solos approach favoured by the OG crew has taken them in a markedly different direction, to the point where their highly anticipated eighth album finds the Finnish sextet now occupying the same sort of highly energetic, audaciously anthemic, niche once inhabited by In Flames in their prime. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (BY DGR): BEHEMOTH, CAST THE STONE, SOREPTION, ABORTED

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Aug 062018
 

 

(DGR steps in for round-up duty to begin our posts for this new week.)

In case you missed it, one of the recurring themes around the NCS corner of the interwebs is that if the Comments section doesn’t come for us, then it’s the day job that will. Such was the case this weekend when our esteemed editor (who is likely back home by now) found himself on the self-described whirlwind trip to New Mexico for a few days. As will inevitably happen, of course, that means there is going to be a massive blast of new music that we’ll likely catch a good amount of, but not all of, and so those of us who are able to will step into the role of news person.

And so the metal sphere gathered up four very big names and decided that this weekend would be a fucking fantastic time to jam out a whole bunch of news and try to catch us off-guard. Well not us, I say… at least we’ll get to it on Monday maybe. So I’ve gathered up the aforementioned four very large news stories from bands with albums upcoming (one of which actually came out last Friday!) for you folks to start the week off with, all in one handy post that… as is standard…is pretty fucking heavy on the death metal. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: HELRUNAR , A FOREST OF STARS, LUCIFERICON, SARKRISTA

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Aug 052018
 

 

My whirlwind trip to New Mexico is about to end, with a pair of long flights that will get me back to Seattle looming ahead today. I found a little time last night and this morning to sample some of the new black and blackened metal that has surfaced in recent days, and picked three new tracks to recommend. All of them are from forthcoming albums I’ve been eagerly awaiting. And at the last minute, I added an EP originally released in May, but more recently made available on Bandcamp.

HELRUNAR

Vanitas Vanitatvm is the name of the new album by the German band Helrunar. September 28th is the date selected by Prophecy Productions for its release, roughly three and a half years following the  excellent Niederkunfft.

Stylistically, frontman M.D. places it between Niederkunfft and that album’s predecessor,  the massive Sól. He says: “The songs are more compact and mature, also mostly faster, and again, more black metal. Apart from that, there have been influences you might call nostalgic.” Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: INGURGITATING OBLIVION

 Interviews, WAXING LYRICAL  1 Response »
Aug 042018
 

 

(In this Saturday’s edition of WAXING LYRICAL Andy Synn posed the usual questions to Florian Engelke of the German band Ingurgitating Oblivion.)

Germany’s Ingurgitating Oblivion have been making dark, dissonant waves in the European Death Metal scene (and beyond) for a number of years now, with last year’s Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light not only majorly increasing the band’s worldwide fame and notoriety, but also expanding their sound in ever more complex and progressive ways.

If you’re unfamiliar with the group and their work, then this edition of The Synn Report should make for a good primer, or you can just dive straight in with the following interview with the band’s guitarist and primary lyricist Florian Engelke! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STELLAR DESCENT — “THE FUTURE IS DARK” (AN EXCERPT)

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Aug 032018
 

 

Stellar Descent’s first three albums ranged in length from 48 minutes to two hours. Each of them was a single track. So is their fourth album, The Future Is Dark, a single track of 46 minutes, the very definition of “long-form black metal”. For some who haven’t encountered this duo’s music before, that might be an imposing barrier to entry. I’ll try to explain why the time shouldn’t be considered a barrier at, but a key factor in the album’s considerable appeal.

The reasons why all those uninterrupted minutes should be welcomed, at least by those with a certain turn of mind, are necessarily explanations that can’t be validated by a mere five-and-a-half minute excerpt, but that’s what we have for you now. It’s at least a strong opening statement, if not nearly the whole case. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries