We’re about to present the streaming premiere of a three-track demo that’s a rush of hellish electrification — with a surprising twist at the end.
Umbra Regit is the debut recording of the Salvadorian black/thrash band Witchgöat, and it will be released on July 31st by Morbid Skull Records. It combines the talents of veteran guitarist P. Scyther, drummer E. Driller, vocalist M. Miasma, and bassist C. Fog. Continue reading »
(Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood) returns to our site with another list of music that’s off our usual beaten paths.)
I don’t know why I’ve taken such a sour turn on new guitar-based releases this year; maybe it’s because so much of the shit I’m seeing pushed everywhere is incredibly derivative and unnecessary, maybe it’s because I’m not looking in the right places or that 2017’s glut of greatness spoiled me for 2018. Or maybe it’s because I’m old. Regardless of the answer, I’ve spent a lot of time this year either clicking around to check out a lot of ambient (using the term as a general umbrella) material that’s being released by a growing number of eccentric labels or digging into the boxes of CDs I have crammed in various storage spaces in my apartment, much to the obvious joy of my partner.
My last self-indulgent excursion into this field was centered on dungeon synth but as I am a man of many hats I figured I’d diversify this list to include some more spacey or tripped-out pieces. Also I don’t wear hats, my head is too big and I look fucking ridiculous. So now that we’ve established that I’m a liar here’s some things to check out if you’re so inclined. Continue reading »
(Comrade Aleks brings us this new interview with Nicklas Rudolfsson, founder of the Swedish band Runemagick, whose first album in more than a decade was released not long ago by Aftermath Music.)
Runemagick was started as a death metal project named Desiderius in 1990. They chose their current name a few years later, and alongside that developed a more doomy, low-tuned sound. Nicklas Rudolfsson took his time to gather a full lineup, and one by one, the first three albums — The Supreme Force Of Eternity, Enter The Realm Of Death, and ‘Resurrection In Blood — appeared in the 1998, 1999, and 2000, respectively.
Despite a ten-year-long hiatus and other issues, Runemagick is still alive and their eleventh album Evoked From Abysmal Sleep was released by Aftermath Music on the 20th of July. More death, doom, and damnation! I feel it’s the right time to clarify few facts from Runemagick’s history, so here’s Nicklas himself. Continue reading »
The unparalleled Finnish black metal band Archgoat are returning with their first album since 2015’s The Apocalyptic Triumphator, and their fourth full-length overall since the band’s formation in 1989. The name of the new one is The Luciferian Crown, and it will be released by Debemur Morti Productions on September 14th. In late June we premiered one track from the new album (“Messiah of Pigs”), and now we present another one through a lyric video: “The Obsidian Flame (From My Depths)“.
Bands such as this one are rarities — bands who have lived for nearly three decades but made no compromises despite the clamor and clawing of thousands of other bands trying to find their own hand-holds on the ever-shifting edifice of heavy music, dislodged by changes in trends or simply weakened by the passage of time. We watch the decline of dedication in other groups, or the burning out of their creativity as age seems to choke the oxygen from once-bright fires. But Archgoat seems immune to the ravages of time. Continue reading »
I have a lot of black (and “blackened”) metal I’d like to recommend this Sunday. But because of a two-day picnic that Ms. Islander and I are hosting this weekend at the NCS compound for co-workers and other friends, I don’t have time to write much about each song or album that I’ve chosen. So I’m resorting to a thing I’ve done in the context of the SEEN AND HEARD posts during the work week when I’ve been in a similar metal-flooded, time-short situation, which I’ve called OVERFLOWING STREAMS, for obvious reasons.
Here’s a big torrent of music, with fewer words of review than usual, and I hope it’s not so much metal that you’re deterred from investigating for yourselves. I’ve arranged the music in alphabetical order by band name,
COMMUNION
In December of last year I posted about a stream of a song called “Witching Thrust” by the Chilean black/death band Communion. It came from their second album, The Communion, which was then set for release by Hells Headbangers on January 26th. The whole album popped up in a Bandcamp alert I received late last week, which might mean that it only recently became available as a digital download. Or maybe it was just a reminder. Either way, I got all fired up again listening to the song “Witching Thrust”. Continue reading »
The ghastly scene of bombed-out, body-strewn destruction depicted on the cover of Morgue Walker‘s new EP, Forage the Ash, serves as an accurate visual representation of the music, and of the effect it might have on your quivering brain. Their brand of blackened deathgrind is poisonously toxic, ghoulishly malignant, and viciously obliterating. But don’t take our word for it — listen to the track we’re bringing you through this rare Saturday premiere: bow your heads and prepare to enter the “Ghoul Cathedral“.
This new band from the Carolinas features members of Putrefying Cadaverment, Hateful Transgression, and Mysteriarch, and Forage the Ash is their debut release — a five-track attack that will be released on August 30 and is available for pre-order as of today. Continue reading »
(Andy Synn’s guest in this week’s edition of WAXING LYRICAL is vocalist/guitarist Cody Daniels of the Texas band Giant of the Mountain.)
Texas metalloids Giant of the Mountain have been a band we’ve followed here at NCS for quite some time, and our very own DGR recently reviewed their latest (and probably best) album, Nature’s Wrath, describing it as a complex and creative piece of Prog/Black Metal that “takes on a hypnotic quality as it traverses down the multitude of twisting and winding paths within each song”.
So I thought, why not keep the coverage and momentum going by getting the band’s guitarist/vocalist Cody Daniels to sit down for a few moments and pen us some thoughts on his lyrical process, his love of hooks, and the important contributions of H.P. Lovecraft and Spongebob Squarepants to the band’s conceptual evolution? Continue reading »
Climate Reanalyzer Global Weather Map – July 27, 2018
(Andy Synn has compiled a collection of songs from seven bands suitable for the hell we find ourselves in.)
Depending on where you are right now in the world, there’s a good chance you’re enjoying/enduring (delete as appropriate) the same sweltering heat and blazing sunshine which is currently scorching us here in the UK, and perhaps you find yourself wondering, as the earth around you slowly returns to its molten, primordial state… what albums provide the best soundtrack to my current situation?
After all, while a lot of Stoner Rock/Metal bands have built a career out of an association with lazy, sun-kissed vibes and hazy, weed-fuelled riffs, the majority of the more Extreme/Underground bands we cover here at NCS tend to be more associated with darkness and shadow… heck, about 50% of all the world’s Black Metal bands are obsessed with snow and ice, regardless of where they actually hail from… and there’s a reason we so often use words like “dank” and “cavernous”, “chilling” and “frostbitten, to describe their music – it just fits!
As a result I had to think long and hard about what albums truly capture the sensation of being trapped and tormented by the oppressive weight of the burning sun in all its torrid and terrible glory, before finally settling on the handful of suggestions you’ll find below. Continue reading »
Diplegia, who hail from Troy, New York, made their recording debut in 2017 with the release of an EP named Squander. Since August of last year, they’ve also released two singles from a forthcoming album — “Follow” and “Bitter” — and we wrote about each of them in our SHADES OF BLACK columns (here and here). The name of the album is Abject Failure, it will be released on September 21st, and today it’s our pleasure to premiere a video for a third single from the album, a track named “Self“. Continue reading »
(This is Todd Manning’s review of the new split by Integrity and Krieg, which will be released by Relapse Records on August 3rd.)
Oftentimes, split recordings are an opportunity for two lesser known bands to introduce each other to their respective fan bases. It is representative of the camaraderie of the underground, and one of both Metal and Hardcore’s most beloved formats. What we don’t see as often are two well-established acts doing a split together. While there are a few examples, such as Napalm Death’s work with the Melvins and Converge, these exceptions prove the rule.
The latest exception now comes from the pairing of Hardcore legends Integrity and Black Metal juggernaut Krieg. It’s unlikely these groups got together as some sort of calculated marketing move, but rather out of a mutual respect for one another. Continue reading »