AN NCS INTERVIEW: DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON

 Interviews  No Responses »
Nov 202018
 

 

(KevinP returns to NCS after a long absence with the following interview — and the main subject of the interview is a metal comic book named MURDER FALCON.)

Here is my interview with Daniel Warren Johnson — comic book writer and artist, metal enthusiast, and unfortunately a stinking Red Sox fan.

 

K: So is this the first interview you are doing for a “metal” site, as opposed to the endless parade of comic-only related ones and conventions?

D: Yes! All my interviews so far have only been for comic book sites. I think there’s quite a bit of overlap between the worlds of metal and comics, but I don’t see it brought up a lot. So as a lover of both, I thought that MURDER FALCON might do well at bringing the two camps together. Glad to be here! Continue reading »

ABYSSAL: “MISANTHROPE”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Nov 202018
 

 

(Grant Skelton reviews the new album, released on Halloween, by the Mexican funeral doom band Abyssal.)

Way back in April, I reviewed a compilation album by the Mexican funeral room band Abyssal. Fernando Ruiz, the band’s vocalist, gave me the privilege of teasing Abyssal’s next release. At the time, the band provided the title Misanthrope, with a tentative release date of late summer. Although delayed until Halloween, Misanthrope has (thankfully) arrived. Continue reading »

THE “MOST INFECTIOUS” EXTREME METAL SONGS of 2018: AN APPEAL TO OUR READERS FOR HELP!

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  50 Responses »
Nov 192018
 

 

You may have noticed that on Friday we announced the beginning of our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza. For those of you new to this orgy, our LISTMANIA blockbuster comes in four parts:

First, we re-print assorted lists of the year’s best albums, leeched from other big web sites and magazines, like the one on Friday from DECIBEL, which always seems to become the starting gun. Second, we will provide a post in which our readers’ can share their lists of the 2018 albums and shorter releases they enjoyed the most (we’ll be asking for those on November 29th, so get ready). Third, we post the year-end lists of our own staff and assorted guest writers. And fourth, I’ll roll out my list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

And that last list is the subject of this request for help.

In case you’ve become an NCS reader since this time last year, here’s what this Most Infectious Song list is all about: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OF WOLVES — “BLOODSHED”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 192018
 

 

As recounted by The Washington Post, “As night fell on April 4, 1968, newly declared presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy stepped in front of a microphone atop a flatbed truck in a poor, predominantly black neighborhood in Indianapolis. Looking out onto the crowd, Kennedy turned and quietly asked a city official, ‘Do they know about Martin Luther King?’”

King had been assassinated just a few hours earlier, as Kennedy had boarded a flight for Indianapolis. In response to Kennedy’s question the official told him, “We’ve left it up to you”.

What Kennedy then said to the waiting crowd over the next six minutes was what many historians have called one of the most compelling speeches in U.S. political history — the brother of an assassinated president announcing another traumatic assassination just two months before he would also be killed. Understanding the impulse for revenge, in which violence would beget more violence, Kennedy instead called for love, wisdom, and compassion. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MALVENTO AND THE MAGIK WAY — “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Nov 192018
 

 

In hermetic mysticism, V.I.T.R.I.O.L. is an acronym standing for “Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem” — “visit the interior of the earth, and purifying it, you will find the hidden stone”. Just as vitriol was a substance used in alchemical practice for the transmutation of metals through successive purifications, at an esoteric level it represents a similar process, one of self-destruction and regeneration that is intended to lead to a transmutation and a union with the divine. The term might also be interpreted as a way of saying  “look within yourself for the truth”.

“V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” is also the title of the first of four tracks on an unusual new split album entitled Ars Regalis created by members of two esoteric Italian black metal bands, Malvento and The Magik Way (created by former members of Mortuary Drape), and we present a lyric video for the track today — preceded by a few more words of introduction that may help shed further light on what you’re about to experience. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SØRGELIG — “DIE IN VAIN”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 192018
 

 

The Greek black metal band Sørgelig, who share three members with another band we’ve written about before (Isolert), released their first EP in 2017 (Forever Lost) and then an excellent debut album (Apostate) this past spring. They have chosen to follow the new album with another EP, this one entitled Devoted To Nothingness, but it’s one that represents a few changes.

First, while Sørgelig‘s four-man line-up remains intact, the EP is the creation of only two of those members — vocalist Odious and multi-instrumentalist N.D. On this EP, N.D. performs guitars, drums, vocals, and bass on two tracks (and guest Konstantinos S performs bass on four others, including the one we’re presenting today).

Second, as compared to the music on Apostate (for example), this revised line-up has chosen to channel their hatred and malice toward life through a more raw and lo-fi expression of black metal — though they have not abandoned some of the key ingredients that made their debut album so seductive. Continue reading »

POST MORTAL POSSESSION: “PERPETUAL DESCENT”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 192018
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio’s review of the new album by Pittsburgh-based Post Mortal Possession, which was released on November 17th by Lord of the Sick.)

This time around I was given the opportunity to do a small write-up for Post Mortal Possession‘s debut album Perpetual Descent, which was just released by Lord of the Sick Recording. This band is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was formed back in 2013. Prior to this debut full-length, they released two EPs,  Possessing Entity back in 2014 and Forest of the Damned in 2016.

I became aware of the band’s existence when The Chicago Domination Fest 2017 lineup was announced and their name was among the ones to be found there. So, I decided to check their EPs and thought they were good — there was talent for sure — but (at least for me) nothing special. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): SECTORIAL, ARÊTE, BLURR THROWER, NYCTOPHILIA

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Nov 182018
 

 

I can already tell that I’m not going to follow through on the plan I announced in Part I of today’s column. The plan was for a three-part post, but time is running out on me, and I’m going to have to stop here.

SECTORIAL

I’ve decided to introduce the first item in this collection, which is a full stream of the new album, VYR, by the Ukrainian group Sectorial, with a quote from the band: “Capricious and unpredictable streams of life, violent waves and the hypnotic blue of the the universe’s depths… an element that can withstand anything that will happen on the way… a bottomless stellar sky, reflected on a calm mirrored surface that in an instant turns into an incredible dance of the wind and drops, and spins in a gigantic powerful VYR.” Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): HWWAUOCH, AYYUR, READY TO FUCK

 SHADES OF BLACK  8 Responses »
Nov 182018
 

 

I’m not sure how many Parts I’ll finish for this Sunday’s column. I have three in mind, even though that may amount to overload for most readers.

HWWAUOCH

There may be some explanation out there in the interhole about how to pronounce this band’s name, but because I’m hurrying I haven’t looked. As I read it, it resembles the sound I make when clearing my throat upon awakening after a night of too many cigarettes and too much booze. Fortunately, the music on the band’s debut album sounds much better. In fact, it’s so good that it’s startling, and often stunning. Continue reading »

THE MESSAGE OR THE MEDIUM

 Mosh Pit  9 Responses »
Nov 172018
 

 

(Andy Synn prepared this essay, with numerous examples of music, about the value that lyrics can contribute to the enjoyment of metal if written and delivered with conviction.)

So in lieu of another edition of Waxing Lyrical (don’t worry, the column’s not going anywhere, it’s just very dependent on the availability of the bands I talk to) I’ve decided to ask you all a very important question:

What’s more important to you, the lyrics or the music… the message or the medium? Continue reading »

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