WAXING LYRICAL: JUNIUS

 Exceptions to the Rule, WAXING LYRICAL  3 Responses »
Jun 302018
 

 

(This Saturday’s edition of Andy Synn’sWaxing Lyrical series presents thoughts about lyrics from Joseph Martinez of Junius, whose most recent album, Eternal Rituals For the Accretion of Light, was released by Prosthetic Records in 2017.)

There’s a certain argument (not that it’s one I agree with) that proggy Post-Rock/Post-Metal collective (and celebrated Synn Report alumni) Junius don’t really “belong” here at NCS.

After all, their music is certainly far from “extreme” (though it does have its heavier moments), and the vocals are almost entirely clean-sung, meaning that the band’s whole existence essentially runs counter to the site’s original ethos.

But the truth is that NCS has grown far beyond its original remit, and the fact that we often cover lighter, more melodic fare is balanced out by the way in which we also give coverage to bands and artists who are leaps and bounds heavier and more abrasive than anything the site’s original founders could have predicted.

Personally I’m proud of the way in which we’ve broadened our scope, while still retaining our focus on quality and integrity as two of the key values in all the music we feature, just as I’m proud to have been able to convince Junius frontman/vocalist/lyricist Joseph Martinez to participate in this latest edition of “Waxing Lyrical”. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE AND A REVIEW): VANHELGA — “FREDAGSMYS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 292018
 

 

Today Osmose Productions releases the fifth album by the Swedish black metal band Vanhelga, the name of which is Fredagsmys, and a complete stream of which you’ll find at the end of this article. Long ago, Vanhelga proved themselves to be powerful spellcasters, capable of creating intense and lingering emotional responses to their varied summonings of human darkness. In plumbing those depths they’ve achieved impressive highs in their previous releases, but Fredagsmys really is their best album yet.

Unmistakably, Fredagsmys is the work of people who have a firm grasp on who they are as musicians. What inspires them is carried forward into sound with remarkable assurance and consummate skill. Even if what they see in their mind’s eye and feel in their fractured hearts is something you might rather not confront or dwell upon, they have a way of defeating such resistance and carrying you down with them. And if it’s any consolation, every now and then there’s a sign in the music that (maybe) all is not lost… not quite yet… and they continue to reveal glimpses of beauty in the most terrible of tragedies. Continue reading »

REAPER METAL PRODUCTIONS: ANNOUNCEMENTS, FREE MUSIC, A CONTEST, AND THE DEBUT EP OF WÖLFBLOOD

 Free Shit, Metal News, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 292018
 

 

As the title of this post suggests, we have a lot to cover, and a lot of good opportunities to spread before you. In the jargon of the monied overlords who attempt to run our lives, let’s begin with an “executive summary” for all you executive headbangers out there, and then flesh things out:

We are providing details concerning a new venture under the name Reaper Metal Productions, as well as a new collaboration between the label of the same name and both Redefining Darkness Records and Seeing Red Records, all of whom have already joined forces to release an outstanding album this year by the Russian band Cist. We are revealing the opportunity for consumers of heavy music to download the entire back catalogue of Reaper Metal (including the Cist EP) at Bandcamp for free, or any price you name — for the next week only. We’re presenting an interview of drummer extraordinaire Dirk Verbeuren that includes a contest for a special give-away. And we’re including some teasers about forthcoming releases by this new collaborative venture, including a trailer for the debut EP by the Danish motorpunk rockers Wölfblood, which is also now being offered as a name-your-price download.

And now, to elaborate… Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ARCHGOAT — “MESSIAH OF PIGS”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 292018
 

 

In a musical landscape overgrown with black metal bands and sprouting new ones every week, Archgoat has remained distinctive. For those of us who have become devoted to the genre and have spent time becoming familiar with how the music began and how it has evolved over the many passing years, the name Archgoat brings to mind such adjectives as “primitive”, “hellish”, “intimidating”, “violent”, and perhaps above all else, “uncompromising”. Others have followed in their cloven-hooved footsteps, but although often imitated, it’s fair to say that in the particular way they’ve chosen to create blasphemous black metal, they haven’t been equaled.

Last September, Debemur Morti Productions released a two-song Archgoat 7″ EP amed Eternal Damnation Of Christ (which is available on Bandcamp here), created entirely by Ritual Butcherer, which powerfully presented differing manifestations of chilling cruelty and delirium. It was described as a prelude to a new full-length coming in 2018, the band’s first since 2015’s The Apocalyptic Triumphator, and now we have concrete details about that new album — the name of which is The Luciferian Crown — as well as a song from the new album that we’re helping premiere today through a lyric video: “Messiah of Pigs“. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 98): KONTINUUM

 THE SYNN REPORT  3 Responses »
Jun 292018
 

 

(Andy Synn delivers a SYNN REPORT for the month of June, focusing on the discography of the Icelandic band Kontinuum — including their new album, set for release next week.)

Recommended for fans of: Sólstafir, Foscor, Katatonia

It may surprise you to learn (or it may not) that there’s no strict plan or grand design which guides the production of The Synn Report each month. Each entry is largely dependent on my own ever-shifting whims, and, at this point, there are some bands who I’ve been meaning to write about ever since the column started but who, for various reasons, have kept getting pushed back and postponed. Still, I’m sure I’ll get to them eventually…

Every now and then though there’s a certain amount of method to my madness, in that I’ll sometimes try and line up a new entry to coincide with the release of a band’s new album, so that I can mix and match the review and retrospective formats into one (hopefully) cohesive whole.

Such is the case with today’s edition, as Icelandic post-progsters Kontinuum are set to release their third album, No Need to Reason, next Friday, meaning that now seemed like the perfect time to introduce you all to their intricate, atmospheric blend of brooding swagger and moody melancholy. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): DEICIDE, IN PURULENCE, CREATE A KILL, INVOCATION, HESPERIAN DEATH HORSE, SECOND TO SUN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 282018
 

 

Completing the round-up for today that began here, I’ve made some selections of new music and videos that cross a range of genres, and therefore should appeal to a range of preferences. Four of these bands are making their first appearances at our site; one is an old favorite.

But before we get to that, I’ll begin with a late-breaking news item.

DEICIDE

On June 5th I received an e-mail from someone I don’t know pointing me to a page at Metal Kingdom listing a new Deicide album named “The Devils of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles”, and identifying the line-up as Glen Benton (Vocals, Bass), Steve Asheim (Drums), Kevin Quirion (Guitars), and Mark English (Guitars). I couldn’t find anything to corroborate what was on that page, so I didn’t write about it. But today… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EXTREMITY — “LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 282018
 

 

Extremity’s debut EP, Extremely Fucking Dead, spawned legitimate comparisons to the music of Carcass, Death, Exhumed, Repulsion, Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Impaled, Vastum, and Entombed, and the comparisons didn’t stop there. Depravity, gore, and a fanatical taste for destruction were rampantly on display, along with a knack for crafting insidious melody and skull-plundering grooves. The veteran musicians who had joined forces to record all those monstrous tracks had plainly found a shared passion and an electric connection in what they were doing together. And thankfully, Extremely Fucking Dead didn’t exhaust their morbid creative impulses — there’s now a new Extremity album headed our way.

The name of the new record is Coffin Birth, and it’s calendared for a July 20 release by 20 Buck Spin. It’s our extreme and sadistic pleasure to bring you a track from the album called “Like Father, Like Son“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): OSKU KINNUNEN, SOULLINE, ATLAS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jun 282018
 

 

I’m going to make this fairly quick because I’m working on some other things I want to post today, including a second installment of this round-up, before I have to turn to non-blog stuff for the day.

I collected these three new songs, one of which comes from an album that’s already out, partly for nostalgic reasons. Although my own tastes in metal have grown increasingly extreme over the years, melodic death metal and metalcore were my gateways into the heavier corners of metal. Their popularity seems to have waned, or maybe it’s only my taste for them that’s waned. But they’re not dead letters, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the music you’ll find here, for reasons that I think go beyond the rekindling of fond memories.

OSKU KINNUNEN

Finnish musician Osku Kinnunen was once in a UK-based band named Karhu, which no longer exists. He tells me that he had little time to invest in music for some period of time after that band’s dissolution, but eventually began writing and recording songs again. He released an EP in 2016 that I haven’t heard (you can find it here), and is planning to release an album later this year on which he’s doing everything except the drums — guitars, vocals, bass, mixing, etc. An e-mail from him led me to check out the first single from the album, “Beginning“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PIG DESTROYER, BURIAL HORDES, AGELESS SUMMONING, MARDUK

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jun 272018
 

 

I had hoped to prepare a massive round-up for today, given how many excellent new tracks have been thrown at us this week, and how many fine new things I’ve recently discovered that appeared in previous weeks. Alas, other distractions have prevented me from making this post as gargantuan as I’d hoped. But there’s always tomorrow….

PIG DESTROYER

To begin, I have only a teaser… but what a titillating teaser it is. Continue reading »

AN NCS DOUBLE PREMIERE: HUMANITY DELETE (“FANGS OF THE WULF”) AND CARNAL GARDEN (“LETHAL ONSLAUGHT”)

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Jun 272018
 

 

On July 20th the underground Mexican label Iron Blood & Death Corp. will release a new split featuring four songs each by two world-beating death-metal slaughterers, Sweden’s Humanity Delete and Carnal Garden from Greece, and today we present the premiere of one track from the split by each band — along with a few words of introduction, taking them one at a time.

HUMANITY DELETE

The opportunity to highlight a new release by any of Rogga Johansson’s many projects is always a sadistic joy for us, and today’s premiere is no exception. This particular project first began to coalesce in about 2003 when Humanity Delete recorded a demo (which was never released), but didn’t spring forth into the public’s consciousness until 2012, when the Never Ending Nightmares full-length made its debut. Four years later Humanity Delete discharged a second middle finger of an album, Fuck Forever Off. And now we have four new songs, with Humanity Delete’s side of this split entitled Anthems of Doom. Continue reading »

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