AN NCS PREMIERE: LURK — “ELAN”

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Jun 132018
 

 

Adam Burke’s glorious artwork for Fringe, the new third album by the Finnish atmospheric sludge/doom band Lurk, preceded the revelation of music from the record, peaking curiosity about what sounds might follow. The first track made available for listening — “Reclaim” — swings and stomps, exuding a dismal and grisly atmosphere while getting the hooked claws of its sinister riffs and twisted leads ever deeper into your head as it moves. One further track has appeared (“Ostrakismos”), and today we bring you a third one in advance of the album’s August 5 release by Transcending Obscurity Records.

“Elan” is both deeply disturbing and hypnotic, slowly drawing the listener into an increasingly nightmarish descent, helpless to break away. The spell-casting begins slowly and seductively, but by the time the incantation has been completed, its black-hearted intent stands fully revealed. Continue reading »

DEATHSTORM: “THE UNFATHOMABLE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jun 132018
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the recently released new album by the Polish death metal band Deathstorm.)

Let’s be honest about something, shall we? For all that we might claim to love music which is progressive and challenging and which seeks to push the envelope, sometimes we just need to hear something which grabs us by the balls through the virtue of its sheer, unapologetic heaviness alone.

Sometimes, we need a Deathstorm. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: INCORPOREA, ILL OMEN, INEXORUM

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Jun 122018
 

 

This edition of SHADES OF BLACK is brought to you by the letter “I”.

I usually post these columns on Sundays, and didn’t intend to do one for this Tuesday until last night. While listening to candidates for a “Quick Hits” round-up to be posted today, I became enamored of these three new tracks, and since they’re all forms of black metal and coincidentally were created by bands whose names begin with “I”, well, the impulse proved irresistible. With a bit of luck, I may still get that “Quick Hits” post finished today, too.

INCORPOREA

Exorcize the Sun appears to be the first official release by this two-man band from Spain. It appeared in April and I learned of it through a recent invitation from Incorporea. Consisting of two tracks captured on 7″ vinyl, it’s a seductive offering of atmospheric black metal that has depth and power, and an impressive degree of sophistication. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NACHTLIEDER — “SONG OF NOVA”

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Jun 122018
 

 

Metal songs that prove to be absorbing and addictive at the same time are those which pull off the trick of creating a strong sense of atmosphere and mood while also triggering a physical response and implanting seeds of melody that flower quickly and sink their roots into the listener’s memory. But of course, it’s not really a “trick”, which seems like a superficial word to use for the substantive value of good song-writing and powerful performance, a suggestion of artifice rather than true magic. And there is indeed true dark magic in the song we’re about to present.

“Song of Nova” is the name of this track, and it’s the first glimpse of what Dagny Susanne has achieved in her guise as Nachtlieder on this project’s new album, Lynx, which will be released through Nigredo Records near the end of August. Continue reading »

LACHRYMOSE: “THE UNSEEN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  No Responses »
Jun 122018
 

 

(Vasilis Xenopoulos, a guest writer from Greece who has contributed to NCS in the past, rejoins us with this review of the new EP by the Greek band Lachrymose, which was released in May and is an exception to the “rule” in our site’s title.)

Doom metal and tragedy are intertwined. The music, slow and heavy, leads gradually towards redemption and serves as a means for the unfolding of the stories of the pain and woes of man. Doom metal is a dance, a bleak and sorrowful waltz that sings of the suffering of man while at times praises the spirit of revolt and the pursuit of salvation.

In 2015 Lachrymose released the story of a witch who was accused and sentenced to the pyre for the crime of defiance against the dogma of religion. Carpe Noctum is doom metal that brings to mind the aesthetics of Paradise Lost in the times of Gothic and Icon. Through their music we follow her journey, as it is performed by vocalist Hel, from life to death and her return from the dead by a necromancer’s ritual.

But something went terribly wrong. When the thin veil between the living and the dead opened, vengeful spirits passed through and got inside her now living body. Her mind remained in the medium world, between the living and the dead, where everything and nothing is true, where spirits dwell in the fog of the underworld. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GOAT DISCIPLE — “WOLFCULT DOMINATION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jun 112018
 

 

In April when I came across the first two tracks released from Wolfcult Domination, the debut EP by Salt Lake City’s Goat Disciple, I wrote: “You will read that the band’s music is war metal, and it is indeed a rapacious hybrid of black and death metal worthy of a name like Goat Disciple — but it’s so much more multifaceted, and executed with so much more technical acumen and creative exuberance, than most offerings in that bloody field that the ‘war metal’ label seems inadequate. At a minimum, if these two songs are a reliable indicator of the EP as a whole, it should vault them into the upper echelons of the field. And I don’t say that lightly.”

It turns out that those first two songs — “Oreb Zaraq” and “Mammon” — were rock-solid indicators indeed. The EP as a whole is a stunningly strong debut, all four tracks abundantly proving that Goat Disciple’s talents go beyond a capacity to engage in breathtaking musical slaughter (though they’re certainly very good at that, too). And thus we’re very happy to present a full stream of the EP in advance of its June 15 release by Blood Harvest Records and Helter Skelter Productions. Continue reading »

OTHER VOICES: SIX NOISES ON BRIDGE BURNER

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Jun 112018
 

 

We make a valiant effort to write about all or part of as many good new releases as we can each year, but despite our best efforts we’re not able to devote attention to everything we enjoy. Our cadre of regular and irregular writers is small in number, and since NCS is a labor of lust rather than an actual job or business, we must occasionally devote time to distractions such as paying work, loved ones, food, water, trips to the toilet, and sleep. I would say “we’re only human”, but of course you know we’re superhuman, just not yet godlike.

Given the unavoidable constrictions on our time and attention spans, I’ve decided (in my capacity as benevolent dictator in charge of what gets posted at NCS) that we should start sharing what people who toil at other metal forums have to say about releases we’ve neglected. This “Other Voices” series won’t necessarily happen on a regular basis, and perhaps not even weekly, but I do mean to keep it going.

To inaugurate the series I’m turning to a review penned by New Zealand-based writer Craig Hayes, who has enriched NCS with his reviews in the past but whose main outlet is his excellent blog Six Noises, where he recently posted a review of the new album by Bridge Burner, which was released on May 31. To read all of it (as you should), go HERE. What follows are excerpts, along with a stream of the music. Continue reading »

QUICK HITS: DEATHCODE SOCIETY, KORPIKLAANI

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Jun 112018
 

 

A whole three days in a row I’ve now managed to follow through with the plan of posting small two-track collections of new music I want to recommend. I’m finding this much easier to do than the larger SEEN AND HEARD collections I usually succeed in posting only once a week — first, because I don’t agonize as much over the choices, knowing that I can make some more from my list the very next day; and second, because it takes less time to scribble words about two songs rather than five or six.

Maybe this little project is less daunting and more inviting to readers as well since it’s not such a big wall of music to confront? Just a guess.

DEATHCODE SOCIETY

I was wondering what had happened to this French symphonic black metal band. Actually, I wasn’t. I don’t really lie awake at night going through a mental list of bands who haven’t released any new music for a few years. More accurately, it dawned on me when I saw news about a new album that almost three years have passed since Deathcode Society released their fine debut full-length Eschatonizer (which you should definitely check out HERE if you haven’t already). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: FUNERAL MIST, GAEREA, VILKACIS, TURIA, ABIGAIL

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  21 Responses »
Jun 102018
 

 

As you can see, I’m resuming this column after failing to get it done the last two Sundays due to other commitments. As a result of the hiatus I’m even more awash than usual in new music from the black realms. So much to choose from… and so perhaps there’s an even greater element of randomness in these choices than usual as well.

FUNERAL MIST

This solo project of the man who goes by Arioch here (and Mortuus when he fronts Marduk) has a habit of surprising people. After a trio of demos and an EP between ’95 and ’98, five years passed and then the Salvation debut album appeared — a record that a great many people still swear by. Six more years passed, and then Funeral Mist released Maranatha without warning. As I recall, it garnered a more mixed response than the widespread praise provoked by Salvation, but I’m one of those who thoroughly enjoyed it. And then so many years passed with nothing new that most fans probably concluded, sadly, that Arioch had laid Funeral Mist to rest, permanently.

Surprise! Continue reading »

QUICK HITS: DRAGHKAR AND SCULPTURE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jun 102018
 

 

As explained yesterday, I’m trying to catch up on a lot of new songs that have appeared over the last couple of weeks that I wasn’t able to write about due to an assortment of distractions from my NCS duties. In lieu of the usual longer SEEN AND HEARD round-ups, I’m attempting to post shorter “playlists” on a daily basis for the next week or so. Shortening the collections to two songs per post may increase the odds that I’ll actually follow through on the idea. Getting completely caught up is, of course, an impossibility, in part because the coming days will undoubtedly bring even more new things I’d like to recommend.

DRAGHKAR

The first song I’ve chosen for today is “Swallowed By the Dark“, the first track revealed from The Endless Howling Abyss, which is a new EP by the death-worshipping L.A. trio Draghkar. It’s set for release on July 27 and comes on the heels of a 2017 demo and a split released by Blood Harvest this past April with the Indiana group Desekryptor. Continue reading »

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