AN NCS PREMIERE: HORIZON ABLAZE — “SLEEP IS THE BROTHER OF DEATH”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 022018
 

 

(Andy Synn introduces our premiere of a song from the new album by Horizon Ablaze, which is set for release on February 17.)

 

When I was asked to select a song from the fantastic new Horizon Ablaze album, The Weight of a Thousand Suns (out Feb 17th), to premiere here at NCS, I really did have to think long and hard about it, as literally every single one of the record’s eight tracks is worthy of celebrating.

However, seeing as how the band chose to lead off with “Insidious” – the album’s proggy, moodily melodic final track – as the album’s first single/video, it only seemed to make sense (not to mention appeal to my love of poetic symmetry) to pick the album’s blistering opener as our gift to you all today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARKHETH — “TRISMEGISTUS”

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Feb 012018
 

 

Prepare yourselves for a bewildering and bewitching piece of sonic sorcery, as we premiere a track appropriately named “Trismegistus” from the third album by the Australian experimental black metal band Arkheth. The album, entitled 12 Winter Moons Comes The Witches Brew, will be released on February 20th by Transcending Obscurity Records.

This new song, like all the others on 12 Winter Moons…, makes you wonder how it could have been conceived from a blank slate, and then makes you wonder further how the ideas could have been realized so well in the execution. It is a strange and wondrous cornucopia of sounds, almost labyrinthine in its abrupt twists and turns, and with psychoactive properties as well, producing an effect on the listener that’s disorienting but also beguiling. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: THE COMPLETE LIST

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  8 Responses »
Feb 012018
 

 

Yesterday I ended the roll-out of our annual list of Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. As I’ve explained, it was more of an arbitrary halt than an orderly conclusion. When I began the rollout back on January 11 I had a big group of songs I knew would be on this list, but I hadn’t finished the selection. I started the rollout, and then continued to make up the list as I went along. I’m still not finished, but decided that we shouldn’t be continuing with a 2017 year-end list past the end of January in the new year.

Although many more songs could easily still be added, I do think the list, as it is, provides a decent snapshot of both the quality and the diversity of metal in 2017. And I think that’s true even though I only focused on the most “infectious” songs (some of the best songs and albums released in 2017 weren’t really “infectious”, but were stunning listening experiences nonetheless). Continue reading »

ARKONA: “KHRAM”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Feb 012018
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews Khram (“The Temple”), the new album by the Russian metal band Arkona, which was released by Napalm Records on January 19.)

The idea of folk metal is better than the application of it that often emerges in album form. Just when I think I have found folk metal I like, the smoke clears and it’s actually black metal. This band is almost a case study in this conundrum. At last a band who might dismiss the problems I have had with folk metal.

The majority of folk metal bands I have come across over the years play something closer to pirate drinking songs or have too much frolicking in the Shire. I play pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons twice a week and read tons of epic fantasy from, Glen Cook to Erickson, so I am the target audience for this kind of music.

But all of these frolicking shanties are too happy, and I need my metal as dark as possible. The ninth album from this Russian band delivers what I need when they do begin to gallop off into the sunset, with moments of majesty contrasted by more dark and heavy passages. Continue reading »

BULLETBELT: “NINE CENTURIES”

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Feb 012018
 

 

(We welcome back New Zealand writer Craig Hayes (Six Noises), who brings us this review of the new album by NZ’s Bulletbelt, which was released through Bandcamp just a few days ago.)

 

Nine Centuries is the latest hard-hitting release from New Zealand black/thrash metallers Bulletbelt. Much like their high-octane pals Midnight, Bulletbelt mine metal’s core aesthetics, and Nine Centuries duly features plenty of battle-vested and spiked-gauntleted oomph. Interestingly, though, the rip-roaring album is also somewhat bittersweet. Because Nine Centuries marks Bulletbelt’s final album with vocalist Jolene Tempest.

Tempest exited Bulletbelt late last year, along with guitarist Seth Jackson, and while singers come and go from bands all the time, Tempest’s leaving is certainly notable because her performance on Nine Centuries is so confident and impassioned. Tempest originally joined Bulletbelt not long before they recorded their second album, 2014’s Rise of the Banshee, and that release showcased the band’s burning ambitions like never before. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 20): POSSESSION, BEYOND GRACE, THE OMINOUS CIRCLE, HIGHRIDER, GODS FORSAKEN

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  4 Responses »
Jan 312018
 

 

It pains me to say it, but this is not only the 20th installment of this list, it’s the last one. I’m feeling some pain because I haven’t really finished the list, but if I don’t stop now I’m afraid you’ll be reading Part 50 at some point in March. Tomorrow I’ll have a “wrap up” for the list, with links to all the tracks I’ve called out since beginning it earlier this month. Please hold off scorching me for not naming your own favorites until tomorrow. Thanks.

Unlike most of the previous installments in this series, there’s no real rhyme or reason to why I grouped these five songs together. It was just one last frantic effort to load in a few more beloved passengers before the train left the station.

POSSESSION

“Fall on your knees! Take the oath!” How can you resist the chorus in this track? I can’t. I know that the words are part of Possession’s skewering of the Church, but I like to think of the words as an exhortation to the metal faithful, sort of like, “Swear to the dark, you unwashed bastards!” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HAMMR — “SADISTIC POISON”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 312018
 

 

A big brainless chunk of the internet seems to be losing its mind over Elon Musk’s new $500 flamethrower. Save your money. If you want to scorch yourself or blister someone else, just pick up Hammr’s debut album. It costs much less, it’s even more hellish, and unlike that flamethrower novelty, it won’t wear out its appeal after the first week (or the first visit to the ER).

The completely spot-on name of the album is Unholy Destruction, and it will be released by Hells Headbangers in a variety of formats on February 23rd. A couple of incinerating tracks have already appeared (one of which caused me to froth at the mouth over here), and we’ve got a third red-hot offering from the record for you today. This track, also brandishing a spot-on title, is “Sadistic Poison“. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 93): REDEMPTOR

 Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT  4 Responses »
Jan 312018
 


Redemptor 2016

 

(We present the January 2018 edition of THE SYNN REPORT, in which Andy compiles reviews of releases by the Polish band Redemptor.)

 

Recommended for fans of: Decapitated, Anata, Rivers of Nihil

If you’ve been paying attention at all recently you’ll have caught the name Redemptor as one of the bands featured in my Personal Top Ten of 2017, and may also have noticed that I promised to deliver a Synn Report on the group as soon as possible.

Well, today is that day.

Over the course of three albums and one EP the Polish quintet have steadily evolved their sound from the Schuldiner-esque strains of their debut album None Pointless Balance to the angular hooks and merciless precision of 4th Density and The Jugglernaut, with the process finally culminating in the gargantuan grooves and captivating atmospherics of last year’s utterly crushing Arthaneum. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SARTEGOS AND BALMOG

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Jan 312018
 

 

We tend to take the often extravagant rhetoric in press releases about forthcoming records with a grain of salt. The one we received about the new split by Sartegos and Balmog, which is being released on vinyl by Caverna Abismal Records today, concluded with the claim that it “is essential short-length listening for those sworn to the dark”. In this instance, the music backed that claim to the hilt. The split includes only one song by each band, but each one is diabolically brilliant.

As gratifying as it was to make that discovery, it really was not at all surprising. Both of these bands from Galicia in Spain have already proven their worth and earned the allegiance of discerning followers in the black metal underground. These tracks prove it all over again.

We have premiere streams of both at the end of this post, preceded by some introductory remarks about the bands for those who might be new to them, and impressions of the music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABYSSUS — “OPERATION RANCH HAND”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Jan 312018
 

 

The superb Greek death metal band Abyssus was on a pretty regular once-a-year release schedule from their debut EP in 2012 to their most recent split in 2016, but last year came and went without a release, although the band continued to be active on stage. But now a new Abyssus EP named Unleash the Storm is headed our way via the Mexican label Death In Pieces Records. It will be released in March and will serve as a kind of precursor to a new Abyssus album, Death Revival, that’s expected within the next year. And we have the good fortune to bring you a song from the new EP today.

The EP includes two brand new songs (“Operation Ranch Hand” and “Unleash The Storm”) and three cover songs from Bathory (“The Rite of Darkness”), Venom (“Warhead”), and Manilla Road (“Open the Gates”). The track we’re premiering is one of those two new original songs, “Operation Ranch Hand“. It is not a country-western song. Continue reading »

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