AN NCS PREMIERE: AUTOMB — “CALL OF HEKATE”

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Sep 172018
 

 

Out of one death comes a new birth. The untimely passing of Frank “Killjoy” Pucci this past spring brought a halt to work on a new album by his long-running death metal band Necrophagia. Necrophagia guitarist Serge Streltsov then chose to turn his full energies to what had begun as a black metal side-project, a band called Automb that he had formed with vocalist/bassist/keyboardist Danielle Evans. They enlisted the aid of Morbid Angel drummer Scott Fuller, and have completed work on a debut Automb album named Esoterica, which will be released on October 22nd through Satanath Records (Russia) and Final Gate Records (Germany).

Whether there will ever be another Necrophagia album is an unknown, but what is abundantly clear is that Automb have created a new album (dedicated to Killjoy) that’s fueled by passion and delivered with immense dark power. One attention-grabbing track from the album has already premiered (“Into Nothingness”), and today we present another: “Call of Hekate“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NUISIBLE — “SLAVES & SNAKES”

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Sep 172018
 

 

One strong clue to Nuisible’s world-view could be found in the title of their last release, 2016’s Inter feces et urinam nascimur (“We are born between feces and urine”). Their new album is named Slaves & Snakes, and based on the music, it’s an easy guess that this title sums up the character of the human condition after birth. It’s a bleak perspective, and one that this French band channel into sound with traumatizing fury.

In describing their brand of brutalizing heaviness the band make references to Tragedy, Darkthrone, and Entombed. Crust and hardcore form the backbone of their assaults, which are undergirded by massive low-end weight and driven to heights of murderous blackened frenzy. The music is as merciless as the open mouth of Hell and meaner than a pack of rabid dogs, and yet the band have a knack for embedding both rhythmic and melodic hooks in these ten mauling tracks, and of switching gears often enough to keep you in harness for the whole bruising ride. Continue reading »

FIXATION ON SUFFERING: “CONFINED IN OBSCURITY”

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Sep 172018
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio’s review of the debut album by the Spanish brutal death metal band Fixation On Suffering, which is set for release by Pathologically Explicit Recordings on October 28, 2018, but is streaming at Bandcamp now.)

This Sunday sitting in my favorite chair I am listening to some new albums, including the one I am going to talk about today by a new band (formed in 2016) called Fixation On Suffering. They hail from Spain and are signed to Pathologically Explicit Recordings.

This band made their debut back in 2017 with their EP Relevation of Tortured Imprisioment. It showcased a level of musicianship that was well-respected in the scene, and vocals that got the job done. This 15-minute EP was a good one, and made me look forward to new music, though I felt it did not get the promotion it needed and faded away behind so many other releases. So if you can, dear reader, give it a listen. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): ULTHAR, ANCST, KRODA, DEPTHS ABOVE, GORYCZ

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Sep 162018
 

 

Unlike most of the music I chose for Part 1 of today’s collection, black metal isn’t the dominant ingredient in everything I’ve included in this second Part, though it always plays a role. I’ve segmented these five choices by design, with some connections I hear between the first two, and some different connections between the last two, and some HelCarpathian Black Metal in the middle.

ULTHAR

Ulthar‘s 2016 debut demo made quite a vivid impression on me, which I likened to “the musical equivalent of rabid wolves in a feeding frenzy”. Of that demo I further wrote: “The focal core of Ulthar’s music is corrosive, distorted, head-ramming, d-beat crust, but they spread out from there, incorporating bestial death bellows and deranged shrieking along with massive, spine-shattering chugs, violent blackened riff swarms, and melodically dismal and alien slower passages”. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): CARPE NOCTEM, CRIMSON THRONE, AKVAN, PURE WRATH, NOCTEM AETERNUS

 SHADES OF BLACK  10 Responses »
Sep 162018
 

 

As you can see, I had enough time yesterday and this morning to pick twice the usual number of selections for this Sunday’s column. Maybe this will make up for the likelihood that there will be no S.O.B. column next week because this SOB will be going on a short vacation next weekend with Ms. Islander and some friends.

Although I had time to assemble a two-part collection this week, that only somewhat eased the agony of picking from among such a massive number of deserving advance tracks and new releases. I wish I could have done more.

CARPE NOCTEM

I christened May 2012 “Iceland Metal Month“, calling attention to a series of posts I wrote which exclusively focused on metal bands from Iceland, a country that I wrote was “starting to seem close to Finland in the ratio of killer metal bands per capita of population”. Now, almost five and a half years later, it no longer seems like a close call, particularly in the genre of black metal. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: PHANTOM WINTER

 WAXING LYRICAL  3 Responses »
Sep 152018
 

 

(In this week’s edition of Andy Synn’s WAXING LYRICAL the focus is the lyricism of the German band Phantom Winter, as discussed by vocalist/guitarist Andreas Schmittfull.)

The name Phantom Winter should be familiar to most readers of our site as we’ve written about the German quintet several times, heaping a large amount of praise on their visceral brand of Blackened Sludge Metal over the years, as well as engaging in numerous discussions about their rigorously shaped and savagely delivered philosophical and socio-political lyrics.

It should be no surprise to learn then that the band’s vocalist/guitarist (and primary lyricist) Andreas Schmittfull had a lot to say and a lot of interesting insight to offer when I (finally) managed to pin him down for this edition of Waxing Lyrical.

So, without further ado… take it away Andreas! Continue reading »

VOID OF SILENCE: “THE SKY OVER”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Sep 142018
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the latest album by the Italian band Void of Silence, which was released earlier this year by Avantgarde Music.)

I’ve had Italian Post/Doom Metallers Void of Silence lined up for an edition of The Synn Report for quite a while now, as it’s long felt to me like their signature combination of titanic riffs, symphonic keys, riveting vocal melodies, and ambient industrial embellishments, has the potential to really speak to a significant segment of our readership.

However a few different factors have all combined to the point where it simply made more sense to (finally) review their new album (their first after a lengthy, eight-year-long, hiatus) in isolation, particularly since, in my humble opinion at least, it’s one of the very best records of 2018. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: TRUENT — “TO END AN ANCIENT WAY OF LIFE”

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Sep 142018
 

 

The Vancouver, BC, band Truent made their impressive recording debut last year with an EP entitled Faith in the Forgotten, and they’re following that one with an even more impressive EP, To End An Ancient Way of Life, which we’re highlighting today — the day of its release — through the premiere of a full stream.

The four tracks on this new EP provide a turbocharged thrill-ride, each song displaying flamboyant technical fireworks, but within a framework of tremendously punishing and head-hooking grooves, and threaded with through-lines of melody (both bleak and boisterous) that further stick the songs in your head. The impact is ferocious, frequently explosive, and persistently electrifying. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CARBON COLOSSAL — “A GATHERING OF SERPENTS”

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Sep 142018
 

 

When Austin Weber reviewed the 2017 debut EP of Carbon Colossal for us he wrote, “The Disassembly of Earth is some sort of technical doom from hell, gone a death-metal-infused path, with fleeting blasts of black metal peppered in between all that… the three songs here forming an all-around vicious and ultra-dissonant heavy machine the likes of which show a ton of promise….”

This California duo (vocalist Llysywen and multi-instrumentalist Galaeth) have now recorded a debut album entitled Celestial Eels, which they have set for release on December 1st, and today we’re helping spread the word about a nightmarish album track called “A Gathering of Serpents“.

Although the track is nearly 10 minutes long, it never flags, nor runs any risk of losing its paralyzing grip on a listener’s sanity. It’s simply too shocking and too well-calculated to destabilize and invert rational thought for that. The music is a dissonant black/death fugue of madness and despair that both fucks with your inner ear and applies a hatchet to any sense of well-being that might comfort you in these dark times. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MORBID MESSIAH — “GRAVEYARD HEADHUNTER”

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Sep 142018
 

 

The appearance of Morbid Messiah is deceptive. This death metal quartet from Guadalajara, Mexico, look very young — no doubt because they actually are very young, especially in comparison to ancient creatures such as this writer. But when you listen to their music, you realize that they must have old souls — the souls of corpses who perished in horrible fashion and have been reanimated into ghastly new lives.

Morbid Messiah‘s debut EP, In the Name of True Death Metal, was self-released in 2016 but was soon given a sold-out tape treatment by Godz ov War Productions. Their new album, Demoniac Paroxysm (adorned by the distinctive cover art of Mark Riddick), has attracted even more label interest, with a CD release coming on October 22nd via Memento Mori and a vinyl edition in the works from Unholy Prophecies.

One song from the album (“Howling From the Grave“) has crawled from the crypt already, and today we have a second one: “Graveyard Headhunter“. Continue reading »

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