AN NCS PREMIERE: SADISTIK FOREST — “ZERO PROGRESS”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
May 072018
 

 

The death metal of Sadistik Forest is a destructive art, a morbidly majestic revery on a life characterized by decades of torment, and then death — zero progress lies behind, the hour of dread approaches, and then the maelstrom opens, the monsters of death come slavering forth from a place where the bones of a giant lie waiting for you to join them.

And in case you haven’t figured it out, all the song titles on the band’s new album, Morbid Majesties, were stitched together into that opening sentence in a way that suggests a narrative, but also conveys some of the moods in this band’s potent attack on the senses. What that sentence doesn’t adequately convey, however, is how tremendously vibrant the music is, and how well-crafted the songs are to achieve an immediate visceral impact while also digging their hooks into the listener’s head. We’ve got a prime example of this in the song we’re premiering today: “Zero Progress“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MEPHORASH

 Interviews  3 Responses »
May 072018
 


Photo by Per Ole Hagen

 

(One of our Norway-based contributors, Karina Noctum, conducted the following interview with members of the Swedish black metal band Mephorash at this year’s Inferno Festival. The band are at work on a highly anticipated new album, which follows 2015’s 1557 – Rites of Nullification.)

 

Karina: You have released a single that belongs to your fourth upcoming album. Have you finished it or are you producing it?

Mishbar Bovmeph: We are almost finished. We are working wrapping the whole album up and hopefully we will release it towards autumn this year. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: URFAUST, WALLFAHRER, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT, DIPLEGIA, RITUAL, TEMPLE DESECRATION

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  8 Responses »
May 062018
 

 

There’s a lot of new music in this week’s SHADES OF BLACK, which I suppose isn’t all that unusual. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of time for me to write about it, in part because of time spent on a rare Sunday premiere (which also comes from black subterranean realms) and in part because I have other plans for today that will separate me from the computer; I hope I don’t experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

I’ll begin with streams of two fantastic new albums and follow those with four individual songs from forthcoming releases, one of which is paired with an outstanding video.

URFAUST

Maybe it’s not too soon to proclaim the emergence of a trend. Like an unusually high number of other occurrences this year, the august Dutch band Urfaust launched their new (fifth) album with no warning, no advance promotion, no opportunities for scurrilous scribblers to review it before release. This happened on Friday, and although I’ve only managed to listen to The Constellatory Practice once since then, my impulse is to proclaim it a triumph. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABSOLVTION — “THE LION’S FACE”

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May 062018
 

 

“The Lion’s Face” is one of four tracks on Gallow’s Destiny, the new EP by the French black/death metal band Absolvtion, whose debut was the Obscure Catharsis demo in 2016. Gallow’s Destiny will be released on July 31st by Atavism Records, and “The Lion’s Face” is the first sign of the terrors that Absolvtion have created in this new work.

The music here pulls the listener headlong into an alien nightmare, choking with the aroma of pestilence and dazzled by visions of shape-shifting archfiends. Both cruelly oppressive and irresistibly innervating, the song becomes an eye-opening herald to Absolvtion’s rising power within the globe-spanning realms of the black/death underground. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: WOE

 Interviews, WAXING LYRICAL  2 Responses »
May 052018
 

 

(The world hasn’t ended… another Saturday rises… and with it another of Andy Synn’s WAXING LYRICAL columns… with the insights provided today by Chris Grigg of the NY black metal band Woe.)

This is the third edition of Waxing Lyrical focussing on a band I handpicked for last year’s “Critical Top Ten” which… probably says something important. Though I’m not sure what. Maybe that great albums deserve great lyrics? Something like that?

Either way, Hope Attrition was a fantastic album “…as densely packed with clever ideas, razor-sharp hooks, and raw passion, as anything I’ve heard…” and Woe are a fantastic band, which is why I harassed and harangued the band’s vocalist/guitarist Chris Grigg into telling me a little about his background, his process, and his methods. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEMETRA SINE DIE — “LAMENT”

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May 042018
 

 

“Post Glacial Rebound is a deep black space.. our inner space.. made of memories, emotions, pain, and joy, where we have found comfort and refuge. We hope you can feel the same.” So say the Italian trio Demetra Sine Die about their new third album, which will be released next month by Third I Rex, a UK label that has proven to have very interesting and eclectic tastes and no rigid genre constraints. Based on the song we’re presenting today from Post Glacial Rebound, the same may be said of Demetra Sine Die’s latest work.

This is the band’s third album, and Third I Rex tells us that it “marks a further development and deeper move into psychedelic, post-fueled, sludge-driven hallucinations,” and also includes “blackened/death overtures and krautrock elements”. Those words certainly fed my own sense of intrigue about Post Glacial Rebound, as I hope they do yours, and the song you’re about to hear — “Lament” — should feed it even more. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DEATH. VOID. TERROR.

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May 042018
 

 

(Yesterday we posted Grant Skelton’s very interesting review of the unusual debut album by Death. Void. Terror. (brought forth last month by Iron Bonehead Productions), and today we’re following that with his e-mail interview of this mysterious entity, which is also… interesting.)

 

How was Death. Void. Terror. conceived? Whether musical or otherwise, what are some of the inspirations behind the music?

Death. Void. Terror. is an entity conceived for a single purpose: to serve as a vessel for the Great Monolith, a true sole true finality that we as practitioners are subservient to. There are no other inspirations, musical or otherwise. When I say we are vessels for the Great Monolith, I mean that we convey what is bestowed upon us by it and express this unconsciously through our recordings. Continue reading »

DEATH COMES IN THREES: A SELECTION OF SOME KILLER BLACK METAL

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 042018
 

 

(Here are brief reviews by TheMadIsraeli of three 2018 black metal albums that have caught his ear.)

I’ve been busy with life, but it doesn’t mean my metal consumption has slowed down.  Let’s talk about some killer black metal that’s come out this year thus far. While the number of great black metal albums this year has been smaller than in 2017 in my mind, what has come around is top-tier and I’ve picked a pretty diverse selection of three very good records.

INFESTUM

Infestum are long-running, but for those still unaware, this Belarusian band play a style of riffy, technical, tight, and concise black metal in the vein of say, Keep Of Kalessin or Old Man’s Child, with a hint of Vader. Les Rites De Passage is a fantastic record with some diverse song-writing thanks to a very Khonsu-esque sense of industrial inclusions. The riffs of Infestum are top-notch, with a pristine sense of phrasing and drama combined with a very esoteric style of melody that I quite enjoy and vocals that definitely will bring ex-KOK vocalist Thebon to mind. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): KATARI — “AVE, REX IVDAEORVM!”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
May 032018
 

 

This album is going to hit most of you like a lightning strike out of the clear blue sky, and just like the shock and surprise of such a electrifying event, it will leave most listeners with a megawatt jolt down the spine and eyes popping out of a smoking head.

It’s a fair guess that only a fortunate few have previously encountered Katari. They’re a duo (Dany I. and Assassin) based in Huánuco, Peru, who first joined forces in early 2006 and went on to release a handful of demos in very limited quantities, as well as a 2011 split and a 2013 EP (At Peace). With any luck, their music is about to reach a bigger audience, thanks to the release of their debut album, Ave, Rex Ivdaeorvm!, on May 4 by From Deepest Records. And maybe our premiere of the music will be of some help, too. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HOTH — “THE GATHERING OF THE ACCURSED ARTIFACTS”

 Premieres  6 Responses »
May 032018
 

 

I discovered the Seattle duo Hoth (David Dees and Eric Peters) through their second album, Oathbreaker, released in 2014. After impetuously listening to just the first track and the last one, I wrote: “Multifaceted, meticulously executed, epic in its ambitions and its achievements, this is really impressive.” I became even more impressed after hearing the whole album, and ultimately chose one track (“Serpentine Whispers”) for our list of 2014’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

Four years later, Hoth are bringing us a new album named Astral Necromancy, which will be released on June 15. They describe it as follows:

“This is a concept album – but one of a somewhat different sort. Oathbreaker was a concept album that lead the listener down a darker and darker path; it was a linear journey. On the other hand, Astral Necromancy already exists in the crushing, unforgiving darkness. There are no paths. There is no light and no hope — just an exploration of cosmic mysteries and black magic – a journey in infinite directions.

“It is a concept album in the sense that there is a common thread through each of the songs that bind them together as each individually explores an aspect of this darkness. The eleven tracks on the album explore themes ranging from corruption of the self to what lies at the end of all time; from journeys through frostbitten wastelands to the acquisition of forbidden knowledge, and more.

“We hesitate to be any more specific than that because the meaning of the album is best expressed through listening to it. The experience itself brings its own meaning to each listener”. Continue reading »

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