AN NCS PREMIERE: ULTAR — “SWARM”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 232018
 

 

In the late summer of 2016 we had the good fortune to premiere a song and accompanying video for a track from the debut album by the band Ultar from Siberian Russia. That song — “Azathoth” — left such a lasting impression that we also named it to our list of 2016’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. And it wasn’t the only song on that very promising debut album (Kadath) that left positive lasting impressions.

Today we’re happy to report that Ultar are returning with a second album later this year. The working title is Pantheon MMXVIII, and it will be released by the Swedish label Temple of Torturous in both vinyl and digital formats. In addition to that news, we’re presenting a stream of one of the new album tracks, the name of which is “Swarm“. Continue reading »

THE ABSENCE: “A GIFT FOR THE OBSESSED”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 232018
 

 

(Today M-Theory Audio releases the first new album by The Absence since 2010’s Enemy Unbound, and here we present Andy Synn’s review along with a full stream of the album.)

 

Let’s get one thing clear right away – while Riders of the Plague, the second album by Floridian firebrands The Absence, is a bona fide underground classic, the band’s erratic follow-up, Enemy Unbound, singularly failed to capitalise on the critical acclaim and momentum generated by its predecessor, and the subsequent array of label woes and line-up changes certainly didn’t help matters either.

Thankfully, the general consensus appears to be that the group’s long-awaited fourth album, A Gift for the Obsessed, is a more than worthy sequel to Riders…, even if I’ve have seen more than a few writers/reviewers bemoaning the fact that the band haven’t massively changed or updated their style and still sound like “an American version of Arch Enemy.”

But while this comparison isn’t necessarily invalid – their penchant for thrashy, high-octane riffs, adrenaline-pumping drums, and shamelessly infectious hooks certainly shares more than a few similarities with the works of Amott and co. from before they became a toothless parody of themselves – it’s also not necessarily a bad thing.

After all, the overall decline of the Melodeath/Melodic Death Metal scene worldwide has left behind something of a void, which The Absence seem more than happy to fill with their vintage-yet-visceral brand of melody-infused metallic mayhem. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: BLUT AUS NORD, ZEAL AND ARDOR, BAPTISTS, CHRCH, LLNN, MORGENGRAU, ABYTHIC, SECTIONED, ATONE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Mar 222018
 

 

On each of the last three days I intended to post a round-up of new music and videos that I thought were worth your time, and each day I failed. I would have run out of time again today if I hadn’t managed to throttle my usual verbosity. In fact, I’ve resorted to sentence fragments rather than complete sentences in order to get this done.

As the days passed, of course, some of the items in this post have become a bit dated, and the volume of selections has swelled with newer discoveries.

BLUT AUS NORD

After more than 20 years of musical activity, Blut Aus Nord finally released their first-ever music video a few days ago. The chosen song is “Metanoïa“, which appears on Deus Salutis Meae, which I reviewed here, accompanying our premiere of the first publicly revealed track from the album. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WESENWILLE — “GOLDEN RAYS OF THE SUN”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Mar 222018
 

 

Wesenwille is a new project that has brought together the talents of two men based in Utrecht, the Netherlands — drummer D. Schermann (a.k.a. Valr – Weltschmerz, Wrang, Grafjammer, Iron Harvest) and guitarist/vocalist R. Schmidt (Verval, Iron Harvest, Apotelesma, ex-White Oak). With bass and additional vocals performed by M. Van Der Werff, they have recorded a debut album — I: Wesenwille — which will be released on April 27 by Redefining Darkness Records.

Stylistically, their music draws strongly upon elements of black metal, but with a modern approach that incorporates other ingredients as well, providing an experience that is harsh, barbaric, and unsettling, but also engrossingly atmospheric, emotionally evocative, and quite memorable. The band identify musical influences in the realms of Svartidauði, Svart Crown, Deathspell Omega, and Sweden’s Shining.

Wesenwille’s dynamic approach to songwriting and performance is vividly displayed on what might be considered the album’s centerpiece — a 10-minute track named “Golden Rays of the Sun” that fully earns every minute of the attention it requires of you. And we’re fortunate to bring you a stream of that song today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PÁNICO AL MIEDO — “ROMPE EL CEPO”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Mar 222018
 

 

Feast your eyes upon the vibrant cover art up above, which was created by that famous connoisseur of the grotesque, Ed Repka. Now imagine it beginning to move, to swarm, to pulsate with ghoulish life.

Actually, you don’t have to tax your imagination, because the video we’re bringing you today does all of those things with Mr. Repka’s creation. And it provides a very fitting accompaniment to the song you’ll hear — “Rompe El Cepo” — which is one of many electrifying thrill rides on Formador, the debut album by Pánico Al Miedo from Barcelona, Spain. The album will be released by a consortium of fine labels in a variety of formats on April 27th. Continue reading »

THE CROWN: “COBRA SPEED VENOM”

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Mar 212018
 

 

(This is TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new 10th album by Swedish stalwarts The Crown, which was released by Metal Blade on March 16th.)

Look at that fucking gorgeous cover art….

The Crown is a band that should be a go-to staple for any true hot-blooded metalhead. The band’s iconic blend of thrash, melodic death, death’n’roll, and straight death metal has been distinctive and, in this writer’s opinion, never really equaled. Johan Lindstrand has one of the most unique bestial voices in metal, the very materialization of a priest turned psychopath, preaching sermons of death and sickness. Marko Tervonen’s riffs feel like getting grenades lobbed at you constantly while you sprint for your life.

I’ve also always felt that over a long stretch of years The Crown have managed to release a pretty consistently baller discography. I don’t think you can classify a single album of theirs as mediocre, or even only “pretty good”. They have set a high standard… but have somehow surmounted it with this latest release. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WŸNTËR ÄRVŃ – “AU DEVANT DU GOUFFRE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Mar 212018
 

 

Obsessively devoted as I obviously am to the sounds of extreme metal, it’s rare that I’m able to indulge genuinely beautiful music, unless it’s delivered in the context of something heavy and harrowing. With that confession offered as a context of its own for what I’m about to write, I will say that the album we’re premiering here is the most beautiful and the most thoroughly enthralling listening experience I’ve had this year (and longer).

The album is Au Devant du Gouffre by Wÿntër Ärvń, which is the solo project of a French musician who calls himself Arvernian. It will be released on CD by Antiq Records on April 10th, although a digital version has become available today on Bandcamp.

The album is almost entirely an instrumental performance, and the instruments used are entirely acoustic. It could be characterized as Neofolk or Darkfolk, although its creator has disclosed that his influences (perhaps more spiritual than in any other way) “remain very strongly embedded in the black metal of the ’90s”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BODIES ON EVEREST — “TALLY OF SEVENS”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 212018
 

 

Bodies On Everest are a trio of noisemongers who come from Liverpool and Manchester. They wield two bass guitars, drums, and assorted implements of electronic torture; their voices are also weapons. They describe their music as “Dungeon Wave” — “a caustic mix of drone, doom, noise and cursed psyche-sludge”, as their labels would say. Their new album is A National Day of Mourning, “a funeral dirge for modern life”. It is dedicated to:

“…a car park in Sarasota FL / a wall in Harrisburg, PA / a chlorine tank / A photograph of a fishing net / A fire extinguisher / A lawyer at a railway station / a section of the pacific ocean near the coast of Chile…”

The album is also described by the band as “the very urgent and desperate result of an accident.”  “Welcome to Hell,” they say, and it is an apt greeting they give us.

“Tally of  Sevens” is the second single to be presented from the album, which will be released in its entirety by Third I Rex and Cruel Nature Recordings on April 29th. The band have written some words about the song (or perhaps these words are in the song), which are no less cryptic than the others we’ve already quoted: Continue reading »

MONOTHEIST: “SCOURGE”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 212018
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the debut album by Monotheist, which is out now on Prosthetic Records.)

 

I must admit, until yesterday I was torn between two albums over which to focus my attentions on next, with my choices split between Occultaclysmic, the upcoming fourth album from resurgent South Carolina savages Lecherous Nocturne, or Scourge, the recently-released debut full-length from much-hyped Prosthetic Records signees Monotheist.

And although, ultimately, my decision was made much easier upon finding out that one of our guest contributors had already submitted a review for the former (a review which, at the time of writing, I have yet to read), the truth of the matter is that I was already leaning strongly towards the latter, if only because while Occultaclysmic is easily summed up as a solid (though not stellar) slab of post-Cryptopsy brutality still struggling to define its own identity, Scourge is much harder to categorise in similarly simple terms, making it, paradoxically, much easier (and more fun) to write about. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MOREAN ON LYRICS, WITH A FOCUS ON THE NEW ALKALOID ALBUM “LIQUID ANATOMY”

 Interviews  6 Responses »
Mar 212018
 

 

(With a bow toward the Waxing Lyrical series begun by Andy Synn at our site, Karina Noctum posed questions to Morean of Alkaloid (and Dark Fortress) about his creation of lyrics for the ravishing new Alkaloid album, Liquid Anatomy, which will be released by Season of Mist on May 18th. The answers are fascinating.)

 

Alkaloid are going to release their latest album called Liquid Anatomy on the 18th of May, and I took this opportunity to ask about the lyrics. Musically, we know already it is going to be a remarkable album because the band counts among its members such metal luminaries as Hannes Grossmann, Christian Münzner (Obscura), Danny Tunker (Aborted, Prostitute Disfigurement, God Dethroned), and Morean (Dark Fortress, Alkaloid, Noneuclid).

Morean is not only a versatile vocalist, but also an excellent guitarist and a classical composer. His hymn to the city of Rotterdam was performed by the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest not so long ago. If you are interested in classical music then I recommend you check his double guitar composition Schattenspiel.

We have Morean’s opening insights into his writing of lyrics and choice of themes, and that’s then followed by a more detailed dialogue. Continue reading »

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