SHORT BUT SWEET: BLACK MARE AND OFFRET — “ALONE AMONG MIRRORS”

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Mar 032018
 

 

If the two songs on this new split aren’t a perfect match, I don’t know what is. It’s not that they’re twins, not even fraternal twins. It’s that they complement each other so beautifully. I don’t know to what extent the artists shared their ideas before completing the compositions, but the experience of listening to the two songs together is so enthralling that you might think they were working together through a Vulcan mind meld.

Entitled Alone Among Mirrors, the split consists of one song by Black Mare, the solo project of L.A. musician Sera Timms (Ides of Gemini, Black Math Horseman), and one song by Offret, the solo project of Russian musician Andrey Prokofiev. It was released just yesterday on 7″ vinyl and digitally by Dark Operative. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 94): RITES OF THY DEGRINGOLADE

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Mar 022018
 

 

(In this edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn reviews all the albums released by Rites of Thy Degringolade, including their newest record slated for release on March 15th, as well as the band’s part of their 2004 split with Portal.)

 

Recommended for fans of: Immolation, Incantation, Deathspell Omega

 

One of the Extreme scene’s most undeservedly underappreciated acts, Canadian three-piece Rites of Thy Degringolade are one of the few bands who I can honestly say have the potential to appeal just as much to fans of hideously under-produced “War Metal” as they do to those who like their Black/Death Metal just that little bit more bold, bombastic, and… let’s be honest here… actually listenable.

The reason for this is the group’s surprisingly careful balancing – whether calculated or instinctive… and most likely a little of both – of filth and fury, chaos and confusion, with a plethora of savage (though rarely straightforward) hooks and cunningly crafted riffs which demand to be heard not just once, but multiple times, over multiple sessions.

A word of warning, however – this is some seriously nasty stuff, and once it gets embedded in your brain nothing less than a full frontal lobotomy is going to get it out again. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CARCINOMA AND ABYSSAL — “APANTHROPINIZATION

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Mar 022018
 

 

For those with a strong taste for the soul-shuddering power of atmospheric black/death/doom metal, one of the best albums of the year so far comes in the form of the split that it’s our privilege to premiere today. Joining forces in Apanthropinization are two striking UK bands, each providing their own distinctive and terrifying musical explorations of the void that lurks within us and that looms from without: Carcinoma and Abyssal.

This album-length split will be released on CD and as a digital download on March 30th by Goatprayer Records, and it is a record that absolutely should not be missed. Still caught up in the throes of what each band has done here, I’ve chosen to spill many words about this split, but of course no one would blame you for skipping to the bottom (where you’ll also find a pre-oirder link) and pressing Play without delay. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: ZIGGURAT — “RITUAL MIASMA”

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Mar 012018
 

 

In September of last year I came across a song with the title of  “דִּבּוּק“ from Ritual Miasma, the debut EP of an Israeli duo named Ziggurat. It made an immediate impact, and eventually was chosen for our list of 2017’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. But it was not the only strong point on Ritual Miasma. The entire EP proved to be an enormously compelling experience (it appeared on other year-end lists, including CVLT Nation’s top nine death/doom releases of 2017), and a sign that Ziggurat’s future endeavors would be worth watching very closely.

Ritual Miasma was initially released last October on cassette tape by Caligari Records, but Sweden’s Blood Harvest Records is about to follow that with a release of the EP in a digipack CD edition and on vinyl… and that gives us a reason to sing the praises of Ritual Miasma one more time, and to provide a stream of all five tracks for those of you who may just be discovering the band. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ET MORIEMUR — “AGNUS DEI”

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Mar 012018
 

 

The Czech doom band Et Moriemur explain that their new album Epigrammata “represents our attempt to cope with the dying or death of those we loved.” Using lyrics in ancient Greek and also drawing upon the Latin mass for the dead, the band structured the album to follow the progression of a traditional Requiem, which of course has inspired numerous composers over many centuries, as it has for Et Moriemur.

The Requiem has always been an expression of grief, but more than that as well. It also includes, for example, an appeal for the granting of divine mercy to the souls of the dead, as expressed in the part of the mass that is devoted to the Agnus Dei: “O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Grant them rest.”

Et Moriemur explain that in creating Epigrammata, they likewise sought to also incorporate feelings beyond bereavement over the loss of loved ones: “So apart from the inevitable grief there is gratitude as well for having had the chance to share our life with them and hope that they are well – wherever they are.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ERYN NON DAE. — “HALO”

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Mar 012018
 

 

Earlier this month we joined with other sites in revealing a song named “Astral” from the first album in more than five years by the French band Eryn Non Dae..  In light of that that roughly five-year break, it stands to reason that some people were being introduced to the idiosyncratic creative bent of of this band for the first time, and it’s kind of fun to imagine their surprised reactions to the unorthodox and unpredictable sound of that song. It’s going to be just as much fun imagining the reactions of listeners to the song we’re helping spread around today.

This newest revelation is named “Halo“. Like “Astral“, it will appear on the new END. album, Abandon of the Self, which will be released on March 9th by Debemur Morti Productions. Like “Astral“, it could be characterized at a high level as a multifaceted experience, blending compulsive physicality and disorienting atmosphere. In terms more suited to this specific composition, Eryn Non Dae. shake their listeners like rag dolls — we become loose-jointed playthings in their hands, heads bobbing and limbs flailing to the music’s heavy rhythmic grooves — but they’re doing other things to us at the same time. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CAVE BASTARD — “MASSACRE REACTION”

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Feb 282018
 

 

Are you sitting down? Have you got a firm grip on something that’s solidly anchored to the floor? Is your crash helmet in place, and some kind of bit between your teeth so you don’t bite off your tongue? If so, you’re probably good to go on this new song, but no guarantees. If not, call 911 for an ambulance before you press Play — because “Massacre Reaction” is pure audio murder, like a combination of riding an electric chair and being hit by a rushing freight train, or perhaps more appropriately, like being at ground zero in the crosshairs of a carpet-bombing campaign.

Perhaps there’s a slight exaggeration in those words, but not much. What Cave Bastard have pulled off on “Massacre Reaction” is genuinely electrifying, and stunningly brutal. The song comes from this San Diego band’s debut album, The Bleak Shall Devour The Earth, which is set for release by Accident Prone Records on March 23rd. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HAR — “VISITATION”

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Feb 282018
 

 

Visitation is the name of the new EP by the Israeli band HAR, and it does indeed conjure the atmosphere of a terrifying intrusion into our own world by hungering forces from shadow realms where death reigns supreme. This ghastly offering of black/death terrorism will be released by Sweden’s Blood Harvest Records  on March 2nd, and to help spread the word we’re offering you a full music stream today.

The three songs encompassed by Visitation sound as if they were recorded in a sepulcher cut from basalt deep underground, everything reverberating as if bounced back and forth off massive dank walls and a vaulted ceiling lost in the darkness. The sounds are dense, unearthly, and inhuman. And those sounds give rise both to explosions of violent chaos and to a pervasive air of horrible grandeur. Continue reading »

PHANTOM WINTER: “INTO DARK SCIENCE”

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Feb 282018
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Phantom Winter, which will be released on March 2nd by Golden Antenna Records.)

 

Metal is, as we all know, a genre intimately acquainted with darkness in all (or at least most of) its forms.

For some bands their music is an attempt to express and expel the darkness within them in an explosion of convulsive catharsis. For others it’s a chance to celebrate and even indulge in their darkest impulses and desires. And then there are those who use their talents to explore the darkness of the world which surrounds them in all its ugliness and horror.

For German quintet Phantom Winter, however. the question appears to be less about which of these approaches they wish to take, and more about which one they wish to take first. Continue reading »

WAKE: “MISERY RITES”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Feb 282018
 

 

(Here’s DGR’s review of the new album by Wake from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.)

 

Some albums take a while to review. On a personal note: I’ve always been the type to really want to listen to a disc a ton, really learn what each song is about, how it flows, get a general sense of what informed the disc, before writing about it.

Going from a first glance often feels like criminally short-changing bands sometimes, although by that same token the first impression can also be an immensely valuable take on things in a world where time is incredibly limited, and some — like many of our readers here, given the constant refrains about how much music we post — have limited listening time. So it doesn’t hurt to have a sense of immediacy in the delivery.

And therein lies the opposing side of the “album that takes a while to review”. You have the ones that are so up-front, so immediate, the kind that grab you by the throat and ragdoll you around the room so quickly that you can’t help but almost immediately lock-in with the group’s chosen sense of ferocity. The urgency with which the material is delivered becomes the driving force behind it.

Those album’s don’t take nearly as long, because as a listener you can recognize every aspect and every weapon deployed from moment one, and from there the experience becomes more about how a band uses them and with what amount of lethal auditory force. And that brings us to the recently released Misery Rites, by Canadian noise-heavy grinders Wake. Continue reading »

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