IMMORTAL: “NORTHERN CHAOS GODS”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 062018
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Immortal on the day of its release by Nuclear Blast.)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll no doubt be aware that the release of a new Immortal album – the band’s first since 2009’s All Shall Fall, as well as their first since the now well-documented and more than a tad acrimonious split with their former frontman Abbath – is what we in the business like to call A Very Big Deal.

You’ll also likely have seen a plethora of different reviews, comments, and op-eds being published either decrying it for not being “Immortal enough” due to its lack of Abbath, or else praising it to the heavens for being “a return to the band’s roots”, with lines being drawn and camps being formed on either side of this divide.

And while, if everything’s gone right, at the time of reading this you’ll hopefully have found a way of listening to the album for yourselves, I still thought it might be worth publishing my own thoughts on the matter, and asking, “can’t we all just get along?” Continue reading »

QUICK HITS: GOROD, IMMOLATION, VOID ROT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 052018
 

 

I know we’ve thrown a ton of music and videos your way recently, but I find myself with a bit of free time left before I have to bid NCS good-by for the day, so I thought I’d do one more thing. To quote the timeless words of Bart in Blazing Saddles, “Excuse me while I whip this out.”

GOROD

Breaking news: A few minutes ago I happened to be loitering on Facebook (only briefly so as not to damage my health) when that eye-catching artwork up there popped into my news feed, accompanied by these words from the band Gorod: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ANGEROT — “RIVERS OF CHAOS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 052018
 

 

I’m willing to bet good money that all metal addicts have that one kind of special sound lodged in their brains that, once heard, triggers a Pavlovian response — the jump in the pulse rate, the immediate wolfish grin, the reflexive drooling that comes at the sound of the dinner bell. Different sounds might do it for different people, maybe a Priest-ian riff here or a Sabbath-ian one there; maybe the resonance of a Bolt Thrower-like tank attack or a Testament-ary ripper does the trick.

In my case, the sure-fire trigger comes from the sound of Swedish death of the old school. And so in my case, Angerot bring forth the slobbering in a great, borderline-embarrassing flood. Their new album The Splendid Iniquity does that from start to finish. Continue reading »

DELIRIUM REIGNS SUPREME: PLOUGHSHARE, DESTROYER ATTACK, ERIPHION, LODGE OF THE EMPTY BED

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jul 052018
 

 

Sometimes when you have no plan, the plan makes itself. A guiding hand intervenes, or if you’re not superstitious, you nod your head at the pleasures of serendipity and synchronicity.

I didn’t plan to make this post, but in searching for new music I happened, by a fortunate chance, to listen to the music in this post in the exact same order as I’m presenting it here. And it all seemed to fit together in a way that spawned the title of this post.

PLOUGHSHARE

Literature of Piss was the 2017 debut EP of this band from Canberra, Australia. In Offal, Salvation is the band’s 2018 debut album. “The Urinary Chalice Held Aloft” is the name of one of the tracks on the album. Perhaps you begin to get a sense of the band’s worldview. Continue reading »

FIVE FOR THE FOURTH: AL-NAMROOD, DECLINE OF THE I, VANHÄVD, PANZER SQUAD, WOLFBASTARD

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 042018
 

 

Today is the Independence Day holiday here in the U.S. The first thing I saw upon scanning the local Seattle paper after waking up was a fascinating story that included the photo above, and this headline:

 

Puget Sound explorers partied so hard for July 4, 1841, a sailor blew up his hand with a howitzer

 

We’ve come so far since that event, marked by the monument above near Puget Sound, which was reportedly the first official Fourth of July celebration held west of the Mississippi: Now we can blow off our hands without using military armament; inexpensive fireworks will do the job just as well. And what better way to commemorate the birth of the nation than by an orgy of drunkenness and self-inflicted wounds? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KRISIUN, KHONSU, MIRE, BIRTH THE WRETCHED, ENDOLITH, KIELKROPF

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 032018
 

 

As you may have noticed, I compiled another round-up earlier today, though I was just following instructions with that one, all the choices having been urged upon me by my comrade DGR (and Andy Synn, in part) to suit a What Year Is It?!? theme. I haven’t completely escaped the urgings of my comrades in this collection either, since three of the songs and videos were pressed upon me by Mr. Synn.

However, although I’m less the curator of this particular gallery and more like the slovenly dude who frames the stuff and hangs it on the wall, I did include music of my own choosing at the end (and for better or worse, I’ll be picking everything for our Independence Day round-up tomorrow).

But before we get to all the music, I have a couple of news items (and even the second of those was brought to my attention by my colleagues).

KRISIUN

How could I resist the opportunity to brandish (extra-large) the painted artwork of Eliran Kantor at the top of our page again? Obviously, I couldn’t. It will appear on Krisiun’s new album, Scourge of the Enthroned, marred by text, as follows: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RYAN C. SCHMEISTER — “VICTIM”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  4 Responses »
Jul 032018
 

 

In early August of last year, thanks to a recommendation from Rennie of starkweather, I discovered a song called “Legacy” by a solo project named Vorean. As I wrote then, I found it “little short of astonishing”. Rennie likened it to the sound of Florida’s Solstice, with a hint of black metal. It reached out almost immediately and seized me by the throat with the first instances of a bleak, twisted melody, and then erupted into an electrifying rush of hyper-speed riffing and blazing drum fire, with Vorean crying out in scalding howls.

That track displayed a lot of very impressive guitar work and a lot of compositional talent as well, becoming melodically memorable as well as just downright jaw-dropping in its execution. And part of what made the track — and the whole album from which it came — so astonishing was that it was the work of a single individual from Powell River, British Columbia (Ryan C. Schmeister) who had just turned 19 years old at the time of its release. Continue reading »

WHAT YEAR IS IT?! NEW STUFF FROM INTO ETERNITY, UNEARTH, BLEEDING THROUGH, JOURNAL, JACK KETCH, SILENT CIVILIAN (ON THE WAY), AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 032018
 

 

This is a SEEN AND HEARD round-up that’s going under a different name today. If the reason for that isn’t already obvious from the title of this post, let me explain:

Below you will find new songs and one new video, plus a news item, from seven bands. One of them is by a band whose last release was 10 years ago. Three are from bands whose last albums came out eight years ago. Two more are by bands whose last albums were released six and four years ago, respectively. And the video for the last one is set in a time when if you wanted to watch a movie at home, you went to the VHS store.

I can’t take credit for the Robin Williams–Jumanji meme or the post title. That was suggested by DGR, and actually it was he (with an assist from Andy Synn) who foisted all these new songs and videos on me. Basically, today I’m just a marionette whose strings are being pulled by others. Let’s get this over with so I can go back to listening to really disgusting death and black metal. Continue reading »

INJURIOUS — “ABOMINABLE EXTERMINATION THROUGH UNCANNY PASSAGES”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 032018
 

 

(Our Caribbean-born but recently U.S.-based friend Vonlughlio rejoins us with a review, born of unusual enthusiasm, of the new album by the Pennsylvania band Injurious, whose new album was released on July 1st by Lord of the Sick Recordings.)

It has been a while since I had the opportunity to do a small write-up for NCS. This time around I would like to introduce you to the band Injurious from Pennsylvania, USA. This is the solo project of Mr. Joe Anthropophagi (Abolishing the Ignominious, Disgruntled Anthropophagy, Manipulated Calamity, Ex-Animals Killing People). The first release was back in 2017 with the promo that consisted of two songs: “Execrable Hierarchy Diminishing the Worthless” and “Immersed into Cycles of Enmity”. That promo was highly praised in the BDM community and showcased Joe’s already high level of musicianship. The man is just pure talent.

Just last week the EP,Abominable Extermination through Uncanny Passages was released via Lord of the Sick Recordings, and that’s all I have been listening to. This is one EP that’s just full of hatred, from the blast-beats and twisted riffs to with vocals, which successfully transmit this felling to the listener. For me, it’s the best BDM EP of 2018. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GRAVES — “UNHOLY DESECRATION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jul 022018
 

 

From the catacombs of the Portuguese black metal underground Signal Rex has unearthed Graves, presenting their blasphemous debut demo, Unholy Desecration, on cassette tape as a prelude to the band’s debut album coming later this year — and we’re presenting a full stream of the demo today.

As the label says, Unholy Desecration triggers memories of the French Légions Noires, of the Portuguese Black Circle, and of raw Finnish black metal from the past couple of decades. But while devoted to certain recognizable traditions, Graves‘ devotion isn’t slavish. Their own talent shines through with mortifying vibrancy. Continue reading »

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