THE REARVIEW MIRROR: TESTAMENT

 THE REARVIEW MIRROR  3 Responses »
Jan 212018
 

 

(Andy Synn presents our first Rearview Mirror post in many moons. For those who may have forgotten, the column is a rare instance in which we look at metal’s past rather than its present and future.)

 

Even though we’ve been running these “Rearview Mirror” columns for quite a while now it appears that this is only my third contribution to the series.

Whether that’s simply because I’ve been too busy, or because I like to have a rest on the seventh day (make of that what you will…), the fact remains that this particular corner of NCS has largely been left to Islander (and occasionally DGR) to run.

But today it’s my turn behind the wheel, and I’ve decided to take this opportunity to highlight one of the most overlooked albums in the discography of the legendary Testament! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD BY DGR (PART 1): DAGON, DYSCARNATE, ULCERATE, ALTERBEAST, FEATHER AND BONE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 202018
 


Dagon (photo credit: Chuck Marshall)

 

(DGR has stepped into the round-up void left by our editor this past week and has produced a three-part collection of recent songs and videos. Parts 2 and 3 will be presented on Sunday and Monday.)

The first couple weeks of the new year often feel like a machine slowly lurching back to life as people wake up from their respective holiday binges and try their damndest to shake the rust off, kick the tires, and get things back to into gear.

Both the news and the writing fronts often have that same year-opening feeling of machines lurching back into life after a couple weeks of dormancy — in the case of NCS it’s because we buried ourselves in the yearly Listmania event in which numerous lists of albums toppled over each another like the zombie anthills from the World War Z (in name only) film.

Three weeks into January, and judging by the handful of massive Seen and Heard and Overflowing Streams posts we’ve had to put up, you could say that we’ve solved the getting things into gear issue as our beloved musical genre has already offloaded numerous news bits upon us. I, your ever-faithful servant, have been doing my best to go along with my ragged fish net and catch everything that might’ve slipped by us — which in the case of this post dates back to last week and then some. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SLUMLORD — “PATIENTLY WAITING”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 192018
 

 

I don’t have any special insight into what Slumlord had in mind when they named their new album Preview of Hell, but I’ll make a guess that they were talking about life in the here and now. At a minimum, they sure bring the hell with their music.

Preview of Hell is set for release on March 7th, and today we have our own preview of their brand of metallic hardcore hell through the premiere of Slumlord’s video for a track named “Patiently Waiting“. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 8): IMMOLATION, HIDEOUS DIVINITY, INCONCESSUS LUX LUCIS

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  7 Responses »
Jan 192018
 

 

I can’t say there was really an organizing theme or strategy that motivated my decision to group together these three new additions to our Most Infectious Song list. They simply happened to be close together on my master list of candidates, which is alphabetized by band name. And they also happened to be easy choices for me… though all three tracks had serious competition among others on the albums from which they came.

IMMOLATION

It was a given. in my mind, that something from Immolation’s new album would be on this list. With Atonement, they proved again (as they have over and over) that they “are one of those untouchable bands”, to quote from TheMadIsraeli’s review of the album. They were pioneers, and they remain inimitable… and they just never give up, never surrendering to the weight of years or the burdens of expectations. Continue reading »

HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY: “ARSON”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jan 192018
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by the Austrian band Harakiri For the Sky, which will be released by AOP Records on February 16th.)

If you’re a long-time follower of the site you may have picked up on an ongoing war of words between some of our writers about how to properly categorise the music of the Austrian duo Harakiri for the Sky.

And while I agree that how you choose to describe their sound doesn’t directly affect the quality of their material one iota, I still think it’s important that we use the right terms and the right language when writing about the band (or any band), as it can definitely have an effect on how people judge and perceive them.

All of which is a very long-winded way of saying that Arson is one damn fine slab of punchy, pulse-quickening Melodeath… and I won’t hear a single word to the contrary! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LAST LEGION — “MUSPELHEIM”

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Jan 192018
 

 

Almost five years to the day after the release of their debut album, Edge of the World, the New York melodic death metal band Last Legion have returned with a new full-length, and in a word, it’s glorious. Although the album was officially released earlier this week, we’re bringing you the first full album stream today, preceded by a few more words of praise (okay, more than a few).

As signified by the new album’s title — Muspelheim — Last Legion have drawn on the timeless tales of Norse myth for the lyrical subject matter of their songs, and they’ve created music that matches the epic scale of their subject matter — music that’s explosively powerful, persistently adrenaline-inducing, and quite memorable. Without taking anything away from Last Legion’s own creativity, you may well conclude that you’ve found an American Amon Amarth, one that could hold their own, side-by-side, with that most obvious reference point. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 7): AU-DESSUS, CLOAK, BLACK ANVIL

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  10 Responses »
Jan 182018
 

 

I’m a bit rushed today, thanks to rude interference by my fucking day job, so… no multi-paragraph preamble to this edition of my growing list of infectious songs. I’ll just say that I grouped all three of these bands together because, each in their own way, they achieved success last year through genre-blending.

AU-DESSUS

When I heard the first single (“XI”) from this Lithuanian band’s debut album, End of Chapter, I had a suspicion that we had something very special on our hands. By the time we ourselves premiered the second one (“XII”), I had a firm conviction that this record would stand well out from the pack and become a highlight of the year. Finally being able to hear the full album provided confirmation. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DJINN AND MISKATONIC — “HARVEST OF KINGS”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 182018
 

 

We were introduced more than three years ago to the Indian doom band Djinn and Miskatonic through Comrade Aleks’ inclusion of them in one of his Doom Quizes. At that time, they had released a debut album, Forever in the Realm, and now they’re back with a second full-length, just released by Transcending Obscurity. Bearing the title Even Gods Must Die, it’s a six-track edifice of doom exceeding an hour in length. Three of the tracks have appeared in the lead-up to the release, and now we deliver the premiere of a fourth one: “Harvest of Kings“.

It’s difficult to imagine any fan of traditional doom not becoming enthralled by this long track, which casts a haunting spell that grows ever deeper as the minutes pass. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DISHARMONY — “VAIN MESSIAH”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 182018
 

 

In March of last year we brought you the premiere of the title track to The Abyss Noir, the latest album by the Greek metal band Disharmony. The album was released the following month by GrimmDistribution, and in its multifaceted musical textures it has drawn comparisons to the sounds of Nevermore, Sanctuary, Judas Priest, Iced Earth, and Anthrax. It also includes a hell of a good cover of Metallica’s “Disposable Heroes”.

What we’ve got for you today is a vivid reminder of the album, a video for one of its best tracks, “Vain Messiah“. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 6): DEGOTTEN, REBEL WIZARD, WOE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  No Responses »
Jan 172018
 


Degotten

The next three songs I’m adding to my list of Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs today have a couple of things in common despite their stylistic differences.

The first is that I picked more than one song from the 2017 releases that included them as candidates for this list — and I had a devil of a time deciding which track to include here (since one of my self-imposed rules is not to include more than one track on the list from any particular release).

The second is that I get a glorious and warlike vibe from all three of these songs, and so it just seemed right to me to join them together, like a mini-playlist. Whether they would strike you that way, I don’t know, but regardless, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Continue reading »

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