SEITA: “MALEDICTUS MUNDI”

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Nov 082017
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by the Dutch band Seita, which will be released on November 9.)

Seita have quickly become one of my favorite bands from The Netherlands. They exhibit a firebrand combination of death, thrash, hardcore, and groove metal, united into a form of frantic obliterating terror that not many bands can rival. These guys are like being force-fed adrenaline by the gallon.

I reviewed their debut Asymmetric Warfare back in 2012, lavishing it with great praise. Since then, the band have been rather quiet. They released some stand-alone songs from an unreleased EP this year, which I expected to be the next release. Instead, they are coming out the gate with a full-length album, the one in question here, and that EP will be arriving later. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MALEFIC LEVITATION — “WARLORD RITES”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Nov 082017
 

 

In May of this year a duo from Fresno (California) who took the name Malefic Levitation released their first single, “Warlord Rites“. It caught my ears, mangled them, and produced enough savage excitement that I spilled some equally mangled words about the track. Since then, Malefic Levitation made the acquaintance of Sentient Ruin, who will leave Thanksgiving in ruins by releasing the band’s debut album, The Ancient Plague, on November 24. It will also be released in the EU by Dawnbreed Records.

And here we are with “Warlord Rites” again, although this is the re-recorded version of the song that will appear on the album, engineered by Jacob Lee at the Wolf Chamber in Easton, CA. It hasn’t gotten any more merciful or any less rampantly destructive. If anything, it’s more punishing and pestilential. Continue reading »

MORBID ANGEL: “KINGDOMS DISDAINED”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Nov 082017
 

 

(These are Wil Cifer’s initial thoughts about the new Morbid Angel album, which will be released on December 1 by Silver Lining Music.)

You can’t blame me or any long-time fans of this band for going into their 9th album with trepidation. Trey is the only original member. I hoped Pete Sandoval might come to his senses like a kid who learns Santa isn’t real and drop the Jesus thing to rejoin the band. But that was the wishful thinking of my inner 15-year-old. I never liked the Steve Tucker albums. They just sound like everyone else.

A few songs in, Tucker was still a hard sell for me even though he is certainly trying his fucking hardest here. The new drummer Scott Fuller won me over much earlier on with his aggressive assault. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AXIA — “VULTURES”

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Nov 072017
 


photo by João Fitas

 

Those are not happy faces. And those men don’t make happy music. In fact, the Portuguese band Axia have sought to infuse their music “with infinite levels of self-inflicted negativity and hopelessness.” As their vocalist Alex Vale says, they are “focused, cursed and inspired by the ruin shadowing our material ashes. Forward leads nowhere…”

As time marches forward, however, it will lead us to the release of Axia’s new album Pulverizer in April 2018 by Selfmadegod Records. That seems painfully far away, and the waiting will begin to seem even more painful once you listen to “Vultures“, which is the track from Pulverizer that we’re premiering today, because it’s really, really good. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HAK-ED DAMM — “JADE WITH THE DEFLOWERED SCALP”

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Nov 072017
 

 

Hak-Ed Damm is a black metal strike force founded in Quebec City, Canada, in 2007 with the idea of creating a hate-filled “musical war machine concept”. For their name, they chose Hebrew words that signify “field of blood”, and also a place in Jerusalem associated with Judas Iscariot.

Since their formation, the band have released a 2010 debut album (Nekrowristfucked) and a series of splits from 2011-2013. And on November 26th, in conspiracy with Satanath Records (Russia) and Death Portal Studio (U.S.), the band will release their second album, Holocaust Over Dresden. Today we bring you today the premiere of the album’s closing track, “Jade with the Deflowered Scalp“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IGNIS HAERETICUM — “LIFTING THE VEIL”

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Nov 072017
 

 

We are privileged to bring you the premiere of a song from the new album by the Colombian black metal occultists in Ignis Haereticum. Bearing the name Autocognition of Light, it will be released on December 1 by Goathorned Productions.

I have my friend Austin Weber to thank for turning me on to the terrible wonders of this band’s 2014 debut album, Luciferian Gnosis. In his review for us here, he described the album as “depraved and ferocious”, “off the beaten path and frighteningly dissonant”, “evil and twisted”, “a world of perplexing terror” that might be “the wisdom of a bright vision” or “madness in masquerade.” Continue reading »

DAMNATION FESTIVAL 2017

 Concert Reviews  6 Responses »
Nov 072017
 

 

(Andy Synn was fortunate to witness the 2017 edition of Damnation Festival in Leeds, UK, on November 4, and prepared this report on the performances, along with many videos.)

One of the things I love most about Damnation Festival is that, because it always sells out, the organisers are free to keep things as underground and as intimate as possible, and to resist the pressure to book some of the more popular (and more predictable) marquee names which you’ll see play other festivals year in and year out.

That doesn’t mean that Damnation is an “elitist” event by any means – in fact the atmosphere and camaraderie on display every year is another one of the big draws for me, as it always warms my heart to see a mingling of Metal fans, of all ages, races, colours, and creeds, in an environment dedicated purely to the love of live music – but this focus in quality over quantity, on providing a unique experience, both for the fans and for the bands who play, is something that sets it apart from its peers and rivals. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY, MENDACIUM, CAVEMASTER, FUNERAL BAPTISM

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Nov 062017
 

 

This is the second part of this week’s SHADES OF BLACK collection. You can find Part 1 here.

This post begins with one advance track and follows with three complete releases, which a shortage of time prevents me from discussing in full. I’ll give you a smattering of garbled thoughts about them, and then hope you’ll give them the time they deserve.

HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY

Last Thursday Stereogum premiered “Tomb Omnia“, the first excerpt from the new album by Austria’s Harakiri For the Sky, the name of which is Arson. To say that we’re excited about this album is like the martyr on the stake whispering “it’s a bit warm here” as the flames begin to lick his legs. Continue reading »

CONVERGE: “THE DUSK IN US”

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Nov 062017
 

 

(This is Wil Cifer’s review of The Dusk In Us — the recently released ninth album by Converge.)

Twenty years ago a friend of mine said to me, “There is this band you would like called Converge, they are like if Sunny Day Real Estate was metal-as-fuck hardcore”. Over the course of those 20 years things have changed for the band. They got a new drummer and put out this album called Jane Doe that turned heavy music on its head. Their guitarist Kurt Ballou is now a highly sought-after producer. With their guitarist behind the mixing board for The Dusk In Us, you might expect to be hit by a wall of guitar. This is not the case. Instead you get guitars with a warm organic sound that sit back in the mix like they are just running straight into their amps. Even in the album’s more experimental moments it retains a very organic sound.

“Eye of the Quarrel” makes it pretty clear that their punk side has not gone anywhere. Bannon’s vocals are not screamed with the same emotional tumult of earlier albums. You can actually understand what he is yelling. They do return to the kind of grit I want from them on “Under Duress”. The chorus is almost sung in a throaty bellow, with the drummer throwing in angular accents and odd-timed punches. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DESOLATE SHRINE

 Interviews  3 Responses »
Nov 062017
 

 

On November 10, Dark Descent Records will release, Deliverance From the Godless Void, the latest album by Finland’s Desolate Shrine. Our man Andy Synn recently reviewed the album (along with the band’s preceding three albums), calling it “another triumph of will and wickedness, and well worth getting hold of if you’ve ever had an urge for a truly masochistic metallic experience.”

With “a production that may be more powerful than ever”, Andy wrote, “the band are still as foul and filthy at heart as they have always been, at times bringing to bear a crippling sense of dissonance and discordance,” meshing together “neck-wrecking grooves”, “gnarly, guttural vocals,” “bulldozing riffs,” “strangling bass lines,” and “foul, demonic atmospherics” to produce a truly electrifying experience.

And now Norway-based metal writer and NCS contributor Karina Noctum brings us this interview with L.L., the main man behind Desolate Shrine just days before the album’s release: Continue reading »

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