OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 18): WITCHERY, WODE, CRAFTEON, GRAVE CIRCLES, OBSCURE DEVOTION, TYAKRAH

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  3 Responses »
Jan 302018
 


Witchery

 

This is the second installment of the list today, with two more coming on the final day tomorrow. And once again, because time is running out, I’m loading up this post, with six songs from six great 2017 releases.

Anyone who has followed our putrid site over the 8+ years of our existence has no doubt noticed our continually increasing attraction to black metal, and so it should come as no surprise that in one of these final parts of this latest MOST INFECTIOUS SONG list I’ve decided to focus on shades of black, beginning with a name that surely every metalhead knows, and then moving into increasingly more obscure releases that are deserving of greater attention.

WITCHERY

“North” is a direction that figures prominently in the trajectory of black metal, perhaps most famously in Darkthrone’s magnificent A Blaze In the Northern Sky. Sweden’s Witchery aligned their own compass to “True North” in the first song I’ve chosen for this post. It comes from their eighth album, I Am Legion. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 17) (CLEAN SINGING EDITION): ULVER, ENSLAVED, FLESHKILLER, AMENRA, SPIRIT ADRIFT, FVNERAL FVKK

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  6 Responses »
Jan 302018
 

 

We’re coming down to the wire, and I’m in a frantic state of mind. I’ve now firmly decided to end this list on January 31, but I realized this morning that January 31 IS TOMORROW!!!

I spent hours yesterday afternoon and last night listening to many of the remaining candidates for the list, and reached the conclusion that I have to double-down on these posts. In other words, there will be two installments of this list today and two more tomorrow, and each one is going to include a lot of songs.

This one, as forecast by the title of the post, is devoted to Exceptions to Our Rule (the one in the site’s title). I’ve done this before in previous years, and have already named a few songs to the list this year that include clean vocals. There are some beautiful voices in this post, and a lot of highly addictive music as well (of course). Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 16): EVOKE THY LORDS, PÁRODOS, CHRCH, PLANET EATER, PALMER

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  6 Responses »
Jan 292018
 

 

I’m continuing to stack these installments of the list pretty deep, in an effort to prevent the onset of depression when I have to stop it. However, I’m confident I’ll be depressed and frustrated anyway, because I’ll still be forced to leave a lot of great 2017 songs on the cutting-room floor when I do stop.

Today you’ll again notice some stylistic connections among the songs I’ve packaged together, and because of that I again think I’ve compiled a grouping that makes for a nice, stand-alone playlist.

EVOKE THY LORDS

The first song in this collection is another rare example of a long-form track that I think is immensely infectious despite its significant length. It hooked me the first time I heard it, and I’m still hooked. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (BY DGR): ROTTING CHRIST, HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY, PSYCHOTIC PULSE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 292018
 

 

(DGR presents the following round-up of new music.)

 

My last appearance with a news roundup was, admittedly, a little ridiculous. I will say, however, that I was not initially aware it had gotten so huge as I just kept adding things that I had noticed we had missed in my vain effort to cover everything I thought the NCS crowd might be interested in.

The nice thing about that method, though, is that the act of doing so with such a large dragnet, combined with the massive three-part Shades Of Black post that went up shortly after, means that we’re able to keep this roundup small, covering just three groups that barely missed the bus when those posts went up. One in particular was released right after the post that was perfect for it went up.

So, we return once again to do a little globe-trotting, skirting around the edges of heavy metal and talking about three more newly released songs that have popped up over the past week and a half. Continue reading »

ION: “A PATH UNKNOWN”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Jan 292018
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the California band Ion, which is now available on Bandcamp.)

 

To say that I have been anticipating the release of this particular album would be a rather glaring understatement. The band’s self-titled debut was so good that I declared it to be my number one album of 2014, and while things have been relatively quiet for the Californian triptych since then (barring a series of irregular live appearances), its manifold metallic delights have remained in steady rotation ever since.

You can therefore possibly imagine my shock to find that their sophomore album, A Path Unknown, was released suddenly and without fanfare on Bandcamp yesterday. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ULVEGR — “VARGKULT”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jan 292018
 

 

Today we present the full streaming premiere of Vargkult, the fifth album by the Ukrainian band Ulvegr, in advance of its January 30 release by Ashen Dominion. It follows quickly on the heels of 2017’s Titahion: Kaos Manifest, which we also premiered last April. But this album is a different beast from the last one, a relentless, incinerating assault that never pauses to take prisoners.

For those who may be newcomers to Ulvegr, the band’s two steadfast members are Helg (songwriting, vocals, guitar, bass) and Odalv (drums). Both of them are members of Kzohh, Ygg, and Runes of Dianceht, and Helg is also a member of Khors, while Odalv has also contributed his talents to Twilightfall and Elderblood. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: NEOLITHIC AND MARTYRDÖD (A SPLIT)

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jan 292018
 

 

(Todd Manning wrote this review of the new split by Baltimore’s Neolithic and the Swedish band Martydöd, set for release on February 15 by Deep Six Records.)

 

Does anyone want to burn down a city to kick off the new year? If so, the new split between Neolithic and Martyrdöd should provide the perfect soundtrack to the chaos. This is a short record, but goddamn if it isn’t raging. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 15): TAAKE, ULVEGR, SELBST, NOVA, AU CHAMP DES MORTS

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  9 Responses »
Jan 282018
 

 

My NCS time has been constricted by other activities this weekend, so I won’t have time to prepare the usual Sunday SHADES OF BLACK column, but to (sort of) make up for that I did decide to focus on black metal in this 15th Part of my Most Infectious Song list. And I also decided to pack five songs into this installment rather than the usual smaller number.

Hope you enjoy these choices, especially because it was so tough for me to pick just one song from each of the albums released by these bands last year. I think they make a pretty damned powerful playlist.

TAAKE

I delivered an impulsive though compact review of Kong Vinter very soon after listening to it for the first time, and proclaimed it one of my favorite albums of 2017. My impression now, two months later, is that it was under-appreciated in the froth of year-end lists, perhaps because it came out so late in the year and was preceded by the release of only one single (“Inntrenger”). Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 14): MAZE OF TERROR, UNDERGANG, ORDER OV RIVEN CATHEDRALS

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  5 Responses »
Jan 272018
 

 

It’s a shitty situation. Here I am, posting more of this list on a Saturday, the weakest day of the week, measured by how may eyes alight on our site. But I’m doing my best to finish this list by February.

Still, the three songs here deserve a fireworks display more grand than what our Saturday traffic usually provides. Life isn’t fair, and it’s too damned short and miserable, too.

MAZE OF TERROR

I read through my list of candidates for this series every day, because I’m still trying to figure out what to include. When I come to this one, I see 10 asterisk marks next to it. I have a vague memory that I was trying to tell myself many months ago, “Your mind is a sieve, it loses important things every day, but don’t forget this one, you fractured motherfucker, this one you FUCKING HAVE TO REMEMBER.” And so I have. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: FEEDING — “IN HELL”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Jan 262018
 

 

This music is meaner than a junkyard dog, crazier than a shit-house rat, as grim as a lung cancer diagnosis, as brutal as a crowbar to the back of the neck. It screams murder, and then delivers. It’s a good thing it’s an EP; a full album might put listeners in the hospital.

I’m referring to In Hell, by a band of marauders from Edmonton, Alberta, who call themselves Feeding. The EP will be released on February 2nd, shortly before the band go out on tour, but we have a full stream for you today. Continue reading »

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