AN NCS PREMIERE: WAR POSSESSION — “WAR IS THE FATHER AND KING OF ALL”

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Sep 182017
 

 

“War Is the Father and King of All” — so proclaims the Greek death metal band War Possession in the song we’re premiering today. Look around you, look into the sordid past of our species. We might wish it were otherwise, but it’s hard to argue with them. It’s also hard to argue with the visceral appeal of their music.

This new song is one of 10 tracks on Doomed To Chaos, the debut album of this band of slaughtering commandos, whose ranks include current and past members of Embrace of Thorns, Merciless Crucifixion, and Wargoat, among others. The album will be released on October 23 by the Spanish label Memento Mori. Continue reading »

AN NCS DOUBLE PREMIERE: SATANATH (“VIGTIO”) AND WE HATE YOU TOO (“RELICS OF RESTLESSNESS”)

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Sep 182017
 

 

This is a rarity — a combination of two track premieres from two separate albums, one by Satanath and one by We Hate You Too. There is a connection between them, but only because the same label is involved in the two album releases. But the idea of combining them was my own.

The idea occurred to me because both tracks (and albums) represent a divergence from the kind of extreme metal that’s our usual meat and potatoes around here. But I found both tracks very intriguing, and thought you might enjoy the change of pace that each of them represents.

SATANATH: VIGTIO

Satanath is a Russian solo project devoted to a style of dark “space ambient” music. The creator behind the project is Aleksey Korolyov, who is also the label boss at Satanath Records as well as the man behind Abigorum. The new Satanath album is named Your Personal Copy and consists of 20 tracks and nearly 80 minutes of music. It will be co-released by the Belarusian label Grimm Distribution and Craneo Negro Records (Mexico). The track we’re presenting is “Vigtio“. Continue reading »

DEATH BY FESTIVAL: HURRICANE HARVEY RELIEF EVENT

 Metal News  No Responses »
Sep 182017
 

 

(We welcome Lonegoat, the creator behind the necroclassical project Goatcraft, who is helping spread the word about a forthcoming Texas music and movie event where all of the proceeds will be donated to assist in the relief of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation.)

Hurricane Harvey devastated the Texas gulf region which led to at least 71 confirmed deaths, and over 100 billion dollars worth of damage. It’s the first time in twelve years a storm of this magnitude has made landfall in the US. Houston had flooding of biblical proportions which ripped many people away from their lives. Many Texans and companies are donating money to help with the relief efforts, but who knows how long it’ll be until normalcy returns. Some others, like David Vincent, ventured to the affected areas to lend a vital helping hand.

In the wake of Harvey, Austin’s inaugural Death By Festival, which is produced and organized by Nic Brown and Susie Winfield, has decided to donate all of the proceeds from the festival to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. It’s excellent that even the entertainment portion of Texas society comes together for those who stand in need of benefaction. Continue reading »

ARCHSPIRE: “RELENTLESS MUTATION”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Sep 182017
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Vancouver’s Archspire.)

If you’re even vaguely aware of the comings and goings of the modern Tech Death scene, then chances are you’ll have heard the names Archspire and The Lucid Collective (the band’s 2014 album) before now.

Famous (or perhaps infamous) for their shameless dedication to ludicrous speed, as well as their ability to change direction faster than a TRON light-cycle (ask your parents…), the band are (rightly) held up as an example of Technical Death Metal at its most outrageously and enjoyably OTT, with everything (and I do mean everything) turned up well past 11.

There are those, however, who believe that the Canadian quintet’s addiction to excessive velocity is a flagrant example of style over substance, and that the spitfire vocals of motormouth mic-slinger Oli Peters, impressive though they might be, are little more than a gimmick designed to disguise the group’s lack of finesse in the songwriting department.

Well, it appears that the band must have taken some of these criticisms under advisement when putting together their new album, as this is one area in particular where Relentless Mutation improves upon its predecessor in leaps and bounds. Continue reading »

CHELSEA WOLFE: “HISS SPUN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  1 Response »
Sep 182017
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Chelsea Wolfe, which will be released by Sargent House on September 22.)

With a Burzum cover early in her career Chelsea Wolfe gained a solid following in the metal community. Her brand of gloomy folk rock was dark enough to keep them listening. Gradually this darkness grew denser and began to cross over into a more metal-influenced sound on Abyss. Her newest album takes it even a step further into metal.

On her last album the bass was fuzzed enough to give it a doom-like heft. Now the guitar is assuming a more metallic role. Production-wise, this recalls her older work, in the sense that her voice is mixed with ghostly effects against the guitar. Tempo-wise, it is very much in a doom/sludge direction.

“16 Psyche” finds the guitars kicking the door down, then backing off for her to sing, then it comes back around to the verses. “Vex” summons up more intensity in the drive of the song and finds Aaron Turner’s growled vocals coming into the background toward the end of the song. Continue reading »

CONTRASTS: SAND WITCH, OSI AND THE JUPITER, HRVST, EINVIGI, BENEATH THE SOD

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Sep 182017
 

 

I had a busier than usual weekend that left me little time for NCS, and so I wasn’t able to compile a SHADES OF BLACK post yesterday. I did spend some time here and there exploring new music, and it occurred to me that the collection you’re about to hear would make for an interesting playlist to start the week.

I don’t know whether you will find this as interesting as I did, but I chose these songs and the order in which you’ll hear them in order to juxtapose very different sounds, alternating between extremely heavy, harrowing music and music whose emotional effect is more sublime, or more uplifting. (Thanks to Miloš for links that led to most of these discoveries.)

SAND WITCH

I chose to lead off with the Vancouver sludge/funeral-doom band Sand Witch, because the first song from their new demo (“The Cushion of Roosevelt’s Wheelchair“) itself provides a dramatic contrast that kind of encapsulates what I tried to do in arranging everything in this post. It moves from a slow, reverberating, elegiac guitar instrumental that’s beautiful and mesmerizing… to a shockingly heavy and abrasive apocalypse of sound, also slow, but soul-shuddering in its brute intensity. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SOLFERNUS — “NEOANTICHRIST”

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Sep 172017
 

 

Moravia in the eastern part of the Czech Republic is home to the black metal band Solfernus, whose first recording dates back to 2003 EP Diabolic Phenomenon, followed by a debut album two years later (2005’s Hysteria In Coma). Plans were hatched for a second album, but delays were encountered. The band’s original drummer Coroner left to become a founder of Cult of Fire, and guitarist Igor continued on with his main band Root (and as you may know, we are great fans of both of those groups).

But now, a dozen years after the last album, Solfernus are returning with a new full-length named Neoantichrist, which was produced by the band’s new drummer Paul Dread (also a member of Root). The album will be co-released on October 13 by Satanath Records (Russia) and Murdher Records (Italy) — and today we present the premiere of the new album’s title track through a lyric video. Continue reading »

A DIRTY DOZEN

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Sep 162017
 

 

(Andy Synn is playing catch-up in a furious torrent, with brief reviews and streams of music from 12 striking 2017 albums.  Open wide… dine like queens and kings.)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again (and again)… the vast array of music now available at the touch of a button is both a blessing and a curse, depending on how you look at it.

And while I generally celebrate the fact that I’m now able to search out and discover music from all around the world with an ease that’s quite mind-boggling when you think about it, the sheer plethora of albums clamouring for my attention means there’s simply not enough hours in the day to give them all the attention they deserve.

As a consequence of this, my “to do” list has swollen to a frankly rather distressing size over the last 4-5 months, so I’ve made an executive decision to clear my slate a little bit by pulling together twelve albums, which we’ve thus far failed to cover properly here at NCS, into one collective round-up.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it, shall we? Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MERIDIUS — “SEALED IN BLOOD”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  2 Responses »
Sep 152017
 

 

What a great piece of cover art that is! It catches the eye and holds it. And it turns out that the music behind the artwork catches the ears and holds them, too. And for that matter, it has its way with your entire autonomic nervous system… as I’ll explain momentarily.

That cover art (by Cesar Adrian at Soulasphyx Arts) adorns Sealed In Blood, the debut album by the Vancouver, BC band Meridius, which is being released today on a pay-what-you-want basis via Bandcamp. It includes 10 tracks and almost 50 minutes of music, and it’s one hell of an electrifying rush. Continue reading »

A DUAL PREMIERE: ONE MASTER (“STORMDIVISION”) AND NINSURHAG (“UVA URSA”)

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Sep 152017
 

 

September 22nd is the first day of the Red River Family Festival in Austin, Texas, a three-day event that features an amazing array of bands (which you can check out here) — one of which is One Master from the northeastern United States. Timed to coincide with the commencement of the festival, Eternal Death and Red River Family Records will jointly be releasing a new split (digitally and on cassette tape) by One Master and the mysterious Ninhursag, whose domicile is The Sacred Mountain. Today we bring you a dual premiere — one song from the split by each band.

Sometimes split releases represent alliances between like-minded and like-sounding bands. And sometimes the music of the participants is distinctly different from each other, with the connection to be found in less obvious affinities. This split is in the latter category. Continue reading »

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