KUNSTZONE: “CREATURE OF SINEWS AND LARD”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Dec 062017
 

 

(Here’s DGR’s review of the new EP by Kunstzone.)

Kunstzone, the hybrid industrial death metal project of musicans Alex Rise of Tyrant Of Death and Psychotic Pulse and Khaozone’s Candy, is a group that we — mostly me, though I’m sure I’ve fooled Islander into writing at least one blurb about them — have been banging the drum about for a little while now.

The group, a fusion of the two musicians’ love of all things abrasively electronic, alongside a wall-of-sound production style on the guitars and drums, has had the band veering closer and closer to Anaal Nathrakh territory than most groups. They have a handful of releases to their name, among them the full releases Eschaton Discipline and The Art Of Making The Earth Uninhabitable. While the artists behind Kunstzone have been more than happy to hide themselves behind a joking veneer of being Star Trek: TNG crew members, the music released can be described as anything but fun. Continue reading »

ADIMIRON: “ET LIBER ERIS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 062017
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the Italian band Adimiron, released just last month by Indie Recordings.)

Let me tell you, I had to think long and hard about this review. Not so much because of the album itself (which is, spoiler alert, absolutely brilliant) but because this is likely to be my last review before beginning my annual End of Year Liststravaganza (although you’ll be pleased to know it’s not going to be my last review of the year, as I already have several pieces pencilled in for the second half of December).

The big question was – did I want to go with something new, or something slightly older which we hadn’t had a chance to feature yet? After all, with List Season about to kick into high gear here at NCS, there’s an argument that since we’re about to give a lot of coverage to a lot of different records, the issue of who specifically to focus on has a bit more weight behind it than usual.

And so while this particular album didn’t quite make the cut for either my Critical or Personal Top Ten lists (stay tuned for those next week) it’s honestly so good that I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I didn’t take this opportunity to give it the attention it so richly deserves. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2017: REVOLVER’S LIST OF THE 20 BEST ALBUMS OF 2017

 LISTMANIA 2017  12 Responses »
Dec 062017
 

photograph by Fred Pessaro

 

If you happen to be stumbling in here for the first time, I’ll repeat that as part of our LISTMANIA 2017 series, we re-post lists of the year’s best metal that appear in a few selected print zines and on web sites with large cross-genre music audiences.  Today, as in previous years, we’re sharing a list of the “20 Best Albums of 2017” that Revolver magazine published yesterday.

Revolver has undergone a change of ownership since last year’s list, and is now owned by Project M Group LLC. Revolver bills itself as the “Biggest hard-rock and metal magazine in North America”, with a “3x larger subscriber base than next U.S. metal print publication”, and a substantial social media presence  “with over 1B impressions per month across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter”. Continue reading »

AETHERIAN: “THE UNTAMED WILDERNESS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Dec 052017
 

 

(DGR reviews the debut album by the Greek band Aetherian.)

The genre-realm that skirts the line between doom and melodic death metal is one that has become increasingly crowded over the years, especially as some of the more long-running groups have rocketed up in popularity. The line between the two blurs constantly, and the bands that walk that path have developed into a very recognizable genre grouping in their own right, with bands like Insomnium having quickly moving to the forefront.

The pacing of most of these bands firmly plants them within the melo-death realm, and Greece’s Aetherian with their debut album, The Untamed Wilderness, don’t stray too far from it. Continue reading »

DADABOTS: “CODITANY OF TIMENESS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Dec 042017
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of an unusual new release composed and performed by… well, you’ll find out.)

Over the weekend some of you may have seen, although doubtless many of you didn’t, a story popping up here and there about an AI algorithm writing a “mindblowing” Black Metal (or Death Metal… the reporting is, as you might expect, a little muddled in this regard) album called Coditany of Timeness.

And while, from a purely musical perspective, Coditany… is really more of an EP than an album, and unlikely to be bothering anyone’s End of Year list, from a scientific standpoint it’s still a fascinating experiment in machine-learning and creativity, and one which I felt deserved some coverage here at NCS. Continue reading »

ONE AT A TIME: COMMUNION (“WITCHING THRUST”)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 032017
 

 

As I’ve mentioned more than once, I’m leaving the country today on a 12-day vacation. I was able to write the two premieres posted earlier today, but ran out of time before I could put together a SHADES OF BLACK feature for this Sunday. As I’ve also mentioned, I made a pact with my wife that I will severely restrict my blogging during this trip. That’s my interpretation of the pact; hers is that I won’t blog at all. This is an ominous misunderstanding.

Before we began the negotiations that led to this pact, I had committed to write three premieres spread over the coming 12 days. I will keep those commitments. I also plan to format and post Andy Synn’s year-end lists, which traditionally kick off our staff’s contributions to LISTMANIA, and I further intend to keep my eye out for the appearance of year-end lists by certain print publications and “big platform” web sites that I usually include in our LISTMANIA series. And I have one more modest goal:

I’m going to attempt to briefly write about one, and only one, new release in order to avoid barrenness on days when we would otherwise have nothing new to post at NCS while I’m gone. It might be a single new song or as much as an entire new album. This post you’re now perusing is an example of that. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THE WEIR — “DETACHED”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 032017
 

 

Slightly more than two years ago we had the pleasure of premiering a crushing track from Calmness of Resolve, the very impressive second album by The Weir from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. And now we’re helping spread the word about the band’s new EP, Detached, which is being released today on tape and as a digital download on Bandcamp.

Calmness of Resolve was a staggering experience, projecting panoramic vistas of blasted landscapes and dragging the listener into deep sinkholes of congealing tar, casting spells of forlorn and heart-aching beauty but also rolling like a massive tank attack, and sometimes bringing down the house (and its foundations) in cataclysms of soul-crushing destructiveness. It was (and is) a sludge/doom powerhouse that should not be missed.

But with Detached, The Weir seem to be even more whole-heartedly committed to methodically beating their listeners into a slurry of fractured bone and jellied organs. It’s as heavy and despairing as anything you’re likely to find in this bleak winter season. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INHIBITIONS — “MY JOURNEY TO DEATH”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Dec 032017
 

 

The symphonic Greek black metal band Inhibitions was founded in 2008 and since then have released an initial demo, an EP, and two albums. Their third full-length, La Danse Macabre, is now set for release on January 13th by Satanath Records (Russia) and Ira Aeterna (Italy), and today we bring you the third single to be released from the album before its full manifestation next month. The name of the track is “My Journey To Death“.

I had heard the phrase “Danse Macabre” numerous times in the past, but it occurred to me in writing this premiere that I had forgotten whatever I once knew about its origins. Thanks to The Font of All Human Knowledge, I am now reminded that “The Danse Macabre (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death , is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death: no matter one’s station in life, the Dance Macabre unites all”. And so it does. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: INQUISITOR, GODLESS ANGEL, DEMONSTEALER, GHOSTBOUND, LENTO

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Dec 022017
 

 

We’re rushing toward the end of the year like an out-of-control car speeding toward a precipice. And I find myself getting a similar panicked feeling, as if it will be a world-ending event for a metal writer and I only have four weeks to finish spouting off about 2017 releases, a task made even more daunting by the fact that I’m leaving on a 12-day vacation tomorrow (as explained here), and by the prospect of all the LISTMANIA stuff we will be doing between now and December 31 as well.

Of course, this is a completely irrational feeling. There’s no law which prevents us from continuing to write about 2017 releases after New Year’s Day, and no doubt we will. Nevertheless, I’m still feeling a feverish compulsion to give as much attention as I can to recent releases (and a few forthcoming ones) before “time runs out”. So I’ve crammed music from five bands into this post, without nearly enough time to say what I want about them, and I also have some hopes of finishing a SHADES OF BLACK post for tomorrow before beginning my 12-day hiatus. Don’t know if that will work out or not….

INQUISITOR

Thanks to a message from Conor O., and then a subsequent e-mail from the Dutch label Hammerheart Records, I learned that after a 22-year hiatus, Inquisitor have returned with a new album, and it’s an explosive resurrection for sure. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EVIL NERFAL — “FUCK OFF JESUS CHRIST”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Dec 022017
 

 

We’re now slightly more than three weeks away from Christmas, and really, what says Christmas better than a reverent ode named “Fuck Off Jesus Christ“?

No doubt this song will ring from the PA systems of churches near and far and quickly become part of the caroling playlist of shopping malls and elevators. People “in the know” say that the Bible-thumpers who control our own U.S. Congress are planning to make it part of the introduction to their prayer breakfasts. Humble pilgrims trekking to see the face of Jesus miraculously formed by a donkey’s puckered asshole will have it in their heads as they put one foot in front of the other toward the barnyard shrine.

Well, not really. But we can dream, can’t we?

“Fuck Off Jesus Christ” may not fill the air waves in churches, malls, or make-shift shrines to imagined miracles, but it’s a damned good song that will pleasure your earholes. It comes from an album named Bellum Est Pater Omnium by the Colombian black metal band Evil Nerfal, an album that will be jointly released on January 9 by GrimmDistribution (Belarus) and Morbid Skull Records (El Salvador). Continue reading »

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