AN NCS PREMIERE (PRESENTED BY NEILL JAMESON): A SPLIT RELEASE BY VVEGAS AND LONG GONE

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 132017
 

 

(Neill Jameson (Krieg) brings us the streaming premiere of a new split release by two excellent bands — VVegas and Long Gone — together with an interview of the mysterious figure behind VVegas.)

Since the first time I was asked to write anything for No Clean Singing I’ve sung the praises of the enigmatic VVegas. I originally discovered this complex and, at times, downright fucking strange, beast through the split with Integrity and since then I’ve been a devotee. Mixing Holy Terror-infused dark hardcore with noise, neofolk, and some pieces which defy classification, VVegas is as prolific in sound as in their releases, which span across every imaginable format and can be somewhat frustrating to keep up with due to obscurity and limitation if you’re a physical collector. If not, then the VVegas Bandcamp site is a treasure trove.

Earlier this year, VV. released a split with the excellent Broken Cross (another band I’ve written about for NCS somewhat recently), but not one to let any moss grow there is also another split coming July 29th via Judas Chair Collective, this time with Long Gone. I asked VV.’s mastermind T. some questions regarding the split, which we present to you in full to accompany the conversation: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SUN OF THE SLEEPLESS — “THE OWL”

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Jul 132017
 

 

Markus Stock (aka Schwadorf) is best known as the creative force behind two prominent groups in the stable of Prophecy Productions, Empyrium and The Vision Bleak, as well as the band Ewigheim. But as long ago as 1998 he also began work on a solo project known as Sun of the Sleepless.

Schwadorf’s releases under that name have been sporadic — two EPs in 1999 and 2000, a 7” released in 2000 named Tausend Kalte Winter (which featured a trip-hop cover of Darkthrone’s “En As I Dype Skogen”), and a 2004 split with Nachtmahr. But now, almost two decades after the project began, Sun of the Sleepless will at last release a debut album through the same Prophecy Productions. Entitled To the Elements and featuring poetic lyrics inspired by great romantic writers across the ages, it’s set to arrive on July 21.

One fine track from the album (“Motions“) has premiered at Invisible Oranges, and now we bring you another one, a song named “The Owl“. Continue reading »

FROM THE HELLMOUTH AND MUTILATRED ANNOUNCE A NEW SPLIT

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Jul 132017
 

 

The Ohio bands From the Hellmouth (Cleveland) and Mutilatred (Toledo) are two slaughtering death metal groups whose music we’ve praised before at our putrid site. In 2015 we reviewed and premiered a full stream of From the Hellmouth’s self-titled debut EP, and that same year we reviewed and premiered Mutilatred’s debut album, Dissecting Your Future. And now both bands have re-surfaced with a new split release that will be detonated on limited-edition tape (and digitally through Bandcamp) by Redefining Darkness Records and Seeing Red Records on August 4.

To help spread the word, we’re hosting the premiere of a video teaser. And although it’s only one minute long, it’s a very delectable taste of the obliterating monstrosities that both bands dish out. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GODHUNTER, DRUDKH, KHMER, FVNERAL FVKK

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jul 122017
 

 

I’m showing rare restraint in this round-up. Rather than try to stuff 8-10 new things into one bulging post, which my gluttonous self has a habit of doing, this time I’ve just picked four new things. Following this new, but probably short-lived, format, my plan is to scatter more of these shorter round-ups over the remaining days of this week, too.

GODHUNTER

Back in May we had the pleasure of premiering an unusual song named “Cocaine Witches & Lysergic Dreams” off the band’s new EP, Codex Narco, which has now been released. The whole EP is as hard to pin down as the song we premiered, and that’s one of its many attractions — the creative and unexpected splicing together of disparate musical elements, along with the strong emotional force of the songs, is a big part of what makes Codex Narco stand out.

One of the tracks on the EP is a cover song, Godhunter’s take on “Walking With A Ghost“, which was originally recorded by Tegan & Sara. I also mentioned that the song would eventually become the subject of a music video made by Mitch Wells from Thou, and that video was finally released yesterday. It’s the first item in this collection. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLOODLUST — “FREAK OF THE NIGHT”

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Jul 122017
 

 

I remember nearly falling out of my chair (or more accurately being thrown out of it) when I heard the title track to Bloodlust’s new album in early June. It was a virally infectious, bestially ferocious, volcanically hot blast of blackened thrash, with the kind of riffs that seemed written to become instant classics, and the kind of soloing that seemed capable of turning lead ingots into slag. “At the Devil’s Left Hand” was the name of that track, and of course the name of this new second album as well.

Well, now we have the chance to bring you another track from that album in advance of its release by Caverna Abismal on August 24, and this one is called “Freak of the Night“. I thought it would be a heavy lift for Bloodlust to top the title track, but I do believe they have. Continue reading »

TIMEWORN: “VENOMOUS HIGH”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 122017
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn’s glowing review of the new second album by the Norwegian band Timeworn.)

 

Do you ever feel like Mastodon have gone too mainstream?

That The Ocean (Collective) were better before they got lost up their own prog-hole?

That Burst were the best band no-one’s ever heard of?

Well then, do I have an album for you! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TIDES OF KHARON — “COINS UPON OUR EYES”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 122017
 

 

And we have another winner! Another wickedly rendered and eye-catching piece of cover art (this time by Indonesian graphic artist Dann Perdana) luring us into the sounds of new metal, like the creepy guy on the edge of the playground with an unhealthy hunger in his eyes, offering candy to the kids. Or something like that. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best metaphor I could have picked.

Anyway, I really like the cover art. I really like the song we’re premiering, too. It’s the title track to Coins Upon Our Eyes, the debut EP by a melodic death metal band from Edmonton, Alberta, named Tides of Kharon, which will be released on July 21st.

As the EP’s title might suggest to you, if you’re familiar with tales of the boatman on the river Styx who ferries the dead to the underworld, the songs all draw upon themes from ancient Greek mythology, including (in the band’s words) “the rape of Medusa, Orpheus’ quest to bring back his dead wife, and an unending battle involving the sons of the god of war, Ares”. And so, in addition to the appeal of the EP’s cover art, Coins Upon Our Eyes is also lyrically interesting.

Here’s an excerpt from the lyrics to the title track you’re about to hear: Continue reading »

LIMBONIC ART: “SPECTRE ABYSM”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 122017
 

 

(Norway-based NCS contributor Karina Noctum usually brings us interviews, but this time it’s a review — of the eighth Limbonic Art album, the first one in seven years.)

Limbonic Art is a Norwegian Black Metal band formed in 1993 that blends melody with the melancholic pace and ambient elements of Funeral Doom. It is now the solo project of Daemon (Zyklon) project, and one of my favorite one-man bands.

I discovered Limbonic Art 15 years ago. I was drawn to the cover of Moon in the Scorpio, a beautiful artwork, at the music store and ever since then I’ve been following every new release. I like the fact that it is melodic but not the kind of annoying melodic that wears you off.

Every release has a distinct nature that keeps it interesting, from the devastating, relentless, tight, and fast-paced music of Ad Noctum – Dynasty of Death to the more experimental and varied sound and ambience of In Abhorrent Dementia. Every album is different and yet each one carries the Limbonic Art mark.

Their latest album Spectre Abysm is perhaps one of the albums that remind me the most of the band’s first album, Moon in the Scorpio. The grandiose dark and ritualistic ambience of the early days is combined with excellent guitar and bass work and awesome layered vocals, all firmly framed in the Norwegian BM style. Continue reading »

SELBST: “SELBST”

 Album Reviews  17 Responses »
Jul 112017
 

 

Yesterday the two-man black metal band Selbst, originally from Venezuela and now based in Chile, released their self-titled debut album through Sun & Moon Records. This follows the band’s striking 2015 EP, An Ominous Landscape, which I briefly reviewed here. The new album is a substantial work, nearly 48 minutes long, and it confirms the considerable promise of the band’s previous shorter releases. More than that, it’s a gleaming ice-blue nova in the midnight vault of 2017 black metal.

Augmented by a spectacularly powerful production, the music is titanically heavy, potent enough to rumble your core, with many of the elaborately textured sounds reverberating as if recorded in a quartzite cavern (because the music shines as well as thunders) — from the spine-rattling drumwork to the penetrating, otherworldly guitar melodies that shimmer, swirl, and soar through blanketing storms of abrasion.

But it’s the kind of album that immaculately marries atmosphere to explosive physicality, and it also achieves a rare, knife-edge balance between the ensnaring repetition of gripping patterns and the head-spinning intricacy of progressive flourishes. The songs are in near-constant motion, in the sense of movement between differing shades of darkness, different tempos, moments of unsettling calm and terrible conflict. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GREY AURA — “1: GELIGE, TRAUMATISCHE ZIELSVERRUKKING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jul 112017
 

 

We all have our metal comfort food, the genres we go to even when the performers aren’t doing anything too different from what’s been done for decades. And to be sure, a band doesn’t have to break any molds, or even chip them, to be worth hearing. Yet to varying degrees, we all have our antenna up for something that does break molds, but doesn’t simply leave you with a pile of shards, as if to proclaim nothing more than, “You see? We can break things!”

The demo you’re about to hear is indeed something that sounds very different from anything you’re probably accustomed to, and its ambitions go beyond the music itself. The explanation will take a few paragraphs, but I encourage you not to skip past them, because it’s a story that will explain and deepen the appreciation for what you’re about to hear.

And what you’re about to hear is 1: Gelige, traumatische zielsverrukking by the Dutch “post-black metal” band Grey Aura, along with the spoken recital of the first chapters of a book, in advance of its Bandcamp release tomorrow (July 12). Continue reading »

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