SHOW REVIEW: EMPLOYED TO SERVE (AND SVALBARD) – NOTTINGHAM, NOVEMBER 9, 2017

 Concert Reviews  1 Response »
Nov 102017
 


Employed To Serve

 

(Andy Synn prepared this review of the performances by Employed To Serve and Svalbard in Nottingham, England, on November 9, 2017.)

I’m not sure whether it’s due to my increasing age, or the regular quantities of alcohol which I consume, but for some reason I was certain – 110% certain – that we’d already covered Employed to Serve and their flabbergastingly good second album, The Warmth of a Dying Sun, here at NCS earlier this year.

So you can imagine my surprise when, as I was gearing up for this show, I discovered that we haven’t written a single word about the band all year!

For shame.

Still, at least I have a chance now to redress the balance somewhat. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RIMFROST — “A CLASH UNDER THE NORTHERN WIND”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Nov 102017
 

 

Last year the Swedish black metal band Rimfrost released their self-titled third album, which itself came seven years after their second one, Veraldar Nagli. But it appears we won’t have to wait such a long stretch of time for the next Rimfrost full-length. They are working on it now, and in fact today we present a substantial new single from the next album named “A Clash Under the Northern Wind“, which will be released on all major digital platforms by Non Serviam Records, including Bandcamp, on November 11.

Rimfrost explain that the new single “is a taste of what will dawn on everyone after the bands latest release”, and that the song is “dedicated to the Swedish county Värmland, and in particular our hometown Hagfors, where the band formed and founding members grew up”. “It is a celebration to the history and the dark mystic forces embracing the nature and its own being.” Continue reading »

NORDIC GIANTS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News  No Responses »
Nov 102017
 

 

(Andy Synn wrote this feature about the masked UK duo Nordic Giants.)

The following article is less of a review and more of a… recommendation that you check out the band Nordic Giants, whom I recently discovered at this year’s edition of Damnation Festival (yes, I realise I’m late to the party on this, but that’s the joy of festivals, you can stumble upon something entirely new and wonderful completely by accident).

Now, a word of warning – though the majority of their songs are instrumental, the duo also make use of guest vocalists now and then, so there is some (utterly sublime) clean singing involved in a number of their tracks.

As a matter of fact, the band in general are a walking (but not talking) exception to our general rule, in that they’re not actually a Metal band at all, but I can definitely see their particular brand of dynamic, cinematic Post Rock appealing to fans of everyone from Junius and Sólstafir to Sigur Ros and latter-day Ulver. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: FUNERAL HEARSE — “THE FIST, THE SPIT, THE SWORD”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Nov 092017
 

 

In the space of a compact, three-song EP of less than 13 minutes, the Singaporean band Funeral Hearse create a dramatic, unearthly, soul-shivering experience — a black metal furnace of fury, terror, and desolating delirium, laced with solemn ecclesiastical chants and choirs that seem to represent the target of the assault.

This new EP, The Fist. The Spit. The Sword., will be released on November 10 (tomorrow!) by Redefining Darkness Records, both digitally and on tape, but you can (and should) listen to it right now, at the end of this post. Continue reading »

UNDERKRIPT: “SUFFERANCE AND SORROW”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 092017
 

 

(Here’s TheMadIsraeli’s review of the debut album by the UK band Underkript, which was released yesterday.)

The Brits had a mini scene explode for a short period of time a few years back; a combination of progressive thrash metal, melodic death metal, and various metallic hardcore elements came into play. Sylosis is the most notable name in this movement, and they’ve been the best at it. At least until now.

Underkript are an impressive rookie band hailing from Hull, UK, who label themselves somewhat incorrectly if you ask me. While touting a melodic death metal label, Underkript play more a brand of technical progressive thrash metal with a good bit of New York Hardcore and modern extreme metal sensibilities. The songs are pretty lengthy, the riffs are relentless, the vocals are scalding with angst and militancy, the melodies stoic and somber, the drums like inter-dimensional artillery fire. Underkript have got the “it”factor, if you ask me. Sufferance and Sorrow is the name of the band’s debut. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SOL DE SANGRE — “PERROS CON SARNA”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 092017
 

 

Today we get to divulge a lyric video for the third single released so far this year by Sol De Sangre, the name of which is “Perros Con Sarna“. The first single hooked me straight through the gills, the second one drove the hook deeper, and this third one shoved the hook straight up into my brain pan and made mincemeat out of the small squirming organ that lives there. Despite the brain damage, I will nevertheless attempt to string together some words about the experience.

But first, let me remind you that all three of these singles are destined to appear on the band’s first album, which is projected for release early next year. Although this will be a debut record for the band, its members aren’t newcomers to the metal scene, all of them having honed their lethal skills in other South American bands over a span of decades. And what the album represents is a kind of tribute to the evil death metal they grew up with, along with other aggressive influences that include hardcore and thrash. Continue reading »

HIDEOUS REBIRTH: “LA FOSA COMUN”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Nov 092017
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio’s review of the new second album by the California death metal band Hideous Rebirth.)

As I was looking at Bandcamp for new music, I decided to check out Gore House Productions (a label in Los Angeles, California) and saw that Hideous Rebirth were about to release a new album entitled La Fosa Comun. At first I was a little bit hesitant, because I’d only heard one or two earlier songs by the band, and they were just ok for me. Despite that, I pushed play and was surprised at how different the music sounded on the new track from the album that was then available.

Then they released a new song, “Haunting Carnal Illusions”, featuring the talented Mr. Frank Zelada (Ossification), which premiered here at NCS. This impressed me as well, and the production of both this and the previous track enhanced the songs’ appeal.

Yet I still did not place an order then. Time passed, the release date arrived, and I proceeded to give it a listen (keep in mind that I was not that familiar with their previous EP and album, having only heard a couple of songs), and after one listen, I decided to order it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THREE EYES OF THE VOID — “THE EYES TO SEE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 092017
 

 

Three Eyes of the Void is a new Ukrainian black metal band, the solo project of Dmytro Kvashnin (ex-Balfor), and The Moment of Storm is the project’s first EP. It will be released in December on digital platforms, and on February 23 it will be released on CD by the Mexican label Diabolus Productions. It includes session drumming by Kyiv musician Alexander Kasiarum.

We are told that The Moment of Storm grew out of  Dmytro Kvashnin’s conversation with a friend about the increasingly frivolous interactions among people in the global social environment and the resulting loss of self-identification and individuality. Kvashnin also drew upon such works as Nietzsche’s Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits and Plato’s Republic in formulating the lyrical expressions of these reflections.

Not exactly standard conceptual or lyrical fare for black metal, but these inspirations have produced remarkably vibrant and emotionally involving music, as you’re about to discover through our premiere of this song from the EP:  “The Eyes To See“. Continue reading »

ALL PIGS MUST DIE: “HOSTAGE ANIMAL”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Nov 092017
 

 

(This is Todd Manning’s review of the new album by All Pigs Must Die, which was recently released by Southern Lord.)

Anyone who claims that Hardcore is incapable of reaching the levels of extremity produced by Metal obviously hasn’t heard All Pigs Must Die and in particular their latest full-length Hostage Animal. Make no mistake, the lines between Metal and Hardcore are becoming ever more blurry, but the roots of this album are unmistakable. Hostage Animal is born of pure Punk fury.

With a line-up boasting luminaries from such other outfits as Converge, Trap Them, and The Hope Conspiracy, All Pigs Must Die deftly combine an overwhelming sense of visceral violence with songwriting chops that successfully walk the tightrope between chaos and focused execution. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NO AMNESTY — “PSYCHOPATHY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Nov 082017
 

 

Psychopathy is the debut album of the Barcelona band No Amnesty. It will be released on November 14th by Xtreem Music — and it’s an explosive metal fireworks display, one that just gets more and more eye-popping the deeper in you go.

We’re told that when the band formed in 2012 the average age of the members was 15, and now it’s 20 — other than the “old man” of the group, new vocalist Albert (ex-Fuck Off), who is 30. (Since the band’s 2013 debut EP, A New Order For Attack, they’ve also recruited a new drummer and a new bassist.) But their relative youthfulness is part of what makes the album so surprising, because it really sounds like the work of far more experienced hands. Continue reading »

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