CELESTE: “INFIDÈLE(S)”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 032017
 

 

(This is Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the French black metal band Celeste. The album was released on September 29 by Denovali Records.)

Whenever I write about an album I make a real effort to try and give it some sort of theme beyond the generic “this track is good, this track is fast, this track is slow” boilerplate which seems to make up so many of the homogenous and interchangeable reviews I read elsewhere.

For me it’s all about placing an album in context. Whether it’s talking about where an album sits in a band’s discography, how it compares to the rest of its genre, or the impact that line-up changes may (or may not) have had upon the writing, there are always ways to make a review more interesting to read (and to write).

Heck, in recent months I’ve used reviews to ruminate on the issue of “selling out” and the perception of Black Metal as a singular “monolith”, to ask questions about what it is that makes a band good/bad, and to rail against people who claim that there’s “just no good new music anymore.”

But even I’ll admit that sometimes it’s enough to just say “this album kicks ass” and leave it at that. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GUERRA TOTAL (GERSON TORO)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 032017
 

 

(Karina Noctum brings us this interview with Gerson “Demonslaught” Toro of the veteran Colombian black metal band Guerra Total, whose latest album Nihilistic Malthusian Manifesto (The Ouroboros Cosmic Indifferentism) was released early this year.)

Guerra Total means Total War in Spanish and it comes right from the country with the longest armed conflict in the world, Colombia. I decided it was time for me to interview a South American band because they do get limited publicity and deserve any kind of support one can give. Besides, I do know of many who appreciate the South American thrash sound and I think for many of them and all others who are into exploring new things it may be interesting to listen to some Blackened Thrash with a Colombian twist like the one Guerra Total offers.

When it comes to South America, Brazil is the country with the most successful, renowned metal bands. But for those who really like Brutal Death Metal, Colombia is the country to choose. The Brutal Death scene is kind of modern, taking into account that the country’s raw and violent metal sound can be traced back to the ’80s. Continue reading »

A MOMENT OF SILENCE

 Mosh Pit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Oct 032017
 

 

Anyone who pays any attention knows this:  Every day is filled with tragedy, somewhere. We go on here, as everyone else does, because what else are we to do?

I think at some genetically encoded level we know death as well as we know anything. We repress the experience, we fight it, but we know it in our marrow. And we go on with our lives anyway, even when death intrudes in some particularly horrific and incomprehensible way, because in an unthinking way we’re geared to survive.

Enjoyment of our survival is tinged with guilt on days like yesterday and today, as unreasoning as that is. Still, we forge on, because every living thing is driven to do so, even living things as self-destructive as we are, with our giant, toxic, and beautiful brains. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SACRILEGIOUS RITE — “NOCTURNAL BLOOD CONSECRATION”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 022017
 

 

The discography of the German black metal band Sacrilegious Rite begins with the release of a 2011 split with Ungod, and another split four years later with Bestial Holocaust, followed by their own three-song demo, Black Curses of Death (2015) and a three-way split with Dethroned and Goatblood the following year. Yet the band’s origins can be traced further back in time, to a group named Captis Damnare that was spawned in the late ’90s; the dissolution of that band led to the birth of this one. And now at last they have recorded a debut album named Summoned From Beyond that will be released on November 13 by Dunkelheit Produktionen.

Two songs from the album have appeared already — “Sacrilegious Rite” and “Deathstalker“. We have a third one for you today, this one named “Nocturnal Blood Consecration“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNDERSAVE — “PEACEFULLY FLOATING IN PROSPEROUS ABYSS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 022017
 

 

Fans of extreme metal know quite well that over time death metal has mutated and multiplied like a virus, and is now a vast ecosystem of aggressive life forms. Some are more disease-ridden, deranged, and destructive than others. Others have even managed to become beautiful as well as barbaric. The Portuguese band Undersave channel the cold, inhuman, voracious cruelty of death in their music — a terror beyond reason that can’t be stopped. Or at least that’s what I imagined as I listened to the song you’re about to hear.

Undersave have an out-of-the-ordinary way of naming their songs, This one, for example, is called “Peacefully Floating In Prosperous Abyss“. A previously released single from their new album is entitled “Press With Both Hands, Hold Your Breath and Collapse“. You’ll find the complete list of song titles below. The album, their second one, is named Sadistic Iterations…Tales of Mental Rearrangement. Continue reading »

AMENRA: “MASS VI”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 022017
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by the Belgian band Amenra, which will be released on October 20 by Neurot Recordings.)

Here is an album that reminds us distortion alone is only as heavy as the emotion being poured into the songs. This Belgium sludge band returns with another piece of despair. Gone is the Neurosis worship, which has been washed away from a more lush sound with thicker atmosphere. The emotional depth can be heard in anguished howls of the vocals. The layers of accompanying guitar have a droning sense of melody and carry an inner darkness.

The album opens with the brand of aggressive sludge you expect, with an almost hardcore-tinged anger. When this dies down the band float out into something more fragile and intimate with vocals sung in an almost androgynous Sigur Rós-like whisper, but then throw themselves back into the tormented screaming. One thing this album has going for it is the fact that the sung vocals are not used to create a MySpace Metal good cop/bad cop routine. Instead they build a dynamic in a less contrived fashion. Continue reading »

SOROR DOLOROSA: “APOLLO”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  1 Response »
Oct 022017
 

 

(Music writer Konstantin, who in past years has written for Serbia’s Nocturne Music Magazine, rejoins us with this review of the new album by the French band Soror Dolorosa, which was released by Prophecy on September 15.)

The last 15 years have put France mainly “under the light” of the black metal scene and created a solid number of followers worldwide. Completely justified, one could say, taking into consideration the impact that French bands have created on extreme metal in this period. At the same time, several other good bands have come out, but have received drastically less attention and fewer fans.

The birth and death of French cold wave happened almost three decades ago, and you could count on the fingers of one hand the bands that have lasted for more than just a few years. A certain revival was finally seen in the debut album of Soror Dolorosa in 2011. At last, we are now able to see and hear their third LP, four years after their solid sophomore release No more heroes. There wasn’t much to hear from them in this period. They played only a handful of concerts, but at least now we know the reason. And the reason is excellent – Apollo is finally out and they have made their best record so far. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): ARCKANUM, HEXIS, BELUS, IKU-TURSO, CEPHEIDE, GGUW

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Oct 012017
 

 

This is the second part of today’s collection of new black and “blackened” metal (Part 1 is here). Even with a two-part article, I’ve still had to leave material behind, including a few full releases that I need more time to digest. I’m hoping I’ll get to those in the coming week.

There are some full releases included below as well. As is becoming typical, time constraints have prevented me from writing proper reviews, and instead I’m singling out individual tracks as a way of giving you a guide, and hopefully inducing you to explore further.

ARCKANUM

Four years after the last album, Arckanum has returned with a new one named Den Förstfödde (“The Firstborn” in English), but alas, Arckanum has made clear that this will be the final one in a career that dates back to 1993. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): SUMMONING, AORLHAC, GREAT VAST FOREST, HYRGAL, EVIG HAT

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Oct 012017
 

 

One thing led to another. I knew I wanted to start this SHADES OF BLACK post with the Summoning news, and then as I made my way through my seemingly endless list of new or newly discovered black metal, the thoughts of that band influenced the other choices. I don’t mean to suggest that any of the other four bands in this collection sound quite like Summoning, but they do all create visions in the mind that don’t seem real, invoking either vistas of a distant past or perhaps mythic narratives of a past we wish had existed.

Having gathered these particular songs together, I was left with a bunch of others that didn’t seem to fit the flow I was looking for. And so my aim is to gather those in a second installment. I know it’s dumb of me to forecast something that isn’t finished yet, since Mondays always seem to disrupt my plans (but I never learn)… and for that reason I’m going to try like hell to wrap up Part 2 today.

I found a couple of the items in this collection myself, but for the rest I’m again indebted to my Serbia-based source of underground intelligence, Miloš.

SUMMONING

The last album by the Viennese wizards in Summoning was 2013’s Old Mornings Dawn. In early August Summoning updated their profile picture on Facebook with a new image suggestive of new activity, but without comment or explanation. Their Facebook page has only existed since late June, and there have been few posts since then, but one in mid-August included these words: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: RADIATION, REDENIK, LETHVM, DEADSMOKE, DEATHFUCKER, PEACE IS JUST A BREAK

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 302017
 

 

September ends today. If history is a useful guide, we’re only about six weeks away from the point at which year-end lists will begin appearing (DECIBEL’s is the first high-profile one that I usually see, in mid-November). And yet, while a lot of people will soon be looking backward, we still have a full three months of new metal ahead of us.

Fortunately, those of us here at NCS have undergone body modification so that we have eyes in the back of our heads as well as those gazing forward. Using the latter pair, I’ve spied four forthcoming releases from which I’ve selected song streams in this round-up. Using the backward-looking orbits, I’ve also chosen some music from a pair of other releases that have already come out, though very recently. I’ve arranged the music so that we’ll start fast, slow down, and then ramp up again.

RADIATION

Bratislava, Slovakia, is home to the death/thrash band Radiation, whose debut album The Gift of Doom will be released by Witches Brew on October 17. I would like to draw your attention to a pair of songs from the album now streaming on Bandcamp, “Praise the God of Nuclear Fusion”, and the title track. Continue reading »

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