A CHILL IN THE AIR: APOCALYPSE ORCHESTRA, HAWKBILL, OV SHADOWS

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 032017
 

 

I’ve done this before, I’m sure I’ll do it again. Sometimes I listen to new music by bands whose music I haven’t heard before, and by complete coincidence it lines up. That’s what happened here — though this particular listening experience also included a revisiting of an EP I’d heard before.

By chance, I listened to all the music in this post back-to-back a couple of nights ago, and it was not only very good from beginning to end, it also seemed to flow in an interesting and connected way despite the dramatic differences in the music of each band. The wind blew with a chill… and that’s the best way I’ve come up with to capture the sensation of the experience.

APOCALYPSE ORCHESTRA

I love a lot of things about this first song, and the video that accompanies it, but the bagpipess are a huge reason. And now that I’ve mentioned that instrument, I’m sure that some of you will want to run from the song like wolves are on your heels, which I suppose is one reason why some cultures have used them as war instruments. Everyone else, please read on… and listen. Continue reading »

GOD DETHRONED: “THE WORLD ABLAZE”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
May 032017
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by the reunited God Dethroned.)

Like many of you I have been waiting for this album with a sense of near-breathless anticipation ever since it was first announced in 2014 that God Dethroned were getting back together.

And even though nothing had been announced about new material, I always knew that it was only a matter of time before the band would eventually get round to completing the WWI-themed trilogy of albums which began with 2009’s Passiondale.

So now here we are, seven long years since the group’s last release, all set to receive the third and final part of that trilogy, The World Ablaze, and the big question is — has the passage of time blunted their edge, or has it simply allowed the band to martial their forces for one final assault? Continue reading »

HATE: “TREMENDUM”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 022017
 

 

(DGR wrote this detailed review of the new album by the Polish band Hate.)

There are some groups who exist like heavy metal’s undercurrent, groups who seem like they have always been there and never seem to age, as if the band were immortal, with each release they put out slotting neatly right next to the others in their career. Hate are one of those groups. Their martial brand of Satan-inspired, Anti-religion death metal has seemingly existed as part of heavy metal’s subculture forever, one of a small handful of bands playing a particular style, a constant go-to for a specific fix.

The new Hate album Tremendum marks the group’s tenth release in a little over twenty years. The thing that has kept Hate around like this, like many bands who’ve enjoyed a twenty-plus-year career in the metal business, is that Hate found a sound, and since locking into it, for better or worse, they have put out albums with differing variations on that overall style, but have never gone for a massive genre-shift or anything blindingly different. Hate are going to consistently sound like Hate. That is one of the ways you wind up a pillar of a genre, as Hate have done. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANTROPOFAGUS — “THE ABYSS (CHAPTER ONE)”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
May 022017
 

 

We really can’t get enough of Nekronikon’s cover art for the new Antropofagus album, M.O.R.T.E. – Methods Of Resurrection Through Evisceration. This makes the third time we’ve found a reason to brandish it on our site, the last time when we premiered the slaughtering supremacy of “Chants for Abyzou“, and now as a visual prelude to our premiere of another attack of pile-driving destruction from the album — a track named “The Abyss (Chapter One)“.

With each new song from the album, Antropofagus further prove their mastery at delivering death metal with head-hammering brutality and insidiously infectious hooks. The grooves are especially strong within “The Abyss”, and so is the cold-blooded, hate-filled savagery. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TEETHING — “AN OPEN LETTER TO MY BEST FRIEND”

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 022017
 

 

If you’re not familiar with Madrid’s Teething, I’d suggest you have a neck brace handy so you can immobilize the cervical fractures while you seek medical attention after listening to this song. Borrowing some body armor before pressing “play” would be good idea, too. Have you considered writing a last will and testament? Instructions regarding cremation or coffin burial?

“Violent” and “destructive” might begin to describe “An Open Letter To My Best Friend“, but words like “unhinged” and “obliterating” are more accurate for this brand of grinding hardcore. I’ve thought of some more words, too. But first I suppose I ought to tell you that this song is only one of 12 assaults on the senses contained within Teething’s first full album, We Will Regret This Someday, which is being released by a consortium of labels in different formats, each of which should be classified as a weapon of mass destruction. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): ACHERONTAS, NARGAROTH, MALLEVS MALEFICARVM, CATHEDRAL OF LIGHT, OBSCURE DEVOTION, ENDLESS DISEASE, AKVAN

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
May 012017
 

 

This is the second part of a large post I began yesterday (here). It reflects why I chose SHADES OF BLACK as the name for this series many years ago, in that all of the music has connections to the traditions of black metal, but those connections vary, sometimes significantly.

Two of the songs in this post come from forthcoming albums, and one is a stand-alone single, but I picked all the rest from recent albums or EPs. Lacking the time to review most of those full releases, I thought it better (with one exception) to confine myself to specific songs rather than neglect the releases altogether. But they’re all good, and you’ll be able to stream them in their entirety if you like what you hear.

ACHERONTAS

The sixth album by the formidable Greek black metal coven Acherontas is named Amarta अमर्त (Formulas of Reptilian Unification Part II), and thereby draws a connection to the band’s last album, 2015’s Ma​-​IoN (Formulas of Reptilian Unification). It includes participation by Naas Alcameth (Nightbringer, Akhlys, Bestia Arcana) (synths) and Indra (Naer Mataron) (additional guitars). The cover art was created by Karl NE/Nachzehrer (Ex-Nastrond/Shibalba), and W.T.C. Productions plans to release it on Walpurgis Night (May 31st). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BUCKSHOT FACELIFT — “DON’T HANG FROM THE PIPES”

 Premieres  1 Response »
May 012017
 

 

(Austin Weber brings us this premiere of a video from Buckshot Facelift, and the following introduction.)

We’ve been covering New York/Long Island-based weirdo grinders Buckshot Facelift for several years now, and every time the band drops a new release, it’s always a thrill to see the new direction they go in. The group recently dropped their 4th album, Ulcer Island, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite grind releases of the year so far, chiefly due to how far outside of the short and straightforward grind norm the music is. Buckshot Facelift write very eclectic, intricate, and death-metal-heavy grind on the majority of the songs on Ulcer Island.

As mentioned in our previous writings about Buckshot Facelift, the band rarely perform full tracks of conventional grind, though there are a few cuts like that on Ulcer Island. Overall, the music includes a lot of separate and varied death metal influences, powerviolence, and some doom sprinkled about too.

We’re here today to premiere a music video for “Don’t Hang From the Pipes”. Musically, the track is a wild journey into death-metal-riddled grindcore, delivered in a unique way that doesn’t resemble what most people would think of as deathgrind. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 84: OCEANWAKE

 THE SYNN REPORT  2 Responses »
May 012017
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s installment of THE SYNN REPORT for April, encompassing the discography of the Finnish band Oceanwake.)

Recommended for fans of: Isis, In Mourning, Swallow The Sun

April has been a remarkably busy month for me, both in my personal life, at my job, and with the band(s). Which, as I’ve already stated, means I’m well behind in my writing for NCS, and hence why this latest edition of The Synn Report is coming in so late.

This month’s selection, Finnish Prog-/Post-/Doom metallers Oceanwake, now have three albums to their name (the most recent of which was only released last month), each of which is practically overflowing with gigantic, mountainous riffs, moody melodies, and crisp, cathartic vocals, all wrapped up in an ever-present aura of atmosphere and ambience that ebbs and flows, swells and contracts, like a living, breathing organism.

So if you’re in the mood for some truly compelling, effortlessly organic, metallic doom ‘n’ gloom – and aren’t afraid of songs that stretch into the double-digits – then please, read on. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): HAVUKRUUNU, NEIGE ET NOIRCEUR, DØDSENGEL, JORDABLOD, LIMBONIC ART

 SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
Apr 302017
 

 

If you scroll down the posts at our site that have appeared since Friday morning, it will be obvious that I’ve lost what was left of my mind. No sane person would test the patience of even the most devoted listener by throwing so many musical recommendations into the void in such a short space of days. I suppose I ought to give you at least a short break for recovery, and so instead of packing this Sunday’s edition of SHADES OF BLACK with everything I intended to recommend, I’m saving half of it for Monday.

The music in this post consists entirely of music that appeared over the last week, beginning with a new album that deserves a full review — which you’ll have to find elsewhere. What you’ll find here is a stream of the album and some pathetically brief but heartfelt praise. It comes from…

HAVUKRUUNU

With their first album, Havulinnaan, Havukruunu proved very quickly that they were something special. Two years later, they have produced Kelle surut soi, which was released by Naturmacht Productions on April 29th (yesterday). Anyone who might have worried about a sophomore slump can perish those thoughts — they’ve managed to surmount a debut that was itself spectacular. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 3): TEMPLE OF VOID, CAVERNLIGHT, CONDOR, CATHEXIS, WAR/PLAGUE, MAIM, AOTV

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 302017
 

 

This catching-up effort which began on Friday may have gotten out of control. I have music from 7 bands in this “final” installment, including three full releases as well as a quartet of individual tracks. And I put “final” in quotes because I still have a bunch of new black metal for a SHADES OF BLACK feature. I almost always post those on Sundays, but this time I may have to post it tomorrow. Depends on how long I can go without food, bathroom breaks, sociable interaction with my wife, rational thought, other distractions from our glorious mission….

TEMPLE OF VOID

“Huge, enormous, vast, immense, large, big, mighty, great, colossal, tremendous, prodigious, gigantic, gargantuan, mammoth, monstrous, monumental, giant, towering, elephantine, mountainous, titanic”. These are all synonyms for the word “massive”. By listing them, I’ve gotten a head start on the task of describing the first single from Temple of Void’s new album.

Ooops! I forgot “humongous” and “hulking”. Continue reading »

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