AN NCS PREMIERE: OCCVLT HAND — “HE WHO WALKS BEHIND THE ROWS”

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Jul 142017
 

 

Winnipeg’s Occvlt Hand chose one of the year’s best titles for their new album: Not Everyone Deserves A Happy Ending. And who could argue with that? In fact, one of life’s great, infuriating ironies is that so many people who don’t deserve a happy ending get one anyway. It would be so much sweeter if the assholes could all be subjected to the righteous ministrations of Occvlt Hand, from which they would emerge beaten, bruised, and broken.

Occvlt Hand didn’t exhaust their storehouse of bleak, memorable titles after they named the album. They’ve got a song on the record called “Total Fucking Absence of Light” and another one named “Smash My Bones, Inhale the Dust“, which my comrade DGR wrote about in a round-up at our site not long ago, describing it as “a harsh track that seems to drain the color out of the room, absolutely blatant about its stomping disregard and hopelessness”.

More good song titles are to be found in this punishing new release, including the track we’re premiering today in advance of the album’s September 13 release by Possessed Records: “He Who Walks Behind the Rows“. Continue reading »

VESICANT: “SHADOWS OF CLEANSING IRON”

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Jul 142017
 

 

(New Zealand-based writer Craig Hayes (Six Noises) joins us again with this review of the new album by NZ’s Vesicant, which is being released today by Iron Bonehead Productions.)

 

New Zealand black/death metal duo Vesicant have only played a handful of shows, and their 2014 Edict demo was originally released in limited numbers, too. But that hasn’t stopped powerhouse German label Iron Bonehead Productions from stepping in to release the band’s formidable full-length debut, Shadows of Cleansing Iron.

If you’re wondering how an obscure band from the far-flung reaches gets to enjoy Iron Bonehead’s patronage, the answer is twofold. First, and most obviously, Iron Bonehead were clearly impressed by the stockpile of murderous music Vesicant have housed in their armory –– and we’ll get to those battering munitions soon. But it’s also well worth pointing out that Iron Bonehead’s shown a marked interest in NZ’s extreme metal scene over the years. Continue reading »

ALIEN WEAPONRY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jul 132017
 

 

(Our friend and long-time NCS supporter Booker from New Zealand prepared this guest post about an unusual new band from NZ named Alien Weaponry.)

New Zealand is a strange place; trust me, I live here. It refers to itself as “God’s own” country, and sees itself as an idyllic little egalitarian (supposedly) land at the edge of the earth, filled with natural beauty, and sparsely populated with easy-going sports-loving people. And yet, behind this idyllic facade it hides a dark past – and hides it well. But as readers of this site know, the hidden, darker side of human nature just happens to be something of a favourite theme for metal. All too often society seems to act like the evil queen in Snow White, only wanting the mirror it holds up to shower it with platitudes and reflect the good. But metal holds up the mirror which flatters not.

Not surprisingly, then, eventually a New Zealand metal band would come along which would dare speak openly of the country’s past. But what would be a surprise, is that it would take a band whose members are still in high school to do it – and in what seems to be a world first, do it with lyrics in Te Reo, the language of the indigenous Māori people. Welcome to Alien Weaponry. Continue reading »

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

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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”

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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 »

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