AN NCS PREMIERE: MOUNTAIN GOD — “NAZCA LINES”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Feb 232017
 

 

Mountain God‘s new album Bread Solstice is a fascinating trip, an immersive, trance-inducing affair that’s nevertheless harrowing, and as heavy as an avalanche coming through your splintering skull. The centerpiece of the album is an 11 1/2 minute monolith named “Nazca Lines“, and we’re giving you the chance to hear it now in advance of the album’s March 24 release by Artificial Head Records.

Brooklyn-based Mountain God first began to take shape in 2012 and the band’s line-up now consists of guitarist/vocalist Ben Ianuzzi, bassist/keyboardist Nik Kamineni (ex-Alkahest), and drummer/vocalist Ryan Smith (Thera Royal). This new album follows the band’s 2013 EP Experimentation On The Unwilling and their 2015 single-track monument, Forest of the Lost. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SORDIDE — “INDUSTRIELLE”

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Feb 232017
 

 

Last October we had the pleasure of premiering an absolute bonfire of an album by the French band Sordide, displaying (at a high level) a kind of dissonant, atmospheric, intricate, multifaceted black metal with progressive and doom inclinations and a display of technical prowess that frequently veers into jaw-dropping territory. And if that seems like a wordy genre description, it’s because the music resists a simple classification.

That album, Fuir la lumière (“escape the light”), was my introduction to Sordide, and it made me an instant fan. Now we bring you another Sordide premiere, a cover of a song named “Industrielle“.

The song was originally recorded by the French grind/black-metal band Satan (on their 2015 album L’Odeur du sang), with whom Sordide will be releasing a 7″ split in April, timed to coincide with a European tour by the two bands. Although Sordide’s cover of “Industrielle” won’t appear on the split, it will be released on-line as a digital download at a future date. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PLAGUE THROAT — “MA NGA”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Feb 232017
 

 

Plague Throat are a death metal power trio from Shillong, the capital of a state in northeastern India named Meghalaya, which is separated from the main body of the sub-continent by Bangladesh. Located on a highland plateau surrounded by rolling hills, it’s the wettest region in India and one of the wettest places on earth, yet also one of the most elevated regions in the nation; Meghalaya means “the abode of clouds” in Sanskrit. From my reading, it looks like a beautiful and interesting place, with its own very distinct history, tribal cultures, and languages.

I mention all of this because the Plague Throat song we’re premiering today, which comes from their debut album The Human Paradox, itself bears a traditional name — “Ma Nga” — and the lyrics are in a native language rather than English. I also learned from an interview that the recording of the song was interrupted by an earthquake — though when you hear it, you might be inclined to suspect that the song is what set off the tremors. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TEMPLE OF VOID, AZARATH, SKULLDRAIN, TEHOM, VLADIMIR PAVELKA, DEVIL’S FORCE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Feb 222017
 

 

I’m pressed for time today, but I wanted to get this round-up of news and new music posted not only because I’m excited about what’s in it, but also because if I wait, I know it will be overtaken by still more new releases that get me excited. So I’ve truncated my own blather, though I know that will cause weeping on a global scale.

TEMPLE OF VOID

Yesterday, Shadow Kingdom Records revealed Paolo Girardi’s cover art for the new second album by Detroit’s Temple of Void, entitled Lords of Death. And this, therefore, makes the second post today in which the Italian maestro’s artwork has appeared at the top of our page. Continue reading »

NOW RELEASED: THE LONG-AWAITED SPLIT BY ABIGOR, NIGHTBRINGER, THY DARKENED SHADE, AND MORTUUS

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Feb 222017
 

 

In January of last year we quickly spread the word about a new song stream that had just appeared by the Greek black metal band Thy Darkened Shade. The song’s name was not disclosed, nor was any information provided about the release on which it might be included.

A couple of months later we learned about a teaser of new music that had been released by the Swedish band Mortuus, and by then word had circulated that Mortuus and Thy Darkened Shade would be participating in a four-way split along with Nightbringer (U.S.) and the Austrian black metal band Abigor.

Now, at long last, that split has been released. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VALGRIND — “EKPHORA’S DAY”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 222017
 

 

It’s so very satisfying to come across a piece of metal extremity that succeeds on multiple levels, one that’s deeply (and ominously) atmospheric and yet also vigorously bends your neck to its will. And that’s what Valgrind have done with the song we’re about to premiere — “Ekphora’s Day“.

The song comes from this Italian death metal band’s new EP, Seal of Phobos, which will be released by Everlasting Spew Records on April 14th, and it includes guest growls by Jonny Pettersson of Wombbath, Ashcloud, and Henry Kane, as well as the first studio appearance of the band’s new guitarist, Umberto Poncina, who also engineered and mixed the EP . Continue reading »

ANCST: “FURNACE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Feb 222017
 

 

(Andy Synn wrote this review of the new EP by Ancst from Berlin.)

Seeing as how I selected Moloch by Ancst as one of my Personal Top Ten Albums of 2016, it only makes sense that I be the one to cover their brand new EP, Furnace.

Of course, it’s not like the band have been idle in the intervening period between the release of Moloch (March 25th, 2016) and Furnace (February 19th, 2017), having also provided a track (“Arctic Waste”) for a four-way split last April, as well as delivering another extended instrumental EP in the form of October’s Stormcaster.

It’s simply that, as endlessly prolific as the band are, some of their releases stand out more than others.

And Furnace is one of them. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORM — “APOTHEOSIS”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Feb 222017
 

 

The painting by Italian artist Paolo Girardi that appears on the cover of the self-titled debut album by ORM provides meaningful clues about the music. The gigantic tentacles of a sea beast roil ocean waters beneath a threatening sky as trees seem to recoil in fear and a city high above the frothing waves is engulfed by fire. The scene is riveting, apocalyptic, and mythic. As you’ll soon discover, those same qualities come through vividly in the music of ORM as well.

This new album will be released digitally and on vinyl by the Danish label Indisciplinarian on March 24. It consists of five long tracks, and today we present one of them, which bears the name “Apotheosis“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ROZAMOV — “WIND SCORPION”

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Feb 212017
 

 

With two EPs and a split to their credit, the release of Rozamov’s debut album This Mortal Road is now fast approaching through the joint efforts of Battleground Records and Dullest Records. In advance of the March 3 release date, Revolver magazine has already premiered the title track, and now we have another one for you to stream, a soul-crusher named “Wind Scorpion”.

Rozamov have explained, “We wrote the album during the snowiest winter in Boston history, making life in the city just a constant draining struggle. It was a really intense time to live in New England, and the cold and isolation of that winter worked its way into the riffs and the lyrics, giving the record the feel of a long and intense journey.” There’s certainly no shortage of intensity in “Wind Scorpion”. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: REAPING ASMODEIA — “IMPURITIZE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 212017
 

 

What you’re about to experience is a full stream of the new album Impuritize by Minneapolis-based Reaping Asmodeia, which will be released by Prosthetic Records on February 24.

As you approach the album it may help to imagine yourself being strapped into some futuristic road machine with a deranged yet precise artificial intelligence of its own, one that rockets ahead with all the turbochargers and afterburners wide open, veering and careening with abandon, leaving the road (and the surface of the earth) with no warning, plunging into ravines, crashing through stands of timber like they’re blades of grass, scattering combatants in an active war zone, jamming on the brakes one minute, flooring it the next, and shaking your skeletal structure to pieces at the same time as it scrambles your brain over high heat into a foaming froth. Continue reading »

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