AN NCS PREMIERE: HOLYCIDE — “ANNIHILATE… THEN ASK!”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 032017
 

 

The slaughter of all faiths… and the law… and greedy cash-hoarders. Open vats of radioactive slime. Flame-throwing tank attacks and skulls burned clean to the bone… and a tooled-up mutant coming for you next. The artwork by Andrei Bouzikov (Municipal Waste, Skeletonwitch, Toxic Holocaust, etc.) sends a message, and the album title reaffirms it: Annihilate… Then Ask!

This is the debut album by Spain’s Holycide, a band originally conceived in 2004 by Avulsed’s Dave Rotten that eventually came to include guitarist Miguel Bárez, bass-player Dani Fernández, drummer Jorge Utrera, and guitarist Salva Esteban. They released their first EP, Toxic Mutation, through Xtreem Music in 2015, and now comes this new full-length with the war-torn artwork. Does the music live up to the carnage emblazoned on the cover? In a word, hell yes.

Okay, that was two words. Here are some more words, as an introduction to the album stream that we’re helping spread around today. Continue reading »

KRYSTHLA: “PEACE IN OUR TIME”

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Feb 032017
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Krysthla from the UK.)

So let’s address the big Polish elephant in the room straight away, shall we?

If, after listening to Peace In Our Time, the second album from British bruisers Krysthla, I were to tell you that these guys really like Decapitated, have been on tour with Vogg and co., and probably own several Decapitated shirts between them, I doubt you’d be surprised, as the presence of the Polish groovemongers looms large over pretty much every track on this album.

It would be wrong to write the band off as simple copycats, however, as, although their major influences (primarily, though not exclusively, latter-day Decapitated and late-2000s period Meshuggah) are certainly very prominent, the songs which make up Peace In Our Time are delivered with a level of energy and belligerent intensity which makes them impossible to dismiss. Continue reading »

DIABLERIE: “THE CATALYST VOL. I: CONTROL”

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Feb 032017
 

 

(Our long-time supporter and occasional contributor Booker returns to NCS with this review of the new album by Finland’s Diablerie.)

Music goes through phases, some of them short-lived trends. And let’s face it, metal is no different. But there’s always some stallion musos that keep true to their hearts and let fly with the rhythms and sounds that light their own fire, regardless of the changing moods around them. Like those stalwart bands that kept cranking out solid thrash throughout the ’90s and 2000s, while grunge and nu-metal captured hearts and minds, only to see the hunger for riffs and blazing solos come back full circle into fashion again.

Strangely, one branch of metal which the world seems to have shied away from in recent times is industrial. I say strange, because given it’s got solid, heavy rhythms, the fusing of “traditional” metal instruments with experimentation – in the form of electronica, synths, and samples – and often bleak and dystopian lyrics and themes, you’d think it would fit right into a cover of “these are just a few of my favourite things” sung by a true kvlt metal fan.

But for reasons beyond my comprehension, the world’s gaze has shifted elsewhere, and industrial has largely been left to fade into the background. Well, if you’re like me and have a penchant for riffs that slam like concrete sledgehammers and aren’t afraid of synths that would fit in an ’80s soundtrack, fear not: because Finland’s Diablerie are one of those bands who have been toiling away in the shadows and quietly following their own industrial compass. And now they bring us their second full-length album The Catalyst Vol. I: Control via Primitive Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: AU CHAMP DES MORTS

 Interviews  1 Response »
Feb 032017
 

 

(Norway-based NCS contributor Karina Noctum brings us this interview with members of the French band Au Champ des Morts, whose new album Dans La Joie we premiered and reviewed here.)

After I listened to the La Jour Se Lève EP last year and then heard an album was in the making, I started anticipating it. Besides, Au Champ des Morts are from France, and I like the French approach to Black Metal.

The new album is really a fine piece of dark art. The anguish and despair of the good old days is totally there. The contrast in the titles is interesting. I really like it! It invites you to take stuff for what it is, the dark and fearful mythology that culminates in the vision of the end of the world. ACdM play a bit with the ironical modern sanitization of religion that is just an attempt to put a nice package around something that actually withholds lots of darkness. Continue reading »

PRIMAL ATTACK: “HEARTLESS OPPRESSOR”

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Feb 032017
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the new second album by the Portuguese band Primal Attack.)

Primal Attack are an instance where the name absolutely tells you everything you need to know about the music. This is the first album this year that I can call an absolute balls-to-the-wall, no frills, uncompromisingly brutal metal album in its sheer intensity. Heartless Oppressor is exactly the sound of all the world’s major powers nuking the fuck out of each other. It’s a pretty fitting post-inauguration “I need to vent my rage at ignorance, white supremacy, and anti-intellectualism” album.

Primal Attack started out as a thrash band with their debut album, but Heartless Oppressor is a mean obsidian slab of thrash, death metal, and metallic hardcore. Think Marco Aro-era The Haunted, Gojira, Merauder/Hatebreed, and I’d say that’s a pretty fair encapsulation. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): I AM — “LIFE THROUGH TORMENT”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 022017
 

 

“No games, no bullshit, just straight in your face heavy metal. We wanted this to show who we are and what’s next. A direct reflection on each of our personal lives and what we see. This is Life Through Torment. We hope you enjoy.”

That is the invitation presented to you on a blood-encrusted platter by the hard-knuckled hands of I AM from north Texas, offering their new album to your ears. We have a full stream of the album down below, in advance of its release on February 10, preceded by these mangled thoughts about the music. Continue reading »

CATCHING UP ON 2016: RIFTWALKER / GOD SYNDROME / WASTEWALKER

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Feb 022017
 

 

(Andy Synn catches up with three releases from 2016, by Riftwalker, God Syndrome, and Wastewalker.)

You may have noticed, if you’ve been paying sufficient attention that is, that I’ve spent the last month digging my way through a veritable heap of releases from last year – Phantom Winter, Zao, Wolves Carry My Name, Partholón, Deviant Process, The Drowned God – that were otherwise overlooked here at NCS.

And, even though I’ve finally been able to start covering new stuff in the last week or so, there’s still a bunch of albums from last year that I have yet to write about.

So to speed up the process a little bit, I’ve decided to amalgamate a few different entries together. And hopefully, by the end of the week (or, at the latest, by the start of next week) I’ll be pretty much done with 2016, and able to shift my focus fully to 2017. Continue reading »

INTO ORBIT: “UNEARTHING”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Feb 022017
 

 

(New Zealand-based writer Craig Hayes (Six Noises) returns to NCS with this review of the new album by New Zealand’s Into Orbit, which will be released on February 3 — and we have a just-released full stream of the album as well.)

Countless bands try to grab our attention with an enticing vocal hook. Hell, even in the world of extreme metal, where vocals are frequently an indecipherable blur, words and lyrics still play a crucial role in imparting meaning. At the other end of the spectrum though, instrumental bands seek to convey meaning without any lyrical or vocal cues, and that’s obviously a tougher task. When it all goes well, audiences can decipher meaning from moving songs, and that forges a connection between fans and bands. But when it all goes wrong, because a band is technically proficient but emotionally sterile, instrumental music is simply tedious background noise. Elevator music, at best.

It’s rare to find an instrumental band that manages to transmit its message evocatively. But the music of New Zealand instrumental duo Into Orbit has received rousing applause at home for doing just that. In some ways, Into Orbit are building on a legacy established by New Zealand bands such as Jakob or Kerretta –– both guitar-led instrumental groups with fan bases in Europe and the US. Jakob and Kerretta have gained international recognition because they make truly gripping music, and there’s no question that Into Orbit’s superb new album, Unearthing, is filled with captivating music too. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KRIEGSZITTERN AND MINENFELD — A SPLIT

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Feb 012017
 

 

In August 2015, I came across the debut demo of a German band named Kriegszittern that proved to be a huge — and terrifyingly good — surprise. As I expressed in a review: “This is ghastly, primeval death metal mixed with punk rhythms that generates a corrosive aura of indefinable horror while at the same time making you want to helplessly bang your head. It’s raw, raucous, and ravenous — and highly recommended.” Now, the same Caligari Records that released that demo on tape is bringing out the band’s new release — and this time it’s an LP-length split that includes not only new material by Kriegszittern but also the debut recordings of another very impressive German death metal band, Minenfeld.

What we have for you is a stream of the new tape in advance of its release this Friday, February 3. The song stream plays just like the tape would play (at least in its formatting), with all the Kriegszittern songs streaming as a single track (Side A) and all the Minenfeld songs streaming as a second track (Side B). Here are a few introductory thoughts about what you’re about to hear, to prepare you for the onslaught if nothing else. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SAMSKARAS — “FUELSCAPE” (AND AN INTERVIEW)

 Interviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 012017
 

 

(Austin Weber brings us this premiere of a new music video from Samskaras, along with an interview.)

Last we covered Montreal-based progressive death metal duo Samskaras, the band had just completed a new single, “Red Hill”, and we premiered the lyric video for it alongside an interview with the band’s vocalist, guitarist, and bassist, Eric Burnet (Unburnt, Derelict) in 2014. Just recently, the band dropped Asunder, a fantastic four-song EP, which shows the band experimenting with a lot of new ideas including the integration of tasteful clean singing in some of the songs.

In the spirit of keeping up with artists we’ve covered before, we’re happy to premiere a new music video today for “Fuelscape”. Eric asked if we’d be interested in pairing it with an interview like last time, and this one features some additional answers from their drummer Alexandre Dupras (Teramobil, Unhuman) too. Continue reading »

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