SEEN AND HEARD: INCANTATION, PARADISE LOST, DESOLATE SHRINE, SCHAMMASCH, KHOST, ONE MASTER, KZOHH, PÁRODOS, SUBLIME CADAVERIC DECOMPOSITION, ORANSSI PAZUZU

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 082017
 

 

Not for the first time, I had a discussion with a few of my NCS comrades at Maryland Deathfest about how much stuff I post most days. I think their feeling was that 4 posts a day at NCS should be considered adequate, and that more tends to result in reader/listener overload. While I think this is good advice for my exercise of editorial discretion, and undoubtedly would help relieve the frenzied stress levels of my daily existence, the sad fact is that I… just… can’t… fucking… help myself! I see or hear something that gets me excited, and I feel an apparently irresistible compulsion to share it.

And so, while today I’ve already posted an album review and plan to post three premieres (one of which is a full album, accompanied by a review), I also decided to compile this round-up. On the bright side, two of the following 10 items(!) only consist of artwork and news — and I could have made this soooo much longer, but I’m saving some new discoveries for this weekend.

INCANTATION

I was gob-smacked the first time I saw Eliran Kantor’s artwork for the cover of Incantation’s new album. Even now, seeing the piece with the band’s name and the album title on it, my gob is still smacked. The first single from the album has also proven to be a gob-smacker. But before we get to that, here’s Eliran Kantor’s explanation about the inspiration for his painting on the cover of Profane Existence: Continue reading »

DEATH OF KINGS: “KNEEL BEFORE NONE”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 082017
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Atlanta’s Death of Kings.)

In the past I never felt the other recorded efforts by this Atlanta band were accurate representations of what they really do on stage. The vocals on previous releases often had a lower, more throaty husk to them, like old Mastodon. In other releases the guitar tone was recorded to give a false death metal density. I think anything that doesn’t properly paint these guys as a thrash band is misleading.

But with their new album we are getting what I have heard come from the monitors. The screechy vocals that sound like a more feral version of Overkill. The more razor-sharp guitar tone, one that feels more natural when it comes to the mid-paced gallop on “Sojurn”, which appeared on their 2015 demo.  The double-bass gets heavier on the chorus and muddies the mix a bit, but I think the biggest takeaway is how they have matured as songwriters, and it’s not just about finding cool riffs. Even with the tempestuous drumming, all the moving parts just seem to lock in better to tell the story. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DAWN OF ASHES — “DAEMONOLATRY GNOSIS”

 Premieres  7 Responses »
Jun 072017
 

 

Now more than 15 years into their career, Dawn of Ashes has undergone more than one musical transformation, reflecting the evolving interests of the band’s founder, composer, and frontman Kristof Bathory. The band’s current musical character is on display in their new album Daemonolatry Gnosis, which will be released by Metropolis Records on June 9th, and as you’re about to discover through our premiere of a full album stream, it strikes (and shakes) the earth like an imperial hellish leviathan.

On this album (which was mixed and produced by Mick Kenney of Anaal Nathrakh), Bathory is joined by guitarist Raum, bassist Angel Dies, keyboardist Behemoth, and drummer Rage, and it includes a guest vocal performance by Cradle of Filth’s Lindsay Schoolcraft on penultimate track “Magick of the New Aeon”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PATHOLOGY — “SHUDDER”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 072017
 

 

In the annals of brutal death metal, few bands have a profile as large or as indelible as Pathology’s. With nine albums on their resumes since 2006, including their new self-titled one, they essentially followed an annual release schedule until the three years that have now passed since Throne of Reign. Despite the passage of those years, the line-up has remained intact: Dave Astor, the only consistent member of the band since its inception, is still behind the kit; Tim Tiszczenko still wields the axe in a way that dispenses with the need for a bass player; and the beastly Matti Way remains in control of the vocal onslaught. In other words, the triumvirate who reunited with 2013’s Lords of Rephaim are still in harness together.

If you take the long view of Pathology’s career, you could argue that they’ve been marching toward greater degrees of intricacy and stylistic flare within a genre known for its primitive, gore-soaked, head-smashing heaviness, arguably reaching a zenith in their progress with Throne of Reign. And so what has happened in the intervening three years? And could the band’s decision to self-title their new album after that stretch of time be taken as a sign of a re-start or a re-set?

Well, rather than barge into a review of the entire album, let’s just stick to “Shudder” — which is the track we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

SUFFOCATION: “…OF THE DARK LIGHT”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jun 072017
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by Suffocation.)

If you ask me, at the end of the day there’s only five bands in the technical and brutal death metal circles that truly matter: Dying Fetus, Anata, Spawn of Possession, Martyr, and Suffocation. Suffocation is such an anomaly that it’s like the cosmos decided to manifest through humans the perfect mix of atonal grime, neoclassical melody, pulverizing groove, and eviscerating speed, all under the command most prominently of Frank Mullen, who in my book is THE death metal vocalist, and Terrance Hobbs. who writes some of the most intricately crafted incantations of despair and death on this planet when it comes to riffs.

Suffocation had a really fucking strong outing their last go around with Pinnacle Of Bedlam. It was their most energetic record to date, with a much more melodic focus than anything before it, while maintaining the proper amount of disregard for human value or opinion with some atonal off-road expeditions. It also contained a monolith of a closing track with a stellar re-recording of “Beginning Of Sorrow”, which worked better as a closing song than on the album it opened. Continue reading »

GODEATER: “OUTERSTELLAR”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 072017
 

 

(Andy Synn prepared this review of the debut EP by the Scottish band Godeater.)

Although the band clearly haven’t fully found their own sound/voice/identity quite yet (these three tracks are positively littered with strands of DNA sequenced directly from all the usual suspects – The Faceless, Soreption, The Black Dahlia Murder, etc.), it’s impossible to deny that Outerstellar, the debut EP by Glaswegian Tech-Death tykes Godeater, is certainly a striking opening statement – in both ambition and execution – from a band with a hell of a lot of potential. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HUMANITY ZERO — “HORRENDOUS GROWLS”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 062017
 

 

Originally the solo project of musician Dimon’s Night, the Greek band Humanity Zero produced six albums between 2008 and 2013 — one per year. But four years have separated the last one from the seventh album that’s now on the verge of release, and the passage of time has produced some significant changes in sound. Where previous recordings embraced death metal in the vein of such bands as Death, Hypocrisy, Unleashed, Nile, and Immolation, the new full-length Withered In Isolation takes a turn in a more doom-dominated and atmospheric direction, as reflected in the song we’re premiering today — “Horrendous Growls“.

On this new album Dimon’s Night is joined by vocalist Johnie Panagiotidis (aka Giannis Grim) (who does indeed possess a horrendous growl), lead guitarist Baggelis Vee Kappa, and violinist Stelios. Together they have given birth to a beast of pain. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: ENRICO SCHETTINO (HIDEOUS DIVINITY)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jun 062017
 

 

(KevinP brings us this interview of Enrico Schettino, guitarist of Italy’s Hideous Divinity, whose superb new album Adveniens was reviewed by us here and is available now via Unique Leader.)

 

K:  How does it feel to exceed expectations with the new album for the second time?

E:  It feels good indeed, if this is what people truly believe. I mean, to exceed expectations sometimes looks like the only way in death metal nowadays. Competition’s insane. And also, people’s judgments leave you disoriented.  This is our life, sometimes we are at ease with the pressure, it compels us to push the envelope.  Some other times, we decide to take a deep breath, a step back, and do our thing:  rewrite, relisten, erase, rewrite. “Ad libitum”.

In other words, I really didn’t know what “expectations” were!  Too many different awkward ideas about how a band should sound today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SATOR — “HEARTACHE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 062017
 

 

In just a few seconds Sator establish an utterly bleak and convincingly venomous atmosphere in “Heartache“, the first single from this Italian sludge band’s new album Ordeal, which will be released by Argonauta Records this coming fall. And although the album is still months away, “Heartache” is a powerful sign that it will be worth the wait — as you’ll soon discover through our premiere stream of the song at the end of this post.

In those opening moments, the band make an immediate impression with huge, groaning chords, kidney-punching drumwork, and the kind of vocal intensity that will make your own throat feel like it’s bleeding from a dozen wounds. Just as quickly, the music will get your head moving too, because the monster riff at the core of this track is as infectious as a plague virus. But that’s only part of the story of this song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NADIMAC — “KAPITALIZAM JE KANIBALIZAM” (CAPITALISM IS CANNIBALISM)

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Jun 062017
 

 

The politically charged Serbian band Nadimac have been explosively venting their brand of crossover-thrash since 2003, with a discography that now includes about 25 releases, including four albums. Last year they signed to Spain’s Xtreem Music for the release of a fifth one, which will be upon us early next month. Entitled Besnilo, the album is a 14-track attack with lyrics and song titles in the band’s native language. It will be discharged on July 3rd, and to help pave the way, we have the premiere of a song named “Kapitalizam je Kanibalizam” (Capitalism is Cannibalism).

I first came across Nadimac at the time of their last album release, a full-length “so goddamn full of energy, so loaded with high-octane riffs and turbocharged drumming, so infectiously groovy and inventive, that I found it irresistible”. I can say the same of Besnilo, and of the individual song you’re about to hear. Continue reading »

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