AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ORDOG — “THE GRAND WALL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  6 Responses »
Nov 182016
 

ordog-the-grand-wall

 

Earlier today I asked our readers to share their nominees for our list of the year’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs”. I have my own big list of candidates, and the album you’re about to hear is home to multiple songs on that list. The album’s name is The Grand Wall, and it will be co-released by Solitude Productions, Moscow Funeral League, and Frozen Light on November 21.

This is the fifth album of the Finnish doom/death band Ordog, but for me it’s my introduction to Ordog’s music — and a hugely compelling introduction it is. As you’ll see, the band describe the album as “more aggressive compared to the previous ones”, but with melancholy going hand in hand with the aggression. As I listened to it, I thought it would appeal to fans that cut across the swath of such groups as In Mourning, October Tide, early Paradise Lost, and even Bolt Thrower. It’s an earthshaker and a headbanger, and on the other hand, it’s also deeply (and hauntingly) entrancing.

I have some more thoughts about the album, which has quickly become a late-year favorite of mine, but I’ll first share some comments by members of the band: Continue reading »

HELP! WE NEED YOUR “MOST INFECTIOUS SONG” IDEAS!

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2016  59 Responses »
Nov 182016
 

virus

 

Well, here we are again. It’s the time of year when we begin our year-end LISTMANIA extravaganza. For those of you new to this orgy, our LISTMANIA blockbuster comes in four parts:

First, we re-print assorted lists of the year’s best albums, leeched from other big web sites and magazines, like this one yesterday which launched that part of LISTMANIA 2016. Second, we will collect our readers’ lists of the 2016 albums and shorter releases they enjoyed the most (we’ll be asking for those on December 1, so get ready). Third, we post the year-end lists of our own staff and assorted guest writers. And fourth, I’ll roll out my list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

And that last list is the subject of this request for help. In case you’ve become an NCS reader since this time last year, here’s what this Most Infectious Song list is all about: Continue reading »

ACHERONTAS / SLIDHR: “DEATH OF THE EGO / CHAINS OF THE FALLEN”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Nov 182016
 

acherontas-slidhr-split

 

(Andy Synn wrote this review of the new split by Acherontas from Greece and Slidhr from Ireland.)

A good split-release, such as the Nightbringer/Dødsengel effort Circumambulations of the Solar Inferno, the recent Ur Draugr/Haar tag-team, or any of the multitude of Misery Index splits, can be a great place for a band to explore ideas and themes which – for whatever reason – might not fit as part of a full album or which they simply want to stand on their own, while also allowing them the chance to “share the stage” (as it were) with another act of a similar outlook and ethos.

In rare cases, such as last year’s unholy alliance between Dragged Into Sunlight and Gnaw Their Tongues, or the much more recent collaboration between Selvans and Downfall of Nur, both of which err closer to the album than the EP side of things, the split release becomes a true amalgam of both bands, giving birth to something wholly unique in the process.

But, however the bands involved choose to approach it, a good split-release is always an opportunity to make a statement, and this new five-track split (3 by the godless Greeks, 2 by the Irish idolaters) from Acherontas and Slidhr makes one very simple statement of intent indeed… we bleed black, and breathe fire, and we will not be denied our due. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2016

 LISTMANIA 2016  41 Responses »
Nov 172016
 

decibel-top-40-2016-cover

 

Every year our LISTMANIA series of posts includes not only lists of the year’s best releases as compiled by our staff, invited guests, and our esteemed readers, but also lists assembled by what we call “big platform” web sites and selected print magazines. And every year, it seems that DECIBEL magazine provides the launch for LISTMANIA by coming out with the first of the lists we see from that category of web sites and print zines — and they’ve done it again this year.

I’m a long-time DECIBEL subscriber, but my hard copy of the January edition, which includes the YE list, hasn’t hit my mailbox yet. However, today DECIBEL provided an on-line teaser for the issue that included their ranking of the year’s Top 40 albums.

For the first time in 7 years, I can re-publish their list without stealing their thunder (and I actually feel better about that). Apparently, someone else besides me jumped the gun this year, and DECIBEL decided to just go ahead and post the list themselves. Continue reading »

MARTYRDÖD: “LIST”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Nov 172016
 

martyrdod-list

Martyrdöd are unquestionably a metal band, but the roots of their music is in Swedish hardcore, they’re dedicated to the d-beat, and anything you read about them will likely include the words “crust punk” somewhere in the first paragraph (sometimes with “blackened” or “metallic” stuck on the description). Yet they’ve become so much more than what most people would think of as a crust band. Their new album List, for example, is one of the most epic experiences of 2016.

Yes, I know: If there is an afterlife, I will pay some hellish price for using that overworked word. But dammit, there is no better word that comes close to summing up the experience of List. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): A SENSE OF GRAVITY — “ATRAMENT”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Nov 172016
 

a-sense-of-gravity-atrament-cover-art

 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by A Sense of Gravity which will be released tomorrow — along with our premiere of a full-album stream of the music.)

A Sense Of Gravity, like Khonsu (whose new album was also reviewed here recently), are one of those bands with a sound that is so multifaceted and “all their own”, so ambitious in scope and gripping from beginning to end, that it deserves acclaim. They may very well be one of the most important bands metal has to offer right now.

Atrament is my second album of the year, with this and Khonsu’s The Xun Protectorate being pretty much tied. Between them, my longing for heavy, dynamic, emotionally turbulent musical experiences has been well satisfied. A Sense Of Gravity are looking to the future, rooted in a post-modernist realm where Pain Of Salvation and Dream Theater’s progressive ambition and expression are met with the progressive metalcore stylings of Sikth, Textures, and Protest The Hero. It’s a sound brimming with both sophistication and boundless energy. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PRIMORDIAL — “WIELD LIGHTNING TO SPLIT THE SUN (LIVE)”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Nov 172016
 

primordial-gods-to-the-godless

 

Those who have witnessed the great Irish band Primordial on stage know first-hand the emotional power and immediate intensity of their live performance. For those who haven’t had one of those unforgettable experiences, and for those who have, but wish to re-live them (or at least to come close), Metal Blade Records is releasing a live Primordial double-album on November 25 called Gods to the Godless, which was recorded at the 2015 Bang Your Head Festival in Germany.

Today we’re helping premiere one of the tracks from this live concert recording, and it happens to be one of the strongest single songs that Primordial have created in their illustrious career: “Wield Lightning To Split the Sun“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SARKOM — “PREVIOUS ASSOCIATES, NOW AS TARGETS FOR THE GUN”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Nov 172016
 

sarkom-anti-cosmic-art

 

Early next month Dark Essence Records will release Anti-Cosmic Art, the new fourth album by the Norwegian black metal ravagers who call themselves Sarkom. Today we help premiere the second advance track from the album, “Previous associates, now as targets for the gun“.

As you can see, the album is emblazoned with immediately eye-catching cover art, thanks to Spectrvm Lvsitani. In addition, it features guest guitar contributions by Shining’s Peter Huss, Ronni Le Tekrø from TNT and Roquefire, and Trollfest’s Sagstad, as well as guest vocals by Alfahanne’s frontman Pehr Skjoldhammer.

Produced with a clear, powerhouse sound, the album’s energy is explosive. Take this new song, for example. Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN PRESENTS: REVIEWS IN HAIKUS (METALLICA)

 Album Reviews, Reviews In Haikus  10 Responses »
Nov 172016
 

metallica-hardwired-to-self-destruct

 

(Andy Synn’s haiku review feature usually includes a trio of 3-line reviews, but this one includes a dozen haikus for a single album.)

So I assume by now that many of you, if you have even a passing interest in the band still, will have heard some (if not all) of the new Metallica album, Hardwired… to Self-Destruct?

After all, it’s finally being released tomorrow, and the band have now debuted a different music video (some better than others) for each of the twelve songs which make up the double-disc set, so it should be easy enough to make your own mind up whether or not you’re still willing to get on-board the Metallica train.

Now as much as we tend to focus our energies on covering the smaller bands here at NCS, sometimes it’s fun to comment on the bigger acts too. It really just depends (in my case, at least) as to whether or not we feel like we have anything interesting to add to the conversation.

And having seen a mixture of reactions ranging from the hilarious (“death to false metal!”) to the fawning (“this is the best album of the year, Metallica can do no wrong!”) I felt like I wanted to at least say a little something about the album… and what better way than through the ever-enigmatic medium of the humble haiku?

So, after the jump, twelve haikus and twelve videos, summing up my feelings, good and bad, towards Hardwired… Continue reading »

UNDERDOGS IN THE UNDERGROUND: RETURN TO THE TALENTED DEPTHS OV OBSCURE MADNESS (PART 6)

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Nov 162016
 

noise-trail-immersion-art

 

(This is the sixth part of continuing series prepared by Austin Weber putting the spotlight on recent releases, and today he focuses on music from these three bands: Noise Trail Immersion, Gross Ex Machina, and Inexistence of Aeon. To check out Part 1, go here; Part 2 is at this location; Part 3 can be found here, this link leads to Part 4, and Part 5 is here.)

 

Noise Trail Immersion – Womb

As I’ve said for years, it often pays off to keep track of groups who show promise, but aren’t quite at the level of blowing you away yet. Turin, Italy’s Noise Trail Immersion are yet another group who fit in that category of promising bands worth following who eventually end up capitalizing on the undeniable talent they showed early on. Which for them was 2014’s self-titled experience, which grabbed my attention but left me hoping they’d evolve into something more original moving forward. Continue reading »

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