SETENTIA: “DARKNESS TRANSCEND”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 072016
 

setentia-darkness-transcend

 

(We’re grateful to New Zealand writer Craig Hayes (Six Noises) for bringing us this review of the debut album by New Zealand’s Setentia, which will be released on November 11 by the Finnish label Blood Music.)

Setentia are an atmospheric death metal band from New Zealand. They write hard-hitting, complex songs where jagged melodies do battle with tremolo deluges on dissonant soundscapes. The band’s accomplished full-length debut, Darkness Transcend, intertwines gut-felt ferocity with forward-thinking expressiveness. And yes, with those creative hallmarks, Setentia have been compared to New Zealand’s much-lauded death metal behemoth Ulcerate, many times.

That’s an understandable comparison to make. Sonic similarities aside, Setentia and Ulcerate have higher profiles than most other New Zealand death metal bands because they’re signed to international record labels (Finnish label Blood Music, in Setentia’s case). Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” — BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 101)

 That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  13 Responses »
Nov 062016
 

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Until our old friend Phro reminded me recently, I hadn’t realized that almost a full year (343 days, to be exact) has passed since the last time I did a THAT’S METAL! post. The last one was the glorious 100th edition of a series that began here in January 2010. I used to compile them almost every Sunday, and then the series became irregular, and then it sputtered to a complete halt, having been overwhelmed by my obsession with music.

I fell into the habit of posting Shades of Black compilations on Sundays, as a way of getting one more day each week to throw new metal at you while also indulging my own rapidly growing devotion to black metal. But with Phro‘s reminder I’ve realized that I do miss this series — not enough to restore its regular Sunday slot, but enough that I’ve resolved to make a THAT’S METAL! post on the first Sunday of each month, beginning now. The rest of the time I’ll continue to post in the Shades of Black series on Sundays (and I still plan to do a short one of those later today or tomorrow as well).

So much time has passed since the last of these installments that I ought to explain what I’m doing: I collect images, videos, and news items that I think are metal, even if they’re not metal music. And what makes something metal even though it’s not music? There’s no one exclusive reason. It could be something that’s morbid, frightening, awe-inspiring, nauseating, destructive, ludicrous, or just really fucking loud. I can’t give a comprehensive definition; but to quote what U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said about porn in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964), “I know it when I see it”.

I have nine items for you today, and the theme I’ve chosen for the first four of them is “The Thrill Of Descent“. You’ll see why. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: DEFECRATOR, ANYTHING YOU WANT, BROWN SABBATH, CROSTA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Nov 052016
 

defecrator-satanic-martyrdom

 

I thought about taking today off and not posting anything. I’m more than usually worn out after three days on the east coast working, and then dragging my weary ass through the door of my home at midnight last night. I also have plans to resurrect my “THAT’S METAL!” column tomorrow after a year hiatus, and those take some time to put together.

But rather than just bail on the site altogether, I decided to try to spread the word about some good new discoveries and just not write quite as much about them as I usually do. For that, I apologize to the bands and to those of you who find something worthwhile about the words in addition to the music streams in these round-ups. For those who just routinely jump straight to the players, you’re missing nothing.

I made these particular picks in the way I often do, i.e., pretty randomly but with an eye toward creating musical diversity in the playlist; as you’ll discover, there’s ever greater-than-usual diversity today. I also wanted to focus mainly on relatively DIY bands who I suspect aren’t yet very well known even in underground circles.

DEFECRATOR

On another Saturday one month ago I included in one of these round-ups the 2015 debut demo by a Sacramento-area band named Defecrator, along with a review that made comparisons to such groups as Mitochondrion and Auroch. On October 31, Defecrator released a new 7″ EP (via Our Ancient Future) named Satanic Martyrdom, and it expands on the promise of that first demo. Continue reading »

HORRORS! NEW (OR NEWLY DISCOVERED) MUSIC FROM THE GREAT OLD ONES, THRALLDOM, AND TANGORODRIM

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Nov 042016
 

the-great-old-ones-eod-a-tale-of-dark-legacy

 

I’m still in our nation’s capital on a business trip, doing the best I can to ignore the last frightening days of the presidential campaign in an effort to avoid an aneurysm. I had some time to kill before my flight home today, so I quickly sifted through some of the new music I discovered in recent days and compiled this selection.

My disturbed mind decided the following songs would make a nice grouping. In different ways, they summon a skin-crawling sensation of horror, which is how I’ve been feeling in light of tightening poll results in that torturous presidential campaign I mentioned.

THE GREAT OLD ONES

The new album by The Great Old Ones falls into my “highly anticipated” category. Two days ago Season of Mist announced details about the release and DECIBEL premiered a song. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VIDEMUR — “LIKE AUTUMN LEAVES”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 042016
 

videmur-through-endless-fields-of-grey

 

Videmur is a two-man international project consisting of Andreas Stieglitz (Belgium), who performs all the instruments, and vocalist/lyricist Brandon Solis (Puerto Rico)). Their debut album Finality emerged in 2014, and they also released a song called “Ethereal Reality” which appeared on a split last year with Akaitsuki. The band have now recorded a new EP named Through Endless Fields of Grey, and we’re bringing you a stream of its opening track, “Like Autumn Leaves“.

In its sound as well as its title, the song suits our slow, chilling slide through fall and into winter here in the northern hemisphere, as our natural surroundings recede and lose their luster, to be replaced by a more frigid form of vibrancy. Continue reading »

KHONSU: “THE XUN PROTECTORATE”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Nov 042016
 

Khonsu-The Xun Protectorate

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Norway’s Khonsu, plus the band’s just-released stream of an album track called “The Observatory”.)

The many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests that there is a potentially infinite number of alternative universes in existence, some wildly divergent from our own, some as close to what we know as to be almost indistinguishable from the one we call home.

Listening to The Xun Protectorate is like being given a teasing window into one of these worlds… a world that is both strikingly different, and yet intimately familiar, where the battle for the heart and soul of Black Metal was not dominated by the devil-worshippers and the church-burners, but by the stargazers and the dreamweavers.

In this world the titanic generation ships of the Samael exodus have long since passed beyond the limits of our solar system, carrying with them the cyborg monks of the Brotherhood of Thorns as they seek to interface directly with their god, while, in orbit around the ruins of Old Earth, the neon-spires of Perdition City play host to the Machiavellian machinations of Dødheimsgard Inc. and their gene-engineered clientele.

It’s a world where the nascent Black Metal scene chose entirely to reject the insular, inflexible dogma of those who wanted to limit it, to keep it small and keep it to themselves, and instead embraced an expansive, open-minded approach, looking outward, instead of turning inwards. And only in such a world could an album like The Xun Protectorate have come to fruition… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLOODTRUTH — “PESTE NOIRE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Nov 042016
 

bloodtruth-peste-noir-promo-2016

 

The Italian death metal juggernauts in Bloodtruth, who are signed to the Unique Leader label, are now at work on their second album, but to tide fans over until it’s finished Bloodtruth are today releasing a savage promo track called “Peste Noire“, and we’ve got the premiere video stream of the song for you.

The song was inspired by the black plague that decimated Italy during the 1600s, claiming an estimated one million lives — or about 25% of the total population. But while the song includes Gregorian chants as one way of drawing a connection to those medieval horrors, it expresses the merciless devastation of the disease in ways that have more in common with modern mechanized warfare — because the music strikes with ferocious, obliterating force. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ARKONA — “LUNARIS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Nov 042016
 

arkona-lunaris

 

Last month we were fortunate to bring you premieres of two songs from an album we are very excited about, and now we bring you a full stream of the entire album. Entitled Lunaris, it’s the sixth full-length by the Polish black metal band Arkona, and Debemur Morti Productions is releasing it today.

In writing about one of our previous song premieres, I summed up the music as mystical, majestic, and marauding, and those adjectives hold true for the album as a whole. Continue reading »

MITHRAS / RANNOCH / BEYOND GRACE – LIVE AT THE BLACK HEART, LONDON 31/10/16

 Concert Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 032016
 

mithras-and-rannoch-in-london

 

(Andy Synn reviews the performances of Mithras and Rannoch in London on October 31, 2016, and includes some of the videos he made.)

One of my favourite things about being in a band (though, to be fair, there are lots of things I love about it) is the chance it affords me to play shows with bands that I love. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to go out on tour with bands like The Monolith Deathcult and Becoming The Archetype, and perform alongside such stupendous acts as Darkane, Abigail Williams, and Skeletonwitch (to name but a few).

And the thing is, although I still have a hefty list of bands I’d love to support or go on tour with (Living Sacrifice, Blood Red Throne, A Hill To Die Upon, Sanzu, Extol, some Swedish group called Meshuggah…), I’m happy to report that I recently got to tick off another big milestone when we opened for the mighty, mighty bosst… Mithras! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KREPITUS — “DESOLATE ISOLATION”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 032016
 

krepitus-the-eyes-of-the-soulless

 

On November 25 a quartet from Calgary, Canada, named Krepitus will release their debut album, The Eyes of the Soulless. Two exhilarating singles from the album have appeared so far, and today it’s our pleasure to bring you the premiere of a third: “Desolate Isolation“.

When I first heard this song, in the space of a little more than five-and-a-half minutes I went from, “Not bad,” in the opening moments to, “HOLY SHIT!,” by the close of the track’s brain-frying finale. Actually, I mentally exclaimed “HOLY SHIT!” a lot earlier than that. Continue reading »

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