SEEN AND HEARD: MORDBRAND, TCHORNOBOG, LIGHT OF THE MORNING STAR, JUPITERIAN, JUSTIN C.

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 062017
 

Mordbrand – photo by Łukasz Jaszak

 

It’s been a busy week here at NCS, one in which I’ve spent many (many!) hours readying year-end lists for posting, as well as starting the roll-out of our (i.e., my own) list of last year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. We’ve also had some premieres and interviews and other things. And on top of all that, I got slugged yesterday by a nasty cold. The combined effect of all this has been to prevent me from preparing our usual round-ups of new music.

I’ve still been watching the appearance of new songs and videos and adding them to a list. It’s a long list. I picked a few items off of it for this post. Since the weekends at NCS are essentially all my own, I might prepare some more round-ups for Saturday and Sunday. It’s also possible this cold will cause me to curl up in a ball on the floor and whimper in misery until Monday.

By the way, it looks like we’ll finish LISTMANIA next week. I still have a few excellent lists in hand to post on Monday and Tuesday, and a few more might arrive, but I think we’ll be done soon. The Most Infectious Song series will of course continue until I pick some arbitrary stopping point, which will probably be January 31.

That’s it for an update. Onward to new music…. Continue reading »

THE BOOK OF BLASPHEMOUS WORDS — A REMINDER

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 062017
 

 

(Last fall we published a post by NCS contributor Grant Skelton about a then-forthcoming anthology of weird fiction, horror, and speculative fiction named The Book of Blasphemous Words, in which one of Grant’s own stories had been accepted for publication. The publication date of the book is now fast approaching, and we agreed to let Grant provide a reminder, along with some other benefits — including scatterings of metal music.)

Hello readers! I’ve been a contributor here at our beloved metal blog for a little over 2 years. In that time, I’ve done my best to bring you metal-related content that’s relevant, engaging, and thought-provoking. And since you’ve put up with my madness for that time, I’ve got a little treat for you. A way to say thanks for reading all the nonsense in my reviews and Seen & Heard contributions. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: A TOP 10 LIST FROM KEVINP

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jan 062017
 

 

(KevinP returns to NCS after being missing in action for a while, bringing us his list of the Top 10 releases of 2016 — and manages to include some names that haven’t appeared in LISTMANIA so far this year.)

Hey it’s me.  Yeah, I’ve been pretty much absent from the site since March (besides some behind the scenes stuff here and there).  Combo of busy with work, life, other hobbies (yes, they do exist) and the crush of trying to listen to 30+ releases every month for the past 2+ years leads to a bit of burnout (#RoughLifeAlert).  But I figured I’d stick my head in here and give my two cents.  I normally do a Top 25, plus various other things, but I’m sticking with 10 releases, nothing more, nothing less.

Onward and upward in 2017 (no promises). Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2016’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 5): GHOST, HAIL SPIRIT NOIR, ZEAL AND ARDOR

 Exceptions to the Rule, MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2016  6 Responses »
Jan 062017
 

 

As you can see, this is the fifth installment in our unfolding list of last year’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs“. As you can also see (or will soon discover), not all of the songs in this installment are extreme, or even metal, and there’s a lot of clean singing as well. Feel free to harumph and harang in the Comments, but I could not get comfortable with the idea of looking back at the most infectious songs of last year without including all of these, and I also found a pleasing kind of twisted symmetry in combining them in a single post.

To see the other selections for the list so far, as well as an explanation of what criteria were used in making it, go here.

GHOST

From my perspective, it’s not worth debating whether Ghost are a metal band or not. There are good arguments to be made on both sides. What I think is beyond debate is the band’s ability to craft immensely catchy songs, and not the kind of cotton candy fluff that makes you sick to your stomach after the fifth or sixth time you’ve heard it, which seems to be true of a high percentage of catchy pop songs. Also, they continue to praise the Devil, and I give them horns up for that. Whether the praise is calculated or sincere is a subject we can debate on another day, or not at all. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ZAUM (KYLE MCDONALD)

 Interviews  1 Response »
Jan 062017
 

 

(Our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks brings us a new interview with the Canadian band Zaum, whose new album Eidolon was released last fall.)

I already introduced NCS readers to this psychedelic mantra doom from Canada when I Hate Records released Zaum’s debut album Oracles. After two years of tours and recordings (which was also marked by Zaum’s participation in the Himalaya to Mesopotamia split album) the duo of Kyle McDonald (bass, synths, vocals) and Chris Lewis (drums, percussion) return with another full-length work named Eidolon. The band’s main songwriter Kyle shed some light on the result of his musical meditations. Continue reading »

MMXVI LIST BY SEMJAZA OF THY DARKENED SHADE (PART 4)

 LISTMANIA 2016  No Responses »
Jan 062017
 

 

For the third year in a row we invited Semjaza, the main man behind the superb Greek black metal band Thy Darkened Shade, to share with us his lists of favorite releases, and he again agreed. 

This year, we’ve divided his year-end thoughts into four parts, and this is the fourth, which follows his introductory essay and a list of the 11 2016 albums he listened to the most (here), an additional list (here) of 14 albums that also received a lot of his attention, and an additional group of albums by bands from his home country, favorite 2016 EPs, and more (here). Part 4 consists of: Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2016’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 4): SCORCHED, DEATHCROWN, HIGH COMMAND

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2016  6 Responses »
Jan 052017
 

 

Welcome to Part 4 of our continuing list of 2016’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. To see the first three installments and an explanation of the criteria for making the selections, go here.

None of the three bands in this collection is a household name yet, even in the cramped, squalid households of metal, way out on the outskirts of town, across the railroad tracks and next to the cemetery. But this list isn’t limited to big names, as you probably would have guessed either from past annual installments or from looking at what we write about every week. But who knows? These names may be a lot bigger by this time next year.

SCORCHED

Last October we had the pleasure of premiering a full album stream of this Delaware band’s debut full-length, Echoes of Dismemberment. Allow me to quote from my review, which accompanied that premiere (because if I don’t, who will?): Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: VONLUGHLIO’S OTHER FAVORITE EXTREME METAL ALBUMS OF 2016

 LISTMANIA 2016  8 Responses »
Jan 052017
 

 

(This is the third and final 2016 year-end list prepared by our friend Vonlughlio, which compiles favorite extreme metal albums in genres other than Brutal Death Metal — which was exclusively the subject of Part 2 of his lists yesterday.)

As I explained in my previous list of favorite BDM albums, this year I wanted to separate that genre from the others since it’s my favorite. In this list are the albums by bands from other extreme metal genres that I liked the most.

And here it goes: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GLOSON — “ANTLERS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 052017
 

 

This is good timing. At our site we’ve recently started rolling out our list of 2016’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs”. Our 2015 list included a song by Sweden’s Gloson from their striking 32-minute debut EP Yearwalker. And now we have a new song to premiere from their forthcoming debut album Grimen, which is one we’ve been eagerly awaiting. Don’t be surprised if you see this song next year at this time, on our 2017 list.

We’ve already had one powerful clue that the dynamic power of Yearwalker wasn’t the result of random luck and didn’t represent a plateau of what Gloson were capable of achieving. I’m referring to the song “Cringe“, which appeared last fall. This new song, “Antlers“, provides further proof that Gloson have continued to move upward, even though they started their climb at a very high place already. Continue reading »

ZAO: “THE WELL-INTENTIONED VIRUS”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Jan 052017
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the latest album by the band Zao.)

Remember when the word “Metalcore” actually meant something? Those halcyon days when it referred to bands mixing the breakneck emotional intensity of Hardcore with the prodigious sonic power of Metal, rather than being a watchword for formulaic, anodyne angst-merchants desperate for their fifteen minutes of dubious fame?

NoCleanSinging remembers.

And so, it seems, do Zao, who returned at the tail-end of 2016 with what could very well be the best thing they’ve ever released. Continue reading »

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