MMXVI LIST BY SEMJAZA OF THY DARKENED SHADE (PART 3)

 LISTMANIA 2016  5 Responses »
Jan 052017
 

 

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 third, which follows his introductory essay and a list of the 11 2016 albums he listened to the most (here) and an additional list (here) of 14 albums that also received a lot of his attention. Part 3 begin as follows: Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2016’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 3): MARTYRDÖD AND MANTAR

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2016  6 Responses »
Jan 042017
 

 

This is Part 3 of our continuing list of 2016’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. To see the first two installments and an explanation of the criteria for making the selections, go here.

MARTYRDÖD

Anyone who saw my review of List won’t be surprised to find a song from the album on this list. I came close to embarrassing myself with how effusively I praised it. Hands down, it’s one of my favorite releases in an incredibly strong year for metal. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: VONLUGHLIO’S FAVORITE BRUTAL DEATH METAL ALBUMS OF 2016

 LISTMANIA 2016  14 Responses »
Jan 042017
 

 

(We present Part 2 of our friend Vonlughlio’s 2016 year-end list. This segment is devoted to favorite brutal death metal albums, and tomorrow’s third part will delve into other genres.)

To begin, I would like to thank Islander for being able to share with all of you readers the music I love. Also to the contributors of NCS — thanks to them, I have discovered great bands.

As some of you might know, one of my favorite genres is Brutal Death Metal, and when I began  making my year-end Top 50 list I felt that some bands in this and other genres were left out (there are always some regardless). And so I decided to make two year-end album lists, one that will be only for BDM releases, and the other containing bands from other genres, such as Death, Black, and Technical/Death.

So here are my Favorite Brutal Death Metal Albums of 2016: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LASTER — “ONS VRIJE FATUM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Jan 042017
 

 

It would be an understatement to say that the new album by the Dutch band Laster represents a large step ahead of their 2014 debut. It is more like a running leap ahead, doing somersaults and back-flips in the air before sticking the landing. That’s not intended to take anything away from De verste verte is hier, which was very good, but Ons vrije fatum is the kind of musical marvel that opens your eyes as wide as saucers.

This new album will be released on January 9 by Dunkelheit Produktionen, and today we bring you a full stream of its seven remarkable songs. Continue reading »

SEPULTURA: “MACHINE MESSIAH”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Jan 042017
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this review of the new album by Sepultura.)

Sepultura have been undergoing something of a renaissance since Dante XXI, with an oddly conflicted sense of identity. They have one foot in the past of their primal thrash intensity, another foot in their pioneering tribalistic groove metal days of Chaos A.D. or Roots, and are busy trying to play twister bending over backwards to put their hands into progressive inclinations and avant-garde adventurism. That has resulted in albums that’ve been interesting to listen to, while not exactly 100% all killer no filler.

Don’t get me wrong here, I don’t think Sepultura at this point gives a fuck about that, and they aren’t obligated to produce masterpieces with every record. I think we’re witnessing a band who are simply choosing to explore themselves to their limits on an almost spiritual level. Continue reading »

MMXVI LIST BY SEMJAZA OF THY DARKENED SHADE (PART 2)

 LISTMANIA 2016  4 Responses »
Jan 042017
 

 

(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 second, which flows his introductory essay and a list of the 11 2016 albums he listened to the most — here.)

 

ADDITIONAL ALBUMS THAT I ALSO LISTENED TO A LOT FROM THIS
YEAR ARE THE FOLLOWING: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AU CHAMP DES MORTS — “DANS LA JOIE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 042017
 

 

Last June the Debemur Morti label released a most impressive debut EP (Le Jour Se Lève) by the French band Au Champ Des Morts, which we had the pleasure of premiering. In those first songs, the band proved themselves to be powerful sonic spellcasters, with a talent for creating dynamic, richly textured music with a black metal core that hit with riveting emotional intensity. Debemur Morti is now following that EP with the release of the band’s debut album Dans La Joie later this month, and we have for you today a stream of its title track.

Au Champ Des Morts was founded in 2014 by guitarist/vocalist Stefan Bayle (Anorexia Nervosa) and he is joined on this album by bassist/vocalist Cecile G. and drummer Wilhelm. As you can see, the album also greatly benefits by the striking cover art of Dehn Sora. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2016’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 2): VREDEHAMMER, DESTRÖYER 666, ROTTING CHRIST

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2016  4 Responses »
Jan 032017
 

 

As you can see, this is the second installment of our Most Infectious Song rollout, following hot on the heels of yesterday’s launch. As was true yesterday, each of today’s picks came from albums that were home to more than one song that could easily be on this list, and I won’t be surprised if some of you think I made the wrong pick. Hell, if I made the picks tomorrow, they might be different.

There are a few other connections between this particular threesome, one of which is that all three albums came out in the first quarter of last year, long enough ago that, for me, revisiting these songs was like a reunion with some old friends. Other connections will become obvious.

VREDEHAMMER

We didn’t give enough attention to Vredehammer’s 2016 album Violator. I wrote about its first advance track (“Spawn Tyrant”), and we published Karina Cifuentes’ interview of Per Valla, though even that focused more on his time as a session guitarist with Abbath and his personal Valla project than it did on Vredehammer. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: WIL CIFER’S TOP 10 HARDCORE PUNK RELEASES OF 2016

 LISTMANIA 2016  1 Response »
Jan 032017
 

 

(Wil CIfer’s series of year-end lists for 2016 continues with this selection of 10 favorite releases in the vein of hardcore punk.)

Yeah I know, we are talking metal on this site, but I think there is enough crossover here to appeal to the more open-minded readers. In some places the line between hardcore and metal is more clearly defined; many of these selections are heavier than most of the bands on your top metal lists.

This list will encompass anything that is a bastard son of punk, from grindcore to emo. This was an emotionally charged year, but none of these albums is really that political. And yet everyone tried to console themselves after the election by saying at least punk will get good. Well, the tried and true NOFX’s have gotten old and might not have been bad, they just are not as good as any of the bands on the top ten hardcore punk albums of 2016 list. Continue reading »

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