DECAPITATED (“NEVER”) AND GODS FORSAKEN (“BORN OF BLASPHEMY”)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 282017
 

 

I left Seattle on Monday for my job and arrived home again near midnight last night. I woke up four hours later because there is very little justice or fairness in the world. Before my eyes would focus properly, I saw messages from friends on Facebook that alerted me to the two new tracks I’ve collected here. I have a fuckton of other new music to sift through since I didn’t have time to assemble a SEEN AND HEARD round-up while I was out of town, but I decided to get these two tracks up on the site without delay, even before the coffee kicks in.

DECAPITATED

Three years after Blood Mantra, Poland’s mighty Decapitated are returning with a new album named Anticult, which will be released by Nuclear Blast on July 7th. Last night the album’s memorable cover art appeared on the web, and this morning, before the sun rose out here on the U.S. west coast, Decapitated detonated a video for a new song named “Never“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABKEHR — “I”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Apr 272017
 

 

Abkehr is a reclusive duo from northern Germany, a new entity who are rising from the shadow lands of black metal with a debut EP named In Asche. It will be released on May 19th by Sentient Ruin Laboratories. The EP consists of four impressive tracks, one of which premiered at CVLT Nation not long ago, and we now bring you another one.

The tracks are unnamed, identified with Roman numerals, and the one we have for you is the opener. It proves to be an unsettling but charismatic way to begin In Asche. Continue reading »

U.S. BLACK METAL: OBSCURE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM NEILL JAMESON

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Apr 272017
 

 

(We welcome Neill Jameson (Krieg) back to our site, who in this post recommends music by some of the more obscure U.S. black metal bands, mainly from the ’90s — some of whom have new releases in the works.)

This past weekend was the Decibel Metal & Beer Fest, and while I was proving to the world I can’t hold my liquor I ran into some people like Austin Lunn who can actually carry on the kind of conversation about black metal that gives me pause, and also the motivation to do something like this. I also ran into a few old friends who were a part of the burgeoning ’90s US black metal scene, members of bands that I find criminally underrated.

Between that and all the talk about what “USBM” should and shouldn’t be, I figured I’d talk a bit about bands that are from a time where Antifa wasn’t throwing smoke bombs into apolitical shows or bands didn’t get name-dropped on Chris Brown’s vest. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: MANTAR / MARÉ / MESARTHIM

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Apr 272017
 

 

(In this post Andy Synn reviews the new EPs by Mantar, Maré, and Mesarthim.)

So I’ve officially now reached a point where I am so far behind in my writing that the balance has fully shifted into the negative, with more new albums and EPs being added to my review queue – almost on a daily basis – than are being scratched off of it.

What to do, what to do…?

Well, the only answer, it seems, is to hammer out a bunch of quick reviews, and try to make some sort of dent in the ever-growing pile of streams and promos currently clogging up my inbox/mp3 player.

So, without further ado, here’s three great EPs, two from bands we’ve covered before, and one from an entirely new discovery of mine. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AKERBELTZ — “A DEED WITHOUT A NAME”

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Apr 272017
 

 

Now more than 20 years into a varied musical career, Spain’s Akerbeltz has released more than a half-dozen demos and splits as well as five albums under the name shared by its sole creator. The sixth full-length, Satanic, is now set for a June 2nd release by the Spanish label BlackSeed Productions. As a sign of what the new album holds in store, today we present a stream of the second track in its running order, “A Deed Without A Name“.

Akerbeltz (the musician) has participated in a variety of other musical projects since 1989, not all of them in the vein of black metal. Among other endeavors, he has played guitar for Countess, Beheaded Lamb, and Harridan; appeared singing and playing drums in one song of a Sale Freux album; performed vocals for a Winter Frost demo; and has been the drummer for Körgull The Exterminator since the band’s inception. But Akerbeltz (the band) has been his oldest and longest-running project. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IRAE — “IN THE NAME OF SATAN”

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Apr 272017
 

 

Over the course of the 15 years that have passed since the spawning of Irae in the Portuguese black metal underground, the project has been prolific, with Irae’s music being released in two dozen demos and splits, as well as compilations, live recordings, and three full-length albums, with the last album of new music being 2008’s Hellnation. On May 12th of this year, Altare Productions will release a new album by Irae entitled Crimes Against Humanity. One track from the album (“Genocide Journey”) has debuted previously, and today we bring you a second one, the song that opens the album, “In the Name of Satan“.

Operating from within a Portuguese alliance known as the Black Circle, Irae’s sole creator Vulturius has pursued a nihilistic vision of malice and misanthropy, and in this forthcoming album (to quote Altare) Irae “explores the lawless aesthetics of hate, extermination of feeble mankind and allegiance to the Adversary”. Continue reading »

AN NCS DOUBLE PREMIERE: AZIZA — “IMPOSTER” AND THE “MANA RAZOR” VIDEO

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Apr 262017
 

 

By their own account, Minneapolis-based Aziza play “Thunderpunk”, combining “sludge, hardcore, and heavy metal”. “We play buttrock for the thinking man’s metal head”. Aziza released a debut demo in 2014 named Thunderpunk? Jesus., and an EP in 2016 called High Hopes Are At An All Time Low. Now they’ve got a new EP on the way named Council of Straitjackets, and today we’ve got a dual premiere: the song “Imposters” from the new EP and an official video for the song “Mana Razor” off the last EP.

Let’s talk about the video first. It’s a hellacious amount of fun to watch, and to listen to. “Mana Razor” is a real ass-kicking bruiser of a song, with lead-weight riffs, gut-punching bass, and head-cracking drums doing their damnedest to fracture bones, and a vicious vocal squall that underlines the song’s bleak and violent undercurrents. Highly mosh-worthy, too.

The music may be a dark piece of battering nastiness, but the video looks like a hell of a good house party among friends. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ASSAULT — “THE FALLEN REICH”

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Apr 262017
 

 

After making their recording debut in 2011 with an EP named The Exceptions of the Rebellions, the Singaporean band Assault are returning with a debut album named The Fallen Reich, which features Mark Riddick cover art and is set for a May 10 release by Transcending Obscurity Records. Today we bring you a lyric video for the album’s title track.

While Assault are billed as a death/thrash band, this song is reminiscent of the ferocious style of fast-moving melodic death metal that erupted on At the Gates’ Slaughter of the Soul, due in part to the similarity of the vocals to Tompa Lindberg’s distinctive snarls. Continue reading »

CONJURER / KAIJU DAISENSO: A SPLIT

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 262017
 

 

(Todd Manning wrote this review of a 2016 split release by Indianapolis-based Conjurer and the NY band Kaiju Daisenso.)

A little late to the game here, but I recently had the pleasure of discovering this split from two devastating sludge acts, Conjurer and Kaiju Daisenso. Originally released as a split flexi 7” last November via SMALLHANDFACTORY records, both tracks are now available on Bandcamp as well.

Conjurer are a based out of Indianapolis, and this track marks an impressive follow-up to their formidable full-length Old World Ritual. Under the title “You’re in Here with Me”, Conjurer spill forth burly, mid-paced sludge riffs with moments of psychedelia peeking out through the bile. Continue reading »

RAGANA: “YOU TAKE NOTHING”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 262017
 

 

(Here’s Wil Cifer’s review of the new album by Ragana from Oakland, California.)

With the tone of recent world events providing the inspiration for their new album You Take Nothing, the Oakland two-piece have returned with a feral vision of their brand of blackened crust.

The album opens with a deliberate crunch before it turns toward placing more emphasis on atmosphere. Where they part ways with many American black metal bands is in the concise nature of their songwriting. It never feels like you have lost your place in a bloated drone of tremolo picking, and the blast beats always feel as if they are wisely implemented. Continue reading »

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