AN NCS UPDATE — AND NEW MUSIC FROM DREAMING DEAD, SULPHUROUS, AEGRI SOMNIA, CONTAMINATED, VINTERSEA, SOLITUDE, BLACK KNIFE, PRAY U PREY, AUBE GRISE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Dec 282016
 

christmas-new-year-week

 

Well, here we are at the mid-point of an odd week, a week that falls between two big holiday weekends in a year when both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve fall on Saturday nights, enhancing the opportunity for revelry. Lots of people are having to work this week, but it feels like no one really has their heart in it. Others are on vacation. The usual flood of PR e-mails has slowed to a trickle; most of metal blogdoom is snoozing. As the new year rapidly approaches, people are beginning to fantasize about 2017 being better than 2016 and wondering what other well-loved celebrities will be cut down by the Grim Reaper in the few days before it arrives.

Obviously, we’re still forging ahead during this limbo week, and I thought I’d provide a forecast of what lies ahead at our site.

LISTMANIA will continue into the new year. This week we’ll finish rolling out the year-end lists by NCS contributors Grant Skelton and Wil Cifer and we’ll post year-end lists from our old friend SurgicalBrute and from three more invited guests —  Johan Huldtgren (Obitus), Ken Sorceron (Abigail Williams), and Seb Painchaud (Tumbleweed Dealer).

And then LISTMANIA will continue next week with some big brutal lists compiled by our old friend Vonlughlio from the Dominican Republic, as well as lists from a few other invited guests that I’m anxious to see. I trust that I’ll also receive the annual Not-Metal List from ex-NCS slave BadWolf (aka Invisible Orange’s editor Joseph Schafer) along with Andy Synn’s list of favorite 2016 songs. And undoubtedly there will be a few other LISTMANIA surprises before next week ends. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: A YEAR-END TOP 10 LIST FROM CRYPTICUS (PATRICK BRUSS)

 LISTMANIA 2016  6 Responses »
Dec 282016
 

crypticus-aqua-velva

 

 

(We again invited musician and producer Patrick Bruss (Crypticus) to share with us his year-end list of favorite releases, and he again agreed. If you haven’t checked out the latest Crypticus album The Barrens, do that here on YouTube. And yes, there’s a reason for the Aqua Velva product placement. If you’re nice, Crypticus may agree to explain.) Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: WIL CIFER’S TOP 10 DEATH METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

 LISTMANIA 2016  9 Responses »
Dec 282016
 

Withered-Grief

 

(Wil Cifer delivers the second of several year-end lists, and in this one he names his top death metal albums of 2016. The first installment, which focused on doom, is here.)

Judging from my in-box this year, it seemed like there was more death metal coming out than any other sub-genre, though black metal was hot on its heels. I need my death metal to be dark and hateful. This was a dark and hateful year, so here are some of the albums that provided the best soundtrack to that.

I have gathered these from many different sub-genres, though most tend to have a blackened edge to some degree. While most of the world is crying like babies in fear of war and wanting the world to just get along, here is the death this world needs set to music. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 80: FALL OF EFRAFA

 Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT  3 Responses »
Dec 282016
 

fall-of-efrafa

 

(Andy Synn delivers the last monthly SYNN REPORT of 2016, and reviews the discography of the British band Fall of Efrafa.)

Recommended for fans of: Neurosis, Amenra, Downfall of Gaia

Taking in elements of Crust Punk, Post-Metal, Post-Rock, Drone, and Hardcore, and spitting out a captivating conglomeration of pulse-pounding riffs, cascading melodies, and harsh, gritty vocals, Fall of Efrafa were, for a time, one of the most vital and visceral acts in the UK.

The band’s three albums, Owsla, Elil, and Inlé together form a conceptual trilogy inspired by the 1972 literary classic Watership Down (whose author, Richard Adams, passed away peacefully at the grand old age of 96 just a few days ago), with the quintet channelling their political, religious, and social philosophy – particularly their opposition to theocracy and blind faith – through the themes of Adams’ seminal novel.

Following the release of their third album the group disbanded, having completed the work for which they originally came together. In this way, and in many others, Fall of Efrafa were just that little bit different from most bands out there. They had a goal, they had a vision, and chose to both begin and to end things entirely on their own terms, leaving behind an impressive (if still under-appreciated) legacy of passion, ambition, and uncompromising integrity.

Which is why I chose them for this, the eightieth edition of The Synn Report, which I’m also dedicating to my friend Charlie as a testament to her excellent musical taste. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: WIL CIFER’S TOP 10 DOOM ALBUMS OF 2016

 LISTMANIA 2016  21 Responses »
Dec 272016
 

swamp-witch-the-slithering-bog

 

(Wil Cifer delivers the first of several year-end lists, and in this one he names his top doom albums of 2016.)

This was a rough year for the genre and the universe. By the end of it I needed my doom to be even darker and more more dismal than what I was finding. These albums are what I felt to be the best gems of the year’s doom crop that I did come across. There are many shades of doom here — a sense of loss and mourning is what I need from doom, more darkness than death metal, so that is reflected here. Abandon all dope ye who enter here, for here lies my top 10 doom albums of 2016. Continue reading »

WAR METAL: NEW RELEASES FROM TEITANBLOOD AND DEATH WORSHIP

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 272016
 

teitanblood-accursed-skin

 

The last gasps of this year have exhaled two poisonous releases that have caused vigorous buzzing within the savage circles of war metal — the first new release by Spain’s Teitanblood since the band’s last album in 2014, and the debut offering of a Canadian band called Death Worship, whose members come from the ranks of Blasphemy, Conqueror, and Revenge. Both releases are available for streaming on Bandcamp, but I’ll add a few words about them as introductions to those streams.

TEITANBLOOD: ACCURSED SKIN

On the 13th of December, with virtually no advance fanfare, the Spanish duo Teitanblood released a new 12″ vinyl EP named Accursed Skin, with the assistance of their usual allies Norma Evangelium Diaboli and The Ajna Offensive. The EP consists of two long songs — the title track and a second song called “Sanctified Dysecdysis”, which also appeared on the band’s 2012 EP Woven Black Arteries in a CD edition. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: TERRA TENEBROSA — “WHERE SHADOWS HAVE TEETH”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Dec 272016
 

terra-tenebrosa-where-shadows-have-teeth-video-1

 

Terra Tenebrosa’s new album The Reverses received a lot of attention at our site this year, as it did just about everywhere else in the ghetto of metaldom. We reviewed it not once but twice, the second time in the context of a feature on all of the band’s albums to date. We also had the privilege of bringing you the first full stream of the record, and NCS writer Andy Synn named it one of 2016’s Great Albums. And now, as this year is about to gasp its last breaths, we’re helping to premiere a video for a song from the album — “Where Shadows Have Teeth“.

For those who still may not have explored The Reverses, allow me to quote excerpts from our two reviews:

“The Reverses is as heavy, as dense, and as radioactive as a cache of transuranic elements. It’s a visit to a nightmare realm where the shadows have teeth, the surreal musical equivalent of a Hieronymus Bosch landscape, a vision of hell, or perhaps the exorcism of hellish visions. It sinks its talons into the twisted nightshades that grow in the darker corners of the human psyche and shakes them until they quiver with fearful and fearsome excitement.”

“From start to finish The Reverses is a mental and physical ordeal that spits in the face of the orthodox, and laughs manically at any suggestion of normality.”

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARSAFES — “ZIGGURAT”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Dec 262016
 

arsafes-ziggurat

 

We’ve been following the creative pursuits of Moscow-based artist and sound engineer Roman Arsafes for almost as long as this site has been in existence. We first learned of him through the excellent releases of his band Kartikeya, and since then have followed his work through many other earlier and later projects in which he has either been a member of a group or a solo artist, including Nevid, Above the Earth, Zmey Gorynich, and of course Arsafes. Today it’s our pleasure to bring you the premiere of a new Arsafes single named “Ziggurat“, which is being released today via Bandcamp.

Roman composed the song, produced it, and performs all the instruments and vocals, with orchestral arrangements by William Graney. The single on Bandcamp comes not only with the full new song but also with an instrumental-only version of the track, plus stems for drums, guitar, bass, keyboards, and vocals. Continue reading »

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