NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BALFOR — “SERPENTS OF THE BLACK SUN”

Nov 292016

Serpents, fire, blood, and bone. Torches burning and bonfires blazing. A night lit by sparks and cloaked by wood smoke from the blaze. Invocations of power and praise to the drawing of steel. Remembrances of a barbarous past, consecrated in blood. The video we’re premiering captures such visions, but your mind’s eye could create them simply from the music.

The song is “Serpents of the Black Sun” and it comes from Black Serpent Rising, the third album by the Ukrainian band Balfor, which will be released on January 15, 2017, by Drakkar Productions.

Balfor’s line-up includes current and former members of such groups as Khors, Raventale, and Hate Forest, and this new full-length follows the band’s last album, Barbaric Blood, by a long six years, with the 2013 EP Heralds of the Fall dividing the wait. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: “THE FINAL FAILURE”

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Nov 282016

Almost exactly one year has passed since the release of The Accuser, and now at last we have a new song from Abigail Williams to share with you. This is a demo track that will eventually appear in final form on a future release. Its origins can be traced back to a time soon after the release of the band’s third album, Becoming, in 2012 (with the original version co-written by former AW member Ian Jekelis and AW’s Ken Sorceron), though it has been revisited and revised more recently by Sorceron.

The name of the song is “The Final Failure“. At more than 11 minutes in length, it’s a multifaceted and emotionally intense track that alternately smolders and burns, like a campfire that’s dying in a frigid and hostile wilderness despite efforts to revive it. Or it could be felt as an expression of beleaguered striving in the face of one bad twist of fate after another, ultimately ending in failure and a staggering collapse into desolating grief. Continue reading »

WITCHERY: “IN HIS INFERNAL MAJESTY’S SERVICE”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Nov 282016

(Here’s Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Sweden’s long-running Witchery, which is out now via Century Media.)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this year you’ll probably have heard something about the release of a new album by a bunch of head-banging, hard-riffing, Thrash Metal veterans who are currently undergoing a bit of a critical renaissance.

No, not Hetfield and co… we’re talking about motherfucking Witchery, bitches! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NATVRE’S — “ENDLESS”

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Nov 282016

As all lovers of extreme metal are well aware, Greece is home to some of the planet’s most powerful and distinctive black metal bands. As the years have passed, the “classic Hellenic sound” of the early and mid-’90s has morphed and expanded in a multitude of directions, reflecting the still-vibrant creativity at work in the Greek underground. NATVRE’S is one of the newer exponents of black metal from Greece who have managed to establish their own distinctive style within their homeland’s traditions of burning black ferocity.

NATVRE’S are based in Thessaloniki, and they self-released their debut album Wrath in 2015. The copies disappeared quickly, selling out in just a few months. But the Dutch label Argento Records knew a good thing when they heard it and are now primed to re-issue Wrath in a 3-panel digisleeve CD edition with enhanced artwork. We’ve written about one advance song from the album already (“Lazarines“), and today we get to bring you the premiere of another savagely crushing track, this one named “Endless“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HENRY KANE — “SKULD OCH BEGÄR”

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Nov 282016

As you can see, Jonny Pettersson has one of the most epic beards in metal. As those of us know who saw him front Wombbath at this year’s Maryland Deathfest, he’s also a charismatic stage presence with a huge, ferocious voice — which has put teeth and guts in releases by not only Wombbath but also such bands as Ashcloud, Just Before Dawn, Vholdghast, and Syn:drom. With 20 years of experience in extreme metal dating back to the early demos of Disfigured Victims, Pettersson has now turned his talents to a solo project named Henry Kane, whose debut album Den Förstörda Människans Rike will be released in February by Transcending Obscurity Records, and today we’ve got the premiere of an album track named “Skuld Och Begär“.

You might recognize Henry Kane as the name of the soul-devouring supernatural antagonist in the Poltergeist film series, and there’s a soul-devouring quality to the music on the album, too. But the music is also a twist on the styles of Swedish death metal that have typically been Pettersson’s meat and potatoes in his other bands — as you’ll discover in this blast furnace of a new song. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: CONVULSING, SAURON, ÚIR, TRISTE TERRE, PANZERFAUST, XALPEN, ÆÐRA

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 13 Responses »

Nov 272016

I spent time yesterday pawing through a lot of recent releases and advance tracks by black metal bands. After some self-struggle, I picked a group of songs to feature in this post. And then late in the afternoon I got additional recommendations from various sources, and that tossed all my plans up into the air. When the dust settled, I revised my picks to include these:

CONVULSING

Convulsing was one of the recommendations that took me by surprise (thank you to starkweather and DaNasher). This is a one-man band from Sydney, Australia, whose new album Errata was released just yesterday. It caught the ears of certain listeners because the man behind Convulsing, Brendan Sloan, is also a member of Dumbsaint, who have a following. And word has been spreading. When you hear the album, I think you’ll be convinced that word will continue to spread, and damned fast and far, too. Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (NECROMANTIA)

THE REARVIEW MIRROR 2 Responses »

Nov 272016

For this Sunday’s backward look over our shoulders at metal from yesteryear I’ve picked two songs from a striking album released by Necromantia in 1995.

Necromantia is a hallowed name not just in the circles of Greek black metal but in the global covens of black metal fanatics as well. The band originally came together in the late ’80s, releasing their first demo in 1990 and a debut album called Crossing the Fiery Path in 1993. Their last full-length was 2007’s The Sound of Lucifer Storming Heaven, but their only new music since then (as far as I can tell) are the two tracks they contributed to their split with Acherontas in 2008.

The two songs you can stream below are the opening tracks to Necromantia’s second album — and probably their best — Scarlet Evil Witching Black. It was originally released by Osmose Productions in 1995, and then Osmose reissued it on CD and gatefold vinyl in 2014, and it’s also now available through the Osmose Bandcamp. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: THE LOOM OF TIME, MOROSE, CHURCH OF DISGUST, DOOMENTOR

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule 8 Responses »

Nov 262016

I hope you’re having a good Saturday, and that this post will make it even better.

I know we’ve been throwing vast quantities of music your way lately as we try to clear the decks for the coming orgy of year-end-list features, but I still have a lot of metal that I feel the need to recommend. I’ll continue trying to keep abreast of advance tracks from forthcoming albums that sound promising, but what’s really burning a hole in my head are excellent full EPs, splits, and albums that have already been released but that we’ve neglected. The best way I know to deal with that problem is to compile posts like this one, abbreviating my own reviews and letting the music speak mainly for itself.

THE LOOM OF TIME

NihilReich is the eye-opening debut album of an Australian trio named The Loom of Time. It was released in March, though I didn’t listen to it until last month despite the significant praise it received from numerous reviewers. Continue reading »

A BLACK FRIDAY SEEN AND HEARD: HOUR OF PENANCE, THE KING IS BLIND, HIGH COMMAND, GANGRENOUS

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 10 Responses »

Nov 252016

Yesterday’s Thanksgiving round-up was so humongous that I decided to restrain myself and only include new music from four bands in this one instead of a dozen. Figuring that at least our readers in the U.S. are still feeling bloated and lethargic from yesterday’s overindulgences, and on top of that are perhaps slightly depressed at being bombarded by Black Friday come-on’s designed to part them from their money, I selected songs for this collection with a particular goal in mind: To put a few megawatts of electricity through your brain and body.

You might also find these songs to be good soundtracks for maiming and killing, if you actually decide to go shopping today.

HOUR OF PENANCE

As previously reported here last month, Italy’s Hour of Penance have recorded a new album named Cast the First Stone, which will be released by Prosthetic Records on January 27, 2017, featuring cover art created by Gyula Havancsak. Conceptually, it’s based on the thesis that “the injustices suffered during the Crusades and Colonialism do not justify the chain of hate that propagandizes the destruction of the West”. You can now listen to the album’s opening track, “XXI Century Imperial Crusade“, via a lyric video. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): F.O.A.D — “BIRTH OF EXTINCTION”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Nov 252016

I’ll spell it out for you: Fuck Off and Die. I’m not talking about you, of course. But Sweden’s F.O.A.D might be. Their debut album Birth of Extinction is being released today by Mythrone Promotion and Defense Records, and we have a full stream of the album for your ears. It takes no prisoners.

Birth of Extinction may be the band’s full-length debut, but F.O.A.D (who are based in Västerås) are not newcomers. They trace their roots to a formation in 1986, although an extended hiatus followed their birth before their first demo Demo-Nical appeared in 2014. Birth of Extinction includes that demo as well as an even earlier song, “Morbid Truth”, in addition to the seven most recent album tracks. Continue reading »

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