NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: ENTITY — “200,000 YEARS”

Jul 122016

Following a five-track demo and a two-song single in 2014, the Winnipeg-based death metal band Entity are working toward the completion of their debut album Phobia Of The Formless, and today we have the pleasure of bringing you the premiere of a single from the album named “200,000 Years“.

What you’ll hear in this new song is technically adept and convincingly sinister death metal that follows an arc, building steadily toward a climax of ferocious intensity, urged on by a tandem of ravenous growls, howls, and shrieks, and then progressively slowing into a gruesome, head-hammering stomp. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): EVIL PRIEST (SELF-TITLED EP)

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 6 Responses »

Jul 122016

Caligari Records has unearthed yet another underground gem, this time excavating the self-titled debut EP of Peruvian death-bringers Evil Priest from the dank pit of abomination where they dwell. In advance of the EP’s release later this week, we have overcome our fearful cowering in the face of this monstrosity and deliver unto you a full stream of its four tracks.

The opening number, “Icarus”, is the only part of the album that doesn’t try to maim and dismember the listener. Though not as violent and horrifying as what comes next, “Icarus” is still unsettling, an eerie collage of rushing wind, bird calls, chimes, and an exotic melodic chant that together function as a foreboding meditation before the storm breaks. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEFEATED SANITY — “THE QUEST FOR NON-EXISTENCE”

Premieres 7 Responses »

Jul 122016

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song from the new two-part album by Germany’s Defeated Sanity.)

Legendary German brutal/technical death metal unit Defeated Sanity need no lengthy introduction at this point; the band have long since proven their craft over a span of many years, over time growing more sophisticated and refined with each release. Their career so far has culminated in their upcoming release, Disposal Of The Dead // Dharmata, which the band have dubbed a “split with themselves”– an assertion that rings true, if you give me a moment to explain.

The first half of the album is a tried-and-true slab of crushing Defeated Sanity tunes as they normally sound, albeit a bit more stripped-down at some points — but I dig it. Then, the second half is the band experimenting with tracks that are inspired by, and pay homage to, old-school progressive death metal sounds of old, such as Cynic, Death, and Atheist. For these tracks, the band recruited Max Phelps (vocalist/guitarist for Exist, and a live performer with both Cynic and Death To All) to perform his similar-to-Chuck-Schuldiner screams over-top these songs. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 15): WARFECT, KILLING FOR COMPANY, TRUE BLACK DAWN, HARM, NARVIK

Album Reviews 9 Responses »

Jul 122016

(Our Norwegian friend Gorger doesn’t seem to tire of highlighting releases that we have overlooked, and so (with our thanks) we present Part 15 of this ongoing series. To find more of his discoveries, visit Gorger’s Metal.)

Another month has gone by in what ought to be a seminal monthly appearance according to all the shit you navel-contemplating scum washouts fail to catch up with.

Oh well, you’ve already covered some of my favorites, like Glorior Belli, Grimness, Gorguts, Howls of Ebb, Quercus, Vainaja, Luna’s Call, Behexen, Eyestral, Kvalvaag, Deisidaemonia, Grave Desecrator, Black Fucking Cancer, Be’lakor, Light of the Morning Star, Vanhelgd, Cloak, and Der Rote Milan.

So what favourites am I left with from the past five weeks or so, deserving of your time and patience?

My plan is to present five overlooked gems from May this time, and five July releases on the next occasion. Or rather: releases that I managed to process these months. In theory, I should have trimmed down redundant BS and gone straight to the essence, both for your sake and for my own simplicity. Only thing is, I actually spend more time editing my writing than just presenting it full of excessive flaws. Oh, well, I hope you find some pieces of juicy poisonous apples to bite into and choke on. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SPIRE — “LABYRINTHINE”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jul 112016

Australia’s Spire have been rising steadily from underground depths like an obsidian tower surging through basaltic slag. They first appeared through a self-titled EP in 2010 and then followed that with 2011’s Metamorph EP and a 2015 split with Midnight Odyssey. Continuing their upward momentum, the band have now recorded a debut album entitled Entropy, which will be released on the 19th of August by Iron Bonehead Productions.

The first advance track from this imposing monolith surfaced in June, and “Void” proved to be a dense and devastating hurricane of sound, a deeply doomed and despairing brand of black metal. Now we give you the chance to hear a second track. Fittingly, this one is called “Labyrinthine“. Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN PRESENTS: REVIEWS IN HAIKUS (THE FORESHADOWING, BINARY CODE, THE LION’S DAUGHTER)

Album Reviews, Reviews In Haikus 11 Responses »

Jul 112016

(Andy Synn returns to an old, irregular series of album reviews in haiku. Three reviews of three lines each come after the jump. With music, of course.)

This week is brought to you by the number “the”.

By which I mean that every band I’m reviewing this week is one of those “the something” bands.

Naming conventions aside though, they’re all quite different, running the gamut from leviathan Doom to scintillating Tech to totally not Metal at all, so whoever you are, there should be something to tickle your earbuds over the course of the next 5-7 days!

Let’s begin with some of my trademark pithy haikus, as I know some of you have been missing them and clamouring (quietly) for their return. Continue reading »

BLACK METAL (PT. 1): A COLLECTION CURATED BY NEILL JAMESON (KRIEG)

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Jul 112016

(We welcome back Neill Jameson (Krieg) with the first installment of a multi-part post devoted to under-the-radar black metal releases worthy of greater attention.)

While it seems a lot of what’s going around in black metal these days is more driven by aesthetics and shock value than ever, it still has a certain potency that other genres within metal don’t seem to be able to match. That being said, I can’t think of a lot of current bands that I obsessively listen to the way I would when I was younger and potentially more full of shit than I am now at this ripe old age.

Elderly bitching aside, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about records and bands that went somewhat under the radar at the time of release and sit in relative obscurity now, mostly because people have shitty taste (myself included), so I figured I’d use a column or two and shed some light on some records in the genre I’ve never been able to walk away from for whatever reason, the sort of releases that if I ever came into an excess of money I’d love to release on vinyl so that they would sit in my office unsold while people download it along with some weird virus that broadcasts Russian incest porn to their e-mail contacts. Here’s a few to start with: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: STILLA — “SKUGGFLOCK”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Jul 112016

Skuggflock is the name of the new third album by Sweden’s Stilla, and August 19 is the date set for its joint release by Bindrune Recordings in North America and Nordvis Produktion in Europe. Today we are joining with sites across the Atlantic to bring you the premiere of the album’s title track.

Stilla are a black metal band, but far from the stereotype of a Scandinavian black metal band, and Skuggflock moves in directions that are far from the norm. That much was evident from the first track that appeared from the new album, “Vårens sista önskan”, which we wrote about in May, soon after it appeared. Fast and furious at the start, it morphs into a multitude of forms as it surges forward, becoming bleak and haunting in its ambience, and ultimately kindling memories of horror movie soundtracks from the ’70s, a la Goblin. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): MAKE, ULTHAR, WITCH IN HER TOMB, CAIRN

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 2 Responses »

Jul 102016

Ms. Islander and I were at an outdoor wedding and reception yesterday. It began in the late afternoon and continued late into the night around a fire with an intermittent misting rain. We had a great time, but it has caused a slow start for my Sunday blogging.

I had collected music from eight bands to recommend in this latest Shades of Black post, but because it’s already early afternoon here in the Pacific Northwest I’ve decided to split up the collection into two parts. Otherwise, this post would be appearing even later than it already is; also, eight may be too much music to digest in one sitting anyway. With luck, I’ll get the second half finished in time to post on Monday. Hope you enjoy what’s included here.

MAKE

I’m going to start and finish this collection with music from two bands I discovered thanks to tips from my friend Miloš. The first of these is a trio of songs from an album entitled Pilgrimage of Loathing by a North Carolina band named Make. The album, which is their third full-length, will be released on July 15 by the Portland (OR) label Accident Prone. Before hearing the music, I was enamored of the cover art by Fritz Silberbaur — and then became enamored of the music, too. Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (DAWN)

THE REARVIEW MIRROR 10 Responses »

Jul 102016

I devoted last week’s Rearview Mirror post to Unanimated, and it seemed only natural to follow that one with this week’s feature on Dawn — another early Swedish band whose music evolved from death metal toward melodic black metal, producing albums between 1994 and 1998 that are still revered today and who are still hinting at a further album to come, although when that will happen remains a mystery.

Dawn’s first three demos were released during 1992 – 1993, and those were followed in 1994 by their debut album Nær sólen gar niþer for evogher (“when the sun goes down forever”). After a split with Pyphomgertum and a 1996 EP, Sorgh på svarte vingar fløgh (“Sorrow flew on black wings”), the band released their widely acclaimed second album, Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy). That was in 1998, and Dawn haven’t released anything new since then. Continue reading »

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