AN NCS PREMIERE: VILES VITAE — “THE VORTEX OF DISHARMONY”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 132017
 

 

Viles Vitae are a new Portuguese black metal band, but one whose members are reputedly experienced and known within the Portuguese extreme metal underground. They’ve recorded a debut EP entitled IV, which is founded upon four elemental principles used in ritual magic and consist of four songs. In advance of the EP’s release next month by Caverna Abismal Records, we bring you the first streaming of one of the EP’s four incantations, a song called “The Vortex of Disharmony“.

To listen to the song is indeed like being pulled into a disconcerting vortex. It’s unrelentingly intense and disturbing, even though the fury of its arcane energies waxes and wanes like the blaze of the moon, and it exerts a tight grip on the listener’s attention from start to finish. Continue reading »

KREATOR: “GODS OF VIOLENCE”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jan 132017
 

 

(This is TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new 14th studio album by Germany’s Kreator.)

Kreator is a pretty big fucking deal to many people, including me. They are one of the most consistent thrash bands from the genre’s early heyday who have not only produced consistently killer music but have been unafraid to experiment and change things around during their career, always doing so with bold ambition. I’ve been a big fan of the thrash-meets-melodic-death-metal direction the band have been on since Violent Revolution, with Enemy Of God and Phantom Antichrist being absolute modern classic albums that have undeniable power.

In addition, Mille Petrozza is one of my favorite thrash front-men and one of the best riff writers in metal, his voice striking in how pissed-off and forceful it sounds and his riffs bringing remarkable intensity and tasteful technicality. Among the old guard, those talents are almost unrivaled (among modern thrash bands, David DiSanto of Vektor would probably take my vote). And with those confessions of zealous loyalty out of the way, let’s turn to Gods of Violence. Continue reading »

BLACK ANVIL: “AS WAS”

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Jan 132017
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by NY’s Black Anvil.)

Towards the tail-end of 2016 I conducted an as-yet-unpublished interview with Black Anvil bassist/vocalist Paul Delaney about the band’s upcoming new album, As Was (out today on Relapse Records).

During said conversation he ruefully acknowledged that the fact that the band’s members all have roots in the NYC Hardcore scene tends to unnecessarily dominate the conversation a lot of the time, often causing people to read into things, or hear things, that aren’t there, and leading interviewers to say or ask things which make it clear they’ve made certain assumptions about the band, and about their music, that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

So I had to laugh when skimming through some of the coverage of As Was on the internet recently, noting several writers/reviewers still attempting to cast doubt upon the band’s sincerity and/or integrity, with the general gist seeming to be that it’s impossible for tattooed ex-Hardcore guys to truly “get” Black Metal, which is a genre that’s solely the preserve of weedy dudes in face paint, who truly understand “darkness” (no parents?).

I mean, are we honestly still going with the whole “jocks vs nerds” stereotype?

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the urge, the need, to see and hold a style of music as “yours”. Particularly if it’s been such a formative part of your identity for so long. But to write off a band simply because they haven’t followed the same path as you is just ludicrous.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat… or to blast a beat… after all. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2016’s MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 9): MITHRAS, BLOOD INCANTATION, VOID OMNIA

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2016  12 Responses »
Jan 122017
 

 

I know it’s damned late in the day for another post — probably past bed-time for some of our readers across the Atlantic — but I’ll be damned if I let another day go by without resuming the rollout of this Most Infectious Song series. This train must keep on rolling! (If you’d like to see the songs that preceded these three or learn what we mean by “most infectious”, go here.)

I continue to have fun picking combinations of songs for each installment. The three songs in this one are musically quite distinct, although all of them display phenomenal musicianship, but they do have a few things in common. Perhaps the most obvious one is a fascination with SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE….

MITHRAS

I assume I don’t need to provide much of an introduction to the new Mithras album, On Strange Loops. Nevertheless, I assume I’d have to pay some wretched price if I mentioned Mithras without quoting from my friend Andy Synn’s review, so here goes: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): NIGHTBRINGER, LVX HAERESIS, ENGULFED, QUESTION, ZETKIN, TENDRILS LOOM OVERHEAD AS MOSS BELOW

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jan 122017
 

 

Two days after promising Part 2 of a round-up, here it is. I’ve been fighting (and losing) a brutal battle with a vicious cold. Between that bloody conflict and other commitments, both related and unrelated to NCS, I got thrown off-track.

Most of the items in this collection were the ones I intended to write about two days ago, but since then I’ve found many other new things to like, including the one that begins this post. I might do another one of these for tomorrow, depending on how the land war in my sinuses goes. Looks like I’ll be living in the recent past for a while.

NIGHTBRINGER

Season of Mist has revealed details about Nightbringer’s new album, as well as an advance track. The album’s name is Terra Damnata and it’s set for release on April 14. As you can see, the cover art by the talented David Herrerias was also revealed, as well as this comment about the album by the band: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ENEPSIGOS — “PAGAN RITES”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 122017
 

 

We’ve learned that any band in which the Norwegian artist Doedsadmiral is involved will be worth checking out. Those bands include Nordjevel, Svartelder, and Doedsvangr, and now there’s one more to add to the list. Under his guise as V.I.T.H.R, he fronts a new group called Enepsigos, in which he is joined by Straff (ex-Sarkom) on guitars and bass and Italian drummer Thorns, who has worked with Blut Aus Nord, Deathrow, Fides Inversa, Frostmoon Eclipse, and Darvaza (among others).

The debut album of Enepsigos is named Plague Ov Plagues, and it’s set for release on January 15 by Drakkar Productions. Last fall we wrote about an advance song from the album named “Manifestum”, and now it’s our pleasure to share with you a video for another song called “Pagan Rites“, created by Hugo Aribart. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: BALFOR — “BLACK SERPENT RISING”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 122017
 

 

This past November we premiered a video for an impressive song called “Serpents of the Black Sun” by the Ukrainian band Balfor, and today we follow that with a premiere stream of the entire album which includes that song: Black Serpent Rising. The album will be released on January 15, 2017, by Drakkar Productions.

Balfor’s line-up includes current and former members of such notable 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 and significant line-up changes occurring over that interval as well. Continue reading »

BEGERITH: “A.D.A.M.”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Jan 122017
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this review of the new album by Begerith, which was released on January 7.)

Sometimes we really are just born in the wrong place. Life really is just a matter of random chance and circumstance. Sometimes we’re born out of time, out of place, our identity isn’t consistent with what surrounds us, and we were always destined to be that eyesore. Begerith seem to have been so convinced of that wrongness that they literally relocated to the country that hosts the sound they identified with. Russian natives, they fled to the majesty of Poland, so they too could build their own ramparts on an imperial mobile sonic fortress that knows no equal.

Begerith are 100% consummate scholars of the Polish deathly metallic arts despite their Russian roots. If you love the scathing, bleak imperial might of Behemoth, Hate, or Vader you will be right at home here. A.D.A.M. is an impressive record, both in its dedication to what it wishes to be and also because it’s really fucking good. Continue reading »

LEPROUS VORTEX SUN

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 122017
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by the Belarusian band Leprous Vortex Sun.)

Try as I might, it’s just not possible to catch every new gem that dropped in 2016, especially among releases that dropped in December, such as the Youdash which Islander covered and I recently covered myself elsewhere. But, since Youdash has been covered here, let’s focus instead on the Belarus black metal band Leprous Vortex Sun, who dropped a terrifying new album on December 21st. Thankfully, my fellow geeky friends often tip me off to stuff like this, so thank you Amir for sharing this with me!

I had to translate the album title (По направлению к Солнцу, плавящему изнутри кости), as it’s originally written in the band’s native tongue using the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, if I’m not mistaken. Roughly translated, what it comes out to in English is: Towards the sun, melting the bones inside. Couple that creepy title with the freakish artwork, and the vibe is set for something grim and otherworldly before you even hit play.

Once you do, it’s a veritable carnival of feverish horror at every turn, mainly consisting of lengthy lumbering songs punctuated by intense chaotic shifts. It poisons you with skin-crawling dissonance masked as “riffs” amidst waves of bestial hoarse screams and growls, while the drumming alternates between a lurch and a full-on weaponised full-throttle assault on a whim. To call this fucked up and deranged-sounding is almost an understatement. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FLESHMEADOW (JØRN ANDRÉ STØRDAL)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jan 122017
 

 

(Norway-based Karina Noctum returns with this interview of Jørn André Størdal, composer/guitarist of the Norwegian metal band Fleshmeadow, whose debut album Umbra we premiered and reviewed here just last month.)

Fleshmeadow are a pretty interesting band. They have a relentless, tight tempo that reminds me of Keep of Kalessin. They have the Norwegian sound roots firmly in place, but have dared to blend in sounds from other modern metal styles, including drumming patterns that range from straightforward powerful BM to a more blues/postmetal subtle elegance. When it comes to the guitars you’ll find BM-oriented harmonics and pretty techy scales that at times blend to conform again to a BM pattern.

So it is varied and textured. It is a refreshening musical experience, if you take into account the amount of black’n’roll that is coming out of Norway now. Layered over a  powerful drumming discharge is a subtle atmospheric layer skillfully created with the guitars. So it is both a beautiful and intense musical experience. This is a good solid release that deserves all your support. Continue reading »

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