NO CLEAN SINGING

OLD CORPSE ROAD: “OF CAMPFIRES AND EVENING MISTS”

Jun 082016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Old Corpse Road.)

I suppose one of the reasons I’m so… selective (some might say “picky”, some might say “elitist”, some might say “hey you, just get on with it!”) when it comes to what bands from the UK I choose to write about is my distaste for the unfortunate sycophancy and self-regard which infests much of our home-grown Metal media.

After all, we’re a small nation, with a disproportionately large influence (particularly historically) on the Metal world, which inevitably breeds a certain parochialism and provincialism. Everyone has to be nice to everyone else, whether they truly mean it or not, because no-one wants to end up ostracised or shut out of the various clans and cliques, or construed as a traitor to the cause of “True British Heavy Metal” and its blinkered sense of national pride.

Indeed, sometimes it seems almost like a point of honour to show that we can produce just as many generic Machine Head/Pantera clones as our American cousins, or keep pace with our European brethren in the race to release as many half-baked Melodeath or interchangeable Black Metal albums as possible each year.

That’s why I’m always happy to throw my weight behind any band who demonstrates that extra flash of intelligence, intensity, or integrity I’m looking for. Bands like Wode, King Goat, and The King Is Blind (to name but a few)… bands like Rannoch, The Infernal Sea… and Old Corpse Road. Continue reading »

HIGH FIGHTER: “SCARS & CROSSES”

Album Reviews, Interviews 1 Response »

Jun 082016

(In this post Comrade Aleks combines excerpts from his interview with the German band High Fighter and thoughts about their debut album Scars & Crosses, due for release on June 10 by Svart Records.)

Mona Miluski (vocals) and Christian Pappas (guitars) started together in the heavy stoner band A Million Miles, but the band split up in early 2013, only a couple of days right after they released a first full-length album and after they had been together for more than 5 years.

It took Christian and Mona almost a year to get back on their feet in music. In the beginning of 2014, they started to look into founding a new project, when Ingwer Boysen joined ’em as the lead guitarist. His current band at that time, Buffalo Hump, had no singer at that point, so there was a bassist and a drummer left — all they needed to complete a new band line-up. So it was Ingwer who came up with the idea of bringing Constantin (bass) and Thomas (drums) into the new project that later would become High Fighter. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): HAIL SPIRIT NOIR, ROTTING CHRIST, KVALVAAG, INCULCATOR, DER ROTE MILAN

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK 9 Responses »

Jun 072016

For almost two weeks I’ve been in the throes of Maryland Deathfest frenzy, taking time away from many of my typical blogging activities to attend the festival itself and then re-living the experience through a five-part recap all of last week. I missed a lot of new music, and of course when you check out for that long in today’s riotously fecund metal environment there’s no way to completely catch up. However, I have spent some hours making incomplete lists of what I missed and then listening… and from that I have some songs I want to recommend.

Many of the new songs I want to write about are connected in various ways to black metal, and I’ve collected some of them here, along with one recent piece of very enticing news. There will be at least one more installment in this blackened catch-up collection, and maybe two if time allows.

HAIL SPIRIT NOIR

I think of Hail Spirit Noir as sonic alchemists, highly adept at combining different stylistic ingredients and transmuting them into strange and wondrous sounds. They’ve proven those alchemical talents through two albums so far — Pneuma in 2012 and Oi Magoi in 2014 — and last month they announced that a third one is on the way. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NOIRE — “THE TRACKS OF THE HUNTED”

Premieres 6 Responses »

Jun 072016

With a 2011 demo and a 2013 debut album (Dark Reverence) behind them, the Canadian band Noire have completed work on a new six-track EP named The Tracks of the Hunted, which they will release on July 8. Today we bring you a premiere of the title track.

While the EP was constructed on a scaffolding of black metal, the completed edifice incorporates diverse materials ranging from ambient-styled sounds to piano and acoustic guitar. The track you’re about to hear is itself a wide-ranging journey, though the softer sounds of acoustic instrumentation were put aside for this dynamic trip. Continue reading »

ARCANA 13: “DANZA MACABRA”

Album Reviews, Interviews 4 Responses »

Jun 072016

(Comrade Aleks provides NCS readers an introduction to Italy’s Arcana 13 and their album Danza Macabra, with excerpts from Aleks‘ interview of the band at Doom-Metal.com.)

Here’s the short guide for Italian horror cinematograph-with-doom outfit Arcana 13 who dedicated the entire album Danza Macabra to this outstanding genre. Let the horror in!

Arcana 13’s original lineup is a bunch of talented musicians who know what they want and know how to reach their goals. Andrea Burdisso is on guitar and main vocals, Simone Bertozzi plays guitar and sings as well, and then there is Filippo Petrini as bass guitarist and Luigi Taroni on the drums. They’ve all been in the music scene since the ’90s, and they are long-time friends too. Continue reading »

BLOOD RED THRONE: “UNION OF FLESH AND MACHINE”

Album Reviews 18 Responses »

Jun 072016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Norway’s Blood Red Throne.)

Eight albums in and it still feel like Norwegian wrecking crew Blood Red Throne never quite get the respect they deserve. I mean, by this point the band are effectively a Death Metal institution, and even their lesser albums (of which there aren’t many) are still more than capable of levelling a small town.

Maybe Union of Flesh and Machine will be the album to change that. Or maybe it won’t. Only time will tell. But it’s hard to deny that the band’s latest album is yet another top-tier terminator of crushing, grooving, blasting belligerence and cold, calculated aggression. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OBELYSKKH (STUART WEST)

Interviews 1 Response »

Jun 062016

(Comrade Aleks brings us this interview with Stuart West of the German doom titans Obelyskkh.)

Bulky and massive, Obelyskkh rises over the German doom scene like a mammoth ancient extraterrestrial ship. The band experiments over its own distorted and transmutated form of psychedelic doom metal, mixing within their songs elements of different subgenres and retelling through their songs myths and archetypes of the past. There are three albums in Obelyskkh’s discography, and musically they’re different though united with the idea of experiments, improvisation, and dark unearthly vision. Their third album Hymn to Pan was released in 2013, so I was wondering if they planned to release something new. It was difficult, but finally Stuart “The WhizKid” West (guitars, synth) answered my questions. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: INVIDIOSUS — “NEUROTIC MISERY”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jun 062016

(Austin Weber brings us this premiere of a video for a song from the new EP by Minnesota’s Invidiosus.)

Longtime NCS readers might be familiar with Minneapolis death metal squid squad Invidiosus since we’ve been covering them frequently here since 2014 — not to mention that the band shares a bassist (Todd Farnham) with fellow NCS favorites Amiensus. We last covered Invidiosus back in February, when we helped them launch a badass stand-alone single called “Neurotic Misery”. Continuing to release new tunes while persistently evolving, the band is including this single on an upcoming EP called Guided Towards The Inevitable, which will come out on Friday, June 17th, through Twin Town Tyrant Records. I’ll also help the band stream all five songs a few days before the EP’s release over at Metal-Injection on Tuesday, June 14th, just as a heads-up!

Ahead of its release, we’ve got a refresher of “Neurotic Misery” for you in the form of an exclusive launch of a music video for the song. Like previous videos by the band that we’ve premiered, this one again shows the fun and silly side of the band instead of being a solely performance-focused piece. If you missed the song when we premiered it months ago, that’s all the more reason to make sure to hit play below and take in some eclectic and tasty death metal. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 14): EP SPECIAL

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 6 Responses »

Jun 062016

(We welcome you to the glorious 14th part of our Norwegian comrade Gorger’s highlighting of releases we haven’t previously reviewed. To find more of his discoveries, visit Gorger’s Metal.)

I’ve got a few shorter releases to share with you today. I’m calling it an EP special, but for good measure, I’m tossing in a split and a graphic novel(!) too. I’ve also shortened down my ramblings to leave you sore-eared rather than sore-eyed. Enjoy. Continue reading »

NAILS: “YOU WILL NEVER BE ONE OF US”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Jun 062016

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Nails.)

Over the years trends in metal come and go, leading up into 2016 when grindcore and powerviolence seemed poised to break through into the metal mainstream. What Weekend Nachos failed to deliver is now jackhammered into your face by this trio from California, who possess a guitar tone as nasty as the instrument can achieve while still being able to create riffs capable of holding together actual songs. For the purpose of this review, the word “song” is used to refer to sharp bursts of rage.

Grindcore has never been my forte, as the genre’s range of dynamic expression sonically feels like coloring with only the red crayon of anger. While this might limit what many bands do, Nails are savants at coloring with this crayon so well that your only choice is to hold on for the jolting ride. Continue reading »

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