SKULL SMASHERS: AMONG GODS, DECEPTIONIST, GRIMUS, HIPOXIA, MINDWARP, MINOTAUR HEAD, TREACHEROUS, SLOMATICS, VEX, VIMIC

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  8 Responses »
May 182016
 

Among Gods-Ghost Empire

 

Is this too much? Songs, albums, and EPs from ten bands collected in a single post instead of divided up and spread out over time so you can have recovery periods in between the skull-fracturing? I’m afraid it might be too much, but obviously not afraid enough to change the plan. Mainly, I’m too impatient to share all this fine new metal to worry very much about your cranial integrity.

In fact, you can think of this as a test for the hardness of your skull. If you can make it to the end, you have a Granite-Level Skull and should consider applying for employment as a crash-test dummy. People with Eggshell Skulls might not make it through the first track; R.I.P. Those of you in between are degrees of semi-hard and semi-soft, kind of like cheese.

AMONG GODS

Three-and-a-half years have passed since I last wrote about this band from Bergen after discovering them through a listening session for a MISCELLANY post. But the opportunity for a rediscovery has arrived, because on June 27 Argonauta Records will release their new album, Ghost Empire. Continue reading »

OKKULTOKRATI: “SNAKEREIGNS” / “NIGHT JERKS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 182016
 

Okkultokrati

 

(Allen Griffin reviews the last two albums by Norway’s Okkultokrati — which have recently been reissued by Southern Lord in advance of the band’s new album due later this year.)

In anticipation of their upcoming fourth full-length, Southern Lord is reissuing the second and third albums by Norway’s Okkultokrati, 2012’s Snakereigns and 2014’s Night Jerks, respectively. Both show a group at the top of their game, one with a unique identity but also one that’s constantly evolving.

Snakereigns is probably the heavier of the two, at least in the traditional sense. The sound is an amalgamation of metallic hardcore mixed with punishing bits of doom and sludge. What sets Okkultokrati apart, both then and now, is the pure bile they spit through the speakers, a mix of punk snarl and rock-and-roll swagger. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOZU — “BIG CASINO”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  4 Responses »
May 172016
 

Gozu-Revival

 

Get ready to move. Loosen up your neck muscles and discard any items of tight, confining clothing. Hell, just take everything off. If you feel even a slight urge to go to the bathroom, go ahead and get that out of the way now (I’ll explain why in a minute). All set? Then let’s go…

Here’s a new song named “Big Casino” from Revival, which is the forthcoming third album by Gozu, a group of Boston bruisers whom I’ve only just discovered and whose music has already proven to be powerfully addictive and absolutely, physically, compulsive. The album will arrive on June 10 via Gozu’s new label, Ripple Music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RED DAWN — “HATE”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
May 172016
 

Red Dawn-Algorithm of Destruction

 

Algorithm of Destruction is the title of the debut album by Red Dawn from Rennes in the French region of Brittany. It’s a nine-track onslaught of death metal in the bloodline of such bands as The Faceless, Necrophagist, Decapitated, Aborted, and Gorod, and today we happily bring you the premiere of the album’s second track, appropriately titled “Hate“.

If you’re in the mood to be jackhammered, eviscerated, and then shot through a threshing machine at the speed of a particle accelerator, then “Hate” is just what you need. But it offers more than the adrenaline rush of that kind of experience. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SUBTERRANEAN DISPOSITION — “ALL ROADS LEAD TO PERDITION”

 Premieres  6 Responses »
May 172016
 

Subterranean Disposition-CONTAGIUUM AND THE LANDSCAPES OF FAILURE

 

The best music videos (and unfortunately they’re a small percentage of the total) are those in which the visuals enhance the emotional impact of the music, and sometimes even make you think about the music in a different way. The video we’re premiering in this post is an example of such an effective partnership of sight and sound. It’s for the song “All Roads Lead To Perdition” by Subterranean Disposition from Melbourne, Australia, whose new album Contagiuum and the Landscapes of Failure will be released by Hypnotic Dirge Records and Solitude Productions on June 13.

This new album is the band’s second, though the group’s founder Terry Vainoras is no newcomer, having spent time in a variety of music projects for more than two decades. In addition to performing on guitar, bass, and saxophone for the album as well as contributing different vocal expressions, he enlisted the help of Dan Nahum (Bleakwood, The Veil, Dead River Runs Dry) on drums, Gelareh Pour on the Kemancheh and Qeychak Alto (plus vocals), and guest vocalist Daniel Lucas. Continue reading »

BEST OF GERMAN — AST / THRÄNENKIND / TODTGELICHTER

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
May 172016
 

Ast-Fraktale

 

(Andy Synn assembles a trio of reviews for recently released albums by German bands.)

A couple of weeks back I put together a collection of reviews under the banner of “The Best of British 2016, Part 1”, chronicling three albums, each from a different artist, currently taking the UK underground scene by storm.

And although I’m currently in the process of putting Part 2 together, you’ll note how I’ve gotten slightly side-tracked by a plethora of sterling releases from our Germanic cousins, all with their roots, historically at least, in the general sound and aesthetic of Black Metal, but all of which offer something strikingly different to the more open-minded listener. Continue reading »

REVIEWS: NOVEMBRE (“URSA”) AND OCTOBER TIDE (“WINGED WALTZ”)

 Reviews  2 Responses »
May 172016
 

Novembre-UrsaOctober Tide - Winged Waltz

 

(DGR brings us a dual review of two gloomy albums released in April, by Italy’s Novembre and Sweden’s October Tide.)

The month of April has proven to be rather interesting if you are a fan of a very specific, European-flavored branch of melancholic doom metal. Sometimes referred to as melo-doom — for lack of a better short-term genre-naming — and other times described as being ethereal, this branch has seen something of an explosion in recent years. One of the results has been the re-formation of quite a few acts, and April has brought us releases by two of them, one that has effectively been re-formed for some time and one that is returning after a nine-year hiatus.

Coincidentally, both groups also happen to be named after months themselves, with Novembre releasing their come-back album Ursa on April 1st and October Tide released their third post-revival album, Winged Waltz, on April 22nd. Long story short: If you happen to inhabit the incredibly weird niche of being a fan of the prettier side of doom and also a huge fan of months and stupid coincidences, holy shit was April the month for you. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 13)

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
May 162016
 

collage

 

(Our Norwegian comrade Gorger returns with yet another collection of releases we haven’t previously reviewed.  To find more of his discoveries, visit Gorger’s Metal.)

The 13th chapter in the infamous “bellow radar” series is fittingly compiled on Friday 13th [but posted on the 6th because the editor was asleep at the switch — Islander]. If it will air on the same date is too early to tell, and no religion has any “gods of the internet” to turn to.

Still, I hope the date rubs off, and that you have just a little bit of bad luck today. Not much, though. We wouldn’t want that. Continue reading »

UPDATES: LORD IMPALER AND OAK PANTHEON

 Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 162016
 

Lord Impaler-Demology-The Decade of Obscurity

 

Here are a couple of quick news items of interest that qualify as updates to recent posts here at our putrid site.

LORD IMPALER

In a Shades of Black post yesterday I included a video of the first live performance by the Greek black metal band Lord Impaler in 16 years, opening for Rotting Christ on May 13 in Kastoria, Greece, and performing a new song from their forthcoming second album In Full Regalia. And today Lord Impaler followed that landmark event in their history with an announcement I thought was worth spreading around — especially because it involves an offer of free music, much of which has been hard to find: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AEGRUS, BEHEXEN, CULT OF FIRE, GRAND MAGUS, MORNING MODE, THE ORDER OF ISRAFEL, SVARTELDER, THRÄNENKIND, TOSKA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 162016
 

Dávid Glomba-Cult of Fire cover

 

(One of our friends from Norway, eiterorm, rejoins NCS with a guest “Seen and Heard” post, collecting news and/or recommended new music from a diverse array of 9 bands.)

While Islander is recovering from his Friday night sufferings, alcoholic daemons, and (gasp!) metal shows, I thought I’d step in with an occasional roundup.

AEGRUS

The Finnish black metal band Aegrus recently revealed the details for their upcoming release. The EP, entitled Conjuring the Old Echoes, will be unearthed some time this summer via Hammer of Hate Records. Below is the track list for the release. Continue reading »

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