NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GRAVESLAVE — “STRANGE DAYS”

Apr 202016

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song and video from Graveslave.)

Ever since Todd Farnham from Invidiosus (and Amiensus!) first got in touch with me about helping premiere music for his sick band several years ago, he has consistently kept me in the loop with a ton of awesome new metal bands close to his neck of the woods. Earlier this year he showed me Sunless, which Islander himself made mention of at NCS, and I myself covered at Metal Injection. Recently he tipped me off to another band I was new to called Graveslave, whose members are split between Minneapolis and Denver.

Liking what I heard by them at the time, I agreed to help them launch a new video that doubles as a song premiere for a new single by the band called “Strange Days”. While not everyone out in the world is celebrating today, Graveslave is, since it’s 4/20! As such, the video is a weed-themed ode to the horrific perils that Reefer Madness warned us about all those years ago. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FORMLESS — “PRISM”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Apr 202016

(Austin Weber brings us the premiere of a new song by Formless, with this introduction:)

It seems like just yesterday that I first became familiar with Connecticut-based technical death metal unit Formless when they dropped their sick three-song demo EP back in 2010. Over the years, their name continued to spread and be mentioned among the tech-death faithful, all the while we waited for the band to release something new. Well, the long wait is finally over, as the band’s debut full-length, Eon, is finally dropping on Tuesday, May 10th! And we’ve got the exclusive premiere of a brand new song off it called “Prism”.

Much like the band’s music in the past, “Prism” culls influences and ideas from all over the larger tech-death and death metal styles around to form a multi-faceted synthesis all their own. So it shreds, it stomps, it soars, and even offers up sparse moments of beautiful clean singing from guitarist Annie Grunwald amidst the myriad of ideas that “Prism” is composed of. As a song title, “Prism” perfectly describes this kind of layered technical death metal composition, full of many shades and colors. Continue reading »

DARK HARDCORE: RECOMMENDATIONS FROM NEILL JAMESON (KRIEG)

Album Reviews 9 Responses »

Apr 202016

(In this post we bring you the first of what we hope will be many recommendations of music at NCS by Neill Jameson (Krieg).)

Over the weekend I saw Nails at Choosing Death in Philadelphia. Much like the previous times I’ve seen them it was the audial equivalent of a bulldozer; aggressive, violent, and most importantly, ugly. It made me remember that their Unsilent Death record was a very important moment in my life, creating and feeding my interest in hardcore as a genre beyond either what seemed to me to be loaded with guys lifting weights and shopping for baseball hats on one side of the fence and old bands like Black Flag and Poison Idea who made some of my favorite punk records on the other. I learned that there was hardcore out there that was negative, dark, and expressed something beyond what seemed like a frat house aesthetic.

In the few years since then I’ve been digging into the genre and finding a lot of really, to me, interesting records that fed the need for the dark and heavy sounds of metal while expressing the sort of negative emotions that are fairly constant in my life. Labels like A389, Organized Crime, Melotov, and Magic Bullet are just some that work within this area and are good spots to check out if you have further interest.

I approached NCS with the idea to occasionally pop in and write about music that’s important to me that other folks into metal might not be familiar with but could appreciate. I figured dark hardcore would be a good place to start. So without giving you more back story you don’t care about, here’s a few bands & records to check out. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GRAVE DESECRATOR — “TEMPLE OF ABOMINATIONS”

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Apr 202016

The Brazilian hellraisers in Grave Desecrator had their beginning in 1998 and since then have released two albums, a couple of EPs, and splits with the likes of Archgoat and Black Witchery. Last fall they signed a pact with Season of Mist for the release of their new third album, Dust To Lust, which has now been scheduled for detonation on July 1.

Even those of you who have been brutalized by the band’s music in the past may be curious about what Grave Desecrator have wrought in the five and a half years since their last album, and today we bring you a sign as we premiere a track named “Temple of Abominations“.

The band have previewed the music themselves in these words about the song from bassist Élson “El” Necrogoat: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BEHEXEN — “CHALICE OF THE ABYSSAL WATER”

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Apr 202016

If you’re wondering about that thundering black mass of a storm on the horizon, the one with the boiling fires of Hades at its center and crackling tendrils of lightning that spear the earth in a fury, it’s not a natural phenomenon. It’s the approach of a new album by Behexen.

The fifth full-length by these infamous Finnish demons fittingly bears the name The Poisonous Path, and it will descend upon us on May 27 via Debemur Morti Productions. In this post we bring the premiere of its first advance track, “Chalice of the Abyssal Water“.

Four years after Nightside Emanations and almost 20 years after their first demo, Behexen show no signs of repentance or fatigue, but instead a dedication to further perfecting their hellish black art. Continue reading »

GREY HEAVEN FALL: “BLACK WISDOM”

Album Reviews 9 Responses »

Apr 192016

I’m sure no one’s counting (including me), but I don’t manage to write many stand-alone album reviews in a given year. In the time I have available to devote to this site, I spend most of it doing other things. I listen to many forthcoming albums that I like a great deal, and yet never manage to say anything about (many more I never manage to hear at all). And once an album is released, if I haven’t already written about it, I tend to ruefully shake my head at myself and move on down the road to new things looming on the horizon ahead.

This is a very rare occasion when I’m not doing that. Grey Heaven Fall’s Black Wisdom was released last October by the small Russian label Aesthetics of Devastation. I received an advance digital copy, and then in December the label sent me a CD. I thought the album was an amazing accomplishment, one of the best I heard in 2015, yet I still didn’t manage to write about it. And that would have been that, except this label is persistent, and they contacted me again recently. Sometimes that kind of persistence can be aggravating. In this case, it made me think again about what a tremendously creative and powerful album Black Wisdom is, and I convinced myself that even now, almost six months after the release, I owed it to the band to say so.

Trying to describe the multifaceted music or explain its unusual appeal is difficult, especially for someone like me who’s still a rank amateur when it comes to writing about music. But I’m going to try, comforted by the knowledge that at the end of this effort I can embed a full stream of the music and let it speak for itself. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 72: INCOMING CEREBRAL OVERDRIVE

THE SYNN REPORT 2 Responses »

Apr 192016

(We present the April edition of THE SYNN REPORT, in which Andy discourses about all three albums in the discography of Italy’s Incoming Cerebral Overdrive.)

Recommended for fans of: The Dillinger Escape Plan, (early) Mastodon, Nero di Marte

Somehow this Italian quintet have completely passed me by up until now, despite releasing three extremely well-received albums within the past 8 years. Thankfully this edition of The Synn Report allows me an opportunity to rectify my mistake, and really dive into the band’s eclectic, eccentric, electrifying Prog/Tech/Math Metal stew.

Now, to be clear, when I use the term “Progressive” in this column, it’s to refer to the more chaotic, out-there-adventurousness of bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Botch, and early Mastodon – so don’t go expecting some sort of Dream Theatre-esque instrumental extravaganza or gleaming, harmony-laden Post-Metal odyssey – as Incoming Cerebral Overdrive (or I.C.O. as they shall hereto forth be referred to) have a much rawer, more experimental vibe to their music, and aren’t afraid to take a few risks whilst also keeping things nice and heavy.

That being said, their most recent album (2012’s Le Stelle: A Voyage Adrift) definitely saw them reining in the chaotic Hardcore influences of their earlier works in favour of a more refined — though no less challenging — sound, so it’s clear that the Italian band aren’t done experimenting and progressing (in the most literal sense of the word) their sound just yet! Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 11)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 16 Responses »

Apr 192016

(Our contributor from Norway, Gorger, returns with the 11th edition of his series recommending releases that we’ve managed to overlook. To find more of his discoveries, visit Gorger’s Metal.)

Sometimes, my mouth has diarrhea. Other times, I’ve got less crap to share. Oh, wait, I’ve got one thing. One of these scrawlings is longer than the others, and so I find three to be an adequate number of presentations this time. I hope it’s not too long, and that you will at least take the time to listen to the music. And so, without further ado, I present three albums that I for one feel deserve your attention. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EPIDEMIA — “RETRIBUCIÓN HOMICIDA”

Premieres 5 Responses »

Apr 182016

Although South America has been home to some of the world’s best death metal and thrash bands going back to the 1980s, the high country of Ecuador is less well-known as a spawning ground for metal extremity than some of the other nations on the continent. Yet Ecuador is home to Epidemia, a band who proudly carry on the tradition of adrenaline-fueled savagery launched by such groups as Sarcófago, Sepultura, and Sadism. Their forthcoming second album, Leprocomio, follows the first one by a decade, but this is certainly a case of better-late-than-never — as you’ll discover through our stream of the album’s second track, “Retribución Homicida“.

Every now and then, as a public service, I warn people to sit down before listening to some of the music we stream on this site — unless you actually feel like getting knocked on your ass. This is one of those times. You do get a bit of warning from the song itself: The opening snare fusillades and that meat-grinding riff that goes along with it send up the red flag, but it still probably won’t prepare you for the absolute decimation to come. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: STANGALA

Interviews No Responses »

Apr 182016

(Comrade Aleks brings us another very entertaining and informative interview with the two core members of the unusual Breton band Stangala.)

That extravagant outfit from Brittany returns after three years of searches with a new refreshed sound and new avant-garde melodies which were formed under the name Klañv… Oh, well, let me introduce you to the Stangala band.

They started in far 2006 as a trio – Steven Le Moan (guitars, vocals), Thomas Coïc (drums), and Alexandre Miossec (bass). This lineup recorded the Boued Tousek Hag Traou Mat All debut in 2011, “drug-fueled” psychedelic doom rock with some Breton tunes and Breton lyrics. About two years later the band (without Alexandre this time) took part in split-record with the Stonebirds group; this work was named Kreizh Breizh Sessions – Vol.1. This time Stangala performed a highly eclectic mix of doom stoner with black metal, with some Breton colors as well.

And now? Their second full-length Klañv, released by Finisterian Dead End on the 24th of March, shows avant-garde Celtic doom black rock as it probably could be. It’s an imprecise term, but you can easily check it – there are a few necessary links down the text. Oh, and the text… It’s our interview with Steven and Thomas. Continue reading »

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