NO CLEAN SINGING

SEEN AND HEARD: SHADOW WOODS 2016, PLAGUE RIDER, VAINAJA, EINAR SELVIK AND FRIENDS, PHOBOCOSM, AND TEN VIDEOS

Apr 112016

As we begin the new week, I have some unfortunate news (at least it’s unfortunate for me). Beginning today and continuing through Thursday morning, I have to bury myself in my fucking day job for one of those day-and-night projects that periodically descends upon me. I’ll make time to post what other writers have sent me, as well as a few premieres I’ve agreed to do, but aside from this round-up and one “Short But Sweet” review I wrote over the weekend, I will be missing in action until sometime Thursday.

Before saying good-bye, I’ve collected a few items that I wanted to share — including, at the end of this post, streams of ten recent videos without commentary (because I’ve run out of time for commentary).

SHADOW WOODS METAL FESTIVAL

I’m late sharing this news, but the news is so exciting that I’m following the “better late than never” mantra. Last year’s Shadow Woods Metal Festival was a marvelous event by all accounts — including this account by our guest Captain Karbon. As I reported in February, organizer Mary Spiro and her team (who are joined by Baltimore’s Grimoire Records as co-producers this year) have been planning the second installment of this open-air camping metal party, which will run for three days in central Maryland: from Thursday, September 15th through Sunday, September 18th at Camp Hidden Valley, in White Hall, Maryland. They’ve been announcing performers since January, and now the complete line-up has been revealed — and it’s an eye-popper: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: FOSCOR — “THOSE HORRORS WITHER”

Premieres No Responses »

Apr 112016

The Spanish band Foscor trace their roots back to 1997. Since then they’ve released four full-length albums, the last of which was 2014’s Those Horrors Wither. Almost 18 months ago we featured an excellent video for an excellent song from that album named “Graceful Pandora”, and today we’re happy to help premiere a video for the album’s title track.

The new video is the product of RFH Photography and IRA Photography, with editing by Foscor guitarist Falke. As the band explain, “‘Those Horrors Wither’ would be meant to show the relevance which primal fears hold to get to know ourselves, to know our flaws, and ultimately how we deal with the difficulties life itself makes us face. These Horrors are silenced by society, culture and history, relegating the individual too often to its least significance.” Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 71: CODE

THE SYNN REPORT 5 Responses »

Apr 112016

(In the 71st edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn reviews the discography of Code.)

Recommended for fans of: Borknagar, Ihsahn, Leprous

For whatever reason I’ve decided to stick close to home again for this edition of The Synn Report, following up the beefy Death Metal of Dyscarnate with the category defying, blackened-prog vibes of the legendary Code.

Though originally a joint venture between members from Norway and the UK, with strong ties to such groups as Ulver, Dodheimsgard, Indesinence, Season’s End, etc, the current incarnation of the band is an entirely British affair.

However, despite the many changes in the band’s line-up, and the ever-changing, ever-evolving nature of their sound, there remains an undeniable and intangible thread of identity and continuity within their music, running all the way from the very first track of their debut, Nouveau Gloaming, to the final climactic notes of last year’s phenomenal and shamelessly progressive mut. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: CONCATENATUS — “AEONIC DISSONANCES BEYOND LIGHT’S CONSUMPTION”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 3 Responses »

Apr 102016

I was drawn to this debut release by the eye-catching cover art of the Chilean artist Daniel Hermosilla (Nox Fragor Art), which I posted on our FB page not long ago (where it received an enthusiastic response).

The two musical artists (Sulphur and Balrog) who have taken the name Concatenatus are also from Chile, and their first EP, Aeonic Dissonances Beyond Light’s Consumption, was released via Bandcamp on April 5 (tape, CD, and vinyl editions will be forthcoming from Totenmusik and Ván Records). Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (MÖRK GRYNING)

THE REARVIEW MIRROR 8 Responses »

Apr 102016

The same person who put me in mind of Summoning for last Sunday’s Rearview Mirror installment is responsible for this week’s choice as well. But while I was already a fan of Summoning before being reminded of their great Stronghold album last week, this week’s suggestion — Mörk Gryning — was a new name to me.

After listening to the album that I’m featuring today, I began to do a little research and soon discovered that the German label Eisenwald re-released this very album on CD in January as the first part of a series of Mørk Gryning reissues, and so I’m going to quote Eisenwald’s own introduction to the band: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NEGATIVE VOICE — “COLD, REDRAFTED”

Album Reviews, Premieres 7 Responses »

Apr 092016

About two weeks ago, in one of our Shades of Black posts, I wrote about two songs (“Limitation” and “Karmic Pattern” by Moscow’s Negative Voice that made an immediate and strong impression when I heard them. Those two tracks appear on the band’s second album, Cold Redrafted. I’ve now heard the rest of the songs, and you can, too — because we’re premiering a full stream just a couple of days in advance of its release.

Negative Voice deftly blend progressive-minded instrumental inventiveness, entrancing melodic hooks, and earth-shaking heaviness, while wrapping the music here and there in a wreath of charred black thorns. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PSYCHOTRON — “LETHAL PARALYSIS”

Premieres 5 Responses »

Apr 082016

Psychotron are a six-piece thrash metal band from Sylhet in Bangladesh. They formed in 2011, and their debut EP Lethal Paralysis will be released on April 28 by Mortuary Productions, which we’re told is the first-ever metal label founded in Sylhet. What we have for you today is a premiere of the new EP’s title track.

Thematically, the song explores the miseries of drug addiction — but there’s nothing miserable about the music. It bolts from the starting gate at full speed with a catchy-as-hell riff, and more highly infectious riffs follow in short order — along with a couple of scorching solos and a spray of highly acidic vocal shrieking. It’s a hell of a thrill ride that we’re happy to bring your way from a part of the world that tends to fly under the radar for lots of metal heads in the West. Hope you enjoy the song as much as I have. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ROTTING CHRIST, THE ACCUSER, INTER ARMA, VULTURE, KAWIR

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 8 Responses »

Apr 082016

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon sifting through that massive spew known as the NCS e-mail in-box and then wading through the hip-deep effluent of the interhole, searching for things worth hearing and seeing, so that you don’t have to dirty yourselves doing it. It was filthy work, as it always is, but as always happens I found some chunks of gold gleaming amidst the vast rivers of mediocrity. I actually have a pretty long list of discoveries that I think are worth sharing, but here are a few of them. Perhaps I will have time to include more later today, or this weekend.

ROTTING CHRIST

Rotting Christ delivered a new lyric video yesterday for the song “Les Litanies de Satan“, which includes guest vocals from Vorph’s frontman Samael dramatically reciting (in French) excerpts from Charles Baudelaire’s poem of the same name (from the volume of poetry entitled Les Fleurs du Mal), which inspired the song. The track, which appears on the band’s latest album Rituals (reviewed here), is a majestic, surging hymn to the fallen angel, and the video is interesting to watch as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EARTH ROT — “CHTHONIAN VIRTUES”

Premieres 8 Responses »

Apr 082016

Australia has a vibrant and diverse metal scene, with great bands across a broad range of genres. I know this with the rational part of my brain, the part that tries to observe and remember. But when I think of Australian metal, I admit that I tend to reflexively think first of death metal, and in particular the kind of death metal that resembles what you hear about all the flora and fauna in the Outback, i.e., that everything is trying to kill you.

Earth Rot come from Perth, Australia. They are a death metal band, but not a straight-forward, undiluted death metal band, as you will discover when you listen to the title track we’re premiering from their new EP, Chthonian Virtues. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ZEALOTRY — “CYBERNETIC EUCHARIST”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Apr 072016

Especially as a non-musician, I’m constantly amazed at the enormous array of technical skill that’s on display in the temples of extreme metal worldwide. But as most serious listeners understand, even eye-popping technical skill will only take a band so far… and actually, not very far at all when the performer’s sole objective seems to be displaying dexterity at high speed. Similarly, throwing in such things as a few bursts of discordant noodling or contrasting ambient sections does not make a death metal band “progressive”. Which brings me to the song we’re about to premiere by the Boston-based band Zealotry — a band that includes members of such other notable groups as Chthe’ilist, Serocs, Inhumatus, and Myth of I.

The name of the song is “Cybernetic Eucharist”, and it appears on their second album The Last Witness, set for release by Lavadome Productions on April 22. The technical performances do indeed display top-shelf skill, often at speed levels near the red zone, but there’s an ingenious method to this madness — this is the kind of death metal that in my book genuinely does merit the label “progressive”. Continue reading »

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