NO CLEAN SINGING

GLORIA MORTI: “KUEBIKO”

Apr 062016

(DGR reviews the new fifth album by Finland’s Gloria Morti.)

There’s something to be said for setting extremely high expectations for a disc based off of the opening minute of your new album. Opening your new disc with a minute of Col. Kurtz’s (portrayed by Marlon Brando) monologue on the word “horror” from the film Apocalypse Now is certainly one way to do so. Gloria Morti’s mid-March new-album release Kuebiko does exactly that. I have to give it to the band, because in one aspect I actually haven’t heard that monologue used much in music before — though the band later use a sample in one song that I absolutely have heard before — and Kurtz’s ruminations on “what is….necessary” is one hell of a way to set a high bar for yourself when beginning a new album.

If you’ve been following NCS in the past few months, Gloria Morti’s name and cover art should actually be ringing a bit of a familiar bell with you, as we covered their release of the song “Foul Stench Of Vomiting Blood” and the video for the song “Execution” — as well as resident NCS guest bitter-person KevinP placing Kuebiko as one of his albums of the month for March. This review had been in the works before that, and there was a brief moment where I wondered if I should can it, as Kuebiko was by then well-represented on the site — but this is the sort of album that needs to be discussed, and what text we have dedicated to the disc doesn’t quite cut it. Because Kuebiko is one of few albums released this year that is relentlessly straightforward in its approach to death metal, the type that is so relentlessly singular in its gaze on its goal that you can’t help but enjoy it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DOMINHATE — “AWAKENING CONFESSIONES”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Apr 062016

Emissaries of Morning is the new EP by the Italian death metal band Dominhate. It follows the band’s debut album in 2014, Towards the Light, and it will be released by Lavadome Productions on April 22. As a sign of what Dominhate deliver on this new 5-track release, we bring you the premiere of “Awakening Confessiones“.

This is the kind of song that fans of gruesome, bone-grinding, old-school death metal should eat up without bothering to grab a knife and fork. When the song is in full rampaging speed, the drums drive like pistons and the tremolo riffs vibrate with arcane energy and sinister intent — a mix of snake-like slithering and the kind of swarming that brings to mind a horde of angry wasps the size of hawks. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: EYES FRONT NORTH — “FROM SHAPE TO NAME”

Album Reviews, Premieres 4 Responses »

Apr 052016

This Friday, April 8, the Italian label Argonauta Records will release From Shape To Name, the debut album by the Parisian band Eyes Front North, and beginning today we give you the chance to stream the album in its entirety.

Listening to From Shape To Name can be a disorienting experience. Not only do the band incorporate a surprisingly diverse mix of musical styles into their songs, they juxtapose them in sharp, unexpected twists and turns. It’s an almost non-stop roller-coaster ride keeps you off-balance — but wide-eyed in wonder, waiting to see what’s coming next.

The ever-present question about music like this is whether the eclecticism works — whether the integration seems organic, even if surprising — or instead becomes a jarring jumble. Eyes Front North definitely make it work. Continue reading »

IHSAHN: “ARKTIS.”

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

Apr 052016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Ihsahn.)

A certain friend of mine (who will remain nameless) has an almost pathological obsession with pointing out the various points of intersection and cross-pollination between Metal and Pop music, to the extent where it sometimes feels he’s seeing what he wants to see, and not necessarily what’s actually there. Still, he must be having a field day with Ihsahn’s new album Arktis., as it’s easily the most gleamingly melodic, intimately accessible… and, yes, poppy, album that the ever-adversarial artiste has put his name to thus far.

Despite this distinction, however, it’s also possible to see this album as something of a return to form following the somewhat uneven nature of both Eremita and Das Seelenbrechen, both albums which the man himself characterised as being more of a musical diversion than a continuation of the main creative thrust of his solo work.

Though both albums definitely had their charms (and, in hindsight, Eremita quite clearly served as a testing-ground for some of the more overtly poppy ideas and influences which permeate this release – you only need to look at Prog-Pop anthem “Frail” for evidence of that) it’s clear in a number of ways – from the structuring of the songs to the return to the established naming convention (The Adversary, Angl, After, Artkis.) – that album number six is a step back onto the right path. Continue reading »

THE RESURGENCE OF GRIMNESS: “A DECADE OF DISGUST”

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Apr 052016

In 2004 an Italian band named Grimness released their debut album, bearing the title Increase Humanity Disgust. Another full-length, Trust In Decay, followed the debut in 2008, but the band have been dormant since then. Of the musicians who recorded the debut, guitarist/vocalist Valerio Di Lella spent time with Novembre, and is Eyeconoclast’s current vocalist; drummer Jonah Padella and guitarist Andrea Chiodetti became members of The Foreshadowing; and bassist Willer Donandoni joined Black Land. But Grimness is rumbling to life again, with Giulio Moschini from Hour of Penance joining the band on bass in preparation for live re-appearances — and with a special reissue of the debut album coming in May.

The reissue will be entitled A Decade of Disgust, reflecting not only the band’s longevity but also the fact that the new release will include more than simply the tracks that appeared on the original debut. It also includes six bonus tracks: four songs recorded for a 2002 EP named Dogma, a live version of “Proud To Be Damned”, and an unreleased song from the Trust In Decay recording sessions. And as you can see above, the reissue includes striking new cover art created by Roberto Toderico. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): REBAELLIUN — “THE HELL’S DECREES”

Album Reviews, Premieres 12 Responses »

Apr 052016

Rebaelliun are a band of Brazilian death metal marauders whose roots can be traced back to 1998. In 1999 the Dutch label Hammerheart Records released the band’s debut album, Burn the Promised Land, and then also released their second album Annihilation in 2001. Both albums made a big and lasting impact in the underground, but after touring in support of Annihilation the band broke up.

But now Rebaelliun have reunited, and they have again joined forces with Hammerheart Records to release their third album, The Hell’s Decrees. Although the release date for the album doesn’t arrive until May 5, we are privileged to bring you a full stream of the album today.

Our good friend from The Dominican Republic, Vonlughlio (Blast Family and Reign of Death) has been a Rebaelliun fan for many years, and has been as excited as anyone about the band’s reunion and the release of this new album. And so before the album stream, we bring you his thoughts about the music: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABHOMINE — “NEST OF DISGUST”

Premieres 4 Responses »

Apr 042016

The name Pete Helmkamp will be a familiar one to fans of underground terrorists such as Angelcorpse, Order From Chaos, Revenge, and Terror Organ — all of them bands whose ranks have included Helmkamp at one time or another. But he also has a solo project named Abhomine, and near the end of this month Hells Headbangers (and Osmose Productions in Europe) will release Abhomine‘s debut album, Larvae Offal Swine. Today we have the pleasure of bringing you the stream premiere of one of the album’s nine tracks — “Nest of Disgust”.

Larvae – Offal – Swine may be just three words stitched together, and the same could be said of the album’s intro track, “Worm Pig Shit”, but the words clearly weren’t chosen randomly. They manifest a disgust for much of humanity that’s also reflected in the venomous offensives launched by the music. But while misanthropy animates the lyrics and powers the sound, the songs will also sink their fangs into your neck and bend it to their will. Which is just a metaphorical way of saying that the shit rocks hard. Continue reading »

DEATH & DISMAY: THREE DAYS AT BLOOD OF THE WOLF

Concert Reviews 4 Responses »

Apr 042016

NCS Introduction: Kaptain Carbon returns to NCS with a review of the second Blood of the Wolf Fest , which took place in Lexington, Kentucky, on March 26-27, 2016. He also took all of the photos that accompany the review — most of which you will find at the end. Kaptain Carbon operates Tape Wyrm, a blog dedicated to current and lesser known heavy metal. He also writes Dungeon Synth reviews over at Hollywood Metal as well as moderating Reddit’s r/metal community.

“He is Risen!”, they shouted in an authentic southern accent with mocking glee. This was Easter Sunday in the thick of Kentucky during one lull between songs at the second Blood of the Wolf festival. The crowd celebrated the fact that it was, in fact, Easter sunday and the whole weekend was centered around macabre imagery of rising dead. What I am surprised about in this anecdote was not the fact that it happened but how little it happened over the course of Good Friday to the holiest of Sundays. In fact, the whole festival, which drew bands and fans from the midwest and eastern coast of the US, appeared to be more grateful than blasphemous. How can you really be spiteful when you have three days of gorgeous weather, a craft beer garden, and a host of raw, unyielding death metal bands? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ASKESIS — “THE PATH TO ABSENCE”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Apr 042016

By all accounts, and from photos and films I’ve seen, Venice is one of the world’s most unique and beautiful cities, a magical place that seems to inspire art that is likewise not entirely of this world — though the art inspired by the city can take dark, supernatural shapes as well as sunlit ones. And that brings us to The Path To Absence, the debut EP by the Venetian black metal band Askesis — which we are premiering for you today.

The slow, morbid chords and banshee wails that begin “Prayer To the Void” begin to spread the cloak of darkness immediately, and the sense of ravaging pestilence only mounts as the band accelerate the pace. You’ll quickly notice that the music has a heavy, thundering low-end sound and that the jolting drum progressions not only move the rhythms and pacing in differing directions as the song progresses, but will also rattle your teeth. Meanwhile, the swarming tremolo chords and predatory growls deepen the sense of malignancy that those doom-shrouded opening chords announce. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GODLESS ANGEL, LIGHT OF THE MORNING STAR, DECOMPOSED, ADVERMIX

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 12 Responses »

Apr 042016

If you look at what I posted at the site this past weekend, you’ll see that I was caught up in the throes of a blogging frenzy and threw a large amount of new music at your head. Having done that, I took some deep breaths — and then almost immediately discovered a bunch of other new songs that had appeared while I was scribbling thoughts about all the others. From that batch of new discoveries I’ve sifted these four — in part because I really enjoyed all of them and in part because they make for a diverse playlist of new metal with which to start the week.

GODLESS ANGEL

A very good friend of our site, Derek Neibarger from Lawrence, Kansas, has just released The Conjuring of Four, the third album of his solo project Godless Angel. It follows last year’s Harvester of Shadows (released by Inverse Records). For a pretty complete narrative of the interesting musical journey that led to the creation of Godless Angel, peruse my interview of Derek from last October (here). And for a taste of this new album, check out our stream of the album’s first single — “The Worms Are Eating Him Now”. Continue reading »

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