NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WARM — “THE HUMAN EXEMPLAR”

Jun 162016

The day will come when Connecticut’s Warm are going to get tired of hearing this, if they haven’t already: Warm are not warm, or at least mostly they aren’t. In some ways they’re ice-cold, mostly they’re hot, but warm? That’s not the word I’d use for the genre-bending marvel of an album they’re going to release tomorrow: The Human Exemplar.

The band have already drawn comparisons to the older glories of Mastodon before they got radio-friendly, and there have been allusions to the likes of Baroness as well. But while there is merit in those comparisons, they don’t fully capture the head-spinning, spine-fracturing trip that lies ahead of you in this album. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THRAWSUNBLAT — “METACHTHONIA”

Premieres 7 Responses »

Jun 162016

There’s a chance that Thrawsunblat will always live, at least in part, in the long shadow cast by the much-beloved Woods of Ypres — or perhaps will always be buoyed by that band’s legacy, depending on how you look at it. Apart from the presence of Woods‘ guitarist Joel Violette, Thrawsunblat also drink from the dark, crystalline wellsprings of melancholy that fed Woods of Ypres’ sublime creations. Yet from the beginning Thrawsunblat have also sought sustenance, and given spiritual sustenance to their listeners, through other musical traditions. The evolution of the band’s sound continues — and reaches a high-water mark — in their new album Metachthonia, which it’s our great pleasure to premiere for you today, one day in advance of its official release.

We are told that “Metachthonia” is an ancient Greek word that means “the age after that of the Earth,” which can be understood as a reference to today’s modern world. In taking that word as the title of this new concept album, Thrawsunblat signify an effort to express a yearning for elements of the natural world, both physical and spiritual, that have been shoved aside by the encroachments of technology and the ant-like scrabbling of human industry. And the result is a wild, beautiful, and inspiring album.

(Take a good look at the album cover — it provides significant clues to what lies within.) Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INSANE VESPER — “OF SERPENT’S EMBRACE”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jun 162016

The song you’re about to hear burns with arcane energy. It’s so immediately transfixing, so dynamic in its progress, and so ingeniously conceived and powerfully performed that it should vault the name Insane Vesper high up on your radar screen.

The name of the song is “Of Serpent’s Embrace” and it comes from this French black metal band ‘s new album LayiL. This is the band’s second full-length and is set for release on July 1 by Art of Propaganda.

It’s rare that we resort to quoting from press releases in writing about the music we feature at this site, but in this instance the descriptions ring true and the wording is agreeably vivid and evocative: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: COLDBLOOD — “INDESCRIBABLE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE DEVIL”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jun 162016

Today marks the joint release by Russia’s Satanath Records and Metallic Media in the U.S. of the new album by the Brazilian horde Coldblood, and we are privileged to be the carriers of this vicious plague through our premiere of a full album stream.

Coldblood’s roots extend into the now-distant past, with their first demo appearing in 1992 — though their second did not see the light of day until 2000. Another demo followed in 2005, and then the band’s debut album Under the Blade I Die arrived in 2007. The intervening years since then have seen the release of a second album (2013’s Chronology of Satanic Events) and a handful of short releases. On this new album, Coldblood deliver 13 tracks, including three instrumental numbers that bring the album to a close. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BAPTISM — “DEVIL’S FIRE”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Jun 162016

Four years after As the Darkness Enters, Finland’s Baptism comes roaring back with its fifth full-length assault. Entitled V: The Devil’s Fire, the new work features eight hellish sacraments and is scheduled for release on July 22 by Baptism’s new label partner Season of Mist. Today we bring you the premiere of the album’s title track: “Devil’s Fire“.

On this new album, Baptism’s central force Lord Sargofagian and his four bandmates for this release are joined by three prominent guests (and long-time friends) who have made their own indelible marks on the landscape of Finnish metal:

Antti Boman (DEMILICH) on “Buried With Him”
Mikko Kotamäki (SWALLOW THE SUN) on “The Sacrament Of Blood And Ash”
Mynni Luukkainen (HORNA) on “Satananda” Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TERRA TENEBROSA — “THE REVERSES”

Premieres 8 Responses »

Jun 162016

Terra Tenebrosa’s new album The Reverses is home to the kind of music that inspires metaphors and similes. Trying to describe it without resorting to the language of imagery, sensation, and emotion would be inadequate. Its effect is far greater than the sum of its musical parts — even though a multitude of interlocking (and discordant) parts have been joined together to produce what you hear.

The Reverses is as heavy, as dense, and as radioactive as a cache of transuranic elements. It’s a visit to a nightmare realm where the shadows have teeth, the surreal musical equivalent of a Hieronymus Bosch landscape, a vision of hell, or perhaps the exorcism of hellish visions. It sinks its talons into the twisted nightshades that grow in the darker corners of the human psyche and shakes them until they quiver with fearful and fearsome excitement. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): OPETH, INSOMNIUM, EXCUSE, SLAGMAUR, SKANDAL, REVENGE, HAIL OF BULLETS

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 13 Responses »

Jun 152016

Photo by Stuart Wood

This is Part 2 of a round-up of newly discovered things that I began earlier today (here). As expected, between posting Part 1 and getting ready to post Part 2, I spied more developments that happened this morning and have added them (the first two items are in that category, as is the last).

I nearly didn’t add the first two news items because I thought that, by now, everyone who had any interest in the bands — Opeth and Insomnium — would have learned about the news already. Those names are so big that there was probably even a news flash in The Wall Street Journal. And then I thought that adding the announcements might help ease the day for those people who are afraid that metal will run out of things to argue about before the year ends. To them I say, don’t worry, Opeth and Insomnium are releasing new albums.

OPETH

Yes, Opeth will be releasing a new album late this year (named Sorceress) on a new label, Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Actually, it seems to be a partnership between Nuclear Blast and Opeth’s own imprint, Moderbolaget Records, which I believe is Swedish for “your arguing sounds like a motorboat”.

The press release we received characterized Opeth as “always an unstoppable force for uniqueness amid a sea of generic swill”. Beyond that, it provided no real clues about the musical direction of the new album or how it will distinguish itself from all the generic swill with which the rest of us are forced to feed ourselves in between Opeth releases. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): NYLITHIA, CELESTIAL GRAVE, THE DEPRESSICK, AENAON

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Jun 152016

Last night I decided it was time to pull together another round-up of new music and videos that I’ve been enjoying. By the time I had finished sifting through a lot of stuff in an effort to provide both quality and variety, I had a collection that seemed too long for a single post, so I’ve divided this one into two parts. The way things go, I’ll probably come across more new things this morning that will be worth adding to Part 2 before I post it. To begin….

NYLITHIA

“Bludwolves” is the tenth track on this Vancouver band’s 2015 debut album Hyperthrash. It happens to be a song that we premiered last fall. It also might be my favorite song on a very strong album — and so I was stoked to see that it had become the subject of a new Nylithia music video. And when I saw the video, I got even more excited. Continue reading »

CAECUS: “THE FUNERAL GARDEN”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Jun 142016

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by the Illinois band Caecus.)

There’s something to be said for being in the right place, at the right time.

The advent and ascension of bands like Fallujah, Black Crown Initiate, and Ne Obliviscaris (to name but three) over the past several years has indicated something of a creative renaissance and renewed interest in the more Progressive wing of the Technical Death Metal scene, one very much separate from the predominant chug’n’sweep approach of the “core” crowd, or the tappy typewriter drums of the Unique Leader crew.

As such, it seems like the perfect time for a band like Illinois-based Prog/Tech types Caecus to play their hand, roll the dice, and see if their particular brand of fluid, energetic riffage and extravagant lead guitar work has what it takes to ride the crest of this wave, or else sink back into the depths. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ROTTING CHRIST — “APAGE SATANA”

Premieres 4 Responses »

Jun 142016

When our man DGR reviewed Rotting Christ’s new album Rituals in February, he made some observations that came back to mind today. He remarked that Rituals “feels more like an event than a collection of singles”, that “the songs feel perfectly placed,” with “more dramatic interstitial sections slotting in well next to faster songs”, earning the name given to the album. He also commented on the intensely rhythmic nature of much of the music, underscoring the thematic union of the album’s ten tracks as musical representations of rites from around the globe that share a certain spiritual essence.

A personal favorite among those “interstitial” sections is the powerful “Ἄπαγε Σατανά (Apage Satana)”, and today we bring you the premiere of Rotting Christ’s mesmerizing video for the song. Continue reading »

Older Entries Newer Entries