NO CLEAN SINGING

BLACK TABLE: “OBELISK”

Nov 012016

(We present Wil Cifer’s review of the new album by NY’s Black Table.)

This band from New York have spawned a dark hybrid of metal sub-genres that stands out from all the run-of-the-mill blackened this or that flooding my in-box. Black metal might be the intersection where most of these sounds meet, despite using only occasional blast-beats that come when the band are at their most raging.

Thanks to producer Billy Anderson this album sounds great, with the production complementing the depth of Black Table’s dynamics. The arrangements get murkier going into the song “Helm”, and with the more melodic riffs providing a path to follow as they wander into more of a jammed section. When this occurs it feels more like sludge at this point than black metal. Continue reading »

UNDERDOGS IN THE UNDERGROUND: RETURN TO THE TALENTED DEPTHS OV OBSCURE MADNESS (PART 5)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

Nov 012016

(This is the fifth and final part of continuing series prepared by Austin Weber putting the spotlight on recent releases, and today he focuses on music from these three bands: Vaulting, Octexosis, and Pyrrhic Salvation. To check out Part 1, go here; Part 2 is at this location; Part 3 can be found here, and this link leads to Part 4.)

Vaulting – Vanitas

German technical death/grind weirdos Vaulting have been active since 2006, but like a lot of groups, I’m late to the party, having only gotten into them recently through their 2016 release, Vanitas. I suppose a comparison to the strange sound of See You Next Tuesday might give you a small ballpark with which to think of the music here, but there’s so much more of progressive and eloquent side to Vanitas beyond its mathy miniature death-crushing songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BEARSTORM — “CRYPTOBIOTIC FILTH DESTROYER”

Metal News, Premieres 5 Responses »

Nov 012016

We discovered Virginia’s Bearstorm last year, and the immediate impression was so positive that we eagerly premiered the band’s 2015 album Americanus. Today, we’re equally happy to announce that Bearstorm have come storming back with a new EP named Biophobia that Baltimore-based Grimoire Records will release on December 9 — AND we have a deliciously named song from the EP to share with you: “Cryptobiotic Filth Destroyer“.

Bearstorm have already proven that they’re genre manglers, and on this new release the music is no more easily classifiable. The band have used the phrase “blackened southern deathprog”. Grimoire has described the music as “somehow simultaneously inspired by classical music and southern rock — falling somewhere between Enslaved and Russian Circles“. And if all that tends to knot up your neurons, consider the unusual but evocative lyrics for this new song: Continue reading »

BLACK FUCKING CANCER: “BLACK FUCKING CANCER”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Nov 012016

(We welcome guest contributor Pablo Balbontín, editor of the Spanish webzine Subterráneo, who brings us this review of the first album by California’s Black Fucking Cancer.)

The human being is such a despicable animal, capable of wishing death to its peers or to have a laugh out of their disgrace. We have all said some atrocity, which we might have regretted later (or not). Who hasn’t ever wished somone to die, or to have cancer? Well, from that pure feeling of hatred, Black Fucking Cancer was born — a power trio from San Jose, California, who have given birth to one of the most furious albums of this year, and possibly one of the best overall.

However, when someone thinks about fury in black metal, they tend to imagine bands like Marduk, Blasphemy, Archgoat… short songs, chaotic guitar solos, and frantic drumming patterns. Bringing an anology, it could be like a maniac who stabs his mother two hundred times, until there is no more skin left to tear. Instead, Black Fucking Cancer are like that alienated person who sharpens a rusty machete and takes his time to knife the victim, twisting the blade inside the guts and savoring the victim’s suffering. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): METALTOWER — “MYOPIC DYSTOPIA”

Album Reviews, Premieres 2 Responses »

Nov 012016

(Our friend, New Zealand writer Craig Hayes (Six Noises) is back with us again with this review of the new album by NZ’s remarkable MetalTower — and the premiere of a full album stream.)

New Zealand progressive death metal band MetalTower have shared the stage with international touring acts like Carcass, Krisiun, and Psycroptic. And that trio of bands also happens to be the perfect representation of the musical diversity that the long-running MetalTower exhibit on their latest full-length, Myopic Dystopia. No Clean Singing is proud to be hosting the album’s worldwide premiere, and here’s a few hundred words of praise about Myopic Dystopia to get you started.

Where to start? Well, how about those aforementioned bands. Like Carcass, MetalTower inject a sense of self-awareness into their whirlwind tunes; see Myopic Dystopia’s “Fvk Mourning”. MetalTower also exhibit a Krisiun-like desire to snap necks and shatter spines with hammering riffs and percussion on tracks like “Futility”. And if Psycroptic’s mix of bombarding metal and technical prowess has impressed you before, then you’ll likely admire MetalTower’s combination of ferocity and finesse too. Continue reading »

IMMEDIATE AND COMPLETELY NEEDLESS REACTIONS TO DEATHSPELL OMEGA’S NEW ALBUM: “THE SYNARCHY OF MOLTEN BONES”

Album Reviews 15 Responses »

Oct 312016

As I rapidly reported a few hours ago after receiving a Bandcamp alert, Deathspell Omega jumped the gun on their previously announced November 8 release date for their new album and uncaged The Synarchy of Molten Bones on Samhein night, to the surprise and glee of hordes of costumed and un-costumed fans.

Everyone can listen to it now; vast numbers undoubtedly already have. There is probably no need for myself or anyone else to review it. But I’m sharing some thoughts anyway, because I’ve so eagerly anticipated its release and am now near-bursting with thoughts. Better to get them out than risk an aneurism. Plus, I thought some of you might want to share your own reactions in the Comments.

Upon finishing a first listen (and my only listen as I write this), I was — to quote the title of the second song — famished for breath. Every track is so breathtakingly energetic and so flooded with mind-bending intricacy that hearing them straight through risks completely overloading the capacity of the normal human brain to keep pace, or to manage even a modicum of comprehension. I thought my brain had been unceremoniously teleported into the clutches of a centrifuge that had developed a mind of its own — and then immediately lost its mind. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HERON — “FIRE TWIN”

Album Reviews, Premieres 1 Response »

Oct 312016

After a self-titled debut EP released in 2015, Vancouver, B.C.’s Heron now return with a new one named Fire Twin. It’s being released today — in fact, it has just today become available for streaming and download on Bandcamp, and you’ll find it down below as well, since we’ve eagerly agreed to help spread it around.

It’s well worth your time, especially if you have a taste for bleak, blasted sludge/doom that’s heavy enough to split concrete and powerfully atmospheric enough to cast a deep and dark spell. Continue reading »

LISTEN TO “THE SYNARCHY OF MOLTEN BONES”: NEW DEATHSPELL OMEGA NOW STREAMING IN FULL

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 5 Responses »

Oct 312016

Some of you have been rick-rolled in recent days by YouTube streams uploaded by assholes, advertised as tracks from the new Deathspell Omega album, when in fact it was a song by Outré or something else. But about thirty minutes ago on this Samhain evening (or afternoon here in the Pacific Northwest), Deathspell Omega made the full stream of The Synarchy of Molten Bones live on their Bandcamp page for the album, despite the November 8 release date. I learned of this through a Bandcamp alert because I had pre-ordered the album.

I’m anxious to listen, as many of you will be, but have delayed the experience just long enough to type these words… and to embed the stream after the jump. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ALCOHOLIC RITES AND LUSTRUM — “DRUNK AND IN CHARGE” (A SPLIT RELEASE)

Premieres 1 Response »

Oct 312016

On November 25, Eternal Death Records will release a 7″ split named Drunk and In Charge by two head-wrecking bands of black metal savages, Ecuador’s Alcoholic Rites and Lustrum from New England, and on this Samhain Day we give you a full stream of what they have wrought. Of course, we will first have our say about the music, with a bit of background about the bands.

But first, can we all agree that there’s nothing like being drunk and in charge? In fact, one of the great things about being drunk is feeling in charge, even when you can’t find your ass with both hands (speaking for myself — of course, individual experiences may vary). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SCORCHED — “ECHOES OF DISMEMBERMENT”

Album Reviews, Premieres 4 Responses »

Oct 312016

We’ve been watching the rapid ascent of Delaware’s Scorched with increasing excitement ever since we premiered a full stream of their self-titled demo in May 2015, which was then about to be released by Unspeakable Axe. And just this past July our Norwegian friend Gorger praised their split with Putrisect (Final State of Existence) in his own distinctive voice. We also made mention of the excellent four-way split they joined along with Gatecreeper, Homewrecker, and Outer Heaven.

But now the band have reached new heights with their first full-length album, Echoes of Dismemberment, which it’s our pleasure to premiere for you in advance of its November 25 release by Unspeakable Axe.

When I heard the first publicly released song from the album (“Rot In Confinement”) after it premiered at DECIBEL, I ventured the opinion that Scorched were “about to blow up”. Now having heard the full album, I still feel that way — in spades. Continue reading »

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