NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: NOIRE — “THE TRACKS OF THE HUNTED”

Jun 072016

With a 2011 demo and a 2013 debut album (Dark Reverence) behind them, the Canadian band Noire have completed work on a new six-track EP named The Tracks of the Hunted, which they will release on July 8. Today we bring you a premiere of the title track.

While the EP was constructed on a scaffolding of black metal, the completed edifice incorporates diverse materials ranging from ambient-styled sounds to piano and acoustic guitar. The track you’re about to hear is itself a wide-ranging journey, though the softer sounds of acoustic instrumentation were put aside for this dynamic trip. Continue reading »

ARCANA 13: “DANZA MACABRA”

Album Reviews, Interviews 4 Responses »

Jun 072016

(Comrade Aleks provides NCS readers an introduction to Italy’s Arcana 13 and their album Danza Macabra, with excerpts from Aleks‘ interview of the band at Doom-Metal.com.)

Here’s the short guide for Italian horror cinematograph-with-doom outfit Arcana 13 who dedicated the entire album Danza Macabra to this outstanding genre. Let the horror in!

Arcana 13’s original lineup is a bunch of talented musicians who know what they want and know how to reach their goals. Andrea Burdisso is on guitar and main vocals, Simone Bertozzi plays guitar and sings as well, and then there is Filippo Petrini as bass guitarist and Luigi Taroni on the drums. They’ve all been in the music scene since the ’90s, and they are long-time friends too. Continue reading »

BLOOD RED THRONE: “UNION OF FLESH AND MACHINE”

Album Reviews 18 Responses »

Jun 072016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Norway’s Blood Red Throne.)

Eight albums in and it still feel like Norwegian wrecking crew Blood Red Throne never quite get the respect they deserve. I mean, by this point the band are effectively a Death Metal institution, and even their lesser albums (of which there aren’t many) are still more than capable of levelling a small town.

Maybe Union of Flesh and Machine will be the album to change that. Or maybe it won’t. Only time will tell. But it’s hard to deny that the band’s latest album is yet another top-tier terminator of crushing, grooving, blasting belligerence and cold, calculated aggression. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OBELYSKKH (STUART WEST)

Interviews 1 Response »

Jun 062016

(Comrade Aleks brings us this interview with Stuart West of the German doom titans Obelyskkh.)

Bulky and massive, Obelyskkh rises over the German doom scene like a mammoth ancient extraterrestrial ship. The band experiments over its own distorted and transmutated form of psychedelic doom metal, mixing within their songs elements of different subgenres and retelling through their songs myths and archetypes of the past. There are three albums in Obelyskkh’s discography, and musically they’re different though united with the idea of experiments, improvisation, and dark unearthly vision. Their third album Hymn to Pan was released in 2013, so I was wondering if they planned to release something new. It was difficult, but finally Stuart “The WhizKid” West (guitars, synth) answered my questions. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: INVIDIOSUS — “NEUROTIC MISERY”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jun 062016

(Austin Weber brings us this premiere of a video for a song from the new EP by Minnesota’s Invidiosus.)

Longtime NCS readers might be familiar with Minneapolis death metal squid squad Invidiosus since we’ve been covering them frequently here since 2014 — not to mention that the band shares a bassist (Todd Farnham) with fellow NCS favorites Amiensus. We last covered Invidiosus back in February, when we helped them launch a badass stand-alone single called “Neurotic Misery”. Continuing to release new tunes while persistently evolving, the band is including this single on an upcoming EP called Guided Towards The Inevitable, which will come out on Friday, June 17th, through Twin Town Tyrant Records. I’ll also help the band stream all five songs a few days before the EP’s release over at Metal-Injection on Tuesday, June 14th, just as a heads-up!

Ahead of its release, we’ve got a refresher of “Neurotic Misery” for you in the form of an exclusive launch of a music video for the song. Like previous videos by the band that we’ve premiered, this one again shows the fun and silly side of the band instead of being a solely performance-focused piece. If you missed the song when we premiered it months ago, that’s all the more reason to make sure to hit play below and take in some eclectic and tasty death metal. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 14): EP SPECIAL

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 6 Responses »

Jun 062016

(We welcome you to the glorious 14th part of our Norwegian comrade Gorger’s highlighting of releases we haven’t previously reviewed. To find more of his discoveries, visit Gorger’s Metal.)

I’ve got a few shorter releases to share with you today. I’m calling it an EP special, but for good measure, I’m tossing in a split and a graphic novel(!) too. I’ve also shortened down my ramblings to leave you sore-eared rather than sore-eyed. Enjoy. Continue reading »

NAILS: “YOU WILL NEVER BE ONE OF US”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Jun 062016

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Nails.)

Over the years trends in metal come and go, leading up into 2016 when grindcore and powerviolence seemed poised to break through into the metal mainstream. What Weekend Nachos failed to deliver is now jackhammered into your face by this trio from California, who possess a guitar tone as nasty as the instrument can achieve while still being able to create riffs capable of holding together actual songs. For the purpose of this review, the word “song” is used to refer to sharp bursts of rage.

Grindcore has never been my forte, as the genre’s range of dynamic expression sonically feels like coloring with only the red crayon of anger. While this might limit what many bands do, Nails are savants at coloring with this crayon so well that your only choice is to hold on for the jolting ride. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TERRA TENEBROSA — “GHOST AT THE END OF THE ROPE”

Premieres 4 Responses »

Jun 052016

After the first two albums by Terra Tenebrosa — 2011’s The Tunnels and 2013’s The Purging — the arrival of a new album is like the mysterious appearance of an intricately carved box in a puff of indigo vapor. The strange sigils and runes seem to shimmer of their own accord in the gnarled, leaden wood. What lies within becomes a matter of intrigue. You can be fairly sure that the contents will be dark, disturbing, and otherwise dismissive of genre boundaries, but beyond that it’s difficult to foresee what the alchemical processes of The Cuckoo’s art have rendered.

The new album is named The Reverses and it will be released on June 17 (June 22 in North America) by Debemur Morti. The significance of the title and its connection to the albums that preceded it have yet to be revealed. What has been revealed so far is a lyric video for a song called “The End Is Mine To Ride”, and today we’re helping to share a stream of a second track, “Ghost At the End of The Rope”. Continue reading »

A MARYLAND DEATHFEST RECAP (PART 5)

Concert Reviews 11 Responses »

Jun 052016

It’s time for me to bring this five-part reminiscence about Maryland Deathfest 2016 to a close and try to get back to more typical NCS activities this week.

I said when I started this recap that I wanted to give a round of applause to the best bands I saw at MDF, organizing them into four categories. The first three categories I nicknamed Swedish (and Dutch) Death Metal Supremacy, Shades of Black, and The Black Death. However, there’s no common denominator among the five bands grouped together today, so I’m calling this collection Divergent Delights.

I was thinking about Mixed Martial Arts, but much of the music here isn’t martial. Assorted Ass-Kicking was appealing, but I don’t think “ass-kicking” really fits everything either. Maybe Variegated Victories would have worked. Continue reading »

A MARYLAND DEATHFEST RECAP (PART 4)

Concert Reviews 9 Responses »

Jun 042016

Friday beer/brunch at Alewife with friends.

For those of you just now joining this series about Maryland Deathfest XIV, I’m in the process of highlighting the bands whose performances were the best of the ones I saw and heard in Baltimore beginning on Wednesday of last week.

Rather than doing a day-by-day recap, I’ve organized the bands into four somewhat loosely defined categories. Yesterday’s feature was a “Shades of Black” collection of black metal bands, and before that was one under the heading “Swedish (and Dutch) Death Metal Supremacy”. I’m calling today’s celebration “The Black Death“, not only because that describes the general style of music performed by the following six bands, but also because they all spread a lethal kind of auditory plague.

Presented in the order in which I witnessed the performances over 5 nights and 4 days, and I’ve again included my photos of each band (most of which are gathered at the end of this post). Continue reading »

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