NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: DRUDKH — “FIERY SERPENT”

Mar 172016

In the wake of their excellent 2015 album A Furrow Cut Short, Ukraine’s Drudkh have decided to release their next recorded output through a series of split EPs, the first of which will see the band join forces with Norway’s Hades Almighty under the name One Who Walks With the Fog / Pyre Era, Black!. Drudkh‘s contributions to the split consist of two songs — “Golden Horse” and “Fiery Serpent” — and today we bring you a stream of the latter track.

We are told that Drudkh‘s principal creative force Roman Sayenko drew his lyrical inspiration for the songs from the poetry of Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Svidzins’kyi (1885-1941), “who was murdered by the Soviets after years of censorship and repression”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ZHRINE — “UTOPIAN WARFARE”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Mar 172016

The new album Unortheta by the Icelandic band Zhrine has made me very happy, for at least three reasons. First, now I know what happened to Gone Postal. Second, now I have another way to launch my mind into the frigid void of space without using intoxicants that will leave me retching in the morning. Third, they have spread across that mystical void an array of spectral terrors and brilliant spectacles that are as mesmerizing as they are harrowing.

When I first encountered Gone Postal back in 2012, via a 2011 demo that followed their 2008 debut album (In the Depths of Despair), I wondered whether the name they had chosen for themselves really suited the music — which was shot through with ripping/roaring tremolo guitars, vicious rhythms, and an air of bleak dissonance. The vocal style flexed between harsh growls and eviscerating shrieks. The production was as raw as a fresh wound. Yet as cacophonous as the music often was, strange melodies rang out through the tidal wash of bile, lending the music a kind of sick fascination. The name “Gone Postal” captured the derangement of the sound, yet even by then the name had a kind of archaic ring to it. Continue reading »

GRAVES AT SEA: “THE CURSE THAT IS”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Mar 172016

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Graves At Sea from Portland, Oregon.)

After a few splits and an EP, these guys are pulling the trigger on the full-length I have been dying to sink my doom-hungry jaws into. The nastiness they teased us with on previous releases has been filtered through a bigger production value for their debut full-length. The band still thunders into your ears, with some of the evil abrasion that coated their work now snarling at you like crystal-meth-infused stoner rock. Sometimes this even borders on the post- apocalyptic sludge of Through Silver and Blood-era Neurosis.

The vocals are the band’s meanest quality, packing ample grit into each scream. The guitar has warmed up a bit. Perhaps it is the time they took in the studio to perfect their tone versus the raw, angrier sound of previous releases. With each listen I began to appreciate the expanded musical qualities invested into the songs here; it just takes a little getting used-to. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND, OCCULTUM, FIN, HOLYARROW

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK 13 Responses »

Mar 162016

Greetings and welcome to Part 2 of a three-part post in which I’ve collected recent songs, EPs, and albums in a blackened vein that I’ve been enjoying and think you might enjoy, too. For the music in Part 1, go here. I’ll post Part 3 later today or tomorrow, depending on how life goes.

PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND

We last paid attention to the French band Plebeian Grandstand when Austin Weber reviewed their second album Lowgazers in 2014. They now have a new one named False Highs, True Lows (great name), which will be released on April 29 by Throatruiner Records (LP and CD) and Basement Apes (CD).

I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that you forget the conceptions you may have formed if you heard Lowgazers, but this new album is really something else, to be approached with fresh ears. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BOG OF THE INFIDEL — “COILS OF THE NOOSE”

Premieres 4 Responses »

Mar 162016

Black metal has morphed into so many different manifestations that you can’t make general statements about the genre any more (and maybe you never could). But there’s a certain long-lasting strain of the black plague that appeals to me because it’s both hot and cold at the same time — searing in its speed and intensity, yet cold in the bleak, doomed, misanthropic aura generated by the melodies. That’s the character of “Coils of the Noose“, the new song by Rhode Island’s Bog of the Infidel that we’re premiering in this post.

The song appears on the band’s second album, Asleep In the Arms of Suicide, which will be released by Eternal Death Records on April 8. I think you’ll hear what I mean quite clearly, but I’ll also share these comments from the band about the song: Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: STONED JESUS (IGOR SIDORENKO)

Interviews 1 Response »

Mar 162016

(We present Comrade Aleks’ interview with Igor Sidorenko of the Ukrainian band Stoned Jesus, with photos by Oscar Szramka.)

Here come the robots! The outfit Stoned Jesus (Kiev, Ukraine) was revealed by the Solitude Productions label in the year 2010, with the label then releasing their first (after two demos) full-length release – First Communion. Stoner doom from Stoned Jesus acquired new features and developed over the years and became more artistic, energetic, and alive, so the number of the Stoned Jesus congregation has grown steadily.

In February 2015 they released their third album – The Harvest — and the idea of doing an interview with them began to take shape gradually, but their busy concert schedule became a serious obstacle on the way to transfer this plan into life. Anyway, Igor Sidorenko (guitar, vocals) took the time to answer the quiz directly from the epicenter of another tour. And one more thing – it’s not just another doped stoner band, check the “Here Come the Robots” song… you know.

******

Salute Igor! How are you? What’s going on in Stoned Jesus’ life?

Hey! We’re currently on tour with Mars Red Sky and Belzebong, so I’m writing this to you from a nightliner, with Goat’s 2012 album playing in my headphones. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: FOUL BODY AUTOPSY — “PERPETUATED BY GREED”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Mar 162016

(DGR reviews the new EP by Foul Body Autopsy.)

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that the year 2016 is going to be a heavy year for deathgrind for me. Given the political nature of this year, my acceptance of humanity is going to be lying at an all-time low up until I see that number at the end of the year shift from a six to a seven.

This may be me projecting, but I get the feeling that quite a few of us are going to need a healthy dose of music with a certain amount of disdain in its mix to get through this year’s shit show.

Given that, it is nice to see that quite a few bands have made sure that my music player will at least be stocked. Between W R I T H E, Distaste/Rotten Cold, Gadget, Rotten Sound, and now Foul Body Autopsy, it is good to know that there are at least some kindred spirits who are wishing for total annihilation at this moment and will at least be delivering it in sonic form. If there were ever a time when the world needed something from Misery Index — this year would be it. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: MESARTHIM — “PILLARS”

Album Reviews 5 Responses »

Mar 162016

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by Australia’s Mesarthim.)

Space is… really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. And being so big, so infinitely, unendingly big, it’s really no surprise how much it continues to fascinate, captivate, and inspire humanity in its many artistic endeavours.

And yes, while at times it can seem like the sheer infinity of time and space is on the verge of filling up with dime-a-dozen Tech Death bands, they certainly don’t have a monopoly on all things cosmic, as there’s a whole host of acts operating within the (dyson) sphere of Black Metal who take their primary inspiration from the endless wonder and grandeur of the great beyond.

This is particularly evident of course on the Atmospheric/Ambient side of the genre, with acts like Darkspace, Mare Cogitum, and Progenie Terrestre Pura rejecting the darkness of the brimstone abyss in favour of the vastness of the shining void, although even bands like Agalloch and Enslaved (to name but two) have done more than their fair share of stargazing over the years.

Australian astronometallers Mesarthim are one of the latest, and brightest, stars to join this ebon constellation of bands, with the release of their debut album Isolate in July of last year. And now they’re back once again with their new EP, Pillars. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): SCHAMMASCH, UPRISING, ELFSGEDROCH, INVEHERTEX, THE HEXAGRAM

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK 12 Responses »

Mar 152016

You might think that after posting a round-up on Sunday that included recent music from 39 bands, I would be all out of discoveries to write about. Nope, not even close. From Sunday’s flood of music streams I diverted some to which I wanted to dedicate closer attention, and since then I’ve found even more. All of it happens to be in the orbit of black metal, and so I’ve collected the music in a new edition of Shades of Black.

However, the volume of what I want to write about is so great that I’ve divided this edition into three parts. I will post Parts 2 and 3 tomorrow. Five excellent bands are included in this first installment.

SCHAMMASCH

We’ve already written quite a lot about Triangle, the new triple album by the Swiss band Schammasch, and until yesterday we hadn’t yet heard any of the music. But now we all have a song to hear, a long track named “Consensus“. According to the band, this is the first of three tracks that will be revealed prior to the album’s release. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: PYRRHON — “RUNNING OUT OF SKIN”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Mar 152016

(Austin Weber reviews the surprising new EP by Pyrrhon.)

Since their inception, NYC-based death metal weirdos Pyrrhon have developed a reputation as an experimental force to be reckoned with. And with each new release the band venture further into new territory and new forms of chaotic, genre-bending insanity. Last year they dropped an EP called Growth Without End that got a lot of critical praise and really seemed to be a breakthrough moment for the group in terms of their growing name recognition. If you remember, that release was itself a quick turn-around, with the band having previously released a phenomenal full-length just two years ago called The Mother Of Virtues.

Now, seemingly out nowhere and with no advance hype, the band quietly dropped a new EP today called Running Out Of Skin. With the only Pyrrhon constant seeming to be a penchant to change and shift their sound, it should come as no surprise that Running Out Of Skin is both familiar and different from their prior works. It consists of three original tracks, two of which were improvised in the studio, and a damn heavy cover of Death’s ”Crystal Mountain” to end the EP. Continue reading »

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