NO CLEAN SINGING

HOWLS OF EBB: “CURSUS IMPASSE: THE PENDLOMIC VOWS”

Mar 042016

(We present Wil Cifer’s review of the new album by Howls of Ebb.)

Finally there is some motion in the ocean, as the albums I’ve been looking forward to going into 2016 have begun to creep into my inbox. This project out of San Francisco brings a sense of adventure back to death metal. There is little in the way of rehashing what Incantation and Morbid Angel have already done. No time is wasted digging into the meat of the metal on this one. The trippy grooves and atmosphere are still intact, as the double-bass hammers beneath the rubbery bass lines. The aggression is not conveyed in the manner you expect from death metal. Their guitar tones are not saturated in distortion; they give an organic quality to the chaos bubbling within these songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: OMOPHAGIA — “DOWN WE FALL”

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Mar 032016

I had so much fun watching the video you’re about to see. There’s something perversely satisfying about the surprise of seeing a flesh-eating band dressed to the nines in business attire kicking down the door to a blast furnace of superheated death metal. And then you discover that these dudes are quick-change artists as well as fleet-fingered assassins. And yes, there will be blood before it’s over.

The band in question is a group of Swiss berserkers named Omophagia, which does indeed refer to the consumption of raw flesh. When I tell you that their new album In the Name of Chaos is being released by Unique Leader Records, you may make the educated guess that speed and technical proficiency will lie ahead, and yes, you’ll get a hot dose of both in the song we’re premiering via this eye-catching video for “Down We Fall“. But those ingredients don’t exhaust the appealing facets of this turbocharged track. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OBSCURE EVIL — “MIDNIGHT FORCES”

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Mar 032016

Midnight Forces is the first release by a band from Lima, Perú, named Obscure Evil. The dark lord willing, it will not be their last — because it’s hellishly good.

Caligari Records will be the courier for this bat-winged blast of savagery, releasing the album on March 11 in the form of a pro-tape cassette limited to 150 copies. What we have for you is a chance to hear all four tracks before parting with your hard-earned money. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DRAUGNIM: “A PASSAGE IN FIRE”

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Mar 032016

Although we don’t often write about trailers for albums that include mere snippets of music when there are so many complete songs and albums to spread around, we made an exception last month for the teaser reel for Draugnim‘s new album, Vulturine. In addition to the eye-catching visuals, even the brief excerpt of music in the video was arresting. And now, in cooperation with Debemur Morti Productions, we have the good fortune of bringing you the premiere of a complete song from the album: “A Passage In Fire“.

Vulturine comes six years after this Finnish pagan metal band’s last album, Horizons Low. In a career that began in the late ’90s, the band’s three core members have remained the same — Morior (composing, guitars), Chimedra (vocals, lyrics), and Turms (bass, lyrics) — and their experience, talent, and persistence have produced an album that has definitely been worth the wait. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: FILTH IN MY GARAGE — “SONGS FROM THE LOWEST FLOOR”

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Mar 022016

At the end of this post you’ll find our North American premiere of Songs From the Lowest Floor, the debut album by an Italian band named Filth In My Garage. The music is different from what we usually write about here, but this album hit me the right way, which is to say right in the teeth, leaving my brain rattling in my skull. And then there’s the artwork.

For each of the album’s nine songs, vocalist and visual artist Stefano Bonora created a separate piece of art, no two of them even in the same style, but all of them intriguing and well-matched to the lyrical content of the tracks. Here are three of them (in addition to Stefano’s eye-catching cover art above): Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ALLFATHER — “RASKOLNIKOV”

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Mar 022016

Following their debut release, last year’s No Gods, No Masters, UK-based Allfather signed with Static Tension Recordings for the release of a new EP named Bless the Earth With Fire, which is scheduled to hit the streets on April 29. Today we have for you the premiere of a song from the EP called “Raskolnikov“.

What the song demonstrates in spades is that Allfather are capable of creating music that hits like a sledgehammer to the back of the neck but sticks in the memory as well. They also know how to start a song in a way that grabs your attention immediately. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IN MOURNING, HOWLS OF EBB, LASCAILLE’S SHROUD, DESOLATOR

Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Mar 022016

I wasn’t able to compile a round-up of new things for yesterday, which means that I’m now up to my eyebrows in news and music that I’d like to share, or I would be if I had a head. But figuratively speaking, I do have more items worth spreading around than I have time or space to compile. Therefore, I’ve chosen somewhat randomly. But the first two choices were compelled not only because I’m a big fan of both bands but also because the artwork for both is stupendous.

IN MOURNING

Today Sweden’s In Mourning revealed details about their new album, including the magnificent cover art that you see above, which was created by the magnificent Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin. The name of the album is Afterglow and it will be released by Agonia Records on May 20. Continue reading »

THE KING IS BLIND: “OUR FATHER”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Mar 022016

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by The King Is Blind, released in January by Cacophonous Records.)

Going into this review I was, for some reason, under the strong impression that I’d covered UK Death Metal types The King Is Blind before here at NCS. However, a quick search revealed only a cursory mention of the band here and there and, as it turns out, the last time I wrote about them at any sort of length was for Terrorizer over a year and a half ago… oh, the humanity!

Thankfully, the release of the band’s debut album Our Father affords me an opportunity to correct this egregious oversight, as the Essex quintet have come out all guns blazing with this one! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DECREPIT SOUL — “STORM OF STEEL”

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Mar 012016

Australia’s Decrepit Soul could hardly have chosen a better title for their new album than The Coming of War!!. As the successor to last year’s debut full-length Uncreated and Eternal, it is even more barbarous and warlike — and you will discover that for yourselves through our premiere of a new song with the equally well-chosen title of “Storm of Steel“.

On this new record, scheduled for release by Iron Bonehead on March 18, vocalist/guitarist Kakorot is joined for the first time by drummer Marcus Hellcunt (Vomitor, ex-Bestial Warlust and Gospel of the Horns), and together they make a powerful two-man death-dealing machine. Continue reading »

MOONSORROW: “JUMALTEN AIKA”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Mar 012016

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Finland’s Moonsorrow.)

It’s been five years since the Finnish overlords of pagan metal left us with Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa. The new album, Jumalten Aika (“The Age of Gods”), opens with folk instruments, creating a ritualistic aura. After a minute and a half of this they storm into the larger-than-life metal you have come to expect from them.

The black metal side of what they do is toned down on this album, as this one dives into folk metal on an epic scale. Holding true to their mission statement, the album does have a commanding Viking feel, without inspiring you to go into a jig with your drinking horn. Continue reading »

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