Nov 212018
 

 

(In this post Andy Synn provides reviews of the two albums released this year by the duo known as Ævangelist.)

For various reasons, some personal, some professional, this week has so far been one headache-inducing shitshow that’s left my mood blacker, and bleaker, than a witches’ frozen teat.

And while some people might respond to this by trying to put on a happy face or jamming their most uplifting musical anthems… sometimes that simply doesn’t work.

Sometimes you just have to feed the beast, fuel the fire, and embrace the darkness… which is why, for the last couple of days I’ve been immersing myself in the dissonant, abstract horrorscapes of Ascaris and Matron Thorn, aka Ævangelist. Continue reading »

Jul 182018
 

 

Here are four songs, two of which come with videos, from forthcoming albums that I’m pretty excited about. A slew of other songs have appeared since late last week that I’m also excited about, and no doubt more will appear today. The thorny garden of metal is riotously fecund. We poor harvesters with bleeding fingers and bleeding ears can’t keep up, try as we might.

PLAGUEWIELDER

Ohio’s Plaguewielder made an eye-opening debut with their 2015 album Succumb To Ash on Dullest Records. They followed that last year with a single named “Writhing In Mental Torment“, which I had some positive things to say about, and just a few days ago they released another new single, “In Depths of Cold Hell“, which is a prelude to a new album entitled Surrender To the Void that will be released on August 12th. Continue reading »

Apr 062017
 

 

As explained yesterday, since writing the first part of this SEEN AND HEARD collection I’ve discovered more news and more new music that I want to share with you. Rather than try to cram all of it into a single Part 2, I’ve divided it again, sort of like an amoeba. It may continue to divide, the cells combining to form something horrid and parasitic. Or not… but there will at least be a Part 3 (which I plan to finish in time for posting tomorrow).

GOD DETHRONED

In January 2012, God Dethroned played a farewell performance at the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise. That farewell was a sad development for me and many others. But then, in July 2014 frontman Henri Sattler announced that the band would be returning to the stage. At that time only Sattler and drummer Michiel van der Plicht remained from the band’s last line-up, to be joined by guest musicians whose identities weren’t then revealed. In writing about that news almost three years ago I noted that although Sattler’s statement hadn’t explicitly addressed whether the reunion would consist of more than new live shows, “we can only hope that a new album will be coming, too.” That wish has been granted. Continue reading »

Oct 052016
 

death-fetishist-clandestine-sacrament

 

We’ve been paying close attention to Death Fetishist since we premiered the band’s first single in December of last year (which became part of the band’s debut EP Whorifice) and continuing through the release of a single-song EP named Lucifer Descending last February. Now, Debemur Morti Productions is approaching the October 28 release of the first Death Fetishist album, Clandestine Sacrament, and we have for you the first excerpt from that sacrament, a track called “Astral Darkness“.

The principal creator behind Death Fetishist is the prolific Matron Thorn, who is also the main driving force in Ævangelist as well as the protagonist in a large number of solo projects, including Benighted In Sodom. He is the vocalist in Death Fetishist and performs all the instruments other than drums and percussion, which are handled by G. Nefarious (Panzergod, Daemoniis Ad Noctum).

For this album Thorn also enlisted an array of notable international guests to help realize Death Fetishist’s musical vision, including guest vocalists D.G. from Iceland’s Misþyrming, Doug Moore of NY’s Pyrrhon, and Julia Black, with synth orchestration created by Jürgen Bartsch (Bethlehem) and Mories (Gnaw Their Tongues). Continue reading »

Jun 142016
 

Blut Aus Nord-AEvangelist-Codex Obscura Nomina

 

To get right to the point: On June 17, Debemur Morti Productions will release Codex Obscura Nomina, an album-length split by Blut Aus Nord and Ævangelist, and we now bring you the chance to listen to all of it.

The album includes one EP-length track by Ævangelist named “Threshold of the Miraculous” and four tracks by Blut Aus Nord, which are themselves parts of a unified work called “Spectral Subsonic Waves (The Sound is an Organic Matter)”. Each piece stands alone, yet they achieve the ideal for a split release of any kind: They complement each other in ways that enable them, together, to magnify the impact that each produces separately. Continue reading »

May 202016
 

Blut Aus Nord-AEvangelist-Codex Obscura Nomina

 

A vast distance on the planet’s surface separates Blut Aus Nord and Ævangelist, but in the perilous, un-fleshed shadow realms from which their music seems to emanate, they are not so far apart. A split release by these two bands is one of those ideas that was ingenious in its conception but once revealed makes obvious sense — and it is an idea that has become a reality.

On June 17, Debemur Morti Productions will release Codex Obscura Nomina, a split LP by these two conjurors of otherworldly hallucinations. Blut Aus Nord contributes four songs while the split includes only a single track by Ævangelist — “Threshold of the Miraculous” — but it’s more than 21 minutes long. As a preview, today we’re bringing you the streaming premiere of an excerpt of that song, along with some thoughts about the song as a whole. Continue reading »

Feb 122016
 

Death fetishist-Lucifer Descending

 

I usually post collections such as this one on Sundays, to make the Sabbath blacker. But I’m sitting on so much good new metal in a blackened vein that I decided to share this collection now. I’m hoping to put together another one for Sunday.

DEATH FETISHIST

Just a couple of days ago, the eminent Debemur Morti Productions announced the signing of a new band from Portland, Oregon, named Death Fetishist, whose debut album will be released by the label later this year. To commemorate the blessed event, Death Fetishist released a single-song EP entitled Lucifer Descending yesterday — which follows a two-song EP (Whorifice) released on the first day of this month. Both EPs are available on Bandcamp.

The person behind Death Fetishist is the prolific Matron Thorn, who is also the principal driving force in Ævangelist as well as the protagonist in a large number of solo projects, including Benighted In Sodom. He is the vocalist in Death Fetishist and performs all the instruments other than drums and percussion, which are handled by Grond Nefarious. Continue reading »

Oct 142015
 

2015-10-10 19.57.59

 

From last Friday through Sunday, October 9-11, 2015, I and two of my NCS comrades (DGR and BadWolf) attended the inaugural edition of California Deathfest in Oakland, CA, brought to us by the same good people responsible for the long-running Maryland Deathfest.

On Saturday morning I managed to scribble some notes and pull together a few photos from the first day of the festival (here). Though delayed for various reasons, this post will now focus on Saturday’s show, and before this week runs out I hope to prepare a feature on Sunday’s third and final day of the event. Continue reading »

Oct 112015
 

2015-10-10 19.43.19-1

 

I’ve failed. This makes the seventh day in nearly 6 years, weekend and holidays and inclement weather included, when I haven’t been able to post something of substance. I blame California Deathfest, and my inability to spend the hours before the next night preparing something for our putrid blog.

I have photos and lots of thoughts about the bands I saw on Saturday night, but that will have to wait until Monday. All I’ll say for now is that the photo above is a hint about the band whose Saturday set, for my tastes, was the best of the day. But it was a very, very close call, because it was a very strong night of metal, which included these people: Continue reading »

Sep 012015
 

Aevangelist-Enthrall To The Void Of Bliss

 

The portal to the Abysscape is about to open again. Or in more prosaic terms, a new Ævangelist album is almost upon us. Entitled Enthrall To The Void Of Bliss, it will be released by 20 Buck Spin on October 9 in North America and October 23 in Europe. Today we are fortunate to host the premiere of the album’s first advance track, a transfixing torment called “Levitating Stones“.

With three albums in as many years and a trio of EPs, Ævangelist have already abundantly proven their ability to cast spells of nightmarish power and conjure visions of claustrophobic, otherworldly terror and despair. But listeners who have followed the band’s tortured path since 2012’s De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis already know that their arcane creative inspirations have not left them rooted in a fixed place. “Levitating Stones” shows them moving again, navigating a new (and twisted) course within the alien hell they call home. Continue reading »