Austin Weber Archives - Page 12 of 19

AN NCS PREMIERE: SEROCS — “ITAMI”

Sep 022015

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a song from the new album by the multinational band Serocs.)

Ever since Serocs released their sophomore record, The Next, in 2013, I’ve been on pins and needles waiting for the follow-up that the band has long been teasing. While it would seem some shifting line-up issues from a vocalist standpoint were a large part of this delay, their new record, And When The Sky Was Opened, is finally going to drop before year-end through Comatose Music. I’ve been informed that the release date and pre-release info should be coming shortly in the days following today’s premiere of “Itami”. It’s a fantastic track that should pique your interest in this quite talented multinational act if by some chance you missed the boat on The Next or their previous works.

In the course of the wait for this record, the band made it clear that this would be a big step up for them, with a special emphasis on diversifying and growing their technical deathgrind sound while expanding the scope of their songwriting into bolder territory. While such statements didn’t make me think the Serocs I had grown to love would be no more, I was curious as to how big a shift in their sound And When The Sky Was Opened would be. Well, the proof is indeed in the pudding, and “Itami” is a damn fine introduction to what will surely be a standout record of 2015. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CEREBRIC TURMOIL, BEATEN TO DEATH, INTERNAL SUFFERING, HELPLESS

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Aug 272015

(Austin Weber steps up for round-up duty, with new music from four bands.)

While we already shove enough music down your throat on a daily basis to have your anus crying musical notes for a year, I figured I might as well present some more killer metal to up the rectal/ear discomfort of our readers. Below you’ll find a smattering of new songs by groups about to release new material, as well as a heads-up about a new release worth investing time in. A feast for the fetid-minded awaits you. In either a pleasant or unpleasant way. Your choice.

CEREBRIC TURMOIL

Oftentimes promising metal bands I’ve been interested in have sadly bitten the dust before they were able to release a proper album or EP. So often, all we have in memoriam is a brief demo or split material. For a number of years now, it’s looked like that very fate might befall German death metal band Cerebric Turmoil. After a 2006 demo, the band started off at a very high level, releasing a split album with none other then Defeated Sanity, which should give you an idea of their sound and also the quality of their music. In fact, at one point, the band actually had Defeated Sanity’s bass player in their ranks, and they also had famed oddball guitarist Fountainhead (now in Obscura) in their line-up at one point too.

After releasing their split with Defeated Sanity in 2008, the band broke up that same year. And while they re-formed in 2010, a full-length statement was nowhere in sight. Only now in 2015 are the band on the cusp of releasing their very promising debut, Neural Net Meltdown (on November 13th) through Amputated Vein Records. They just released the first song from it called “Grotesque Dreaming”, which I’ve embedded below for you to jam. Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (PAVOR)

THE REARVIEW MIRROR 4 Responses »

Aug 242015

(This is a second Rearview Mirror post for Sunday that is being posted on Monday because your humble editor was distracted and screwed up. The author is Austin Weber.)

In technical death metal circles, Pavor are a highly regarded name that sadly few still know. Which might have something to do with the band’s irregular output, shall we say. In the course of their existence, which started back in 1987, the band have released only two records and an EP, both of which have only gotten their long-overdue recognition with the rise of the internet spreading the word about their 1994 album, A Pale Debilitating Autumn, as well as 2003’s Furioso.

Since Furioso is their more accomplished work, I’ll post two tracks off it to give you an idea of what the record’s all about. Although I’m of the opinion that it’s flawless from start to finish, we’ll move on to the two songs at hand instead of ranting further. Continue reading »

THEORY IN PRACTICE: “EVOLVING TRANSHUMANISM”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 4 Responses »

Aug 142015

(Austin Weber reviews the comeback EP by Sweden’s Theory In Practice.)

Theory In Practice are in many people’s estimations one of the finest progressive-minded technical death metal acts ever to exist. Between the late ’90s and 2002 they put out three highly influential, ahead-of-their-time records. Then the band sort of went poof sometime shortly after releasing 2002’s Colonizing The Sun and have been listed as “on hold” ever since.

Only a mere two days ago a friend and I were dorking out about our desire for Theory In Practice to return and grace us with something new. Well, the wait is finally fucking over, as yesterday the band dropped a new two-song, nine-minute EP called Evolving Transhumanism. I was lucky enough to see a band I follow post about it, otherwise I wouldn’t even have known myself! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE RITUAL AURA — “ERASED IN THE PURGE”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Aug 122015

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new video and song from a forthcoming debut album by The Ritual Aura.)

We’ve covered The Ritual Aura before at NCS (here), and this Australian death squad are in impeccable form once again on the song/lyric video that we are premiering today called “Erased In The Purge”. In the time since we last wrote about them, they’ve signed to Lacerated Enemy Records and are nearing the release of their debut album, Laniakea, on August 27th.

If you think you know what you are in store for, “Erased In The Purge” has a few tricks up its sleeve beyond its primary mission of whipping you into a psychotic frothing frenzy. It’s so hellbent on destruction that it’s possible it was conceived specifically to be a sonic call to arms. If any nation around the globe with warmongering tendencies were smart, they’d make this their national fucking anthem. It’s that lethal. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: INTERNAL SUFFERING — “CYCLONIC VOID OF POWER”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jul 272015

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of the title track to a forthcoming album by the mighty Internal Suffering.)

It’s been nine grueling years of waiting for a new Internal Suffering record, but finally all the pieces are in place for a fall/winter release of their new full-length, Cyclonic Void Of Power, through Unique Leader Records. Some of you may remember the lyric/song video premiere for “Vanished From Cosmos” that we presented last year here at NCS, which was the first glimpse of this ravenous release and triumphant return by the band. And now we have a second song/lyric video to bring your ears and eyes: “Cyclonic Void Of Power”, the decimating title-track from the new record.

While it’s not the most important thing to say about this band or this new song, it’s worth recognizing that they were so far ahead of their time that even now their unique brand of brutal, technical death metal as captured well more than a decade ago sounds modern, and just as face-melting in all its twisted glory. As far as hyper-blasting, brutally minded metal bands with a hint of slam go, they are in a sense the grandfather of the current crop of bands playing in these styles. If you’re interested in death metal that’s a full-throttle stampede, and also somehow memorable along the way, then draw near to your speakers and prepare to headbang. Continue reading »

DEFECT DESIGNER: “AGEING ACCELERATOR”

Album Reviews, Reviews 6 Responses »

Jul 232015

(Here’s Austin Weber’s review of the new Defect Designer album.)

Too often, we forget about killer releases after a song premiere we enjoy has passed out of memory before the record itself drops. Granted, this is not always true for everyone, or for everything that is released, but it is certainly something I have noticed. Which is why we are here today to talk about Defect Designer in spite of writing about them recently here at NCS.

Some of you may recall the premiere we did just a few weeks ago for a song (“The Terrible”) from Ageing Accelerator just a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, as a refresher, here is a written reminder to check out this fantastic new Defect Designer record now that it has been released. Continue reading »

AUSTIN WEBER’S BEST OF 2015 SO FAR: PRIME CUTS FROM THE UNDERGROUND OF THE UNDERGROUND (PART 4)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Jul 222015

(Here’s the final installment in a multi-part post that began last week, in which Austin Weber brings us his recommendations for some of the best albums released during the first half of the year. Part 1 is at this location, Part 2 is here, and Part 3 is here.)

Acrania

I know what some of you are thinking, that this is the somewhat well-known slam band from the UK who are also named Acrania. Well, it’s not. In fact, the UK Acrania broke up recently, and the one we are here to discuss today is based in Mexico City, having been a band far longer than the other Acrania anyways.

I first became acquainted with Fearless due to Eliran Kantor’s painted cover, which the artist shared on Facebook long before the album’s release. Yet, shamefully. I only got a chance to check out the record very recently. I’m really glad I did, because Acrania have a very interesting sound and take on mixing the old with the outlandish in pursuit of something new. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BREEDING FILTH — “PRONOUNCED CANCER”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jul 222015

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song by Breeding Filth from Lafayette, Indiana.)

Back in March, I helped premiere the first single from Breeding Filth, a Lafayette, Indiana-based technical brutal death metal act. For those who didn’t catch my post before, the band includes members of fellow Indiana tech-death wunderkinds Dawn of Dementia, which should tip you off to the talent and quality involved with their music.

While the band has yet to set a release date for their debut album, Perverse Devolution, they’ve tentatively stated to me that it will be dropping toward the end of the year. To ease the burden of this long wait, we at NCS are proud to show you another song off their record called “Pronounced Cancer”.

If you like your death metal frantic yet full of finesse, then consider “Pronounced Cancer” a metastasizing treat, aurally akin to being helplessly dropped into a fucking war zone. Continue reading »

AUSTIN WEBER’S BEST OF 2015 SO FAR: PRIME CUTS FROM THE UNDERGROUND OF THE UNDERGROUND (PART 3)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

Jul 202015

(In this multi-part post that began last week, Austin Weber brings us his recommendations for some of the best albums released during the first half of the year. Part 1 is at this location and Part 2 is here.)

Ni are a French mathcore band whose madness you have to hear to understand, though to try to explain, they give off a demented Mr. Bungle vibe that’s paired with a hefty jazz influence and more mind-bending polyrhythms than you can possibly keep track of. Their new record, Les insurgés de Romilly, has been blowing my mind for the last week with its funky, headbang-inducing grooves and quirky, disorienting nature.

This record is an interesting exercise in combining highly technical, groove-oriented math-metal with prog and experimental inclinations. If death metal and other subgenres try to batter you with speed, then what ni do would be more akin to giving listeners a hit of acid and putting them in a vast, surreal labyrinth. Continue reading »

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