AUSTIN WEBER’S BEST OF 2015 SO FAR: PRIME CUTS FROM THE UNDERGROUND OF THE UNDERGROUND (PART 2)

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jul 172015
 

Lever of Archimedes art

 

(In this multi-part post, 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.)

Lever Of Archimedes

Today we start off with Lever Of Archimedes, a death metal trio from Washington, D.C. Triptych Disentanglement is the band’s first release, and in just three songs and a a brief 13 total minutes the band proves themselves to be a technical tour de force in the vein of Archspire and Beneath The Massacre, while mixing in a Conducting From The Grave melodic feel and grit at times. Continue reading »

AUSTIN WEBER’S BEST OF 2015 SO FAR: PRIME CUTS FROM THE UNDERGROUND OF THE UNDERGROUND (PART 1)

 Album Reviews, Listmania, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 152015
 

Okazaki Fragments-Abandoned

 

(In this multi-part post, Austin Weber brings us his recommendations for some of the best albums released during the first half of the year.)

We are gathered here today, to become willing devotees to the aural alchemism presented below in various forms. While the words per band write-up may be sparse due to a lack of time, the music speaks volumes in terms of creativity; and in terms of literal volume as well!

I figured now would be a good time to post about a bunch of killer releases I’ve failed to find time to write about.  And not just because I found them to be decent or somewhat enjoyable, but because these are some of the best of this year that you within our beloved metal community need to know about. They range across such genres as tech-meth, R&B-infused grindcore, Nu-core wave of heavy 2 the core metal, Classical punk-bop,  Blackened post-folk, SludgEDM, Southern Acoustic DJENT, and Rollercoaster deathpolka (a curious after-writing search led me to  find out that someone has a band named deathpolka, bitching!).

Expect several more installments of this 2015 “best of” feature coming soon.  I hope. Maybe?

Okazaki Fragments

First on today’s list of recommendations is Abandoned, the headspinning debut by the Canadian death machine known as Okazaki Fragments. This Calgary-based group’s moniker, in a nutshell, can be boiled down to the growth process of new DNA. As an analogy for what their music has in store, it’s a damn fitting name for the unique music they’ve created. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VEILBURNER — “EVER RELAPSING FEVER”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Jul 062015
 

Veilburner-Noumenon

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a song and accompanying lyric video from the new album by Veilburner.) 

There’s a tired-but-true maxim that applies well in the music realm: “Strike while the iron is hot”. While you’ve got people’s attention, jam more music down their throats and keep things moving.  Veilburner have adhered strictly to this line of thought.

Last year, I and writers from several other sites hailed The Three Lightbearers, the debut full-length by this nightmare-inducing Pennsylvania-based death/black duo, as a highlight of 2014. Now, the band are already roaring back with their sophomore ode to chaos and annihilation, Noumenon, dropping soon on July 31st. And today we offer up the dual song-and-lyric-video premiere of “Ever Relapsing Fever”, the first track to air from the new album. Continue reading »

DYSTROPHY: “WRETCHED HOST”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jul 062015
 

Dystrophy-Wretched Host

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by Dystrophy.)

Recently here at NCS, I did a massive music drop post with no verbiage about the music due to a lack of time. One of those bands was the New Jersey-based death metal act Dystrophy, a band I’d been hearing good things about, and was reminded to check out, after forgetting, because of Doug Moore from Pyrrhon posting about them. After my post aired, the band sent me the album, so here we are to review it and tell you a bit more about what makes Wretched Host’s filthy heart tick.

Wretched Host is definitely “weird death metal” in the best way possible. It’s frequently dissonantly focused, with obvious nods to Gorguts and Deathspell Omega, yet their is a chunky old-school element to it that helps make this a thing all their own — not to mention how incredible the lead guitar is and how well it’s juxtaposed with the overall creeping and bludgeoning rhythm guitar work. Continue reading »

KOSSUTH: “MICTLAN”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Jul 022015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new EP by Indiana-based Kossuth.)

The last time I wrote about Kossuth here at NCS, it was when I helped premiere “Plains Of The Soaring Dagger” before the release of the full EP on which it resides. Now that Mictlan has been released, it’s high time that you check it out, and find out why it’s important that you do so. Okay, so maybe that’s a bit presumptuous of me to say, but it’s hard not to get hyperbolic when we’re talking about technical death metal as good as this.

For those who missed my prior post, the band has several current/former members of Dawn Of Dementia in their ranks, which is reason alone to check it out. While a sonic comparison to the technical-meets-melodic stylings of Dawn Of Dementia can easily be made, beyond the current/former members’ connection, Kossuth have more of a progressive mindset to their songwriting on Mictlan than the first Dawn Of Dementia EP had. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEFECT DESIGNER — “THE TERRIBLE”

 Premieres  8 Responses »
Jun 262015
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song by Defect Designer.)

It seems like a long time since Defect Designer last appeared on our site in 2013 courtesy of Islander posting about them. Now in 2015, this multi-national death metal supergroup are set to release a scathing hellstorm of twisted fury on their soon-to-be-released record, Ageing Accelerator.

If you haven’t heard of these guys yet, you really need to. They are in my estimation one of the finest modern death metal acts, combining far too many influences to count into a formula that generates numerous deadly riffs alongside numerous unique, non-repeated segments per song. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: BEARSTORM — “AMERICANUS”

 Premieres  10 Responses »
Jun 252015
 

 

(Austin Weber brings us the full streaming premiere of the new album by Bearstorm from Richmond, Virginia.)

Occasionally bands win the lottery, the stars line up perfectly, and you get a near-perfect band name and an idea for a sound that focuses on an as-yet-uncombined merger of musical styles. In such a rare moment, Richmond, Virginia-based Bearstorm was born.

Graced with more than an intriguing band name, Bearstorm are truly a whirlwind of creativity and gorgeous fury fused together in an inseparable union of awesomeness. Islander mentioned them in a post not too long ago, and so here we are with a full album stream to show you what this mindfucking new record called Americanus is all about. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ABNORMAL THOUGHT PATTERNS — “DISTORTION OF PERCEPTION”

 Premieres  9 Responses »
Jun 252015
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song and video by Abnormal Thought Patterns.)

California-based Abnormal Thought Patterns are in my estimation one of a rare breed of astonishing instrumental metal acts deserving of praise and much more press, yet who are somehow among the least-mentioned instrumental groups (which I don’t understand). The last time I wrote about them here at NCS was when I put the band’s 2013 record, Manipulation Under Anesthesia, on my lengthy 2013 year-end list. Fortunately, the band have a new record to engage with and be enamored by called Altered States Of Consciousness, which comes out June 26th through Lifeforce Records. Ahead of its release, we at NCS are proud to show you a new song/new video from this album called “Distortion Of Perception”.

The core of the band has always been the genius guitar/bass duo of the Tipton brothers (Troy Tipton on bass/ Jasun Tipton on guitar). I first fell in love with their Meshuggah-influenced prog/shred madness back in 2001 with their old (in a modern context way) pre-djent record, The Towers Of Avarice, by their previous band Zero Hour. Even their old drummer from Zero Hour, Mike Guy, continued along with them on this new soaring instrumental avenue paved with soulful chug ‘n’ shred done right (and far better than most others), and the band further includes second guitarist Jason Montero. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TERMINUS EST — “HARBINGER

 Premieres  4 Responses »
May 182015
 

 

(Austin Weber provides this introduction to our premiere of a new single by the band Terminus Est.)

One of the coolest things about getting to write here at NCS has been Islander’s graciousness in allowing me to alert the metal masses to all the weird and new bands I know about that perhaps most people don’t. In the vein of this ongoing tradition, we are proud to bring you the debut single and first recorded song by newly formed international death metal supergroup Terminus Est.

The band was founded by Canadian native Edward Gryn, who plays guitar and performs vocals in the band. The group started out as a collaboration between him and drummer extraordinaire Hannes Grossmann (Alkaloid, ex-Obscura, ex-Necrophagist, etc.), and they had originally locked in Dominic “Forest” Lapointe (Augury, Teramobil, ex-Beyond Creation, Atheretic, etc.), but he had to bow out before writing his parts. So they recruited another highly skilled bass player, Oliver Pinard from Cryptopsy.

While the band is set to record their debut album this year, they wanted to show the world what they’ve been working on, and so today we premiere for you their debut single, “Harbinger”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PYRRHON — “THE MASS”

 Premieres  7 Responses »
May 142015
 

 

(In this post Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a song from the new EP by New York’s Pyrrhon.)

After last year’s outstanding album, The Mother Of Virtues, I had no expectation of hearing new music from Pyrrhon for a while. Yet here we are a year later and they’ve already churned out an impressive new EP called Growth Without End set to drop on June 2nd (both vinyl and digitally). We here at NCS felt it supremely fucking necessary to help spread the word about it, and now we offer up a disturbingly brilliant new track called “The Mass” to infect your earholes.

It’s probably best to take a deep breath before listening to “The Mass”, because it will immediately throw you into a deafening war zone of caustic and spastic riffing, schizoid vocal exorcisms, booming bass-lines, and bafflingly complex drum-work. Once it has thoroughly decimated you, the track unfolds into a slower mid-section replete with eerie grooves, taunting you in demented fashion, until it shifts back into the chaotic vortex with which it began. Continue reading »

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