IRREVERSIBLE MECHANISM: “INFINITE FIELDS”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Mar 312015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the debut album by Irreversible Mechanism from Belarus.)

The story of how Irreversible Mechanism were signed and the subsequent re-release of their briefly heard debut, Infinite Fields, is an interesting one. I was initially tipped off to the band by Essence Of Datum, an instrumental death metal act based in Belarus, who mentioned them to me in early November. Irreversible Mechanism are also based in Minsk, and are highly technical as well. The band then released Infinite Fields in December, and I only got to hear it in full twice before it was pulled from Bandcamp after only a single day. It turns out that after hearing only one track the night before the release, Finland’s Blood Music immediately wrote to propose the signing and an agreement was quickly reached, though not before the band had launched the album on Bandcamp — for one day. That should give you a hint as to how impressive a debut Infinite Fields is.

On a side note, the way this happened is something I’ve noticed other labels doing recently. It’s an interesting way for newer labels to find talented new bands and help make them more well known.

On my first two listens, I will admit to thinking that I had heard very similar riffs, leads, solos, and drum-beats from Cosmogenesis-era Obscura and The Faceless, with some definable though less prevalent Necrophagist influence as well.  But my opinion of the album has changed and grown, and I’ve become quite fond of this record. Although the two main major musical influences I just cited are at the heart of Irreversible Mechanism’s gravitas, the band really do a lot to add more layers and different influences and they have created something that can definitely be considered its own unique take on technical death metal. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SCALAFREA — “THE BASTARD ONE”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 302015
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of another new song by Scalafrea.)

Recently here at NCS, we premiered a phenomenal track called “Perceptions Of Time”,  by Colorado-based Death Metal band Scalafrea. The track comes from their upcoming EP, Opposites In Polarity. I covered the band’s background and dissected the elements of their sound in that first Scalafrea premiere, so instead of rehashing myself, those who want some more information on the band can go here.

Since I’ve always been a big fan of Scalafrea, and really think that their latest material is an impressive experience worthy of getting hyped about, we bring you another new song entitled “The Bastard One”. For those unfamiliar with the band, they play a very hodge-podge and spastic form of technical death metal with a progressive bend that’s also very well-written. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BREEDING FILTH — “EXHIBIT OF PERVERTED LUNACY”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Mar 252015
 

 

(Austin Weber presents our premiere of a song by Indiana’s Breeding Filth.)

While talking to Dawn of Dementia guitarist Derick Harshbarger recently, he mentioned to me that he is a part of another new group from Indiana called Breeding Filth, and that they were close to having a single drop. So we at NCS are now proud to help spread the word about them with the premiere of “Exhibit Of Perverted Lunacy”, the debut song from their upcoming full-length, Perverse Devolution.

Anyone who is a fan of Dawn of Dementia will easily dig “Exhibit Of Perverted Lunacy”, especially because of a similar melodic focus on sheer darkness and skull-crushing fury. Stylistically, Breeding Filth are different — they have a more brutal/slam character than Dawn Of Dementia — but there is still a fair bit of technical death metal riffing woven in. Continue reading »

THEORIES: “REGRESSION”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Mar 222015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the debut album by Seattle’s Theories, which will soon be released by Metal Blade Records.)

Of all metal, grind is often the style where one can really do no wrong as long as things are fast, ear-shatteringly loud, and brief in run-time. But naturally, those rare grind bands who write more interesting songs or who choose to reach outside their genre stylings and bring in other dimensions to their music are going to be the most interesting — which is exactly what Seattle-based Theories accomplish so brilliantly on their new full-length album, Regression. I love all grind, but what Theories have done so well on Regression is to produce a record that has a lot more intensity and replay value than most of their peers.

There isn’t a single song under two minutes on Regression, which is certainly a rarity for a grind band. Theories have a more intricate and densely composed sound than the average quick blasts of fury that populate their genre. Theories could be called deathgrind, but I would say their sound is along lines that are similar to Misery Index. Continue reading »

FELIX MARTIN: “THE HUMAN TRANSCRIPTION”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Mar 202015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews a new release by guitar wizard Felix Martin.)

Recently when I wrote a review for a Felix Martin concert here at NCS, I didn’t get to talk about one of the most important things that happened that night. After Felix Martin and his band finished their set I went to inquire about merch and talk with them. When I asked Kilian Duarte, their bass player, just what was in this new CD called The Human Transcription that I hadn’t heard yet, he told me it was inspired by the last Blotted Science EP. I knew then that I had to buy it. Little did I know just how amazing it would be.

To introduce the concept, here is an important explanation of it that I am quoting from Felix Martin’s website: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SCALAFREA — “PERCEPTIONS OF TIME”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Mar 162015
 

 

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

Today we have an incredible new song to share with the fine readers here at NCS. The track in question, “Perceptions Of Time”, comes from a new EP, Opposites In Polarity, by Colorado-based technical death metal trio Scalafrea. I’ve been following this band for several years after stumbling onto them through Metal-Archives. While they might not be the household name they should be, these guys have previously released an EP and a full-length that are head and shoulders above most of their peers in their style of metal.

The reasons they are so good bring to mind parallels to what Cephalic Carnage have done so well: They have a hodge-podge style that draws from all over the musical map and they couple that style with a penchant for writing songs, as Cephalic Carnage used to do, that are rather non-linear and that generally avoid repeating parts. Continue reading »

TOURISM: CRYPTOPSY, ALLEGAEON, MELVINS, MAID MYRIAD, THE FINE CONSTANT, FULL TERROR ASSAULT, AGALLOCH

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Mar 152015
 

 

(In this post Austin Weber updates us with news of forthcoming metal tours.)

Metal Injections Presents: Cryptopsy/Soreption/Erimha US Tour

It’s been several years since Cryptopsy have toured the United States, but now they’re coming back, and they’re bringing along some sick support acts to sweeten the deal. Soreption is definitely a favorite around here at NCS. Their sleek combination of mechanical grooves and technical death metal is incredible, and last year’s Engineering The Void was an amazing effort by the band. US Death metal act Disgorge and Montreal-based black/death group Erimha round out the tour bill. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IN LIEU OF ISLANDER… AGAIN (PT. II)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Mar 142015
 

 

(Having heard of my job-related inability to assemble round-ups of new music for the last week (and the one that’s coming), Austin Weber has once again graciously stepped up to fill the void. This is Part 2 of a round-up of new music, which began here.)

Dawn Of Dementia

Both Islander and I have written about Lafayette, Indiana-based technical death metal act Dawn Of Dementia before. The band traffic in a highly melodic form of technical death metal, and their newly dropped track, “A Subterranean Exposure”, shows them executing at an even higher level than on their previously released (and amazing) EP, Residuum.

I had the honor of getting to see Dawn Of Dementia play live in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, last fall, and these guys are the real deal. Their forthcoming album, Immolation Of  Avernis, is shaping up to be quite an impressive debut. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ALKALOID — “THE MALKUTH GRIMOIRE”

 Premieres  11 Responses »
Mar 092015
 

 

We discovered the existence of Alkaloid quite by accident last July after learning of the departure of Christian Muenzer and Hannes Grossman from German technical death metal overlords Obscura, and wrote about them at a time when not much information had been publicized — but what was known was certainly enticing. In the months since then, the reasons for excitement have only grown. This supergroup’s debut album The Malkuth Grimoire is now set for release on March 17 — and today we bring you the premiere of its title track.

The word “supergroup” is overused, but it’s entirely justified in the case of Alkaloid. The band’s members have histories with an impressive list of groups: Continue reading »

APOCROPHEX: “SUSPENDED FROM THE COSMIC ALTAAR”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 092015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the debut album by Apocrophex from New Jersey, which is being released on March 10.)

They say variety is the spice of life, but in a musical context, it’s how you arrange that variety and spice that makes the difference between music that’s merely a rehash and something that’s varying degrees of remarkable.

Instead of mixing all their influences into one singular synthesis dispersed in the same manner across every song, as many derivative tech-death bands do, Apocrophex shift between countless styles and technical death metal influences in separate contrasting passages and songs. In isolation, this can make some moments come across as too obviously close to their influences and thus seem weaker, but when taken as a whole in terms of how the music is constructed, Suspended From the Cosmic Altaar is very interesting and varied for technical death metal. And that’s especially when you consider that this is the band’s debut album, coming very soon after their initial two-song EP, Wheels Within Wheels (which I wrote about last year here at NCS). Continue reading »

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