AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CREEPING FEAR — “FEAST OF VIOLENCE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 022025
 

(written by Islander)

There are so many ways humanity could extinguish its own existence or render it vastly more miserable. No doubt you can count the ways as easily as we can. Death creeps toward us all, and sometimes races at us out of control. But if we don’t make it to the end of this year (place your bets!), at least the French death metal band Creeping Fear have provided us both a new soundtrack for the wretched end times, and a parting gift.

Their new album, Realm of the Impaled, will be released by Dolorem Records on June 27th — surely we will last that long! (place your bets…) It again features eye-impaling cover art by the great Paolo Girardi and again confronts us with the ghastly visage of the hellish horned creature (armored this time) that presided over their last album, 2021’s Hategod Triumph.

As for the music, it’s hellish too. Here’s how Dolorem sums it up: “Creeping Fear is the burning breath of the apocalypse in death metal: brutal, technical, and uncompromising. Devastating riffs, abysmal growls, and suffocating atmospheres—something between Immolation and Hate Eternal, prepare to dive into a masterful sonic chaos.” Continue reading »

A DIRTY HALF DOZEN – AVERSED / CREEPING FEAR / DANTALIAN / KANONENFIEBER / PUTRESCINE / WODE

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Mar 292021
 

(Our man Andy Synn has been busy recently, but not too busy to help catch us up with a bevy of new (or new-ish) albums from the first quarter of 2021)

We’re now at the end of March and I can officially say that the stream of new releases, re-releases, and surprise releases, has finally gotten the better of me and I have fallen well behind on my “to review” list.

Sacrifices will, inevitably, have to be made, and some things I intended to write about will either have to wait until an opening appears in my schedule somewhere down the line or, in the worst case scenario, have to be content with appearing in one of my year-end round-ups.

But I’m not going to give in to the inevitable without a fight, which is why, in a desperate effort to provide some interesting coverage, commentary, and – in some cases – criticism about a bunch of records (some dating back to January, some only just about to hit the streets) I’ve decided to pen a few thoughts about six different albums – three Death Metal, three Black Metal – which I’ve been meaning to write about for quite some time.

So, without further ado…

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CREEPING FEAR — “HATEGOD TRIUMPH”

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Feb 222021
 

 

The Italian maestro Paolo Girardi has created the artwork for so many metal album covers that trying to count the number would be a daunting task. But in the humble opinion of this writer the one he created for the new album by the French band Creeping Fear is among his best (and most frightening), and surely will be an enticement for fans to pick up a physical edition of the record — IF the record is any good. Is it any good?

Well, hell yes, it is very good indeed, a big slab of red meat for slavering carnivores of death metal in the vein of such bands as Hate Eternal, Immolation, and Cannibal Corpse. The name of the album is Hategod Triumph, and today we present evidence of its brutal, barbaric, and unhinged attractions through the premiere of the title track in advance of the album’s March 26th release by Dolorem Records. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA: THE TOP 10 SONGS I HEARD FOR THE FIRST TIME YESTERDAY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  20 Responses »
Dec 222016
 

shaarimoth-temple-of-the-adversarial-fire

 

This time of year there are always a few people who ask whether I’m going to post my own list of the year’s best releases. Again, the answer is no, because making the effort would be too paralyzing. I have enough trouble deciding whether to wash my underoos or let them ferment for another week.

On the other hand, I do kind of feel left out of the year-end LISTMANIA frenzy, so I thought I’d put together a Top 10 list, but one that’s a bit easier for my overtaxed brain to process. These are the 10 best songs I heard for the first time yesterday.

Hey, don’t laugh! It wasn’t that easy — I listened to more than 20 new songs yesterday, so I did have to make some decisions. Of course, I couldn’t be bothered to rank these 10 tracks; there’s a limit to how far I’m going with this.

SHAARIMOTH

The first song is “Faceless Queen of Bloodstained Dreams”, which is from an album I’ve been anxiously awaiting — the second full-length by Norway’s Shaarimoth, which is arriving more than a decade after the first one. Continue reading »