OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 18): DORMANT ORDEAL, FUNERAL MIST, ALTERED DEAD, DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2021  2 Responses »
Jan 282022
 


Dormant Ordeal

 

In an effort to make up for failing to post an installment of the list yesterday I’ve posted two today, this being the second. All the other installments are collected HERE. As you can see, I’ve also included four songs in this segment instead of the usual three. There ain’t much time left before I need to stop adding to the list, and I’m trying to get as much into it as I can before the clock runs out.

Speaking of which, I’m planning to post another installment on Saturday and one on Sunday, leading up to the last grouping on Monday. Pretty sure I’ll add four songs in each of these three remaining segments. Twelve more to go, and it’s going to be a struggle to figure out the last eight of them (I already know what I’m doing tomorrow).

DORMANT ORDEAL (Poland)

It should come as no surprise to anyone who frequents NCS that there is (finally) a Dormant Ordeal track on this list. Most of us around here don’t agree on everything, but there was a pretty emphatic consensus among us that Dormant Ordeal’s The Grand Scheme of Things was one of the best albums of 2021. Continue reading »

FUNERAL MIST: “DEIFORM”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Dec 172021
 

Funeral Mist‘s last album, Hekatomb, dropped in June 2018 without any preview. I rushed to listen to it, and rushed a review into print, more to urge it upon listeners than to give it a carefully considered assessment, especially an assessment that would compare it to the band’s preceding albums.

Well, today NoEvDia released a new Funeral Mist album named Deiform, and I’m basically doing the same thing.

This time I actually received an advance copy, but it wasn’t very much in advance of today’s release and it came at a time when I couldn’t drop everything else (much as I wanted to) and really become immersed in what Arioch had created this time around.

So once again, although I’m providing my immediate impressions of the album, I’m mainly urging people to listen to it, especially year-end list-makers who haven’t finished their lists, because Deiform has the capacity to up-end the process. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 7): FUNERAL MIST AND 1914

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  3 Responses »
Jan 162019
 

 

For today’s installment of this 2018 list I’m taking a turn toward black metal, of unusually high quality. And I’ll give you a preview that black metal will be the focus of tomorrow’s post as well. As the writer of our site’s Sunday SHADES OF BLACK column, I have a vast number of black metal tracks on my collection of candidates for this list, and while I’m committed to making it representative of addicting music across a range of genres, that particular genre is going to get its fair share of attention in the weeks ahead.

FUNERAL MIST

When I first listened to Funeral Mist’s new album Hekatomb I wasted no time in putting pen to paper (so to speak). Avoiding any attempt to compare it to the enthusiastically received Salvation or the more controversial Maranatha, I considered it on its own and wrote (here): Continue reading »

MARDUK / FUNERAL MIST: A TALE OF TWO ALBUMS

 Album Reviews  12 Responses »
Jun 212018
 

 

(In this post Andy Synn combines reviews of the new albums by the Swedish black metal bands Funeral Mist and Marduk.)

One of the commenters on one of my recent columns made mention of our avoidance of the tabloid-esque, clickbait culture which seems predominant among so many blogs/sites these days. And while I generally agree with (and appreciate) that sentiment, I would like to clarify one thing.

Because while we do our best to avoid sensationalising or proselytising, that doesn’t mean we’re ignorant of, or afraid to address, the various issues, questions, and controversies, which frequently permeate and surround our beloved scene.

My own approach, which is still being refined with every review and every article I write, is to inform, rather than dictate, so that our readers are given the right context in which to make their own decisions. I, for one, don’t believe that listening to a band is necessarily the same as endorsing their worldview, but I also don’t believe that there’s anything wrong with making a personal choice not to support a band either.

Whatever your decision, though, I can say that both these albums offer some extremely  good Black Metal, although both are successful for different reasons. Continue reading »

QUICK HITS: FUNERAL MIST, BLACK HOWLING

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 142018
 

 

As promised earlier, I’m trying to make up for failing to post one of these Quick Hit features yesterday by posting two today. On the other hand, this second of today’s small round=ups isn’t really accomplishing the goal of catching up on music from the past couple of weeks that I wanted to recommend — because late-breaking developments have intervened.

FUNERAL MIST

In last Sunday’s SHADES OF BLACK column I trumpeted the news that Funeral Mist had sprung a surprise by announcing that a new album would be released on June 15th, more than nine years after the last one. I doubted that any music would become available for streaming until the album’s release, given the short time between the revelation of the news and the album’s release, and that proved to be true. But there was one further surprise: The album was released a day earlier than scheduled. In other words, it’s out now. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: FUNERAL MIST, GAEREA, VILKACIS, TURIA, ABIGAIL

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  21 Responses »
Jun 102018
 

 

As you can see, I’m resuming this column after failing to get it done the last two Sundays due to other commitments. As a result of the hiatus I’m even more awash than usual in new music from the black realms. So much to choose from… and so perhaps there’s an even greater element of randomness in these choices than usual as well.

FUNERAL MIST

This solo project of the man who goes by Arioch here (and Mortuus when he fronts Marduk) has a habit of surprising people. After a trio of demos and an EP between ’95 and ’98, five years passed and then the Salvation debut album appeared — a record that a great many people still swear by. Six more years passed, and then Funeral Mist released Maranatha without warning. As I recall, it garnered a more mixed response than the widespread praise provoked by Salvation, but I’m one of those who thoroughly enjoyed it. And then so many years passed with nothing new that most fans probably concluded, sadly, that Arioch had laid Funeral Mist to rest, permanently.

Surprise! Continue reading »

BLACK METAL (PART 5): A COLLECTION CURATED BY NEILL JAMESON (KRIEG)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Sep 122016
 

Krieg-Photo by Hillarie Jason

 

(Neill Jameson (Krieg) returns to our site with a further installment in his series on black metal from years past. Some real gems are collected here, and others can be found in his previous installments located behind this link.)

Without much need for exposition since this is my fifth time doing this subject, I guess all I really can say is I don’t understand why these records sit with some dust on them when so much other nonsense gets lavished with praise. It’s probably my taste and inability to think positive thoughts, but that seems like some shit for my therapist. So without further hold-ups, here’s a few more black metal records that I feel should have some light shed on them. Continue reading »