Jul 022026
 

(Andy Synn wants you to check out these four albums you may have missed in June)

There’s an unfortunate “catch-22” involved in these “things you may have missed” columns… because while they’re important as away of catching you all up on, well, things you may have missed (the clue is in the title) they also take up time and energy that might otherwise be expended on upcoming albums instead.

Of course, while we do love getting advance promos here at NCS (hint, hint) a lot of what we do (well, a lot of what DGR and I do) is finding newly and/or recently released stuff and trying to signal boost it once it’s already out in the world, and right now there’s only a handful of albums in my extensive “to do” list that haven’t actually been released yet (though I’ve got one lined up for Monday that will definitely please any fans of ultra-heavy Metallic Hardcore among you).

So maybe I shouldn’t sweat it so much… maybe we’re always going to be playing catch-up and the thing to focus on is that getting the music into the right ears is more important than getting it out there in advance.

And in that spirit, here’s four from June (with another four to follow next week) that you might not have heard yet, all of whom focus on the darkest side of the metallic spectrum in one way or another.

Continue reading »

Oct 052021
 

 

“Genre-bending” and “genre defying” are overworked phrases, and often misused in ways that exaggerate the extent to which bands bring differing genre ingredients into play. But those phrases are absolutely on-point in considering the wondrous music of the Swedish band Gold Spire.

The tale of the band points the way to the tales of the songs on their self-titled debut album, which will be released by Chaos Records on November 5th. Gold Spire was formed in 2019 in Uppsala by the brothers Erik and Påhl Sundström following the demise of Påhl‘s former band Usurpress. Functioning as co-producer and session drummer for Usurpress, Erik worked closely with Påhl on what came to be that band’s last album, 2018’s Interregnum.

We’re told that the ideas which were created during these sessions, together with the general focus on storytelling rather than genre considerations, formed the basis on which Gold Spire was born. And in keeping with those ideas, the brothers then enlisted musicians outside of the traditional metal spectrum: jazz saxophonist extraordinaire Magnus Kjellstrand and progressive rock bassist Petter Broman. They completed the circle by bringing in veteran death metal vocalist Heval Bozarslan (Sarcasm, Third Storm). Continue reading »

Sep 122021
 

 

Yesterday a combination of factors prevented me from posting the usual Saturday round-up of new songs and videos that appeared during the week. I did spend a big block of time surveying the field and making selections, but by the time I finished doing that it was mid-day and I decided to fuck off instead of beginning to write.

It has become clear to me that I can’t do the usual writing today either, if I’m to have any hope of preparing a SHADES OF BLACK post today. So I’m resorting to the format of just throwing all this stuff at you without artwork, or most of the usual links, or my usual commentary, just a few scattered notes.

But trust me, I did exercise some judgment about what I thought was worth sharing. It’s just that I thought A LOT was worth sharing — 16 songs and videos, to be precise. I alphabetized the collection by band name and then divided it into two parts.

ANOMALIE (Austria)

This is a very welcome return after a four-year hiatus between albums. The new full-length features Nornagest of Belgium’s Enthroned on harsh vocals. The new album, Tranceformation, is coming on November 5th from AOP Records. Continue reading »