SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: MELECHESH, KADAVEREICH, ARCHITECTS OF AEON, A FOREST OF STARS, THE HOLEUM, VOIDSPIRE

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Feb 142026
 

(written by Islander)

I felt a cold coming on yesterday when I woke up, and that was quickly followed by the discovery that anyone trying to get to NCS experienced frantic meltdowns from their browsers, which warned people that our site was insecure and might expose all their personal finances and identities to theft, might turn their children into ghouls, might cause cats to have sex with dogs, etc., etc. In other words, it seemed our site’s SSL security certificate had expired.

Or at least that’s what I concluded based on some googling, because I hadn’t received any advance notice or warning. I had forgotten what an SSL is, had no idea when we implemented it, and was completely clueless about what I was supposed to do to fix the problem. I e-mailed our IT consultant, who I think must have implemented SSL for NCS years ago (I still haven’t heard back from him).

I also opened a support ticket with our security provider, because our web host told me they maintain the site’s security certificate. I haven’t heard back from them either — though late yesterday afternoon the scary browser warnings stopped, so I guess they remewed our certificate, but I really am still in the dark about the whole incident. Which means I’m also in the dark about how to prevent this bullshit from happening again.

Oh, and my cold was also in full bloom by late afternoon yesterday. Continue reading »

INCINERATION FEST 2015

 Concert Reviews  6 Responses »
May 162015
 

 

(Our man Andy Synn was lucky enough to attend the second annual Incineration Festival in the UK and turns in this report, with videos.)

Let me preface this review with a quick round of thanks to the people who made the festival, and my presence there, possible.

My main thanks go out to Daniel of London Metal Monthly (for whom I also write on a semi-regular basis these days) for arranging my press pass and feeding my ever-expanding ego (though at no point did I have to utter the immortal words “do you know who I am?”… which was a shame).

I also want to thank Steve and Stephen for dealing with the masses of people queuing for wristbands and for sorting my access on the day itself, as well as for all their work behind the scenes in booking the bands, venues, crew, and everything else that must have gone into a mammoth undertaking.

However, they, along with Nimai, are only the names I know of the people who were involved. For an undertaking this big – one that’s only in its second year no less – there must have been a host of other helpers and organisers working alongside them. And although I don’t know their names, I thank them as well. Continue reading »

MELECHESH: “ENKI”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Mar 132015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Melechesh.)

I realise I may be in the minority about this, but as much as I enjoyed The Epigenesis I still felt like there was something missing in the final package. Though it certainly broke new ground in terms of adding an even more progressive, expressive edge to the band’s sound, to my mind it lacked a certain fire, a certain ferocity, when compared with their previous releases.

However it’s now been five long years since the release of The Epigenesis, five years which the band have spent (metaphorically) wandering in the wilderness, losing long-serving members and regaining old allies, perfecting and purifying themselves once more, engaged in a penitent pilgrimage which has led, ultimately, to the creation of perhaps their finest album yet. Continue reading »

QUICK AND DIRTY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Aug 092012
 

Due to a combination of morning-long work commitments and another 5-hour flight home without wi-fi, this will likely be the last NCS post of the day.  Things should be more (ab)normal tomorrow.

In this post, I’ve quickly collected a variety of items that caught my eyes (and ears) last night.

CATTLE DECAPITATION

Cattle Decap posted this status on their FB page last night: “We sodomized the city of Budapest, Hungary tonight. On Thursday we spill our seed upon the citizens of Czech Republic at Brutal Assault. Bye, bye fuckers”  At times like these, it’s fun to imagine the reaction of people outside metal if they knew how our bands showered gratitude on their fans. We, of course, only laugh.

CONQUERORS OF THE WORLD

I included news of this tour in a post on July 10 when only 13 dates had been announced. Now, a more complete schedule is available. I’m so fucking pleased to see a Seattle stop on the list. Septic Flesh . . . Krisiun . . . Melechesh . . . Ex Deo . . . Inquisition . . . wow . . . Continue reading »

HEAD-EXPLODING TOUR NEWS: “CONQUERORS OF THE WORLD 2012” — AND HEAD-EXPLODING PIG DESTROYER NEWS

 Metal News  15 Responses »
Jul 102012
 

Oh my fucking dog. Take a close look at that tour poster above. Upon returning from my birthday Blog Break, I found a message from BadWolf with a link to this beautiful thing, and I nearly peed myself with excitement.

Okay, to be brutally honest, which is the only kind of honest we know how to be at NCS, I did pee myself, though it’s possible that’s the result of general diminution in bladder control that comes with advancing age and an “I can’t be bothered” attitude about going to the bathroom when the first tingling urges appear. Some people would say that I ought to quit fucking around and start manufacturing the NCS-branded adult diapers I’ve written about before, with the “Massive Wall of Penis” logo in the front and the Blastanus logo in the rear, and then start wearing them myself. But for me, I think a little urine stank improves my personal aroma.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the Conquerors of the World 2012 Tour. It’s a North American tour and it features these bands:

Septic Flesh
Krisiun
Melechesh
Ex Deo
Inquisition

As for the tour schedule, it’s still developing, but it starts in October, and after the jump you can see the initial list of 13 dates. Also . . .  PIG DESTROYER! Continue reading »

DESERT SANDS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  20 Responses »
Jan 202012
 

(TheMadIsraeli’s former boss at The Metal Register, Kyle Brady, requested that he write a piece on Middle Eastern metal, and here we have it. We’ve spotlighted bands from that region in previous writing at NCS, and I’ll add some further examples at the end of this post.)

When I say “Middle East”, what comes to mind?  War?  Brutal weather conditions?  The desolation of endless expanse of desert?  Regardless of what you think of, it’s probably not a region you’d immediately associate with metal, but with the evolution of the internet and the advent of file-sharing, becoming a successful band over there is slowly but surely becoming more of an option as we speak.  As a result, over the last four so years, a rash of bands have cropped up who are proving they’re already prepared to take the world by storm.

Consider this a sort of primer, or introduction to bands from the Middle East, with a mix of older and newer. Without further delay let’s begin doing a little analysis of the kind of shit we got going on over there.


Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MOLOCH OF MELECHESH

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Sep 222011
 

(NCS writer BadWolf is killin’ it this week. Yesterday he turned in a Wolves in the Throne Room concert review with some amazing photos, and today we’ve got another one of his typically entertaining and insightful interviews. This time the subject is Moloch of Sumerian black-metal band Melechesh, who we find out is pursuing a PhD in philosophy, and this interview veers away from music and into some very different territory by the end. )

Melechesh want you to kill your TV.

This enlightening interview was held on St. Patrick’s day at Blondie’s in Detroit, while Melechesh was on tour with Hate, Rotting Christ and Abigail Williams. My subject was Moloch, rhythm guitarist and original member. Our conversation began with music, and the band’s excellent 2010 record The Epigenesis.

By the end our minds were on… other things.

Oh, and they were by far the best band on the bill.

BadWolf- This is your first national tour of the United States, how does it feel?

Moloch- It’s an interesting experience to say the least. We’re here to test the grounds, see how things are going. So far it’s been a mix of amazing, special and crappy. We’ve already covered a wide spectrum in the first week. From now on things are going to get really good.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MONDAY IS VICIOUS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Mar 282011
 

Almost no one likes Mondays. What you have to do is usually so much worse than what you did on the weekend. But almost no one likes to hear you complain about Mondays either. They’re suffering, too, and hearing you bitch doesn’t make it better. Still, something must be done. Complaining doesn’t help, but suffering in silence is still suffering.

You could just gut up, accept your fate, and soldier on, but fuck that stoic, stiff-upper-lip mentality. Let’s try an alternative: wallow in your suffering, but don’t do it in silence. Instead, do it with musical accompaniment that’s just as vicious as you feel. In fact, let’s kick our Monday squarely in the gonads with some music by a band that’s just perfectly named for the occasion — Vicious Art. And then let’s follow that up with some Sumerian thrashing black metal, as inflicted (viciously) by Melechesh in a brand new video.

Are you ready? But of course you are — why else would you be here? So let’s get to it.

VICIOUS ART

The members of this Swedish band paid their dues playing in the likes of Grave, Entombed, Dark Funeral, and Obscurity. We’ll save the rest of the background info about Vicious Art for just a few minutes, just long enough to get you in a properly vicious frame of mind, with this brand new song called “Chaos Confirmed”:

[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Vicious_art_chaosconfirmed.mp3|titles=Vicious Art: Chaos Confirmed]

Of course, there is more after the jump . . . Continue reading »

A TEASER: MELECHESH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Nov 162010
 

[Just in case we ran short of quality guest contributions to use while I was away, I wrote a few brief pieces before leaving. They’re called “teasers” because they’re just brief tastes of new albums that I’d like to review for NCS when I get back — because they’re really good. Of course, I have the attention span of a gnat, so there’s a chance I’ll never do that, and these teasers will be all I accomplish. So I’m running them now, even though I don’t need to]

This is the third teaser. The first one was about The Secret. The second one was about Blood of Kingu. This one is a taste of the new album by:

The Band: Melechesh

The Band’s Location: The Netherlands (ex-Jerusalem)

The Album: Epigenesis

Label: Nuclear Blast

The Band’s MySpace page:  http://www.myspace.com/melechesh

Brief notes:  Exotic, eastern, invigorating, black as night, red as fire, and sometimes bright as day. Sounds like nothing else. Here’s a track:

Melechesh: Sacred Geometry

ROTTING CHRIST IS COMING!

 Metal News  4 Responses »
Sep 182010
 

I’m a bit behind in my reading of Blabbermouth, and therefore missed some orgasmically good news that appeared late yesterday. But thanks to some info last night from my collaborator IntoTheDarkness and then a pathetically sad post today by DemiGodRaven at The Number of the Blog, I now know that Rotting Christ is coming to NorthAm in a headlining tour next spring. And may I say just how fucking happy I am?  I believe I will.  I am just soooooo fucking happy!

This almost makes up for the deep depression I experienced when learning that THE DECIBEL DEFIANCE TOUR, featuring Suffocation, The Faceless, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Decrepit Birth, and Fleshgod Apocalypse would be playing Tulsa but not Seattle — the sort of mortification that DemiGodRaven expressed upon learning that Rotting Christ would be playing Seattle but not Sacramento.

Brother, I feel your pain. Well, not really.  It’s more accurate to say that I would feel your pain except that I’ve managed to get over THE DECIBEL DEFIANCE TOUR’s snubbing of Seattle and I’m now in a painless state of bliss just thinking about the chance to see Rotting Christ in about six short months when they stop here.

There are some other bands on that tour — Melechesh, Hate, Abigail Williams, and Lecherous Nocturne — and that’s a pretty strong set of supporting acts. I’m especially interested in listening to Melechesh play their unique brand of Mesopotamian metal in the flesh. But — and no disrespect is intended to any of those other bands — I would gag my way through a supporting lineup of Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Nelly as long as Rotting Christ was waiting at the end.

I am soooo fucking happy. (The tour dates and places are after the jump.) Continue reading »

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