Jan 172018
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn’s review of the new album by the Spanish metal band Neter.)

 

Legacy… that’s a word which I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. The legacy that some bands leave, and the legacy to which all bands belong.

And it does seem, from my admittedly limited perspective, that the idea of legacy is considered to be more important in the Metal scene than most, what with our differentiation and delineation of “Old School vs New”, and our preoccupation with categorising various genres (and sub-genres) into historical “waves”.

Not that any of this is a bad thing, by the way. If anything it always helps to know where you come from, in whose footsteps you might be following, and on whose shoulders you currently stand.

It’s why pretty much every Metal band, no matter how “extreme” they might be, owes a significant debt to Slayer or Metallica, and are part of a legacy tracing its origins not just from Judas Priest and Black Sabbath, but also from Blues and Rock and Roll and from a host of other acts and artists and musical styles down through the ages. Continue reading »

Dec 192017
 

 

At almost the precise mid-point of this year our own Andy Synn wrote a column in which he discussed the never-ending moan (and shriek) of people who complain that metal is dying and that nothing new under the sun compares favorably to “the good old days”, As a means of responding to such points of view (which obviously none of us here shares), he recommended that we do more than simply tell such complainers they’re dead wrong; instead, we should expose them to music from newer bands which proves that “we don’t need to make Metal great ‘again’, we just need to make more people aware of how great it already ‘is’”.

And Neter is one of the bands he gave as a prime example of metal’s current greatness.

Referring to the band’s last album, Idols, Andy described the music as “punishingly tight, hellishly hooky Death Metal from Spain”. And now a new Neter album named Inferus is nearly upon us, set for release on January 15th through the cooperation of Satanath Records (Russia), Cimmerian Shade Recordings (USA), Murdher Records (Italy), and Black Plague Records (USA). Two songs from the album have premiered previously, and today we deliver a third one: “The Pillars of Heracles“. Continue reading »

Jun 102017
 


Daniele Valeriani: “Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni” (2017)

 

(Andy Synn wrote this thought piece — and provides some musical recommendations at the end.)

 

As part of a new initiative here at NCS, designed to give Islander some time off over the weekend (as well as serve as an intervention for his crippling blog addiction), I’m planning to put together a little something every Saturday – be it a review, an interview, or an opinion piece – to help tide over our readers until the inevitable Monday (editor’s intrusion: and Sunday!) rush of content comes back around.

So here goes nothing… Continue reading »