OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XXI: HALLOWEEN & CHILLING RIFFS

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 212025
 

(Daniel Barkasi is back with another monthly collection of carefully chosen obscurities, providing vivid and enthusiastic reviews of six fine albums released in September of this year.)

As I begin to write this in an airport, heading to Pittsburgh on a shockingly delayed flight – helping out the folks with a few things, seeing a great friend who has struggled with some awful health issues (love you, Darren), and the Under Appalachian Skies festival (which has concluded by the time you read this, and it was an incredible time) — it’s dawned on me how wild of a year it’s been, yet it’s gone by so damn fast. Hope everyone is hanging in there best you can!

I wanted to also give my deepest appreciation to those who gave their condolences for our dog Kaiya last month. Those kind words went a long way, and it meant a lot.

Halloween is rapidly approaching, and it’s the season of Reese’s peanut butter pumpkins and good horror flicks. If anyone has any good suggestions, I’m all ears! There’s a ton of Korean films and series that I want to check out, as some of the best productions are coming from there, and have for some time. We also went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando recently and had a blast! If anyone ever finds themselves in the swamp at this time of year, it’s definitely worth your time. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: HASARD, ETHEREAL WOUND, LOWERED HEAD, ANGE DE LA MORT, NEXION, ONDFØDT

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Jul 272025
 

(written by Islander)

This week’s column devoted to blackened sounds includes six individual songs, one each from five forthcoming albums plus a compelling new video. There’s another compelling video in the group too. To explain the choices: I fell down a rabbit hole that led to some very dissonant and disconcerting (and frequently eye-popping) tracks, one after another. And then I finally came across a song that pulled away from that; it’s the one at the end.

I had ambitions to write complete reviews of some of these forthcoming albums, i.e., to talk about songs you can’t hear yet, but personal events conspired to prevent me from doing all the listening and thinking that would have required. I may or may not be able to do that later, and so (as usual) I think it’s better to do what I’m able to do now to help spread the word rather than wait and wind up doing nothing. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NEXION

 Interviews  1 Response »
Oct 282020
 


photo by Void Revelations

(Our Norway-based interviewer Karina Noctum brings us this discussion with Joshua Hróðgeir Rood, vocalist of the extreme metal band Nexion, whose debut album Seven Oracles was released by Avantgarde Music in June of this year.)

Nexion hail from Iceland, a country which has been in the metal spotlight for a while now. Earlier this year they released their first album which is recommended for people who appreciate a mix of Black and Death Metal with an eerie feeling to it.

I got to interview Joshua Hróðgeir Rood, the vocalist, who moved to Norway recently from Iceland. I found out more about their latest album Seven Oracles, including the lyrical themes and vocal approach, and of course thoughts about Black Metal and Norway. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NEXION — “REVELATION OF UNBEING”

 Premieres  1 Response »
May 252020
 

 

The first full-length album of the Icelandic band Nexion is a union of literary, visual, and musical art that makes a striking impression. In all those respects, the artists have aimed high, and they’ve achieved their integrated visions in unusually impressive fashion.

The album is Seven Oracles, and it will be released by Avantgarde Music on June 20th (the Summer Solstice). On the cover is a rendering of a seven-headed beast, each one representing an oracle, each one with its own message and its own song. The messages are revealed in powerful lyrics, which are beautifully displayed through hand-crafted calligraphy in the 16-page booklet accompanying the record, each page further illustrated by the hand of Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal, who created all the album art and the calligraphy.

These seven messages and the music accompanying them are all connected, and we’ll come back to that subject before we leave you. But first we’re honored to premiere one of the seven oracular messages from the album, a song named “Revelation of Unbeing“. Continue reading »