AN NCS INTERVIEW: OLDE OUTLIER

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 192025
 

(Today is the day when Iron Bonehead Productions releases the debut album by the eldritch Australian death metal band Olde Outlier, and coincidentally it is the day when we publish the following excellent interview by our Comrade Aleks of the Olde Outlier songwriter and current drummer Beau Duer.)

The Australian group Olde Outlier is the successor to the disbanded death-black metal act Innsmouth, whose members already had years of experience cutting extreme metal. The names of these underground scene veterans are Beau Duer (drums), Ben Askew (guitars), Mark Appleton (vocals), and Greenbank (bass). Together they bring back to life the spirit of early ’90s death metal, with a lean toward rough death-doom in the spirit of early Tiamat, resulting in four solid, well-developed tracks.

The first track, “The Revellers,” is a good start: eight minutes of inventively performed, focused, old-school death metal, but with pure, abstract, atmospheric melodies. The ravenous mid-tempo “The Sounding of Hooves” quickly transports us into the catacombs of Paradise Lost-esque death-doom, and it’s not the only time Olde Outlier changes the track’s direction in its 11-minute runtime. “Swept” doesn’t disappoint either, captivating us with its unabashed retro charm, embedded in the instrumentation, the melody, and the vocalist’s raspy growl. The technically proficient “From Shallow Lives to Shallow Graves” exudes the innocence of the extreme metal scene’s early years, as does the closing track, “All Is Bright.”

But I’m not going to do another review, as we had a conversation with Beau himself, so here’s a better narrator regarding Olde Outlier and everything around it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OLDE OUTLIER — “SWEPT”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Nov 212025
 

(written by Islander)

Obviously, we host lots of premieres — almost every weekday. Our rule is not to agree unless we’ve first listened to what’s being offered and then come away pleased. There are exceptions, when we’re familiar with the band’s music or have a high degree of trust in whomever’s pitching the premiere. In today’s premiere a different and even more rare kind of exception became insistent: I thought the band’s name could have been a description of myself, and for almost that reason alone, I said YES, without hearing the song.

You can see the band’s name up there: Olde Outlier. I’d never heard their music before, for the good reason that they haven’t released any records yet. The forthcoming album that includes the song we’re premiering — From Shallow Lives to Shallow Graves — is their first one. When I read the pitch, I learned that their lineup makes them appear to be a continuation of an Australia band named Innsmouth, who split up after the 2014 release of their sole album, Consumed by Elder Sign. But since I never heard that album, the history didn’t mean much.

I usually find myself in accord with the choices made by Olde Outlier’s label and the label’s PR agent, so that provided a degree of confidence. And I was enthralled by the album’s cover art. But really, more than anything else, it came down to the band’s name. Maybe a flimsy reed to lean on in deciding to host this premiere, but it turned out to be no reed, but a stout trunk. Continue reading »