ORACULUM: “HYBRIS DIVINA”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jan 202026
 

(Our contributor Chile (that’s his nickname, not his country of origin) has chosen to review the recently released debut album by the Chilean band Oraculum, recently released by Invictus Productions.)

If there is one truth about any given year when it comes to metal, it’s that we are constantly on the lookout for greatness. Sometimes it comes unexpectedly like a stranger in the night trying to pass us by in a dark alley, and other times it rams you head-on like a raging bull stomping over your mangled body.

You know already where we are going with this. Some bands are all about stomping and show us absolutely no mercy, which is also the reason why we appreciate them for that very feeling of might and strength. That is the story of Chile’s (the country) Oraculum. Continue reading »

DEATH RITUALS: NEW MUSIC FROM DYSCARNATE, ARCHSPIRE, ORACULUM, ANTIVERSUM, CASKET ROBBERY, BLACK BLOOD INVOCATION, SACROSCUM, MORBITORY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jul 282017
 

 

Although I put together a round-up of news and new music yesterday, I still had a lot of new stuff I wanted to spread around today. As I began picking through a very long list of newly revealed tracks, it dawned on me that a big chunk of what I found attractive fell within the realms of death metal. And that’s what I’ve got for you below — new (or newly discovered) deathly music from 8 bands.

DYSCARNATE

Five years after their superb last album and with a new bassist/vocalist (Al Llewellyn) now in the three-person line-up, Dyscarnate are returning with their third full-length, With All Their Might. Yesterday DECIBEL premiered a new song and video from the album, and it’s  fittingly named “Iron Strengthens Iron“. Continue reading »

SUNDAY SLAUGHTER: PRIMITIV, EXCORIATE, ORACULUM, OBSESSÖR, DAMAAR

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Dec 132015
 

Primitiv-Immortal & Vile

 

I had a plan for today. I was going to finish a review of a new album, I was going to watch a few hours of sportzball (to see if the resurgent Seahawks continue their run into the NFL playoffs), and I was going to spend the rest of the day editing and formatting a big group of year-end-list posts we’ll be rolling out this week as part of our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza. I’ll still accomplish some of these things, but I kind of got derailed at the start of the day.

What happened was that I decided to listen to just one new song, and that put me in a certain kind of mood. And I started bouncing around among other songs that fit the mood, going even deeper into that mood. And then I decided, what the hell, maybe I should share what I listened to. And voilà! Maybe you’ll guess what kind of mood I was in by the time you finish this playlist — IF you can finish it.

PRIMITIV

This was the brand new song that started me on a roll. It’s the first advance track from the new album by an Indian band named Primitiv. The name of the album is Immortal & Vile, and it’s projected for release on February 1 by Transcending Obscurity Distribution. Continue reading »

CHILEAN VOLCANIC MUSIC

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Apr 252015
 

 

Hell has visited Earth again, in spectacular fashion. This time, the portion of Earth visited by Hell is Chile, where three days ago the Calbuco volcano erupted near the southern town of Puerto Montt after being quiet for 42 years. It has become the subject of some truly breathtaking photos and videos, some of which I’ve embedded in this post after the jump.

Are there any natural occurrences in the world more metal than an explosive volcanic eruption — especially eruptions that include lightning within the volcanic plume? I think not.

So, of course I decided that I needed to include some metal from Chile to accompany the photos and videos you’re about to see. I did dome searching through the NCS archives and discovered that in just the last 18 months we’ve written about more than a half dozen Chilean bands. I’ve collected songs from each of those bands, plus a couple of others. For a change, I’m not going to write any florid descriptions of the music, but just provide the streams and some links in case you want to explore further. All the music is excellent — volcanos aren’t the only things that unleash hell in Chile. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORACULUM — “THE VESSEL OF ORICHALCUM”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Sep 302014
 

 

Everything about this song is massive — the sound, the grooves, and the scale of the trauma that it inflicts. If my instincts are correct, it will also prove to be massively appealing to fans of death metal in the vein of Bolt Thrower or vintage Sadistik Exekution. The song I’m speaking of is the one we’re premiering in this post: “The Vessel of Orichalcum”. It appears on Sorcery of the Damned, the forthcoming debut EP by a three-man Chilean band named Oraculum that’s slated for release by one of those underground labels that seems to do no wrong — Invictus Productions.

“The Vessel of Orichalcum” isn’t a “grower” — it’s such a stupendously galvanizing and supremely headbangable track that it exerts an iron-fisted grip on the pleasure centers right from the first listen — and the same is true of Oraculum’s EP as a whole.

Do you like your death metal so choked with distortion and caked with grit that it feels like you’re being hosed down with an industrial-strength sandblaster? You’re in luck! Do you grin stupidly at the assault of riffs that pound like sledgehammers, grind like bone saws, and rumble like a freight train passing just outside your door? Prepare for big smiles! Do you appreciate organic, brute-force percussion with a lot of rhythmic variety? Check that off, too. And do you eat up spitfire solos and reverberating vocals that sound like the wretched howls of an anguished demon? Prepare to dine sumptuously! Continue reading »