SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: DIMMU BORGIR, SHADOWSPAWN, THORIUM, TERROR, VEIL OMEGA, IVOIRE, SLEEPBOMB, BLOOD GRAVE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Mar 282026
 

(written by Islander)

I took a break from NCS last weekend, a short vacation that led me to eastern Washington. That means I now have twice the usual number of new songs and videos sitting in front of me as I ponder what to feature today. But rather than try to go back and figure out what I might have done last Saturday, today I focused mainly on what surfaced within the realms of metal over just the last week. It was a lot, and so I’ve made this roundup a bit bigger than usual.

I’ve managed to pull out eight new songs, six of them accompanied by videos. I think they provide considerable variety, and I’ve arranged them in a way that made sense to me as I listened to everything. Of course, they’re also a reflection of the darkness inside my head these days.

Tonight I’m going to a retirement party for a close friend. She’s too young to be stopping work altogether, just closing one chapter in her life and starting a new one, but I still want to be there. Doubtless, it will keep me out late, with probably a three-hour round-trip on the travel alone. I don’t know if that will impact tomorrow’s SHADES OF BLACK column, but it might. Another reason why today’s collection is bigger than usual. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MALOKARPATAN, KALA, HIEMS, FILTH IS ETERNAL, SHADOWSPAWN, OBSCURA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 182023
 

It’s been a very long time since I was able to compile roundups of new music three days in a row, but lo and behold I have done so, mainly due to the absence of any premieres on our calendar for today. Barring some unforeseeable calamity I’ll add a fourth one in a row tomorrow in the usual Saturday Seen and Heard spot.

MALOKARPATAN (Slovakia)

To spice up the musical fall, and just in time for Samhain, Malokarpatan will release a new album named Vertumnus Caesar through Invictus Productions (EU) and The Ajna Offensive (NorthAm) on October 27.

We never really know what devils will come out to play when this band records something new, and that’s probably not entirely clear from listening to the first single from the album, which just surfaced. But that’s all we have so far, so what does it show us? Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SHADOWSPAWN — “DAUGHTERS OF LOT”

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Apr 072021
 

 

Most people probably know the Genesis tale in which Lot and his family escape the destruction of Sodom, and Lot’s wife is turned to a pillar of salt after violating a divine command not to look back at the city. Lesser known is the subsequent story of what happened when Lot and his two daughters took up residence in a mountain cave. There, after becoming drunk, Lot has sex with them, eventually leading to the births of the incestuous offspring Moab and Ammon.

The Danish death metal band Shadowspawn have taken this tale as the subject of the song we’re premiering today through a lyric video, a song off their new album The Biology of Disbelief, which will hit the streets on April 16th via Emanzipation Productions. The band introduce the track in these words: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SHADOWSPAWN — “UNDER THE BLOOD RED MOON”

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Feb 252021
 

 

To bring your week to a fiendishly delicious end, we are fiendishly excited to deliver a very cool video for a very cool song off the forthcoming second album by the Danish death metal band Shadowspawn. The album’s name is Biology of Disbelief, and it will be released by Emanzipation Productions on April 16th.

This new song, “Under The Blood Red Moon“, radiates evil from every pore, and the video does as well, while presenting an interesting juxtaposition of imagery in the rendering of the band members’ performances. There are so many things to like about the song, but one of them that jumps out is Bue Torin Jensen‘s voice. It’s such a voracious snarl, a kind of devouring vortex of savagery — but you can make out every word, and there’s a great temptation to growl and howl right along with him, especially when he extends the word “MOOOOOON“, raising his voice to a blood-curdling scream. (Well, at least you can roar along with him in your head, because few of us can actually make sounds like this with our own larynxes). Continue reading »