Apr 032019
 

 

Sins of the Damned began in Santiago, Chile, in November 2013 with the aim of creating speed metal with South American authenticity, and devoid of lyrics that might embrace fantasy. From 2014 through 2017 they released a series of demos and splits, and a 2017 compilation collected much of that work. Now they are about to release their first album, Striking the Bell of Death, with a due date of May 3rd through Shadow Kingdom Records.

On this new album, Sins of the Damned have created something iconic, something that summons so much of what has made fierce and fiery heavy metal so cathartic and so addictive for so many decades — and in the case of this band’s own style, so dazzling and grand. The song we present today, “Victims of Hate“, is a prime example of those qualities. Continue reading »

Feb 142019
 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day. Here’s a bouquet of black roses for you. Careful with the thorns.

I had originally planned to post this round-up yesterday but ran out of time, so most of the songs and videos I’ve selected have been out in the wild for a couple of days. But you still might have missed them, so I’m forging ahead anyway.

The number of items in this collection is also large enough that normally I would have divided it into a two-part post, but I was so pleased with the stylistic variety represented in what I’d chosen that I decided to keep it all together in one place. Just take a deep breath (or maybe hyperventilate), and try to get through all of it — I bet you’ll find at least one new song you’ll really enjoy.

INTER ARMA

In not much more than three months from now, NCS will present the third annual edition of Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle. We announced the full three-day line-up on New Year’s Day, but of course, as always seems to happen, since then we’ve had a few bands drop out due to circumstances beyond our own control. One of those was scheduled to headline a night at one of the two main stages, but we got lucky and were able to secure a great replacement — Virginia’s Inter Arma, who happen to have a new album coming our way this spring. Continue reading »