Mar 152025
 

(written by Islander)

I had an attack of spring fever this morning. It’s definitely not springtime weather here in the Puget Sound (it’s quite cool and wet, the wind is howling, and if that keeps up our power will inevitably go out). I just didn’t want to do anything that seemed remotely like work, and compiling these roundups is remotely like work.

But the old obsession not to let any days go by at NCS without spreading the word about music eventually won out over laziness, though it may not win out over wind, and so I will attempt to be not too windy in what I write.

I thought about leading with some of the bigger names who have recently released new music in an effort to draw people toward more obscure names in today’s collection (I was thinking about the likes of Cancer, Gaahls Wyrd), Benediction, and Rivers of Nihil) but so many of the more obscure names are so appealing to me that I decided to just get right to them. Continue reading »

Jun 202023
 

From the name chosen by Andrea Tocchetto (of Inverted Matter) for his solo project Sludge Keeper you might be expecting, well, sludge metal. From the name chosen for the song “Weed Incubator” that we’re about to premiere you might expect, well, something weedian and woozy.

But take a close look at Mark Erskine‘s cover art for Sludge Keeper‘s forthcoming debut album Slough Of Despair and you’ll begin to understand the error of any such assumptions. Pay particular attention to the fiery maw that has opened up from the bowels of the earth, the ruined arches, and in particular the enormous toothsome horror that looms above it all.

These features point the way to music that’s supernaturally monstrous, frightening, and fueled by hellfire — and all those signs are a lot closer to the mark of the music, which is anything but weedian and woozy.

What you’re about to encounter instead is death metal of terrific ferocity — dire and devastating in its moods and exhilarating in its execution. Continue reading »