SEEN AND HEARD: PSYCROPTIC, FEN, CONDUIT, SUFFERING QUOTA, SKELETAL SERPENT, THEURGIA

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 282026
 

(written by Islander)

We had an 11th-hour cancellation of a premiere I had committed to write for today. With the unexpected free time dropping in my lap like that, I thought I ought to get a head-start on the coming weekend roundups.

A head-start is sorely needed because the backlog of new music I haven’t had a chance to include here has swelled to humongous proportions, thanks to me shirking my duties while at Maryland Deathfest last weekend. The swell has become even more swollen in light of all the new songs that have surfaced just since last Sunday.

To reduce the swelling, we’ll lance the infection and let the following new songs and videos spurt out. (Yeah, that was a gross analogy, but the music isn’t gross, although a lot of it is indeed infectious.) Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THEURGIA — “IRRADIANT”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 102021
 

The Venezuelan black metal band Theurgia, now based in Bogotá, Colombia, has already built an impressive and continually ambitious and improving discography that consists of a 2015 EP (Anti perpetuo), a 2017 debut album (Transformation), and a 2020 split with Hacavitz and Veldraveth (Tercer nadir venenoso). Theurgia is now adding to those impressive records with a second full-length entitled VIRTUE, which will be released in mid-January by the Mexican label Vomit Records.

Trying to succinctly sum up Theurgia’s evolving music isn’t an easy task, but at a high level we can say that it has succeeded in creating haunting and disturbing occult atmospheric sensations and coupled those with viscerally powerful and significantly heavy rhythms and frighteningly impassioned vocals. The music is relentlessly dramatic, formidably savage, and immersive in its effects.

Those qualities (and others) come through again in the song we’re premiering today from VIRTUE, via a lyric video. Its name is “Irradiant“. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): WITCHERY, NAILBLACK, ANTZAAT, THEURGIA, KWADE DROES, FACELESS ENTITY

 SHADES OF BLACK  11 Responses »
Sep 032017
 

 

As mentioned in today’s earlier post, I binged on new music yesterday after being deprived of the chance to do much at the end of last week. That led to the selection of the blackened tracks in this post (many of them recommended by friends who have a knack for spotting things that hit my sweet spots), and a second group that I’ll finish today and post tomorrow. Without further ado, on we go….

WITCHERY

I’m leading off with “True North“, a name that’s been used by other bands for other songs, but this one comes from the new album I Am Legion by Sweden’s Witchery, which features eye-catching cover art by Andreas Diaz Pettersson.

Yes indeed, a new Witchery album only one year after the band re-grouped to put out In His Infernal Majesty’s Service to commemorate their 20th anniversary. And this new one features the same line-up that recorded that last album — drummer Chris Barkensjö, guitarists Jensen and Rickard Rimfält, bassist Sharlee D’Angelo, and vocalist Angus Norder. Apparently, they were so delighted with response to In His Infernal Majesty’s Service that they dived right back into writing more new songs. Continue reading »