THE GRASSHOPPER LIES HEAVY: “HEAVY”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Oct 142025
 

(Here we have Todd Manning’s enthusiastic review of a new album by Texas-based The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which is set for release on November 14th by Learning Curve Records.)

The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is the two-headed brainchild of founder and frontman James Woodward. One head is the cinematic, post-rock band responsible for releases such as We Shouldn’t Be Here and the 2017 film soundtrack Cavern. The second side of the band is the pummelling, nasty metal behemoth responsible for the group’s latest, the aptly titled HEAVY.

There’s no attempt to marry the two identities here. HEAVY specializes in mid-tempo assaults, lethal grooves, and cathartic explosions. They rip out of the gates with “Human Claymore” and “Lyrics Are Hard”, two tracks of vicious stomps. What these lack in tempo variation, they make up for in powerful, nuanced riffing. There is an efficiency to The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, each riff sounds like it has been created and shaped organically, not tech per se, but full of detail. It’s the sort of riff-writing acumen that made Mastadon’s Remission so infectious, but here it is filtered through the pummeling power of early Coalesce. Continue reading »

ABRADED: “ETHEREAL EMANATIONS OF CTHONIC CARIES”

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Oct 092025
 

(We present Todd Manning’s review of an album released by the Ohio band Abraded through Redefining Darkness Records on September 26th.)

Metal, punk, grind, and hardcore are definitely separate genres, yet those bands that explore the overlap often are some of the most vicious around. Cleveland’s Abraded know this territory well and rule it with a crusty hand. Their latest, Ethereal Emanations From Cthonic Caries, dropped recently courtesy of Redefining Darkness.

Both grindcore bands and death metal bands make use of the blast beat, but when it comes from the grindcore side of things, it just hits different. Bands such as Abraded possess that grindcore-driven sound, full of kinetic physical violence. Despite the tempos that death metal bands achieve, these grindcore-style beats just sound faster.

Although Abraded now have a full lineup for shows, on this album mainman Patric Pariano is credited with doing basically everything (with David Kirsch on bass), and the drumming is maniacal. Just listen to opener “Ethereal Emanations” as he dances between ripping grind beats, crusty D beats, and mid-paced death metal riffs. For the vocals, his unhinged approach splits the difference between low and hardcore vocals and the kind of crazed, hyper-fast approach that Kataklysm used on their very early albums, such as Temple of Knowledge, before they slowed down. Continue reading »

ABHORRENT EXPANSE: “ENTER THE MISANTHROPOCENE”

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Aug 142025
 

(We present Todd Manning‘s vivid review of the second album from the deliciously demented Midwest US band Abhorrent Expanse, which will be released tomorrow by Amalgam Music.)

For all the talk of demons and quantum physics and Lovecraft and heavy metal, how many bands can actually take you outside mundane human experience? You may love Judas Priest as much as the next person, but listening to them isn’t going to warp your sense of time and space and take you to other dimensions. Conventional song structures might just be for conventional lives.

Arriving from the Midwest by way of R’lyeh, Abhorrent Expanse‘s journey began with 2022’s Gateways to Resplendence, a stunning hybrid of extreme metal and avant-garde improvised music. Now, in 2025, they’ve returned with Enter the Misanthropocene, due out August 15th, courtesy of Amalgam Music. Continue reading »

GRUESOME: “SILENT ECHOES”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 102025
 

(Here is Todd Manning‘s review of the tremendous new album by Gruesome, out now on Relapse Records.)

Critics love to beat up on bands that aren’t original enough, but to be fair, most bands try to downplay any obvious influences. Cross-continental death metal masters Gruesome are being very open about their latest album, Silent Echoes, due out on Relapse Records on June 6th. It is supposed to sound like Death’s 1991 masterpiece, Human. But the inspiration for such imitation comes from a very genuine, heartfelt place.

Drummer Gus Rios was mentored by and a close friend of Sean Reinert, the drummer who put such a unique stamp on the aforementioned classic record. Reinert passed away unexpectedly in early 2020, and Silent Echoes is a tribute to him. Continue reading »

BENEDICTION (“RAVAGE OF EMPIRES”) AND CANCER (“INVERTED WORLD”)

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May 082025
 

(Todd Manning prepared the following dual reviews of the latest albums by two UK legends, Benediction and Cancer, out now on Nuclear Blast and Peaceville, respectively.)

Resurrecting old school bands can often be a hit or miss affair. At least half, if not more than half, fail to capture anything resembling the magic of their earlier years. However, for those who do pull it off, listeners are beyond thrilled.

For some of us, the early ’90s were one of the greatest eras of metal. The death metal bands from then created such amazing music, full of brutality and a unique atmosphere. While we often hear about Swedish, New York, or Floridian death metal bands, we can’t forget the great British masters as well. Carcass and Bolt Thrower, of course, top that list, but Cancer and Benediction were important as well, and they both have new albums out. Continue reading »

KIRITSIS: “KIRITSIS”

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Apr 142025
 

(We begin a new week at NCS with Todd Manning‘s review of the self-titled debut album from Indianapolis-based Kiritsis, out now on Wise Blood Records and Pout Records.)

Metal and hardcore have provided us with many ways to portray the nastiness of everyday life. Indianapolis-based quartet Kiritsis takes a sludge template and injects it with some nasty hardcore at just the right moments, creating the soundtrack to the rage that is slowly consuming our broken psyches.

The opening riff for “Knuckles” sets the stage. It’s the kind of head-nodding sludge riff sure to bring an involuntary scowl to any metal connoisseur’s face. The sound is a bit reminiscent of Crowbar at their most aggressive, such as on “High-Rate Extinction”. Yet, Kiritsis sounds more epic; perhaps some Neurosis influence sneaking in as well. Continue reading »

“STRESS TEST” — AN NCS SONG PREMIERE AND A REVIEW OF THE ALBUM

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Feb 052025
 

(On February 28th Transylvanian Recordings will release the self-titled debut album by Stress Test from Portland, Oregon. What we have for you today is Todd Manning‘s review of the album and our premiere of its title song.)

With all the blends of sub-genres that make up the metal world today, grindcore and old-school thrash metal is a combination that doesn’t often pop up. But Portland’s Stress Test make it sound natural, like we all should’ve been doing this all along.

After a brief intro, “Degrees of Violence” vomits forth a tirade of crust and blast beats. The song is 30 seconds long, as it should be, and is awesome in all the standard grind kind of ways. “Coward” follows and at first glance seems similar to what came before. But there are moments that upon closer examination have a thrash feel. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2024: A YEAR-END LIST FROM TODD MANNING

 LISTMANIA 2024  1 Response »
Dec 262024
 

(This is NCS writer Todd Manning‘s list of the year’s best metal albums (an un-ranked Top 15), plus a handful of favorite EPs.)

Brutal music for another brutal year. As always, I’m partial to quite a bit of weird mixed in with my metal, but its all dark. You can feel the darkness just beyond the light of our tiny candles. It’s pressing in from all sides. Continue reading »

CANIS DIRUS: “BY THE GRACE OF DEATH”

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Nov 082024
 

(Here is Todd Manning‘s review of the latest album by Minnesota-based Canis Dirus, which will be unleashed December 21st on LP by Bindrune Recordings and on CD by Alte Seelen.)

Bindrune Recordings have long been one of the most trusted yet still thoroughly underground labels of the 21st century, specializing in all things atmospheric metal. Their latest release from Canis Dirus, By the Grace of Death, keeps the label’s excellent standard of quality alive with their folk-infused take on black metal.

Album opener, “Once Cursed Path Glistens in the Sun”, is an epic black metal piece constructed from a minimal number of parts. The primary riff is mid-paced and heavy, yet also meditative and melancholy. They eventually find a blast beat and display their ability to conjure violence as well. Yet a synth line underneath the maelstrom keeps the atmosphere intact. Continue reading »

HAR: “CURSED CREATION”

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Sep 242024
 

(In late August the Berlin-based Israeli band Har released their debut album on Dark Descent, and Todd Manning has given us and you the following impressions of it.)

Some releases just possess a visceral impact that some of their contemporaries lack. Such is the case with the debut full-length from Berlin’s Har. Cursed Creation, issued recently by Dark Descent Records, displays Har’s ability to draw from many of metal’s most extreme niches to create a harrowing listening experience.

Tim Grieco’s monochromatic artwork might be the first clue to unlocking the various elements of Har’s sound. Eschewing some black metal bands’ pastoral album art, this cover looks like some kind of gridwork blurred into abstraction. It betrays a certain coldness that reminds one of the urban and sometimes bleak futurism embraced by the Norwegian scene in the mid-to-late ‘90s. Har does sidestep the more techno elements that sometimes came from that scene, but albums such as Mayhem’s Wolf’s Lair Abyss and Satyricon’s Rebel Extravaganza do seem to inform their sound. The mid-paced break that interjects itself between the blasting of “Chronocide” seems to veer in that direction. Continue reading »

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