AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VENEFIXION — “A SIGH FROM BELOW”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Sep 282021
 

 

After a trio of short releases, the ravishing French death metal band Venefixion have at last prepared a debut full-length that’s set for an imminent October 1 release by Iron Bonehead Productions. Curiously entitled A Sigh From Below, the only sighs it’s likely to produce are breaths of wonder at how explosive and exhilarating the music is.

With the exception of an ominous and eerie intro track in which distorted voices roar and howl through an increasingly cacophonous maelstrom, and an otherworldly, chiming and swirling instrumental interlude (“Subterranean Deathspell”) that creates an atmosphere of gloomy gothic horror, what stands out first and foremost about the album is the feeling of brazen and blazing haughtiness that the music generates — as well as the band’s formidable talent for melding sensations of grim defiance, violent ecstasy, and sinister supernatural downfall. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): ΣΧΕΔΟΝ ΝΕΚΡΟΣ, VENEFIXION, SERPENTRANCE, IN THE COMPANY OF SERPENTS, TRIACANTHOS

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Jul 252021
 

I’m taking a chance calling this Part 1, since Part 2 exists only in my head at this point. But we need goals, right?

At least Part 1 is complete. What I chose for it is a collection of four singles from forthcoming releases and one complete album that just surfaced today. A couple of these aren’t black metal, strictly speaking, but I got so excited about them that I didn’t want to wait, and at least from my perspective they don’t seem out of place. My goal for Part 2 is a few more complete recent releases.

ΣΧΕΔΟΝ ΝΕΚΡΟΣ (Greece)

Erstwhile NCS contributor KevinP has been banging the drum among friends for this first song, and the song is a banger too. The big rumbling riff that opens the track is an immediate head-snagger, and the song just gets more addictive as the riffing becomes increasingly feverish. Embellished by a nasty tone, the guitars viciously roil, jab, and jolt, backed by viscerally compelling drumwork and bestial bellows and barks. It’s an adrenaline-fueling mix of skull-slugging grooves and boiling chaos…. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR, MESARTHIM, VENEFIXION, CENTENARY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Dec 122016
 

the-flight-of-sleipnir-skadi

 

There are more total minutes of new music in this round-up than usual, and that’s because this compilation includes five EPs, one of which is a single 21-minute track. There are two individual songs in here, too. I thought I’d make up for the fact that my meager weekend posts included a grand total of one song. On the other hand, there’s so much music in this collection that I decided to divide it into two parts, with Part 2 coming a bit later today.

Sadly, I don’t have time to write decent reviews of those five EPs and will only froth at the mouth about them briefly, hopefully just enough to induce you to listen to them for yourself. But before getting to those, let’s start with the first of those two individual songs.

THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR

Skadi is the name of the new sixth album by Colorado’s genre-bending The Flight of Sleipnir. It will be released on January 20 by Eisenwald. The first advance song from the album was released a couple of days ago, and its name is “Awaken”. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): PRAISE THE FLAME, VENEFIXION, EÏS, MEPHORASH, SACRAMENT OV IMPURITY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
Sep 202015
 

Praise the Flame-Manifest Rebellion

 

I listened to a lot of metal yesterday, making a rare effort to get ahead of the game on some things I’m planning to post on Monday. That didn’t work out exactly as I’d planned, because I spent more time impulsively exploring music I’d never heard before than writing those other posts. And most of what I heard that I thought was good was either black metal or thoroughly pestilential death metal with a charred coating. So once again I’ve collected the music under the heading Shades of Black, divided into two parts because there’s a lot I want to share with you. Part 2 will come later today.

(Once again, I want to thank my Serbian friend “M” for suggesting half of what I chose to write about in this two-part collection.)

PRAISE THE FLAME

The first band is Praise the Flame from Santiago, Chile, whose ranks include members of Death Yell, Megiddo, Insorcist, and Occidens. Their debut album Manifest Rebellion will be released September 21 on CD via Memento Mori, but the album is now streaming on Bandcamp until October 12. Continue reading »