AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WRANG — “VOOR ONS DE ZEE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 232026
 

(written by Islander)

The cover painting chosen by the Dutch band Wrang for their new album Verwording isn’t conventional imagery for a black metal band — and Wrang is unmistakably a black metal band. But it’s a choice that connects to both the album’s music and its lyrical themes. Here’s some information provided on behalf of Dominance of Darkness Records, which (along with Korpituli Productions) will release Verwording on April 24th:

Wrang’s themes here differ from those prior, ranging from societal critiques to more abstract themes, such as the inner need for strife, leaving behind home and what you know in a longing for something else. But, like most of the band’s music, these lyrics can also be a bit contradictory: on one hand, always looking for something, yet never at ease once it’s reached. Always restless, defiant, yet always torn – such is Wrang, to the bitter end.

And so that cover art offers an apt metaphor for the album’s sonic and lyrical themes: “always drifting on stormy waters, always searching, never settling, desperate yet defiant.” How does the music represent such themes? We have an example today in our premiere of a video for the album’s second single, “Voor ons de zee” (The sea before us). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: HIEROPHANT, LIMINAL SHROUD, ARALLU, VERBERIS, WRANG, HADIQAT

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
Jun 192022
 

 

After a lapse last week this column re-takes its usual place on the weekly calendar to blacken the sabbath. I’ll quickly confess that I bit off more than I can chew in the writing, and more than most of you will have time to hear in the listening: I’ve picked two complete albums and mixed them together with four new singles. Despite the challenges to myself and to you, I felt so strongly about all these choices that I couldn’t resist.

As is often the case, I haven’t lived with either of the albums long enough to do more than provide scattered notes about them. That’s the consequence of needing to write about something new every day. Settling in gives way to scurrying. But you’ll have a better chance to settle in with these releases, and I hope you will. All the singles sound fantastic too.

HIEROPHANT (Italy)

Death Siege is the fifth full-length from this talented band, who are charging toward us after a six-year interval following the last album. The new one is 40 minutes long, and the cover art by Abomination Hammer alone would make most people want to find out what’s going on in the music. My friend Andy‘s Synn Report about the band’s discography back in 2016 would provide more reasons.

What Hierophant say about the music is this: “”With Death Siege, we crossed the gateway to the abyss. Nihilism will overcome, when the sky will burn in fire. Death, Chaos, Annihilation.” Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: GRAFJAMMER AND WRANG — “KOUDE GRACHT / GRAMME WERF”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Mar 152019
 

 

I wonder what’s in the water in Utrecht, or whether the taps only stream some combination of alcohol and paint stripper. I wonder whether it will be possible to play this 7″ vinyl more than once, or whether it will simply ignite and melt down on the first spin. I wonder whether there’s any way I can teleport into Utrecht the next time Grafjammer and Wrang take the stage to destroy some local venue. Questions, questions, so many questions.

Any questions, or any other thoughts, will only come after listening to this new split we’re premiering today. While the songs are streaming, it’s hard to think at all. The music on these two tracks is such a wild, raucous, riotous experience, so full of blazing carnal vigor and blood-lusting ferocity, so supercharged with neck-wrecking rhythms and contagious riffs, that pumping your head like a piston or picturing yourself careening into other human beings in some sweat-soaked mosh pit become the immediate instinctive reactions. There’s no room left for rational thought.

The two bands on this split, Grafjammer and Wrang, are indeed both located in Utrecht, that ancient city in the center of the Netherlands. They share a drummer, and also a strong taste for sordid, filthy black metal. They recorded these two songs in a live setting at dB’s, which seems to be a combination bar, music venue, and practice space, and the energy of a live performance certainly emanates from these recordings. Continue reading »