AN NCS INTERVIEW: DODENKROCHT

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Dec 182020
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us another very good interview, but this time it’s a rare discussion for him — with the leader of a black metal band, Dodenkrocht, albeit a band who meld elements of doom and black metal. Their latest album The Dying All was released near the end of November by Auric Records and is well worth your time and careful attention.)

Black metal never was my cup of tea. Too fast for me; my metabolism is quite slow to digest it properly. But there are always some exceptions like Dodenkrocht from Netherlands. It was started as a solo project of T. in 2004, but then it turned into a trio on Malebolge Opens (2011) and it has worked as a five-piece act since the Misery Chords (2012) album.

Now, Auric Records has released Dodenkrocht’s fourth full-length work The Dying All, an album partly based on Cormac McCarthy’s devastating novel The Road. We had a nice chat with the band’s founder T. Black metal, covid, apocalypse, black metal…. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: A TOP 10 LIST BY TODD MANNING

 LISTMANIA 2020  4 Responses »
Dec 172020
 

 

(We present a Top 10 year-end list for 2020 by NCS contributor Todd Manning, along with some runners-up and non-metal suggestions.)

Somewhere in a review or two in previous years, I referred to the state of the world as a slow-motion apocalypse, but in 2020, things don’t feel so slow anymore. Nevertheless, we fanatical Metal fans are constantly bombarded with the perfect soundtrack to the world outside our door, even if we don’t get to actually open that door and go outside very much.

My list last year was my weirdest one to date, but I think this year’s is even stranger. And while I said last year that 2019 wasn’t as strong as previous years, 2020’s list is full of absolute rippers. So here is my peculiar taste laid out for the world to see… Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2020: ILSA / IRON FLESH / PLAGUE

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Dec 172020
 


Ilsa

 

(Andy Synn wrote the three album reviews collected in this post.)

As you may know, List Season is now officially over (for me anyway, though not for the site)… which means Post-List Season is officially open!

Now I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your attention that over the past few years (and beyond) we’ve been experiencing another one of those periodic Old School Death Metal “revivals”, where it seems like everyone has been competing to find the most effusive and hyperbolic way to praise the latest batch of Floridian-meets-Finnish Death Metal disciples (especially, or so it seems, if they’re American).

One reason for this, I’d imagine, is that we’ve now reached a point where a certain generation of bands, fans, and writers who weren’t old enough to take part in the original rise of the genre, or the early waves of Old School nostalgia, have risen to positions of prominence/notoriety, and by praising, supporting (and sometimes over-hyping) the current crop of retro riff-mongers they’re now able to relive – if only vicariously – the “classic” days of the genre which they missed out on.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been some absolute gems to have come out of all this (several of which we’ve written about here before now), and so I’ve decided to dedicate today’s edition of “The Unsung Heroes of 2020” to three more of them, one of which was a firm favourite on my “Good” list, another of which took a prominent position on my “Great” list… and the third of which might, if I’d discovered it sooner, have forced a major rewrite of my “Critical Top Ten” this year! Continue reading »

SUFISM: “REPUBLIK RAKYAT JELATA”

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Dec 172020
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio’s review of the debut album by the Indonesian brutal death metal band Sufism, which was released on December 13th by the Brutal Mind label.)

As some of you might know, one of my favorite BDM scenes is from Indonesia, due to the everlasting passion and commitment to the music from fans, labels, and bands in that area.  Someday I would love to visit the country and meet some of the musicians/projects I enjoy (one can dream).

Today I have the opportunity to review the debut album of the Indonesian band Sufism, entitled Republik Rakyat Jelata, which was just released via Brutal Mind on December 13th. The band were formed in 2014 and the following year released their first EP, Reptilia Buas, which consisted of five songs that were well-crafted and showcased impressive musicianship.  I will say that it was not groundbreaking nor made waves, but overall it was a good EP that I enjoyed quite a bit. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SATANIZE — “LUCIFERIAN THRONES OF DEVASTATION”

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Dec 162020
 

 

I got big smiles from the press materials for Baphomet Altar Worship, the new album by the Portuguese bestial black metal band Satanize. The biggest smile arrived when I saw that the PR material likened the listening experience to a form of Zen. But by then I had already listened to some of the album — and I actually understood the point, hence the smile.

Make no mistake, just as the album art so vividly portrays, the music on the new album is hellish and iron-fisted. It gives no quarter and yields to nothing in its single-minded channeling of demonic malice and slaughtering barbarity. And yet, and yet, the music does surprisingly have the capacity to induce a fugue state. As unhinged as it is, something about the viper-ous melodies and the jet-speed rhythms produces a strangely mesmerizing effect.

Or maybe I should just speak for myself. You be your own judge. Which you’ll be able to do by listening to “Luciferian Thrones of Devastation“, the song we’re premiering today in advance of the album release by Helter Skelter and Regain Records on January 20th. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: NEILL JAMESON’S YEAR END EGO FEEDING BULLSHIT PT. III: MORE DEMOS, EPS, AND SPLITS

 LISTMANIA 2020  1 Response »
Dec 162020
 

 

(We continue rolling out a series of year-end lists compiled by Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood). You can (and should) find Part I here (which was also devoted to EPs, Demos, and Splits) and Part II here (which was devoted to dungeon synth).

I don’t have very much of an eye for detail, no matter how much I bullshit about it on my resume, and because of that I constantly miss things when I do lists like this, plus the first two lists (did you read them? You should, they’re remarkable.) were pretty long and attention spans are short.

Really it’s just because I rushed through it like everything else in life, which is why my chapter in the USBM book stops around 2001. Anyway here’s more EPs, demos, and splits. Continue reading »

DEEDS OF FLESH: “NUCLEUS”

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Dec 162020
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio’s review of the new album by Deeds of Flesh, which was released by Unique Leader Records on December 11th.)

I have the honor to write about a band who are considered a classic act by fans of Brutal Death Metal, a band who came to life back in 1993 in Los Osos, California, and whose music has transcended the test of time and inspired many bands in both the BDM and Tech scene.

I remember while living in the Dominican Republic discovering their 1996 debut album Trading Pieces and being blown away as the music started. It left an everlasting impact on my life. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: WIL CIFER’S TOP 20 METAL ALBUMS OF 2020

 LISTMANIA 2020  6 Responses »
Dec 152020
 

 

(Today we present a Top 20 year-end list from long-time NCS contributor Wil Cifer.)

I am sure you have already read enough intros to lists this year where everyone commiserates about how we have made it through 2020 and things are going to be better soon. I am here to offer you no such hope. Whatever you resist persists.

If you read what I typically write you know I am consistent in extolling the virtues of leaning into the darkness, if not hinting that I may or may not worship it. My favorite albums this year supported the grim reality that wishful thinking does nothing. The lack of power metal should not be surprising. I have never wanted to hear metal that has anything to do with happiness, and this year I feel stronger about this sentiment. This is not a list of the albums I felt were coolest so I could get virtual high-fives from my peers. These albums are the best because they inspired me to listen to them the most. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2020: NEILL JAMESON’S YEAR END EGO FEEDING BULLSHIT PT. II: DUNGEON SYNTH

 LISTMANIA 2020  2 Responses »
Dec 152020
 

 

(We are grateful once again to be able to share year-end lists compiled by Neill Jameson (Krieg, Poison Blood), which this year comes in multiples parts, of which this is the second one. Part I is here.)

As foretold in the first chapter of these lists (I’m trying to get into character), this part in our 2020 journey will be solely dungeon synth releases, of which there have been 16 released just since I typed that first sentence.

This genre has become fucking overwhelming, especially with people being stuck at home, so it feels like there’s a glut of new projects clogging the drain, causing a sewage overflow of forgettable cassettes that are selling out simply because people like buying shit that’s “limited”. And the culture that’s grown up around dungeon synth? That’s another article someone will bitch about that I don’t need to write.

That’s not to say there aren’t great things being released and I know I missed a great deal of them, so this is more just a list of my favorite releases this year and very obviously limited in scope. Enjoy. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ABIOTIC — “SMOLDERED”

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Dec 142020
 

 

In the early years of this site, I closely watched and wrote about the meteoric rise of a South Florida band named Abiotic, who quickly vaulted from a couple of singles and a 2011 EP to the release of their 2012 debut album Symbiosis on the Metal Blade label. In considering that album I did my best (at length) to wrestle its mind-boggling escapades into words, but probably failed. With elements that appealed to fans of both tech-death and deathcore, and probably many people committed to mental asylums, the music (I wrote) was “intricately constructed and capably executed — a full-bore onslaught of brain-twisting technical pyrotechnics, munitions-grade explosiveness, and eerie atmospherics”.

Abiotic followed up Symbiosis with 2015’s Casuistry, which was a crusher, and still displayed lots of technical adventurousness but also moved in the direction of more melodic and catchier songs. And then Abiotic went silent on the recording front, a silence that has lasted for more than five years. But the silence has ended, because on February 12th the band’s third album Ikigai will be released by The Artisan Era — and it’s our pleasure to bring you a track from it today, a song named “Smoldered“, which is presented through a fascinating music video. Continue reading »

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