Because I only write about metal that makes me enthusiastic, these round-ups of new music necessarily reflect my own idiosyncrasies. Fortunately, I suppose, I get enthusiastic about lots of different styles of metal (though I vehemently deny the accusation that I like everything I hear). And so it’s true again today that what you’re about to hear ranges far and wide across the metal landscape. Still, to ensure further diversity of viewpoints, you’ll also find a recommendation from Grant Skelton in addition to my own.
MALIGN
Here are some questions for you: ย Do you enjoy writhing black metal extremity, with riffs that swarm with reptilian menace and hammer powerfully at the gates of doom? Does your pulse quicken at the sound of a drummer who rocks out as well as he blasts with mechanistic precision? Do you relish bestial growls that come straight for your throat with teeth bared? Do you search for black metal songs that get stuck in your head as well as generating an atmosphere of infernal menace, befitting the rising of a vengeful sun that emanates death?
These are rhetorical questions, because of course you will answer all of them with a resounding “Fuck Yes!” And therefore you will bow your head and raise your clawed hands to the skies when you hear the title track to A Sun To Scorch, the new 10″ EP by Sweden’s Malign. It will be released by Norma Evangelium Diaboli and The Ajna Offensive, with CD and cassette versions to follow. The band have also made the title track available as a free download via their official web site (linked below).
This is really good — I’m very eager to hear the rest of this EP.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Malign/307009325994747
http://malignofficial.com
http://www.noevdia.com
http://www.theajnaoffensive.com
BROKEN FLESH
(written by Grant Skelton)
I first covered Oklahoma Cityโs Broken Flesh in my very first NCS article back in November (here). At that time, the band had just released a demo for the song โCries Of The Dead.โ Listen to that here. In recent months, they signed with Luxor Records. Their new self-titled album will be out September 4. The band have released 2 new songs from the album, which you can stream at the links below.
Broken Flesh’s new material is the auditory equivalent of being broken on the Catherine wheel. Drummer Brandon Lopez threshes each limb with an iron cudgel, splintering fragile bones into fragments. Jacob Mathesโ regurgitory vocals disgorge like putrefied bile from a gaping gastrointestinal void. Fans of the bandโs last offering Warbound should have no problem cozying up to these butcherly tracks. Needless to say, Broken Fleshโs brand of metal falls very much in line with the name of this site. No palatable crooning or falsetto here. Just gallons upon gallons of guttural emissions.
Stream “Blood Harvest” at Luxor Records’ official website.
Stream “Valley Of Mass Crucifixion” over at New Noise Magazine.
And later this summer, No Clean Singing will be honored to offer you an exclusive full-album stream of Broken Flesh’s self-titled album, along with a review. Special thanks to Nick Morris at Luxor Records!
NECHOCHWEN
Over the weekend Bindrune Recordings announced the album title, cover art, and track listing for the new album by West Virginia’s Nechochwen, Heart of Akamon, and then soon followed that with a preview of the music — which is extraordinary.
I don’t use that word lightly. There really never has been anything ordinary about Nechochwen’s music, and this collection of song excerpts from the new album is a sign of another marvelous offering — a union of classical acoustic guitar, wistful flute notes, thundering double-bass, raking electric guitar, warm bass tones, lilting melodies, and a blend of vocal styles from the pure to the bestial. You’ll hear elements of black metal, folk music, progressive rock, and more — all of it joined to the band’s thematic focus on the traditions of Native American Indian heritage and its preservation. I’m really, really looking forward to this one.
Here’s the track list:
1. The Serpent Tradition
2. The Impending Winter
3. Lost on the Trail of the Setting Sun
4. October 6, 1813
5. Traversing the Shades of Death
6. Skimota
7. Skyhook
8. Kiselamakong
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nechochwen-Official/110325015754751
http://eihwazrecordings.com/distro/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bindrune-Recordings/311694044067
CREEPING
New Zealand’s Creeping have completed their third full-length album, Revenant, and it will be released on CD by Daemon Worship Productions and on vinyl by Iron Bonehead Productionsย — and if that’s not an unholy triumvirate of collaborators then I’m a monkey’s uncle. Or perhaps something even more unlikely.
Over the weekend both labels revealed one of the new tracks, an unsettling but transfixing song named “Scythes Over My Grave”. It’s a hornet swarm of grim, sweeping riffs undergirded by powerful rhythms that alternately blast away in a fury, jump with a rocking beat, and stagger with the pace of a doom-stricken processional. The music is intense, vibrant, and vividly atmospheric, creating an aura of pestilential gloom and supernatural menace at the same time as it’s firing electric shocks through your nervous system. It’s a wonderfully dynamic piece of music and has in short order put this album way up high on my own radar screen.
Revenant was engineered and designed by JSM of Ulcerate. Listen to “Scythes Over My Grave” on one of the players below.
https://www.facebook.com/creeping666
https://www.facebook.com/daemonworship/
24 Responses to “SEEN AND HEARD: MALIGN, BROKEN FLESH, NECHOCHWEN, CREEPING”
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the Nechochwen preview is absolutely monstrous. I already like it more then OtO!
And holy crap, Creeping is a blast from the past. When did their full length come out…2006?
The first one (Funeral Crawl) was 2007, and then another (Order of Snakes) came out in 2011.
Oh shit, I didn’t know Marko and co were still at it after Funeral Crawl
Shit man…. Nechochwen is amazing. Oto is a favorite record of mine, from front to back.
Also quite intrigued by Malign. Been waiting for something to wake my Sinful Fleshspear from slumber. ๐
I started commenting after the Malign track. Got distracted by a co worker and now had the chance to hear this Nechochwen and jesus… Im very excited to have this. I may even like this more than the new Obsequiae, just based on the samples alone.
Such a fine year it is to have new Nechochwen plus new Obsequiae… and new Panopticon. ๐
Also, Sinful Fleshspear would made a fins band name. ๐
What a ridiculous song title. Haha. I always forget the Malign – Ofermod connection.
Ofermod is tough as nails.
So wait… theres new Panopticon?? Whats the deal here?
Patience, grasshopper. ๐
The Nechochwen teaser is tantalizing! I definitely want to hear more from them. And the Creeping track is furthering my understanding and appreciation for black metal. Good stuff.
Have you heard any prior? If not you should delve into this. Oto. So good.
Wonderful classical folk arrangements culminating in two searing metal tracks.
Each with their own very unique flavor.
https://bindrunerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/oto
I wake up to this album a lot.
I have not, but now I shall. Your recommendations have served me well in the past. :).
Great article! I especially enjoyed Nechochwen and Creeping! Looking forward very much to their new albums ๐
Both are definitely showing signs of being highlights for this year.
I definitely need to hear more of Broken Flesh, they sound awesome ๐
Thanks for saying so! The new album is nothing short of superb. Here’s a YouTube stream of their previous effort, “Warbound.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16d2gN6LKQ
Broken Flesh – Valley Of Mass Crucifixion sounds blisteringly brutal, except from the rather calm part between 2:19 and 2:20 ๐
Creeping gives a creeping sense of ominous dread and dismay. Creepy stuff!
Malign swarm with reptilian menace and… What? Plagiarize? Me?
Nechochwen’s Apalaฤi Folk Metal sounds fairly exiting, too.
Great post to end St John’s Eve.
Glad you enjoyed. And now I have to go look up St John’s Eve. I’m hoping it commemorates a beheading.
I wish.
It’s the christians futile attempt to replace the heathen summer solstice with some saint-worshiping crap.
It’s celebratedd by christians and atheists alike, for different (or no) reason.
We celebrate with bonefire’s, the bigger the better.
Nechochwen sounds awesomes, and gotta love that cover art
The cover art is indeed amazing. At some point I’ll figure out who the painter was and the title of the piece.
“The Shooting of General Braddock at Fort Duquesne, Pittsburgh, 1755” by Edwin Willard Deming.
http://www.art.com/products/p11727263-sa-i1352808/edwin-willard-deming-the-shooting-of-general-braddock-at-fort-duquesne-pittsburgh-1755.htm?aff=conf&ctid=248675958&rfid=333916&tkid=15049472
Awesome! Thank you for that!
Happy to assist.
MALIGN WILL CRUSH YOUR SHELL OV FLESH TO DUST AND MORTAR THE WALLS OF THE SITRA AHRA WITH IT!
THEY TOTALLY DON’T RIDE HOVEROUNDS
Malign, Nechochwen, and Creeping are all sounding fantastic