AN NCS PREMIERE: INFERNALIVM — “CONQUERING THE MOST HIGH”

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Nov 202024
 

Infernalivm is a new name, but one you will soon remember. A satanic death metal weapon from France, their lineup includes members of such notable and notorious groups as Novae Militiae, Merrimack, Benighted, and Ritualization. That info alone is enough to make extremist listeners pay attention to Infernalivm‘s debut EP, Conquering the Most High, and the music ruthlessly seizes attention too.

Sentient Ruin Laboratories, the label that will release the EP on November 29th, has described its four songs as a “dark and violent abomination with an immensely evil and antihuman atmosphere” — “dark, sanguinary, and inescapable,” “absolute sonic brutality,” “an authentic horror of creation.”

As you’ll learn through our premiere of the EP’s title track, those aren’t overstatements. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BEYOND GRACE – WELCOME TO THE NEW DARK AGES, PART 2

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Nov 202024
 

(Andy Synn presents an exclusive track-by-track premiere of his band’s new EP)

Despite current appearances, I largely try and keep my work with Beyond Grace and my work here at NoCleanSinging separate.

But with everything that’s happened recently (just under two weeks ago my mum was rushed to hospital, and then into emergency surgery, where she came very close to dying… although, thankfully, she pulled through and is now recovering) I didn’t have the time (or the energy) to set up a preview stream for our new EP (out this Friday).

Our gracious leader Islander, however, was kind enough to step up and – entirely unprompted – offer to host an exclusive premiere for us (an offer which, of course, I immediately accepted), which I thought would also be a great opportunity to provide some background info on each track as well.

So, without further ado, I am proud to present our new EP, Welcome to the New Dark Ages, Part 2.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SORROW

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Nov 202024
 

(The NY death metal band Sorrow‘s first records were released in 1991 and 1992, and their third one followed decades later in 2023. How it came to be, and the dual meaning of its title, are among the subjects that Comrade Aleks discussed with three of the band’s members in the following very good interview.)

I think that I interviewed Brett Clarin for the Doom Metal Lexicanum project a few years ago, and for sure there was the interview with him here focused on his symphonic black/death metal band Journey Into Darkness. But his “main band” was the angry death-doom outfit Sorrow based in New York in the late ’80s and disbanded in 1993 after the EP Forgotten Sunrise (1991) and the LP Hatred and Disgust (1992).

A bad deal with Roadrunner Records disappointed the guys so much that they left without finishing the recording of the next full-length. And all of a sudden Sorrow’s original lineup returned in 2022 in order to complete that recording.

Andy Marchione (vocals, bass), Brett Clarin (guitars), Bill Rogan (guitars), and Mike Hymson (drums) released Death of Sorrow through Xtreem Music in August 2023, and I skipped it somehow. But support is never enough, and here we have the interview with Brett, Andy, and Bill discussing true death of Sorrow. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MIRROR NEURON — “INTERIOR SEMIOTICS”

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Nov 192024
 

(written by Islander)

As a band name, Mirror Neuron is an intriguing choice, and so is the artwork on this Toronto duo’s spectacular debut album, Great Content.

A “mirror neuron” is an actual thing, present in the brains of humans, primate species, and birds. According to The Font of All Human Knowledge: “A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Thus, the neuron ‘mirrors’ the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting.” Its function has been the subject of much speculation, which you can read about via that link above.

As for the cover art, it’s a painting by Justyna Koziczak (used with her permission) called “Dante and Virgil in 4th circle of hell” (that’s the circle for the greedy).

But the intrigues don’t stop there. Consider the way the Mirror Neuron duo have characterized the music on their album: Continue reading »

DJEVEL: “NATT TIL ENDE”

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Nov 192024
 

(Today we welcome to NCS a Croatian metal writer currently based in Oslo, Norway, who goes by the name Chile. He brings us the following review of the new album by the Norwegian black metal band Djevel, just released by Aftermath Music.)

Yes, talk about being on a roll. While some bands would take their sweet time to release an album or two, Norwegian forces of otherworldly nature and all things black in the form of Djevel, have come back to us with their ninth album in just fifteen years of existence. Some would raise an eyebrow or two to this prolific manner in this day and age, but we are raising our glasses and horns to another devilish masterpiece.

Appropriately titled Natt til ende (Night to the End) and released in the middle of the dark November by Aftermath Music, the album packs a punch so fierce that the fury unleashed can be felt up to high heavens, which makes even more sense when we heed the words of T. Ciekals, the creative force behind Djevel: Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BARATHRUM

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Nov 192024
 

(In this brief interview Demonos Sova, a co-founding member of the long-running Finnish black metal band Barathrum, answered questions posed by our Comrade Aleks about their new album Überkill.)

One of the oldest Finnish black metal entities Barathrum is here again, and as you saw in our Shades of Black department, Demonos Sova and his circle have not returned empty-handed.

The new album Überkill is out thanks to Hammer of Hate, and it’s easy to predict what you’ll get from it – a portion of concentrated black metal nihilism with savage heavy metal touches. So I welcome you to take a short quest to the Mountain of Bones to fulfill symbolic Ritual Murder through the Dark Sorceress’ Black Magic Rites and accept the Death by Steel for Überkill’s sake. Continue reading »

THE MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS OF 2024: OUR ANNUAL APPEAL TO READERS FOR HELP!

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2024  13 Responses »
Nov 182024
 

You might not have noticed, but our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza at NCS has begun, as evidenced by this post from last week. But we didn’t really give this project a proper introduction, so we’re doing that now. For those of you new to the orgy, our LISTMANIA blockbuster comes in four parts:

First, like that post linked above, we re-print assorted lists of the year’s best albums, leeched from other big web sites and magazines. Second, we will provide a post in which our readers can share their lists of the 2024 albums and shorter releases they enjoyed the most (we’ll be asking for those on December 2nd, so get ready). Third, we will post the year-end lists of our own staff and assorted guest writers, and that will begin whenever Andy Synn gets his week-long series of lists ready, since that’s how we always begin.

And fourth, I’ll again roll out my list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs — though it’s a tradition I failed to honor last year. That list is the subject of this request for help. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LES CHANTS DU HASARD — “PARMI LES POUSSIÈRES”

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Nov 182024
 

Short-hand descriptions of Les Chants Du Hasard have included references to the project as a “French Blackened Orchestral/Operatic Ensemble” and to the music (even more succinctly) as “extreme opera”. Over the course of four albums, the most recent of which was released this past June, the project’s principal protagonist Hazard has found frequently eye-popping and unconventional methods of expressing extreme emotions such as anger, violence, darkness, and despair, with the goal of thoroughly submerging the listener in them.

Hazard has described the latest album, Livre Quart, in these words:

“I created LES CHANTS DU HASARD following a vision of a crawling and ugly opera, in which some light could be found, the same way that [French poet Charles] Baudelaire found beauty in ugliness. This idea has been with me on a daily basis since 2016, when I decided to give it a try and began composing Livre Premier. Livre Quart is the closest I’ve come to realizing this vision.”

As a reminder of what the album brings us, and hopefully to open new ears to its daunting phenomena, today we premiere a video for the record’s opening piece, “Parmi Les Poussières“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KILLING SPREE — “ALL THESE BELLS AND WHISTLES”

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Nov 182024
 

(written by Islander)

As a musical instrument the saxophone seems to live in a walled garden. Probably no other instrument is more uniquely associated with jazz. Other instruments used in jazz ensembles have regular roles in other musical genres, but the saxophone? Not so much.

And so when people hear a saxophone, it’s hard not to think of jazz, even when the performer isn’t doing jazz riffs or jazzy noodling. But of course a lot of the time that’s what the performer really is doing, even in a different musical setting, such as metal and rock, where some bands (especially the proggier ones) have brought in guest sax performers to add a little unconventional spice.

Of course a few bands in rock and metal have a saxophonist as a regular member of their lineup — but it’s a tiny percentage. And maybe that’s because of the “walled garden” effect: It’s hard not to think of jazz when you hear the instrument, and the number of ardent metal fans who also like jazz (and vice-versa) probably isn’t a huge contingent (mind you, this is a wild guess).

And that brings us to Killing Spree, a French drum-and-saxophone duo who’ve applied a battering ram to the confines of that walled garden. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: CODESPEAKER / HIDDEN MOTHERS / STILL

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Nov 182024
 

(Andy Synn presents three more high quality cuts of pure, A-grade British beef)

Let me tell you something… I love my band, and I love the music that we make (did I mention that we have a new EP out this Friday?) but the truth is we’ve never really found where we belong in the UK Metal scene.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve played with and befriended some great bands, and at one point even had our own little mini-clique of others like us (Rannoch, Talanas, Spires, Luna’s Call) who also didn’t really “fit in”.

But we’ve always felt like (and, as far as I can tell, been considered) “outsiders”.

However, the three bands I’m talking about today are not only three of the most promising acts in the UK scene (two of whom recently released their long-awaited sophomore albums, with the third being about to release their highly anticipated debut) but could all easily fit together on one bill without sacrificing their own distinct identities.

Which, I guess, also makes them the perfect picks for this edition of “The Best of British”!

Continue reading »

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