OUR LAST POST OF 2016… AND OUR FIRST OF 2017 (WITH NEW MUSIC FROM MIDNIGHT, THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT, MISERIST, MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY, VIELIKAN)

 

Yes, of course, it’s just an arbitrary date, one that has no intrinsic meaning. The arrow of time moves inexorably forward, the segmentation of its path into old years and new ones solely our own creation, one more effort to impose some kind of communal order on chaos. The effort fails, but as an occasion for remembering good times and bad, and perhaps kindling hope for a better tomorrow, the clicking of the clock past midnight tonight serves a laudable purpose. Even as simply an excuse for a cathartic blowout, it’s a good thing, if that’s your thing.

The calendar will flip over, but I’ll just keep writing as if nothing is about to change. Why the hell not? I have a lot of new songs and videos I’ve discovered over the last 48 hours. I’ve collected a few of them — the result of hard choices — and will make some of them the subject of this last NCS post of 2016, and the rest the subject of our first post of 2017 tomorrow.

Happy Fucking New Year to all of you from all of us. My resolution, over which I have no control, is to be here with you one year from today, saying the same damned thing.

 

You may notice that the names of all the bands in this post begin with M, putting aside one pesky determiner, and excepting the last band in this post whose new video is here for reasons I’ll explain.

 

 

MIDNIGHT

New Midnight is always a good thing, but perhaps especially as we peer into the cauldron of a New Year’s Eve midnight — this band can roil a cauldron like nobody’s business.

The track below is “Death Scream”. It appears on yet another Midnight compilation, this one called Shox of Violence. It includes four brand new songs, which are also being released as a stand-alone 12″ vinyl EP. The CD and tape versions will include not only those tracks but also 21 others, described as follows by the Hells Headbangers label:

“…you will find the cover of Venom’s ‘Too Loud (for the Crowd)’ flexi that was available exclusively to subscribers of Decibel magazine, some super-rowdy live tracks, and a handful of covers of MIDNIGHT favorites The Spits, covers of the likes of Quiet Riot, Girlschool, the Pagans, Australia’s Taipan, and NWOBHM cult Crucifixion among others: all songs that have yet to make it to CD format, essentially.”

I do love me some Midnight.

https://midnight-ohio.bandcamp.com/track/death-scream
https://www.facebook.com/Midnight-87909491643/

 

 

 

 

 

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT

Let’s face it, life is absurd. Always has been, always will be. The changing of the year always seems to remind us of that, even as it makes us irrationally fantasize that it will become less so in the next 365 days. If you can’t laugh about it, you’ll be in big trouble.

The Monolith Deathcult haven’t lost their well-honed sense of humor about life’s absurdities — witness this next video. It displays a performance — sort of — of a new song that probably will not actually be called “The Furious Failure” but instead “The Furious Gods”, and which seems destined to appear on the band’s next album, which seems destined to be named Versvs.

As TMDC say, “Sometimes, you fail. Sometimes, you fail spectacularly.” This sounds spectacular… for as long as it lasts.

https://www.facebook.com/monolithdeathcult/

 

 

 

 

 

 

MISERIST

Miserist is an Australian project. Their self-titled debut EP will be released on CD and digital on February 13 by Krucyator Productions (France). The tags on the Bandcamp page for the EP include “black metal”, “death metal”, “experimental”, “gorguts”, “industrial metal”, “gnaw their tongues”, “portal”, and “spektr”. That same Bandcamp page includes one song to stream, also called “Miserist”. Is it any wonder I eagerly pressed Play?

There’s a trippy video accompanying the song as well as the Bandcamp track, and you’ll find both below. The music is decimating, as effective in hammering bone into splinters as maniacally inflicting sonic evisceration, as surreal and unsettling as it is mercilessly crushing. More of this please….

https://krucyator.bandcamp.com/album/miserist-s-t
https://www.facebook.com/miserist/
https://www.facebook.com/krucyatorproductions/

 

 

 

 

 

 

MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY

Since we’re approaching the most famous midnight of the year, it seemed appropriate to include a new song by Midnight Odyssey, in addition to the new song by Midnight. The track is named “A Whisper’s Emptiness”, a taste of things to come from Midnight Odyssey’s next album. As an introduction to the track, here are some words from Dis Pater that I found on Midnight Odyssey’s Facebook page:

“Thank you all for taking the dark journey with me through the past. Alas, this hasn’t been without reason, as next year is the tenth anniversary of Midnight Odyssey. It is with great pleasure that I can announce a special Midnight Odyssey release for this milestone, entitled Silhouettes of Stars. This 2CD compilation will contain a vast amount of unreleased material recorded since 2007, from the original online only recordings, dubbed “The Darker Rebellion”, to tracks taken from the sessions of each Midnight Odyssey album. It will also include for the first time on CD, the singles Magica and The Night Has Come For Me. Silhouettes of Stars will be released by I, Voidhanger Records in early 2017.

“And as a little bonus before the end of year, I can also present to you a track taken from this release, called A Whisper’s Emptiness. This song was originally recorded in a vastly different form before Funerals…, then re-recorded as a possible track for the Converge Rivers of Hell release, then finally re-worked for a possible release on Shards of Silver Fade!”

I imagine astral projection as I listen to this song, leaving my afflicted physical form behind and soaring across the ether in the presence of glowing nebulae… and a roaring phantasm. The music glides and rocks; there’s singing as well as roaring; it’s transcendent, and cloaked in darkness. Prepare to be carried away….

https://www.facebook.com/midnightodyssey/
https://midnightodyssey.bandcamp.com
http://i-voidhanger.com
https://www.facebook.com/i.voidhanger.records/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIELIKAN

And now we depart the company of the M-named bands for a song and video by Vielikan before drawing the curtains on this final NCS post of 2016. I chose it not only because of the power and dynamism of the music but also because the imagery in the video made me think of the ritual of carrying the dead year to its resting place and being led by the hand of the new one, as if by a child.

But the video’s visual symbolism in fact has a different meaning, which becomes even more evident as you read the song’s lyrics, which I’ve included below.

Vielikan is a Ukrainian/Tunisian project whose members are Fedor S. Kovalevski and Muhammed Mêlki. The song was written by Fedor, inspired by the loss this summer of someone close to him. Emotion surges through the song, a mixture of grief and rage. It moves from haunting shrouds of gothic doom to earth-shuddering eruptions of progressive death metal, from somber clean vocals to savage growls. Utterly gripping….

Here is “Everlasting Smile”, dedicated to the memory of Ludmila Kovalevskaya. It’s available on Bandcamp (name your price):

https://vielikan.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/Vielikan/

 

See you next year….

 

 

Everlasting Smile – Lyrics

your smile in all my dreams
your voice in all my thoughts
and i wish you could hear my screams
aprehending until my mind rots

are you there? above the sky…?

the sun is falling down
and stars are bringing darkness
as i look into the sky i drown
deep in mourning i am breathless

and i gaze at your motionless face
not believing your gone from this world
tears are falling down, no hope to embrace
your soul is now unfurled

no, i’m not prepared to live with this reality
i’m not prepared to understand this pain
don’t tell me that she’s everywhere, this is not conforting me
a sly and evil poison is inside my brain

anger, a storm is brewing now
the world is torn forever
but when i remember your face, my soul is making a vow
your legacy will never be forgotten, never…

i see your everlasting smile,
everytime i close my eyes
i feel your everlasting smile,
memories are held unto the skies

terror is haunting me every night
i found myself once again in the black marsh…
i’m hiding from the most important source of light
i feel the void and existence became so harsh

inside my skin
my flesh is feeding a vicious worm
i am now recalling every sin
within the fury of the storm

inside my skin
i can feel only rotteness
and it’s like all my kin
my soul is full of pain and corruptness

inside my skin, i can feel you own mark
as i recall everything you taught me
is there anything that could show me a spark?
a spark of hope i’m not able to see

this is the end
this is our doom
everyone’s death is to mend
as everyone’s life is to bloom