Astriferous
I’m taking a break from NCS this weekend, so there won’t be a big roundup of recommended new songs and videos today or a SHADES OF BLACK column tomorrow. I’m involved in a big party that’s going to happen tonight, and there are things I need to do to help make it happen. I also know from past experience that I won’t get back to the NCS island HQ until sometime early Sunday morning, and I won’t get back stone-cold sober either.
On top of that I hope to spend a little time trying to figure out which songs to include in the final two days of our Most Infectious Song list next week. (If you don’t know what that is, you can find everything I’ve chosen so far via this link). I’m hoping to figure out some way of doing that without losing my fucking mind, because I’ve still got dozens of songs I’d like to include.
Of course I recoil at the idea of posting anything at NCS without including music, and so although the main point of this post is to keep people from wondering whether a big blank space for this weekend isn’t the result of some personal catastrophe, here’s some music:
ASTRIFEROUS (Costa Rica)
“Teleport Haze” is a mind-bending amalgam of gargantuan monstrosity, mayhem, and madness. It’s off this band’s debut album Pulsations from the Black Orb, coming out on March 10 from Me Saco Un Ojo and Pulverised Records.
https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/pulsations-from-the-black-orb
https://astriferous.bandcamp.com
DAWN OF OUROBOROS (U.S.)
The next song, “Rise From Disillusion“, is a gripping amalgam of turmoil and splendor that gets the blood racing and the mind swirling. There’s a spellbinding interlude that includes singing too.
The song is from an album well-named Velvet Incandescence, due out on April 21 via Prosthetic Records.
https://dawnofouroboros.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/dawnofouroboros
QWÄLEN (Finland)
Come for the big growling bass intro, stay for the hammering, the screaming, and the jittering, sizzling, and squirming fretwork fevers. The big bass is still there too, punching the listener’s pulse. The video is fascinating, but NSFW.
The song, “Maailma Täyttyy Kuolleista” (“World fills up with the dead”), is from Qwälen‘s new album Syvä Hiljaisuus, to be released via Time To Kill Records on March 10th.
https://qwaelen.bandcamp.com/album/syv-hiljaisuus
https://www.facebook.com/qwalen
DEAD QUIET (Canada)
This pulse-quickener is sort of an exception to our rule about singing, because there’s still grit in these raw vocal gears. Get ready to rock out to the highly infectious riffage, the shimmering keys, the eye-opening drum- and bass-work, and the spectacular soloing. This single, “The Hanging Man“, was released yesterday by Artoffact Records.
https://deadquiet.bandcamp.com/track/the-hanging-man
https://www.facebook.com/deadquietband