Exactly one week ago we had the pleasure of premiering for you a fantastic track by the band Nachtterror from their forthcoming split on the Hypnotic Dirge label with fellow Canadians Altars of Grief — and today we’re equally happy to stream for you one of the songs by Altars of Grief — “In Dying Light”.
Entitled Of Ash and Dying Light, the vinyl version of the split includes two songs by each band, and the digital version will also come with a bonus track by Altars of Grief and two bonus tracks from Nachtterror.
“In Dying Light” is a thoroughly engrossing piece of music, from the isolated opening guitar notes to the huge wave of sound that soon follows it, from the sweeping, exalted melody to the rippling, finger-tapped bass notes and gunshot drum beats, from the anguished snarls to the sombre clean vocals.
The music is a hymn to the beauty found in loss, and it pierces straight and true, with gripping emotional resonance. It hits hard with weighty doom riffs and a building atmosphere of sorrow and wistful remembrance, but there’s a transcendent quality to the music as well — the kind of song that leads you to hit “play” again and again, without even thinking about it. It leaves a haunting memory that won’t let go — but the memory alone isn’t sufficiently satisfying. At least in my case, it’s merely the lure that brings me back to the song, which I think will never wear out its welcome.
I hate to be obnoxious, but I’ll risk it: Unlike most of you, I’ve heard this entire split, and man, it’s tremendously good. Whatever is in the air in the prairies of Saskatchewan, it’s producing some striking music. Spread the word about these two bands — they certainly deserve to have these songs heard far and wide.
This album was recorded by Justin Bender (Third Ion / ex-Into Eternity) at Blue Door Studio in Regina, SK, and the cover artwork — one for for each band — was created by on of our favorite metal artists, Sam Nelson (https://www.facebook.com/StigmaArt). If you missed our Nachtterror premiere, go here right now and listen.
The album is available for pre-order on limited-edition 10″ vinyl as well as digitally. Pre-orders are available now at this location.
And in other news, both Altars of Grief and Nachtterror will soon be embarking on a tour of Alberta, and if you’re in the vicinity, check out the schedule on the flyer that appears right after our song stream.
https://www.facebook.com/altarsofgrief
23 Responses to “AN NCS PREMIERE: ALTARS OF GRIEF — “IN DYING LIGHT””
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This is outstanding! Can’t wait to hear more.
Well, that was gorgeous.
very cool, nice vocals and gorgeous melodies 🙂
Was digging this song immediately – that is until the vocals kicked in. Can’t stand this vocalist, but really enjoy the cleans. Although I do feel this band, based on all I’ve this far seen, is a BLATANT Woods of Ypres ripoff. And I think that’s what they’re banking on. Carve your own path, and get rid of that main vocalist – and you’ll likely do awesome.
Sorry you feel that way, man! I do both clean and guttural vocals for this band. “In Dying Light” is definitely an homage to Woods, who are a big influence of ours. However, I don’t necessarily feel like this one song accurately represents our entire sound. I hope you’ll consider checking out more from us. Never the less, I appreciate your opinion!
A classy response, all too rare around the internet — bravo.
Haha well, he is a canadaian. Would not expect anything less.
A tremendously classy response to a rather harsh critique (though all are entitled to opinions). It takes a tremendous amount of courage to create something and put it out in front of the world for all to tear apart, especially in this internet age of anonymity. Dude, I think your vocals are bad ass! Keep up the excellent work.
I was frankly blown away by this song. Yes, their is the comparisons, but that always happens. Your pretty dam good at the vocals, for someone like myself who listens to stuff like Doom VS, Draconian, Shape of Despair and so on, I think I have a grasp of what is good or someone who can do it well.
Keep it up guys!!
Thanks, everyone! And, I’m glad you’re all enjoying the track!
As someone pointed out below, there’s definitely a hardcore influence in my approach to vocals. I can see why this would be polarizing for the more purist fans of the genre. However, it’s an approach that I feel strongly about and, fortunately, most people have been pretty cool with it.
In the early development of the band, I did dabble a bit more with straight-forward gutturals, but I felt like the energy and passion just wasn’t there. Of course, that’s not to say it doesn’t work for other people. It just wasn’t for me.
I digress, though!
Thanks again for your interest – I can’t wait for you all to hear the rest of the split!
A very entertaining read, and the embedded clip doesn’t sound half bad. After reading this, I actually firmly feel that most fans would talk oneself when listening to metal music as the writer does, ’cause there’s always so much going on. It’s funny to observe as a bystander and probably even more so for fans of other genre.
Wrong post….I meant to post it on the Kataklysm thread.
No worries — though you did have me confused there for a minute.
Intriguing track through, this one.
you’ve got something here.
The reaching winding melodic background of the song works with that high register shriek a lot better than full force blast beat slaughter seems to.
I’ve been trying to acclimate myself to this vocal style for a while. Death metal growls seem appropriate on the lower end, and black metal shrieks on the high, but until I’ve heard it paired with a haunting melody, those non stop high register screams have only seemed tiring.
That’s the “something” you’ve got here. The formula might not hold up forever, but it’s enough to make me listen a second time, and to other of the songs off this album, which is much….much more than I usually give to bands using a ‘——core’ scream.
good job.
Personally I think this track did everything right. Great melodies, great atmosphere, and great songwriting! The vocalist knew exactly what vocal style went where and that made it all the more powerful to me. Seriously this split can not possibly get any better. The two tracks that have been shown are amazing! I think the only real let down is that the digital comes with bonus tracks.. I just kinda wished they’d be including on the vinyl version, but that is just a small complaint.
The bonus track on our side is a cover we did called Room of Angel, it was written by Akira Yamaoka. We didn’t want to risk any legal issues from Konami, so we make that as a downloadable track. And for other reasons, Nachtterror didn’t include any bonus tracks simply because we didn’t have room to put it on vinyl. There is only a limited amount of material you can put on a 10 inch vinyl, If I am correct you can get approximately 16 minutes per side at 33rpm. Just you wait until you hear “Your Heaven” and “Upon Ashen Shores”. It gets way better! 🙂
WHAR ROOM OF ANGEL COVER WHAR?
Authentic frontier gibberish.
Wow…love it! Awesome stuff, moody and ballsy. Dig that harsh bellow, raw and emotional without being limp of wrist.
We’re also going to have an Altars of Grief interview by our friend Comrade Aleks coming up real soon.
I think ALL the vocalists are incredible! They all have their own distinct character, it’s amazing! These songs are MASTERPIECES! The musicianship is perfect, the drummer is playing the exact right thing for these songs. There’s the perfect balance of aggression and calm. I love it!
Like what i am hearing. Like mentioned before, i get a strong WoY feeling from this song. As they are among my favourite bands, that is not a bad thing! The bass work is also quite good. Almost soothing in a way.