AN NCS PREMIERE: PUTRED — “ERA MORBIDITAȚII”

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Dec 162024
 

(written by Islander)

In this feature we’re helping spread the word that the Romanian death metal band Putred have their second album Megalit al Putrefacției set for release by Memento Mori on January 20th, just in time to scare the New Year to death in its crib.

By way of introduction for the song premiere we’re now hosting, here’s part of how Memento Mori‘s press release evokes the sensations of the music:

“Sonic references across Megalit al Putrefacției are many – Mortician at half-speed, Cianide at their world-eating best, early Necrophagia‘s weird textures, Apparition / Sorrow with a shot of energy, and of course the unholy trifecta of Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, and Grave.”

The same write-up refers to the riffing as “slamming” and “slithering,” and the atmosphere as “slimy,” “rancid,” and “foul-smelling,” and both brutalizing and eldritch. But of course we have some thoughts of our own, spawned by this new song, “Era Morbiditații.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SCHAVOT — “DE LANTAARN SPREEKT DE WEG”

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Dec 162024
 

(written by Islander)

With just a couple of weeks left in the year we still have time to make 2024 the third year in a row when we’ve premiered a song for the Dutch black metal band Schavot, the solo project work of multi-instrumentalist Floris Velthuis, who is also a member of Asgrauw, Meslamtaea, and Sagenland.

It’s fair to say, as Floris has himself acknowledged, that nostalgia is a significant inspiration for Schavot‘s music. He has been active in black metal since the ’90s, and a nostalgia for the Scandinavian black metal he grew up with gave birth to the Schavot project. Beyond that, his lyrics have been inspired by “the twilight world of the past” — by old Dutch folk tales and history.

And so, in both respects, Schavot‘s music could be considered a journey into the past. Yet as people know who’ve already encountered Schavot‘s previous releases, including the first two albums (Galgenbrok and Kronieken uit de nevel) and the excellent 2023 split Verloren vertellingen, the music is far from the kind of dull wistfulness that nostalgia can sometimes produce.

Today’s premiere underscores that point. The name of the song is “De lantaarn spreekt de weg,” and it’s from a new Schavot album named Verstrikt in halflicht that we’re happily helping announce today in advance of its February 27 release by Void Wanderer Productions and War Productions. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CELESTIAL DEATH — “ANTI-PREACHER”

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Dec 132024
 

(written by Islander)

In our daily discharge of premieres we often find ourselves spreading the word about new music from bands who’ve already established some kind of track record through previous releases, or debuting a second or third single from a record after people already have an idea what’s in store for them. That makes today’s premiere something of a novelty, because it’s the first song publicly released by a brand new band.

The band is Celestial Death, a black metal quartet from Atlanta headed up by Jay Crash, who’s also the owner of Terminus Hate City Records. He’s joined by other experienced performers from the Atlanta scene — guitarist Ryan Buck (perhaps best known for his bass playing, as a member of Coletta, and having toured with Hail the Sun); drummer Matthew Carmichael (who has recently filled in on drums for Tómarúm, has toured with Cyborg Octopus and Archeologist, and is also a member of the Atlanta tech-death band, Nihilect); and bassist Hellstorm.

The song we’re premiering through a video, on the day of the song’s release across streaming platforms, functions as a mission statement, not only in the formulation of black metal that Celestial Death has concocted but also of their philosophy. Here’s their statement about “Anti-Preacher“: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HARKANE — “ARGO”

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Dec 122024
 

(written by Islander)

When I was a very young lad my mother gave me an illustrated book of Greek myths. One of the tales that especially captivated me was the legend of Jason and the Argoanuts’ quest for the Golden Fleece. Later, I was equally captivated by the classic film Jason and the Argonauts, which featured stop-motion animation visual effects by the great Ray Harryhausen.

I didn’t know then, and only learned recently thanks to the Italian band Harkane, that the principle source material for this legend was an epic Greek poem, The Argonautica, written in the third century BC by Apollonius Rhodius, who served as a scholar and librarian at the great Library of Alexandria.

I learned this because Harkane have made an ambitious concept album entitled Argo, soon to be released by the Dusktone label, that itself narrates this epic adventure, with express credit given to Appollonius. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DRUON ANTIGON – “OFFER”

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Dec 112024
 

On November 29th of this year Consouling Sounds released Het Donkere Volmaakte Al, the compelling second album by the Belgian solo project Druon Antigon, a musical outlet for Lennart Janssen (who has also been one of the creative forces in Thermohaline). Here is the label’s evocative description of the album (or it might be Janssen‘s):

The new full-length Het Donkere Volmaakte Al (translating to both ‘The Dark Perfect Universe’ and ‘The Dark Perfected All’) aims to reflect that which lies beyond our own bubble of breathable air. Vast, majestic and beautiful. Uncaring, dark and inhospitable. A perfect and unchangeable system in which humanity is but an accidental stowaway. A clockwork of which the workings and origins are still largely a matter of speculation. Hic sunt dracones.

To help spread the word about the album, today we’re premiering a gripping video for a stunning song off the album named “Offer“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DRAIN DEATH — “SACRIFICE MASTE”

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Dec 102024
 

(written by Islander)

With chills and thrills galore, we welcome to our pages the Indonesian band Drain Death. A duo formed in the Yogyakarta region in early 2022, and with a three-song demo released that same year, they bring a mixture of old school death metal and crust punk, indirectly influenced by Nihilist, Nirvana 2002, and Autopsy, as well as Bombandfall, Anti Cimex, and Bastard Priest.

Early next year (a precise release date hasn’t yet been set), Drain Death will have their debut album Merciless Of Doom released in different formats by a quartet of international labels, and to help spread the word we’re today premiering a chilling and also electrifying album track named “Sacrifice Maste.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: URFEIND — “WEAVING THE ABYSS”

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Dec 102024
 

(written by Islander)

On January 10th of the impending new year Nine to Zero Productions will release Dauþalaikaz, the third album by the German black metal entity Urfeind. It includes re-recorded versions of the four songs present on the band’s 2021 EP Wraiþaz, preceded by five other new songs.

Through previous releases Urfeind has established its thematic connections to dark Germanic heathenism, misanthropy, and Anti-Cosmic Philosophy, interests that also seem to be reflected in the band’s very name, bearing in mind that “Ur-” is a German and Nordic prefix (or combining form) that refers to a primeval and primal stage of a phenomenon, the earliest stage, and in this case it’s combined with the German word “feind” — meaning “enemy”.

Well, to be clear, those are our own speculations about the significance of the band’s name, but they’re supported by the experience of the album track we’re premiering today. “Weaving the Abyss” is indeed primeval (and deeply chilling) in its atmosphere. It may also seem primitive in its construction — but only at first, because the music subtly but ingeniously and powerfully evolves, and it seamlessly morphs the mood as it does. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LYSERGIC — “OF RAGE AND POWER”

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Dec 092024
 

Lysergic is a relatively new band, but its members aren’t newcomers. It’s the long-gestating brainchild of Portuguese guitarist João Corceiro, whose experience includes bands like W.A.K.O., Okkultist, Allamedah, and more. In Lysergic he’s joined by other talented and experienced performers whose names we’ll give you below.

The band’s debut album is named Black and Blue, and it’s set for release on January 27, 2025. We’re told that it “was written, recorded and mixed entirely alone by João Corceiro silently over the last decade, and can be considered an autobiography in the form of music and poetry.”

One song from the album, which shares the name of the band, was released with an excellent video a couple of months ago, and today we’re happy to premiere another excellent video for another compelling album track, this one called “Of Rage and Power.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HARKANE — “ARGO”

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Dec 062024
 

(written by Islander)

According to The Font of All Human Knowledge: “The Argonautica is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only entirely surviving Hellenistic epic, the Argonautica tells the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from remote Colchis.”

We begin this way because the Argonautica is the basis for an ambitious concept album named Argo by the Italian band Harkane, which will be released by the Dusktone label on December 13th. As you can see, it’s heralded by a striking cover painting by Paolo Girardi.

But before we get to our premiere of the new album’s title track, we should share something else about the Argonautica, because that something else is part of the reason why Harkane drew upon it for their inspiration. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NOCTAMBULIST — “LICHTETER”

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Dec 062024
 

(written by Islander)

“Noctambulist stand for contrasts. Serotonin summits and strung-out canyons. The empty and the grandiose. The beautiful and the appalling.”

That’s how this Dutch band represent their own music, and when you listen, it makes a lot of sense. In more prosaic terms, they could be considered a “melancholic” black metal band, albeit one that draws inspiration from other genres such as post-rock, shoegaze, new wave, and post-punk.

They released their full-length debut Noctambulist I: Elegieën via Northern Silence Productions in 2021, and now they’re following that with a new album named Noctambulist II: De Droom that will come out in February on These Hands Melt.

So far, two singles from the album have appeared. The second one, “Lichteter,” surfaced in mid-November, and today we’re premiering a beautifully made video that evokes key features of the song’s themes. Continue reading »

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