SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: OBSCURE SPHINX, THIS GIFT IS A CURSE, SH-BO-OO-OM, BANK MYNA, MISANTHROPÆ

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Dec 212024
 


Obscure Sphinx

(written by Islander)

It seems like the end of the year is coming up in a big rush. It’s now four days before Christmas and the start of Hanukkah and 10 days before New Year’s Eve, a block of time when many people do something different from what they normally do (like taking time off from work), and other people feel grumpier about what they normally do because they’re still having to do it (like working).

We’re still here of course, and not even feeling grumpy about it. For a bunch of reasons I won’t bore you with, it’s the fanatically commercialized “holiday season” that makes me feel grumpy, and it’s continuing to pound away on this blog that helps get me through it.

Part of what we’re pounding on, of course, is year-end LISTMANIA. Even on a Saturday I nailed another list to the door. Next week we’ll have lists from at least four more of our writers, plus a bag of odds and ends from Neill Jameson.

But for now, just more new music — quite a lot of it actually. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HORSE BUTCHER — “HORSE BUTCHER”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Dec 192024
 

(written by Islander)

It’s not enough that a particularly dismal and disgusting year on Earth will soon gasp its last rotten and rattling breath — Horse Butcher have arisen to murder it with one of the most vicious and mind-mauling releases of the last 12 months. It’s as if they decided this bastard year didn’t deserve to live even another two weeks.

Given how often our putrid glorious site throws emotionally and aurally assaulting sounds at visitors, it may seem like an exaggeration to say that about Horse Butcher‘s self-titled EP. Trust me, it’s no exaggeration.

Sentient Ruin Laboratories, which will release the EP on December 20th, also isn’t exaggerating when they call the record “a disfigured onslaught of gore-fucked bestial deathgrind worshipping directly at the altar of Carcass, Archgoat, Disgorge, Impetigo and Pissgrave” — “six tracks and twenty minutes of neanderthalian carnage and slaughterhouse madness.”

But you’ll see this for yourselves right quick because today we’re hosting the EP’s premiere. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MOONDARK — “THE ABYSMAL WOMB”

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Dec 182024
 

(NCS contributor Zoltar wrote the following introduction to our full streaming premiere of the long-awaited debut album by Sweden’s Moondark, which will be released on Friday by Pulverised Records.)

Her name might not matter that much anymore but boy oh boy did she have the look. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about don’t you? That one gorgeous looking girl, for whom you had a not-so-secret crush all high-school years long. She filled your dreams and even to this day, although three decades have passed and you’ve moved to greener pastures with a ring on your finger, three kids, a mortgage, and a beer belly, you can’t seem to be able to get rid of, you can’t help but think of her from time of time, like a lost relic of bygone times when things seemed simpler and funnier.

And then, totally by random, you bump into her on your way to the supermarket. And boom, without warning, all your teenagers’ fantasies are ruined in a nano-second as this once seemingly goddess-like figure turns out to now be ugly, fat, ridden with bad skin problems, and utterly obnoxious.

So yeah, I so wanted Moondark not to be that girl geddit? Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DREAMING DEATH — “SINISTER MINISTER”

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Dec 172024
 

(written by Islander)

Band name: Dreaming Death. Record title: Sinister Minister. That lovely queasy-green cover art festooned with tentacles and claws. That should be enough to lure you into the music on the debut EP we’re streaming in this post. If it isn’t, you’ll soon see a photo of the band ready and eager to beat you to death with a shovel. That ought to seal the deal.

But just in case, we’ll add that Dreaming Death‘s lineup incudes Pahl Hodgson (guitars, vocals) and Ross Duncan (bass, vocals), known for their work with Beyond Mortal Dreams and Oath Of Damnation, plus drummer Matt “Skitz” Sanders, and further add that their EP lured Lavadome Productions into releasing it this coming Friday — the label’s only release in 2024.

You need any more reasons to listen? Nah, you probably don’t, but providing reasons is the reason for my existence, so you’re going to get some more whether you need it or not. Continue reading »

NIGRUM: “BLOOD WORSHIP EXTREMISM”

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Dec 172024
 

(Our Oslo-based contributor Chile prepared the following review of a new album by the now-Sweden-based black metal band Nigrum. The album was just released last month by Iron Bonehead Productions.)

Multiculturalism, what a concept. Joining two (or more) different cultures in a fusion of varying elements of traditions, customs, and human existences to achieve a new state of equilibrium and a richer tapestry of life for everyone to enjoy. Anyway, where else would that be more true and visible than in that melting pot of postmodern lunacy, namely metal. 

Such is the story of Nigrum, originally hailing from Mexico, but settling in Sweden, thus bringing some of the southern madness into the insanity of the darker parts of the world. Coming off their well-received debut album Elevenfold Tail, which was a fantastic accomplishment in itself, Nigrum have wasted no time in recording a follow-up to keep the momentum going. Two years have passed, and with some minor personnel changes, Blood Worship Extremism is now before us, courtesy of Iron Bonehead Productions. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: YOVEL, EEUWIG, BOLG

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Dec 152024
 

(written by Islander)

As predicted in the intro to yesterday’s roundup, the high winds in our area finally did murder the power at our house. Amazingly, it didn’t happen until overnight, and more amazingly, the internet is still working this morning even though the power’s dead, so here we are.

But I’m getting a late start today for a different reason: I went to a holiday party in Seattle for my job last night. It was fun, and somehow three Sazerac cocktails didn’t leave me crawling, but by the time our royally fucked-up ferry system got me home the wee hours of Sunday were already in progress. So I’ve shortened my plans about what to do in this column; otherwise it will arrive very late in the day. Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES VOL. XII: THE SEASON OF THE LIST

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Dec 132024
 

(Daniel Barkasi is back with us again, this time providing reviews of eight recommended albums of varying style that were released in November 2024.)

No, we’re not talking about Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and we certainly won’t be seeing any odd witch masks with a piece of Stonehenge in them. That movie is rough, but also strangely entertaining. It was better than almost all of the subsequent Halloween sequels that came after, though that isn’t saying much, is it? Now that infernal Silver Shamrock song is stuck in my head. Go ahead and click on that link. Now it’s in your head, too.

Halloween has long since passed, and now also Thanksgiving being in the rearview – and a huge thank you to our awesome KevinP for having the wife and myself over. Seeing him and his awesome family on Thanksgiving has become a tradition for us, and one we’re incredibly thankful for. Certainly hope there were some good times with good people, whether you celebrate the holiday or not.

The sheer volume of releases the last few years has been staggering, with 2024 being no exception. Sometimes it’s an overwhelming circumstance, however, as we don’t want to miss much, so there are plenty of long listening sessions. It’s impossible to not miss releases, and once we get into next year, there will always be some that we can hardly believe evaded our ears by perusing the many lists out there. Especially the many lists that’ll be present on this fine site – Andy Synn is on a roll, and he always unearths plenty of gems. 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 »

SHADES OF BLACK: BØNES, FUMES, KRIEG, WITHDRAWAL, LYCOPOLIS, NECRODEATH, PILLAR AMONGST WILLOWS, PLAGUEWIELDER, TER ZIELE

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 082024
 

I had time to pull together a large collection of music for this usual Sunday post, but not enough time to pull together the usual long-winded introduction. So we’ll just have to get right to it (please, stop applauding).

As I did in yesterday’s roundup, I organized the choices in alphabetical order by band name. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: ABDUCTION, ANCIENT TOME, FANE, MONASTR, MONTE PENUMBRA, PHRENELITH, RELICS OF HUMANITY, VIOLET COLD

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 072024
 


Abduction – photo by Jack Armstrong

(written by Islander)

Bandcamp Friday would have been a better time for this roundup, but I couldn’t get it done in time. Yesterday was the last one of those for 2024, and it’s not clear if Bandcamp will keep it going next year. They announced the 2024 schedule on March 11th of this year, so it’s really too early to say. Obviously, a big horde of us hope Bandcamp continues the tradition.

Well, near misses only count in horseshoes and hand grenades, so my near miss with this roundup probably doesn’t count. Still, even with Friday gone, picking up the releases collected below won’t cost you anything more, even though less of the purchase money will go to the labels and artists.

Once again I resorted to arranging the music in alphabetical order by band name. To the extent there’s any musical through-line here, anything that explains why I picked these songs instead of the many others I considered, it might be that they all made me… uncomfortable… in different ways. And it turns out that the arrangement will throw you back and forth, tempo-wise. Continue reading »

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