SHADES OF BLACK: ОБРІЙ (OBRIJ), LHAÄD, FAUSTIAN SPIRIT, KOLDBRANN, TYHJÄ , ANONYMOUS SKULL

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Mar 022025
 

(written by Islander)

My computer tells me that my introduction to yesterday’s roundup of new music and videos was 1,502 words long. I obviously had too much time on my hands, though I don’t know why I spent it doing all that sharing instead of covering more music. But don’t worry, I won’t do that again today. Today’s introduction is 47 words long:

I’ve alternated today’s selections between complete albums or EPs and individual songs from forthcoming records. Apart from that, there’s no rhyme nor reason in how I organized the choices. I made these choices because, to quote the English poet William Cowper, “Variety’s the very spice of life.” Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TER ZIELE — “EMBODIMENT OF DEATH”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Feb 272025
 

(written by Islander)

“When we, as humans, accept subjection to suffering, resignation in life inevitably follows.”

With those words the Dutch band Ter Ziele introduce their debut album Embodiment of Death, which will be released on February 28th by Tartarus Records. The words pack a lot of meaning into a relatively brief sentence. They refer not just to human suffering, but to suffering caused by others or by oneself, hence the word subjection. They suggest that there is a choice among those who suffer about whether to accept the subjection or not. And they point to the consequences of acceptance: the inevitability of resignation in life.

And so the sentence is both an observation of bleak realities that beset the human condition and also (possibly) an argument. What does it matter if acceptance leads to resignation unless people have the ability to reject instead of accept? And what might motivate them to resist or to change?

Of course, the words don’t suggest that resistance or change will be easy. It may not even be possible. In some cases we know it will be futile, that some conditions are so terrible and hopes for relief so barren that despair seems inevitable, even when (and maybe especially when) those conditions are self-inflicted. But again, the words imply that acceptance is not the right answer, because that is the surest recipe for a never-ending cycle of misery. They seem to make an argument, though not a “preachy one,” for resistance.

Obviously, there is a connection between the sentence and what inspired the album’s music, and between the inspiration and the results. And you can draw all those connections today as we premiere the record as a whole. Continue reading »

LIGHT DWELLER – THE SUBJUGATE

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Feb 242025
 

(Andy Synn bows down before the new album from Light Dweller, out this Friday on Avantgarde Music)

It’s pretty well documented by now that, generally, I prefer “bands” over solo projects.

There’s just something about the magic that happens when you get a group of musicians together and they start to bounce ideas off of each other, introducing an element of randomness and quantum chaos as they feed on each other’s energy, which seems to produce (in my opinion anyway) more interesting results.

But the work of Cameron Boesch, aka Light Dweller, has always been an exception to this particular “rule”, as he’s developed such a distinctive creative voice over the years  weaving together bits and pieces of Immolation and Ulcerate, Krallice and Gorguts, and beyond, that there’s never any fear of his work falling afoul of stock tropes and standard clichés.

2022’s Lucid Offering in particular stood out as easily his magnum opus, striking a brilliant balance between atmosphere and dissonance, introspection and aggression, that was always going to be hard enough to replicate, let alone surpass.

Which I suppose begs the question… what do you do when you’ve reached the top of your particular, personal mountain? Where the heck do you go from there?

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: KARG, MATAVITATAU, SUTTUNGR, FINAL DOSE, LOW BEFORE THE BREEZE, DÉMONOS, LESATH, ANTROPOCENO

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Feb 232025
 

(written by Islander)

I’m hurrying to post today’s collection before I have to turn to much more mundane tasks, so I’ll spare you a wordy introduction and just say that I’m extremely proud of these choices, not only because I think all of them are excellent but also because they’re going to give you so many twists and turns, right up through the final choice. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SEVENTH STATION — “ON SHOULDERS OF GIANTS”

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Feb 202025
 

(written by Islander)

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

(Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke, 5 Feb 1675)

We begin with that famous quotation because it is likely the source of the name that the unconventional international band Seventh Station gave their forthcoming new EP, On Shoulders Of Giants. They chose that name because the five songs on the record honor five great musical artists of the 20th century, many of them classical composers. Standing on those shoulders, Seventh Station have given the compositions their own distinctive twists, transforming the original works into expressions of contemporary metal that are as unorthodox, indeed mind-bending, as Newton’s theories must have seemed when he envisioned them from the shoulders of the giants in his own fields.

At the very end of this admittedly very long feature we’ve included a track-by-track commentary (a fun-loving one) by Seventh Station vocalist Davidavi (“Vidi”) Dolev that sheds light on what inspired each song on the EP and what the band sought to accomplish with each one. Although it’s at the end, you should really read it first if you want want a deeper understanding of what you’re about to hear. Just reading it, without listening, is also kind of a dazzling experience, and undoubtedly will leave adventurous listeners intensely curious about what’s coming. (That was certainly the effect it had on us before we started listening).

But Vidi Dolev‘s comments only hint at what the songs are going to sound like, leaving the door open for someone rash like me to offer up some descriptive verbiage, while humbly acknowledging that there’s really no substitute for listening first-hand. Continue reading »

CROSS BRINGER – HEALISMUS AETERNUS

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Feb 192025
 

(Andy Synn has a busy week, but had just enough time to write about Cross Bringer‘s new album)

It’s funny how things sometimes line up, isn’t it?

Case in point, just as last week I had no prior intention of writing about three killer Death Metal albums in a row – it just happened that way – this week I’ve ended up writing about not just one, but two Black Metal/Hardcore crossover outfits.

But although the Blackened Metalcore of Bleeding Through and the crustier, punkier sound of Cross Bringer certainly possess a few superficially similar features those similarities are rarely more than skin deep, with the former obviously opting for a more polished (these days, anyway) and cinematic sound while the latter keeps things that little bit rougher and gnarlier, and derives its darkness not from sinister symphonics but from layers of rough-textured distortion and ragged, raw-boned emotion.

Anyway, seeing as how this will probably be the last thing I write/publish this week (I’ve got a short run of shows with my own band I need to focus on) let’s not waste any more time and dive right in to see what Healismus Aeternus has to offer, shall we?

Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XIII: CHAOS AND FINDING THE LIGHT

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  No Responses »
Feb 182025
 

(Daniel Barkasi is back, with another monthly selection of new albums and reviews, this time focusing on what January provided.)

It’s been a bit! My last musings at NCS was my overly indulgent 25 For 24! year-end debacle, and since the turn of the new year, unless you’ve been living in a cave (you have my envy if you have – any room for two people and a shitload of animals?), the world has further descended into the toilet. I could write a thesis on all of the wild things that have happened since the turn of the calendar, and most are no doubt aware of these happenings.

Admittedly, I’m a well-established pessimist. I like to say that I’m a realist, but that often leans toward looking at the dire side of things rather than the hopeful. I see chaos, injustice, greed, and sheer stupidity, but struggle to see any light trying to crack through the toxic dump of slime that often gets spewed upon us at the speed and power of a high-pressure hose.

Like we’ve spoken about previously, what we do here is a wonderful distraction from the nightmare that society can be (and often is). I also like getting a little personal in this space. Maybe it’s selfishly therapeutic; a hope that maybe my own struggles can help someone, humanize my monthly musings – who knows? Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ACROSS THE SWARM — “INVISIBLE THREADS”

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Feb 172025
 

(written by Islander)

At the end of this week Time To Kill Records will release a new album by the powerhouse Italian death metal band Across the Swarm. Entitled Invisible Threads, it follows up the band’s 2020 record Projections, and we’re bring all of it to you today.

Thematically, the album is about as dark as you could imagine. In the band’s words, it “explores human degradation, unspoken fears, and wars that ravage not only bodies but also minds” — depredations and agonies reflected in the album’s cover art. The music is intended to be a raw and unflinching musical exploration of those terrible themes.

But it must be said right away that the music is the opposite of gloomy and grief-stricken. Instead, it’s absolutely exhilarating – though equally cold-blooded. The album delivers pulverizing, pavement-fracturing thuggery and technically impressive high-speed ferocity, all of it accompanied by monster-show vocals that add to the music’s many spine-tingling (and bone-smashing) effects. It’s a top-shelf example of explosive and rampaging musical malice that’s exceedingly well-constructed, expertly executed, and very addictive. Continue reading »

ZOLTAR’S SHORT BUT SWEET: CRANIAL TORMENT, ETERNAL DIRGE, HOROH, PYRE

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Feb 172025
 

(Our French contributor Zoltar has provided us with short reviews of four recently released records, two of them reissues of music dating to the ’90s and two of them brand new, from just a bit earlier this year.)

CRANIAL TORMENT – STADES OF REPRESSION

There weren’t that many ‘pure’ death metal bands to speak of in Greece in the late ’90s, one of the only notable exceptions being Inveracity and their killer debut Circle Of Perversion released through Unmatched Brutality (who else?) back in 2003. The thing is that most of the leaders of the movement, like Septicflesh – or Septic Flesh in two words as they were called back then – Horrified or Nightfall (the latter featuring a then rather unknown yet super promising drummer called George Kollias who would soon rise to fame with Nile), had all moved on to greener pastures.

So to say that local hardcore maniacs like Vassilis ‘Bill’ Benakis (guitar and vocals) and future Repulsive Echo Records founder Kostas Vaxevanos (drums) were wasting their time talking to a wall would be quite an understatement. Yet as Cranial Torment the pair nevertheless recorded no fewer than three demos – the second being almost album-length, clocking at 30 minutes – in between August 1998 and May 1999 before vanishing into oblivion, until now. Continue reading »

BLEEDING THROUGH – NINE

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Feb 172025
 

(Andy Synn continues his murderous, on-off, love affair with OC Metalcore crew Bleeding Through)

It’s entirely appropriate that the cover for Bleeding Through‘s new album features a solitary figure standing at a crossroads… because that’s pretty much where Bleeding Through have stood their entire career.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a fan of the band for a long time – I think it was their seminal second album, Portrait of the Goddess, which first brought them to my attention, right before they had their big breakthrough with 2003’s This Is Love, This Is Murderous – but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to their flaws.

In particular they’ve always seemed torn between two competing urges – whether to double down on the more blisteringly aggressive and abrasively “blackened” side of their sound (as they did to such great effect prior to their hiatus with their 2010 self-titled and 2012’s blazing The Great Fire) or to take the poppier (and, inevitably, more popular) path by following in the footsteps of some of their more radio-friendly peers (as they did in the aftermath of This Is Love…’s unexpected success).

Their 2018 comeback album, Love Will Kill All found them trying to split the difference (which, to be clear, doesn’t have to be a bad thing) but ultimately resulted in a rather compromised record that didn’t leave much of an impression, and since then the only real insight into the band’s musical direction has been 2022’s Rage EP… all of which means there’s a lot of questions, and a lot of expectations, to be answered by NINE.

Continue reading »

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