Jul 292024
 

(Andy Synn finds himself far from alienated by the new album from Eye Eater)

It’s always been fascinating to me how different ears, on different people, can hear something different – whether subtly or strikingly – when listening to the same thing.

Case in point, a quick peruse of the listener reviews on the Bandcamp page for enigmatic New Zealand extremists Eye Eater will reveal a number of different descriptions of the band’s music, from “Progressive Death Metal” to “Blackened Death Metal” to “Dissonant Death Doom”.

And while, to a greater or lesser extent, I can understand where these listeners are coming from, what’s really interesting to me is what they’re not saying… which is that it would be just as valid to make references to “Deathcore” and “Tech Death” when it comes to the band’s gloom-heavy, crushingly claustrophobic, and hauntingly atmospheric blend of styles and genres.

Continue reading »

Jul 292024
 

(Wil Cifer wrote the following review of a new EP by Canopy from Georgia (U.S.), which was independently released earlier this month.)

Sludge has reached its peak, with a few bands still carrying that torch while others move toward the other sub-genres rising in popularity. Canopy is an Atlanta band that has persevered for over a decade and their new EP finds the band going above and beyond by reaching a balance of sonic intensity and eerie melancholy.

What keeps me listening to these songs is not screamed vocals or weighty accents they chug into, but how the chords ring out with emotion. Just being heavy for the sake of being heavy is an easy task, but pouring your pain and depression into your instruments and tangibly conveying them is more nuanced. The band has a penchant for post-rock phrasings balancing out their monolithic crunch. This allows for plenty of breathing room for the songs to flourish. Continue reading »

Jul 272024
 


photo by Weiyi Cai/The New York Times

Yesterday was a day of firsts. Among other things, it was the first time a heavy metal band performed in the opening ceremony of the Olympic games. And the first time memes took off about a U.S. vice-president candidate fucking a couch. Less exciting, I’m also pretty sure it was the first day since I started this blog 14 1/2 years ago that we failed to post anything on a weekday.

I made a whirlwind driving trip with a friend to Vancouver, heading north on Thursday and coming back to Seattle yesterday. In between, we attended a blowout celebration related to our day jobs that left me not enough clear-headed time yesterday morning to do anything before beginning the trip home, even though I had a couple of interviews ready to publish.

I’m getting a late start today, and that whirlwind trip didn’t give me any time for listening to the kind of music we focus on here (my road-trip companion isn’t into that kind of music, and anyway, I didn’t bring with me my list of new stuff I wanted to check out). So I did some whirlwind catching up today, and here’s what I hurriedly picked to share with you. Continue reading »

Jul 252024
 

(Our Denver-based writer Gonzo prepared the following review. And with that, we’ll get out of the way and let him explain what’s going on here.)

Before I get too far into this, a few answers to questions you likely already have:

No, the UK’s Gorgonchrist is not a goregrind or pornogrind band.

No, this album isn’t a Metallica cover album.

Yes, those are disembodied human testicles on the cover art.

I think that should cover it for now. But brace yourselves, because this review is probably gonna get fucking weird.

Continue reading »

Jul 242024
 

I’ve already stomped my feet and banged on the table in a loud display of enthusiasm about “Of Disillusion and Doctrine,” the first single off Incessant‘s new EP Entropic Aeons:

Prepare for a roiling and ravishing typhoon of danger and destruction, replete with harrowing howls and unchained sky-high wails, but the mix also includes rocking grooves, feral chords, and glittering melodies with an exotic Eastern air. It’s a hell of a thrill-ride….

Less loudly, I hoped the rest of the EP by this Dublin blackened-death trio would be as good as that song. I’m here to tell you that it is, and to give you an immediate chance to appreciate it for yourselves as we premiere a full stream in advance of the EP’s imminent release by Repose Records. Continue reading »

Jul 242024
 

(Andy Synn shares some words of wisdom, and warning, about the duplicitous, dichotomous, and devastating new album from Defacement)

Everyone knows that the common trajectory for bands is for them to get mellower and more melodic – maybe a little proggier, here and there, but still more accessible overall – as their career goes on.

But what the hell would such a transition even sound like in the context of a band like Defacement?

Continue reading »

Jul 232024
 

Today we’re fiendishly pleased to premiere Under the Blacklight of Divine, the debut EP from the Indonesian band Demon Sacrifice, which will officially be released tomorrow by the Indonesian label Ironbound Records.

We are “fiendishly pleased” because Demon Sacrifice‘s music is indeed fiendish, and fiendishly clever. They bring to the table a mixture of visceral punk beats, howling vocal terrors, and the kind of black metal that gets its hooks in the head but also sounds thoroughly supernatural.

They claim “indirect” influence from the likes of Bathory, Darkthrone, Devil Master, Spectral Wound, and Tribulation, and you’ll understand the use of the word “indirect” when you hear the music, because it’s not a blatant copy any of those bands. Continue reading »

Jul 222024
 

Here at NCS we like to think that in deciding what music to write about we avoid getting stuck in any ruts. Variety, after all, is a powerful antidote to the poison of boredom. And besides, we don’t want people to get too confident in thinking they know in advance what they’re going to experience whenever they land here. If our choices don’t at least occasionally pull people out of their “comfort zones”, then we’re failing by our own lights.

Having said that, the album we’re premiering below is in almost all ways vastly different from the music that populates our own ever-expanding spectrum of musical coverage. Because it is so different, there may be a risk that some of our visitors will shy away from it. However, I fervently hope that won’t happen, because Daimon, Devil, Dawn is a most skilled form of sonic sorcery that should not be missed. Continue reading »

Jul 222024
 

(Andy Synn finds himself inspired once more – in more ways than one – by the music of Uprising)

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of musical escapism, that’s for sure, and I love songs about gods and monsters, mysterious mountain kingdoms and crazy cosmic phenomena as much as anyone.

But there’s also a time and a place for music with a message as well, and since 2016 – wow, has it really been that long? – Uprising (AKA the solo project of Waldgeflüster‘s Jan van Berlekom) have been spreading their anarchic, anti-fascist and anti-authoritarian message of resistance and revolt through the medium of some absolutely killer, riff-driven and punk-propelled Black Metal.

And, for better or worse, that message still rings true on their new album, which was released just last week.

Continue reading »

Jul 202024
 


Photo Credit: Francesco Esposito

For those of you who don’t treat our posts as among your daily essentials of life, or at least like a free oxygen mask in the vicinity of a chemical train derailment, I’ll mention again that I won’t have much time for metal this weekend.

Today is the start of an annual two-day outdoor gathering of toilers at my day job and their families. For some of us it began last night, something akin to an alcohol-fueled pre-fest for concert-goers. It was jolly, and left me somewhat jumbled this morning.

That relatively mild mental affliction, coupled with the fact that the real festivities will begin soon, have left me constrained in what I can do in this Saturday roundup. If you don’t see a Shades of Black collection tomorrow, you’ll know that my Sunday-morning affliction was more severe and my sleeping-in more prolonged. Continue reading »