AN NCS PREMIERE: HOLY DEATH — “SAD BUT TRUE” (METALLICA COVER)

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 302024
 

(written by Islander)

This Halloween will mark five years of Holy Death, the doom-drenched death metal crushers who call Long Beach, California home. To commemorate the anniversary, and to tide fans over while the band work on their next album, they’re releasing a new EP of cover songs.

The EP leads with Holy Death‘s rendition of Metallica‘s “Sad But True“, and that’s the name of the EP as well. It’s the group’s way of paying respects to a band and a song that have been a “massive influence” on them, and we’re premiering that cover today.

The EP also includes re-mixed and re-mastered versions of two other cover songs they’ve previously released — Metallica‘s “Creeping Death” and Entombed‘s “Wolverine Blues“. Altogether, the EP makes for an excellent way to make your Halloween more electric — and more horrifying. Continue reading »

MITOCHONDRION – VITRISEPTOME

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Oct 302024
 

(Have they achieved enlightenment, or simply gone mad? Andy Synn sets out to see what eight years wandering the wilderness have done to Mitochondrion)

As we rocket towards the end of the year – looking at the calendar it appears I’ve got five, maybe six, weeks to start putting together my mammoth annual round-up of all the Good, Great, and Disappointing albums I’ve encountered since January – the pressure on my already limited time just seems to grow with each passing day.

But sometimes, when something special comes along… sometimes you just have to make time in order to give a record the review it deserves.

And the colossal, cacophonous new album from Mitochondrion – their first new release in eight years, and their first full-length album since 2011 – is one that both deserves, and demands, your full attention… and mine.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CARVED MEMORIES — “THE MOIRAI”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 302024
 

(written by Islander)

The melodic death metal band Carved Memories originated in Costa Rica but are now settled in Berlin, Germany. They released a self-titled EP seven years ago, and now have a debut album set for release on November 1st on Black Lion Records.

The album’s name is The Moirai, and its eight songs have a unifying theme:

The Moirai delves into the concept of absolute power, exploring the immense forces that dominate and control their realms. Each track reflects the overwhelming presence of a massive deity or emotion, personified as an unstoppable force reigning supreme. The lyrics narrate the influence and dominion of these mighty entities, portraying them in their full might — unchallenged and eternal. The themes center around the unyielding nature of these powers, representing a reign that cannot be defied.

In line with this conception, the album’s music delivers hard-charging intensity and often reaches heights of towering supremacy, but it creates other experiences as well — and you’ll have the chance to become immersed in all of them through our full album premiere today. Continue reading »

PSYCHONAUT 4: “…OF MOURNING”

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Oct 302024
 

(We present Didrik Mešiček‘s review of the newest album by Psychonaut 4, which was released on October 25th by Immortal Frost Productions.)

Georgia (or Sakartvelo as the Georgians call it) is the country you may know as the birthplace of Stalin or as the country that invented wine. You win some, you lose some, I suppose.

Personally, I’m not a fan of either but it is a country I’m definitely going to at some point, as it looks absolutely beautiful with its lovely mix of high Caucasus mountains and the shores of the Black sea. But because that makes Georgian life look too positive here’s another Georgian export – the depressive suicidal black metal band, Psychonaut 4, whose new album was released on the 25th of October. Continue reading »

TRAKTAT – DOGMATIC ACCUSATIONS

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Oct 292024
 

(Andy Synn dons his black mask and his bullet belt to get gnarly with the new album from Traktat)

Some people say that you shouldn’t judge a book – or, in this case, an album – by its cover.

But when said cover depicts a single knife, rendered in rich, bloody red, on a dark, crimson-tinged background… well, let’s face it, you know things are about to get real.

Continue reading »

GAEREA: “COMA”

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Oct 292024
 

(We present DGR‘s review of the new album by Gaerea, released on October 25th by Season of Mist.)

Portugal’s Gaerea are a smart band. Early on in the group’s inception someone within the band’s lineup recognized the value of both visual aesthetics and theatricality in their music. The group existed as part of a mid-aughts wave of black metal and doom metal groups that quickly took to the anonymization of masks and robes – so that even though the band could claim that the focus was to be put more on the music, you were more than likely drawn to the visual spectacle as well.

Gaerea have been perfectly positioned to both react to and become part of current trends within the heavy metal sphere. You could say there’s luck involved but many of their movements have been remarkably shrewd as well. They could be treated from an “every second tells a story” perspective, as both musically and visually there is always some sort of bombastic movement happening, the hand dancing and wild contortions befitting a Microsoft Kinect Game slowly evolving to hold just as much importance as the music itself.

And, while many bands can and have gotten by on just sheer spectacle and imagery – and have done so fairly well – it helps that Gaerea‘s music has long matched the lunatic puppetry taking place onstage. Continue reading »

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY – THE NOTHING THAT IS

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 282024
 

(Andy Synn might be the biggest Fit For An Autopsy fan out of all of us, but he hasn’t let that stop him being critical of the band’s new album when necessary)

My first reaction to the new album from Fit For An Autopsy was, to be frank, one of disappointment.

Look, I know a lot of you are going to be mad that I wrote that, and you’ll probably be even more mad by the end of this review (though, please, do try and stay until the end, as there’s a few twists coming, and the added context will be important).

But the truth is that most of the pre-release tracks seemed fairly bland and toothless to me, and upon finally receiving the full album I quickly became concerned that the band had finally reached that point where they felt obliged to tone things down and play it safe in order to stay “on top”.

And, if we’re being honest with ourselves (and not just engaged in some sort of sycophantic parasocial relationship where the band can do no wrong), there’s probably at least a little truth to this – whether consciously or not – because much of the band’s new album, in line with their increasing status and popularity, feels like an attempt (whether a successful one or not depends on where you stand on these things) to capitalise on what’s already worked for them without necessarily moving things forward at all.

But, thankfully, that’s not all that The Nothing That Is… is.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ORDER OF THE EBON HAND, THY LEGION, TIME LURKER, ZWIESPALT

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 272024
 

(written by Islander)

I guess it’s obvious from the size of this weekend’s two-part Saturday roundup that I had more than the usual amount of NCS time yesterday and this morning, and therefore kind of lost my mind.

I have only a small amount of mind and time left at this point, so today’s SHADES OF BLACK is so brief it could be labeled a token effort. But I didn’t want to skip it altogether, especially because, although the recommendations are few in number, they still loom large in the remnants of my head. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY, PART II: H-W

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Oct 272024
 

(written by Islander)

Moving on from yesterday’s Part I of the usual weekend roundup, I’m starting with the next letter of the band-name alphabet and continuing through W (no X, Y, or Z bands in this collection).

I mentioned yesterday that I had a few complete releases in this collection, in addition to all the singles, but I realized that one I thought had come out on Friday isn’t actually out yet, so I’ll push that one to a subsequent weekend.

But the first band today does have a complete release to their name, and it’s an interesting one. Continue reading »

THY CATAFALQUE: “XII: A GYÖNYÖRÜ ÁLMOK EZUTÁN JÖNNEK”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 252024
 

(Professor D. Grover the XIIIth rejoins us today with his review of Thy Catafalque‘s latest album, which will be released on November 15th by Season of Mist.)

Greetings and salutations, friends, and a happy impending Thy Catafalquemas to all who observe. It is at this point all but an official position of mine here at No Clean Singing as Guy Who Reviews The New Thy Catafalque album, a duty I relish. It is established canon at this point that Thy Catafalque are one of my favorite bands of the last two decades, an opinion bolstered by their consistently excellent output and clockworkesque album release cycle. Impressively, even with bandleader Tamás Kátai solidifying Thy Catafalque as a live entity, this new release (XII: A gyönyörü álmok ezután jönnek, or “The Beautiful Dreams Are Yet to Come”) comes only a year after its predecessor, Alföld. Continue reading »

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