RIVERS OF NIHIL: “CRIMINALS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
May 152024
 

(We present DGR‘s review of a new EP by Pennsylvania-based Rivers of Nihil, which is out now on Metal Blade Records.)

Strangely enough, writing about Rivers Of Nihil‘s newest EP Criminals feels like a little bit of a ‘gimme’. The three songs on Criminals – none of which is a cover of the titular Katatonia song – were all ostensibly recorded during the same experimental session for the band, one which saw the newly restructured lineup of the group getting together to see just what they could do and where they might be headed post-The Work.

They were then slowly drip-fed to listeners over the course of a little under a year, so listeners will have an immediate familiarity with prog-rock minded “The Sub-Orbital Blues” and the slightly more recent stomper in “Hellbirds”, which means the big draw for most people will be the unveiling of “Criminals” as a song, as well as the ability to take in all three in one go, providing an intriguing glimpse at Rivers Of Nihil‘s current headspace and lyrical inspirations, as well as peek through a smudged lense of where their future paths may take them. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: AGRICULTURE / ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE / BA’AL / MALEVICH / REJECTER / VOGEL

 Exceptions to the Rule, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
May 142024
 

(In this column Andy Synn focuses on short-form releases that emerged in recent months.)

It seems like every year I make a promise – to myself, if no-one else – to stay more on top of covering all the various EPs and short-form releases that come out… and every year I fail miserably.

Well, here’s my chance to make up for that by digging back into the last six months and selecting a handful of heavy/harsh/heartfelt releases for you all to check out.

Continue reading »

HOLY GRINDER: “10 DESECRATIONS”

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May 092024
 

(We present Christopher Luedtke‘s review of a new release from the Canadian noise grinders Holy Grinder, which is set for release tomorrow.)

The fourth full-length from Toronto, Ontario’s Holy Grinder is an ugly, mangled, heavy, spattering of noise, grind, sludge, and chaos packed into thirteen minutes. Though one lucky person is gonna get all that on cassette in a vat of piss. See their Instagram for further details, but that’s beside the point for the rest of us.

Holy Grinder has been at it for the better part of eight years and has a fair few releases under their belts since their 2016 inception. They have done splits with the likes of Christian Lovers, Agathocles, Sete Star Sept, Fetus Deletus, and more in addition to singles. Now almost four years to the day after Divine Extinction, the band is unleashing their latest full-length, 10 Desecrations. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): JUST ONE FIX — “SUBMIT OR DEATH”

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May 062024
 

The phraseology of “diving into” a record is intended to capture the idea of an auditory experience in which your mind is quickly surrounded by the music.

Sometimes you want to get out of the stream and towel off as quickly as possible, left cold or, worse yet, finding the waters skin-temperature and drab. Or you might get pulled deep by heavy undercurrents, making it difficult to get even your head to the surface.

Or you might experience the thrill of discovering that the waters are shark-infested, and a leg that was once attached to you has just been chewed off, leaving the waters red and frothing as the horde of other predators begin joining the feast.

That’s the kind of dive you should prepare for in Submit Or Death, the EP from New Zealand’s Just One Fix that we’re premiering today in advance of its May 10 release. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: AGRICULTURE, BLESSINGS OF MARA, CAVERN WOMB, DEVOURER, GOM JABBAR, OIL SPILL, URZAH

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Apr 202024
 

This has been an unusual week for me. I broke out of my hermit-like existence (originally provoked by covid but comfortably extending to the present) and made a quick Wednesday-Friday trip to Texas for a celebration of an old friend. The travel part of it was an annoying hassle; the celebration part of it was great.

During that trip I didn’t accomplish much for NCS. Among the things I didn’t accomplish was paying attention to the emergence of new songs and videos I might want to celebrate today. I bookmarked a few things in even more random fashion than usual while away and quickly spotted a few more things this morning.

These roundups are never comprehensive; this one skims the surface even more lightly. Kind of like a flying fish briefly airborne, with bigger toothsome things hungrily rocketing up from below without warning, jaws gnashing for a bite. The following things jumped up and bit me. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEADSPEAK — “NO RESPECT – NEITHER FOR LIVING NOR FOR THE DEAD”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 182024
 

The occult death metal band Deadspeak was formed in 2008 in Ireland, where its two Polish co-founders (Krakus and Tomasz Prokop) were then living. They recorded a pair of demos in 2008 and 2010, but then the band seemed to disappear for a long time.

Yet after returning to Poland the creative embers caught fire again and just last year Deadspeak released an excellent debut album named Human Alchemy (available here), a 44-minute work that they have described as “a blizzard of obscure riffs and strange melodies, fueled by hypersensitivity to society”.

Striking while the iron is hot, Deadspeak are already following up that album with a two-song EP that we’re happily premiering today. For these recordings, the Deadspeak duo of adventurous guitarist Krakus and venomous vocalist Tomasz were joined by guest bassist Ataman Tolovy and, as session drummer, the veteran hitter James Stewart (Decapitated, Berserker Legion, Bloodshot Dawn, ex-Vader, etc.). Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TENEBRIFIC — “LABYRINTH OF ANGUISH”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 032024
 

Tenebrific is a new band from Australia, a studio project created by Adam Martin of Golgothan Remains and Sarcophagum, in collaboration with Cris Bassan from Decrepid. Their debut release (in which they’re aided by some special guests) is an EP fittingly named Labyrinth of Anguish, which is set for release on April 8th.

The band have described the EP (quite accurately) as a release that “offers a glimpse into the abyss of existential despair, inviting listeners to confront their own inner demons and navigate the labyrinth of anguish.” “Throughout 22 minutes,” they say, “we summon monstrous and hallucinatory blackened death deformations that echo the howls of tortured souls and the whispers of malevolent entities.”

Over the course of three substantial tracks, the EP progresses as a single cohesive and carefully planned journey, one that really must be heard straight through to get the full effect — and fortunately, that’s what you’ll be able to do further down in this article as we premiere the full stream. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ROTTING CHRIST, CHARUN, SATANIC NORTH, DODENKROCHT, FRAGMENTUM, CANTIQUE LÉPREUX, BEDRÄNGNIS

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Mar 312024
 

It is a good thing to be tolerant of people who are different from you, including people who believe things you think are ridiculous. But tolerance is sorely tested by people who are hypocrites and con-men, whose professions of faith are a cover for corruption, hatefulness, and abuse of others.

Having those people in mind today, and all the people who have fought back against them (with a kind thought also for the sweet people who humbly try to follow the precepts of such passages as Matthew 7:12 and 25:35-40), I picked the following five songs from forthcoming records and two complete releases to recommend to you on this Easter Sunday.

ROTTING CHRIST (Greece)

Rotting Christ, but of course I’m starting with them today. Their new album ΠΡΟ ΧΡΙΣΤΟU (Pro Xristou) — “Before Christ” — “serves as a fervent tribute to the last Pagan kings who resisted the onslaught of Christianity, guarding their ancient values and knowledge”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VERBERIS, ALLEGAEON, PARTY CANNON, MORTAL WOUND, VRYKOLAKAS, VERITERAS, OLD IRON, FRAIL BODY, ATARAXIA

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Mar 282024
 

Lately I’ve been organizing these roundups of recommended new songs and videos in alphabetical order by band name, because that means I don’t have to spend any time thinking like a DJ, trying to figure out what makes sense in the flow of the music. Sometimes that has coincidentally led to interesting juxtapositions.

Today, however, I’ve chosen a different organizational scheme, because some of the songs naturally paired up with each other. So this collection includes a block of goofy stuff, a “hulking and hideous  death metal” block, a Seattle block, and some curveballs at the end, although the very end is more like a sequence of eephus pitches that sail in high and slow (look it up).

But to begin, you’ll find something that doesn’t fit anywhere else but left me wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: SCARCITY, SIDUS ATRUM, STRYCHNOS, SVDESTADA, SVRM

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 242024
 


Scarcity — photo by Caroline Harrison

Today’s selection of black and blackened metal was partly the result of coincidence and partly by design. Coincidentally, out of all the worthy songs I listened to in searching for selections, many of them were by bands whose names begin with “S”. By design, I limited this column to those bands. Chalk it up to some need for order out of chaos.

Also coincidentally, two of these songs were accompanied by videos that are among the best I’ve seen this year in any genre, and by arranging this column alphabetically by band name, they come first. Continue reading »

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