2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE DISAPPOINTING

 LISTMANIA 2024  11 Responses »
Dec 092024
 

Well, here we are again – it’s the beginning of “List Week” again, where I take over the site (barring the occasional interview or premiere) for five days of features rounding up all the albums I’ve managed to listen to over the course of this year.

Now, to clarify, this isn’t about showing off how many albums I’ve heard – I am well aware I am in an unusually lucky position wherein I have access to, and time to listen to, more albums than most (the exception being those people who apparently have time to listen to thousands of albums a year, which… well, let’s say I have my doubts) – it’s about providing a resource for our readers to use to check out stuff they may have missed.

Obviously, there’s also an element of looking back and analysing the year – what was “great”, what was “good”, and (in this particular article) what was most “disappointing” – but there’s no real “ranking” system beyond these three tiers (the exception being my “Critical” and “Personal” top tens at the end of the week, which I’ll say more about at the time).

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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 »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HARKANE — “ARGO”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 062024
 

(written by Islander)

According to The Font of All Human Knowledge: “The Argonautica is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only entirely surviving Hellenistic epic, the Argonautica tells the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from remote Colchis.”

We begin this way because the Argonautica is the basis for an ambitious concept album named Argo by the Italian band Harkane, which will be released by the Dusktone label on December 13th. As you can see, it’s heralded by a striking cover painting by Paolo Girardi.

But before we get to our premiere of the new album’s title track, we should share something else about the Argonautica, because that something else is part of the reason why Harkane drew upon it for their inspiration. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NOCTAMBULIST — “LICHTETER”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 062024
 

(written by Islander)

“Noctambulist stand for contrasts. Serotonin summits and strung-out canyons. The empty and the grandiose. The beautiful and the appalling.”

That’s how this Dutch band represent their own music, and when you listen, it makes a lot of sense. In more prosaic terms, they could be considered a “melancholic” black metal band, albeit one that draws inspiration from other genres such as post-rock, shoegaze, new wave, and post-punk.

They released their full-length debut Noctambulist I: Elegieën via Northern Silence Productions in 2021, and now they’re following that with a new album named Noctambulist II: De Droom that will come out in February on These Hands Melt.

So far, two singles from the album have appeared. The second one, “Lichteter,” surfaced in mid-November, and today we’re premiering a beautifully made video that evokes key features of the song’s themes. Continue reading »

2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): SHORT BUT SWEET

 LISTMANIA 2024  8 Responses »
Dec 062024
 

(Andy Synn kicks off “List Week” a little early with a round-up of all the EPs he’s checked out this year)

As is tradition here at NCS we’re going to tee up “List Week” – where I essentially take over the site in order to round-up the “Great”, “Good”, and “Disappointing” albums of the year, concluding with my picks for the “Critical” (i.e. semi-objective) Top Ten and my completely and unapologetically subjective “Personal” Top Ten – with my round-up of all the EPs, splits, and short-form releases from 2024 (including links) which I think are worthy of your time and attention.

Of course, this isn’t a definitive list by any means – anyone who claims any of their lists represent some sort of “definitive” ranking should be treated with rank (pun intended) suspicion, as it’s a literal impossibility for any writer/reviewer to have heard all the great releases from a given year – but it’ll hopefully serve as a useful resource for you to bookmark and come back to whenever you have the time, or inclination, to listen to something more on the “short but sweet” end of the scale.

And, as always, I’m closing the piece with a slightly more in-depth look at my ten favourite – note that I said “favourite”, not “best”, as I’m not trying to make any sort of authoritative claim here – EPs of the year, if only to give you a glimpse into what I’ve liked and listened to the most since January.

(Obviously, this doesn’t include my own band’s EP, which I’d never be so arrogant as to include on my own list, but… maybe you’ll want to give it a listen and include it on yours?)

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OSLO DEATHFEST: DAY 2

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 052024
 

(This is our Oslo-based contributor Chile‘s report on the second day of the second edition of Oslo Deathfest, which took place on November 29-30 this year, accompanied by his photos.)

Saturday morning came too early, the sweet aching of the body’s night excursions seemingly still present. A couple of cups of coffee later, all is well again, the mysteries of the organism. A perfectly choreographed self-hypnosis ritual. The ice has retreated from the streets and given way to the rain in a move surprising absolutely nobody here. We are ready to go.

Second day of Oslo Deathfest keeps the format of the previous day, but goes even harder with eight bands in total and starting at four in the afternoon to accommodate them all. We are once again greeted by the organisers and the good people at Vaterland for the first two bands.  Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TETHRA — “WITHERED HEART STANDING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 052024
 

On December 6th — tomorrow! — Meuse Music Records will release Withered Heart Standing, a magnificent new album by the Italian melancholic doom/death metal band Tethra, and it’s our pleasure to give you an advance listen today.

Over the course of eight songs, from “Liminal” through “Commiato,” the album both builds a dark, monumental, and ornately adorned edifice and holds out a fragile bleeding heart. It hits very hard, and it drifts like shining seas or wafting clouds. It becomes brazenly defiant, even furious, and it collapses on its knees, like a stricken soul stripped of everything dear but memory. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DIFFERENT SEASONS — “DARKSIDE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 052024
 

(written by Islander)

We host lots of song, EP, and album premieres — one or two of them every weekday. One of my main tasks around here is to decide which premiere requests to accept, and then to introduce them.

I almost never agree to premiere music from a reissued record, mainly because I interpret “premiere” literally. If a piece of music has already been publicly available, then subsequently hosting it here is not a “premiere,” and by definition music that is being reissued has been heard before.

But for three reasons, I decided to make an exception today. First, this reissue is for a demo that was first released on tape in 1996, and no one else has re-released it since then. So although some members of the public have heard the demo, their number is undoubtedly dwarfed by those who’ve never heard it. Second, the demo has been remixed and remastered, so the public hasn’t actually heard it the way it sounds now.

And third, this demo is more than a historical artifact. As you’ll find out, it hasn’t lost its ability to sink the heart and haunt the mind despite the passing of nearly 30 years. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: ANTE-INFERNO / EARTHBOUND / WARPSTORMER

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 052024
 

(Andy Synn presents three more of his favourite home-grown heroes)

Well, here we are… it’s almost time for “List Week” (there might even be a little preview coming tomorrow).

But before we get there I wanted to sneak in one last edition of “The Best of British” to highlight three recently-released albums which are sure to tantalise your musical tastebuds.

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