Nov 122022
 

I devoted Friday’s round-up to new songs and videos from some of the bigger names in metal. As promised, today we’re digging deeper underground (tunneling is our preferred activity around here). But man, there were so many possible choices it may have made me cross-eyed.

To get un-crossed I fell back on four old favorites. I usually skimp a bit on the black metal in these Saturday collections because I’ve got tomorrow’s SHADES OF BLACK column reserved for that, but the fate of this Sunday’s column is a bit uncertain because a certain local NFL team is playing in Germany with a start time of 6:30 a.m. where I live. So I’ve made adjustments.

AENAON (Greece)

I would have checked out Aenaon‘s noirish new video even if the video’s thumbnail hadn’t shown a gorgeous pair of legs and some fetching high heels, but that sure didn’t hurt. There’s also the fact that I’ve shamefully neglected writing anything about the band’s recently released album Mnemosyne, and it’s time to make modest amends for that. Continue reading »

Jun 142021
 

 

Here at NCS we’ve been ardent supporters of the Greek progressive black metal band Aenaon ever since discovering the wonders of their 2014 album Extance, which made no fewer than four different year-end lists published at our site, as well as a host of our reader’s lists. Ever since, we’ve been devoting a lot of attention to the adventurous creativity of this group (whose line-up shares members with Varathron and Katavasia), which was further displayed on their latest album, 2016’s Hypnosophy, and which we characterized as an alchemical work in which Aenaon drew together “a multitude of base elements from disparate genres and transmuted them in wizard-like fashion into music that’s rare and mesmerizing”.

But even before those two acclaimed records was the band’s debut full-length Cendres et Sang — and it happens that today is the 10th anniversary of its release. To celebrate that anniversary Aenaon have re-created one of their favorite songs from the album, “Grand Narcotic Harvest” — and thus re-named the new version “Grand Narcotic Reharvest” — and they filmed the recording session in a video that we’re premiering in this article. The re-recorded track will be available digitally — and today we’re also sharing another special announcement by Aenaon. Here is their statement: Continue reading »

Jan 252017
 

 

(KevinP returns to NCS with a new episode of his short-interview series, and this time talks with Achilleas Kalantzis, guitarist of the mind-bending Greek black metal band Aenaon — whose new album Hypnosophy was released late last year — as well as Katavasia and Varathron.)

 
K: You’ve had some lineup changes for Hypnosophy. What was the impetus and did this affect the sound/direction of the new material?

A: Indeed. Unfortunately it was really hard for Thyragon (bass) to keep up with the band’s schedule and Anax (guitars) had to join the obligatory army service, so we recorded without him (he is still a member now though). On the other hand Orestis was already playing the Sax for us since Extance, so becoming a permanent member wasn’t a big change. Astrous (vocals) and I are usually building the first demos of the songs, so the core of the creational process was the same (no matter the final arrangements). What made a big difference to me was that I also composed and performed the bass guitar. That gave me as a composer the ability to use it in a more prominent way, leading to groovier arrangements. Continue reading »

Oct 202016
 

Aenaon-Hypnosophy

 

The Greek band Aenaon have already made a name for themselves as one of the most interesting, inventive, and distinctive black metal bands on the planet, and their new album Hypnosophy will only burnish that reputation to an even brighter sheen. It well warrants the perhaps overused term “alchemical”, as Aenaon have drawn together a multitude of base elements from disparate genres and transmuted them in wizard-like fashion into music that’s rare and mesmerizing. As a further example of the intriguing delights that Hypnosophy will bring your way, we present the premiere of a lyric video for the album’s second track, “Fire Walk With Me“.

The band have commented on the song as follows:

“Ιnfluenced by David Lynch’s film, this title was chosen as an inspiration for a hymn about the mythical creature, Phoenix. The element of fire is represented by the maelstrom of multiple instruments that are combined to create a Promethian atmosphere. It concludes all the distinctive elements of the Aenaon sound whirling into a fiery musical vortex”.

Continue reading »

Aug 292016
 

Aenaon-Hypnosophy

 

Happy Monday! I mean that sincerely, despite the usual depressive aspects of the day, because this Monday brought us three exciting new song premieres that I discovered soon after caffeinating myself strongly enough to stun a bull, plus an announcement of an exciting U.S. tour. And here’s what I found:

AENAON

As our regular readers are well aware, we have become ardent followers of the Greek band Aenaon since discovering the wonders of their 2014 album Extance, which made no fewer than four different year-end lists published at our site, as well as a host of our reader’s lists. It was also the source of a song (“Grau Diva”) that I included in my list of 2014’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. You may then be able to imagine how eagerly we have been awaiting the band’s new album, Hypnosophy. Continue reading »

Jun 152016
 

Nylithia video clip

 

Last night I decided it was time to pull together another round-up of new music and videos that I’ve been enjoying. By the time I had finished sifting through a lot of stuff in an effort to provide both quality and variety, I had a collection that seemed too long for a single post, so I’ve divided this one into two parts. The way things go, I’ll probably come across more new things this morning that will be worth adding to Part 2 before I post it. To begin….

NYLITHIA

“Bludwolves” is the tenth track on this Vancouver band’s 2015 debut album Hyperthrash. It happens to be a song that we premiered last fall. It also might be my favorite song on a very strong album — and so I was stoked to see that it had become the subject of a new Nylithia music video. And when I saw the video, I got even more excited. Continue reading »

Jul 212015
 

Aenaon-Ultima Momentum

 

We present to you in this post a special dual premiere, the two new songs by the Greek black metal bands Aenaon and Virus of Koch that will appear on their new 7″ vinyl split, scheduled for release on September 7, 2015, via III-Damnation Productions, with artwork by Alexander Leybovich. Below you will find a few words about each song — “Ultima Momentum” from Aenaon and “Voro: Forma Mentis” by Virus of Koch — plus the music streams.

The split will be released in 50 copies of black/white haze vinyl (available for pre-order here) and 200 copies in black vinyl (available here). In a word, it’s fantastic.

AENAON: “ULTIMA MOMENTUM”

The new song from Aenaon follows their brilliant 2014 album Extance, which made many of our year-end lists and was also the source of a track (“Grau Diva”) that we named to our list of last year’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs”. Continue reading »

Feb 022015
 

 

(KevinP brings us another edition of his short-interview series, “Get To The Point”, and he talks with Astrous, vocalist of the Greek black metal band Aenaon. But this time the interview includes both a news scoop about the new Greek supergroup Katavasia and the world premiere of a new Katavasia song.)

K:  So what’s the big news you want to share with all of us today?

A:  I feel great to announce a new alliance in the Greek Black Metal circles which is called KATAVASIA. This new project consists of well-known musicians and guest appearances, aimed to produce the unique sound and spirit of the early Greek black metal era.

 

K:  Can you tell us who is responsible for this alliance? Continue reading »

Dec 292014
 

 

Welcome to Part 6 of our list of 2014′s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.

AENAON

Despite the fact that Aenaon’s latest album Extance was released almost 12 months ago, and despite the fact that it was recommended in two different posts at our site, by Austin Weber (here) and KevinP (here), I still didn’t get around to exploring its wonders until this month — and only then after it appeared on no fewer than four different year-end lists published at our site, as well as a bunch of reader lists (collected here). One of our year-end contributors (deckard cain) also nominated one of the album’s songs for this “most infectious” list, and today I’m enthusiastically agreeing. Continue reading »

Mar 242014
 

(NCS supporter KevinP came up with an idea. Unlike his idea that the NY GIants will return to the Super Bowl in this decade, it’s a good one, so we’re going with it. Read on…)

If you are like me (shudder at that thought for a moment) then you get overwhelmed with all the new music that comes out over the course of the year.  Call it professional curiousity (I guess I feel special today calling myself a “pro”), but I’m always on the hunt for new bands and music (even from older bands). I feel some type of moral obligation to myself to hear as much as I possibly can.  But there’s simply not enough hours in the day and we all miss a plethora of releases.  Then at the end of the year I comb through endless “Best Of” lists trying to see what I missed and what I should check out.

So instead of waiting until the end of the year and trying to pack it all in at once (which inevitably causes even the best of us to overlook something by not giving it enough time), I propose after each quarter of the year (that’s every 3 months for those of you who failed math), we all list 5 releases that each of us recommends everyone check out (in the Comments section below if that wasn’t painfully obvious). Continue reading »