SHADES OF BLACK: ALIOTH BOREALIS, ACHERAD, THUNRAZ, DØDSFERD

 Album Reviews, Forthcoming Albums, LISTMANIA 2015, LISTMANIA 2016, MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2015, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Nov 242024
 

(written by Islander)

I haven’t kept a running count, but I think a substantial majority of the music I’ve written about in these Sunday columns has consisted of singles, usually advance tracks from forthcoming albums. A couple of reasons for that:

First, I can put our spotlight on a lot more bands and records that way. In the time it would take me to listen to and scribble thoughts about one album, I can do that for pieces of six or seven albums.

Second, I don’t think I’m great at writing album reviews. I find it difficult to provide some kind of succinct discussion because I always feel like I’m leaving out important aspects of the music, and so I often get bogged down in the details. Even when an album is already out I feel that way, even though it might be a silly feeling since everyone can listen and discover the details for themselves.

All of that makes today’s collection a rarity, because today I’ve chosen to write about three albums that have already been released, and one new song (and video) that’s a bonus track for the vinyl edition of another album that’s already out. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ALIOTH BOREALIS — “THE MAUSOLEUM OF ALL HOPE AND DESIRE”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Jul 182024
 

One of my tasks at NCS is to monitor the e-mails sent to our site. This is a tedious and terrible job. We get about 200 of them every day, at least half of which arrive because (perplexingly) we’re on mass lists used by some PR agents to promote non-metal music we have less than zero interest in. For other reasons many of the others don’t fit what we do around here (e.g., they’re “newsy” items or concern metal bands whose music isn’t in our wheelhouse).

Some days I don’t even have time to skim the subject lines. When I do, I try to pay particular attention to e-mails coming in from bands themselves, i.e., people who don’t have PR agents or labels backing them. I figure they need more help from sites like ours than groups who have some professional machinery behind them.

Of course, most musicians aren’t naturally talented self-promoters, and so (no criticism intended), a lot of band e-mails don’t set the hook quickly or effectively. However, the one I saw from Alioth Borealis definitely did do that. Check this out: Continue reading »