AN NCS PREMIERE: ANTIVERSUM — “DE NEMESIS OMNES ET OMNIA”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 292025
 

(written by Islander)

Ten years ago we premiered Total Vacuum, the debut demo by the Swiss band Antiversum shortly before its release. Almost eight years ago we then premiered the title song from the band’s debut album, Cosmos Comedenti. Finally, Antiversum are coming back with a second album, this one named De Nemesis Omnes et Omnia, set for release on September 19th by Amor Fati Productions, and once again we have a premiere.

Upon learning about the album I couldn’t resist investigating the meaning of its title. It’s not a classical Latin phrase, but seems to be Antiversum‘s own construction. Most likely, it literally translates to “Of nemesis, everyone and everything”. An AI comment I didn’t ask for when google-searching suggested that it means “all people and all things are either subject to or derived from nemesis,” and possibly as “a declaration that divine retribution and vengeance apply to everyone and everything in existence.” I suppose the reference to divinity derives from the fact that Nemesis was, after all, a Greek god.

These interpretations of the album title, though unconfirmed, would be in line with the fundamental nihilism inherent in Antiversum‘s profoundly disturbing musical representations of horrifying menace, cosmic collapse, and the vast maw of the void that awaits. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ANTIVERSUM, PORENUT, VÖRNIR, BÁL, YMBEROPHILIA

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 172025
 

(written by Islander)

About half an hour after I finished yesterday’s roundup I left home with my wife and didn’t return until nightfall. Waking up later than usual today, I immediately got diverted from anything musical by reading a long discussion by two really smart people about a harrowing political and economic subject. By the time I finally re-oriented myself to the column you’re now reading, my clock for this thing was winding down, so it’s shorter than I had hoped it would be.

In deciding what I’d need to leave on the cutting room floor, I found myself focusing on music that in different ways is unorthodox, at least in how I think about black metal orthodoxies. But you can be the judge of that, as I hope you will be. Of course, to judge, you need to listen. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANTIVERSUM — “COSMOS COMEDENTI”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 032017
 

 

Two and a half years ago we premiered Total Vacuum, the debut demo by the Swiss band Antiversum shortly before its release by Invictus Productions. As we wrote then: “Whether crawling through a frigid pit of doom or spooling up to a blasting maelstrom, Total Vacuum has the capacity to engulf your mind — and bite down on it hard. It’s a potent, atmospheric offering of alien black/death that’s cold, hostile, and thoroughly gripping.”

The demo was so strong in so many ways that we have been eager for a further Antiversum release, and now the wish has been granted. On October 20th Invictus will release the band’s first full album, Cosmos Comedenti, and we have the pleasure of presenting the album’s title track. Continue reading »

DEATH RITUALS: NEW MUSIC FROM DYSCARNATE, ARCHSPIRE, ORACULUM, ANTIVERSUM, CASKET ROBBERY, BLACK BLOOD INVOCATION, SACROSCUM, MORBITORY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jul 282017
 

 

Although I put together a round-up of news and new music yesterday, I still had a lot of new stuff I wanted to spread around today. As I began picking through a very long list of newly revealed tracks, it dawned on me that a big chunk of what I found attractive fell within the realms of death metal. And that’s what I’ve got for you below — new (or newly discovered) deathly music from 8 bands.

DYSCARNATE

Five years after their superb last album and with a new bassist/vocalist (Al Llewellyn) now in the three-person line-up, Dyscarnate are returning with their third full-length, With All Their Might. Yesterday DECIBEL premiered a new song and video from the album, and it’s  fittingly named “Iron Strengthens Iron“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANTIVERSUM — “TOTAL VACUUM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Apr 152015
 

 

Those with long memories may recall that last October we reviewed two tracks that had surfaced from a forthcoming demo by the Swiss band Antiversum. Since then the Irish label Invictus Productions has arranged for the release of the demo — entitled Total Vacuum — and we now bring you the premiere of all four of its songs, in all their horrifying glory.

The demo is well-named in one sense: Total Vacuum creates an atmosphere of bone-freezing gloom, summoning immense vistas of a heartless, malignant cosmos. The demo begins and ends with eerie ambient sounds that include deep groaning tones and piercing electronic shrieks, effectively summoning sensations of dread and implacable menace. But in between those chilling bookends, Antiversum embark on a void-faring excursion that’s loaded with harrowing encounters. There is life in this vacuum, even if it is utterly alien and frighteningly voracious. And unlike a vacuum, it’s massively heavy and disturbingly oppressive. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ANTIVERSUM AND CENDRA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  15 Responses »
Oct 252014
 

 

Hey motherfuckers, happy Saturday. I’m still in central Texas visiting family and friends and spending a lot more time yakking than listening to new music. But this morning I did discover some infernally excellent new songs that put a charge in the reptile part of my brain, which is basically everything enclosed by my skull. Hope you dig this nastiness as much as I have.

ANTIVERSUM

Antiversum are from Zurich, Switzerland. Based on this interview, it appears that the band’s members are also involved in numerous other projects, with names such as Blakk Old Blood, Deathcult, Asag, Goatfukk, none of which I’m familiar with — yet. I learned about Antiversum through a tip from KevinP. Their musical output so far consists of two tracks that first appeared on Soundcloud in August — “Total Vacuum” and “Finis Aeternitum”.

The comparisons with Bölzer are inevitable, both because of the bands’ shared nationality and also because of certain similarities of style. The music is highly atmospheric black/death, with the band churning out a dense, poisonous fog of morbid riffs driven by attention-grabbing drum-and-cymbal assaults. The vibrating haze of sulfurous murk generated by the riffs is cold, hostile, and malignant, and the eerie cosmic melodies suggest that this impenetrable haze is populated with alien entities. Continue reading »