Austin Weber Archives - Page 8 of 19

VEKTOR: TERMINAL REDUX

Jun 212016

(Austin Weber turns in this review of the new album by Vektor.)

Formerly Arizona-based, now Philly-based prog thrash unit Vektor are an interesting sonic experiment, akin to fellow modern thrashers Revocation as far as taking thrash roots mixed with some progressive death metal influences (and beyond) and creating something new and breathtaking. Their first two releases, Black Future and Outer Isolation, showed a group hungry to prove their mettle in an already crowded re-thrash oriented scene and movement. From those initial sparks of brilliance, Vektor have truly become something even greater this time around with Terminal Redux. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: INVIDIOSUS — “NEUROTIC MISERY”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Jun 062016

(Austin Weber brings us this premiere of a video for a song from the new EP by Minnesota’s Invidiosus.)

Longtime NCS readers might be familiar with Minneapolis death metal squid squad Invidiosus since we’ve been covering them frequently here since 2014 — not to mention that the band shares a bassist (Todd Farnham) with fellow NCS favorites Amiensus. We last covered Invidiosus back in February, when we helped them launch a badass stand-alone single called “Neurotic Misery”. Continuing to release new tunes while persistently evolving, the band is including this single on an upcoming EP called Guided Towards The Inevitable, which will come out on Friday, June 17th, through Twin Town Tyrant Records. I’ll also help the band stream all five songs a few days before the EP’s release over at Metal-Injection on Tuesday, June 14th, just as a heads-up!

Ahead of its release, we’ve got a refresher of “Neurotic Misery” for you in the form of an exclusive launch of a music video for the song. Like previous videos by the band that we’ve premiered, this one again shows the fun and silly side of the band instead of being a solely performance-focused piece. If you missed the song when we premiered it months ago, that’s all the more reason to make sure to hit play below and take in some eclectic and tasty death metal. Continue reading »

IT DJENTS: “THIS DOESN’T DJENT”

Free Shit, Metal News 1 Response »

May 202016

(Austin Weber brings us news about a new free comp that he helped curate.)

While I’m constantly pitching spur-of-the-moment ideas to Islander that relate to growing the scene as a whole, not every vision and concept comes to pass in the end, usually because of an unfortunate lack of time to do everything on my end. Luckily, two other metal music writers and myself decided to join forces and craft a free Bandcamp compilation for the masses called This Doesn’t Djent. Every song/band is worth your time and attention.

Rounding out the swath of bands and songs that I helped curate is content assembled by It Djents head honcho Chris Delano and MetalSucks/Invisible Oranges contributor Mark Ehmahre (bandleader/main composer of Existential Animals, whom I have covered before — and who appear below, too). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CAECUS — “PERPETUAL NIGHTFALL”

Premieres 8 Responses »

May 042016

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song by the Illinois band Caecus.)

Just to get it out of the way from the onset, no this is not the same Caecus from Scotland that NCS covered last year. This Caecus is based in the United States for starters, and play a completely different style of death metal entirely. Now that we’ve cleared up any potental confusion, I can delve into the phenomenal debut single we have for you today called “Perpetual Nightfall” off the band’s upcoming full-length, The Funeral Garden.

These Champaign, Illinois, natives pack a hell of a punch and loads of sonic diversity within the depths of “Perpetual Nightfall”. At its core, the band craft an atmospheric-infused take on technical death metal that also features inklings of black metal elements as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE CONJURATION — “WHORE”

Premieres 3 Responses »

May 022016

We bring you the premiere of a new song by The Conjuration, a premiere that we are especially excited to bring you because it includes vocals by a member of the NCS family (more about that later).

For those new to the name, The Conjuration is the genre-bending (and mind-bending) one-man project of Corey Jason from Danville, Virginia. When last we posted about this project, it was Austin Weber’s review (here) of The Conjuration’s last album, 2014’s Surreal, which he described as music that “bends the limits of death metal… pushing it down creepy, wailing, mumbling, singing stairs to hell, and then pulling it back up with proggy keys and synths—only to have it crumble again under the weight of the gleefully insane death metal at the heart” of the album.” Continue reading »

AUSTIN WEBER ROUND-UP aka FOREVER PLAYING CATCH-UP (Pt 3)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Apr 282016

(Austin Weber continues to pitch in on round-up duty with the second part of a multi-part post recommending metal we haven’t previously covered. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

Spheron – A Clockwork Universe

I’m actually surprised that the new Spheron record, A Clockwork Universe, hasn’t been covered here yet since their last one got covered quite a bit at NCS. At any rate, Spheron’s latest is a fantastic record that deserves to be heard by more people! For those unfamiliar, Spheron play a particularly proggy and dense sort of tech-death with a stronger emphasis on complex rhythm riffing over flashy lead playing. Continue reading »

AUSTIN WEBER ROUND-UP aka FOREVER PLAYING CATCH-UP (Pt 2)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Apr 272016

(Austin Weber continues to pitch in on round-up duty with the second part of a multi-part post recommending metal we haven’t previously covered. You can find Part 1 here.)

Arms – Blackout

You ready to get down with some nasty math-grind? Because Arms bring it throughout every jagged and howling minute of their sophomore full-length, Blackout.

I have Ken Reda from Bhavachakra (previously covered in a song premiere here at NCS!) to thank for tipping me off to this most excellent display of virulent rad viciousness! I think it’s additionally cool that the diverse and complex sonic whirlwind that Blackout delivers is the result of only one guy, Orlando, Florida-based musician/sound engineer Paul Hundeby. Continue reading »

AUSTIN WEBER ROUND-UP aka FOREVER PLAYING CATCH-UP (Pt 1)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Apr 262016

(Austin Weber pitches in on round-up duty with the first part of a multi-part post recommending new metal.)

Hey there NCS readers, it’s been far too long since I stopped in with a massive round-up of obscure (and not yet covered at NCS) jams from all over the metal map musically. Seeing that Islander has been busy slaving away on work-related duties in order to raise funds to care for the recently rabies-infected horde of NCS Lorises, it felt like a good time to begin sharing some of the many bands I have piling up endlessly in multiple word files. There will be several more editions of this to come, so be sure to stay tuned.

Ever since Islander was kind enough to let me do some writing for NCS, this site has felt like home to me. Our audience is so special, and clearly more eclectic and willing to explore than visitors at most sites, it seems. So here’s to you, oh seekers of joy within chaos and serrated sounds. And also for those who are musically prog heads at heart! I made sure that none of what I’m covering here has been covered at NCS so far, so make sure to give everything a listen! Without further ado… it begins! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ENTHEAN — “BEFORE YOU, I AM”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Apr 252016

(Austin Weber brings us the premiere of a song from the forthcoming debut album by Enthean.)

While, until now, I’ve yet to cover South Carolina progressive black metal/technical death metal horde Enthean here at NCS, I’ve been torturously waiting for these guys to release something ever since hearing their 2013 demo, Tones Of Desecration.

Well, it looks like 2016 is finally the year of Enthean, since their debut full-length, Priests Of Annihilation, finally drops on May 20th. In advance of its release, we’ve got a skull-shattering new jam from the band to premiere for you today called “Before You, I Am”. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GRAVESLAVE — “STRANGE DAYS”

Premieres 6 Responses »

Apr 202016

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song and video from Graveslave.)

Ever since Todd Farnham from Invidiosus (and Amiensus!) first got in touch with me about helping premiere music for his sick band several years ago, he has consistently kept me in the loop with a ton of awesome new metal bands close to his neck of the woods. Earlier this year he showed me Sunless, which Islander himself made mention of at NCS, and I myself covered at Metal Injection. Recently he tipped me off to another band I was new to called Graveslave, whose members are split between Minneapolis and Denver.

Liking what I heard by them at the time, I agreed to help them launch a new video that doubles as a song premiere for a new single by the band called “Strange Days”. While not everyone out in the world is celebrating today, Graveslave is, since it’s 4/20! As such, the video is a weed-themed ode to the horrific perils that Reefer Madness warned us about all those years ago. Continue reading »

Older Entries Newer Entries