Ennui Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: ENNUI — “THE WITHERING PART I – OF HOLLOW US”

Jul 182018

Ennui from Tbilisi, Georgia, are an old favorite of this writer, sort of like a fondly but frighteningly remembered ghost that lives the attic, an ancient and towering haunt that’s itself deeply haunted and that occasionally emerges from its sunless gloom to blot the sun from our own changing seasons. As Ennui say in a statement about the mammoth new song we’re hosting today: “None of us will ever see the gleams of light in silent dawn. None of us will even know, that our shadow was already gone.”

Three years on from their very fine last album, Falsvs Anno Domini, the Ennui duo of David Unsaved and Serj Shengelia are ready to emerge again, once more to draw us inexorably into their own deep shadows with a new album named End Of The Circle, which is set for a September 5 release by Non Serviam Records.

Ennui never hurry through their songs — their withering spells take time to unfold, to deepen, and to flourish, and especially so on this new record, whose three sagas range in length from 20 minutes to more than 30. And two of those are parts of a conceptually unified musical tale. “The Withering Part I — Of Hollow Us” is what we have for you now. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD FOR A SATURDAY: RAGNAROK, DECAPITATED, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, SKÁPHE, ENNUI

Jan 232016

I’m still catching up on the flood of new music and videos that appeared this week, in part because I spent so much time on the flood of new tracks we ourselves premiered since Monday. Because I’m short on time this Saturday, I’m mainly going to let the music speak for itself. Unless I damage myself too badly tonight at a big party I’m attending, I’ll have another collection of recommended new streams tomorrow. But before we get to the music, I have one news item.

RAGNAROK

In mid-December I posted the news that Norway’s Ragnarok would at long last be releasing a new album named Psychopathology. This week, further details were disclosed, as well as the cover art (above) by Marcelo Vasco (Slayer, Machine Head, Dimmu Borgir). The album will include 11 tracks and will be released by Agonia Records on March 25 in a variety of formats, including a limited-edition CD box set that will include a bonus compilation CD entitled Chaos and Insanity between 1994-2004, which features all of the band’s early demos and EP’s (the compilation will also separately be released on vinyl).

No music to share with you yet, but you can be sure we will as soon as something becomes available for streaming. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MAMMOTH STORM, ENNUI, EYE OF SOLITUDE, MOONBOW, WEEDPECKER

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 15 Responses »

Nov 192015

(Grant Skelton steps forward for round-up duty with this collection of mostly new music from five bands.)

MAMMOTH STORM

Mammoth Storm are a three-piece from Saffle, Sweden. They released a demo in 2013. Less than a year later, Mammoth Storm followed that demo with a self-released EP called Rite Of Ascension. Their debut album Fornjot (named for an ancient Norse giant) was released earlier this month on Napalm Records.

Mammoths and Norse giants are fitting imagery for the kind of riffs this band writes. Enormous, loud, and destructive. They recently completed a tour with their labelmates Ahab and High Fighter. If you’re into either of those bands, then Mammoth Storm definitely have something for you. Below are the lyric video to the title track “Fornjot,” as well as a Soundcloud stream of “Augurs Echo.” Find Fornjot on Amazon and iTunes. The album also includes “Ancient Apocalypse,” a bonus track re-recorded from their 2013 demo. Continue reading »

APHONIC THRENODY / ENNUI: “IMMORTAL IN DEATH”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Mar 142014

I’ve been trying to understand why I find the kind of music on the excellent new split by Aphonic Threnody and Ennui (entitled Immortal In Death) so appealing. I didn’t always. When I got into metal, the music that grabbed me raced like thoroughbreds with their bloodstreams flooded by adrenaline. Immortal In Death moves like draught horses pulling a granite crypt, with no finish line in sight. Yet the music is immensely powerful and emotionally intense despite its glacial pacing and its black moods. It overwhelms the senses, maybe even more thoroughly than the kind of high-octane romps that were my first loves.

Each band contributes one very long song to the split, and although they are more alike than they are dissimilar, I’ll still take them one at a time.

APHONIC THRENODY

My own experience with this multinational funeral doom band (whose members come from other well-regarded underground groups) goes back to 2011, when I came across their debut album First Funeral (and wrote about some of the music here). Though the band favored long songs on that release (all of them in the 9-10 minute range), “Ruins” dwarfs them. It’s a nearly 21-minute monolith — and it represents Aphonic Threnody’s crowning achievement so far. Continue reading »

NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS FROM 14 BANDS: PART 1

Interviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Jan 062014

(Our Russian correspondent Comrade Aleks put 3 year-end questions to 14 bands, many of whom may be new names to NCS readers. In this 3-part post, he shares their answers and their music. Today, the featured bands are A Young Man’s Funeral, Decay of Reality, Ennui, Ethereal Riffian, and Evoke Thy Lords.)

This publication is the last thing I could do before I fell into drunken slumber after horrible celebration of the New Year then coming and now here. Men from a few euphonious bands of Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia were asked three similar questions, and soon, answers were given. What did I ask them to share with our readers in these gloomy winter days? Oh, I guess here they are…

1. What is the band’s latest news? And what are your plans for 2014?

2. For what events do you remember 2013? Events from the world of music, political stuff, personal stuff, or even that bad weather – that damned winter without snow?

3. And the last one – what would you like to wish for our readers and your listeners?

Here we go, to spread the Word of Doom, Death, and Damnation (as well as Goodness and Virtue). Happy New Year! Continue reading »

ENNUI AND DOOM METAL FRONT (“ASIA: TUNES OF THE RISING SUN(N)”)

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Nov 122013

Earlier today I included a feature in a “Seen and Heard” post about a new song by an Italian doom band named Necropoli. After posting that piece I learned that the tremendous vocals on the song were recorded by David Unsaved, one of the two collaborators in a band from Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, named Ennui. I decided to learn more about Ennui and discovered that they have completed work on a new album (their second), entitled The Last Way, which will be released by MFL Records on November 30, 2013.

Ennui’s Facebook page also pointed to a stream of one song from the new album on Bandcamp. That song turns out to be part of a 30-track compilation called Asia: Tunes of the Rising Sun(n) assembled by a German zine called Doom Metal Front. The comp comes as an automatic digital download with the purchase of Issue #11 (which you can buy either as a downloadable PDF or as a print copy that will be sent to you).

The comp includes music by 30 bands from India, Pakistan, Israel, Japan, China, Indonesia, Japan, Georgia, and elsewhere, and features names such as Church of Misery, Coffins, Bevar Sea, Eternal Elysium, and Birushanah. But at the moment, the only song I’m going to write about is that Ennui track that will also appear on their new album. Continue reading »