SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: GIGAN, OLD MACHINES, FURNACE, SOLUS REX, ENDLESS CHAIN, LUSCA, KOBOLD, THE HYPOTHESIS, NARKOSE

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 242024
 


Gigan

(written by Islander)

Poor you, I had lots of time on my hands yesterday, and so made my way through a lot more music than I’m usually able to do, and even had enough time to spill a bunch of words, like kernels from a violently ruptured grain silo.

With this much music in a weekly roundup, I often default to mentally un-taxing organizational strategies like alphabetization. But not today. I made these choices because of connections, and organized them in the way they connected for me. You’ll get it or you won’t, but as always, I hope you find one or more things you’re really glad you found, in whatever order it comes. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VOID MOON

 Interviews  1 Response »
Aug 192024
 

(In June of this year Personal Records released a new album by the Swedish doom metal band Void Moon. Our Comrade Aleks became a fan of it, and that led to the following discussion between him and Void Moon‘s Peter Svensson. As you’ll see, it’s a very good conversation and goes off in lots of interestng directions.)

Peter Svensson (bass, guitar) is involved in about 15 projects and bands, playing both heavy and death metal. Not all of these formations are active, but it is worth keeping in mind the number. In a good half of these bands, he is accompanied by Marcus Rosenqvist (vocals, drums).

It is almost funny, but Marcus has been drumming in Void Moon since 2014, yet his talent as a vocalist was fully discovered only by the third album, The Autumn Throne (2020), so Dreams Inside the Sun is his second full-length as a frontman.

This time, the duo have prepared nine tracks, and I got the impression that this material is lighter and more melodic than what we heard on the previous work. And this is not just a guess: Peter officially stated that he does not want to repeat himself, and promised that the new album will be different, more powerful, and more positive.

Formally operating with the standard techniques of traditional doom metal, relying on dense riffs and a low tuning, Void Moon, without breaking the laws of the genre, take from it what positives they can, and equip Dreams Inside the Sun with a truly positive charge. They are not pioneers, because such bands existed before, but there are not many of them. I invite you to check out this interview with Peter. Continue reading »

GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, FEBRUARY 2023

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 072023
 


Nothingness

(Another month has closed its doors, and Gonzo takes another look through them, this time spotlighting five favored albums released during February 2023.)

I can’t be alone here in saying February is the most useless fucking month on the calendar. More often than not during that godforsaken stretch of time – in its cold, dreary misery – I’m finding myself constantly losing track of time, forgetting what day it is, and scrambling to fit four weeks’ worth of plans into what seems like two.

Priorities, I suppose – that’s what it all comes down to. I’ve managed to listen to an alarming amount of music already, and seeing that we’re only just over two months into 2023, that’s always time well-prioritized.

Here’s the new shit that’s been on my heavy rotation through the last 28 days.

Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 2): FURNACE, BLACK RABBIT, SLAUGHTERDAY

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  No Responses »
Jan 052021
 

 

Today I’m leaning into death metal with Part 2 of this list, beginning with two songs that juxtapose tested veterans with some precocious teenagers (at least they look like teenagers), and then following that by turning to music from a pair of Germans who’ve been playing death metal in various groups since the mid-’90s.

FURNACE

Rogga Johansson has been, and still is, involved in so many projects that you’d have to possess eidetic memory to recite the list. He continues to spawn new ones at an astonishing rate, while also continuing to punch out albums from some of his oldest bands as if they had access to a fountain of youth. It was thus a surprise that out of all the 2020 albums that had his name associated with it, perhaps the one that has drawn the most acclaim is the newest of them all. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FRIDAY: YATRA, FURNACE, REPUKED, HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY, OLD MOTHER HELL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Oct 092020
 

 

(NCS contributor Gonzo returns with another Friday round-up of new music, this time featuring recent tracks and videos by five bands from albums that are being released today, or will be forthcoming.)

I took a road trip down to Fayetteville, Arkansas, last week. Driving to the Deep South from my Colorado home is a study in culture shock, and not in a positive or constructive way. The entire length of Kansas is a desolate hellscape full of Trump flags and locals casting a weary gaze towards anyone wearing a mask in public. Missouri isn’t much better.

Fortunately, so much time in the car allowed for plenty of time to listen to all the new metal I’ve been meaning to get around to. It was also nice to roll down the windows and blast some of this shit at offensively high volumes in conservative rural towns. (It’s the little things.) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PUTERAEON, FURNACE, SEPULCHRE BY THE SEA, LOUD NIGHT, AVLIVAD, PARI’SYA, CRYPTAE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 222020
 

 

Like almost all the posts I wrote this past weekend, I put this one together in my head during a long listening session on Saturday. Since then more new songs have popped up, but I decided to stick with my original mental plan rather than have this thing turn into something even more intimidating to people who are already drowning in music.

I’ve already put the first four songs in this collection onto the list of candidates for my year-end series on Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. In different ways they rock, and they’re all very catchy. And then I decided to turn in other more ugly and unhinged directions.

PUTERAEON (Sweden)

I use the word “majestic” way too much in describing music, because I don’t spend enough time with a thesaurus. Usually it comes to mind when a band use soaring and sweeping melodies (other over-used words in my vocabulary) or create sensations of towering obsidian immensity, as often found in funeral death-doom. Neither of those qualities is present in Puteraeon’s new song (and video) “The Curse“, but the word “majestic” still came to mind. Continue reading »