SEEN AND HEARD: AMORPHIS, YOB, GRAVE SUPERIOR, ZARRAZA, INTERNAL SUFFERING (AND MORE)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 252018
 


photo credit: Lars Johnson

 

For this mid-week round-up I was again up to my eye-brows in worthy new music to choose from. I decided to do something a little different from usual, combining the formats of these SEEN AND HEARD collections and the occasional OVERFLOWING STREAMS columns. In other words, I’ll begin with some new songs and videos that I’ve introduced with my own descriptive verbiage (beginning with a couple of “exceptions to the rule”), and then followed that with a few more music streams that will somehow have to represent themselves through sound alone, difficult as that may be to imagine. (I also intend to present a rare week-day edition of SHADES OF BLACK later today or tomorrow in order to foist some more recent music on you.)

By the way, did you see that on July 6 Nuclear Blast will be releasing the first new Immortal album (Northern Chaos Gods) since All Shall Fall? It’s just Demonaz and Horgh, of course, but with Peter Tägtgren as session bassist. Even without Abbath in the line-up, I’m kind of excited.

AMORPHIS

I was also kind of excited about the prospect of a new Amorphis album when I first learned of it. That band has been the source of many joyous moments for yours truly in the past, and they put on a hell of an exciting show the only time I’ve seen them live (at Maryland Deathfest). Of course they and I have evolved to the point where their music isn’t as “extreme” as most of what I listen to these days, but when they’re on their game, even in these later days they still produce a thrill. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: INTERNAL SUFFERING — “CYCLONIC VOID OF POWER”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 242016
 

PAGES.indd

 

Internal Suffering is a name well-known to fans of technically proficient yet brutal death metal. In a career that reaches back into the late 1990s and included a move from the band’s home in Pereira, Columbia, to Madrid, Spain, Internal Suffering has released five albums — and the fifth one, Cyclonic Void of Power, is out today via Unique Leader Records. We’re giving you the chance to stream all 10 tracks right now.

It’s worth mentioning that Cyclonic Void Of Power was recorded by Stefano Morabito (Eyeconoclast, ex-Hour Of Penance) at his 16th Cellar Studios in Rome, where scathing onslaughts by such bands as FleshGod Apocalypse, Hour Of Penance, and Hideous Divinity were also captured, and that this new work is a concept album divided into three chapters, again exploring the mad, mystical universe the band has used as their music’s setting in previous releases. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CEREBRIC TURMOIL, BEATEN TO DEATH, INTERNAL SUFFERING, HELPLESS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Aug 272015
 

Cerebric Turmoil cover

 

(Austin Weber steps up for round-up duty, with new music from four bands.)

While we already shove enough music down your throat on a daily basis to have your anus crying musical notes for a year, I figured I might as well present some more killer metal to up the rectal/ear discomfort of our readers. Below you’ll find a smattering of new songs by groups about to release new material, as well as a heads-up about a new release worth investing time in. A feast for the fetid-minded awaits you. In either a pleasant or unpleasant way. Your choice.

CEREBRIC TURMOIL

Oftentimes promising metal bands I’ve been interested in have sadly bitten the dust before they were able to release a proper album or EP. So often, all we have in memoriam is a brief demo or split material. For a number of years now, it’s looked like that very fate might befall German death metal band Cerebric Turmoil. After a 2006 demo, the band started off at a very high level, releasing a split album with none other then Defeated Sanity, which should give you an idea of their sound and also the quality of their music. In fact, at one point, the band actually had Defeated Sanity’s bass player in their ranks, and they also had famed oddball guitarist Fountainhead (now in Obscura) in their line-up at one point too.

After releasing their split with Defeated Sanity in 2008, the band broke up that same year. And while they re-formed in 2010, a full-length statement was nowhere in sight. Only now in 2015 are the band on the cusp of releasing their very promising debut, Neural Net Meltdown (on November 13th) through Amputated Vein Records. They just released the first song from it called “Grotesque Dreaming”, which I’ve embedded below for you to jam. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: INTERNAL SUFFERING — “CYCLONIC VOID OF POWER”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Jul 272015
 

Internal SUffering 2014

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of the title track to a forthcoming album by the mighty Internal Suffering.)

It’s been nine grueling years of waiting for a new Internal Suffering record, but finally all the pieces are in place for a fall/winter release of their new full-length, Cyclonic Void Of Power, through Unique Leader Records. Some of you may remember the lyric/song video premiere for “Vanished From Cosmos” that we presented last year here at NCS, which was the first glimpse of this ravenous release and triumphant return by the band. And now we have a second song/lyric video to bring your ears and eyes: “Cyclonic Void Of Power”, the decimating title-track from the new record.

While it’s not the most important thing to say about this band or this new song, it’s worth recognizing that they were so far ahead of their time that even now their unique brand of  brutal, technical death metal as captured well more than a decade ago sounds modern, and just as face-melting in all its twisted glory. As far as hyper-blasting, brutally minded metal bands with a hint of slam go, they are in a sense the grandfather of the current crop of bands playing in these styles. If you’re interested in death metal that’s a full-throttle stampede, and also somehow memorable along the way, then draw near to your speakers and prepare to headbang. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: INTERNAL SUFFERING — “VANISHED FROM COSMOS”

 Premieres  10 Responses »
Aug 142014
 

(Austin Weber brings us the following introduction to our premiere of a lyric video for the first new music from Internal Suffering in eight years.)

Like all genres (and subgenres) of metal, death metal has an abundance of “classic” albums and legendary bands, many of which still remain unheard of by current fans of the genre. The advent of the internet has helped bring many of these killer underappreciated bands to light. Internal Suffering are exactly this kind of band, head and shoulders above most; and, thankfully, the internet has helped spread their name around massively.

The band was started way back in 1996 when they were based in Columbia, though they have since relocated a few times and are now operating out of Madrid, Spain. In 2006, with several eye-popping releases under their belt, Unique Leader signed them and they released a bestial masterpiece entitled, Awakening Of The Rebel, an album that still sounds years ahead of its time. As a result of the group going on hiatus from 2007-2011, Awakening Of The Rebel turned out to be their last recorded material — until now. It’s been 8 long years of waiting for dedicated fans, a torment of fervent awaiting for their next feverish torrent of torment.

Now we are proud to premiere a new lyric video containing a pre-production version of “Vanished From Cosmos” off their next record. This pre-production track perfectly captures the explosiveness and energy of death metal with an appropriately evil flair that at times comes across like Cryptopsy. With “Vanished From Cosmos”, Internal Suffering have taken their blastbeat-barrage-meets-finger-cramping-riff style into a higher strata of ravenous existence. Meanwhile the lyrical side of their equation continues to revolve around Thelema, Magick, and Ctulthu-esque demon beings.  Continue reading »

ANNIVERSARY REVIEWS BY WILLIAM SMITH: THE CLASS OF 2004

 LISTMANIA 2013  2 Responses »
Jan 072014
 

EDITOR’S NOTE:  William Smith is the vocalist for a Long Island band named Artificial Brain who we’ve written about repeatedly — and who have been signed by Profound Lore for the release of their debut album Labyrinth Constellation on Feb 18 [details here]. He also writes a very entertaining blog named Vitos Squid Stop and Death Metal Museum. For the third year in a row, as part of our annual LISTMANIA series, he has given us a 2-part list of “anniversary” albums — five albums recorded 10 years and 20 years earlier, respectively. This is the second part, discussing death metal gems that appeared in 2004. You can find Part 1 (class of 1994) here.

CLASS OF 2004 (10 year anniversary)

Fermento – (Spain) “Insignia” (Voliac Rock Productions)

A bombastic and unrelenting album whose production could be described as “clunky” and “overdriven”, this fairly obscure diehard brutolitarian entity could be the truth for those underground warriors who seek Death Metal salvation.  Sounding like the missing link between Obscura-era Gorguts, Incantation, and Internal Suffering, with a testosterone-charged war obsession, this is arguably the most intensely butch recording I own. Continue reading »