OUR LIST OF 2024’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 15): KANONENFIEBER, BLOODCROSS, DARKENED

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2024  No Responses »
Jan 222025
 

(written by Islander)

Continuing on with my plan to group songs in most of the remaining installments of this list in ways that make sense to me, today’s Part 15 includes three tracks from three very good 2024 albums that are highly propulsive, and all of them would fit into my weekly SHADES OF BLACK column, even though the last band is usually classified as death metal.

Also, all three album covers gives places of prominence to… skeletons.

The albums that house these songs are also records from which I easily could have picked different tracks for the list, which is one reason (among others) why they were so good. So I won’t be surprised if any of you would have made other picks; on a different day, I might have too.

To explore the songs in the previous 14 Parts of the list, use this link. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY (15 BANDS, 16 SONGS)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 212024
 

(written by Islander)

Yesterday morning my fellow NCS slave DGR sent me the names of 11 bands whose new songs he thought would make good fodder for this Saturday roundup. That was on top of more than a dozen new songs and videos I had on my own list. What to do?

Putting two dozen new tracks into this roundup seemed excessive, if not for you then certainly for me. That’s just way too much work. I thought about just embedding all the streams, without any further info or my own priceless commentary. I even thought about asking someone who’s on Spotify (which I am not) to make a playlist of all the songs and sticking that in here, which would have been an even lazier strategem.

I figured out a solution. It’s not a great solution, just a compromise, and like all compromises it leaves the contending parties unhappy (the contending parties here being two argumentative parts of my brain).

The songs below are alphabetized by the name of the band that made them — another lazy strategem, but one that has resulted in some amusing and interesting contrasts and complements. Nostalgia had something to do with some of these picks (that will be obvious when you come to them). This collection also includes more than a few exceptions to our “rule” about vocals and some curveballs that dive outside our usual strike-zone (sometimes at the same time). Continue reading »

KANONENFIEBER – DIE URKATASTROPHE

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 102024
 

(Andy Synn goes back to the front with the new album from German fusiliers Kanonenfieber)

War… war never changes.

And neither, in some ways, do Kanonenfieber, whose long-awaited and highly-anticipated second album, Die Urktatastrophie (transl. “The Original/Primal Catastrophe”) comes out next week (September 20, to be exact).

And yet… and yet… those of us who’ve been marching alongside the band over the years, slogging through the mud and blood of Menschenmühle (2021), then going on to join the Yankee Division to fight against Der Füsilier (2022), only to find ourselves staring deep into the abyss as a U​-​Bootsmann (2023), will know from experience that although the band (strictly speaking a solo project, I know) may not have changed, their tactics have definitely, albeit subtly, evolved with each new engagement.

In particular, there’s been a slow but steady shift in focus to incorporate more of Death Metal’s riff-centric heft and rhythmic hookiness with each and every release, with the result being that the group’s career has, up to a point at least, followed a similar arc to their Dutch cousins (and similar WWI scholars) God Dethroned.

But whereas the latter’s most recent album ended up falling a little (or, more accurately, a lot) short of achieving its objectives, the anti-war anthems of Die Urkatastrophe have no such problems hitting their target.

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: ORANSSI PAZUZU, DEFACEMENT, KANONENFIEBER, CONSUMPTION, GASKET

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jun 012024
 


Oranssi Pazuzu – photo by Rainer Paananen

Look at this, a true rarity: two NCS posts on a Saturday. If you haven’t yet read the first one, Andy‘s Synn Report for the merry month of May, you should do that (here) and then come back for what follows below.

If you had only listened to three new songs this past week it would be easy to choose what to recommend and to explain why. You’d pick three, two, or one of them. Or maybe you’d just keep quiet if they left you lifeless.

But what if you had listened to 20 new songs? How would you choose among then? Maybe you would listen to all 20 several times and then start ranking them. By the time you’d narrowed it down, the day would be gone. Which is why I didn’t do any of that with the 20 new songs I wanted to hear for purposes of this roundup.

What I did instead was to focus on singles from a few bands who have already proved themselves dependable (there were other such bands on that list of 20, so mood and impulse played a role too), and then took one chance on a newcomer to these ears. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: KANONENFIEBER, INFERI, SÂVER, HARMAGEDON, BLEMISH, HERZOG, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT

 Album Reviews, Metal News, Movie Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Oct 212023
 

It’s that time of year again, when my wife and I argue about whether to get tooth-rotting treats for potential visitors on Halloween night. Her argument: We haven’t seen a trick-or-treater at our house in 20 years. My argument: But it could happen, and wouldn’t we be embarrassed having to offer something like licking peanut butter from a spoon?

Rather than let the arguments drag on I used to buy tooth-rotters on the sly and hide them, just in case. But she’d always find them and then I’d catch hell for being a moron. I guess I’ll just keep the spoon and peanut butter handy. Maybe two spoons so I can eat some first to prove it’s not poisoned.

Well, enough about familial contention. Here’s some contentious music for your Saturday. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2022’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 3): KANONENFIEBER, VIDRES A LA SANG, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2022  1 Response »
Jan 042023
 

 

Welcome to Part 3. Like yesterday, I was influenced to put these three songs together because of the videos that were paired with them, and because all three are shades of black metal.

KANONENFIEBER (Germany)

Kanonenfieber had a productive year, following up quickly on the brilliance of the band’s 2021 debut album Menschenmühle. Last year they brought forth two EPs, Yankee Division and Der Fusilier, and both of those included songs I put on my list of candidates for this list as soon as I heard them. But it was the standalone single “Stop the War” which won out.

I confess that the subject matter and the video tipped the scales. If there had been no video and I hadn’t known why the song was written I probably would have chosen “Der Fusilier I“, or at least it would have been a harder choice. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: KANONENFIEBER, SKÁLA

 SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Oct 162022
 

Have you had your daily dose of whining and excuse-making? If not, I can remedy that, free of charge.

I went to a baseball playoff game in Seattle last night, except it unexpectedly turned into two games in one, lasting 18 innings. Arriving at the ballpark at 11:30 a.m., my spouse and I left at 7:30 p.m., hungry and tired and not feeling great about the 1-0 loss our team ultimately suffered. So we stayed in Seattle to eat and drink, and after a dreary ferry trip we didn’t make it back to the NCS island HQ until late.

This morning, which started late, I spent a lot more time going through about 400 previously un-read e-mails lodged in the NCS in-box than I did listening to anything. But although the day is now rapidly getting away from me, and my day job is now intruding, I wanted to do something so I wouldn’t pass through yet another Sunday with no Shades of Black. It’s not a lot, obviously, and I made the choices hurriedly (before getting immersed in historical research), but I think you’ll still be well-pleased, even if not thoroughly sated. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KANONENFIEBER, NOVICHOKE , SERPENTENT, LUMINOUS VAULT, NECRONIUM, BLOODHUNTER, THE VISION ABLAZE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 242022
 

 

High intensity is the hallmark of all the new songs and videos I’ve collected in this round-up, even in the one song I’ve included that’s not like any of the others.

KANONENFIEBER (Germany)

The real-world footage compiled in the video for Kanonenfieber‘s new song “Stop the War” is so powerful that it could be accompanied by a child singing a nursery rhyme and it would still be moving. But the song is every bit as powerful as the imagery. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KANONENFIEBER, OCEAN OF ENTROPY, PYREXIA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 272022
 

(Andy Synn takes over SEEN AND HEARD to present a trio of tracks you should pay attention to.)

Sadly Islander has, as is not uncommon, been swamped by the pressures of his day job (being a world-class rocket-sled racer is a high pressure career after all) so it has fallen to me to pull something together for the end of the day.

Thankfully I had two of these recommendations already waiting in the chamber, with the third making an appearance as I was writing it, so there’s still more than enough metallic goodness to go around, even if this particular edition of “Seen and Heard” is a little more abbreviated than normal.

So, without further ado…

Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2021’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 8): GOJIRA, PAN AMERIKAN NATIVE FRONT, KANONENFIEBER

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2021  4 Responses »
Jan 142022
 

Welcome to the eighth installment of this expanding list. You’ll find the preceding Parts (and an explanation of what this list is all about) through THIS LINK.

This trio of tracks may seem a bit odd, since it includes something from a band whose name is known by throngs across the globe and then two tracks by bands who are probably known to the average NCS visitor but whose profiles are ant-like in comparison to that of the opening band. In my own addled head, what unites these songs is that all three furnish riveting dramatic intensity, and of course they’re all damned memorable.

GOJIRA (France)

It may surprise some of you to know that we used to write about Gojira a lot. It may also surprise you to learn that the most popular post in the history of this site, based on its 32,074 page views (at last count), is one entitled “Why Gojira is the Best Metal Band in the World“, which was written in August 2010 by one of the people who started NCS with me (but fairly quickly lost interest). As a sign of his devotion, his body sports tattoos of imagery from the Gojira song “Vacuity”. Continue reading »

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