Feb 222024
 

As described by The Font of All Human Knowledge: “Homo homini lupus, or in its unabridged form Homo homini lupus est, is a Latin proverb meaning ‘A man is a wolf to another man,’ or more tersely ‘Man is wolf to man.’ It is used to refer to situations where a person has behaved comparably to a wolf. In this case, the wolf represents predatory, cruel, and generally inhuman qualities; in essence, the person is held to be uncivilized.”

The Italian black/death metal band Keres took that proverb as the name for their debut album which is due for release on February 23rd via Gruesome Records. It is, for them, a truth about the human condition that provokes disgust and rage. They define humanity as “the biggest plague on earth”:

“Over the centuries we killed each other for the most trivial reasons, hiding behind religion, political ideologies, false respectability and many other bullshit with the purpose of justifying what we have done and are still doing. But the truth is that our nature will always lead us to crave what we don’t have, bringing endless conflicts for this thirst of power, which will bring upon us our own demise. In the end, only ruins and dust of what we are will remain, this is our true legacy. We deserve extinction.”

Keres obviously don’t mince words. They don’t pull any punches in their music either, as you will discover for yourselves through our complete premiere stream of their new album today, on the eve of its release. Continue reading »

Jul 192017
 

 

I had a great weekend, thanks for asking. I devoted it to visits by out-of-town family and a two-day picnic, and NCS took a distant back seat, which is why there was no weekend round-up and no SHADES OF BLACK column. We avoided going dark only though the valiant efforts of Andy Synn and DGR.

Predictably, I now have a big list of new songs and videos to share around, too many for one post. We’ll start with offerings from five bands, and I’ll have at least one and probably two more round-ups this week. Might get one more done today, but maybe not. A meteor strike could decimate my home, the chime on a dryer could alert me that it’s time to get the clothes out, I might feel like chasing a passing car, the lorises might commence war games again. The crystal ball is cloudy.

KERES

The new Keres EP (released July 12th) is an exception to the (admittedly porous) rule in our site’s title, but it’s a slam-dunk exception: Justin Helvete’s voice is a truly remarkable instrument. And everything else about these three songs is also remarkable. Continue reading »

Jul 312013
 

By coincidence, I heard new music from three bands last night, right in a row, that had a few things in common: The music is all superb, and it’s all black as hell. I don’t mean to say it’s all black metal, though some of it is. I mean to say that it’s all dark, heavy, and harrowing.

ÆVANGELIST

Little more than a week has passed since I reviewed Ævangelist’s lengthy (and brilliant) contribution to a forthcoming split that will be released in the coming months by Aurora Australis Records. I also mentioned that the band had finished recording a new album, Omen Ex Simulacra, that will be released later this year by Debemur Morti. And lo and behold, yesterday Debemur Morti gave us a precise release date — October 11 — and premiered a song from the album named “Abysscape”. [Update: we also now have a preview of the album art by Andrzej Masianis, which you can see above.]  Interestingly, “Abysscape” is the last song on the album, though it’s the first one being released.

It’s another long one, though in the music of Ævangelist, time is an important ally. “Abysscape” is a dense, bottomless, indigo whirlpool of doom, made for immersion. Immense grinding guitars match up with immense, horrific vocals and stunning drumwork. Alien keyboard melodies call out like the cries of homeless souls. The ravaging music alternately storms and drifts. You look into the void, and “Abysscape” is there, looking back at you. Continue reading »