OUR LIST OF 2022’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 2): IMMOLATION, KONVENT, MANTAR

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2022  No Responses »
Jan 032023
 

In my mind it was a foregone conclusion that this list would include something off the 2022 albums by these three bands. Picking just one track from each of them was a bigger challenge — and yes, my self-made and self-imposed rule for this list is that it will include only one song by any one band, hard as it might be to pick just one.

Why I decided to put the following three songs together in one segment of the list, I’m not 100% sure, but it may have had something to do with the fact that all three songs were first presented with three excellent videos.

IMMOLATION (U.S.)

I think I could have written a track list for Acts of God, taped it to the wall, closed my eyes, and thrown a dart at it, and wherever the dart struck on the track list would have made a fine choice for one of 2022’s most infectious songs. Not wanting to further disfigure any walls, or more likely to hit something a few feet away from the target, I tried to approach the task a little more rationally, but impulse won out anyway. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KONVENT

 Interviews  No Responses »
Mar 082022
 


photo by Sebastian Apel

(The Danish quartet Konvent have a new album named Call Down the Sun that’s set for release by Napalm Records on March 11th, and so the timing is good for us to present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the band’s bassist Heidi Withington Brink.)

Danish Konvent managed to shock the public in January 2020, when Napalm loudly presented the band’s first album Puritan Masochism. Being one of the very few death-doom bands with only ladies in the line-up, Konvent drew attention with their tense, powerful delivery and the absolutely infernal growls of Rikke Emilie List.

The pandemic interrupted their glorious take-off, and another band might have given up in such a situation but not Konvent. You probably saw their videos for the new songs ‘Grains’ and ‘Pipe Dreams’, and of course you know that Napalm announced that the second Konvent album Call Down the Sun is to be released on the 11th of March. And as that date fast approaches here we have a talk with the band’s bass-player Heidi Withington Brink. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KILLING JOKE, VANUM, MIDNIGHT, KONVENT, INCANDESCENCE, HELPLESS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 102022
 

 

The new music keeps coming in a flood. So what else is new? Well, these six songs and videos are new, and I’d like to recommend them. With a bit of luck I’ll have time to recommend more tomorrow.

KILLING JOKE (UK)

Lord of Chaos is a new Killing Joke EP. Recorded by the original line-up, it’s their first new music in seven years. It includes two brand new recordings, plus two re-workings of songs from the band’s last studio album, 2015’s Pylon. The new songs are described as tracks that “set the tone for the band’s next studio album, currently being worked on in Prague”. The re-worked older songs are titled “Big Buzz” (Motorcade Mix) and “Delete In Dub” (Youth’s Disco 45 Dystopian Dub). Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jan 172022
 

 

As explained yesterday in Part 1 of this immense round-up, I made an initial cull of 23 songs and videos, most of which surfaced during the last week. I had intended to sift through those more carefully to reach a more manageable number, but due to lack of time I decided to just throw the whole boiling mass at your face. And I actually added another track last night to make the total an even two dozen.

I alphabetized the list by band name and then cut the mass in half, which might have made it a little easier on your senses and your time; we begin today with the letter “I”. Unlike most of my round-ups I also didn’t have time to include the usual links, artwork, or much commentary — mainly just small bits of info about the releases. Continue reading »

DEATH METAL DISCOVERIES: AFTERBIRTH / APEP / CLIENTS / KONVENT / PESTIFER / PURNAMA

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Mar 192020
 


Afterbirth

 

(In this post Andy Synn provides reviews of six recent albums, all of them leaning in different deathly directions.)

As a companion piece to last week’s Black Metal Bonanza, and a follow-up to Monday’s Death Metal focussed “Short But Sweet” article, here’s a bunch of Death Metal artists/albums to help keep you all sane during these unsettled times. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KONVENT

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Feb 072020
 

 

(Our Russian friend Comrade Aleks caught up with a rising star within the Napalm Records roster, and co-produced this engaging interview with Heidi Withington Brink, bassist of the Danish band Konvent, whose debut album was released by Napalm Records late last month.)

The modern death-doom scene is overcrowded with a host of bands – both old and new. Sometimes it’s hard to find something different, but you’ll remember Konvent for sure.

Formed in Copenhagen back in 2015, this all-ladies band provides thick, powerful stuff with inhuman growling vocals and a low vibe. They aren’t that brutal, like Derketa for example, but they’re remarkably heavy and depressive.

Konvent’s debut full-length Puritan Masochism was released by Napalm Records on January 24th, and with the help of Mona Miluski we’ve caught the band right in the middle of their tour. Heidi Withington Brink (bass) provided comprehensive answers to all our questions despite the stirring life of spreading death and doom over Europe. Continue reading »