OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 13): KORONAL, CYTOTOXIN, DESTROYED IN SECONDS

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  4 Responses »
Jan 282021
 

 

And now we have arrived at the lucky 13th Part of this list, which happens to demonstrate three different ways, out of a great multitude of ways, in which extreme music can be highly infectious — though it must be said that all three of these create the effect with some damned potent grooves (some more punishing than others). But the ability of the songs to vigorously apply a crowbar to the crest of your lizard-like head isn’t all that goes on here.

KORONAL

Over the course of a decade working on NCS I’ve developed a pretty good idea about the tastes (even as they have evolved) of our longest-running writers, along with my own of course. If I imagine them as a grouping of Venn diagrams, there are definite regions of intersection, and Poland’s Koronal happens to fall within one of those. Which is to say that all of us old-timers thoroughly enjoyed their 2020 album, A Gift of Consciousness. Continue reading »

KORONAL: “A GIFT OF CONSCIOUSNESS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 232020
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Polish band Koronal, which will be out on April 29th.)

It’s pretty common knowledge by now that we here at NCS Inc. tend to focus more on the underground, and underappreciated, bands and artists from the Metal scene.

That’s not to say we have anything against the bigger or more well-known names (heck, I’ve reviewed several of them myself over the last few weeks) but igenerally these bands, for the most part, don’t really need our coverage – in most cases they’ve already got the benefit of a label’s PR machinery and resources behind them, and even when they don’t you tend to find that they’ve already crossed a certain threshold, popularity-wise, which makes them essentially “too big to fail”.

It’s different for the smaller bands though, and it’s here where I/we generally feel like we can do the most good and make the most difference by introducing our readers to new bands, bands who they might not otherwise have stumbled across on their own, to them grow and establish their fanbase.

Over the years we’ve all developed particular favourites of our own – personally I’m still waiting for new stuff from Martriden, Sanzu, and Sunlight’s Bane, to name but a few – but I know I’m not the only one of us who has been looking forward to hearing more from Polish post-Meshuggah crew Koronal, whose superb second album is scheduled for release next week. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 3): ANOMALIE, KORONAL, OBLIVION, OUTRE-TOMBE, THUNDERCROW, U-FOES

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 072018
 


Anomalie – photo by Sunvemetal

 

We’ve thrown a gigaton of new music at you on this Friday, but the way I think about, why should we be the only ones who feel like we’re drowning in a sonic flood? The answer is, we shouldn’t. You should feel the same way.

And so here we have Part 3 of today’s gigantic round-up. The bands my NCS comrades and I decided to feature in Part 1 and Part 2 are among extreme metal’s better-known names. The ones I’ve included here (again presented in alphabetical order) are lesser-known, but worth more attention.

You might notice that this 3-part round-up is a bit light on black metal, but that’s only because I’ve pushed those selections a bit further down the road… until Sunday’s SHADES OF BLACK column.

ANOMALIE

We’ve devoted a fair share of attention to the previous releases by this Austrian band, including Andy Synn‘s devotion of one of his SYNN REPORTs to their discography last year and our premiere of a video for a song off their last album, Visions. Although that album was only released last year, Anomalie are back already with a new four-song EP named Integra. Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2016: KORONAL

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jul 202017
 

 

(Continuing his week-long series of interviews focusing on un-sung bands with stellar 2016 albums, Andy Synn today talks with guitarist Piotr Chmielecki of the Polish band Koronal.)

Fit to bursting with twanging, tensile riffs and gigantic, gigawatt grooves, Flicker Away, the debut album by this powerhouse Polish quintet, rapidly rocketed its way to the top of my “most listened to” list soon after I discovered it at the tail-end of 2016/start of 2017.

In fact I loved it so much that I was more than happy to state that I actually preferred it to the new Meshuggah album, The Violent Sleep of Reason… an opinion which I still stand by today!

But whether you’re onboard with that statement or not, I ‘m pretty certain that you’ll still agree when I say that Flicker Away was (and is) one heck of an album, and one which definitely deserved a lot more praise and attention than it actually received.

So, with that in mind, please give it up for Koronal! Continue reading »

AUSTIN WEBER ROUND-UP aka FOREVER PLAYING CATCH-UP (Pt 2)

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 272016
 

Arms art

 

(Austin Weber continues to pitch in on round-up duty with the second part of a multi-part post recommending metal we haven’t previously covered. You can find Part 1 here.)

Arms – Blackout

You ready to get down with some nasty math-grind? Because Arms bring it throughout every jagged and howling minute of their sophomore full-length, Blackout.

I have Ken Reda from Bhavachakra (previously covered in a song premiere here at NCS!)  to thank for tipping me off to this most excellent display of virulent rad viciousness! I think it’s additionally cool that the diverse and complex sonic whirlwind that Blackout delivers is the result of only one guy, Orlando, Florida-based musician/sound engineer Paul Hundeby. Continue reading »