SHADES OF BLACK: PRISON OF MIRRORS, ERZ, MOTLJUS, LEBENSSUCHT

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 142025
 

(written by Islander)

When you live with another person during “cold and flu season” there’s always the risk that one of you will get sick and then sicken the other a few days later. However, my wife and I gradually began getting sick at the same time last week and yesterday we both simultaneously had full-blown colds.

We’ve tried to figure out who we were both around outside the house when we got infected earlier this week (we’d hate to murder the wrong person). It was probably when we went to our local sports bar for drinks and dinner, but we know lots of regulars there plus the waitstaff, and we don’t remember anyone sounding sick so it’s tough to pin down the culprit. I suppose we could resort to the maxim attributed to Arnaud Amaury during the Battle of Béziers in 1209, but we’re both atheists so the faith-based solution doesn’t seem right. Oh well, guilty people often escape retribution. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LEBENSSUCHT – “A HOLE IN MY HEART”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Aug 272020
 

 

(Andy Synn prepared the following introduction for our premiere of a video by the multinational band Lebenssucht for a song from their 2020 debut album.)

Is there any greater joy than discovering a band early on in their career and then following them as they grow, develop, and evolve into something truly special?

I suppose some people might say parenthood but… those people are wrong.

Case in point, we first came across the bleak malevolence of multinational Black Metal coven Lebenssucht way back in 2016, and even ended up hosting a premiere for their first video, “Beloved Depression”, not long after.

In April this year the band released their debut album, -273,15°C, which built upon the potential demonstrated on their EP by going even deeper, darker, and bleaker than ever, and today we’re once again pleased to host another video premiere for the group, this time for the record’s sinister second track, “A Hole In My Heart”. Continue reading »

 LEBENSSUCHT: “-237,15°C”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 092020
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the anxiously awaited debut album by the German/Austrian/Belgian band Lebenssucht, which was released on April 7th through Thanatoskult.)

I don’t have kids (nor do I want them) but I have to imagine that the feeling I get watching certain bands develop is the same one which a proud parent must get when watching their child first learn to walk, or talk… or give up their dreams and settle into a life of soul-crushing drudgery.

Ok, maybe it’s not exactly the same, but it’s definitely rewarding to see bands you’re invested in, particularly ones you’ve been following since their very beginning, living up to their potential.

Case in point, multinational Black Metal collective Lebenssucht, who I/we have been following at NCS since their debut EP, Fucking my Knife, have finally released their first full-length album this week, and it’s one hell of a ride. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: BALMOG, IRAE, SØRGELIG, LEBENSSUCHT, SYMBIOTIC GROWTH

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Mar 292020
 

 

After all the listening and writing I’ve done this weekend, honestly I’m out of gas. So let’s just go right to it….

BALMOG

We begin with a track that roams far and wide over its significant length. In the band’s own words, “18 minutes of oppression and mysticism”, but there’s more than that. The music is eerie and crushing, dissonant and disturbed, wailing and delirious, vicious and violent, spectral and sepulchral, swaggering and priapic, bombastic and bruising, grand and glorious — and also home to some head-hooking riffs and spectacular soloing. The vocals are wide-ranging as well, more often than not frighteningly insane, but also spine-tingling when they soar. In its cadences, it stomps, rocks, races, crawls, and drifts away into a rhythm-less ether. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LEBENSSUCHT — “BELOVED DEPRESSION”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Nov 112016
 

lebenssucht-live

 

Lebenssucht are a multinational black metal band whose members are spread among Bulgaria, Germany, and Belgium. This past summer they released a debut EP named Fucking My Knife, and today we’re helping to premiere an official video for the EP’s opening track, “Beloved Depression“.

The song is intense, and so is the video. And be careful who’s looking over your shoulder when you watch it. It depicts a woman in the throes of despair and delirium, self-mutilating and soaked in her own blood… and acting out the title of the band’s EP. So yes, NSFW. Continue reading »