SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: CONAN, GREY AURA, SEPULCHRAL CURSE, NITE, DEATH OBVIOUS, ABRAXAS HORN (AND MORE)

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 252025
 

(written by Islander)

In the early part of this month, as the old year moved into the new, the volume of new album announcements and new songs subsided. For people like those of us at NCS, things got kind of slow and comfortable.

Well, of course that turned out to be comparable to a “negative storm surge,” a phenomenon in which waves recede before a typhoon strikes, the water being pulled away from the coast by the storm’s low pressure system before the ocean comes rushing back when the typhoon strikes in full force.

Which is what is now happening in the music we pay attention to. Everything is in full force, and I’m drowning in new music. I know it gets repetitive and possibly mind-numbing when I share the count, but I’ve got more than 60 open tabs on my computer, each one linked to a song that came out just this past week which I was curious to check out in planning today’s column, on top of a lot more from last week.

Obviously, I didn’t listen to all of them. Obviously, I wouldn’t have liked all of them if I had. I liked the ones below that I did get to. How did I get to them within that great mass of tabs? I admit I gravitated to bands I’ve liked in the past — though I did take a few shots in the dark that also paid off. And I decided to add some music at the end without commentary (due to vanishing time).

P.S. In the early evening I’m going to an annual party in Seattle across the water from my home. I’m sure that if I make it back home, it won’t be until close to 2 am. I’m also sure I won’t make any effort to wake up before noon on Sunday, and will be woozy when I do. So, don’t expect a SHADES OF BLACK column this weekend (I won’t have enough time to pull it together before leaving home this afternoon). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NITE — “THE TRIDENT”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 192023
 

On their most recent album Voices of the Kronian Moon (released in March of last year by Season of Mist), the Bay Area band Nite found a rare sweet spot — often summed up by reviewers as an intersection of glorious NWoBHM riffs and leads and the venom of blackened vocals, though the heavy metal stylings woven through the songs in fact extended beyond those trad-metal references.

With a line-up featuring members of Dawnbringer, High Spirits, Satan’s Wrath, Wild Hunt, and Serpents of Dawn, perhaps it wasn’t a shock that the songs were so well-written and performed with such genuine spirit and feeling, yet the album still excelled in ways people might not have expected, and it certainly provided a big and bracing step forward from the band’s (also excellent) debut full-length, Darkness Silence Mirror Flame.

We would guess the odds are high that most visitors to our site are already quite familiar with Nite and Voices of the Kronian Moon, but some folks (whether frequent visitors or newcomers) may still not have tumbled to its manifold allures. And so today we have a great reminder, an official video for “The Trident“, the album’s hard-rocking closer. And even those of you who already know the album and the song well are in for a treat. 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 »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2): MASS WORSHIP, KHEMMIS, NITE, ORANSSI PAZUZU, ORPHANS OF DOOM, PANZERFAUST, REVULSION, SECRETS OF THE MOON, SICARIUS, TEMPLE OF VOID, WEREWOLVES

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 142020
 

 

Many of us here in the U.S., as elsewhere, are essentially stuck at home. We’re supposed to stay away from our fellow human beings, and there’s not much to do away from home anyway. Fortunately, the virus hasn’t infected the internet so I can still eject new songs and videos at your head, which I’ve been doing at great volume today — a dozen of them in Part 1 of this post (here), and almost another dozen in this one. I mean, what the hell else do you have to do?

Once again, everything is organized in alphabetical order by band name, picking up from the items in Part 1, and I’ve again truncated my usual commentary.

MASS WORSHIP (Sweden)

Get seduced by the dual-guitar intro, stay for the jackhammering of your neck and the vocal scorching of your face… a bitter and battering experience. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: ABYSMAL DAWN, BONES, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, IGORRR, IKU-TURSO, INCEPTION OF FALL, NITE, NYREDOLK, SYMBOLIK, TYRANT OF DEATH, VELNIAS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 272020
 

 

Once gain I’m resorting to the round-up format I use when I’ve run out of time to provide my own scintillating commentary about each of the new songs and videos I’ve chosen to throw your way. For the most part, you’ll just have to listen and then imagine how eloquent and evocative I would have been.

In compiling today’s large selection, which is presented in alphabetical order, I had assistance from my colleague DGR. In fact, he recommended six of the 11 items you’ll find here.

 

ABYSMAL DAWN

This new Abysmal Dawn track, “The Path Of The Totalitarian“, is the second single from the band’s new album Phylogenesis, out April 17th on Season Of Mist. Continue reading »