MORE EVIL IN YOUR LIFE: NOCTURNE, ANATOMIA, BLATTARIA, THE NIGHTSTALKER AND SERCATI, DEGOTTEN, EUFOBIA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Oct 202017
 

 

As you can see, I decided to give the “SEEN AND HEARD” title a rest for today. After I picked these new songs and videos for an end-of-week round-up, it became clear they all had something in common. Even though the music is all very different, it all sounds… evil.

NOCTURNE

This Austrian melodic black metal band’s self-titled debut album (briefly reviewed here) proved their ability to create powerful, dramatic music that displayed considerable diversity. Now they’re returning with a new album named The Burning Silence (the cover art is above), which will be released by Talheim Records on December 16th. From that album, they’ve recently released “Hubris Virtue” as a digital single and a lyric video. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): DIVINE BLASPHEMY, NAÐRA, NOCTURNE

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  11 Responses »
Jan 182016
 

Divine Blasphemy-Beyond the Portal

 

Some weekends are a whirlwind, a flurry of unexpected events hitting from all points of the compass. Others are a soporific quagmire of sloth and malaise. Somehow, for me this weekend was an odd combination of the two. I rejoice that I’m still alive.

I also rejoice in the music I heard. And I heard so much good metal that I’m going to share it in two posts, the first of which is this one, which combines three album reviews. The music collected in this two-parter is mainly, but not entirely, black metal, so I’m taking slight liberties to anoint the two posts with the Shades of Black banner. Part Two will appear today or tomorrow.

DIVINE BLASPHEMY

Divine Blasphemy carry on the rich tradition of Greek black metal with their debut album Beyond the Portal. I heard the first song, and I felt elevated. “Where did these people come from?”, I wondered. And then I heard the rest of the album and realized that the first song was not a fluke. This is a wonderful ride on a red-eyed black steed — it tries to buck you off, but you hang on because the chaos is so exhilarating. Continue reading »