AN NCS ALBUM AND VIDEO PREMIERE: NONE — “ALIVE IN SAN JOSE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 072024
 

For those of you encountering None for the first time today, it began in 2015 as the solo musical project of Nicholas Mendiola from San José, California, now based in Los Angeles. The music is unconventional, and thus not easily pigeon-holed in genre terms. We can suggest that over time it has involved an alchemical interaction of black metal, neo-folk, industrial, and dark ambient ingredients, but for Nicholas “The Dark Gospel” is what he calls the music of None.

That term not only abjures explicit genre references, it also connects with None‘s conception of musical creation as a spiritual endeavor, as a never-ending search for the divine and an expression of its mystical presence both within ourselves as an animating force and external to us.

Last October None played their first hometown show in San José at The Caravan Lounge. There, Nicholas was joined in the representation of None by bassist and guitarist Nathan Nunes. They performed six songs, five of which were new and never-before heard. The show was recorded, and tomorrow (March 8th) it will be released as an album entitled Alive in San Jose. The show was also filmed, and today we’re premiering the video of None‘s live show, as well as the full album stream of the set. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NONE — “NEVER KNOW”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 182021
 

 

In the midst of all the metallic extremity that usually froths, blisters, and batters us around here, we have found NONE. It is musical extremity of a different kind, one in which neofolk and ambient ingredients play a more prominent role (along with many other elements, including influences from black metal and industrial), but no less arresting than the more ear-ruining assaults that are our usual bread and butter.

The mastermind behind NONE is the California-based artist Nicholas Mendiola, and on his new album Interdimensional War Poetry (released on June 4) he becomes the host and the voice for the entity that his project is named for — “the deity of his creation and the eternal version of himself”. The lyrics of the songs are evocative but mysterious. Sometimes they seem like a personal journal, tracing a quest through time and space, and often seeming to raise more questions than answers.

The music on the album itself sounds like a quest. It twists and turns in unpredictable directions, and its altering moods and changing sounds make it an easy one to get lost in, even though it’s also the kind of often-frightening experience that will trouble your dreams. We have a very good example of that effect in the song that’s the subject of the video we’re premiering today — “Never Know“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KHANDRA, BORGNE, ADUANTEN, RORCAL & EARTHFLESH, NONE, GHASTLY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 262021
 

 

As you can see, I had enough time to pull together a round-up of new tracks and videos today. It’s the first time I’ve managed to do this during the work-week in ages, usually having to wait until Saturdays before I can pull it off. As I meandered among things I was interested in checking out, the following six items began to cluster together in my head. Other things I enjoyed didn’t fit in this cluster, so I’ll leave them for tomorrow.

What caused these songs to coalesce in my thinking is because all of them seemed made of madness. For sure, they do have their distinctive thrills, but in varying ways they’re almost all a fracturing of sanity in sound.

KHANDRA (Belarus)

The first song I’ve chosen is the first single from a new album by this black metal band from Belarus, whose past music we’ve gratefully premiered and reviewed on two previous occasions. The name of the song gives you fair warning about what’s coming:  “Irrigating Lethal Acres with Blood“. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2018: A YEAR-END LIST FROM GRANT SKELTON

 LISTMANIA 2018  12 Responses »
Jan 032019
 

 

(We present a 2018 year-end list by NCS contributor Grant Skelton, which consists of 15 miserable, mutilating, and mesmerizing titles, not all of which are metal.)

Salutations fellow metalheads! My choices this year were a bit more of a mixed bag than in previous years. Per our usual MO here at No Clean Singing, I tried to focus on bands whose albums seemed to slip into the proverbial cracks. I hope you find something you like here, and by all means leave me recommendations in the comments. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NONE — “CORRODED”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Mar 072018
 

 

For those of us who live in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, the damp forests and snow-covered mountains are ever-present. Even when they’re not in the forefront of your mind, they loom in the distance. To be in the midst of them, particularly in the winter when mist and fog blur their hard lines and the cold eats into the skin, is both an awe-inspiring and a haunting experience… and a relief. In the midst of that communion you can think, “at least we haven’t fucked this up yet.”

Many musicians who’ve spent time in the PNW are drawn to capture such sensations, or they draw inspiration from them (though of course many are just as prone to make the kind of forgettable music you can hear on the radio any damned place). Some are more successful than others in channeling the gloom, the grandeur, and the isolation of these ancient places that are heedless of our own fleeting presence yet can lend us their strength, or pronounce their condemnation. The Oregon group NONE do that very, very well. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: FALLS OF RAUROS, KATAKOMB, STREAMS OF BLOOD, NONE, UERBEROS, PROJECT OMEGA

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Feb 192017
 

 

In this Sunday’s SHADES OF BLACK I’ve collected advance tracks from four albums plus two full recent releases, all of which I hope you’ll find are worth your time.

FALLS OF RAUROS

I’ve been immensely enjoying the new Falls of Rauros album, Vigilance Perennial, though berating myself for not yet collecting my thoughts in a review. With luck, I’ll get that done in the coming week. For now I’ll just offer a few words about the first advance track from the album, “White Granite“, which premiered at DECIBEL on Friday. Continue reading »