OUR LIST OF 2022’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 8): MESHUGGAH, SENSORY AMUSIA, TOMB OF FINLAND

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2022  No Responses »
Jan 112023
 

 

The theme of today’s installment of our 2022 Most Infectious Song list is:  THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES.

MESHUGGAH (Sweden)

I’m noticing, as you may have noticed, that I’m being influenced in my choices for this list by excellent videos. That happened again in my selection of Meshuggah‘s song “Broken Cog” from their massive (and massively long) 2022 album Immutable.

Well, you might say, “The Abysmal Eye” had a hell of a video too, and that song is a more prototypical riff-driven ‘banger than the doomier and more atmospheric “Broken Cog” (to borrow some phrases from Andy Synn‘s nuanced review of Immutable, so I guess I ought to add a little more explanation. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jun 092022
 

(Andy Synn offers up four more recommendations of albums you may have overlooked last month)

Boy howdy, did we ever miss a lot of stuff last month.

But, then, you could say that about every month really, as I’ve come to accept (after many, many years in denial) that it’s impossible for us (that’s the royal “us”) to catch and cover everything that’s released.

Accepting this fact, however, has definitely helped me to relax a little bit, as while I still feel a smidgen of guilt that I’m/we’re not covering more bands (or, at least, more underground bands, because, let’s face it, the big dogs don’t need our help or attention quite so much) I’m more at ease with the fact that whoever we do end up writing about will definitely/maybe/probably/hopefully benefit from it.

And, if worst comes to worst, there’s always my annual series of year-end round-ups to help bring attention to some of the more unsung artists and albums.

Speaking of… here are four albums from May that you might just have overlooked (but really shouldn’t).

Continue reading »

2020 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): EPs

 LISTMANIA 2020  35 Responses »
Dec 042020
 

 

(The time has come for us to again launch the rollout of year-end lists by NCS writers and guests, and as always we begin with Andy Synn‘s lists. As has usually been the case, Andy begins with his personal list of the year’s best EPs. We’ll continue with his other year-end lists every day next week.)

Well, here we are again.

Next week I’ll once again be rolling our my yearly round-ups of the “Great”, Good”, and “Disappointing” albums which I’ve heard this year, culminating, as always, in my attempt to narrow down these literal hundreds of entries into ten “Critical” selections and ten “Personal” favourites.

But, first of all, I want to give a shout-out to the many, many, fantastic, fascinating, sometimes frustrating, EPs which I’ve heard over the course of the last twelve-ish months.

This isn’t, obviously, intended to be in any way comprehensive (I never got round to listening to the new Carcass, for example, and I’m still digesting both the new Nexul and Descend to Acheron EPs),  nor is it a definitive statement about which EPs are the year’s “best” (though some of them definitely are) but my hope is you’ll all discover something new in what you’re about to read.

So, with all that out of the way, let’s get started, shall we? Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SENSORY AMUSIA — “BEREAVEMENT”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 202020
 

 

Friends, Romans, countrymen (and everyone else out there), lend us your ears… for a bit more than 17 minutes. That is how long it will take for Sensory Amusia (who hail from Perth rather than Rome) to run you through the gauntlet of their new EP, Bereavement. That title may suggest a doom-y, tear-stained experience, but the only tears to be shed will be from those who manage to survive this death metal meat-threshing machine.

A dismal guitar arpeggio backed by the sounds of a drenching and thunder-cracked storm begins to set the mood before the real storm breaks in the EP’s introductory track — a storm of blasting drums, rapidly raking riffage, and mercilessly pulverizing groove. And what comes next are four tracks of death metal chaos interwoven with influences of tech-death, hardcore, and grind. It’s our sadistic pleasure to present a full stream of the EP now, on the day of its release by Lacerated Enemy Records. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 58: DOMINIA, GOD EAT GOD, SENSORY AMUSIA

 Calendar, MISCELLANY  5 Responses »
Sep 242013
 

For newcomers to this series, here’s how the MISCELLANY game works:  I impulsively pick bands whose music I’ve never heard (usually bands whose names I’ve never heard either), I listen to one recent track from each of them (though sometimes I cheat and listen to more than one), I write my impressions, and I stream the music so you can judge for yourselves. In this installment I explored the music of Dominia (Russia), God Eat God (UK/Russia), and Sensory Amusia (Australia).

DOMINIA

Over the weekend I posted a teaser clip for the forthcoming third album by UK-based Eye of Solitude, an album I’m eager to hear. I mentioned that the album will include guest contributions by violinist Casper and vocalist Anton Rosa from the Russian band Dominia. I wasn’t familiar with Dominia, but yesterday I received a message from an NCS supporter who I’ll call JcDA encouraging me to check them out. So I went exploring.

Dominia’s last album was Judgement of Tormented Souls, released in 2008, but they’ve recorded a new one entitled Theophania. Last month they released a two-song single that includes one track destined for the new album (“Death Only”) and a live recording of another song recorded earlier in the band’s career (“Cellar Door”). The single can be acquired on Bandcamp via this link. I listened to both songs.

Continue reading »