SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: THE TROOPS OF DOOM, SOL DE SANGRE, WEREWOLVES, COLDCELL, NIHILO, LACABRA, KYBALION, BALWEZO WESTIJIZ, KŌYA, WHARFLURCH, AMORPHIS

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
May 182024
 


Troops of Doom – photo by Cissa Flores

I wasn’t able to serve up a Saturday roundup last weekend due to working on Seattle’s Northwest Terror Fest, and it’s highly unlikely I’ll get one done next Saturday since I’ll be at Maryland Deathfest (if you’re there and spot someone who looks like a heavily tatted escapee from a nursing home, come say hi). So that makes this one kind of important, if only for me.

There’s gobs of new music to choose from, many more gobs than usual since I missed a week. And by the way, I’m using “gob” here as a word meaning “a large amount” and not its other meaning, i.e., “a lump or clot of a slimy or viscous substance”, though I have included a song off an album named Shittier/Slimier.

Ready, set, go! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: SOL DE SANGRE, OF WOLVES, CEREBRAL ROT, HIRSI, THE CROOKED WHISPERS, SVNEATR, CAVEMAN CULT

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May 082021
 

 

Even after yesterday’s humongous round-up of new music, I’m still playing catch-up with new songs and videos, and picked seven more entries to include here today. These are mostly individual songs, but I’ve mixed in a pair of new EPs. As usual, part of my goal in making this selection was to provide diverse experiences.

SOL DE SANGRE (Colombia)

On April 30th this killer Colombian band released a new EP named Despair Distiller, and I’m way late in crowing about how really fucking good it is. Better late than never, I hope! Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SOL DE SANGRE — “DISMAL BLASPHEMIES”

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Nov 262020
 

 

Going back to September 2017, this is the seventh time we’ve written about the Colombian death metal band Sol De Sangre and the fifth time we’ve happily hosted the premiere of their music, including their self-titled debut album in 2018 and the Sol De Sangre‘s tracks on La Senda De La Muerte, a split EP with Pánico Al Miedo in which both bands covered songs by giants of the death metal pantheon. Basically, Sol De Sangre‘s music hooked me early, and obviously they haven’t let go.

The subject of our latest celebration of their music is a video for a new song called “Dismal Blasphemies“, which is one of three on an EP entitled Despair Distiller that will be released in 2021. I’m happy to report that the EP is a prelude to the band’s sophomore album. I’m also delighted to report that the EP is hellaciously good. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SOL DE SANGRE — “ANTES DE LA CREACIÓN (BEFORE THE CREATION OF TIME)”

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Apr 222019
 

 

Three months ago we had the pleasure of premiering two songs from a split release by the Colombian band Sol De Sangre and the Spanish band Pánico Al Miedo, one track by each group. La Senda De La Muerte is the name of that split, and it includes the two bands’ covers of tracks originally recorded by giants of the death metal pantheon, with Sol De Sangre performing their versions of songs by Entombed and Unleashed, and Pánico Al Miedo extending their talents to the music of Pestilence and Death. For all the songs, the bands reinterpreted the lyrics in Spanish, giving them a new kind of vibe and atmosphere.

In January, the song we premiered from Sol De Sangre (through a lyric video) was “Festín De Carne“ — their cover of Entombed’s “Revel In Flesh” from Left Hand Path. Today we bring you another video premiere, this time for Sol De Sangre‘s second track on La Senda De La Muerte. Entitled “Antes De La Creación“, it’s a cover of “Before the Creation of Time” by Unleashed (from Where No Life Dwells). Continue reading »

AN NCS DOUBLE PREMIERE: PÁNICO AL MIEDO AND SOL DE SANGRE (TWO TRACKS FROM “LA SENDA DE LA MUERTE”)

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Jan 222019
 

 

It isn’t uncommon for current bands to honor the giants of the past on whose shoulders they stand, and whose music provided both inspiration to their own creativity and vicious joy to their own listening. But the homage that Pánico Al Miedo (Spain) and Sol De Sangre (Colombia) have paid to their own death metal heroes in a new split is still something very special.

La Senda De La Muerte is the name of this new split. It will be released on CD by Germany’s War Anthem Records on January 25th and in a cassette tape edition by Scotland-based Camo Pants Records on March 1st. It includes Sol De Sangre‘s covers of songs by Entombed and Unleashed, and Pánico Al Miedo‘s covers of songs by Pestilence and Death. And while both of these excellent bands have taken significant steps to link these recordings to the era that gave them birth, they’ve also put their own stamp on the music — perhaps most significantly, they’ve reinterpreted the lyrics in Spanish, giving the songs a new kind of vibe and atmosphere. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SOL DE SANGRE — “SOL DE SANGRE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Mar 192018
 

 

Welcome to our exclusive debut of one of this writer’s favorite death metal albums of 2018, one that includes some of my favorite extreme metal songs of 2017. Yes, Sol De Sangre began spreading the word of this album last year through the release of four singles, two of which we wrote about in our periodic collections of recommended new music and one of which we premiered. Those were tremendously tempting teasers for this first full-length offering, and fortunately the album as a whole proves to be just as fantastic as all those early glimpses.

There’s a lot to take in on this self-titled album — 12 tracks in total, and not one of them a throw-away. Over the course of the album this veteran group of Colombian musicians pay homage to a variety of classic death metal sounds, and yet once you’ve heard all of them I think you’ll conclude that the only name which really represents the music faithfully is the name of Sol De Sangre. They’ve put their own distinctive stamp on these compositions, while at the same time re-living a host of past glories. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SOL DE SANGRE — “PERROS CON SARNA”

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Nov 092017
 

 

Today we get to divulge a lyric video for the third single released so far this year by Sol De Sangre, the name of which is “Perros Con Sarna“. The first single hooked me straight through the gills, the second one drove the hook deeper, and this third one shoved the hook straight up into my brain pan and made mincemeat out of the small squirming organ that lives there. Despite the brain damage, I will nevertheless attempt to string together some words about the experience.

But first, let me remind you that all three of these singles are destined to appear on the band’s first album, which is projected for release early next year. Although this will be a debut record for the band, its members aren’t newcomers to the metal scene, all of them having honed their lethal skills in other South American bands over a span of decades. And what the album represents is a kind of tribute to the evil death metal they grew up with, along with other aggressive influences that include hardcore and thrash. Continue reading »

SOL DE SANGRE AND DESPISING AGE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Oct 072017
 

 

I thought about not putting anything together for the site today, just taking a break and working on some round-ups and reviews I’ve planned for Sunday and Monday. After all, there have been some other Saturdays and Sundays over the last 8 years when we haven’t posted anything. Maybe 9 or 10, total. Still bugs me when that happens. So it won’t happen today after all.

But I am scaling back. I’ve picked just two songs to share. I noticed them for the first time this morning; things I found earlier in the week are part of the bigger round-ups mentioned above. These two helped get my sluggish morning blood get going when I heard them.

SOL DE SANGRE

I’ve rapidly become a fan of Sol De Sangre, even though I’ve now only heard two songs by them. The first one I wrote about here a month ago is a tribute to Altar of Madness-era Morbid Angel named “Más Abajo del Infierno” — which is now available on Bandcamp. The second one, “Muertos Con Ojos Estallados“, popped up on YouTube just yesterday, and is yet another summoning of the evil death metal these dudes grew up with. Continue reading »

HELLRAISERS: MIDNIGHT, ANIMA DAMNATA, SOL DE SANGRE, ANTICHRIST HOOLIGANS, OXYGEN DESTROYER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 062017
 

 

From day to day, we have very few plans here at the NCS HQ, or at least very few that I know of. As the editor I rely mainly on my reflexes, which are like coils of rusted springs, ready to creak into action on a moment’s notice. Our other writers may have plans, but I usually learn of them only when our intrepid pigeon aeronauts arrive with stained scrolls of text wrapped around their legs. I do my creaky best to get their writings ready to go by the next day… or the same day… and quite often those surprises unexpectedly fill up our site with content when only the day before I might have wondered what the hell I would have for you beyond my own frenzied scribbling. Beyond that, the rest of my life occasionally intrudes with other reflex tests.

And so it was that I promised Part 2 of my latest SHADES OF BLACK column would be posted on Monday, and then got surprised… and then was surprised again on Monday… and today will also be full of surprises (at last count, we’ll have six posts today). Anyway, no SHADES OF BLACK today either, but I am going with this selection of new music from five bands, most of which I originally intended to include in that missing Part 2 and a couple that I came across since starting on it. I’m calling this “Hellraisers” because… well… you’ll find out why soon enough.

MIDNIGHT

This is one of the items I discovered most recently — last night, in fact. It’s a new release by Ohio’s Midnight, a cover of “I Don’t Need Society” by D.R.I. It’s a Bandcamp, download-only release, and all profits will be donated to the Red Cross in their efforts to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey. Various other Midnight CDs, LPs, tapes, patches, and t-shirts are available in bundles along with the new download, and profits from those sales will also be donated to the Red Cross. Continue reading »