SPIRITWORLD: “HELLDORADO”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 112025
 

(SpiritWorld‘s new album Helldorado will be arriving on March 21st on Century Media Records, and we have Gonzo‘s take on it today.)

I’ve often described metal as the perfect additive to any other type of music. When done right, it can be an incredible marriage of styles. Results may vary, of course, but the ongoing explosion of subgenres within the metal realm will prove the point either way.

This fact will undoubtedly be obvious to anyone reading this. But the fun part of such experimental alchemy that so many bands have tried over the years? It creates new sonic territory yet to be explored by anyone else.

Enter Stu Folsom and his bedazzled cowboy cohorts in SpiritWorld. I was (and still am) hopelessly hooked on their 2022 album DEATHWESTERN, with its furious Slayer-inspired riffs and paint-peeling vocals. The fusing of country, folk, and dust-crusted Sergio Leone-style storytelling made the album worth its weight in gold. Three years later, the big question about new album Helldorado is whether or not it holds up to its predecessor.

Let’s find out.

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: GRAVE INFESTATION, DARK MEDITATION, SPIRITWORLD, ANCIENT DEATH, TYRANNOSATAN, ARV, EXILIUM NOCTIS, PRIMORDIAL BLACK (AND TWO INTERVIEWS)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 222025
 

(written by Islander)

Greetings on another Saturday. I have another globe-hopping-and-genre-hopping selection of new songs and videos filtered from what I was able to check out over the past week.

At the end, I’m also recommending a pair of recent interviews published at locations other than NCS, not just because the bands are favorites of mine but also because the discussions are so interesting.

But we’ll start with the music…. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: CHAOS!

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jan 112025
 

(written by Islander)

Normally I use the “Seen and Heard” title for Saturday roundups of recommended new songs and videos. When the number of picks swells to gargantuan proportions I use “Overflowing Streams,” because the number of streams in the column is overflowing. Get it?

I’ve got a baker’s dozen of bands in today’s collection, too many names to try to cram into the post title. I used the exclamatory word “Chaos!” in place of all the names because I got on a roll with the kind of high-energy, high-intensity, sometimes batshit-crazy, music I was hearing. With just a couple of exceptions, I filtered out everything that wasn’t Chaos!, leaving them for another day.

Stylistically, the Chaos! comes in different packages. Though the opening segment is pretty heavy on tech-death, I arranged the choices so they begin to change. You’ll see. You’ll also see that there’s no black metal in this collection (or at least nothing I’d call black metal or its variants), but I’ve got tomorrow to focus on that. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2022’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 18): SPIRITWORLD, WEREWOLVES, THE ANTICHRIST IMPERIUM

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2022  No Responses »
Jan 252023
 

Unlike in a few past years, this year I’ve had time to complete and post a new installment of this list every weekday since I started rolling it out. What I’ve got ahead of me today created a serious risk I wouldn’t get this 18th Part finished in time. So, in a hurry, I’ll truncate the intro:

OK boys and girls, it’s time to tear off your clothes and go running wild into the streets! Unless you’re over 40, and then it might be best if you kept your clothes on, out of consideration for the neighbors.

SPIRITWORLD (U.S.)

If you’ve never seen SpiritWorld live on stage I strongly encourage you to beg, borrow, or steal whatever you need to buy a ticket and get to a show, even if the closest venue is Siberia. I saw them play Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle last year, and man, what a fucking revelation that was. I’d only heard a few songs off their first album, and their second one (Deathwestern) wasn’t due out until five months later, so I didn’t have a very good idea of to expect. I sure as hell didn’t know how they’d be dressed. Continue reading »

GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, NOVEMBER 2022

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  5 Responses »
Dec 022022
 


Elder

(Our friend Gonzo returns to NCS with another monthly round-up of recommended albums, this one focusing on releases during November.)

Well, here I go, slacking off again.

Truth be told, it’s been a busier than usual time in the life of this NCS contributor, with frequent travel and a day job that seems intent on demanding all my attention. It doesn’t help that that job is also in writing, so writing about a subject I’m more passionate about (heavy music, in case you’re new here) can be draining when it should be pleasurable.

There’s lots to look forward to in the coming months, though – Decibel Metal and Beer Fest, Denver starts this weekend (Dec 2-3) and I’ll be there for all of it, and Amon Amarth will be stomping into town a few days after that. And then, of course, there’s our favorite time of year here at NCS with Listmania.

So, my friends, this will be my final monthly roundup of 2022, but the releases I cover here are some of the best I’ve written about all year. Join me, won’t you? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: NECHOCHWEN, SHAPE OF DESPAIR, THUMOS, SPIRITWORLD, REPENTANCE, ULTRA SILVAM, KAATAYRA, MAC GOLLEHON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 272021
 


Nechochwen

 

Very early this morning I spent time listening to new music in order to select what I would want to recommend to you, and made the following selections. But then I unexpectedly had to spend a couple of hours on the job that pays me (advising world leaders on how to deal with problems that confound their feeble minds), and that left me with almost no time to provide my own (unnecessary) impressions of the music. So it will have to speak for itself, which is no problem because it speaks so fluently.

This is an idiosyncratic set of song choices, with very little to connect them to each other other than my attraction to them. But I think it will be a very interesting, albeit unpredictable, journey if you stick with everything through to the end.

NECHOCHWEN (U.S.)

After nearly 8 years since the release of the fabulous Heart of Akamon, West Virginia’s beloved Nechochwen have returned, unveiling the title track from their impending new album, Kanawha Black. Kanawha Black will be released worldwide by Bindrune Recordings in Spring/Summer of 2022. Continue reading »