AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE SECOND FOVEA — “CLAWS OF BENGAL”

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Dec 092025
 

(written by Islander)

Today we’re touching base again (for the seventh time in the last four years) with The Second Fovea, a band originally birthed in India but whose members are currently spread among the U.S., India, and Canada.

Two of their previous singles which were the subject of all those previous writings focused upon wildlife — manta rays and snakes – but all of their songs, including those two, have carried socio-political messages, and most directly in the song “Headshot”, which was a potent condemnation of racism and hate crimes across the globe.

What we have for you today is the premiere of a lyric video for a new single from the group, and as you can see, it’s devoted to Bengal tigers, and more specifically (as the band tell us), it’s “dedicated to the legendary Bengal Tigers of the Sundarbans in India — the world’s largest mangrove forest and one of the last remaining strongholds for this endangered species.” Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PLAYTHROUGH VIDEO PREMIERE: THE SECOND FOVEA — “VIBORA”

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Dec 142023
 

For someone like this writer, who has played no musical instrument since rebelling against compulsory piano lessons as a pre-teen, watching talented musicians perform is like watching a magic show.

Watching metal musicians perform at aggressive speeds is even more magical, and perhaps watching drummers is the most fascinating, because after all they’re using all four limbs doing four different things at any moment but usually without sounding like four trash cans crashing down some stairs.

And so I tend to be attracted to playthrough videos by drummers, including the one you’re about to see, which features skinsman Priyam Srivastava performing on the song “Vibora” by The Second Fovea. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE SECOND FOVEA — “VIBORA”

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Nov 232023
 

Today marks the fifth time we’ve written about and/or premiered singles by The Second Fovea (a band who began in India and are now based in the San Francisco Bay area) — and thus we’ve covered all of them to date. Thematically, each one has been different from the ones before, but all of them driven by a socio-political consciousness:

“Headshot” was a condemnation of hate crimes and racism across the globe. “Manta” was devoted to the majesty and mystery of the creatures for whom the song was named and tried to help spread the word about their conservation (we featured two different videos for that song). “The Echoing Habitat” called attention to our relentless pollution of the oceans with plastics. And today we have a fourth single, “Vibora“, which takes as its subject a metaphor for the lethal consequences of greed.

Just as the band’s lyrical themes have differed, the music has differed too, from song to song, and it changes again here, in part due to the appearance of the band’s new permanent vocalist, “Lalit Mehta“, who lives in Dublin, Ireland. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: LAERE, I THE INTRUDER, WITCH RIPPER, THE SECOND FOVEA

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 082022
 

The best of intentions often fall like wheat before the scythe of life. No plan survives contact with the enemy. The best laid plans o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley. And other hoary maxims.

I thought I would get one of these round-ups done before now this week, but events conspired against it. I barely have time to squeeze this one in. It’s shorter than I would like — this week was filled with good new releases, of which these are only a precious few — but it will give you a lot of stylistic twists and turns. I’ll have to try to pick up the list this weekend.

LAERE (Germany)

In hunting for new music I’m often the beneficiary of recommendations from other people, and I’m beginning with Laere‘s stunning new EP because it was the subject of lots of those from internet pen-pals whose opinions I respect. And, well, I also got a Bandcamp alert about it because I bought the band’s debut EP Solve in 2020 (and wrote about it too). Continue reading »

AN NCS PLAYTHROUGH VIDEO PREMIERE: THE SECOND FOVEA — “MANTA”

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Jun 102022
 

The Second Fovea is a band with its origins in India but with a current location in the San Francisco Bay Area. They’ve released two singles so far, 2021’s “Headshot” and the song “Manta” that came out just a couple months ago. We’ve written about both of them here, not only because the music grabbed us but also because of the songs’ conceptual themes.

“Headshot” was a condemnation of global hate crimes and racism, and “Manta“, as is obvious from the name, was “dedicated to appreciating the majestic manta rays and spreading awareness about their conservation”. Two very different subjects, but we can get behind both of them.

What we’re bringing you today, in an effort to shine a bigger spotlight on “Manta“, is a playthrough video for that song which features the performance of the band’s drummer, principal spokesman, and co-songwriter Priyam Srivastava. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: MANTAR, KONTINUUM, EXECUTIONER’S MASK, OBLIVION THRONE, THE SECOND FOVEA, VEGAS, LIVIDUS, ATOLL, NIGHTBEARER, FABIAN FILIKS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Apr 092022
 


Mantar – pic by Matthis van der meulen

 

I was a hamster last week, racing along the treadmill at my day job, with the only apparent signs of progress being motion and the cage filling up with shit. Oh lordie, while I was spinning that wheel the NCS in-box and other message accounts filled up with a lot of shit too — the good shit!

Based on my pawing through it this morning, I found a lot to share, as you’re about to discover in a very wide-ranging musical excursion. But since I’ve now got to go scrub my paws with lye you won’t find my frothy words or cover art in as much abundance as usual.

MANTAR (Germany)

Let’s begin with a new song and video from one of our favorite bands. I have a long list of people (none whom I personally know) that I’d like to hang low so the rats can get ’em because they make life more miserable by their existence. I’d like to beat and scorch them with this song before they take the drop, though they won’t deserve the song’s great chorus. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: HIDEOUS DIVINITY, THE DROWNED GOD, CONAN, THY CATAFALQUE, SHINY DAGGERS, REAPER, GYAOS:DIABOLICAL, HALLUCINATION, BEAST MODE, THE SECOND FOVEA, WHEEL

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Mar 132021
 

 

I’m going to indulge myself and let you know what’s recently been going on behind the scenes here at our putrid site before we get to the music below.

As I moaned and bitched about over the last couple of weeks, I have indeed been crushed by a project for my day job. For many days last week I couldn’t do anything but write premieres I had promised to do, and for two of those days I couldn’t even do that. Thankfully, Andy Synn stepped in and did the editing and posting of some things written by others (and by himself) so that the site didn’t go dark.

While consumed by work, I couldn’t even pay much attention to our email or announcements on social media and music-related messages from friends. But the worst part of that project ended yesterday, and I did a little catching up (just a few days’ worth), enough that I made a list of 47 songs and videos to check out (I’m not making that up). Of course I’ve only randomly jumped around in that list. I’ll probably never get to the rest of it, much less everything else that came out while I was missing in action. From that random darting around I picked the following songs and videos. Continue reading »