SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: BLACK CURSE, GREAT FALLS, DROWNSHIP, POLEMICIST, THE WEIR, LYSERGIC

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 052024
 


Black Curse – photo by Brendan Macleod

A few times a year my spouse leaves town without me, jetting away to have fun with one of her sisters or a friend. I could join if I wanted to, but have figured out that giving her some breaks from me is a good idea. I give her some other breaks when I go off to metal fests without her (she’d rather be punched in the kidneys than go to a metal show).

These times when I’m home alone are clouds with silver linings. It doesn’t take long before I start really missing her. The sudden and prolonged silence around the house starts weighing on me. One of the silver linings is that I fill up the silence with music whenever I want to (my kind of music), and fill it up some more by spilling out thoughts about what I’m hearing.

You could guess that my spouse has been gone on one of those trips since early last week, given that I’ve now managed to pull together three roundups of new music and videos in the space of the last four days. She’ll be back home this afternoon, so I’ll most likely be back to doing these once a week on Saturdays until she plans another jaunt. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THE WEIR — “DETACHED”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 032017
 

 

Slightly more than two years ago we had the pleasure of premiering a crushing track from Calmness of Resolve, the very impressive second album by The Weir from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. And now we’re helping spread the word about the band’s new EP, Detached, which is being released today on tape and as a digital download on Bandcamp.

Calmness of Resolve was a staggering experience, projecting panoramic vistas of blasted landscapes and dragging the listener into deep sinkholes of congealing tar, casting spells of forlorn and heart-aching beauty but also rolling like a massive tank attack, and sometimes bringing down the house (and its foundations) in cataclysms of soul-crushing destructiveness. It was (and is) a sludge/doom powerhouse that should not be missed.

But with Detached, The Weir seem to be even more whole-heartedly committed to methodically beating their listeners into a slurry of fractured bone and jellied organs. It’s as heavy and despairing as anything you’re likely to find in this bleak winter season. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE WEIR — “NO FATE”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Oct 012015
 

The Weir-Calmness of Resolve

 

Following their 2013 debut album Yesterday’s Graves, Calgary’s The Weir will soon be releasing their second full-length, Calmness of Resolve. It’s a four-track album (of over 40 minutes in length), and today we give you the chance to hear one of the new songs, a crusher named “No Fate”

In one sense, the song is like the photograph chosen for the album’s cover. There are aspects of beauty in it; it draws you in; but it’s also desolate and bleak — and the song begins to cast a long shadow right from the start with slow, groaning riffs, methodical tumbling drums, and a prolonged shriek of feedback. You’re at the start of a slow-motion train wreck, though you may not realize it yet. Continue reading »