AN NCS PREMIERE: MENDEL — “HORIZON”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Apr 222015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli introduces our premiere of another new song from the forthcoming album by Mendel, the solo project of Aborted guitarist Mendel Bij de Leij.)

Time to serve up another tasty morsel courtesy of Mendel. His new album Oblivion is coming soon and it’ll blow you away. We premiered the first single “Discover” earlier (here), and now we bring you the second track, “Horizon”.

This song is more of a display of Mendel’s riff-writing capability. This song lacks any notable lead playing, and instead is a technical riff showcase. There IS a solo in this song, but it’s a sax solo and it fits quite nicely with what he’s got going on. Let us know what you think. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MENDEL — “DISCOVER”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Apr 132015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli introduces our premiere of a song from the new album by Mendel, the solo project of Aborted guitarist Mendel Bij de Leij.)

Mendel, as some of you may be aware, is Aborted’s current lead guitarist.  For a while now, he’s also been doing guitar-centric instrumental solo material that is quite good, and for me has been elevating him into the ranks of players like Jeff Loomis and Paul Wardingham.  He plays a purely neoclassical style of metal drenched entirely in modern aesthetic, which puts a new spin on this approach to guitar exhibitionism.

The guy not only has chops, he has phrasing, borderline poetic, and knows how to write a central motif unlike many others I’ve ever heard.  His new album Oblivion will be released May 17th, and we’ll be streaming it on or before that date.  Today, I’m presenting the first single, the album’s opener “Discover”. Continue reading »

BANDS YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING TO: FELL RUIN

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Mar 242015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli introduces us to a band from the Detroit area named Fell Ruin.)

I found out about Fell Ruin through the vocalist from a Michigan band we’ve covered here, Scorned Deity. Brian Sheehan hit me up, wanting me to check out another project of his who’ve finally gotten to release their first bit of music after some time. I love Scorned Deity, so I thought I’d see what he was doing with Fell Ruin.

Fell Ruin are definitely worth your time. I can’t quite describe what they do, but in an attempt to give you an idea, I’ll say it’s basically blackened death grind doom sludge? I don’t even know. It’s riveting stuff though, and savage like a pack of feral hyenas. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A FREE DOWNLOAD): ANIMALITY — EP

 Free Shit, Premieres  7 Responses »
Mar 182015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli provides the following brief introduction to our premiere of the new EP by Tennessee’s Animality — with a link to a free download of the music.)

We posted a premiere of a song by these Tennessean tech death/deathcore bruisers a bit back, and I’m proud to present not only a stream, but a free download of their newest EP. It’s a self-titled one, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. It’s three songs of purely merciless bludgeoning, and Animality are particularly gifted at administering this kind of punishment. I hope you enjoy. Continue reading »

BYZANTINE: “TO RELEASE IS TO RESOLVE”

 Album Reviews  13 Responses »
Mar 182015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by West Virginia’s Byzantine.)

Anyone who could get to sit down and have a real, lengthy chat with Chris “OJ” Ojeda would quickly learn that the dude is one of the coolest cats you could have the pleasure of talking to. He’s still got a youthful passion for metal, as if he hadn’t aged from his teenage years at all. I remember back in the early/mid-2000s a marketing term being thrown around, the meaning of which I was never sure of: “working man’s metal”. If you take the words literally, Byzantine are certainly that. For OJ, music really has been the thing he gets to indulge once the rest of life is taken care of. Yet Byzantine’s music is one of the most compelling cases for the argument that some of the best metal is written when it’s not created with careerist intentions.

Normally, I would have been afraid that To Release Is To Resolve wouldn’t stack up to the band’s previous work. They lost two members who contributed a lot of touches that made the band: Michael “Skip” Cromer’s bass playing and back up vocals were gone, as was Tony Rohrbough, one of my favorite guitarists of all time and a hard-to-replace identity in the lead guitar slot. However, I didn’t have that hesitation, because since my introduction to Chris when I reached out to him concerning my retrospective of their discography, I learned that Ojeda is, in many respects, Byzantine incarnate. This is his baby, and he wouldn’t allow it to stagnate or put out material that wouldn’t be up to par. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANIMALITY — “BLOODSPATTER BRAINMATTER”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Mar 092015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli introduces our premiere of a new song by Animality from Nashville, Tennessee.)

Going to make this short and sweet to accommodate our humble editor getting ass-slammed by work.

This is Animality.  They are from my home state of Tennessee and perform some downright bestial bloodthirsty technical death metal/deathcore.  You are about to hear “Bloodspatter Brainmatter”, the first single from their upcoming EP and I’m proud to present it to you and hope you’ll dig it. Continue reading »

THEMADISRAELI’S TOP TEN THRASH METAL ALBUMS OF ALL TIME (PART 2)

 Listmania  13 Responses »
Feb 202015
 

 

(NCS writer TheMadIsraeli completes his list of thrash metal’s Top 10 albums of all time. The first five picks, along with an introduction, appear in this post.)

VI: Sepultura – Arise

It takes a lot of restraint for me not to declare this the greatest thrash album ever created.  Sepultura’s Arise is THE epitome of everything I love, need, and want in thrash metal and it’s so immaculate in its execution that attempting to quantify it is nearly impossible.  It’s brutal, it’s fast (so fucking fast), it has dynamics in the songwriting. Andreas Kisser knew how to write some of the most unique solos in the entirety of thrash metal, and Max and Andreas wrote some of the most intense, drama-filled riffage while keeping things savage and merciless.  Whenever Sepultura breaks into frantic, demon-slaying speed from a mid-paced stomp, as in “Desperate Cry”, provides me an adrenaline rush that knows no equal.  It would be fair to say I’ve listened to Arise more than 10,000 times and I’m still not sick of it.

Seriously, this album is the very definition of savagery. Continue reading »

THEMADISRAELI’S TOP TEN THRASH METAL RECORDS OF ALL TIME (PART 1)

 Listmania  9 Responses »
Feb 192015
 

Agostino Arrivabene – “Vanitas In Refraction”

 

(NCS writer TheMadIsraeli presents his list of thrash metal’s Top 10 albums of all time. The first five picks appear in this post, and the remaining five will appear in Part 2 tomorrow [here].)

This particular list is something that’s going to piss some people off and perhaps spark some sarcastic comments.  It would probably do that regardless of the contents. When you don’t include anything by The Big Four, of course you don’t understand the roots of the genre and are dissing genre-defining classics.  But if you do pick anything from The Big Four, you’re unoriginal, have no underground cred, etc., etc.

Thrash is a style of metal that gets taken pretty fucking seriously, as opposed to others where there definitely seems to be a more “you like what you like” mentality.  In my observation, It’s also the sub-genre of metal where the recognition and respect of the eldership are most likely to make or break your credibility as a fan of the music.  The thrash community is almost zealot-like in the way it can ostracize you because you don’t think Metallica and Megadeth were the pinnacles of the style.

I’m gonna be one of those guys who has nothing from The Big Four on his list, so I’ll be expecting the hipster comments for sure.  My list, as per usual, is not numbered in any kind of order that denotes anything. Continue reading »

BANDS YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING TO: IN DREAD RESPONSE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Feb 162015
 

(TheMadIsraeli revives a feature designed to put the spotlight on recommended groups, and today the focus is on New Zealand’s In Dread Response.)

In Dread Response have been mentioned a couple times here on the site, but I figured a full feature on them was relevant and due, considering the band’s next album Heavenshore is coming soon.  These “Bands you should be listening to” segments will be exactly as the title says, but I kind of aim to use them as indirect awareness and hype for a band’s upcoming output as well, especially when it’s a band I really believe in and love to death.  In Dread Response are definitely such a band, and this little feature is for those who may not even know who these guys are, as well as for those who do but maybe haven’t followed them lately.

In Dread Response play blazingly fast-as-fuck technical and emotive melodic death metal.  Make no mistake, this is a band who not only perfectly conform to what NCS is all about, they are also completely unrelenting, in a genuinely militant way that melodic death metal doesn’t often display.

A lot of the best melodic death metal nowadays really borrows from the Daylight Dies and In Mourning school of ambience, melancholy, and dragging tempos, but In Dread Response capture the ferocity the style was born with.  If you want band references or comparisons, think of a combination of Dark Tranquility and Darkest Hour.  In Dread Response have the savagery and melodic tendencies of early Dark Tranquility, and the speed and recklessness of Darkest Hour on Hidden Hands Of a Sadist Nation.  They lack the commercialized elements both bands later tried to incorporate, and have instead retained only the best and most intense aspects of those sorts of influences. Continue reading »

SEVEN YEAR STORM: “AION I”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Feb 112015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli recommends a forthcoming album by a new band named Seven Year Storm.)

Seven Year Storm is spearheaded by First Reign drummer Sean Lang and Archspire ax-murderer Dean Lamb.  Figured that would get your attention immediately.

Aion I is instrumental metal with a rather video-gamey quality to it, in that it’s driven by very enigmatic melodies, and the music thrives on syncopated grooves and polyrhythms, with gorgeous leads and atmosphere.  It’s captivating, the songs are concise, yet have a lot of substance.  Aion I is the band’s first output, an EP, and it’s quite good if you’re into instrumental metal of any sort.

It’s a bit spacey, a bit jazzy, and a bit neoclassical — a winning combo for me and right up my alley.  The interesting thing here is that this EP isn’t a skill showcase for either Lang or Lamb (both of whom are impressively skillful), but a genuine songwriting exercise.  None of these songs in any way pushes any kind of instrumental capacity.  It’s all about memorable melodies and celestial atmosphere with grooves that are very hooky.  Continue reading »

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