Under the Church Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: GLOSON, BLACK CILICE, UNDER THE CHURCH, FLESH OF ONCE DEMENTED, CREATURE, DECAYING

Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Oct 092021

I hope you’re having a good weekend already, and I hope what I’ve chosen for this round-up of new songs and videos will make it even better. As usual, I had a lot to choose from based on discoveries from the past week. I thought about resorting to another “Overflowing Streams” deluge to get more of them in front of you, but decided instead to exercise a rare bit of discipline.

In making these choices I was influenced by previous knowledge about the music of five of these bands (all of whom are personal favorites) and knowledge about the past work of one of the creators, even though he’s creating under a new guise.

GLOSON (Sweden)

The first track here, “Impetus“, is a massive and unearthly song, one that takes a sledgehammer to your spine and claws at your mind. The central riff abrasively roils and darts; the ritualized drum rhythms go off like bunker-busting bombs; the yells and roars are harrowing. The song twists the tension dial, becomes sweeping, and then boils and pounds, the intensity unrelenting. You best get ready to flex your neck too.

The accompanying video made by Ulf Blomberg is as dark and unnerving as the music, but you can’t take your eyes off it. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: UNDER THE CHURCH — “WRETCHED DISFIGUREMENT”

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Oct 172017

I’ve been closely following the murderous machinations of Under the Church since they released their first demo in 2013 (reviewed here), at first because the band included two members of the legendary Swedish death metal band Nirvana 2002 (drummer/guitarist Erik Qvick and bassist Lars Henriksson) and then because the music turned out to be so consistently good.

Since that immediately attention-grabbing demo, the band have stayed busy, releasing a self-titled EP in 2014, an insanely good debut album in 2015 (Rabid Armageddon), a two-track single in 2016, and both a live album and a split with Revel In Flesh earlier this year. And now we’re on the brink of receiving a second album.

Entitled Supernatural Punishment, it will be released by Pulverised Records on November 10. We’ve had the fiendish pleasure of premiering other Under the Church tracks over the years, and now we’re fortunate to again help spread the word about another one — the name of which is “Wretched Disfigurement” — presented through a lyric video that makes good use of the album’s frightful cover art. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNDER THE CHURCH — “CONFER THE VILE”

Premieres 6 Responses »

Apr 242016

We’ve been closely following the unholy machinations of Under the Church since they released their first demo in 2013 (reviewed here), at first because the band included two members of the legendary Swedish death metal band Nirvana 2002 (drummer/guitarist Erik Qvick and bassist Lars Henriksson) and then because the music turned out to be so consistently good.

Last year brought the release of the band’s lethal debut album Rabid Armageddon, and now they are at work on a follow-up. But while that next release is being worked over, Under the Church are releasing a two-song single featuring the tracks “Wake the Dead” and “Confer the Vile” via Bandcamp. Today it’s our pleasure to deliver the premiere of “Confer the Vile“. Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (NIRVANA 2002)

THE REARVIEW MIRROR 5 Responses »

Nov 222015

I wasn’t listening to underground metal in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Years later, when I began to discover what I had missed, Entombed’s Left Hand Path and Dismember’s Like An Ever Flowing Stream were among the albums that first really hooked me and started me down my own musical left hand path. Once I realized that I was at the tip of an iceberg, I began reading to try to get better educated about the early Swedish death metal scene, and it wasn’t long before I came across the name Nirvana 2002.

The band’s original name was Prophet 2002, and the members then later changed the name to Nirvana. After discovering the existence of Seattle’s Nirvana upon the release of that band’s first single, they took the “2002” from the first name of the band and tacked it onto the new one.

Nirvana 2002 were only active from 1988 to 1991, releasing a quartet of demos and a 1990 split with Appendix, Authorize, and Fallen Angel. But the band had a lot to do with establishing the signature sound of what we would now call “old school Swedish death metal”, though the school was just getting started when Nirvana 2002 were alive. Daniel Ekeroth, the author of Swedish Death Metal, wrote that they were “one of the purest examples of that typical fat Swedish death metal, with crushing guitars and straightforward song structures.” Continue reading »

KEVINP’S ALBUMS OF THE MONTH — OCTOBER 2015

Listmania 12 Responses »

Oct 282015

(Here’s the latest installment of KevinP’s series in which he runs down his list of the best releases from the month that’s about to end.)

It’s been 10 months now that I’ve worked on this column and I always wondered how others kept track of what was released each month. I simply take a notebook, write down a month on each page, and then when I get a promo, I download it and hand-write it in the release month. That’s as low-tech as you can be (and sometimes semi-dangerous if the baby gets her hands on it and goes to town). So does anyone have any better suggestions? What do you do?

Anyways, we are fast approaching the end of the year and October has been quite the eclectic month, probably the most so far, as you’ll see from my selections. Let us know what else wet your whistle in the comments below. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNDER THE CHURCH — “WALPURGIS NIGHT”

Premieres 7 Responses »

Aug 262015

It’s so nice to find a band still early in their discography who consistently kill it with each new release, especially when their weapon of choice is raw, unrepentant, bestial death metal of the old school. The band I happen to have in mind at the moment is Under the Church.

Perhaps the consistent quality of what they’re doing is to be expected, because although Under the Church is a new name, the band was started by two former members of Sweden’s Nirvana 2002 — drummer Erik Qvick and bassist Lars Henriksson, and they are joined by Australian vocalist Mik Annetts. Continue reading »

UNDER THE CHURCH: “BURNING”

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Dec 132013

You know that time when you thought it would be a good idea to hitch a ride on a moving freight train because you like the power of big fuckin’ trains and you thought it would be a fine rush and you ran alongside as fast as you could, your head filled with the roar of the wheels on the tracks, and you made the big leap, thinking you had a good hold, but were instead pulled under the train and had your spine crushed in a dozen places and your head severed at the neck and then your head bounced beneath the wheels of the tank car carrying ethanol which was next in line and your skull was just hard enough to cause the tank car to jump the rails and explode like the Hiroshima weapon, leveling acres of surrounding civilization and incinerating your remains into such a fine ash that it was immediately blown away by the windstorm caused by the conflagration, leaving not even enough for your loved ones to put in a funerary urn? You remember that?

Well, that’s sort of what “Burning” sounds like, “Burning” being the new song by Sweden’s Under the Church, which will appear on their forthcoming EP and is now available for download on Bandcamp. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: UNDER THE CHURCH — “DEMO 2013”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Nov 032013

A week ago I posted a list of the best releases I’d heard over the last five years by newer bands whose sound was strongly influenced by old school Swedish death metal. The last release I put on that list before posting it, though you couldn’t tell, was the 2013 demo by a Swedish band named Under the Church. I heard it for the first time the day I finished the list, and one listen was all it took. Since then I’ve listened to it again and again, and the more I’ve listened, the more I’ve liked it.

Word has been spreading ever since the demo became available months ago, probably in part because the band was started by two former members of Nirvana 2002 — drummer Erik Qvick and bassist Lars Henriksson — but mainly because the music is so good. And sure enough, in the week since my list went up, Under the Church announced some good news: They’re going to record an album, and the album is going to be released by Pulverised Records. If you’ve already heard the demo, then you know just how good this news is. If you haven’t, I’m going to explain. Continue reading »