AN NCS INTERVIEW: IMPERATUS (PART 2)

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 082024
 

(Today we present the second part of an interview by Hanoi-based NCS contributor Vizzah Harri with Nguyễn Tấn Đạt, aka Nattsvärd, from the Vietnamese black metal band Imperatus. You can find Part 1 of the interview here, and Harri‘s review of the debut Imperatus album At the Mercy of the Wind here.)

This is the second instalment of an interview with Nattsvärd from Imperatus. Part 1 focused on their origins, inspiration for their sound, as well as the technical facets of recording, whereas Part 2 focuses more on lyrics, writing/composition, as well as some thoughts on the scene and what the future holds.

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You used a quote from Anthony Burgess — “When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.” Which reminded me a lot of the Avenged Sevenfold song Bat Country (I was today years old when I realized this is a quote from none other than Dr. Seuss haha): “He who makes a beast out of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man”. Together with the cover art and the sound clips, what was the feel you were going for conceptually?

Great insight and connection! I will never shy away from the fact that Avenged Sevenfold was my gateway band to metal music haha. And the said quotes do share a resemblance. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: IMPERATUS (PART 1)

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 072024
 

(Today we present Part 1 of an interview by our Hanoi-based contributor Vizzah Harri with Nattsvärd from the Vietnamese black metal band Imperatus. Part 2 will follow tomorrow.)

Imperatus is the latest black metal act hailing from Hanoi, Vietnam. Their debut album that we reviewed here can be described as nothing other than a piece of music that commanded my attention from the moment the first chords struck.

I had the privilege of meeting with Nguyễn Tấn Đạt, aka Nattsvärd, to discuss their album, At the Mercy of the Wind, and this first part of the interview lights upon their beginnings, influences and the technical aspects of the recording project. Continue reading »

IMPERATUS: “AT THE MERCY OF THE WIND”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 242024
 

(Our Hanoi-based contributor Vizzah Harri wrote the following extensive and extremely enthusiastic review of the debut album from the Vietnamese black metal band Imperatus, which was released last month. This will be followed in the near future by a two-part interview.)

Imperatus means Order or Command (‘imperiously’ comes from the Latin word imperare, which means “to command.” Other words from this same root include empire, emperor, imperial, and imperative.) In order to kick off this faux-imperious review of a band that I believe will command your attention to the max, one might be allowed to err on the side of believing that this could be the jumpstart to a new empirical anomaly not to be fucked with. Emperor’s debut has always been slated as one of the top first albums ever released and they are mentioned for a reason (aural affinity). Just like Imperatus giving recognition to a sound reminiscent of their childhood, it is this listener’s conviction that the riffs found in this here disc be epically imperial. Continue reading »

LOST IN A LIMINALITY OF IM-PURE WRATH AND REFLECTION (READ: REFRACTION) — AN INTERVIEW WITH DØDSSANGER (PART 2)

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Apr 192024
 

(This is the second interview that our Hanoi-based contributor Vizzah Harri conducted with Downfall from the Vietnamese black metal band Dødssanger. Find the first interview here.)

Taken from Audio recorded in conversation on February 27th, 2024.

I first met Kyle Newman aka Downfall from Dødssanger when he was still a university student; he’s grown more in all aspects in the last 6 years than I’ve experienced growth over the last 2 decades. The conversation that follows was way more of a general discourse on the Hanoi scene, headphones, live shows and the writing process than an interview, whereas Part 1 was more formal, happened later and attempted to focus more on his stage persona Downfall and the project as such. Continue reading »

LOST IN A LIMINALITY OF IM-PURE WRATH AND REFLECTION (READ: REFRACTION) — AN INTERVIEW WITH DØDSSANGER (PART 1)

 Interviews  1 Response »
Apr 172024
 


Downfall, Dødssanger

(In an effort to help shine a light on metal from Vietnam, our Hanoi-based correspondent Vizzah Harri has brought us the following very erudite and very entertaining interview of Downfall, the person behind the Hanoi-based black metal band Dødssanger.)

Dødssanger is Downfall, writer, multi-instru-mentalist and creator of the depressive black metal project that released their debut last year.

I met with Downfall at the end of February this year but the day job, time-fvckery and taking on too many projects at one time meant that the finishing touches were pushed back. Islander posted my ‘6-word novel’ review of their song Penance in this reader’s most infectious lists of 2023 which can be found here. If you didn’t get the time to read those posts, here is what I said about Penance:

“Hebephrenic grimoire,
hellatious hymnals of ill-grace.”

Those words still stand.

The interview that follows lighted upon musings about live performances, the Vietnamese music scene, as well as their recording process. Dødssanger just released their album in physical format and it can be found/ordered here: and there are only 21 copies left of an original 40. Continue reading »

SLAM CITY METAL FEST II 2024 MARCH 15-16

 Concert Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 122024
 

(Our Hanoi-based contributor Vizzah Harri prepared the following extensive report on the Slam City II Metal Fest, which took place last month over two days in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.)

SLAM CITY II METAL FEST 2024 officially featured 11 bands from three South East Asian countries. Sadly, Lilith from the Philippines were unable to make it this time due to what the author can confirm as exorbitant flight prices this year. My Chemical Bromance, a metallic-dubstep act stood in for the Siem Reap leg. It was set and executed to occur over two days in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. And again, this scribe can verify that it was a weekend that will go down in the history of Asian metal as what the underground is all about. Grit, grunge, punk-values, inclusion, and mighty riffage. Continue reading »

TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES PART 6.16 (SONIC WALL OF SOUND TO LA CHAIR À CANON (FODDER) TACTICS)

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2023  1 Response »
Mar 202024
 

(Our Hanoi-based supporter Vizzah Harri reaches the end of his 6.16-Part selection of infectious songs from 2023. Find the preceding Parts here.)

Chiffonnier is a dirty word

“Effervescence just like chiffonniers

assumed as having one role, yet

aggrandizement of innate embodiment

illusive in so far as seeing it as is. Continue reading »

TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES OF ’23 — PART VI

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2023  No Responses »
Mar 152024
 

(Our editor Islander wasn’t able to compile a list of Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs from 2023, but our supporter Vizzah Harri, a resident of Hanoi, Vietnam, has stepped in to fill the void. We’ve already published Parts 1-5 of his list (find those here), and now we’re proceeding with Part 6 — almost the final part.)

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies of ’23 – Part VI (of 6.16… because the sacred number is 13, my mom is – no word of a lie – the 13th child and even though they grew up rather Christian, French-influenced paganism still had a strong hold and they called themselves the 12 after you-know-who’s acolytes, seeing as baby #12 sadly didn’t make it.  6+1+6 equals 13 and if isopsephy is mangled by the kind of imposter disordered numerologist that tattooed a clock pointing to 3:37 on his left shoulder seeing as his idol growing up was Anthony Kiedis and Scar tissue was exactly that length, then why not use that number as the final installment?

This gives you an idea where my style sprouts from, ‘that’ Riot Hyatt McCarthy–word-salad spitter, sprinkle in some filth, and garnish it with the dust of your dreams served next to a walled orchard and you get my meander. 666 added up is just eighteen, ask the Greeks, they would know. And yes, I’m therefore doing an Islander and adding one more with links to all the tracks that there is not enough sand in the hourglass for to keep writing about last year. Continue reading »

TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES OF ’23 — PART 5

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2023  No Responses »
Mar 122024
 

(Our editor wasn’t able to compile a list of Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs from 2023, but our supporter Vizzah Harri, a resident of Hanoi, Vietnam, has stepped in to fill the void. We’ve already published Parts 1-4 of his list (find those here), and now we’re proceeding with Part 5.)

This series can be seen as a coagulation of forms on psychological de-fractured symbiosis. As in, this isn’t some SCP level troll, I tried to bring the avant-garde into writing about music that appeals to me but on songs from genres and locations that are varied enough that it would appeal to most readers of this site (yes it’s still heavily biased with 14 from the USA, six from Germany, 3 each from Norway and England, two each from Vietnam, Sweden and France, while Denmark, Canada, China, Australia, Hungary, Italy, Belarus, Poland, Wales, India, Russia and Finland each were represented by one band – math ain’t my strong point, there’s a miscount in there somewhere). Continue reading »

TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES OF ’23 — PART 4

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2023  No Responses »
Mar 062024
 

(Our editor wasn’t able to compile a list of Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs from 2023, but our supporter Vizzah Harri, a resident of Hanoi, Vietnam, has stepped in to fill the void. We’ve already published Parts 1-3 of his list (find those here), and now we’re proceeding with Part 4.)

Why is NCS posting this so deep into the year already and why does it allow this semi-literate baboon back for more? Well, two reasons, one of which needs a bit more extrapolation.

The editor of this fine establishment somehow lived vicariously through me and took the wrong cup of rượu (rice wine), thereby inducing temporary blindness and resulting in him just okay-ing it… but on a serious note if you’re at all as addicted to year-end lists and particularly the most infectious lists… then we all know it had to happen, no matter how long it took this reader to edit down his sleep-deprived lunar new year frenzy of an essay. I say sleep-deprived when in actual fact my self-induced insomnolence was abetted by experimenting with copious amounts of mind-altering substances, for research purposes of course.  Continue reading »

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