AN NCS PREMIERE: SALLOW MOTH — “BIOHYBRID VIRULENCE”

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Jun 162026
 

(written by Islander)

Much has been written about the progressive death metal band Sallow Moth since this solo project of Garry Brents began releasing music a decade ago. It drew attention fairly quickly, and then the attention continued expanding with each new release.

We ourselves have devoted continuing attention to Sallow Moth’s evolution, with our Andy Synn extensively reviewing each of the band’s albums released so far — The Larval Hope, Stasis Cocoon, and Mossbane Lantern — as well as the 2024 EP Vial.

One significant reason why so much has been written about Sallow Moth is that the music has undergone a continual process of transformation, but with each phase displaying significant achievements. Heretofore, that process has led to increasingly unpredictable, unorthodox, head-spinning, and challenging concoctions of music.

Which will leave many people wondering about what happens in Sallow Moth’s forthcoming fourth album, Hydrophilous Brood, which follows Mossbane Lantern in a relatively quick year-over-year churn. We have some hints for you today in our premiere of the album’s fourth track, “Biohybrid Virulence“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SKJULT — “THE LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS”

 Calendar, Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 162026
 

(written by Islander)

Today marks the third time we’ve premiered music from an album by the Cuban black metal band Skjult, but the first time in more than six years — because that’s how much time has passed since the band’s last album, The Voyage. Skjult’s new album, A Perfect Devouring Light, will be co-released on July 17th by Satanath Records (Georgia) and The End of Times Records (Ireland). Here is how the labels preview the new album:

With A Perfect Devouring Light, SKJULT does not extend its previous work so much as destabilize its own foundations. This fifth full-length marks a decisive conceptual shift in which light ceases to function as revelation and instead emerges as a violent, excessive force: an ontological agent that penetrates, consumes, and ultimately nullifies every structure of distinction. Arranged as a continuous liturgical arc, the album rejects the logic of discrete composition while articulating a precise sequence of conceptual intensities…

It’s probably difficult (if not impossible) for most of us to imagine the challenges of making black metal in Cuba, or frankly the challenges of living from day to day for most of the populous in a country that’s now caught in a stranglehold between its dictatorial rulers and a U.S. regime that has created an oil blockade, intensified economic sanctions, and threatened to conquer the island. Current news reports identify severe shortages of fuel, medicines, and food, and the paralysis of large sectors of the economy.

Very dark days indeed, and yet Skjult’s sole creator, Conspirator, forges on, perhaps influenced in his conceptual shift by the dire conditions around him. As a sign of what the new album brings, and one step in its liturgical arc, we have for you a song called “The Light Within the Darkness“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DEFILED

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Jun 162026
 


(all photos by Fukcrec Hbk)

(On June 12th Season of Mist released a new album by the long-persevering Japanese death metal band Defiled, and in advance of that our Comrade Aleks conducted an exceptionally good interview with Defiled founder/guitarist Yusuke Sumita, which we at last present today.)

Having started out in 1992, Japanese tech-deathsters Defiled have changed their lineup, sound, and, to some extent, style several times over the years. The last decade of the band’s career has been marked by a fairly regular stream of new releases, and their ninth full-length, Altered State, arrived right on schedule.

Although guitarist Yusuke Sumita is the only founding member of Defiled still in the fold, his three bandmates are also seasoned veterans, having spent between seven and thirteen years in the band. But even yet another lineup change is unlikely to derail Yusuke’s locomotive, which he, with gritted jaw, drives at full speed, demolishing barriers with concentrated, intense, and thoroughly technical death metal.

It’s barely a surprise, but despite its reputation and ambiguous cover art, the core motifs of Altered State are Orwellian visions of a present/future, but in the form of an open-to-interpretation idea of ​​the general psychological pressure and discomfort that society and the world inflict on us. At times this material sounds like an intense CrossFit workout, and while it’s sometimes hard to enjoy with such a tough workout, it’s achievable with the right amount of practice.

I’m glad that we had an opportunity to interview Yusuke, and I’d like to thank him once more for in-depth answers, which made this interview a pretty rewarding experience. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CRYPTS OF GOLGOTHA — “ORDER TO COMPLY”

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Jun 152026
 

(written by Islander)

Denver-based Crypts of Golgotha began to form up in late 2022 when the band-members were still teenagers. By their own admission, at that time they were “without an inherent vision.” Initially they were drawn to old school death metal, but began to incorporate influences from other death-metal off-shoots, including brutal death metal and deathcore.

Their first releases were EPs — including Paths Against Divinity (released in October 2024), and The Cavernous Crypts (a March 2025 split with Cavernous) — but now they have recorded a debut album with a revised lineup. Titled Disembodied In the Arms of Perdition, it’s set for release on June 26th through DSFP Records and Return Trip Records.

One single from the album (“Elegy for a Forgotten God“) premiered last month at New Noise, and today we’re bringing you a second one, “Order to Comply“, which is the track that closes out the album. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CVINGER — “RITE III – MASS INCINERATION FOR THE DIVINE RESURRECTION”

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Jun 152026
 


photo by Blanka Slana Heine

(written by Islander)

The Slovenian black/death metal band Cvinger will have a new album named Rites ov Flesh released on August 20th by Void Wanderer Productions. It adds to a discography that began to take shape in 2013 and now includes three previous albums and a few shorter releases. Void Wanderer provides this advance description about the new record’s themes:

On the new album, Cvinger is deeply exploring the ritualistic and spiritual practices found within the left-hand path traditions of Slavic and Indian nomadic tribes. The album delves into themes of inner transformation and sacrifice—not physical, but spiritual—through meditation, spiritual visualization, extreme fasting, the use of so-called sacred plants, and the exploration of Aghori sexual rites as symbolic acts of transcendence.

Rites ov Flesh includes nine songs, each of them identified as a “Rite”, and today we’re premiering a lyric video for the third of those — “RITE III – Mass Incineration for the Divine Resurrection“. Continue reading »

YOU’RE NOT HARDCORE (UNLESS YOU LIVE HARDCORE)

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 152026
 

(Andy Synn highlights his history with Hardcore, along with three recently-released gems)

I’ve mentioned it in passing before, I’m sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever really gone into how important Hardcore was as part of my formative years as a music fan (and still is to this day).

Like most of us, I’d imagine, my early forays into forming my own music taste were somewhat scattered and inconsistent, and it wasn’t until a friend of mine at the time (whose name I’ve long since forgotten) lent me a CD of various Metal and Hardcore acts, introducing me to bands like Earth Crisis, Zao, and Vision of Disorder – then a little later the likes of Shai Hulud, Ringworm, All Out War (all three of which I was lucky enough to get to see live again last year) – that I truly began to develop a sense of what I really liked (and didn’t).

It wasn’t just that these bands were loud, aggressive, and filled with the sort of energy that I needed back then (and still do now) it was the way they weren’t afraid to wear their ideals and beliefs loudly and proudly… standing for something as part of an actual counter-culture that prioritised things like collective resistance and communal action, rather than simply being against whatever the current “thing” was… that made me feel like this was music with more substance, more meaning, than what the mainstream charts at the time were full of.

And while my personal experiences with the wider “scene” weren’t quite so positive – the increasing presence of insular cliques and “crews” (with their mean-girls style “you’re not tough/cool enough to sit with us” vibes) and the growing emphasis on “conformity” over “community” (especially when it came to judging the worthiness of someone’s “mosh style”) meant I once again found myself as an outsider amongst outsiders – I’m happy to see that there are still bands (and fans) out there fighting the good fight and standing up for what they believe in (and making some kick-ass music at the same time).

The reason I’m saying all this is because while I still love Hardcore, I don’t necessarily live Hardcore (and if you don’t know what that’s a reference to feel free to ask your parents)… but that’s not going to stop me from highlighting as many bands as possible from across the ‘core spectrum (whether that’s Hardcore, Metalcore, Post-Hardcore, Screamo, Mathcore, etc) that I think our readers should hear.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: EMPTINESS, FÖGBÖTLER, CAGED BASTARD, MILLIONS OF THEM, WOLFZAHN, MERRIMACK

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jun 142026
 

(written by Islander)

After yesterday’s big trough of music for gluttonous souls, I wasn’t sure what to do with this column today. I easily could have rewarded gluttony again. The platter of new black(ish) metal songs and complete releases that’s in front of me is so loaded it makes the trenchers groan. Given the obsessive nature of my mind, I felt compelled to put as much of it before you as I could manage.

But I didn’t. After nearly a week away, my spouse has returned home, and although she’s still sleeping as I write this, I’d like to be “present” whenever she wakes up. So I’ve cut this collection short (or at least shorter than what my obsessive mental gremlins were clamoring for), although this group includes a pair of EPs in addition to “singles”, so that might make the total duration of the music here longer than yesterday’s collection.

I’ve also again resorted to some of the short-cuts I used yesterday (almost no cover art, release info that looks like an inventory list, not quite as many of my own words). I don’t really want to resort to those short-cuts every weekend, but this weekend it had some relaxing benefits.

Enough introductory babble, here’s what I picked to recommend today. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: GOROD, CULT OF LUNA, ALLEGAEON, BLACK SPIKE, SNAG, UNTU, MOLOKEN, WITCHSORROW, SWARN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jun 132026
 

(written by Islander)

I went whole-hog with my listening hours yesterday. Like a pig in a trough, I gobbled up so many good songs that I picked 9 of them for today’s roundup. As gluttonous as that was, I easily could have added a lot more, even after pushing a lot of the black metal to tomorrow’s column. And then this morning DGR alerted me to another one that would make 10. But something has to give, because I didn’t start writing yesterday.

Instead of starting to write, I went to see “Disclosure Day” in its first screening at our local theater. Afterward, my head was disturbed by conflicting thoughts about the movie, so to settle down I went to our local sports bar (by myself, because my spouse is out of town). It was packed with howling soccer fans watching the U.S. team. Not being a soccer fan I only watched bits and pieces of that, but mainly tried to focus on the Seattle Mariners’ drubbing of the Washington Nationals.

My focus was frequently interrupted not only by the explosive howls around me but also by a lot of fun conversations (and one very serious one) with people on either side of me at the bar. I stayed way too long, had one too many cocktails, and am paying the price this morning.

I can’t spend any time agonizing over what to do with these 10 song picks or I’ll never finish this thing, and what a tragedy that would be! So I’m just going to start and see what happens. In an effort to cram as much in here as I can before I give up, I’m resorting to the kind of time-saving shortcuts I’ve used in similar situations before. I hope you’ll find time to check out everything. Continue reading »

FORTRESS FESTIVAL 2026 – MAY 30-31, SCARBOROUGH, NORTH YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND – DAY 2

 Concert Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 122026
 

(Here is Daniel Barkasi’s extensive report on the second day of Fortress Festival 2026 in England, accompanied by his great own photos. Go here to see his article on Day One of the festival.)

Sunday, Day 2

Intro

Survive the first day, we did. To say that we were raring to go for day two, at least on first waking up, would be an outright fallacy. Four days of Maryland Deathfest, all of the travel, and the long first day had somewhat caught up to me. The initial plan was to grab breakfast from somewhere – there were a few places nearby that looked solid – but that would require me to move more than a couple of feet, so a couple of protein bars and some Tim Tams that I picked up at the local Tesco would have to suffice. Don’t get me started on my adoration for Aussie snack foods, but yes, I indeed did make some tea and did a proper Tim Tam slam. You’re not looking at some novice.

Once our faculties were in order, it was about time to stroll over to the old Spa for a second and final day that was to give very little mercy in terms of downtime. The proof of a killer lineup – we’ll take it, but the feet protest. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LUMEN AD MORTEM — “AND WHAT IS YET TO LOSE”

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Jun 122026
 

(written by Islander)

One week from today Hypnotic Dirge Records will release A Grave Ascent, the second album by South Australia’s Lumen Ad Mortem. The label succinctly brands the music “anthemic black metal”, and you’ll already understand why if you’ve heard the first couple of album tracks already released.

To be clear, the music is often furiously paced and ferocious, the vocals are usually scorching, and the moods can be intensely distraught. But even when the band are in inferno mode the music spreads its fire and its daunting moods on a grand scale, wholly absorbing listeners in experiences that are as wondrous as they are frightening.

This simply isn’t the kind of music you can casually pass by or hear with only part of your attention, because its emotional and sonic power seizes attention so dramatically. As you might guess, some of the impact derives from the use of panoramic orchestration, but every other ingredient, including the hard-hitting rhythms, the blizzard-like riffing, and the possessed vocals is equally vital.

Yet Lumen Ad Mortem’s new music is equally capable of drenching listeners in atmospheres of crushing loss and despair. One of the two songs already out in the world (“Ghost Gums“) proves that – and today we’re premiering another song (a vast one) that further demonstrates the new album’s expansive emotional reach. Continue reading »

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