AN NCS PREMIERE: POX — “TO GREIFSWALD!”

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Jun 092026
 

(written by Islander)

As their name signifies, the Belgian black metal band Pox draw their inspiration from the history of plague and disease in northwestern Europe, but they also find inspiration in the obscure and often bleak folklore of the same region, more often than not connecting with pre-Christian archetypes and heathen concepts.

The music of Pox has been presented through a pair of EPs, a split with the Dutch band Heretic, and a live album. In July of this year they will have a new EP released by Void Wanderer Productions — their first new music in almost a decade. The name of the EP is B.K.W. — which stands for “Brass Knuckle Witchcraft“. Void Wanderer provides this description: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ILL TIDINGS — “WORSHIP THE TEMPLE OF FLESH”

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Jun 092026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we turn our attention to the Vienna-based black metal band Ill Tidings and a song we’re premiering from their new album Seeds of Rebirth, which will be released by the esteemed Vendetta Records on June 26th. They have provided this précis of the album as a whole:

The album balances aggression and atmosphere across seven tracks, shifting between cold melodic passages, dense riffing and moments that feel almost ritualistic in tone. While earlier releases hinted toward collapse and finality, Seeds of True Rebirth approaches those ideas head-on, presenting what the band describe as “the apocalypse” itself.

As you can see above, the album’s eye-catching cover art sets the stage in frightening (and intriguing) fashion. The song you’re about to hear is also both frightening and uncomfortably intriguing, and even as a single song, its scope is indeed world-ending. Continue reading »

ARÜSPEX: “THE DEATH INSTINCT”

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Jun 092026
 

(Here’s a review by DGR of an album by the northern California crust band Arüspex, which was released in January by the band and later in the year on tape by Fiadh Productions.)

Crust-punk group Arüspex have had one of the longer tenures on the “to review” list that we are slowly working our way through now. While I can’t claim that I was there on the ground floor with the Sierra Nevada punks, for what little it is worth at the very least I’ve been digging into their newest release The Death Instinct since the end of March. Small potatoes when you consider that The Death Instinct came out in the middle of January, but what would we be if we didn’t have releases in our queue that we’ve missed the bus on so bad that the local municipalities have had time to defund the public transit system and replace the bus stops with lame “scenic” pottery and more lanes for cars?

Arüspex, like many groups, lie in an in-between realm within a couple of different genres lines, making them semi-difficult to define and an exciting listen because they’re equally somewhat hard to predict. Genre definitions themselves being for fools like us who build mood-playlists. Why do that when the whole album is a proverbial mood? The group’s core is very much that of a crust punk band, and the low-end-driven riff work and equally voracious thud on the drumkit no doubt fortifies that, but again, like many bands, a handful of other influences are also comfortably seated on the fringe of The Death Instinct that politely move it beyond mere sub-genrefication and into something vicious on its own terms. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FINAL SELF — “LITURGY OF THE FINAL SELF”

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Jun 082026
 

(written by Islander)

As you can see, we are about to premiere an album by a group named Final Self. They are a death metal band from Tarnów, Poland, and Liturgy of The Final Self is their debut release.

We don’t have a lot of information to share about the band or what inspired them. Their very brief description of the music calls it “raw, dark death metal focused on intense atmosphere, existential themes, and destruction from within.” Beyond that, we have the identity of the band’s members and some notes about their resumes:

Eveq – guitar, bass (Breathe The Void, ex-Ingenium)
Ataman Tolovy – vocals (Turin Turambar, Genius Ultor, Mrome, ex-Stillborn, ex-Kult Mogił)
Krzysztof Klingbein – drums (Totenmesse, Belphegor live, ex-Vader live)

At least some of the names in those parenthetical notes will probably perk up the ears of our visitors, as they did mine. Yet for the most part we have to let the music speak for Final Self and what they’re about. Continue reading »

CORRUPTION PACT – UNANSWERED CRIES

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Jun 082026
 

(Andy Synn kicks off another week here at NCS with a brutish blast of Hardcore/Death/Grind)

Last week was a big week for Hardcore/Metalcore (the good kind, obviously) with the release of new albums from both Converge and 100 Demons (as well as a whole host of other, equally abrasive acts from across the ‘core spectrum).

And while I’m hoping to write a little something about them later on this month (I’ve already got Embrace the Black Light pencilled in for the next edition of “Things You May Have Missed”) I thought that my time and energy might be better expended covering something that probably needs the exposure a little more.

Which is why today we’re taking a look at the recently-released debut album from France’s Corruption Pact, which delivers a short, sharp burst of stripped-down, straight-to-your-face Hardcore – blended with a lethal dose of razor-edged, Death Metal influenced riffing and pissed-off, Grind-inspired politics – that gives absolutely zero fucks and takes no prisoners!

Continue reading »

GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, MAY 2026

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Jun 082026
 

(With the month of May now behind us, Gonzo returns to review and recommend five albums released during that month.)

Like fucking clockwork, this column was once again interrupted by last-minute additions.

On one hand, I completely realize the futility of adding albums to a list that I conjure out of nothing each month. On the other, it’s my list, goddammit, and my commitment to being needlessly meticulous with it is something you can pry from my cold, dead hands. (Much like the collection of physical media sitting in a walk-in closet that I’ve been hoarding since I was 15.)

Alas, this sentiment tracks with how most of us approach our writing at NCS. We’re nerds about this shit.

If you read below the fold, maybe you’ll understand why I nixed such new releases from Elder, All Them Witches, and to a lesser extent, Devin Townsend, for the ones included here. You could also debate whether any of those bands fit the mold of these pages, but I don’t have the energy for that. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: FYRNASK, HOLLOWS, MARTRE, CALLOUS FAULTER

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Jun 072026
 

(written by Islander)

I fear that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, and am putting before you more than you might be able to chew as well: four complete albums that have recently been released.

It’s rare for me to do this. It’s much more within my capacity in these columns to write about individual songs, with maybe one complete release in the mix. But I know myself. I spend most of my time at NCS scurrying on a daily basis to fulfill premiere commitments while trying to coordinate what other writers are doing and constantly attempting to keep up with new things that burst open elsewhere.

It’s my own choice, of course, but it means I rarely have time to patiently sit with a complete album, much less to write something approaching a thoughtful review unless the album is one we’re premiering. And to be honest, I don’t feel I’ve fully digested any of the four records I’m recommending today. Yet all four of them made such striking impacts on me that I felt the urgent need to say something about them before the coming week’s whirlwind starts spinning me around again. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: MASTODON, FUMING MOUTH, SOOTHSAYER, 85 SEGUNDOS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jun 062026
 

(written by Islander)

I am lucky, because every day brings me some new surprise. Most often it’s a musical surprise, because I spend so much of my days listening to music. Even when I’m listening to a song that’s built with familiar ingredients, I sometimes get surprised by how much I like it when it’s essentially no different than something I’ve heard many times before.

Beyond that, I find surprises in conversations with my wife or friends, or in watching our brother cats, or in a movement in my peripheral vision while sitting on our deck outside — a squirrel or a bird or a deer or a raccoon clawing its way up a tree before sunrise.

A couple of mornings ago I found some very small paper-thin objects in a corner of that deck I don’t remember seeing before. Here they are: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: TRIAGE — “DECIMAL POINTS”

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Jun 052026
 

(written by Islander)

I want to begin this premiere feature with a personal note. While working on Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle a few weeks ago I witnessed what might have been the wildest musical riot of the entire event, a performance at the packed-to-the-gills Barboza venue by the North Texas grind band Triage. They created an absolute cauldron of chaos that left us wondering if the moshers would require emergency care and the venue would need structural repairs afterward.

Vocalist Champ Morgan led the charge, striding into the mosh pit and going on top of the bar while howling like a madman. You can get a quick taste of what happened through this reel on Instagram. (You should also check out this video of the Triage set at this year’s Maryland Deathfest.)

But the personal note also involves my own interactions with some of the band members when they weren’t performing. By my lights, and the lights of everyone else working the fest who encountered them, they were some of the nicest people we met there, perhaps especially that wildman Champ Morgan, who watched Black Breath’s performance with me at stage-side. They even reacted with good humor to my shit-talking (as a die-hard Mariners fan) about the Texas Rangers — which I couldn’t resist after seeing a Rangers cap in the Triage crew.

And so, when I was given the opportunity to premiere a song from a new Triage record today, I jumped at it faster than a jackrabbit with its ass on fire. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WOEWARDEN — “AS DEEP AS THE KNIFE GOES”

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Jun 052026
 

(written by Islander)

On June 12th the Dusktone label will release the fourth album by the Australian black metal band Woewarden (the first two were released when the band was known as Cancer). Titled The Roots Of My Neglect, the new one follows the band’s 2022 full-length, In The Art Of My Caged Existence. Dusktone describes it:

It is the natural successor to their previous work but is intentionally more visceral. Woewarden have maintained the melodic, melancholic approach to depressive black metal – inspired by the likes of Silencer, Psychonaut 4, and Insomnium — but they have injected a heavier, more abrasive edge reminiscent of the raw torment and fury of 90s Scandinavian legends like Dissection and Emperor.

We’ll also share Woewarden’s own description of how their new album compares to the last one:

The Roots Of My Neglect stands as a visceral evolution to our previous record, In The Art Of My Caged Existence. While its predecessor explored the isolation of a caged existence, this record examines what happens when that cage finally breaks – leaving us to carry the accumulated burdens of ourselves and others. We have pushed our melodic melancholy to its limit, fusing bittersweet arrangements with an abrasive, raw edge. From maniacal wails and screams of anguish to haunting croons, it is an exploration of neglect, both self-inflicted and external, and the rot that settles when hope is finally abandoned.

What we have for you today is a lyric video for a song off the album called “As Deep As The Knife Goes” — and we also have a statement from Woewarden about this specific track: Continue reading »

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