NEW WORLD MAN – I AM THE MACHINE

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 262026
 

(Andy Synn presents his thoughts on one of the best debut albums of 2026)

A couple of months back I took a quick jaunt back up to my old stomping grounds to catch Metallic Hardcore legends Merauder play a killer show at The Bread Shed in Manchester.

What made the show even better was the fact that, in response to the fact that two different – and potentially competing – tours were in town the same night, the promoters decided to combine forces in a laudable display of both scene solidarity and business savvy, meaning I got even more bang for my buck with the inclusion of a whole other roster of bands on the bill.

And the one that really stood out was that of New York Thrash-core thrillsters New World Man, who made sure that eveyone there would remember their name with an absolutely electrifying, ass-kicking performance that recalled the likes of Power Trip, Drain, and Enforced at their very best.

Which is why I made a mental note to check out their new album (just released on Closed Casket Activities) as soon as it came out, because I knew that if they managed to capture even half of the energy and intensity of their live show on record they would be in line to make a major impact.

So grab your helmets and your elbow pads and prepare to get absolutely wrecked by I Am the Machine.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HAXPROCESS — “CONDEMNATION OF ETERNAL MISERY”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 262026
 

(written by Islander)

Last year Transcending Obscurity Records released the second album created by the Floridian death metal band Haxprocess, Beyond What Eyes Can See. In advance of its release we wrote: “The album is enormously and exuberantly creative, and an enormously ambitious undertaking, and we can understand why T.O. labels it ‘epic’, not merely because the songs are long but because the band’s achievements are so incandescent.” And in a subsequent review our Andy Synn acclaimed it as ” one of the major highlights of the year in Death Metal (and beyond).”

So you can understand why we (and no doubt many other listeners) were excited to learn that Haxprocess would be quickly returning this year with yet another album, again to be released by Transcending Obscurity. The name of this new one, which is scheduled to drop on December 4th, is Endlessly Flowing Cascades of Grief, and as we did for the band’s last album we’re premiering one of its five new songs today. Continue reading »

TORN WIDE OPEN: NEUROSIS RETURNS TO THE BAY AREA

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 262026
 

(On the 16th of this month our friend Ben Manzella attended a show by Neurosis and Terry Gross at The Fillmore in San Francisco, and we’re grateful for his evocative review of the performances that you’ll find below, and for his wonderful photos of the event.)

I feel a bit suspended in time as I start this article recounting last night’s Neurosis show at the Fillmore with Terry Gross. I don’t know that I’ve experienced this level of emotional and physical intensity at a show in a long time. I think it was the first time since I was a teenager that I had a hard time falling asleep just from my body radiating what I can only sum up as energy.

I briefly chatted with someone who had only recently started listening to Neurosis, and it seemed like they had bought their ticket after seeing them at Fire in the Mountains earlier this year. As a long-time fan, it was great sharing an almost tangible sense of awe as we waited for the bus. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: GLORIOR BELLI

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Oct 252026
 

(written by Islander)

Life events external to NCS have forced me to again truncate my plans for this usual Sunday column devoted to variants of black metal. All is well, but I need to leave home and computer fairly soon, too soon for me to do more than write about one album that came out just two days ago, but that I’ve been enjoying for about two weeks. In the coming week I may be able to write recommendations for the other releases I had planned to include today before said life events interfered. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: GOLGOTHAN REMAINS, LENG TCH’E, MENTOR, DEMIURGO, VĀMĀCĀRA, VERET

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 242026
 

(written by Islander)

I made life difficult for myself this week. Well, don’t we all? I did it by carefully creating an enormous list of new music that I’d spotted in various ways but failing to listen to more than a small fraction of it until this morning — and now time is running out for me to finish this column.

That list turned out to include a lot of surprises — surprise releases from bands I knew and fantastic discoveries from bands I knew nothing about. I’ve included surprises of both kinds in what you’ll find below. But given the time predicament I created for myself, I’ve been forced to resort to a “cheat” to get it finished: Specifically, the last three selections today are complete records (two albums and an EP) that I think are excellent (and surprising), but all I’m going to do is focus mainly on just one song from each of them and hope that will be enough to pull you in. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BEYOND GRACE, MISERY INDEX, ARTIFICIAL BRAIN, OPHIS

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Oct 232026
 

(written by Islander)

What are the odds? For the second week in a row one of our Friday premieres fell through at the 11th hour, leaving a hole in our schedule and free time I didn’t expect to have.

As usual when these things happen, I have pivoted to pull together a roundup of new songs and videos, getting a bit of a head start on the usual Saturday column. All four of the following choices are from bands who are proven favorites around here (and elsewhere). Tomorrow I’ll focus more on new discoveries. Continue reading »

HEART OF WINTER FESTIVAL 2027 PREVIEW

 Metal News  1 Response »
Oct 232026
 

(We present here Daniel Barkasi’s preview of the next Heart of Winter festival, a three-night event scheduled to take place in Richmond, Virginia on January 14-16, 2027.)

A truly great festival in the United States that features the sort of underground bands that get this scribe to take notice is admittedly hard to come by. We have the always-excellent Maryland Deathfest and of course the NCS-sponsored Northwest Terror Fest as tentpole events, but outside of that, it’s relatively slim pickings, especially compared to what Europe has to offer.

Heart of Winter Festival is here to answer the call.

Beginning as a small upstart event hosted in Richmond, Virginia, it was dormant for 15 revolutions around the sun until this past January, with a statement-making return that included Hulder, One of Nine, Daeva, Evoken, Woe, Inter Arma, Krieg, Demiser, Valdrin, and a bunch of others. We were lucky enough to attend, and what impressed us the most about the event itself beyond the notable lineup was the real DIY attitude and the care in every detail that made that weekend a special occasion.

We won’t have to wait another decade-and-a-half for the next iteration, and with every indication, Heart of Winter is pulling out every stop to make this one hell of a time. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DET AND CRITICAL DEFIANCE — “BLOODSURGE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 222026
 

(written by Islander)

As you gaze upon the torrents of blood cascading down through a cold and desolate landscape on the cover of the record we’re about to premiere, you can begin to get a sense of the musical experience it offers. The artwork (by Julian Mora) matches the record’s name — Bloodsurge.

Bloodsurge is a special split EP that will be released on October 23rd by Dying Victims Productions (who are definitely on a roll this year). It joins together songs from the Finnish band DET (Destructive Elite Terror!) and the Chilean band Critical Defiance, timed to coincide with a joint tour this autumn — and today we give you the chance to hear all of them on the eve of the EP’s release. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KALT VINDUR — “IN SILENCE”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Oct 222026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we gladly reunite with the music of the Polish “Subcarpathian Black Metal” band Kalt Vindur. We’ve been writing about and recommending their music since discovering their second album …And Nothing Is Endless in 2020. They followed that with a quartet of singles in 2023 and then their third album Magna Mater in 2024, which led to our Andy Synn’s laudatory review of that album and our Comrade Aleks’ interview of Kalt Vindur guitarist Artur Szydło.

The occasion for today’s reunion is our premiere of a video of the band performing a song from the band’s forthcoming fourth album, The Void of Time, which is set for a November 27 release by The Circle Music. This is the third single released so far, and its name is “In Silence“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FVNERAL FVKK

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 222026
 

(At the beginning of this week we hosted the exclusive premiere of one of the year’s best albums, Indecent Idols, by the German epic doom band Fvneral Fvkk. And now, on the day before its release by Dying Victims Productions, we present our Comrade Aleks’ interview with two of the band’s members.)

The first full-length album from the German epic doom brethren Fvneral Fvkk was released in 2019 via Solitude Productions. On their debut, Carnal Confession, the four-piece — whose members are also largely active in the Hamburg-based death-doom outfit Ophis — tackled the issue of child abuse by representatives of the Catholic Church. Fvneral Fvkk emphasized that they are not an anti-Christian band; they do not critique Christian dogma or faith as a whole, but rather specific manifestations of the Church as an institution.

Given this approach, doom metal — a genre arguably closer to liturgical or ceremonial music than to extreme metal — was chosen as the most fitting vehicle for critiquing the Church’s documented crimes. While the band’s name itself embodies a form of dark satire, their follow-up, Indecent Idols, continues and further develops the melodic richness and solemn emotional depth of the debut.

I approached Fvneral Fvkk for guidance, and Decanus Obscaenus (guitars) alongside Cantor Cinaedicus (vocals) answered my call. Continue reading »

 Older Entries