AN NCS PREMIERE: RIVERFLAME — “WHERE DRAGONS ONCE RULED”

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Mar 272026
 

(written by Islander)

“Riverflame were created in 2024 by members of Hail Spirit Noir, Ponte Del Diavolo, and OWLS.” That short announcement got my attention just as effectively as if it had been a meteor plowing into the house next door. Those other groups happen to be personal favorites, so there’s that, but the strong attraction also derives from curiosity about what these four musicians have done together.

What they’ve done is to record an album named Lunar Crusades that will be released on April 24th by code666/Aural Music. But what shape(s) does the music take? That’s hardly predictable, given the distinctively different nature of the music they’ve made in their other bands. The label provides some strong clues by describing the album as “a journey of epic medieval black metal atmospheres and neo-classical arrangements,” channeling “the spirit of Stormkeep, Summoning, and Dissection.”

Even more tangible clues were provided through the release of a song that shares the band’s name, and now we’re presenting more evidence through our premiere of the stunning album track “Where Dragons Once Ruled.” Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SAILLE — “CYCLE OF CYNICISM”

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Mar 272026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we have a reminder for you — and, as you’ll see and hear, it’s not a subtle nudge or a polite whisper. The reminder is that the epic black metal band Saille (originally formed in Belgium but now a fully Netherlands-based group) released their sixth album Forebode last month through Non Serviam Records, and it’s one you really ought to check out if you haven’t already. The reminder takes the form of a new lyric video for the ravishing album track “Cycle of Cynicism” that we’re premiering today.

For those listeners who are new to Saille’s music, this latest album provides a great introduction. It includes four new songs, of which “Cycle of Cynicism” is one, but also a newly re-recorded version of “Haunter of The Dark” from their 2013 album Ritu and an extended classical version of “Eater of Worlds” from their 2014 album Eldritch, with additional instruments.

In addition, the physical edition of the album (unlike the digital version) includes three bonus tracks — live recordings, featuring a violinist, that were captured at Metal Méan Festival and Graspop Metal Meeting.

And now… onward to the new lyric video for “Cycle of Cynicism“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WITHOUT MERCY — “THE SAINT”

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Mar 262026
 

(written by Islander)

Vancouver, Canada’s Without Mercy have announced that on May 8th they will release a new three-song EP named Infinite Loss. The EP is a mark of change for the band. They’ve explained that for the first time they “left home to make a record, crossing borders, abandoning routine, and committing fully to the process.” That process included confining themselves in a studio environment for 10 days.

As guitarist DJ Temple has stated: “There was no comfort, no distance, and no way to step away. That isolation mattered. It stripped everything down to what was essential. This record exists because we chose to be uncomfortable, to argue honestly, and to stay in the room until it felt right”.

As the first sign of what that creative process yielded, today we’re premiering the EP’s first single, “The Saint,” accompanied by a new music video. Lyrically, the song confronts the idea of being enslaved by the land, “all the different whips, and all the different backs.” Musically, it puts some head-spinning twists on Without Mercy’s branding as a “groove metal band”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: YEAR OF THE COYOTE — “MAN ALIVE”

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Mar 262026
 

(written by Islander)

Year of the Coyote is a new name here at our site. They’re a DIY sludge-hardcore trio from Portland, Oregon. They descrbe their music in terms that piqued our interest: “Paying homage to an array of grimier hardcore and metal acts — think the suffocating feel of Coalesce, Cult Leader, or Torch Runner mixed with the open, sledgehammer ambiance of late-90s Isis — Year Of The Coyote churns out a mix of off-kilter grinding intensity and avalanche-like dissonance.”

The band released a three-song debut demo in late 2014, and then a first full-length named Siege in 2018. That was quite a while ago, and of course the world has become a very different place, but at last Year of the Coyote will be releasing a second full-length on April 23rd. Its name is Hell Wall, and today we’re premiering its first single, “Man Alive“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SICARIUS — “NEX”

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Mar 262026
 

(written by Islander)

The U.S. black metal band Sicarius has a storied history, one that includes two albums released in 2017 and 2020 by M-Theory Audio, extensive touring, and stage performances with such bands as 1349, Goatwhore, Vader, Marduk, Disgorge, and Incantation. But in the next few years following release of their second album, the band essentially dissolved and was left for dead.

Yet a resurrection has occurred. The band’s co-founders Argyris and Carnage reconnected and have rebuilt the dead organism of Sicarius. We’re told that they began writing and recording new songs in 2024, pulling influences from bands such as Bathory, Rotting Christ, Dissection, Mayhem, Urghehal, Marduk, and Absu, and fusing in elements from groups like Type O Negative. They also brought on board a new vocalist of wide-ranging power, Akefalos.

And now their work on a new album named Nex is complete, and the record is set for release on April 10th by Adirondack Black Mass. It is described as “a 10-track story about loss, death, retribution, and fury that honors tradition while being unafraid to venture on its own.” It’s the album’s title track that we bring you today through a lyric video — a song that includes a guest performance by guitarist Charles Hedger (Ghul) of Mayhem. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: URLUK

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Mar 262026
 

(Comrade Aleks brought us the following excellent interview of the two members of Urluk, an Italian band whose new album will be released next month by Pest Records.)

We interviewed Italian Urluk two years ago or so, and back then they performed haunted and doomed black metal with an original authentic concept that was soaked with bleak shadows of abandoned dwellings and grim countryside. At least this description helped to better perceive their full-length More, and I expected something similar from the band’s second album Memories in Fade that is announced to be released on April 10th via Pest Records.

Yet the truth is that Urluk remained true to their lyrical concept but changed musical direction significantly. Memories in Fade combines the elements of alternative rock, black metal, and ambient alongside some specific pieces which are difficult to categorize. But in the end of the day, they are still Urluk, and I’m glad to support the band with another interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLOOD COUNTESS — “THE SCAVENGER’S DAUGHTER”

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Mar 252026
 

(written by Islander)

The last time we encountered the music of Blood Countess from York in the UK, in the run-up to their 2022 debut album Occulta Tenebris, we wrote: “The stench of sulfur and the fear of peril hang about these lunging and whirling ecstasies, and it’s not hard to imagine the flashing of bat wings and the baring of knife-sharp fangs.” Now, four years down the road from then, Blood Countess return with their second full-length, Imperatrix Sanguinis.

As explained on behalf of their label, Dominance of Darkness Records, the band “remain true to their moniker, spilling tales of Elizabeth Bathory’s reign of blood-soaked tyranny – obsession, sex, and perversion entwined with madness and hatred for humankind – all led by the invective throat of frontwoman The Cuntess”.

As a sign of the merciless but head-spinning slaughter that the new album delivers, what we have for you today is the premiere of the record’s second single, “The Scavenger’s Daughter“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SOTABOSC — “FREYJA”

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Mar 252026
 

(written by Islander)

Here is background information about the Spanish band Sotabosc whose music we’re sharing with you today from their debut album El batec dels Maquis:

SOTABOSC was founded in 2023 in Barcelona by Oscar Linares and Manel Song, known for their work in Syberia, together with Xavi Forne, creator of the dark-folk project Ulmus and founder of Error! Design. In 2025, the project solidified with the addition of David Rodríguez on vocals and Gerard Serrano on bass, completing a lineup deeply connected to the Catalan underground scene and involved in bands such as Amargor, Arna, Malammar, Stained Blood, Vampyric Winter, Llacuna, Hurricade and Carontte, among others.

Firmly rooted in an anti-fascist ethos, SOTABOSC conveys its message through lyrics sung entirely in Catalan and a carefully crafted visual identity, including artwork, logos, stage aesthetics and graphic materials. Their artistic and political discourse form a coherent whole, integral to the project.

The album itself has a distinctive structure, and to describe it we’ll again quote from materials we’ve received: Continue reading »

LANTLÔS – NOWHERE IN BETWEEN FOREVER

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Mar 252026
 

(Andy Synn has a long history with Lantlôs, and that continues on their new album, out 03 April)

As we have seen so far this week, there are Black Metal bands, and there are Post-Black Metal bands… and then there are bands like Lantlôs who used to belong to the second category (and were, in fact, a seminal part of its genesis and evolution) but who are now truly “post” Black Metal, in the most literal sense of the term.

Though, to be fair, that’s been true for a while, with 2014’s Melting Sun (still a huge favourite of mine) and then 2021’s even more provocatively poppy (but still absolutely stunning) Wildhund (which earned a spot in my Critical Top Ten) demonstrating that Lantlôs, aka Markus Siegenhort, have long since shed any remnants of their old skin in favour of a kaleidoscopic rainbow of shades and colours that has more in common with – among others – the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, Foo Fighters, and Devin Townsend.

And, wouldn’t you know it, on Nowhere In Between Forever they’re at it again.

Continue reading »

THE LUNA SEQUENCE: “RIFTS BECOME PASSAGES”

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Mar 252026
 

(Here is DGR’s review of a new album by one of his old favorites.)

Having a retraceable history with a project is always fun. Holding up the hourglass of time and attempting to gaze backwards through it is a fun way to hold oneself accountable, or as has more often proven to be the gaze, to serve as a cattle prod to the memory centers to let one know how you felt about a previous few releases. It is grounding in that way, having an artist’s releases serving as particular stopping points in time that you can center yourself on and remember the many years back. The musical adventures of the decidedly non-metal electronics and heavy metal guitar instrumental work of The Luna Sequence has been one such project.

This is a musical venture that has been mentioned in some form or another for a hair over a decade since your’s truly has set up camp in the corner of the site’s vast musical catacombs. The Luna Sequence has traveled with artist Kaia Young across the country and through multiple genre influences, absorbing ideas like a sponge and slowly adapting itself around them. It has seen permutations that have been aggressively heavy, surprisingly relaxed, introverted and meditative, and more often than not some unholy combination of all of the above depending on which ideas might’ve excitedly crashed into each other to form an energetic explosion. Continue reading »

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