AN NCS PREMIERE: DESTRUCTION OF ORION — “BETTER DAYS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 062026
 

(written by Islander)

Darkness. A life devoid of hope.
For it is that light, that semblance of hope,
which destroys.

There is not hope in this moment,
It is not found in the past,
Nor realised in our death.

The burden of such unrelenting pain,
denies our truth, our healing.
Existing as fragments of ourselves,
broken, beyond repair,
…yet clinging on for better days.

Those dark words form a preamble to the song we’re about to premiere. It’s from Dimensions Of Chaos, a new album by the Bulgarian funeral doom project Destruction of Orion, which will be released on November 27th by Aesthetic Death. Continue reading »

NORTHWEST TERROR FEST ANNOUNCES FULL 2027 LINEUP AND REVEALS ARTWORK

 Metal News  No Responses »
Nov 062026
 

(written by Islander)

Yesterday NCS-sponsored Northwest Terror Fest announced its final lineup for 2027 and revealed the official poster art for the event. As you can see, the artwork created by Adam Vick (with layout by Christian Alm) is tremendous, and the lineup is too.

Yesterday NWTF revealed the names of 10 more bands who hadn’t previously been disclosed: Gorguts, Immolation, Imperial Triumphant, Fulci, Coscradh, Distest, Generation Decline, Melancholia, Nyx Division, and Ripping Remains. They make an already very strong lineup even stronger, joining Napalm Death, SubRosa, Deadguy performing Fixation on a Coworker, and more. Here’s the full international lineup in aphabetical order: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NOCTURNIS — “DRANGSAL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Nov 052026
 

(written by Islander)

Since the earliest days of metal’s dawning bands have expressed rebellious themes by embracing the symbology of Lucifer and his fallen angels, some have delved into the occult in more than symbolic fashion, and others have drenched themselves and their listeners in gore. And so it is refreshing to continue finding bands who put their thematic focus on historical events and social commentary.

The black metal band Nocturnis, who dwell in the Black Forest region of southern Germany, are one such band. Their powerful 2022 debut album Unsegen told the story of a young soldier in World War I, who was driven by his conscience into a no less harrowing inner struggle due to the atrocities he experienced, a struggle he ultimately loses.

And now we have a second Nocturnis full-length that explores a different series of historical events. Titled Drangsal, it is a concept album about the European witch hunts. It’s set for release on November 6th (tomorrow!) by Fetzner Death Records, but we’re sharing a full stream of it now. Continue reading »

LOCKSLIP – THE CONVERSATION

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 052026
 

(Andy Synn wants to have a conversation with you about a new band and their killer debut)

As you all surely know, we are big proponents of balance here at NCS… for every light a dark, for every yin a yang, and for every big, iconic name we cover there must be a smaller, more underground artist we can give a helping hand to.

And, lo and behold, here we have The Conversation (out tomorrow), the debut album from wild-eyed Math-Punk Metalcore crew Lockslip, to even the scales once more.

Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XXXIII: RIP KENNETH GALLANT

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 052026
 

(Here we present Daniel Barkasi’s latest monthly collection of reviews for NCS. This one focuses on albums released in October 2026.)

Thankfulness can be tricky. Everyone’s life situation is unique, of course, and we all have encountered strife, heartache, sadness, but also joy, elation, and warmth. Lately as I’ve seen folks really struggling, it isn’t lost upon me how fortunate we’ve been in many facets of this winding adventure that is life. As I write this, I’m looking out at our horses, petting our wonderful Australian Cattle Dog, Jericho, as he attempts to tackle me with affection, and the importance of such moments aren’t lost on me. A reflective mood has struck my often pessimistic brain, and it goes to show that sometimes you’ve got to slow down a bit and embrace every good moment. They’re the ones you want to remember and call upon during difficult times.

Solidifying this feeling is the loss of a friend and fellow passionate music writer in Kenneth Gallant, who passed away back in July, and I unfortunately only recently found out about it. Continue reading »

HALLOWEEN ’26: A PLAYLIST OF SCARY AND HAUNTING EXTREME METAL

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 042026
 

(Our Italian friend Tito Vespasiani has brought us a Halloween-themed playist of extreme metal songs, both very new and somewhat older, from nine bands, which he introduces one-by-one in the following column. He’s got the collection up on Spotify too.)

Hello folks! It’s external contributor Tito V. here again. Long time no see. It’s been a while since my last playlist for No Clean Singing and I decided to come swinging with a new one suitable for this time of the year… haunting and eerie tunes only!

I know, there may be TONS more deserving to be added here. From zombies to monsters of all sorts, passing through ghastly guitar tones and more scary tunes, but we wanna keep this “fairly” short in order to be able to check it out properly and revisit it, alright. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WITCHGÖAT — “STORMING THE WALLS OF ETERNITY”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 042026
 

(written by Islander)

“With a name like Witchgöat, it’s safe to say we are probably not dealing with the latest Avant-Garde, Prog Metal sensation to sweep through the scene. Instead, these Salvadorians lay waste to everyone and everything in sight with their brand of Blackened Death/Thrash.”

That’s how NCS writer Todd Manning began his review of Witchgöat’s debut album Egregores of the Black Faith more than seven years ago. But he also took pains to point out that “while Witchgöat certainly owe a debt to ripping Black Metal, tons of molten Old School Metal and Thrash slag flow through their veins”, and that they achieved “a striking balance between brutality and memorability”.

In 2023 Witchgöat followed up with their second album, Altars of Necromancy, and it was an even more multi-faceted and eye-opening experience (one for which we hosted the premiere of a demonically wild and devilishly hypnotic song called “Rejected by the Demiurge“).

And now Witchgöat are coming back at us again, with a third album named Serpent Hordes that their new label Personal Records will co-release with Morbid Skull Records on December 4th. And we are again in the fortunate position of getting to premiere one of the new songs — “Storming the Walls of Eternity“. Continue reading »

HATEBREED – FATAL PARADOX

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 042026
 

Hatebreed - Fatal Paradox

(Andy Synn says that these old dogs still bite just as hard as ever on their new album, out Friday)

What more is there to say about Hatebreed?

After all, we’re talking about a band who have been Hardcore royalty for almost thirty years now, and a veritable institution in the Metal scene for almost as long, selling millions of albums and touring around the world, from toilet bowls to stadium shows, along the way.

So you might think that everything that needs saying has already been said, in one way or another.

But you’d be wrong, because real fans know that while there’s never been a bad Hatebreed album, not all Hatebreed albums are created equal… especially when you consider their last few releases which, while never without at least a banger or two to their name (The Divinity of Purpose in particular features a bunch of killer cuts that have ended up on my regular playlist), have sometimes felt a little too formulaic for their own good.

Which is what makes Fatal Paradox worth talking about, because against all odds – and without radically reinventing the proverbial wheel or breaking the metaphorial mould – it might just be the band’s best album since The Rise of Brutality.

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MACERATION — “LYCANTHROPIC CARNAGE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 042026
 

(written by Islander)

The story of Maceration is such an interesting and inspiring one, at least if you’re a nerdy death metal historian. They began in roughly 1990 as a death metal side project of two guys (Jakob Schultz and Jacob Hansen) from the Danish thrash band Invocator, catching the building death metal wave in Europe. They played their first gig that same year with Darkthrone back when that band was playing death metal. And their 1992 debut album A Serenade of Agony was what most people consider the first Danish death metal album. At least for that reason, and maybe a few others (such as a 19-year-old Dan Swanö recording session vocals for the record), it achieved a kind of cult status.

But as a side project Maceration turned out to be short-lived. There was an independently relased Maceration demo in 1995, and then nothing further for quite a long time (i.e., nearly 30 years). Thought dead, but with its heart still secretly beating, Maceration revived in 2022 with a new album authentically titled It Never Ends…, and to draw the red line back to the band’s origins it included growls by Dan Swanö in what (so far as we know) was his last performance of harsh vocals.

They followed that hellaciously good comeback album with another terrific album just last year — Serpent Devourment — with Dan Swanö still involved as producer and mixer, but with the band’s live vocalist Jan Bergmann Jepsen behind the mic. And now they have fairly quickly brought forth another full-length. Titled Mercy to the Miserable, it’s set for release on November 20th by Emanzipation Productions,  a label that’s been with them arm-in-arm since the comeback album.

We are most happy today to premiere a lyric video for the final single from the new album in advance of that release, a song aptly named “Lycanthropic Carnage“. (And by the way, if you’re a nerdy metal historian like we are, it will be worth your time to read our contributor Zoltar’s wonderful 2025 interview of sole remaining founding member Jakob Schultz — here.) Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DISEMBODY — “AWAKENING OF ANCIENT EVIL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Last month we had the pleasure of premiering the second single from Awakening of Ancient Evil, the second full-length from the Finnish black/thrash duo Disembody. It’s set for release by Helldprod Records on November 4th (tomorrow!), but you can listen to it in its entirety now through our album premiere below.

The label has summed up the music as “raw, vicious and uncanny” — “eight tracks packed with hellish aggression, piercing riffs, and relentless pounding evilness,” leavened with “haunting melodies [that] will lull you into a dark slumber.”

That is accurate and succinct, but of course we have more elaborate thoughts of our own to share about this very remarkable album. Continue reading »

 Older Entries