SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: IRREVERSIBLE MECHANISM, NEMOROUS, SATOR, WEFT, PITTS TWYFORD & SINGH, MORAL IMPLANT

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Nov 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Before I get to the music I’ve picked for this Saturday’s roundup I’d like to alert our followers to something that will happen on Monday, which will involve an appeal for your help.

It’s the time of year when our traditional year-end LISTMANIA series will slowly start lurching forward, building toward a frantic rush. Broadly speaking, it includes three segments: 1) our sharing of YE lists published at certain print mags and “big platform” websites, not because we’re endorsing them but because sometimes they’re useful and sometimes they’re laughable and they provide a gaze into how the broader surface-world of metal reacted to the year’s releases, and in all those way can be entertaining; 2) our posting of year-end lists assembled by our own writers and some special guests; and 3) the one thing I contribute to the exercise — my list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

That infectious song list is the last part of NCS LISTMANIA. I don’t usually begin rolling it out, bit by bit, until after the first of the New Year. But I start thinking about it much earlier. I keep a growing list of candidates all the way through the year based on what I’ve heard, but I don’t hear everything (who could?), and so part of what I always do to get ready for that list is to ask our visitors for their input, for their picks for the most infectious songs they heard that were released this year. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DAWN OF A DARK AGE, ELLENDE, 1914, LAETITIA IN HOLOCAUST

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Nov 142025
 

(written by Islander)

This is another rare day when I have no premieres on our calendar and therefore have some free time for other things. Not wanting to spend it paying bills, hand-washing dishes (the dishwasher is busted), doing laundry, cleaning the cat box, or taking calls from world leaders interested in trying to understand what the fuck is going on in the U.S., I decided to get a head start on my usual weekend roundups of new music and videos.

Without further ado, here we go: Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XXII: A BUSY WINTER IS COMING

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 142025
 

(Daniel Barkasi is back with us today, presenting a collection of reviews for a variety of recommended albums released in October 2025.)

As winter approaches – it was 35 F this morning in Florida – and living amongst a sea of boxes and plastic tubs (move prep and all that), the madness for myself and our very large family of animals intensifies. A move with a farm filled with creatures is a challenge that I for one cannot wait to be done, and while we’re chipping away at it, it’s going to take a bit more time. Not in a massive rush, however, so we move forward without panic. With that, the current cooler weather in Florida has been a joy – typically chilly enough for a light hoodie in the evening, and never breaking a sweat by simply opening the house door.

The fall touring season is in full swing, with the next couple of weeks filled with so many shows that there’s no way we’ll be able to do all the ones we’d like. We did, however, just take in Ulcerate and Spirit Possession, which was a flawless evening by two exceptional acts. It certainly brought me back to June and Fortress Festival, where both performed phenomenal sets in what was an incredible experience. It was cool to see Ulcerate headline and add a few additional tracks; this being the first time we’ve seen them here in the US in 9 years, which was last at the legendary Brass Mug with Zhrine and Phobocosm. Continue reading »

THE HALO EFFECT: “WE ARE SHADOWS”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Nov 142025
 

(On November 21st Nuclear Blast will release a new EP from the Swedish metal band The Halo Effect, an EP named We Are Shadows that includes five cover songs, featuring one track picked by each band member. Our writer DGR has been a fan of the band, spent some time with this new EP, and wrote the following review.)

The year in heavy metal is going to have peaks and valleys. Previously, we could’ve viewed years in heavy metal as one seemingly unending torrential flood or the polar opposite in a semi-peaceful consistency, a steady flow of new albums, discoveries, and distractions in equal measure. The past handful of years, however, have been so brain-fried and birdshot when it comes to any form of a consistent release schedule that you could never tell what was going to arrive and – part of this due to getting older and being blissfully unaware of the world surrounding us – more often than not now it feels like we’re constantly getting blindsided by something just off in the distance arriving at the front door with all the aplomb and grandeur one might afford to a distant cousin deciding to bike across the country and wanting to crash at your house for the day. Not to say that there’s any personal experience in the matter, but come the fuck on dude, we’ve spoken one time in nearly forty years?

2024 could have been kindly described as a year of fits and starts at best, were it not for the feeling of burning the candle at both ends – as well as just immolating the whole fucking thing after dousing it in kerosene with the amount we wrote – but 2025 has been the first time in some time that things have felt… consistent. Sort of. We still seem to be drunkenly stumbling to a semblance of previous reality at times but this is more like the occasional stumble one might make when they’re just on the legal line and walking home after having cut themselves off hours ago. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ACHATHRAS

 Interviews  1 Response »
Nov 132025
 

(In September Cult Never Dies released the debut album by the mysterious black metal band Achathras. It impressed our Comrade Aleks (as it did others around here) and he sought an interview, which was granted. As you’ll discover below, it resulted in a very interesting and very articulate discussion.)

Although Cult Never Dies has earned a reputation in the book publishing industry, they couldn’t resist the temptation to support the scene as comprehensively as possible, occasionally releasing and reissuing interesting thematic releases. The debut album of anonymous project Achathras is surprisingly competent and exciting as it sticks to the canons of such iconic ’90s black metal bands as Abigor, Emperor, and Old Man’s Child. The trio consists of Eidolon Drakh, Malefic Orator, and Vorthol, whose identities are hidden.

Their debut A Darkness of the Ancient Past radiates uncompromising determination, controlled aggression, and it’s full of cold melodicism covered with mystic atmosphere. The high quality of this material is explained by the fact that its members are experienced musicians, and no, I didn’t aim to uncover their names, so this interview with Eidolon (probably) is focused mostly on Achathras’ music and spirit in wider sense.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ECTOVOID — “COLLAPSING SPIRITUAL NEBULA”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 132025
 

(written by Islander)

“From the abyssal and blistering depths of Alabama and featuring members from Seraphic Entombment and Father Befouled, Ectovoid return with their new album In Unreality’s Coffin! An exhumation of death metal’s spectral essence and a relentless pulse of putrefaction, summoning shadows into eternal decay and entombing listeners in cavernous pummeling riffs!”

Those are among the vivid words offered by Everlasting Spew Records for Ectovoid’s third album, which the label has decided to use as a means of quickly unraveling the New Year; it’s set for release on January 9, 2026. What we have for you today is the premiere of the album’s first advance track, “Collapsing Spiritual Nebula“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNVIÂR — “DISGLAÇ”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 132025
 

(written by Islander)

The maestro Paolo Girardi painted the stunning cover art for Unviâr’s forthcoming debut album Disglaç. As you can see, it’s out of the ordinary in Girardi’s vast catalogue of works — no monsters, no demons, no writhing horrors or glaring eyeballs, no visions of the world ending. Instead, it’s naturalistic and beautiful, though also ominous and haunting, rather than paranormal and nightmarish.

The artwork may raise a question in the minds of listeners about whether the music of this Italian black metal band, as reflected on Disglaç, is in line with the visuals. We have an early answer today, through our premiere of the album’s title song in advance of the record’s November 28 release by ATMF. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2025

 LISTMANIA 2025  5 Responses »
Nov 132025
 

(written by Islander)

Well, holy shit, is it already time here on only the 13th day of November to begin our site’s annual LISTMANIA orgy? Lo and behold, it is.

It has become an annual (and reflexive) tradition at our putrid site to launch our year-end LISTMANIA orgy with the appearance of DECIBEL mag’s Top 40 list, because they always seem to burst from the starting gate sooner than anyone else — and they’ve done it again this year, even earlier (by one day) than they did in 2024.

I need to repeat, of course, that the reason we also use their list as the launching point for all of our own forthcoming YE features is because, in my humble opinion, DECIBEL is still the best print publication out there for fans of extreme metal. Their list also always generates healthy discussions (and sometimes unhealthy ones), so it’s still a fitting way to launch the latest LISTMANIA season apart from the list’s early-bird status.

The DECIBEL 2025 list will officially appear in the magazine’s January 2026 edition (which can be ordered here and includes a cover story about GWAR’s 40th anniversary, a Hall of Fame on Pallbearer’s debut, an exclusive new Morbikon flexi disc, and writers’ commentary about the Top 40 list), but DECIBEL again decided (for the 11th year in a row) to scoop their own list rather than letting leeches like me leak it. They published the list on-line yesterday, and so I can now again re-publish their list without too much guilt, beyond the sheepishness that comes from being one of the factors that forced them to start outing themselves in the first place. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MNAJDRA AND SAĦĦAR — “MDLXV – FIDI, VENDETTA”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 122025
 

(written by Islander)

Two days from now Snow Wolf Records and Fiadh Productions will co-release a special collaborative split album of black metal inspired by Maltese lore, focusing on the renowned Great Siege of Malta. One of the bands, Mnajdra, is a U.S. band but with a long-standing interest in the history and culture of the island of Malta (indeed, the band is named for a megalithic temple complex found on Malta). The other, Saħħar, is a Maltese band with an extensive discography dating back to its 2007 full-length debut.

In their musical re-telling of the Great Siege, Mnajdra represents the Turkish invaders and Saħħar represents the Knights of Malta. The tracks of the two bands alternate across the course of the album, but the record also includes one song in which the two bands collaborate.

To help spread the word, we’re sharing a full stream of the album today, along with some thoughts about the music, but before we get to that we ought to provide a brief sketch of the Great Siege of Malta for people who aren’t as steeped in that history as Mnajdra and Saħħar. Continue reading »

CKRAFT: “UNCOMMON GROUNDS”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 122025
 

(Settle in, make some time, prepare for detours into a labyrinth of rabbit holes, and eventually reach a wildly inventive discussion of wildly inventive music. In other words, we have another remarkable review by Vizzah Harri, this time focusing on a remarkable album by the French band CKRAFT that was released way back in January of this waning year.)

One type of madness is to take pattern-seeking to the level where one actively looks for connections. It’s been pretty stormy in my neck of the woods this year. Not being able to account for how others experienced a year filled with despair for many, no-one can claim to be able to right or mend all wrongs on our earth in the current zeitgeist. There is however a criminally underplayed and underrated album that demands attention. It will be revealed after a bit of a detour. People that groan about nothing good coming out anymore are living under a rock and probably still send each other this meme for kicks.

Every now and then you hear a melody that reminds you of something else. Only recently becoming acquainted with Emerson, Lake & Palmer led me to listen to their Tarkus album and when Stones of years came around I was pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I heard that vocal melody before. I was like, this is Hail Spirit Noir, but it very obviously was not. Continue reading »

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