NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: OSKOREIEN — “PRISMATIC REASON”

Jun 192025

(written by Islander)

Oskoreien is back!

For people with discerning musical tastes and long memories, that will be a very happy piece of news. For people who may be encountering the Oskoreien name for the first time, it’s a project formed in Los Angeles in 2003 by multi-instrumentalist Jay Valena. As his solo endeavor, Oskoreien released a pair of demos and then a self-titled debut album in 2011, followed by a split with Botanist five years later and then a second album, All Too Human, in 2016 — but nothing since then.

If you haven’t explored those previous releases, they are well worth your time, especially if you’re a fan of multi-faceted melodic black metal (and you can learn more about some of them, and about Jay Valena‘s very interesting inspirations, through the reviews and an interview we published in those earlier years). Oskoreien‘s forthcoming third album, Hollow Fangs, will also be well worth your time. It’s set for release on July 18th, and today we’re premiering its opening track “Prismatic Reason“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: RAHVIRA — “ONLY FORWARD”

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Jun 192025

(written by Islander)

The history of the Armenian people is a long tale of subjugation and sorrow. As one source explains, between the 16th and 19th centuries the traditional Armenian homeland came under the rule of the Ottoman and Persian empires, and by the 19th century the eastern part of it had been conquered by the Russian empire. During World War I, up to 1.5 million Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian genocide. And after the Russian empire ceased to exist, the First Republic of Armenia was absorbed by the Soviet Union. The Republic of Armenia, as it now exists, became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, landlocked and surrounded by Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

In April of this year the Armenian black metal band Rahvira (the duo of vocalist Aleksandr “Arson” Muradyan and songwriter/instrumentalist Tigran Rahvira) released an album named Ghosts Of Darkness through Holy Mountains Music (Yerevan, Armenia) and Wine And Fog Productions (Italy). As the band describe, the album “presents the struggles and sorrows of the Armenian people, dedicated entirely to the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide”.

“These songs emphasize the experiences, losses, and hopes of the Armenian people” and represent “the determination of the Armenian people to persevere despite the pain and suffering they have endured…. This album is not only a tribute to a critical chapter of Armenian history but also a spiritual journey — from pain to rebirth — that calls upon us to never forget, while urging us to continue living and triumphing, drawing strength from the past.”

What we have for you today is Rahvira‘s official video for a song from Ghosts of Darkness called “Only Forward“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORTALHA NEGRA — “NECROMANTE”

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Jun 182025

(written by Islander)

Helldprod Records has marked June 18th as the release date for Mortalha Negra‘s debut EP, Necromante. While Mortalha Negra is a new name, the person behind it is well-known: Armando Exekutor has led Flagedör for more than two decades and is also a fixture in Gravedancer, whose debut album was released in 2023 (and those are just two aspects of an extensive musical resume within the Brazilian scene, and elsewhere).

Under the banner of Mortalha Negra, A. Exekutor has joined forces with drummer J. Ferrante to create sulfurous black thrash with a powerfully occult atmosphere. Helldprod previews the EP with these words: Continue reading »

DEADGUY – NEAR-DEATH TRAVEL SERVICES

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Jun 182025

(Andy Synn encourages you all to book a trip with Deadguy on their long-awaited new album)

Don’t call it a comeback!

Or… maybe do? Because if there’s one time you’re probably justified in using that word it’s when a band has a thirty year gap between albums (especially if it’s a thirty year gap between their debut and their follow-up).

The thing is, no matter how influential and iconic Fixation on a Coworker was (and still is, to be clear) there’s no getting around the fact that it has been a very long time since 1995, and during the intervening three decades between then and now the Hardcore scene has grown and expanded and evolved to such an extent that the big question actually seems to be… does the world need a new Deadguy album?

Well, here’s the thing, however you answer that question – mine would be a resounding “yes”, by the way – all that really matters is that this is the album that Deadguy themselves needed to make.

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORBYDA — “UNDER THE SPELL”

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Jun 172025

(written by Islander)

The Leipzig-based band Morbyda will have their debut album Under the Spell released on June 20th by Dying Victims Productions. If enough people find it, we predict it will bring throngs of people under its spell, people across a wide range of ages who relish the glories of devil-horned heavy metal. This quartet may be fairly new to the scene, but they sound like they’ve been at this for decades.

“Blackened speed metal” is the high-level descriptor of the music, and it’s not off-base, but it doesn’t fully capture all the traditions Morbyda pull from, or the absolutely electrifying and fist-pumping results they’ve achieved. With this album, they become a band worth watching very closely Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FILTH — “EMACIATED”

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Jun 172025

(written by Islander)

Following up on a two-song promo released last fall, the Swedish death metal trio Filth will have their debut album Time to Rot released on July 18th by Me Saco Un Ono and Rotted Life.

From the name of the band to the name of the album and the more ghastly aspects of the cover art, the signals are sent that this will be death metal with a decidedly foul and fetid aroma. Perhaps less immediately obvious, the new album is also stunningly ferocious and bludgeoning.

And you should take something else away from the unusual colorfulness and more surreal aspects of the cover art: There is more going on in Filth‘s music than grotesque putrescence and rampaging evisceration — as you’ll discover very quickly upon listening to “Emaciated,” the album track we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

SARGASSUS – VITRUVIAN RAYS

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Jun 172025

(According to our own Andy Synn, now is the perfect time to get to know Finnish quartet Sargassus)

One thing I mentioned in the intro to yesterday’s review (which you can, and should, read here) was that while we don’t always end up covering some of the bigger bands out there, sometimes we’ll do it just because we enjoy doing so.

But what I failed to mention is that there’s another benefit to occasionally covering some of the more notorious names… because if and when those articles start doing larger numbers and attracting new readers (as has been known to happen every now and again) there’s inevitably a knock-on effect that brings more eyes to the smaller and/or more underground names we usually write about.

Which is why I’ve chosen to follow up my Cryptopsy coverage with some words about the recently-released debut album from Progressive/Melodic Black/Death Metal quartet Sargassus.

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VANISHING EARTH — “THE BOUNDLESS”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Jun 162025

(written by Islander)

Anyone who was even a semi-regular visitor to our site from 2011 through 2023 will recognize the name Oak Pantheon. Over that period we wrote 24 articles about this Minneapolis band’s music, dating back to their first single and continuing through our review of their last album, 2023’s The Absence.

And yes, it did turn out to be their last album, because this past February Oak Pantheon announced that they were amicably splitting up. They explained on social media: “Drifting motivations and musical interests have made it difficult to agree on a cohesive path forward. We will likely work together again, just in different forms.”

Throughout the entirety of their existence and their quite varied musical expressions Oak Pantheon was principally a collaboration between Sami Sati and Tanner Swenson. Since the dissolution of Oak Pantheon neither of them has abandoned music-making. In the case of Sami Sati, we are happily announcing today that he has a new project called Vanishing Earth that serves as a continuation of his efforts and ambitions in Oak Pantheon.

And today we are also very happily hosting the premiere of Vanishing Earth‘s musical debut, a two-song EP named The Boundless that will be released on June 17th. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NORILSK — “LA FONTE”

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Jun 162025

(written by Islander)

In February of this year Hypnotic Dirge Records released a new album named Antipole by the Canadian death/doom metal band Norilsk. Originally a duo consisting of Nic Miquelon and Nick Richer, the band had expanded by then to include guitarists Tom Hansen and Matt MacIvor, who joined in 2016 and 2017 respectively. But Antipole was the first album to be recorded by all four members, after extensive rehearsals and work among them on the arrangements.

The results of this collaboration, as captured on Antipole, really represent a significant step forward for the band (every band says that about each new release, but in this case it’s really true). The music isn’t conventional death/doom by any means, but encompasses intriguing and surprising stylistic interplays and contrasts.

Moreover, the music’s changing shades of light and dark, of beauty and tragedy, of granitic weight and ethereal evanescence, reflect its thematic interests (sometimes rooted in literature) in expressing duality. As an example of this, today we have a compelling lyric video for a very compelling song off Antipode called “La Fonte“. Continue reading »

CRYPTOPSY – AN INSATIABLE VIOLENCE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Jun 162025

(Andy Synn is here to feed your insatiable hunger for more Cryptopsy whose new album is out Friday)

It’s generally understood, by our regular readers at least, that we tend to favour covering smaller, up-and-coming, or less well-exposed bands whenever and wherever we can, largely because – at our level, at least – those are the bands who will benefit the most from our coverage.

That doesn’t mean we won’t cover bigger bands or more notorious names when the opportunity presents itself to do so… it’s just that, after a band reaches a certain level of popularity (or notoriety) it’s easy for our voice to just get lost in the storm of acclaim (or criticism) that tends to follow most releases of a certain magnitude.

Case in point – do Cryptopsy really need us to review their new album? Well, they’re currently on the cover of Decibel which suggests that a) no, they really don’t, and b) the movers and shakers in the industry might finally be coming around to the fact that the band are (still) kind of a big deal.

But just because a band doesn’t need our help doesn’t mean we don’t want to write about them, and to be quite honest I’ve been itching to put my thoughts about An Insatiable Violence down on paper (or, at least, on the internet) for you all to read for quite some time.

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