NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SHRINEBURNER — “HYMNS OF DESPAIR”

Sep 092026

(written by Islander)

Hymns of Despair is the entirely fitting name of the debut album from Chicago-based Shrineburner. Press materials we’ve received describe the music as “earthquake-inducing”, and as “a sonic glacier of abyssal doom/sludge metal infused with fringes of psychedelic, cosmic, blackened elements”. As you will soon discover through our full streaming premiere of these six hymns in advance of Friday’s release date, those descriptions are also entirely fitting.

But of course we have slab of our own descriptions to drop on you. Continue reading »

MISCREANCE: “REMINISCENCE”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 092026

(Below we present Professor D. Grover the XIIIth’s review of a new album by the northern Italian quartet Miscreance, which was released by Season of Mist in late August.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. There have been an increasing number of bands in recent years who are mining the early days of the tech-death subgenre for influence, to varying degrees of success. It’s a reasonable assumption that most of these bands grew up listening to classics like Human or Piece Of Time or Testimony Of The Ancients, especially with the internet making it so much easier to access and discover the sort of album that was fairly obscure at the time of release.

Miscreance caught my attention in 2022 with their full-length debut Convergence, and while I didn’t do the NCS review, I was sufficiently impressed that it wound up in the number 6 spot on my year-end list here, beating out releases from some of my favorite bands of all time. They’ve been on my mind ever since, and I was pretty darn excited when word came that their follow-up was coming. Continue reading »

CLEARING THE SLATE ISSUE FOUR

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule No Responses »

Sep 092026

(Our writer DGR has been playing catch-up on records released earlier this year when other distractions interfered with writing about them. Beginning in mid-July he has delivered three Issues (which you can find here, here, and here), and now we have Issue Four bringing together extensive reviews of four more records released in preceding months.)

I don’t mind the heat too much, I’ve found that I’m still fairly operable as an individual until we reach 110 or so, which thankfully doesn’t happen too often. I get excessively grumpy when there’s humidity involved, which again, isn’t too crazy in my corner of California. Enough trips to the East Coast and the humidity there has at least pulled back the curtain a bit for me on why so many people involved in politics seems like a fucking angry moron. That sort of heat+humidity combo can rot the brain of anyone, and when you have so little to begin with, one trip to our nation’s beloved capital and you come back barely functioning. It’s why the size comparisons when people start complaining about heat make me chuckle, because there’s a different sort of suffering attached to each conception of ‘hot’, and truly, I will always feel like a soft child just barely toughing through them all as it is.

What I do hate is actually the first week of consistent heatwave wherein I have to come to terms with the fact that I’m going to have the AC unit and a fan in my room running constantly. The noise itself is enough if you’re a tender sleeper – I’m not – but what gets me is if I forget to tell the fan to stop moving back and forth, otherwise as I’m sleeping it feels like someone gently brushing across my face whispering ‘hey, heeeeeey, hey, you trying to sleep? Not today fucker’. So even for as much bragging of being able to survive on the surface of the sun, I’m still a grumpy fool.

That said, I much prefer the cold. I feel like the margin of error has an easier curve there. I can always put on more clothes, I cannot get more naked.

I do have a few more of these features to finish and I can’t make the visits to my local coffee shop with my laptop any more awkward than they are already. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BOCC — “DEMOLARIUM”

Album Reviews, Premieres 1 Response »

Sep 082026

(written by Islander)

Earlier today we published Comrade Aleks’ interview of guitarist/vocalist Emilio from the Barcelona metal band Bocc, the spur for that being the imminent release by Night Terrors Records of Bocc’s second full-length, Demolarium. And now, following quickly on the heels of that interview, we’re premiering a full stream of the album.

The interview provides informative background for what you’re about to hear. Among other things, it explains the meaning of the band’s name, describes the influences and intentions for their music, identifies a change in their composition process for the next album based on a change in the lineup, delves into their largely live recording of the album as a band, and discusses the themes explored by the Catalan lyrics of their songs.

We’ll interweave some of that dialogue into our introduction to the album stream, but of course our main focus now is the experience of the music itself. Continue reading »

KŌYA – PENDULA

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 082026

(Andy Synn has a darkly dynamic Danish debut to recommend today)

Being a music lover – and I mean a real music lover – means being constantly caught in a tug of war between listening to what you already love and/or finding new stuff to add to your collection.

Because, as much as I enjoy spending time with old favourites, re-discovering and re-evaluating albums that perhaps I didn’t appreciate at the time, it’s just as important to keep looking forwards, to stay engaged with new records and new releases, to stop myself from becoming cynical and jaded and stuck in my ways.

Which is why, year after year, I’m always so excited to encounter new bands (or, at least, bands who are new to me) helping keep the flame alive in their own way.

And one of those bands is up-and-coming Danish Sludge-core crew Kōya, who’ve just finished a busy festival season and celebrated by releasing their debut album, Pendula.

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BOCC

Interviews 1 Response »

Sep 082026

(Comrade Aleks has brought us a very good interview with guitarist/vocalist Emilio from the Catalan death/doom metal band Bocc, whose new album Demolarium will be released in just a few days by Night Terrors Records.)

While all members of the Barcelona trio Bocc had previously gravitated toward different sorts of extreme metal (some dabble in sludge, others in death metal), in 2019 they came together in a single, pernicious fervor and gave birth to a blood-soaked death-doom monstrosity.

You can tell from the cover of their second full-length album, Demolarium: the Catalans eschew the sentimentality of melodramatic doom, embracing its uncompromising, destructive, yet musically savvy expression instead. Bocc would be a good match for bands like Autopsy, Cianide, and Coffins, if you’re looking for references, but their sludge-laden, uncompromising base and vitriolic aggression adds variety to the sound.

This fact might be considered curious, given the brutal roar of Bocc’s frontman, but the lyrics are written in Catalan, and their themes are historical, mythical, and folkloric. The vocal delivery negates this merit – the lyrics are impossible to decipher. And that’s one of a few reasons why we got in touch with the band. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): EPITAPHE — “III”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Sep 072026

(written by Islander)

The French progressive death metal band Epitaphe have chosen simple Roman numerals as the sole titles for their albums, an interesting choice because their music is far from simple. One of our writers summed up their debut I as “an eclectic, avant-garde combination of quite intellectual death metal with doom-death shades”, and we wrote that in an immense song from their second album II “their richly layered maneuvers are intricate and crafted with care, but all contribute to an overarching impact, guiding the listener with a sure hand through changing moods of fear and despair, longing and grief, turbulence and collapse, and ultimately ushering us into a haunting dream”.

And now Epitaphe are returning with their third album, III, which will be released on September 11th by Aesthetic Death and Gurgling Gore and which we’re premiering in full today. The labels’ press materials preview it in these words: Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES — VOLUME XXXI: DOG DAYS

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Sep 072026

(We have another monthly collection of reviews and enthusiastic recommendations from Daniel Barkasi. This one dials in six albums released in August 2026.)

When I titled this column, it can be taken as a literal statement for me – we’ve got three dogs, after all – but it’s generally a reference to the hottest period of the summer, which ends in August. I’m used to melting in this month, but the transition to this time of year in the mountains is a stark contrast to that of the Florida soup that we’re used to.

Here, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous, with our former geographical locale still being a humid swamp. We’ve made sure to literally touch grass more often to make sure to enjoy it while it lasts. Watching our young foal Ezri growing every day has been the highlight of recent times for the wife and I.

Now, is this trade-off worthwhile for dealing with the icy, snowy winters – absolutely fucking not. Ice is for hockey, not for chopping and shoveling to get out of the house. But, hey, even my pessimistic self needs to look at the bright side sometimes! I just need to get Ezri a coat soon. Continue reading »

NOTT – AS ALL IS UNDONE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 072026

(Andy Synn has some heavy music to share on this heavy Monday)

Last week was a busy one for new releases, that’s for sure, and I hope to be able to catch up with at least some of them as the month goes on.

The one that really stood out to me, however… or, at least, the one I was most looking forward to… was the brand new slab of soul-crushing sonic weight from Seattle-based back-breakers Nott (aka Tyler Campbell and Julia Geaman), as their last album, 2023’s Hiraeth, was undoubtedly one of the heaviest albums of the year, as well as being one of my favourite releases on a purely personal level.

And, wouldn’t you know it, they’re still just as inhumanly heavy – if not even more so – as ever.

SHADES OF BLACK: BEHEMOTH, TROLLDOM, VREDEHAMMER, HARDIESSE, IHLOOSUHREE, THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK 1 Response »

Sep 062026

(written by Islander)

I feel somewhat better today as compared to yesterday (thanks for asking), though the achiness produced by the inoculation hasn’t completely vanished. Once again, I looked forward to assembling the following column as a welcome distraction from the twinges of soreness.

By way of overview, I’ll say that today’s collection leans into eye-popping tempests of imposing scale and blood-heating intensity, though it also includes psychotic episodes and a musical curveball I’ve saved for the very end. Continue reading »

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