AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BEATEN TO DEATH — “VNTRVE”

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Oct 212026
 

(written by Islander)

The Norwegian band Beaten To Death don’t play by anyone else’s rules. In the most rudimentary of terms their music is grindcore, but it’s so infiltrated by unorthodox ideas that it rarely sounds quite like the work of any other band in that rebellious genre. This excerpt from recent press materials makes the point very well:

Sixteen years in, Beaten To Death remain allergic to formulas, trends, and sensible decision-making. Since crashing into the grindcore scene in 2011, the Oslo-based outfit have made a career out of twisting the genre into strange, melodic, chaotic, and frequently ridiculous shapes, while somehow earning acclaim for doing everything wrong in exactly the right way.

What we currently have in mind in sharing these words is a new Beaten To Death album, one they named Vntrve, because of course they did. We can’t resist quoting another excerpt from the same clever press release quoted above: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LIMINAL SPIRIT — “SINS OF THE FATHER”

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Oct 212026
 

(written by Islander)

The Milwaukee-based multi-instrumental musician Jerry Hauppa is known for his work with Northless, Ara, Acanthrophis, and Deorbit. He also has a solo project named Liminal Spirit whose music can be described as “Avant-Garde Cinematic Doom”, though that description is incomplete.

Almost exactly one year ago Liminal Spirit released its third studio recording and debut album, Unwell. Its disturbing narrative concept, which was informed by Hauppa’s work in nursing homes, involved the afflictions of aging and his fears about them. As he has explained, the album developed “the idea of building sympathy for a character with dementia [Phillip Hastings], only to find out that he is actually a monster who has done some horrific things despite not remembering them”.

Liminal Spirit has recorded a second album that will be released on November 6th. Titled Forfeiture Hymns, it is described as “a continuation and recontextualizing of the story from the previous album”. As Hauppa explains, “Each song tells the story of an individual character’s demise based on proximity to the main character of that album, told musically in highly unorthodox and extreme ways.”

One song from the new album has been revealed so far (“The Initiate“), and now we premiere an unnerving lyric video for an unnerving second song — “Sins of the Father“. Continue reading »

DREAM UNENDING – CERTAIN UNCERTAINTIES

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Oct 212026
 

(Andy Synn tries to separate the certain from the uncertain once and for all with the new Dream Unending album)

It’s well-documented by this point that I’m not a big fan of the often unnecessary and frequently misleading excesses of the online hype machine.

Not only can it do more harm than good by setting an unreasonably high standard (especially for new bands being presented as “the next big thing” before they’re ready) but it also makes it hard to have a measured and nuanced conversation about the merits, or mis-steps, of a piece of work when people are conditioned to see everything on a binary, black and white scale of either “best thing ever” or “complete and utter garbage fire.”

Case in point, the debut album from Justin DeTore and Derrick Vella, aka Dream Unending, was initially presented as a paradigm-shift in the medium of Death Doom, despite (in my opinion, at least) how obviously and heavily indebted it was to the earliest works of the seminal “Peaceville Three”… but any suggestion that it might not be the genre-defying game-changer it was presented as received a very hostile response.

And, to be clear, it’s not a bad record (even if 2022’s Song of Salvation, which you can read more about here, was significantly stronger) it’s just a prime example of an album where the initial hype represented a clear attempt to set and control the narrative in a way that wasn’t fully reflected by the release itself.

But, for whatever reason – maybe it’s because they’re no longer the hip, new thing, or maybe it’s just because the band’s third album is a more daring, harder to definte piece of work – there doesn’t seem to have been quite as much hype about Certain Uncertainties… which actually leaves a lot more room for me to talk about it.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CAVE MOTH — “CLONE”

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Oct 202026
 

(written by Islander)

(If you think the artwork is bizarre, wait until you hear the music.)

Cave Moth have released six EPs over the last 13 years. They have evolved into a music collective whose members are spread across the U.S. East Coast, and that group is now poised to release yet another EP in November, one named Useless Spawn, Sapient Husk that represents an important next step in the band’s evolution.

The EP includes a re-recording of “Rabbit’s Foot” from their last album, Paralytic Love (which we premiered here), along with two new songs, “Cartman” and “Clone“. What we have for you today is the premiere of “Clone“, as well as an extensive statement from Cave Moth that delves into what this mind-boggling song and the EP as a whole represent. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SACCAGE — “BÉTON ARMÉ”

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Oct 202026
 

(written by Islander)

We are very happy to welcome the return of Saccage from Québec City, a band whose last album Khaos Mortem (their third full-length) woke us up to their talents like the experience of an explosive detonation next door. They followed that 2019 record with a 2022 EP (Charogne), and at last they’re bringing us a new album this year.

Titled Chronophage, it’s set for a CD and digital release by Caligari Records on November 20th, with a vinyl edition expected in December or early January 2027. What we have for you today is the premiere of its second single, “Béton Armé“, a ravaging reminder of the power generated by the band’s fusion of blackened death metal, grindcore, and dark crust. Continue reading »

TOGETHER TO THE STARS: “IRIDESCENCE”

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Oct 202026
 

(Our writer DGR is still playing catch-up in reviewing albums released earlier this year, but now taking them one at a time instead of presenting collections. Today the subject is the fourth album from the Swedish post-black metal band Together To The Stars.)

Much like actual interstellar travel (or interstellar travel as we would imagine it) it has taken a while for us to come into the orbit of Sweden’s Together To The Stars. The group, having existed for seven years and four albums, have never found themselves on a trajectory that brought them close to our lovely little corner of the internet. Their newest album Iridescence – which saw release in early June, though truthfully yours truly finally glanced in the direction of its eye-rending pink in early August – offers us an opportunity to rectify that.

Together To The Stars’ take on black metal – of the much acclaimed post-metal variety – is both enrapturing and infectious, without devolving into a series of tropes or markers so recognizable you can hear the gears of the machine turning in the background. By focusing heavily on climactic moments within each song, as well as memorable guitar work, and a shade of the depressive world of black metal, Together To The Stars find themselves with a gorgeous amalgamation of music that lands them pretty close to Harakiri For The Sky territory while still maintaining an identity free of expected histrionics. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FVNERAL FVKK — “INDECENT IDOLS”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 192026
 

(written by Islander)

We have been avidly following the towering epic doom progressions of Fvneral Fvkk since their first release in 2017 (the Lecherous Liturgies EP). In considering that EP, after first wondering whether it would be a serious undertaking in light of the band’s name, we wrote:

[T]his music is no joke. The largely mid-paced songs are really well-written, anchored by intensely seductive melodic hooks. They’re also plenty heavy, undergirded by a potent rhythm section (you can almost feel those drum strikes gradually cracking your skull like a car windshield crazing under the blows of baseball-sized hail). Compulsive headbanging is the order the day, except when it’s time to crawl like someone who’s suddenly lost the use of his legs, with an anvil on his back.

Apart from those sensations, the band’s lyrical themes further strengthened their appeal in these quarters. Although the music was presented with an often-ecclesiastical solemnity and grandeur, the band’s purpose was to expose and scorch the depravity of the clergy and the “black-robed pedophile ring” many of them have run under the auspices of the Church (to quote from this very interesting and highly informative 2020 interview at our site).

They continued that mission in their 2019 debut album Carnal Confessions, which our Andy Synn named to his year-end Critical Top Ten list, calling it “without a doubt one of the most brilliant albums of the year.”

Sadly, the band didn’t release any new music for quite a long time after that full-length debut. Happily, we now have a second album from them, this one named Indecent Idols. It will be released at the end of this week by Dying Victims Productions, but down below you’ll be able to stream the whole thing today. Continue reading »

BLACK MASK – VESTIGE OF MERCY

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Oct 192026
 

(Andy Synn has a thoroughly nasty new recommendation to share with you all today)

Music, for a lot of people anyway, can be an inspirational thing.

The new Cursebinder (reviewed here), for example, seeks to inspire the listener to reflect on the disaffected nature of the metropolitan age, while the latest slab of Deathcore destruction from To The Grave (also reviewed here) hopes to inspire both rage and disgust at the depradation of the modern meat industry.

And the debut album from Black Mask?

Well, that wants to inspire you to meet the violence of the world head on, with a violent reaction of your own.

Continue reading »

BITTER LOSS: “THE FUTILE DREAM OF BEING”

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Oct 192026
 

(The Greek band Bitter Loss released their second album last April, and DGR has gotten around to reviewing it in the following paragraphs.)

Greece’s Bitter Loss is a band who have sat on the backburner for a little while, joining an honored class of groups who’ve not been done right by my personal gauge. Forever in a stasis of being promised a discussion but never quite reached even though they would’ve been fully deserving of their own articles were it not for life and work continually planting their foot on my throat. Thus the continued olive branch extension and attempt to make amends continues, and Bitter Loss’ album The Futile Dream Of Being deserves just as much spotlight as any other – even if in truncated form.

Thrash is a hard genre to quantify and write about these days given its existence being so integral to heavy metal’s cultural explosion over the years. As with many of the initial foundations of a music style, thrash can often feel as if it has been frozen in amber and evolution has long since sailed by – reducing it to a constantly repeating collection of tropes and circle-pit starters, sometimes entry level and otherwise unwilling to change without fearing the offense made to the old guard.

Obviously that isn’t the case, and as with any genre that has been around for a while it has splintered off into its own subfactions – some more fascinating than others in the sheer amount of musical virtuosity required – and many of those can be lively and vibrant even when it seems like the main umbrella is being held up by a collective of aging pillars sticking to what they know is best and true. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: INQUINAMENTUM, OBSCVRE SER, BOARHAMMER, LES BÂTARDES DU ROI

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Oct 182026
 

(written by Islander)

I’m beginning today’s collection with the same explanation I used in yesterday’s roundup, except I slept even longer and later last night than I did on Friday night. I may have done too good a job in convincing my restless mind to turn itself off overnight, because a big chunk of this morning had passed by before I could begin turning it on again.

The result is that this post is again appearing near mid-day in my time zone. The further result is that I’ve had to cut it back from what I had initially planned, or it would be appearing in the afternoon, and unfortunately I need that time to deal with other personal obligations before the new week launches tomorrow.

And so, this collection of songs is shorter than I wish it were, but I hope you’ll still get something pleasurable out of it. I certainly did. Continue reading »

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