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

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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.

Continue reading »

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

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
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 »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: DARKEST HOUR, GREAT FALLS, WORM ALTAR, NERVOCHAOS, MILIM KASHOT VOL. 7, GRISEVILLE

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 052026
 

(written by Islander)

As we all do, some days I wake up feeling like shit but still have to forge ahead with daily tasks. Today is one of those days.

The covid virus is still spreading around the country, and an updated vaccine for it became available last week. Because I’m in a demographic with an elevated risk of serious infection, I got the updated shot at a local pharmacy late yesterday afternoon. That’s what caused me to feel like shit this morning. I have a mild case of the sniffles but mainly I ache all over. It’s not so bad if I stay perfectly still, but any kind of movement is painful.

If my past experience with the vaccines is a guide, this will all pass by tomorrow or the next day at the latest, and for me the discomfort is a price worth paying for the enhanced immunity. The daily tasks I still feel the need to forge ahead with include preparing this column you’re now reading.

I mean, I could have just blown it off and gone back to bed. No one would have fired me for shirking. No one else would have suffered serious damage (probably). But this is the kind of daily task that takes my mind off of what ails me instead of turning up the torture dial — so on we go. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: NAILS, THRONEHAMMER, NIHILO, MORGUE SUPPLIER, PLUTONIAN SHORE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 042026
 

(written by Islander)

It’s a Bandcamp Friday. But you probably knew that. I failed to put it on my calendar but the engorgement of our in-box over the last 24 hours reminded me. So even though we’ve already published our usual three features for the day I decided to do this fourth one so I don’t feel quite as overwhelmed in preparing the usual Saturday roundup.

Be forewarned: you might experience whiplash as you move from song to song today (and within some of the songs too). Continue reading »

FOG WALL: “GLOOMWEAVER”

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Sep 042026
 

(Below is a review by a former NCS writer who now goes by the moniker Obsolete Mystic. His subject is the debut album from a Nevada-based duo who call themselves Fog Wall, an album they are independently releasing today.)

I love FromSoftware. In the realm of video games that studio have always been visionaries and avant-garde pushers of the artform. The cultural impact they’ve had ever since a little game called Demons Souls (OG Japanese importer right here) came out has permanently changed gaming and dark fantasy imagery and thematic elements in a huge way. FromSoftware games also happen to be metal as fuck and could easily inspire metal, especially in the death and black metal categories. As a result, there is in fact a whole grouping of bands that are FromSoftware worshippers.

Today’s focus is on one such band, Fog Wall, who named themselves after the signature walls of fog you traverse in FromSoftware games to begin boss battles. Like a lot of these bands, Fog Wall is a blackened death metal outfit, and they are offering up a very impressive debut in Gloomweaver. Continue reading »

ANNIHILATION IN THE LIMINAL VOID: A DEEP DIVE WITH GALVANIST

 Album Reviews, Interviews  No Responses »
Sep 042026
 

(Today our Denver-based contributor Gonzo brings us high points of his conversation at the recent Fire In the Mountains festival with members of the Montana band Galvanist, intertwined with his thoughts about their new album The Silence Between Stars, released in May of this year via ATMF.)

There’s a particular kind of magic that only happens when you’re standing out on tribal land in the shadow of the mountains, dust coating your boots, cold drink in hand, talking heavy music with people who live and breathe it. Festivals like Fire in the Mountains aren’t just weekend party stops; they’re cultural touchstones where you discover something deeper about the music, the setting, and the people making the noise.

That’s precisely the headspace I was in when I sat down with Bozeman, Montana’s Galvanist to unpack one of the most cerebral, devastatingly heavy, and quietly fascinating projects brewing in Bozeman’s DIY heavy music underground. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STYGIAN — “HUNT THE DIVINE”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 042026
 

(written by Islander)

On this day (a Bandcamp Friday for those who pay attention to such things) the Italian band Stygian are releasing a new two-song EP named Hunt the Divine. It follows their 2025 debut album Dreadlands, which we had the pleasure of premiering and reviewing. As we wrote then, Dreadlands presented “an intersection or fusion of two worlds, a hybrid of crust punk and black metal” that proved to be “as fierce, as wounded, and as defiantly resilient as the album’s thematic insights”.

As for those thematic insights, they reflected “serious thought, scorching insight, and honest rage”. To quote the band:

Dreadlands explores the contrast between two spiritual worlds: the harmony-centered pagan traditions and the legacy of Abrahamic religions, which often channel humanity’s most violent instincts. While pagan rites served to express and contain primal forces, maintaining balance between humankind and nature, monotheistic dogmas have frequently justified war and destruction in the name of faith. This work stands as a tribute to life, to the sacred bond between people and the natural world — a bond shattered by centuries of religious conflict.

Now we return to Stygian with our premiere of the new EP on the day of its release. Here’s the description we received of the EP’s themes: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DÉTRESSE — “LES NUITS JAUNES”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 032026
 

(written by Islander)

This trio of talents from Austria and Québec who joined together to form Détresse introduced themselves just last year through a startling debut album named Pessimismes, released by Vendetta Records. We described its music as “emotionally raw, explosively cathartic, and unrelenting in its intensity”, but also as “saturated in agony and hopelessness”, “ruined as well as raging”, and wholly “engulfing” in its varying emotional torrents.

Pessimismes was an eye-popping, heart-stirring, and soul-sinking debut, so much so that it landed Détresse at Julfest in Austria earlier this year, followed by a two-week European tour alongside Miserere Luminis in April, and will put them on stages in another tour alongside Darvaza, Merrimack, and Helleruin in December 2026, which will include appearances at Eindhoven Metal Meeting (Netherlands) and De Mortem et Diabolum (Germany).

The December touring activity is prompted in part by Vendetta Records’ forthcoming October release of a second Détresse album — Misères. The press materials for the new record offer this description:

DÉTRESSE’s second album MISÈRES deals with the misery of mankind and human hardship. It explores how oppression, deprivation, and despair shape everyday existence, blurring the boundaries between past and present. Shaped in raw, unadulterated soundscapes it provides a journey to the darkest parts of humanity.

Last month we had the pleasure of premiering a song from the new album named “Verrottet“, and today we premiere another one — “Les Nuits Jaunes” — which features vocals and lyrics by a notable guest. Continue reading »

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