AN NCS PREMIERE: DESTROY MY BRAINS — “DECONTRIBUTE”

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Jun 222026
 

(written by Islander)

After the release of their self-titled debut album in 2017, the Saskatchewan-based doom/sludge band Destroy My Brains embarked on a four-record sequence whose titles (the first letter of each one) spelled out the word “W.I.L.T.”. The last of those albums, Tormented, was released in 2022. And now Destroy My Brains are following that sequence with a devastating new album that is itself named Wilt, which will be released at some point during the coming summer.

The band say the new album “features 7 collosal slabs of filth and spans over 1 hour of unrelenting destroy time.” Their guitarist/vocalist Jarret has shared a few more thoughts about it:

Wilt is a representation of everything we have ever wrote before, and it means everything that Destroy My Brains has ever stood for from the beginning. Nothing has changed and our message remains clear and the same. We have always wrote about the hate for authorities and society, the corrosion of standards, represtations of nihilism, and the destruction of self and others. We have always been a fuck the world band and we still are.

These songs, 12 years later from the band’s beginnings still carry that same weight and message.The songs are a self-destructive collage of pain and suffering, and on this album we touch on some very deep personal themes as well. Get ready to get sucked down a twisting tunnel of destruction, as our sonic filth degrades and devolves you.

Speaking of devolving, what we have for you today is the premiere of Wilt’s first single, and its name is “Decontribute“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABYSSAL RIFT — “SPHERE OF PERPETUITY”

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Jun 222026
 

(written by Islander)

The last time we hosted a premiere for Ohio-based Abyssal Rift, in the lead-up to their 2023 debut album Extirpation Dirge, we described the music as abyssal and extraterrestrial, abysmal and maddened, imperiously malignant and violent — “a rendering of death/doom that’s viscerally arresting but also atmospherically surreal, and strangely seductive as well as monstrous”.

That debut album was so frighteningly arresting that the thought of what they might do next triggered recollection of that famous line from the sci-fi horror film The Fly: “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” Well, now we know what they’ve done next, and the warning is valid.

What they’ve done next is create a second album named Relics of Great Ash that will be released on August 14th by the band’s new label Transcending Obscurity Records. And what we’re doing next is bringing you the premiere of its third single, “Sphere of Perpetuity“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PROFANE BURIAL – “TRIUMPH OF DREADFUL AFTERMATH”

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Jun 222026
 

(written by Islander)

The Norwegian symphonic black metal band Profane Burial was formed in 2013 by Kjetil Ytterhus (Haimad, Khôra, Babels Tårn) and André Aaslie (ex-Funeral, Images At Twilight, Omnia Moritur, Vitam Aeternam, ex-Abyssic). They assembled a full band for both live performances and the recording of their debut album The Rosewater Park Legend, which was released in 2018.

We’re told that after 2020 the band entered “a new creative phase” as a trio, with Aaslie assuming guitar duties, Ytterhus stepping forward as vocalist as well as keyboardist, and Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow (Borknagar, Trollfest) as drummer. That led to the creation of their second album, My Plateau, which was released in 2024. Now, again working as a trio, Profane Burial will be releasing a third full-length on July 24th through These Hands Melt.

The title of the new album is Desolate Echoes of Turmoil, and today we help introduce it through the premiere of a lyric video for the album track “Triumph of Dreadful Aftermath“, which arrives third in the running order. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (SOLSTICE EDITION): AGONANIST, STARER, ATMOSSOMTA, INCINITOR

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 212026
 

(written by Islander)

We wish you a Happy June Solstice, the longest day of the year for everyone living north of the Tropic of Cancer and the shortest day for people living south of the Tropic of Capricorn. (I hope I got that right!) We also wish a Happy Father’s Day to fathers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Ireland — and maybe some other countries, but I haven’t checked. I also haven’t checked on how often the June Solstice and Father’s Day coincide here in the U.S. and in those other countries, but they’re coinciding today (the last time was in 2021).

I spent a big chunk of yesterday outside in an early celebration of Father’s Day, a day early because the dads planned to spend today with their families, and probably didn’t want those families to see how tilted they were getting during this 8-hour outing (I prefer “tilted” to “wasted” because it’s the Earth’s “tilt” that produces the solstices). The setting was beautiful, the weather was glorious, the beer was cold and plentiful, and the sun still hadn’t set here in the Pacific Northwest when I collapsed into bed around 9 p.m.

All that brightness and conviviality weren’t conducive to the contemplation of dark music. It’s still very bright where I am this morning (though fog is in my head), and looking ahead to the longest day compounds the difficulty of immersion in dark music. The sun pulls one way, the black metal pulls the other way. I’ve attempted to find an equilibrium by recommending a few things, but not as many as I might have on a different Sunday. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: AZIMUT, ONUS VITAE, HAINTGROVE, FLEHMEN POSITION, APHONIC THRENODY, CABINET, STAIN, MAGEFA

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 202026
 

(written by Islander)

Just like this same time last week, I’m feeling overwhelmed by the volume of new music I want to recommend, and just like last week I’m resorting to some shortcuts so as to pack more into this column. It’s usually called SEEN AND HEARD, but you’ll probably understand why I change the title on Saturdays like this one.

I suppose it’s up for debate whether I’m really doing a favor to bands when the collection is this large. Maybe if I just focused on the usual four or six selections, more people would listen to all of it. Maybe most listeners won’t make it to the end or will skip over some of the music. But if I leave out something, it’s guaranteed that no one will find their way to it through their visits here. (Of course, I’m not vain enough to believe that coming here is the only way anyone discovers music.)

There’s probably no right answer, only doing what feels right in the moment. So, off we go…. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BOTHRASH — “ESCAPE MORTAL”

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Jun 192026
 

(written by Islander)

As their name suggests, the Costa Rican band Bothrash originally rooted their music in traditional thrash metal after the band’s founding by by John Snake and Minor Picado in 2013. But over the following years and across the course of five albums they have turned their music in darker and more aggressive directions.

As reflected in their forthcoming sixth album Almas Poseídas, the music can now be referred to as a style of vicious black/thrash (albeit with atmospheric elements as well). And while the band have delved into inspirations spawned by horror and occult themes, the new album (as described by the band’s labels) “also incorporates strong elements of social criticism”.

Those labels — GrimmDistribution (Ukraine) and Sanatorio Records (Costa Rica) — will release the new record on July 19th, and today we reveal its multifaceted second single, “Escape Mortal“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VIANDE — “SACRIFICE ARDENT”

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Jun 192026
 

(written by Islander)

The French extreme metal band Viande named their 2022 debut album L’abime dévore les âmes, which can roughly be translated as “The abyss devours souls”. It was a fitting title, because in listening to the music we imagined horrific terrors that await the extinction of life in endless chasms from which there is no escape — an abyss lying deep within the earth, opening its giant maw to swallow what now dwells in the sun, or a supernatural dimension to be revealed when hideous powers have decided the time is right, or a frigid void, or what lies within deranged human minds bent on mayhem and murder.

Now Viande are returning with a second album, again to be released by Transcending Obscurity Records (On July 31st). The name of this new one is Monument aux mort — literally a “monument to the dead,” but a phrase that also refers to war memorials established in towns throughout France to honor those killed in the World Wars and other lethal conflicts.

Like the first album, the new one triggers the imagination of listeners. Inevitably, it creates mental visions — daunting, dangerous, and viscerally haunting ones. As T.O. says, “When this carefully devised album ends, the feeling is akin to stumbling out of a horrific catacomb in an enhanced spiritual state, with the cries of a thousand dead souls still ringing in your head.”

As proof of this, we offer you the sounds of “Sacrifice ardent” (which refers to a sacrifice offered with utmost fire and fervor). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DISTORTED REFLECTION

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Jun 192026
 

(In late February the Greek doom metal band Distorted Reflection released their second full-length through Iron Shield Records, and that led our Comrade Aleks to contact the band’s founder and guitarist/vocalist Kostas Salomidis for an interview, which we are happy to share with you today.)

Distorted Reflection was created by Kostas Salomidis, guitarist and co-founder of one of the first Greek doom metal bands, Sorrows Path. Kostas left his first band in 2022 due to creative differences, and the newly formed traditional doom outift, Distorted Reflection, released their debut, Doom Rules Eternally, two years later. The second full-length, Doom Zone, was recorded by Kostas, again with Vangelis Yal (bassist for prog metal band Fragile Vastness) and new drummer Thomas Zen.

Kostas performs not only as a guitarist but also as a vocalist now, and by the second album, he has made progress in his new role. For better or worse, Doom Zone’s eleven tracks fit into 38 minutes, and within this framework, Distorted Reflection offer a slightly revised formula of the first album. This collection of tracks, built on the foundations of doom and heavy metal, is energetic in spirit and filled with melodic themes that, despite their richness, are remarkably compact.

Let’s try to catch a glimpse in Distorted Reflection with Kostas himself. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): IF I DIE TODAY — “I FELT NOTHING”

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Jun 182026
 

(written by Islander)

We live in a time of trauma and constant distraction, bombarded by personally damaging events beyond our control, emotional turmoil caused by damage to others, and bafflements produced by algorithmically generated slop and delusion. When it gets to be too much, it might numb us to what matters — tuning-out as self-protection, theoretically for the better but ultimately for the worse.

The title of a new album that will be released tomorrow by the Italian post-hardcore band If I Die Today provoked these dreary musings. Its name is I Felt Nothing, and lyrically it does explore the darker sides of humanity.

But the music is anything but dreary, and it’s about as far away from numbness as you could want — a conclusion we think you’ll reach for yourselves when you hear the album in its entirety via our streaming premiere below. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: CONDUIT / TORTURE REALM / VOMIT FORTH

 SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jun 182026
 

(Andy Synn tries to tempt you with another terrific triptych of short form releases)

The last one of these “Short But Sweet” collections I did was all about Hardcore… albeit, firmly of the more Metallic persuasion… and is well worth checking out if you haven’t already done so (read all about Ecotage, Melting, and Rats Will Feast here).

I promised, however, that next time I’d focus more on the Death Metal side of things, which brings us to today’s trio of terror from Conduit, Torture Realm, and Vomit Forth.

Continue reading »

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