AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): KUR•NU•GI•A — “CARMINA INFERORUM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
May 192026
 

(written by Islander)

Prepare to jump off your usual beaten tracks, indeed off the tracks of the world altogether, as we present Carmina Inferorum — Latin for “Songs of he Underworld”. This is the debut album of the mysterious Polish avant-black-death-metal band KUR•NU•GI•A (not to be confused with the Ohio death metal band Kurnugia or the Finnish black metal band Kurnugia). It will be released by Godz Ov War Productions on May 22nd.

Curious about the band’s rendering of the name and what it refers to, I found a source (here) that includes this description:

Kurnugi, also called Kur-nu-gi-a, was the Sumerian underworld. It was dark, vast, and final. It lay beneath the earth, beyond the Mountains of Sunset. Souls descended here after death, stripped of light and joy. The dead ate dust, drank from mud, and lived in shadows…. Kurnugi was not punishment; it was fate.

Those words increased my curiosity about the music before hearing a single note, as did a Lovecraftian chant that appeared in the announcement of the album by Godz Ov War on social media (a chant that’s interpreted to mean “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming”):

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn…

But the album’s cover image and KUR•NU•GI•A’s band photos made me even more curious. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CARBON TOMB — “REVERSED HEAD RENEWAL”

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 192026
 

(written by Islander)

Yesterday we premiered a song from Dysgnostic’s new album End Whispers (you should go listen to it if you haven’t), and today we’re premiering a song from the debut album of Carbon Tomb. It’s fitting that they follow back-to-back, because Carbon Tomb was started by Dysgnostic member Richardt Olsen, who’s the guitarist and screamer within this newer band.

Like Dysgnostic, Carbon Tomb play a form of dissonant death metal, but don’t leap to the conclusion that the two bands are twins. Truly, they are not — they’re more like cousins — though both are very good at what they set their minds to do.

We have an example of Carbon Tomb’s own distinctive songwriting prowess through our premiere of a song intriguingly named “Reversed Head Renewal” from their first full-length, also intriguingly named — Passage to a Neutron Star — in advance of the record’s release by Transcending Obscurity Records on July 17th. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: RELIQUIA / SILO / TYRANNUS

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
May 192026
 

(Andy Synn returns to his homeland, in spirit at least, for another edition of the Best of British)

I’m still over in the good ol’ US of A at the moment, gearing up for this year’s edition of Maryland Deathfest, and while I’ve loved my time here – as always – I’ll admit that I’ve been feeling the occasional pang of homesickness every now and then.

So to help quell my longing for the green and pleasant lands of my birth I thought I’d put together another carefully-curated collection of British bands, from a variety of styles and sub-genres, to remind us all of what’s waiting for me when I get home.

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PSICORRAGIA — “SOMBRAS LUMINOSAS”

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May 182026
 

(written by Islander)

We’re about to share with you is a beautifully illustrated lyric video for a truly remarkable song, one that invites listeners to enter the valley of the dead and to commune with the frightening and yet seductive spirits who dwell there, to experience their gloom and sorrow, as well as their frantic confusion and their bursts of fiendish exhilaration.

The name of the song is “Sombras luminosas” (Luminous shadows), and it’s from Nekromanthra, the third album by the long-running Peruvian death/doom cult Psicorragia, now set for co-release on June 23rd by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Thrashirts (Peru). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DYSGNOSTIC — “THE LAST REFRAIN”

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 182026
 

(written by Islander)

In 2022 the Danish brutal death metal band Defilementory announced a change of name to Dysgnostic and revealed a dramatic change of musical identity through the release of their first album as Dysgnostic — Scar Echoes. It was presented by Transcending Obscurity Records under the banner of magnificently chilling cover art by Dawid Figielek. As we described at the time, the performances on Scar Echoes “are technically impressive, their dissonant compositions are intricate and twisted, and their music is capable of creating atmospheres of mental and emotional ruin that are both electrifying and profoundly disturbing, and only barely tethered to the ‘real world’.

And now Dysgnostic return with their second album, End Whispers, also to be released by Transcending Obscurity (on July 10th). As you can see, this one also features stunning cover art, this time a frightening and unearthly creation by Belial NecroArts, and we are again privileged to premiere some of Dysgnostic’s new music, a song from the album called “The Last Refrain“.

Here is how T.O. introduces the album as a whole: Continue reading »

LORN: “SEARING BLOOD”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 182026
 

(We begin a new week at NCS with our Norway-based contributor Chile and his compelling review of the first new album in more than 9 years from the Italian black metal band Lorn.)

Italy has been a hotspot for quality extreme metal for years now it seems, and it is still moving on an upward path. It is hard then to imagine a time when the scene was much smaller and only a handful of bands strived to make a mark for themselves.

Maybe somewhat overshadowed by the likes of Mortuary Drape, Bulldozer or Death SS, many other bands were holding their own in those early times and are still a worthy listen. All of this helped the new and upcoming bands in the years to come, and by the time the late ’90s came around is when things began to develop in different directions.

Out of that time immemorial comes Lorn. Starting their musical voyage around the turn of the century, they came into their own by releasing their debut in 2006. With their activities seemingly going up and down over the years, like the road to the mighty Dolomites out of their native city of Bolzano, the band maintained a string of quality releases culminating in the phenomenal Arrayed Claws from 2017.

Now, even if the name of that album doesn’t ring an immediate bell, the absolutely outstanding cover should. The intermingled, leering forms of teeth-baring wolves (or something like such animals) adorned in a shade of deep purple, captured perfectly the essence of one of the best metal albums to come out of the Italian scene. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DAUÞUZ, VYR MUK, GOD SHELL, EMBER VALE

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 172026
 

(written by Islander)

I’m getting a very late start this morning. I wrote an explanation and then deleted it because my late start is the result of a level of stupidity that’s kind of embarrassing even for me. Better to just dive in.

What you’ll find below is a truncated version of what I originally planned. The collection begins with a single and then continues with three EPs, the last of which is a rehearsal demo that’s the band’s first release. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: EMPTINESS, IMPURE WILHELMINA, LECHEROUS NOCTURNE, MOON REAPER, VRYXOR, ESCAPING AGHARTHA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
May 162026
 

(written by Islander)

As you may remember, I spent last weekend working on (and enjoying the performances at) Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle. It was a tremendous three-day event that formed many indelible memories, but it did mean that I had no time for the usual NCS weekend roundups. Because of that, I now find myself with twice the usual number of new songs and videos to consider for this roundup and for the SHADES OF BLACK collection for tomorrow.

I jumped around among many different possibilities, enjoying a lot of what I heard and saw and also (therefore) agonizing over what to choose. I also had to force myself to stop listening with dozens of tabs still open, or else this column would never be written.

But while the agony remains, I’m happy with these selections and hope you will be too. I’m beginning with three bands whose previous music was familiar to me and following with three that were brand new discoveries. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ZARAZA — “GNAWING AT THE MARROW OF TIME”

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 152026
 

(written by Islander)

In January of this year we had the pleasure of premiering a video for the first single off the debut EP from a two-piece raw black metal outfit named Zaraza. Those two, Azara and Mictlantecuhtli, introduced their music with these words:

“Rising from holler and rust, gnawing at the marrow of time, a blasphemy against life and cosmos, summoning shadows that devour memory and light….” More succinctly they described their conception as “Appalachian darkness, Rust Belt desecration”.

That EP, …And You Will Remember This Winter, was released on May 8th through So Below Productions, and to help call (deserved) attention to it, today we’re premiering a video for another of the EP’s eight songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SLOW GOAT — “LOVE LIKE WATER”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  3 Responses »
May 152026
 

(written by Islander)

Clear your mind and then open it for something that’s a bit off the usual beaten paths around this site, but is still plenty heavy and cloaked in darkness (and frankly, a hell of a lot of neck-wrecking fun to hear and see).

What we’re talking about is the band Slow Goat and the song and video we’re premiering to help spread the word about their debut album Where the Wisest Fear to Tread, which is now set for release on July 10th. To help prepare for the experience, consider these words lifted from a press release we received:

Gamy riffs cut from the flank of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Oregon’s Slow Goat peddles in the heavy and the psychedelic, with fuzzed-out jams thick enough to chew on, all anchored by clear and commanding vocals that drift between ethereal and feral. Continue reading »

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