Islander

NO/MÁS: “NO PEACE”

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Mar 062026
 

(Below is Wil Cifer’s review of No Peace, a new album by D.C.-based No/Más that’s set for release on March 13th by Redefining Darkness. The cover art was created by Brian Sheehan.)

There could never be a more fitting soundtrack for the world today than this album. NO/MÁS are angry as fuck. They are not here to spread good news. They are bringing their apocalyptic message to you with a perfect guitar sound for it, that is a balance of brutality which is refined enough to keep the riffs in focus, rather than just being a raw outburst.

At times, grooves slide into the riff. They write songs with an ear for detail, and maximize the two-minute runtime of these songs, cramming more punch in under three minutes than some bands can pack into an entire album. A Slayer influence certainly looms over this album. They throw in guitar harmonies into “Blood Soaked Soil” to break up the feral explosion and breakdowns. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HUMERROR — “VICIOUS DOMINION”

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Mar 062026
 

(written by Islander)

The Indonesian deathgrind band Humerror hail from Palembang, South Sumatra. They have prepared a debut album named Liturgy of the Synthetic Gods that will be released later this year, and today we reveal its first chapter, a furious new single called “Vicious Dominion” that the band are presenting through a spectacular lyric video.

Humerror explain that their music “explores modern idolatry and institutional power, portraying a world where devotion is exploited and new gods are manufactured through systems, technology, and collective compliance,” and their dystopian artwork incorporates these themes. Thus, they “frame extreme sound as a vehicle for social commentary — merging classic grindcore urgency with contemporary critique.”

We’ll also share the band’s synopsis of the song you’re about to hear: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IFFERNET — “TRIUMPH OF DEATH”

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Mar 062026
 

(written by Islander)

The French black metal duo Iffernet released their self-titled debut album in 2019 and followed that with their second full-length Silences in 2022 and a split with Dolpo in 2024. Now they have completed work on a third album, Life at Heart, that’s set for release in different formats on March 20th by a quartet of labels — La Harelle, Vendetta, Breathe Plastic, and Fiadh.

The new album includes seven tracks, and what we have for you today is the premiere of a devastating song named “Triumph of Death“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): PUTRISECT — “PUTRISECT”

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Mar 052026
 

(written by Islander)

On March 6th (a Bandcamp Friday) the Rotted Life label will release a rotten and ruinous new EP by Baltimore’s Putrisect, their third EP overall and their first new music since 2018’s Cascading Inferno. The label previews it this way:

Six tracks (including a cover of Machetazo’s “Espectro”) of crushing, malevolent, death metal, rife with darkened melodies and sinister, doomy atmospherics. With it’s tank-like tremolo passages, Putrisect no doubt work off an early ’90s template carved by heavyweights such as Bolt Thrower and Incantation but come fully equipped with a sound all their own.

We have our own more detailed preview to offer, but the main attraction is a full stream of the EP which we’re offering you below. Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XXV: 28 HEAVY DAYS LATER

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Mar 052026
 

(In this latest of Daniel Barkasi’s monthly reviews for NCS he focuses on records released in February 2026.)

With the snow thawing in our area – a much different tale for many in the northeast US – leaving the house has become much more of a normal feat, without the risk of slipping on an ice sheet. I should have whipped out my ice hockey skates when we had sub-freezing temperatures, and made a complete ass of myself. Well, you know, in a different way than normal.

The lessening presence of arctic cold in the air hasn’t slowed the release calendar, with proceedings picking up with an icy bluster of quality releases in the year’s shortest month. For the “bigger” releases, Mayhem put out what has been one of the most dynamic and intriguing releases of their existence, while Worm went symphonic with dazzling results, and vets Converge bestowed an all-timer upon us.

While we’ve only got six spots to bestow in this column, there were several strenuous omissions, not due to a lack of quality of course, but fierce competition amongst a bevy of top level records. Mors Verum’s death metal manifestation is ever intriguing, Howling took me by surprise with their abrasive black metal, and The Magus and Nazghor provided contrasting-yet-gripping slabs of the dark arts, whereas Bizarrekult and Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne gave their own inspiring and undeniable viewpoints on all things black. Hell, there’s a full slate for this monthly exercise that would have been fantastic, but therein lies the strength of February’s offerings. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ABSENT RITUAL — “THE CRYPTIC DESCENT: A COMPILATION OF MADNESS”

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Mar 042026
 

(written by Islander)

The Eternal Death label bills the debut demo from NYC’s Absent Ritual as “outsider black metal”. But what does that mean? Isn’t all black metal “outsider” music at its core? Wasn’t that indeed what spawned it so many decades ago, as a rebellious reaction to death metal and other musical genres that were then captivating listeners?

Well, times do change, don’t they. You could make a claim that the bones of black metal have become ossified in some respects, to the point when many bands in the genre seem more conformist than they do rebellious. And so here in the current day, the description of Absent Ritual’s music as “outsider black metal” signifies that the band are following an unorthodox, idiosyncratic approach that isn’t hemmed in by strict genre boundaries, perhaps more true to the original animating spirit of the genre even though the music reveals surprising twists and embellishments.

You’ll understand what we mean when you listen to all three songs on their demo — The Cryptic Descent: A Compilation of Madness — which we’re now premiering in advance of its March 6 release date (a Bandcamp Friday, btw). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FOETOREM — “REBIRTH IN MORBID DISGUST”

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Mar 042026
 

(written by Islander)

In mid-January we premiered a song from Foetorem’s debut album Incongruous Forms Of Evergrowing Rot, preceded by some thoughts about human beings’ everlasting fear of inescapable death and our persistent nightmares of being buried alive — “in coffins, tombs, or beneath a weight of freshly turned earth, deprived of oxygen, unable to move, and with naught but worms or the natural liquification of flesh eagerly awaiting the heart’s final beat.”

Those thoughts came to mind naturally when reflecting on the music of this Danish death metal band (whose name itself translates to “stench of decay”), because they’re so frighteningly good at rendering musical visions of human pain and putrefaction, so formidable in conjuring ruination, putridity, stench, and the hopelessness of being trapped by the kind of mindless violence from which there’s no escape.

And now here we are, about six weeks later, when across a large swath of the planet body parts are being scattered like dead leaves in a high wind and blood (and missiles) are raining from the skies — a fresh and foreboding reminder about the self-destructive savagery of humanity (as if one were needed). What better time to revisit Foetorem?!?

And that’s what we’re doing through our premiere of another abominable Foetorem song in advance of their album’s March 27 release by Everlasting Spew Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MIDRYASI’S KULT

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Mar 042026
 

(On March 27th Dying Victims Productions will release Italian Dark Sound, the debut album from Midryasi’s Kult, and to help pave the way our Comrade Aleks conducted the following interview with the founder Geilt — and we’ve included the album’s first two singles as well.)

This story begins in 2002, when the Italian trio Midryasi officially embarked on their own creative explorations in the field of authentic progressive doom metal with a stoner rock edge. This blend fell under the somewhat vague definition of “Italian Dark Sound,” a local subgenre encompassing original bands geographically based in Italy and stylistically associated with the realm of dark prog and vintage doom. The group recorded three eclectic albums and unofficially disbanded for over a decade, but when the first demo (Mountain Devil) of Midryasi’s Kult, led by former Midryasi vocalist and bassist Geilt, was released last year, the situation took on a new dimension.

Although the project has a relatively consistent lineup, all the songs feature Geilt’s participation, and a couple of tracks were actually recorded by the old Midryasi lineup (“Hypnopriest” is taken from the band’s first album). Their new album’s title leaves no room for interpretation – Geilt adheres to roughly the same “Italian Dark Sound” line, relying on harsh guitar melodies alongside pure doom riffs, intricate prog patterns, and an eclectic vocal delivery with a distinctly deranged edge. And the band’s spokesman today is Geilt, of course — here we go. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORTOPSY — “PUTREFACTIVE STATES OF THE HUMAN FORM”

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Mar 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Almost exactly five years ago we published an extensive interview by our Comrade Aleks of Québec musician Yves Allaire, aka evillair. The focus was on his band Nordicwinter, although the interview ranged beyond that as well. As the interview exposed, Allaire has been making metal music in a variety of different traditions since the early ’90s (Metal-Archives lists 10 current or former bands on his resume), but the atmospheric/depressive black metal of Nordicwinter clearly became his focus. Indeed, Nordicwinter has released five more albums since the time of that interview, including 2025’s Solitude.

Which makes the debut EP we’re now about to premiere from a new evillair entity quite a nasty surprise.

The name chosen for this new project — Mortopsy — points the way toward the EP’s music, as does the EP’s name: Putrefactive States of the Human Form. It is, in short, a formulation of pathological deathgrind and death metal inspired by the grisly early musical psychoses of Carcass and General Surgery, and it’s great. Continue reading »

SWÆRMMM: “Γ”

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Mar 032026
 

(Our editor recently gave a quick take on a new EP by the Swedish lunatics Swærmmm, which is the second part of a planned trilogy, and today DGR gives it a longer take, while wishing he could see what the EP will do to you.)

Swærmmm –

While the brain is tempted to take a shortcut and hallucinate its own phrase in the same way many of our current AI overlords are hallucinating medical advice and legal procedures, if memory serves correctly there is an old shopping bag of a saying which states that everyone has about one good book in them.

We’re of course discussing humanity’s wider ability to create in that aspect, as I highly doubt many of us could pen a full book and have it be a combination of cohesive or interesting. But if taken on a holistic level, everyone has at least one good “something” they can unleash out into the world whether it be music, artwork, writing, or any other combination of craft.

On that same aspect it seems that every musician has one project in them that boils down into abject chaos. It is as if the idea of regular musical creativity is not enough anymore, and at a certain point a sort of subconscious gremlin speaks up and utters the musical creative equivalent of “what if we just burn it all to the ground?”. Continue reading »

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