Islander

SHADES OF BLACK: PRISON OF MIRRORS, ERZ, MOTLJUS, LEBENSSUCHT

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 142025
 

(written by Islander)

When you live with another person during “cold and flu season” there’s always the risk that one of you will get sick and then sicken the other a few days later. However, my wife and I gradually began getting sick at the same time last week and yesterday we both simultaneously had full-blown colds.

We’ve tried to figure out who we were both around outside the house when we got infected earlier this week (we’d hate to murder the wrong person). It was probably when we went to our local sports bar for drinks and dinner, but we know lots of regulars there plus the waitstaff, and we don’t remember anyone sounding sick so it’s tough to pin down the culprit. I suppose we could resort to the maxim attributed to Arnaud Amaury during the Battle of Béziers in 1209, but we’re both atheists so the faith-based solution doesn’t seem right. Oh well, guilty people often escape retribution. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: NO/MÁS, NOICE AHOLIC, VREID, TANIN’IVER, DE L’ABÎME NAÎT L’AUBE, SINDRE NEDLAND

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Dec 132025
 

(written by Islander)

I’m kicking off this week’s roundup of new songs and videos with a preview of what’s coming at NCS between now and year-end, mainly for newcomers to our site since the old-timers know what the drill will be.

First, we still have a few year-end lists from “big platform” sites and zines that we’ll share. I have two of those in hand now, which I’ve written about for posting on Monday. I suspect next week will bring at least one more, and then we’ll be done with that aspect of LISTMANIA.

Second, having just completed a week’s worth of Andy Synn’s year-end lists, on Monday I’ll also start posting lists from other NCS writers and special guests. I have X of those in hand at this point, and more will roll in. My plan is to spread those out a bit, with the goal of completing the posting of them by the first week in January.

Third, beginning in January I’ll again roll out the one list I’m responsible for, my choices (with lots of assistance from our readers and other writers) of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. On that note, if you want to make nominations for those awards, you can still do that by leaving a Comment on this post. Continue reading »

THE AMERICAN OBSERVANCE TOUR MMXXV: PRIMITIVE MAN, OTAY:ONII, TODAY IS THE DAY, AND GUILTLESS (ANAHEIM, CA)

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 122025
 

(Last week our friend Ben Manzella attended the Anaheim stop of the American Observance MMXXV tour with Primitive Man, otay:onii, Today is the Day, and Guiltless, and he sent us the following written report accompanied by his own excellent photos of the experience.)

While I needed to check the dictionary to confirm, patience and endurance are considered synonyms of one another. With a tendency to seek out music that focuses on darker themes or subject matter and is played at a loud volume, I sometimes describe my favorite music to seek out as endurance music.

Primitive Man is a band I’d immediately categorize as endurance music, and unlike a variety of things in life, the endurance is rewarded, in my opinion. Their latest full-length record, Observance, brings to mind a quote that has been a favorite of mine since high school, when I learned about it through the Machine Head record, The Blackening. The original quote by Jean Puget de la Serre is, “The mirror which flatters not.” I’d say the last thing in the world that is needed right now is flattery, and I welcome all musical reminders of that. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: EYELESSIGHT — “VUOTA SOLITUDINE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 112025
 

(written by Islander)

The Eyelessight duo from Pescara, Italy present themselves as manifestations of the name they chose — blindfolded and bloodied, as if their sight had been destroyed by violent events, and their visions must now come from some other means of perception.

The pair have lived together in music since the project’s inception in 2011. The following years brought forth a demo, a live album, a collaborative release with Imber Luminis, and two albums — Mantra per sopravvivere inutilmente (2014) and Athazagorafobia (2018).

Originally released on CD, Athazagorafobia is now receiving vinyl treatment by Talheim Records Germany. The vinyl reissue will occur on December 17th, and it will include two bonus tracks, one of which we’re now premiering with a visualizer video. The song’s name is “Vuota Solitudine“. Continue reading »

CLEARING THE SLATE PART III: THEMES FALL APART

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 112025
 

(This is the third Part of what projects to be four record-review collections by DGR — collections of multiple reviews that are shorter by his standards than what you usually see from him — all of them intended to clear his slate in preparation for his year-end lists to come.)

Just four albums after the shovelfuls of music you’ve been flinging at us already? What sort of madness is this?

At one point I swear I had a theme going for this particular grouping of albums. I cannot for the life of me remember what that theme was. I think at one point it was just me archiving September releases but that fell apart quick. The other was an attempt to cover bands that’ve been long-running but have somehow not found much footing here at the olde’ NCS cliff wall, but that too kind of hit a snag.

Finally, the ever-constant moving cogs of the metal machine assured that releases would shift back and forth and my review archive would soon resemble a crayon box after an attack by a toddler. An interesting swatch of color all splattered around places you don’t necessarily want them to be. Thus, as Part three of four, my inevitable “organization can get fucked” mindset finally kicks in. Ballast must be launched, otherwise this review boat is going down. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): UPON THE ALTAR — “PROFANATION’S VAPOR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Dec 102025
 

(written by Islander)

In thinking about the music from Upon the Altar’s side of a 2022 split with DeathEpoch, we wrote that it left “no doubt that Upon the Altar’s mission is to devour all light.” The music was often toxic, suffocating, granite-heavy, vicious, and vocally horrifying. They allowed very little wholesome light to shine in their second album, Descendants of Evil, which followed that split. What did shine through was the band’s talent for creating hateful musical horror — a complex of vile, malicious, oppressive, desolate, and violently furious experiences.

Those of us who’ve enthusiastically fallen beneath the previous malign assaults of this Polish band will be thrilled to learn that on December 12th Godz Ov War Productions will release a new Upon the Altar EP, a six-track manifestation of pitch-black ruin named Profanation’s Vapor — and even more thrilled to hear it today through our full streaming premiere. Continue reading »

DARVAZA: “WE ARE HIM”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 102025
 

(We present Daniel Barkasi’s review of. new album by the international black metal band Darvaza, released last week by Terratur Possessions. Band photography by Necroshorns.)

When attempting to think of an active band who embodies the essence of what black metal is, can, and should be, the name Darvaza should be at the forefront of thought.

Harnessing the tried-and-true of the genre’s originators, while imposing their own devilish defiance and musical ideals, the two-piece has blazed their own path since their 2015 EP The Downward Descent, and since have steadily cemented their place in the pantheon of darkness. Ascending into Perdition in 2022 set a high marker for the band, especially impressive with that being their first full-length – a release that even the most skeptical approve of without hesitation.

At long last, the wait for the eagerly anticipated album number two is at an end, with We are Him ready to be unleashed. With the weight of expectation hanging overhead, the question is if Darvaza can continue delivering as they have. No pressure.

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE SECOND FOVEA — “CLAWS OF BENGAL”

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Dec 092025
 

(written by Islander)

Today we’re touching base again (for the seventh time in the last four years) with The Second Fovea, a band originally birthed in India but whose members are currently spread among the U.S., India, and Canada.

Two of their previous singles which were the subject of all those previous writings focused upon wildlife — manta rays and snakes – but all of their songs, including those two, have carried socio-political messages, and most directly in the song “Headshot”, which was a potent condemnation of racism and hate crimes across the globe.

What we have for you today is the premiere of a lyric video for a new single from the group, and as you can see, it’s devoted to Bengal tigers, and more specifically (as the band tell us), it’s “dedicated to the legendary Bengal Tigers of the Sundarbans in India — the world’s largest mangrove forest and one of the last remaining strongholds for this endangered species.” Continue reading »

CLEARING THE SLATE PART TWO: BRUTALITY

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 092025
 

(This is the second Part of what projects to be four record-review collections by DGR — collections of multiple reviews that are shorter by his standards than what you usually see from him — all of them intended to clear his slate in preparation for year-end lists to come.)

Part Two of this completely out of control yet still well-intentioned slate clearing comes to us as the result of yours truly realizing that a lot of his review collective consisted of some pretty overwhelming death metal albums.

On top of this, there’s still more but they’re being shuffled around as best I can because even then there were still one or two “surprise motherfucker!” late additions to the list that, in this case, served as good balance to the meteor impact albums that otherwise comprise this fucking monster of a collection. Knuckle dragging and neck snapping walk hand in hand among this collection, save for one surprisingly introspective battering in the middle, and it only clears the way for an even more steady pile of music to follow… and we haven’t even descended into the year end list depravity yet.

Send help. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FOSSILIZATION — “CREMATION OF A SERAPH”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 082025
 

(written by Islander)

It is with terrible delight today that we help announce a new album by the tremendous Brasilian death/doom band Fossilization. It bears the name Advent of Wounds, and it’s set for release on February 13th by the ever-tasteful Everlasting Spew Records. The label rightly describes it as “a work of sheer ferocity and oppressive gloom” — “bleak, crushing and claustrophobic”, “a summoning of despair that drags the listener into a chasm where brutality and anguish entwine.”

In its current configuration, Fozzilization is still principally the work of V. (voices, guitars, bass) from the sludge/death/doom metal band Jupiterian, but now joined by  guitarist Z. Before we get to the main subject of this post — our premiere of the first advance song from Advent of Wounds — we want to share a statement by V. about this new album: Continue reading »

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