Islander

DAWN OF ASHES: “INFECTING THE SCARS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 192025
 

(DGR finally surrendered to his impulses and wrote the following review of an album released in June by Metropolis Records, the newest nightmare from L.A.-based Dawn of Ashes.)

Many, many moons ago when the planet was young and the amino acids that would eventually become the building blocks of life were still bubbling within the primordial soup – such as, last year – in a fit of inspired pique and otherwise wholesale madness just to torpedo any crumb of legitimacy that might be granted to the name tag of yours truly, I reviewed Gothminister‘s eighth studio album Pandemonium II: The Battle of the Underworlds.

The costume-wearing kitsch and otherwise designed to be blatantly infectious goth-rock and metal rhythms charmed me, fully aware that a band this late in their career had mostly evolved into spectacle rather than musical artform. At the time they were a group I had a surprising amount of history with, having followed them since 2004’s Gothic Electronic Anthems, and the idea of having them drift through the hallowed halls of this site was – at the time – far too amusing to pass up.

I have also never heard the end of it to this day, and to hear it told, have also opened the gates to some of the more wild premieres we’ve hosted in the year since with the reasoning being that we had already covered a Gothminister album so why the hell not? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: THE MUNSENS, LAMP OF MURMUUR, AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION, NIPHREDIL

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
Sep 182025
 

(written by Islander)

As I write this I am in Nottingham, England, and eagerly looking forward to attending Andy Synn‘s wedding on Saturday. An overnight flight brought me from Seattle to London with an early arrival yesterday, and I didn’t feel too much the worse for wear despite only napping for an hour on the 8-hour flight. Then came a car ride to Nottingham and a lunch there with Andy, his bride-to-be, and some other American friends (including DGR) who have also come over for the event.

By the end of our long lunch and a post-prandial drink at another spot, I was hitting the wall. I fought to stay up until 6 pm and then crashed hard. But I woke up early this morning after 12 1/2 hours of sleep feeling great, and now I’m quite happy with my jet-lag solution!

Of course it’s still weird being on UK time, weird in the sense that I decided to pull this round-up together with something like 7 hours to go before it will magically appear in line with our normal daily posting schedule, instead of just minutes. Continue reading »

NOVEMBERS DOOM: “MAJOR ARCANA”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 182025
 

(What follows is DGR‘s extensive review of Major Arcana, a new album from Novembers Doom that’s set for release on September 19th by Prophecy Productions, with videos for all three pre-release singles at the end)

The sadness of September continues unabated with all of your favorite titans of melancholy seeming to have chosen this month as the time to unleash their latest creative opus upon the world. Chicago’s November’s Doom have long earned their right to stand among the mightiest in this arena, with a career of well over thirty years and – now – twelve albums to their name.

Their newest one Major Arcana sails into port after a six-year journey for the Novembers Doom crew since their previous release Nephilim Grove in 2019. Major Arcana delivers unto its listeners ten songs and about fifty-six minutes worth of music. Continue reading »

PARADISE LOST: “ASCENSION”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 172025
 

(This is DGR‘s review of the new album from Paradise Lost, which is set for release on September 19th by Nuclear Blast.)

Ascension, the new album from Paradise Lost, marks the group’s first release of new material in five years since the heady days of 2020’s Obsidian. Paradise Lost have kept busy in that time since, with its members launching a bevy of other projects and working their way into music production and management, and the group themselves have even eased themselves into a bit of the nostalgia cycle with full-album performances of releases celebrating their thirtieth anniversaries.

Paradise Lost have seen and been through multiple eras, to the point where by both longevity and mark of quality the band have become a cultural pillar of the death and doom scene. In recent years, Paradise Lost have settled neatly into a sound that combined multiple eras for the band, letting Nick Holmes both sing and growl his way through crushingly heavy music, but even after doing so it had seemed like Paradise Lost were starting to stretch as far as they could with the style they had adopt on 2015’s The Plague Within.

Which may be why the five-year gap between releases might have worked in their favor because Ascension makes one hell of a lasting impression – even after many listens. Continue reading »

KAMRA: “UNENDING CONFLUENCE”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 162025
 

(Our Slovenian writer Didrik Mešiček prepared the following review of a new album by the Slovenian atmospheric/experimental black metal band Kamra.)

Slovenia is rarely, if ever, on the map of interesting metal countries so today I’m happy to get to talk about some local lads who are definitely doing a lot of things right. Black metal continues to be one of the more interesting and innovative subgenres in metal today, and Kamra’s first album, Cerebral Alchemy, was already a good representation of that, but the band will now be releasing their second full-length album called Unending Confluence through Avantgarde Music on the 19th of September. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PERISHING — “LAS RUINAS DEL PALACIO”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 162025
 

(written by Islander)

The stunning cover artwork created by Belial NecroArts for the debut album by the band Perishing commands attention, creating a vision of spectral magnificence and frightening desolation. But it is more than a chilling piece of visual art standing on its own, because the visions it creates pair very well with the death/doom metal of this talented Costa Rican band.

The name of the album (which also fits very well as a title for the artwork) is Malicious Acropolis Unveiled. It is only Perishing‘s second release overall, following their Lutum demo last year, but the band’s members have previously honed their talents in such groups as Astriferous, Mortual, and Necroferum, and they have made a work that will shiver you from head to toe.

We back up those thoughts today with our premiere of a song from the album in advance of the record’s October 11 release by Transcending Obscurity Records. Its name also links arms with the cover art, and with the album title: “Las Ruinas del Palacio“. Continue reading »

R.I.P. TOMPA LINDBERG

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Sep 162025
 

(written by Islander)

Today all of us here were greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg.

In the middle of August Lindberg and At the Gates released tragic statements reporting on Lindberg‘s affliction with Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (a cancer in the mouth and pallet) and the failure of invasive surgery to eliminate it. Based on the statements, it appeared that chemo treatment had become the last hope for arresting the disease. According to the band, Lindberg had been “receiving dedicated care in a specialized ward where he is being closely monitored around the clock.”

Those same statements reported that Lindberg had recorded the vocals for a new At the Gates album on the day before the surgery last spring. Of course, he has left an indelible mark on the history of metal already, and it will be great to hear him again when the album is finished. But now we are left to mourn his passing, while remembering his vital contributions to the growth and evolution of extreme metal.

Rest In Power. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORDER OF THE EBON HAND — “HEIRS”

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Sep 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Long ago, in 2005 to be precise, the Greek band Order of the Ebon Hand embarked on an ambitious project, the goal of which was to explore each card in the Tarot deck through the perspectives of black metal. In that year, which arrived eight years after their debut album The Mystic Path to the Netherworld, they released XV: The Devil, the first card they drew from the deck. Fourteen years later, with only a couple of splits and compilation appearances to fill the gap, they released VII: The Chariot.

Obviously, Order of the Ebon Hand don’t work quickly. But the unhurried nature of their artistry may be a vital part of what has made their music so extraordinary. We attempted to capture what they rendered on those first two albums in the Tarot sequence by describing the songs as “beautifully crafted and expertly executed”, as “pageants of turmoil, torment, terror, and inconsolable anguish”, “warlike and violent” but also “manifestations of ravaging desolation”, experiences “of ominous foreboding and titanic ascension”, and “breathtaking extravaganzas” that “seem to be devouring the world in fire and flood”.

And now, six years after their last album, they’re on the verge of releasing XI: Justice, the third card in the band’s musical Tarot sequence, and we could hardly be more thrilled to premiere a song from it today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PENTHOS — “Όλεθρος (OLETHROS)”

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Sep 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Seemingly out of nowhere, but really out of Athens, Penthos released their self-titled debut album in 2022, and next month they will follow that with a second full-length named Erevos. The music is rightly previewed as traditional black metal in a more Scandinavian than Greek vein, a changing tapestry of dark moods and supernatural forces, experiences both devastatingly bleak and hellishly fierce.

As an example of the band’s meticulously crafted changing states, today we’re presenting the second advance song from the album, a shuddering and startling sensation called “Όλεθρος (Olethros)“. Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XX: CHANGES, TEMPERATURES, AND RIFFS

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 152025
 

(Daniel Barkasi returns with his monthly collection of album reviews, this time recommending six albums released in August 2025.)

As summer nears its conclusion, the heat has finally (sort of) calmed down a little in the Floridian swamp. It’s about damn time. The dogs can finally be taken outside and we’re not a dripping puddle of sweat in 1.2 seconds. More like 10 minutes, which is an improvement that’s most welcome!

On a sad personal note, my wife and I lost our precious dog Kaiya last week. It wasn’t completely unexpected – she had just turned 17 and had some worsening health issues – and her body just couldn’t keep going. We had a hell of a 17th birthday bash only a few days prior, but she sadly plummeted quickly not long after.

My wife had her for literally half of my wife’s life, and I had the distinct pleasure of having her in my life for over a decade. She was the best girl – sweet as can be, loving, gentle, and quirky in the best ways. It’s still hard for me to write this, as I miss her terribly and it’ll be fresh for a while. One of our other dogs, Hiroki, has taken it especially hard, as they were incredibly close. He seems to be on the mend, thankfully, as he sits next to me. Continue reading »

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