SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: HANGING GARDEN, WINTERFYLLETH, CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX, NERVOSA, CHAINED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN, IGORRR

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Jan 312026
 

(written by Islander)

In deciding what to feature in these Saturday columns I sometimes spend a lot of time making my way through a lot of songs. Sometimes many of them are deflating, and the hunt goes on. Sometimes a lot of them are great, and the choices become difficult. But this week I happened upon seven songs in a row and knew right away that six of those would be here today. (I left one of them aside, so the usual collage of cover images would be symmetrical.)

As it also happened, the following songs include an unusual amount of singing — not singing we have to just put up with because other aspects of the songs make them commanding, but because the singing is itself a big part of the draw. And as it happened, all but one of the songs debuted with good videos.

None of these bands is even close to the Metallica strata of stardom, but I think it’s fair to say that most of them are well-known among metal lovers, or at least the kind of metal lovers who show up at our doorstep. Most of these bands have had careers of significant length and discographies that are well-respected. For these columns, I usually try to work in music by bands from deeper under the ground, using bigger names as lures for visitors who might not know of the more obscure names. But I didn’t have room to do as much of that today as I typically do. My goal is to make amends tomorrow. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2025’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 18): MESSA, MATALOBOS, AMORPHIS

 Exceptions to the Rule, MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2025  2 Responses »
Jan 272026
 

(written by Islander)

Some fashionings of extreme metal are so brutally downtuned or launch such ruinous percussive assaults that melody doesn’t seem to play a role in the songs. But in truth, melody almost always plays some role, though it might be very subtle or heavily obscured. Melody probably plays a more prominent role in songs we think of as infectious. Although grooves can be very catchy on their own, it’s usually melodies of one kind or another that make metal songs memorable.

The three songs I’ve put together for today’s installment of this list have strong melodic components. Unlike the majority of what’s on the list at this point, the voices carry the melodies in important ways in two of them, which is to say they have earned exceptions to the not completely serious rule in our site’s name. Two of them also have unusual instrumental features that help carry the melodies. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2025’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 9): IN MOURNING, CYTOTOXIN, JORDSJUK

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Jan 142026
 

(written by Islander)

We’re at another installment of this list where I don’t really have any organizing principle to explain why I put these three songs together. They’re just three songs I thought deserved to be on the list, and they happen to come from three really good 2025 albums too, but each one sounds very different from the other two. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ANCHORITE

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Jan 092026
 

(Last August Personal Records released the second album from the multi-national doom band Anchorite, whose lineup is full of veteran names. Their music features singing (remarkable singing), but of course that won’t stop us from publishing Comrade Aleks’ interview of Anchorite’s vocalist, Leo Stivala.)

After a five-year hiatus, the international project Anchorite is ready to remind us of themselves with their second full-length album, Realm of Ruin. Anchorite’s strengths extend beyond the fact that Forsaken frontman Leo Stivala is on vocals; the entire lineup is remarkable. Leading the charge is bassist Peter Svensson, whom we recently wrote about in light of the new album from his main doom band, Void Moon, and who is known for countless other projects he’s involved in! Behind the drums is Void Moon’s drummer (and vocalist), Marcus Rosenqvist, and on guitar is Martin Andersen from the Danish heavy metal band Meridian.

The professionalism of Anchorite’s members guarantees the quality of Realm of Ruin, but if you’re familiar with Svensson’s discography, it’s time to ask: Is it physically possible for a person to produce so much metal without wearing himself out? Especially since three more albums featuring his most active contributions were released in 2025. True, two of the three (Furnace and War Magic) are death metal, and one (Bardo Thodol) is heavy metal, but jokes aside, Anchorite delight the ear with solid, never-failing doom metal with a leaning toward traditional, combative heavy metal. Continue reading »

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

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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 »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SPLENDIDULA — “ECHOES OF QUIET REMAIN”

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Dec 042025
 

(written by Islander)

Loss and remembrance… these are the overarching themes of a new album by the Belgian atmospheric black/doom band Splendidula. Fittingly, the album’s title is Absentia, an apt name because the music’s emotional core lies in the tragic absence of loved ones.

No one can avoid the death of friends and family members. It’s only a matter of time. It’s rarely foreseeable, and often it seems unjust because it’s so random. Splendidula went through such a period beset by loss, and in the making of this new album they dedicated themselves to remembering, and to mourning.

As a new sign of what they achieved in their music, today we’re premiering a video for a song called “Echoes of Quiet Remain“. It includes a guest vocal appearance by Aaron Stainthorpe, known of course for his iconic role in My Dying Bride (and High Parasite). We’ll begin with Splendidula’s own statement about the song: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: PONTE DEL DIAVOLO, NEL BUIO, BIND TORTURE KILL, NÍLIM, EQUILIBRIUM, MARISSA NADLER

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Nov 292025
 

(written by Islander)

As on most Saturdays, today I’ll be looking back at the recent past, recommending some selections of underground metal that caught my ears and eyes during the last week or two, but first I want to look ahead — specifically, to something I’ll be asking you to do on Monday.

On Monday I’ll post the annual NCS appeal to our visitors to share their lists of the year’s best metal. Every year this post proves to be a highlight because so many people fill up the Comments with their favorite releases, which makes those Comments a great gathering place for things other people might have otherwise missed. We keep that post linked in the upper right corner of every page on our site for the 12 months that follow (just look there now to see the 2024 lists).

Bear in mind that you don’t have to have your lists completed and ready to go on Monday. Hell, you could add a 2024 list even today. But it’s time to at least begin thinking about it. And now, on to this week’s roundup of new songs and videos…. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: ENSHINE, UNIVERSE217, CARRION VAEL, GHOULHOUSE, CH’AHOM, XAOC

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Nov 222025
 

(written by Islander)

I guess the word of the week is “piggy”, and not because Northwest Terror Fest announced yesterday that Piggy D will be one of the headliners at the May 2026 edition of the fest. In other news from the Department of Coincidence, we will post a review next week of an album by a band called Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs.

I guess I’ve been piggy myself this morning, ravenously rooting through the trough of extreme metal that got filled up with new releases over the past week. Now engorged, here’s what I decided to vomit up for your delectation this weekend: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: IRREVERSIBLE MECHANISM, NEMOROUS, SATOR, WEFT, PITTS TWYFORD & SINGH, MORAL IMPLANT

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Nov 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Before I get to the music I’ve picked for this Saturday’s roundup I’d like to alert our followers to something that will happen on Monday, which will involve an appeal for your help.

It’s the time of year when our traditional year-end LISTMANIA series will slowly start lurching forward, building toward a frantic rush. Broadly speaking, it includes three segments: 1) our sharing of YE lists published at certain print mags and “big platform” websites, not because we’re endorsing them but because sometimes they’re useful and sometimes they’re laughable and they provide a gaze into how the broader surface-world of metal reacted to the year’s releases, and in all those way can be entertaining; 2) our posting of year-end lists assembled by our own writers and some special guests; and 3) the one thing I contribute to the exercise — my list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

That infectious song list is the last part of NCS LISTMANIA. I don’t usually begin rolling it out, bit by bit, until after the first of the New Year. But I start thinking about it much earlier. I keep a growing list of candidates all the way through the year based on what I’ve heard, but I don’t hear everything (who could?), and so part of what I always do to get ready for that list is to ask our visitors for their input, for their picks for the most infectious songs they heard that were released this year. Continue reading »

THE HALO EFFECT: “WE ARE SHADOWS”

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Nov 142025
 

(On November 21st Nuclear Blast will release a new EP from the Swedish metal band The Halo Effect, an EP named We Are Shadows that includes five cover songs, featuring one track picked by each band member. Our writer DGR has been a fan of the band, spent some time with this new EP, and wrote the following review.)

The year in heavy metal is going to have peaks and valleys. Previously, we could’ve viewed years in heavy metal as one seemingly unending torrential flood or the polar opposite in a semi-peaceful consistency, a steady flow of new albums, discoveries, and distractions in equal measure. The past handful of years, however, have been so brain-fried and birdshot when it comes to any form of a consistent release schedule that you could never tell what was going to arrive and – part of this due to getting older and being blissfully unaware of the world surrounding us – more often than not now it feels like we’re constantly getting blindsided by something just off in the distance arriving at the front door with all the aplomb and grandeur one might afford to a distant cousin deciding to bike across the country and wanting to crash at your house for the day. Not to say that there’s any personal experience in the matter, but come the fuck on dude, we’ve spoken one time in nearly forty years?

2024 could have been kindly described as a year of fits and starts at best, were it not for the feeling of burning the candle at both ends – as well as just immolating the whole fucking thing after dousing it in kerosene with the amount we wrote – but 2025 has been the first time in some time that things have felt… consistent. Sort of. We still seem to be drunkenly stumbling to a semblance of previous reality at times but this is more like the occasional stumble one might make when they’re just on the legal line and walking home after having cut themselves off hours ago. Continue reading »

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