AN NCS INTERVIEW: NAEVUS

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Oct 232025
 

(No secret, our Comrade Aleks favors doom above all other metal, and he shows special warmth for the the long-lived German band Naevus in the interview we now present with their vocalist Uwe Groebel, occasioned by the band’s new album Back Home.)

Thanks to Naevus‘ album Sun Meditation (1998), the band is remembered and revered among the more zealous fans of the European and especially German doom scene, alongside bands like Dawn of Winter and Mirror of Deception. Cathedral frontman Lee Dorian once praised the traditional and surprisingly human Sun Meditation, so the album was released on his own label, Rise Above.

This didn’t prevent Naevus from breaking up, and they only returned to the fold in 2012. Their fresh release Back Home is only the band’s third album, but the foursome has lost neither their dexterity nor their inspiration, so even the nine-year hiatus between this release and its predecessor Heavy Burden hasn’t affected the quality of the material.

Naevus continue to impress with their traditional and melodic heavy doom, which most of all invites comparisons to Trouble as a whole and their vocalist Eric Wagner (may he rest in peace) separately as part of his solo project Blackfinger. But while the voice of Naevus vocalist Uwe Groebel’s truly evokes Wagner’s vulnerability, his humanity, the instrumental side of Back Home is their strong part as well. The album boasts plenty of catchy riffs, haunting vocal melodies, and elegant guitar passages, evenly spaced throughout each song.

Naevus managed to get through all obstacles and recorded the new songs with the same lineup which worked on Sun Meditation a quarter of a century ago: Sven Heimerdinger (bass, vocals), Mathias Strauf (drums), Oliver Grosshans (guitars), and Uwe Groebel (vocals, guitars). And you know what? We done an interview with Uwe recently. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MALKASIAN — “OCCULT 5”

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Oct 172025
 

(written by Islander)

As we sometimes do, we’re going off most of our well-beaten paths with the song and video we’re about to premiere. No shrieking or guttural growling this time, but only singing. No blast-beats or brutality, but only the blues. But lest you think we’ve completely lost our way, these blues are very heavy — just as promised by the title of the album that includes the song — and very devilish too.

The name of the song is “Occult 5“, and it’s the latest single to be disclosed by the Denver band Malkasian from their new album Heavy Blues, which will be out on October 22nd. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A BANDCAMP FRIDAY: GALUNDO TENVULANCE, MIND PRISONER, BEASTWARS, MAUDITS, QRIXKUOR, CATHEDRAL

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 032025
 


(written by Islander)

It is another Bandcamp Friday. You will already have many suggestions and discoveries that point you toward how you might spend your music-oriented money today. Poor you, here are some more. (And I’ll have more tomorrow, so you can start complicating your life in advance of the final Bandcamp Friday of 2025 on December 5th.) Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WINTERNIUS — “UNDERWATER DARKNESS”

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Sep 092025
 

(written by Islander)

We have for you today what we think will be a big eye-popping surprise, a carnival of musical wonders, something like a black metal rock opera, namely a full stream of the forthcoming second album by the evil Italian wizards in Winternius.

Titled Underwater Darkness, it’s set for release on September 12th by the Dusktone label, and it follows the band’s 2020 debut album Open the Portal and their 2023 EP Kultra Nightmares.

Still at the helm is founder Roby Grinder, also known as Winternius during his time with Sacradis, a band active in the Italian black metal underground from 1996-2011. The lineup through the years has included members and former members of Sacradis, Spite Extreme Wing, Abysmal Grief, and Necrodeath.

Winternius call their music “Black Rising Metal”, and you may understand why when you hear this album. It’s certainly not conventional black metal by any stretch. Up in the first paragraph we’ve already hinted why, but would like to explain in greater (but hopefully not too tedious) detail. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PROFESSOR EMERITUS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  1 Response »
Sep 042025
 


photo by Liz Gollner

(In June of this year Chicago-based Professor Emeritus released a long-awaited second album, and our Comrade Aleks was so taken with its melding of epic doom metal and traditional heavy metal that he reached out to the band’s founder, guitarist, and keyboardist Lee Smith for an interview that we now present below. As you might have already guessed, the music is an earned exception to the “rule” in our site’s title.)

Born in Chicago, 2010, Professor Emeritus didn’t hurry: their debut album Take Me to the Gallows (2017) gave the world a formula for not the newest, but a refractory alloy of epic doom metal and traditional heavy metal. The resulting blend was further alloyed with a fantasy concept, and in the end this material, enlivened by a passionate presentation, was good despite all the rough edges.

It took eight more years to make the second album, and the reason is simple: only guitarist Lee Smith remained from the first lineup. I don’t know what happened there, but the former bassist and the vocalist of Professor Emeritus started their own doom band, Fer de Lance, so in the end everyone wins, yet it obviously took time to find replacements.

Having retained a significant influence of Candlemass in their doom, Professor Emeritus strikes with the power of bands like Argus and Memento Mori, and even the rudeness of archaic Manowar. The mood of the new vocalist Esteban Julian Peña’s lines in A Land Long Gone changes from ominous battle cries to melancholic philosophizing. Esteban became a real find for Lee, and I suppose here he has more opportunity to open up than in his original band Acerus. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: IGORRR, BEASTWARS, AFSKY, AEPHANEMER

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 292025
 

(written by Islander)

With only one track premiere on our calendar for today I grabbed the free time to once again get a head start on our usual Saturday roundup of recommended new music. I picked four songs out of the great flood of new things that surfaced this week.

This little collection includes offerings from bands that have been personal favorites for a while (I’ll get to some newcomers to my ears over the weekend), and it begins and ends with songs paired with very good videos, both of which also include some very different combinations of metal and classical music (and the third song does too). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BLIZARO — “SENTENCED PATHWAYS”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  1 Response »
Aug 272025
 

(written by Islander)

We’re about to ignore the tongue-in-cheek name of our site and jump off our usual beaten paths in other ways too, jumping off and landing in a head-spinning musical never-never land.

The occasion for this big leap is our premiere of a song from Light And Desolation, the third album from the upstate New York band Blizaro, which will be released next month by Nameless Grave Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CHURCH OF THE SEA

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  2 Responses »
Aug 182025
 

(Comrade Aleks brings us the interview a member of the Greek clean-singing band Church of the Sea, whose second album Eva was released this past April by These Hands Melt.)

The second album of the Athenian band Church of the Sea, Eva, follows the same direction as their debut, Odalisque (2022). The trio consists of Irene (vocals), Vangelis (guitars), and Alex (synths and samples), and together they continue their dive into the hypnotic depths of doom metal with a hypnotic female voice and atmospheric samples.

In Eva, this doom-gaze serves as a frame for the story of the biblical Eve, reconsidering her role in the original canon, where she is shown as the first sinner, guilty of corrupting man. Eve is a rebel through Church of the Sea‘s perspective: a seeker of knowledge, accepting what religion or society considered “forbidden”; this is not a story about the fall of man, but about the rise of woman. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: AMORPHIS, PROGENY OF THE SUN, TEMPEST, LAANG, DARK WATCHER, ZLOBNIK, CRUSTY OLD TOAD, DISTRESS

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Aug 092025
 

(written by Islander)

It’s unlikely I will be able to write a SHADES OF BLACK column for tomorrow, due to conflicting weekend plans with my wife. So I’ve made this Saturday roundup a big one, and I’ve included a greater-than-usual number of black metal bands.

I decided to put a shiny bauble at the top of the group, hoping that it might lure some people to dig deeper into the pile before realizing they’ll get cut up by all the sharp objects underneath. Which is to say, there’s really nothing like Amorphis waiting for you later on. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: RUNEMAGICK, NEW WORLD DEPRESSION, INNUMERABLE FORMS, TITHE, CANCER VOID, SUM OF R

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Aug 012025
 

(written by Islander)

Today is another Bandcamp Friday, a good time to buy or pre-order music because a greater percentage of the proceeds will reach bands and labels. I had a few hours to myself yesterday afternoon and this morning that I spent surveying new music that’s come out over the last week or so. From that, I picked music from six bands to recommend today.

With one exception, all these songs are advance tracks from albums that will be released either later this month or in September or October. The one exception is the first single from an album that’s being released in full today. There’s a hell of a lot of great cover art in today’s collection too.

If things go as planned, I’ll have more recommendations in the usual space for these roundups tomorrow. Continue reading »

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