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 »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: ESOCTRILIHUM, KAMRA, HUYA GENUS, YOTUMA, VICTIM OF FIRE, ESSES

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jul 262025
 

(written by Islander)

I got a late start on this Saturday’s roundup of recommended new music, and I feel the need to rush in order to keep it from appearing too late in the day. So my review-ish commentary will be somewhat briefer than usual (please hold your applause) and I’ll cut the rest of the introduction to just this:

I would suggest that this collection is a mix of brain-scramblers, bone-smashing punishers, muscle-twitching groovers, headlong racers, and seductive clean-sung sorcery, more or less in that order. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: PARADISE LOST, AMORPHIS, CAR BOMB, NOVEMBRE, HIGH PARASITE, TIGGUO COBAUC, CIRCLING OVER, OROMET, CORRIDORÉ

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 122025
 


Paradise Lost

(written by Islander)

When I finished yesterday’s head start on today’s column I thought I’d focus today on lesser-known bands. As you can see, I didn’t completely follow through on that notion. What grabbed me as I listened turned out to be a mix of names everyone knows and names more likely to be new discoveries.

I’ve led with the luminaries. Maybe they will function like old friends greeting you at the door to their home and pulling you inside, where a group of strangers are waiting to do unexpected things to you, some of which, as it turns out, are going to hurt. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: HIDEOUS DIVINITY, CRYPTOPSY, GREEN CARNATION, DESASTER, BRÉVINE, THEURGION

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jul 112025
 

(written by Islander)

Consider this a head-start on the roundup I usually put together on Saturday. A hell of a lot of new songs and videos popped up this week, and even with this head-start I still won’t be able to make more than a dent in that big moving wall, but at least it will be a bigger dent this week.

I decided to focus today’s collection on the bigger names scrawled on that wall, but before finishing we’ll still turn our gaze to a few names not yet written in such large letters. I haven’t figured out what tomorrow’s column will include, but my aim will be to dig even deeper into obscurities (at least relatively speaking). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MASS DECEPTION — “RUINS OF DOMINION”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 102025
 

(written by Islander)

In 2016 the Dutch metal band Mass Deception launched their recording career with Revelations, the first album in a conceptual trilogy. They followed that in 2019 with Redemptions, and now (following the 2022 EP Halls of Amenti), they’re closing the story with a new album named Resurrections that will be released by Gruesome Records on July 25th.

To help spread the word, what we have for you today is the premiere of a riveting video for a riveting song off Resurrections called “Ruins of Dominion“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS — “IN THE GLOW OF THE VATICAN FIRE”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 262025
 

(written by Islander)

The lyrics of most extreme metal songs are often an after-thought, both for the bands and for fans and “critics”. They’re often written after the musical core of the songs has solidified rather than intertwined with it from inception; they’re usually difficult to hear, since vocals usually function as simply another instrument that adds fuel to the emotional fires; and if we’re being honest, the words are quite often uninspiring and forgettable.

The extensive lyrics of In The Glow Of The Vatican Fire, the forthcoming tenth album from the Connecticut-based “avant-sludge metal” outfit When the Deadbolt Breaks, are a startling departure from those norms. This writer had them in hand and decided to read all of them before listening to anything from the album. They left me shaken. Continue reading »

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