AN NCS INTERVIEW: ENTERRÉ VIVANT

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Apr 022026
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks’ interview of the two members of the atmospheric black metal band Enterré Vivant, with a focus on their very interesting latest album released by the Antiq label.)

Akuzaï, the third album of Enterré Vivant, a duo of Erroaik and Sakrifiss, was released almost one year ago, and it’s still the most up-to-date album of this project which I didn’t totally skip yet failed to investigate properly during 2025. Being influenced by Summoning, Woods of Infinity, and Mystic Forest, this duo works remotely, as Erroaik locates in France, and Sakrifiss relocated to Japan over 25 years ago.

Enterré Vivant progresses coherently if we speak about the music, and Akuzaï delivers both depressive and atmospheric black metal with an authentic touch for sure, yet this time the projects also hooks with the plot behind ten new tracks. The album’s concept is centered around a Buddhist idea of ten sins and World War II, and one can barely connect one to another, so it was one of many points to organize in this interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MALAURIU

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Mar 312026
 

(Today we follow up yesterday’s NCS premiere of Malauriu’s new album The Third Nail with this interview by Comrade Aleks of bandmembers Schizoid and RM.)

Malauriu (“Bad Omen”) was formed in Sicily in 2013. The band’s lineup has changed several times, fitting its anarchic black metal image. Today, all of Malauriu’s members have relocated to the UK, and the only remaining original member is guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist Schizoid. Having recorded two full-length albums, five EPs, and participated in nearly ten splits, Malauriu have prepared their third major effort, aptly titled The Third Nail.

The album’s cover, which depicts a unique scene from a Sicilian religious festival, is undoubtedly a highlight, but for a more complete picture, check out the tracklist, which includes a cover of GG Allin’s “Abuse Myself, I Wanna Die,” featuring the growl of the monstrous Mentors’ founder Dr. Heathen Scum. This unbridled ode to self-destruction is delivered with a distinctive, unbridled punk drive and extreme vocals, and its lyrical content, as well as its destructive delivery, generally matches the spirit of the album. Fueled by nihilism and prickly malice, the blackened “Death Celebration,” “The Curse of All Flesh,” and “Empowerment Rites”, or the slower, dense, textured “Purple Ceremony” grant everything you may expect from the songs with such names.

In order to reveal some details behind The Third Nail’s production, we organized this interview with Schizoid himself and the band’s vocalist RM. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: URLUK

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Mar 262026
 

(Comrade Aleks brought us the following excellent interview of the two members of Urluk, an Italian band whose new album will be released next month by Pest Records.)

We interviewed Italian Urluk two years ago or so, and back then they performed haunted and doomed black metal with an original authentic concept that was soaked with bleak shadows of abandoned dwellings and grim countryside. At least this description helped to better perceive their full-length More, and I expected something similar from the band’s second album Memories in Fade that is announced to be released on April 10th via Pest Records.

Yet the truth is that Urluk remained true to their lyrical concept but changed musical direction significantly. Memories in Fade combines the elements of alternative rock, black metal, and ambient alongside some specific pieces which are difficult to categorize. But in the end of the day, they are still Urluk, and I’m glad to support the band with another interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TAAK

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Mar 202026
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks’ interview of Kristjan Virma from the long-running Estonian band Taak, whose latest album was released last October.)

With the Estonian band Taak, things are both simple and complex. Formally, the band has been around since 2004, but in fact, that year the entire lineup of Estonia’s first doom metal band, Dawn of Gehenna, simply changed its name and, to a certain extent, its concept.

Taak (“burden”) took up more old-fashioned material, something akin to proto-doom, and began writing and performing lyrics in their native language. The result is authentic, melodic, heavy, and engaging. Meanwhile, you may remember all of this due to another “exception from rules” interview we did here with the band in December 2020. Time flies. Today, only Ott “Otipowitch” Oras (bass) and keyboardist Kristjan Virma (guitars, keyboards) remain from the original Taak lineup, but I must say, their sixth album, Surmalaev (“Death Ship”), sounds like it was written by a well-coordinated, experienced band that holds true to its roots and knows what to do with that legacy. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LÖMSK

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Mar 192026
 

(A couple of weeks ago Vendetta Records released the debut album of the Swedish black metal band Lömsk. Attracted by the cover art, our Comrade Aleks fell into the album and emerged with a desire to interview the band, and the following discussion with Lömsk’s bassist and vocalist followed.)

War became a part of our background, and it seems that mankind’s feelings towards this everyday catastrophe have become dull. And like the devil turned to be a banal part of black metal’s cultural code, so images of war transformed into just another aspect of extreme metal spirit. Yet the artwork of the new album by the Swedish black metalists Lömsk somehow attracted my attention, and the nine nihilistic hymns of Act II – Of Iron and Blood deliver some twisted excitement – enough to make a little effort and ask about an interview.

And lo! There’s something probably far more behind the scenes of that burning city and its smouldering ruins. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: EXXÛL

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  1 Response »
Mar 192026
 

(As you’ll learn in greater detail below, Exxûl is one of a collective of connected bands from the south shore of Québec, and their debut album was released this past January. It drew the attention of our Comrade Aleks, who succeeded in interviewing the band’s songwriter/guitarist Defender (aka Phil Tougas).)

To start with, Exxûl is one of the bands belonging to The Stygian Oath circle. TSO is Canada’s semi-virtual community founded by members of the bands Atramentus (funeral doom metal), Chthe’ilist (death metal), Zeicrydeus (black, thrash metal), and now Exxûl (epic doom metal).

All of these bands are located in Québec and all of them share the same mythology filling their lyrics. All the lyrics are tied to the Perpetual Planes, which is a fictional, dark fantasy world, and “the stories created are often allegories to real life events & personal experiences”.

Musically, Exxûl’s first album Sealed into None has a lot in common with orthodox epic doom bands yet with a good emphasis on their power metal potential. It’s very classic-sounding material with a damn lot of hooks and a quite modern touch. I can’t just pass it by, so here is another “exception of top the rule” interview.

Continue reading »

AN INTERVIEW OF ISLANDER – BY PUGET SOUND METAL BULLETIN

 Interviews  4 Responses »
Mar 182026
 

(Puget Sound Metal Bulletin is a print zine created by Old Man Winter, guitarist in the Seattle-based melodic death metal band Veriteras. Last week the fifth issue was published and distributed, and it includes Winter’s interview of our own Islander, presenting a discussion that focuses on NCS and Northwest Terror Fest, preceded by a bit of background about Islander’s involvement with metal. And of course we’re re-publishing that interview here today! For more info about Puget Sound Metal Bulletin and how to get it, see the links below after the interview’s conclusion.)

   NO CLEAN SINGING doesn’t literally mean no clean singing. Well, it used to. As Islander, creator of the long-running metal webpage, puts it on the No Clean Singing about page: “When the site began, the name of it was serious. But as time has passed, my own tastes have broadened and other writers have joined us, and they’re even more open-minded than I am. Now, the name just confuses people, because sometimes we write about metal that includes actual singing instead of (or in addition to) growling, howling, and shrieking. But it’s kind of like if you named your kid Rufus. When she grows up, it confuses other people, but she is what she is and it might confuse people even more if you legally changed it.”

   Personally, I assumed the name meant that they only reviewed metal songs that consisted entirely of swear words. But regardless of the reasons for the name, No Clean Singing has been one of the biggest online metal sites for the global metal scene for nearly two decades, providing interviews, album reviews, premiers, and a Pacific Northwest show calendar (which happens to be a primary source for the metal bulletin’s list of shows on page 7).

   Not only does Islander run No Clean Singing, he’s also one of the creators of Northwest Terror Fest, one of the region’s top metal festivals, drawing fans from across the US, Canada, and beyond.

Read on to hear how these two pillars of the metal scene came to be… Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DIESPNEA

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Mar 112026
 

(Prepare for a fascinating interview by our Comrade Aleks of one or more members of the Italian duo Diespnea, focusing on their also-fascinating album of avant-garde black metal that was released last month.)

Anonymous avant-garde black metal entity Diespnea, based in Southern Italy, is here with their new full-length album Radici (Roots). Released by code666/Aural Music on the 13th of February, this work is based on traditional black metal concepts mixed with universal “southern” atmosphere. These specific features appear in many forms, starting from a distinctive tribal chant and atmosphere of Amazonian beliefs and finishing with the authentic atmosphere of trance-inducing Mescaline rituals.

This anthropological black metal is grim, mysterious, and psychedelic to some degree, and Diespnea seems to found their unique identity. But let’s let Diespnea speak for themselves — here’s an interview with the band’s member(s). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GREEN CARNATION

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  No Responses »
Mar 092026
 


photo by Lars Gunnar Liestøl

(On April 3rd Season of Mist will release a new album by Norway’s Green Carnation as the second installment in a three-album trilogy. Our Comrade Aleks discussed the first installment with vocalist Kjetil Nordhus last fall, and now we present a second more recent discussion between them which focuses on the new record — and includes lots more news, as well as a stream of a brand new second single from the new album, “I Am Time“, that’s premiering today.)

As you remember, the Norwegian veteran progressive band Green Carnation returned after a significant hiatus in autumn 2025 with an announcement of the trilogy A Dark Poem. As A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia was discussed in our interview here with the band’s vocalist Kjetil Nordhus four months ago, we sequentially follow the plan and provide a new one focused on the trilogy’s second part, A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis.

The band’s initial plan was to create three different albums which would complement each other, and until now it seems like everything goes according the plan. At least Sanguis follows closely to The Shores of Melancholia and yet provides some new ideas and quite a refreshing experience. Continue reading »

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