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

 Interviews  No Responses »
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 »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MIDRYASI’S KULT

 Interviews  No Responses »
Mar 042026
 

(On March 27th Dying Victims Productions will release Italian Dark Sound, the debut album from Midryasi’s Kult, and to help pave the way our Comrade Aleks conducted the following interview with the founder Geilt — and we’ve included the album’s first two singles as well.)

This story begins in 2002, when the Italian trio Midryasi officially embarked on their own creative explorations in the field of authentic progressive doom metal with a stoner rock edge. This blend fell under the somewhat vague definition of “Italian Dark Sound,” a local subgenre encompassing original bands geographically based in Italy and stylistically associated with the realm of dark prog and vintage doom. The group recorded three eclectic albums and unofficially disbanded for over a decade, but when the first demo (Mountain Devil) of Midryasi’s Kult, led by former Midryasi vocalist and bassist Geilt, was released last year, the situation took on a new dimension.

Although the project has a relatively consistent lineup, all the songs feature Geilt’s participation, and a couple of tracks were actually recorded by the old Midryasi lineup (“Hypnopriest” is taken from the band’s first album). Their new album’s title leaves no room for interpretation – Geilt adheres to roughly the same “Italian Dark Sound” line, relying on harsh guitar melodies alongside pure doom riffs, intricate prog patterns, and an eclectic vocal delivery with a distinctly deranged edge. And the band’s spokesman today is Geilt, of course — here we go. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: INVICTUS

 Interviews  1 Response »
Feb 262026
 

(In late January Me Saco Un Ojo and Memento Mori co-released a new album by the Japanese death metal band Invictus, and that led our contributor Zoltar to reach out for the following good interview with guitarist and vocalist Takehitopsy Seki.)

While the Japanese grind and death scene has granted us some of the wackiest, most disturbing bands over the last twenty-five years or so (we dare you to try to listen to GORE BEYOND NECROPSY or CATASEXUAL URGE MOTIVATION for 24 hours straight and not want to murder everyone), they also know a thing or two about recreating note-perfect tributes to their American elders. Unsurprisingly, the sound of the early ’90s Floridian mob left an obvious mark on many, including Nagano’s own INVICTUS, whose second album was released on vinyl by Me Saco Un Ojo and CD by Memento Mori.

This trio may be obvious MONSTROSITY fans but their extremely tight musicianship, powerful drive, and thrash leanings truly set them apart from the clone pack, and guitarist and vocalist Takehitopsy Seki does obviously know what the fuck he’s talking about, based on the following answers… Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BIZARREKULT

 Interviews  No Responses »
Feb 192026
 

photo by Radmila Volchenkova

(Here we have a new interview by our Comrade Aleks of Roman V., mastermind of the Norwegian black metal band Bizarrekult, whose new album is due for release on February 20th — tomorrow! — by Season of Mist Underground Activists.)

Norwegian project Bizarrekult emerged from the Siberian band Dryados and moved to Oslo with the relocation of its founder, Roman “Bizarre” (guitar, bass, vocals). Since then, Bizarrekult has had a virtual “studio” lineup, which, in addition to Roman, includes guitarist Ignat Pomazkov from the Belarusian doom band Adliga and drummer Alexander Pryakhin, based in Russia. At the same time, Roman maintains a live lineup of local musicians, so the band is fully active.

As you noticed due to NCS’ newsletter, Bizarrekult’s third album, Alt Som Finnes (“All There Is”), is here and it’s marked by a slight hint of moderate progress. The eight new tracks feature both pitch-black traditional black metal, with some post-branches. The material’s sound ranges from uncompromisingly apocalyptic and quite extreme to dreamy, transparent “philosophical” passages, presented in a softer, more tranquil manner.

Incidentally, the album features guest vocals: Yusaf Parvec (Manes, Dødheimsgard, Code) croaked on “Blikket Hennes,” Lina (St. Petersburg’s Cross Bringer and Predatory Void) sang on “Drøm,” and Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl and The Arcane Order) sang clean on the lyrical post-metal farewell “Tomhet.”

Conceptually, Alt Som Finnes sounds like an introspective, heart-wrenching album, untethered from conventional black metal themes, save perhaps for a profound sense of the inappropriateness of one’s place in a disorganized world. There was no other way but to do this interview with Roman, so you can read almost the entire story of Alt Som Finnes below. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GUYOÐ

 Interviews  No Responses »
Feb 132026
 

(Below you will find our Comrade Aleks’ interview with guitarist Dohrn from the Austrian metal band Guyođ, whose new EP was released late last month.)

The Austrian band Guyođ announced themselves in 2023 with their debut, Heart of Thy Abyss. That furious work, at the intersection of extreme death metal and doom, unpolished and thunderous, was imbued with the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and Herman Melville, lending the album a special charm. Their up-to-date half-hour-long release, Death Throes of a Drowning God, which another band would list as a full-length album, is considered by Guyođ to be an EP. This mini-album consists of four full-length tracks, each nearly six minutes long, and four noise drone interludes, collectively titled “Signal,” but with a numbered designation.

Regardless, Guyođ, ignoring convention, delivers listeners dark, concentrated, and meaty stuff. According to the band, one of the ideas behind the EP was to create more disturbing and savage material compared to their first album, and they have succeeded in this quest. This time, the celebration of chaos and madness is presented in the form of vigorous, monstrous death metal with a touch of extreme doom and black metal. At times (“Behind the Walls of Ice”), one is tempted to use the adjective “avant-garde,” but that would be pretentious… but why not? This feast of entropy has its share of deceptive calm, as in the track “Hestia Drowning,” but there are also poignant moments.

Guyođ have taken a creative approach to such a relatively short work, and if you’re looking for a little shake-up, check out this EP. And yet I hate to talk about how I see the music, especially when there’s a chance to talk with its author. Another interview with Dohrn (guitars) is here before you. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NECROFIER

 Interviews  1 Response »
Feb 122026
 


photos by Brian Sheehan

(On February 27th Metal Blade Records will release a new album by the Houston-based black metal band Necrofier, and the quality of the music convinced our friend Ben Manzella to reach out for the following interview with the band’s vocalist and guitarist Bakka.)

As I’m sure other writers here at No Clean Singing would agree, most record announcements or press releases eventually become like white noise. You feel like you can predict the claims and wording of it being the “best album we’ve made yet”; or, especially in metal, depending on the genre, the claim that the music is “the most brutal thing you will hear all year.” However, when I read about the upcoming release of Transcend Into Oblivion, none of these traps were set, and I knew I’d be eager for this conversation.

During a succinct and relaxed time of conversation with Bakka, vocalist and guitarist of Necrofier, I aimed to hear a bit more about the creative process involved in the detailed song structure that is Transcend Into Oblivion, as well as the recent move to Metal Blade Records. Continue reading »

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