AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: COMPLEXANT — “AFTERLIFE”

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Jul 022026
 

(written by Islander)

The Australian band Complexant have been making a name for themselves in their home country since 2022 through tours in which they’ve shared the stage with such bands as Cryptopsy, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Defeated Sanity, Unearth, and Disentomb, and they’ve extended their music across international waters with a string of singles and a 2023 EP (A Rite of Passage). Complexant should draw a lot more attention both at home and abroad when Bleeding Art Collective release their debut album Apex later this month.

As the band’s music has evolved into what’s represented on Apex, they have drawn influence from bands such as Behemoth, Suffocation, Emperor, and Nile, focusing on an intersection of death and black metal that’s rightly described as “a sound defined by weight, darkness and unrelenting intensity”.

We have a very strong example of these qualities today in our premiere of a video for a song off Apex called “Afterlife“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HORRIFIER — “BODY HOARDER”

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Jul 022026
 

(written by Islander)

Maniacally savage and also macabre. A vicious killing spree, but trading off with chords of groaning menace and otherworldly agony. Ruthlessly bludgeoning but also parting interdimensional veils with melodies of hideous and haunting splendor.

Those were among our thoughts about the debut album from a group of young Norwegian marauders who took the name Horrifier, a record aptly titled Horrid Resurrection that Personal Records released in the fall of 2023. They are older now, of course, but the added years seem to have made them even madder, meaner, and more merciless, though no less proud in wearing the influence of such bands as Autopsy, Entombed, and Repulsion.

Those are some quick reactions to Horrifier’s forthcoming second album Revelations of Gore (another apt title), which is now set for international release by the same Personal Records on August 7th. We have a few deeper reactions to share along with our premiere today of a song called “Body Hoarder“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KHOLSTOMER — “FOREST”

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Jul 012026
 

(written by Islander)

One English dictionary defines “nuanced” as “something characterized by subtle shades, fine distinctions, or layered meanings.” The riffing in the very riff-centered song we’re now premiering is nuanced in all those ways, but it coheres in the creation of compelling dark moods.

The song, “Forest“, is one of seven encompassed by an album titled Elegy, which is the debut full-length from the American-Polish black metal band Kholstomer that’s set for co-release on August 15th by Satanath Records and Pagan Fury Records. The band was founded by James Oskarbski (Odious Spirit) and (as the labels say) “draws inspiration from literature, history, and the contradictions of human nature”. Elegy, for example, was “informed by reflections on Tolstoy’s view of mortality and war”:

“Drawing from the idea that history is shaped less by great individuals than by vast, impersonal forces beyond anyone’s command, Elegy finds both tragedy and transcendence in human limitation.”

As for the music, the labels recommend it for fans of Dawn, Mgła, Emperor, Woe, and Winterfylleth. But now let’s get to “Forest“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TORPOR — “ƉUNGEON ƉWELLERS”

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Jul 012026
 

(written by Islander)

We have devoted a lot of attention over the years to a UK band named Torpor, a point we mention because some of you may recall that coverage — and because the Torpor whose music you’re about to hear isn’t that band. But as you’re about to discover, although the names are the same, there’s no way anyone could confuse the music of the two groups.

Today’s Torpor is a Polish band originally formed in Warsaw under the prime influence of Bathory. They began making short releases in 2018, including a 2021 EP (The Ancient Tales), but now they’re primed for the release of a debut album by Dying Victims Productions on July 24th.

The new album, Ɖungeon Ɖescent, fully reveals the path they’ve been on. It could be considered “the idiosyncratic side of ancient heavy metal” or “swords & sorcery metal”, which are among the phrasings circulated on behalf of Dying Victims, but with spices of black metal in the mix; the classic Bathory influence still makes its mark too.

As a sign of what Ɖungeon Ɖescent presents, we’re premiering a thrilling album track named “Ɖungeon Ɖwellers“, one that creates an ancient atmosphere (swords and sorcery indeed) while getting listeners’ hearts pumping and leading them through a sequence of changing moods. And we’ll tell you right up-front that it features clean singing, which connects to the glorious old heavy metal traditions that this Torpor have embraced. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THORNS OF RUINS — “WICKED SOULS”

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Jun 302026
 

(written by Islander)

Thorns of Ruins makes its first appearance in ours page today. It is the solo work of Thomas Aamodt, who is probably better known for his other project, the Norwegian black metal band Ildfar.

We’re informed that the idea for Thorns of Ruins started back in 2022 when some of the songs that would become Ildfar’s second album, Nattemørkets kall, did not fit within Ildfar’s universe. Rather than abandon them, Thorns of Ruins was formed – and since then Aamodt has strived to create even greater musical separation between the two projects.

That separation is now most evident in Thorns of Ruins’ second album, Stellar Reverence, which will be released on August 13th by a trio of labels — Satanath Records, Black Plague Records, and Pagan Fury Records.

The new music still shows its connections to black metal, but it also reaches across genre lines to create intersections with doom and death metal, and to craft melancholic, atmospheric, and melodic experiences. We have an example of how multi-faceted the music is, through our premiere of a lyric video for the song “Wicked Souls“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CEREMONIAL WORSHIP — “PANTHEON OF SUFFERING”

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Jun 302026
 

(written by Islander)

The Greek black metal band Ceremonial Worship now find themselves in the tenth year of their existence. In that time they’ve released a pair of EPs, a split, and two albums — with a third one slated for international release by the Eternal Death label on July 31st.

This new album, Between Sleep and Death, is the work of a new lineup (though with founder High Priest C.W. still in the lead), and it has drawn comparisons to both classic Hellenic black metal (the legacy of Rotting Christ, Varathron, Necromantia) and “second wave” bands such as Kawir, Legion of Doom, Nocternity, and even mid-period Nightfall.

What we have for you today is the premiere of the second advance track off the new album, a truly ravishing song called “Pantheon of Suffering“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RAPID — “MOONLESS NIGHT”

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Jun 292026
 

(written by Islander)

A decade has passed since the Finnish metal band Rapid released their first demos, eventually leading to their 2022 debut EP Blackstar Oppression Regime. The music captured in those four songs has rightly been described on behalf of their label as an electrifying collision of “the urgency of hardcore punk, the hook-oriented propulsion of speed metal, and the spidery aura of old-wave black metal”.

Here we are, four years later, and Rapid’s debut album Enter the Realm of Fire is set for release on August 21st by Dying Victims Productions, and we’ll help you get your week off to a diabolical start with the premiere of an album track called “Moonless Night“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LITOSTH — “ECLIPSE”

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Jun 262026
 

(written by Islander)

Shades of mental and emotional darkness have been features of heavy metal in general, and extreme metal in particular, for a very long time. Sometimes it’s been represented through supernatural imagery and lyricism, sometimes by more direct experiences of real-world turmoil and desolation.

But while it’s commonplace to see descriptions of metal songs or albums as “dark”, it’s still startling (and shuddering) to read about the ethos of Litosth’s forthcoming fourth full-length, Dreaming. It is described in the press materials proffered by Personal Records as a record that “offers no comfort, no resolution, no redemption”:

“What it offers is something more disturbing and necessary: the complete architecture of collapse. Eight tracks that do not describe the fall — they are the fall…. The album descends layer by layer through what remains when everything that was imposed is stripped away: faith, morality, purpose, and the illusion of ascent. What remains is not liberation. It is only ashes, emptiness, and silence…. Dreaming is not a record about dreaming. It is about finally ceasing to do so.”

How does this Brazilian duo of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Maicon Ristow and lyricist Wendel Siota plumb such desolate depths through their music? We have a partial answer today in our premiere of a guitar-and-bass playthrough video for the song “Eclipse“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NINTH REALM — “DAMNATION’S VEIL”

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Jun 262026
 

(written by Islander)

On August 28th Transcending Obscurity Records will release Damnation’s Veil, the second full-length from Maryland-based Ninth Realm. The label rightly describes it as “a scathing form of death/thrash metal music bearing influences of hardcore and heavy metal, with a slight blackened edge”, and a narrative theme that delves further into the band’s original dark fantasy world, Tythorin.

Today we’re premiering the new album’s title song, but before we get to that we’ll encourage you to check out the first two singles from the album that have preceded the one we’re revealing today. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ENTROPIST — “THE VISION”

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Jun 252026
 

(written by Islander)

Entropist is a Colorado progressive metal band primarily composed of people who have been friends since college days more than a decade ago. After many years of effort, they have recorded and will soon release their monumental debut album, aptly named The Vision. It is described as “a dual‑layered concept record that intertwines a fantastical narrative of demons, celestial beings, and the void with a grounded exploration of mental struggle, nihilism, and the search for meaning”.

As you can see, it’s adorned by a painting created by Shannon Bortfeldt that’s visually arresting, and it also captures the emotional and narrative weight of the story’s opening moments. It’s a fitting prelude to an extensive album that’s also colorful, repeatedly arresting, and an effective representation of the fantastical narrative that unfolds through the lyricism. We are happy to share it with you now, on the eve of its release. Continue reading »

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