AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PLAGUEWIELDER — “BLOOD OF THE ASTRAL GATE”

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Aug 212025
 

(written by Islander)

We’ve been following the ever-evolving music of Ohio’s Plaguewielder since early days, and today we continue our watch by premiering through an eye-catching video an excellent new song, “Blood of the Astral Gate,” the lead single being digitally released today from a two-part Plaguewielder EP that’s set to unfold in early 2026.

That two-part series will be entitled Year of the Plague, to be released by a new independent label named Mourning Shroud that will become the new vehicle for their music. As Plaguewielder portray what’s coming through the EPs, “the band descends further into the spiral of post-black metal, where anguish becomes ritual and melody bleeds into shadow. These offerings are steeped in decay, adorned with haunted hymns and the weight of forgotten aeons.”

With respect to the new song you’re about to hear, Plaguewielder have provided this statement: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNDERSAVE — “NARCISSITIC SUPREME ALIENATION”

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Aug 212025
 

(written by Islander)

The Portuguese death metal band Undersave do not hurry. Originally formed in 2004, they released their debut album in 2012, and then a second one in 2018, and now roughly seven years later they will have a third one released in October by Transcending Obscurity Records. And while the lineup has undergone some changes during those two decades, vocalist and guitarist Nuno Braz has remained a steadfast presence since the beginning.

The name of the new album is Merged In Abstract Perdition. It’s an unusual name but it suits much of the music. “Perdition” refers to a state of eternal punishment and damnation, and that state of torment and darkness exists in the music too, but there is also an atmosphere of unreality, a degree of abstraction that creates an often surreal experience that’s sometimes unnerving and sometimes perversely hypnotic.

You’ll better understand what we’re getting at when you listen to the first two advance songs from the album and the third one we’re premiering today. Their titles are as interesting and as strangely suggestive as the album’s name. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KHATANO — “HATE”

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Aug 202025
 

(written by Islander)

The music of the Czech band Khatano could be labeled a mix of heavy-grooved death metal and hardcore. But don’t leap to the conclusion that what they’re doing is “deathcore”, because it definitely is not that, as you’ll quickly discover from the song called “Hate” that we’re premiering today from Khatano‘s new album In Shackles.

The song is well-named because it does sound hateful — ferociously so. Panchlera Panchezzo‘s vocals are the most violently raging aspect of the track. They’re not death metal gutturals but instead a blast furnace of howling grit and raw fury. The other aspects of the song don’t pull any punches either — and they do punch very damned hard. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: AFTER EARTH — “THROE”

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Aug 202025
 

(written by Islander)

On September 26th the Swedish melodic death metal band After Earth will release their second album, Dark Night of the Soul. It builds upon the foundations of their debut full-length, 2023’s The Rarity of Reason, but represents a more ambitious and multi-faceted undertaking, and the work of a revised lineup.

Those heightened ambitions are reflected in the nearly 52-minute length of the new album, as compared to the 35-minute runtime of the first one. More importantly, it’s reflected in the range of the music, one example of which is provided in the song “Throe” that we’re premiering today along with a video of the band performing the song at SufferCity festival in Lidköping, Sweden earlier this year. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GRAVE HEX — “VERMIAN DEATH”

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Aug 192025
 

(written by Islander)

It’s rare to find debut albums that seemingly come out of nowhere which are as coherently conceived and masterfully rendered as the forthcoming first album of the Helsinki death metal band Grave Hex. Although the band only came together in 2024, the album makes it obvious that they quickly coalesced in what they wanted to do and knew almost instinctively how to do it.

What they chose to do is reflected in both the name they picked for themselves and the title of the album — Vermian Death — which is to say, they chose to make primal, worm-ridden death metal that’s equal parts stupendously crushing, hideously festering, and chillingly spectral.

They’re not reinventing any wheels, but they’re really, really good at the gargantuan and gruesome artform they’ve embraced — as you’ll have the chance to experience for yourselves through our full streaming premiere of Vermian Death today, in advance of its August 22nd release by Night Terrors Records and Cavernous Records (two labels whose names fit very well with this music). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): प्रलय (PRALAYA) — “BEYOND THE TATTERED CURTAIN OF UNSPEAKABLE MADNESS”

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Aug 192025
 

(written by Islander)

We are about to present a full stream of the debut album from प्रलय (Pralaya), a Polish two-person formation consisting of Demoniac (vocals, guitars, bass, effects) and Thisworld Outof (drums). Entitled Beyond the Tattered Curtain of Unspeakable Madness, it will be released on August 23rd by Ancient Dead Productions.

Ancient Dead calls the music a “Black and Death Metal monument of despair, bestiality and blasphemy in its purest form,” and a “conflagration straight from the depths of mighty Yama’s underworld” that “will eat you alive.” Of course, we have our own thoughts about what Pralaya have accomplished with their devastating music, but first we want to share the results of our own investigation of the band’s name. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEMIURGON — “APOPTOSI”

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Aug 182025
 

(written by Islander)

“Demiurgon whip up a storm almost literally with their kind of ferocious, unbridled death metal. Hurtling towards the listener at ridiculous speeds, it stirs up a variety of emotions usually of the violent kind. Mostly though, there is sheer trepidation listening to the forceful nature of their music, and strangely, at the same time an innate sense of awe witnessing the control they have over the entire catastrophic event.”

We don’t usually yield the floor to the oratory of record labels or PR agents when discussing a band’s new music, having a pronounced preference for our own rhetoric, but that paragraph quoted above was too on-point to ignore. It’s from the promotional materials disseminated by Transcending Obscurity Records in support of Demiurgon‘s new album Miasmatic Deathless Chamber, which T.O. will release on September 26th.

How on-point is their description? You probably already know if you’ve heard either of the two advance tracks released from the album so far, but you’ll certainly find out today through our premiere of the third one — “Apoptosi“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABYSSALIS — “SENESCENCE”

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Aug 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Before we all barge or stumble our way into the weekend we have one more song premiere to share with you, an eye-popping track named “Senescence” from a forthcoming five-song EP by the Atlanta-based death metal band Abyssalis.

Entitled Adaptation, the EP will be released by Transcending Obscurity Records in an album-length package that also includes the band’s 2023 debut EP The Mountain, making for an 11-song statement of Abyssalis‘ capabilities. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MASS PUNISHMENT — “ENEMY WITHIN”

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Aug 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Today we’re premiering both a hard-hitting new song from the New Jersey-based metal band Mass Punishment and a hair-raising video for it. The name is “Enemy Within“.

This new song follows on the heels of the band’s latest album, Proving Grounds Devastation, which was released last fall. Mass Punishment describe the theme of the song this way: “When you are infiltrated by those who seek to hold you back, cause you harm and celebrate your failures. Face your enemy within, and conquer them.” Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CRUEL BOMB — “CRUEL BOMB”

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Aug 142025
 

(written by Islander)

Ferocious speed, riffs with mean hooks, beats with spine-shaking groove, howling mad vocals, hardcore belligerence, and enough flash and flair to keep listeners on their toes in between wanting to body-check someone in a mosh pit. In essence, that’s what the Pennsylvania thrash band Cruel Bomb bring to the table in their self-titled debut album which will see release tomorrow (August 15th).

To flesh this out, let’s take the album’s second track and lead single “Target Neutralized“, which arrived with a video that lets us see (through strange lenses) these marauders in action. Continue reading »

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