AN NCS PREMIERE: IN CORPORE MORTIS — “IGNEOUS CURRENTS PERVADE THE AETHYR”

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Aug 042025
 

(written by Islander)

Twelve years after their full-length debut Neverwards, and five years following their Eons of Attrition EP, the Italian black metal band In Corpore Mortis are returning with a second album named Umbræ Ignis that’s now scheduled for co-release next month by Satanath Records and Wine and Fog Productions.

One song from the new album has already debuted, and today we’re premiering a second one. Both of them are representations of supernatural evil, both of them insidiously infectious as well as frightening, and they both reveal other facets of chilling mood, including shades of ghostly gothic horror. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GJALLARHORN’S WRATH — “A SILENT SCREAM”

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Aug 012025
 

(written by Islander)

The Barcelona-based extreme metal band Gjallarhorn’s Wrath trace their roots to the Spanish atmospheric black metal band Oblivion, which was founded in 2001. After making a strong mark, that earlier group disbanded, but in time the core members reunited. With the addition of vocalist Alex, Lord Ashler moved to bass, Javi Iron returned to handle drums, keys, and composition, and Arash continued as lead guitarist.

Under the name Gjallarhorn’s Wrath, they have recorded a debut album entitled The Silver Key that’s set for release by Non Serviam Records on September 5th. As the label explains, the album blends “the raw aggression of blackened death metal with the grandeur of orchestral and cinematic elements”.

Last month we hosted the premiere of a transfixing video for a sonic spectacle from The Silver Key named “Wiccan Wyrd“, and today we follow that with another riveting video. This one presents the album’s second single, “A Silent Scream“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RINTRAH — “THE TORRID CLIME”

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Jul 312025
 

(written by Islander)

This coming Bandcamp Friday will bring the release by Fiadh Productions of the debut album from an unusual musical collaboration that has taken the name Rintrah. That album, The Torrid Clime, pays tribute to Romantic period art, poetry, and music (circa 1798-1837). It does that in part by drawing the songs’ lyrics from classical pieces by Romantic era poets, presented unaltered and unabridged. The themes include “finding the true God in nature, the sense of the primordial as channeled through the self, nostalgia for the past, and using fantasy as a tool to reshape dissatisfactions with reality”.

The participants in Rintrah include Otrebor (Botanist, ex-Lotus Thief) on drums and vocals, Arsenio Santos (Howling Sycamore) on bass, and William DuPlain (aka Cynoxylon, ex-Botanist) on lead vocals — and guitars were composed and recorded by classical musician Justin Collins.

Yesterday we published an interview with Justin about how Rintrah and the music became a reality. We’ll use parts of that interview as reference points again today, but the main subject now is the music itself, a genre-bending and time-traveling experience that you’ll now be able to enjoy in its entirety. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: RINTRAH

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Jul 302025
 

(written by Islander)

Rintrah is an unusual musical collaboration whose lineup consists of Otrebor (Botanist, ex-Lotus Thief) on drums and vocals, Arsenio Santos (Howling Sycamore) on bass, William DuPlain (aka Cynoxylon, ex-Botanist) on vocals, and acoustic classical guitarist Justin Collins. They describe Rintrah as a project “that pays tribute to Romantic period art, poetry, and music (circa 1798-1837),” in part by drawing their lyrics from “classical pieces by Romantic era poets, presented unaltered and unabridged.”

Last year we premiered Rintrah‘s debut demo (here), and we also wrote about another demo track that came out later in the year (here). Those were rough versions of four songs that will appear in their final form, along with seven more songs, on Rintrah‘s debut album The Torrid Clime.

That album will be released on this coming Bandcamp Friday, August 1st, via Fiadh Productions, and pre-orders by the label and the band are starting today. Tomorrow we will premiere a full stream of the album with a review, and we’re including one of the new songs (“In Tempests”) at the end of this article.

To help pave the way to these events, I interviewed Justin Collins to delve deeper into how Rintrah came to be, and how the music was made. That discussion follows, illustrated with paintings by Caspar David Friedrich and one by Julius von Leypold (excerpts of some of these appear in the booklet accompanying the album). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BLACK ALTAR — “IN THE LABYRINTHS OF SITRA ACHRA”

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Jul 302025
 

(written by Islander)

The Polish black metal band Black Altar, spearheaded by its leader Shadow, have been releasing music since 1998, assembling a discography that now includes two albums, a large assortment of splits, EPs, and singles, and two compilation records. Their most recent release is a three-way split named Drakonian Elitism from January 2024 that also includes music by Ofermod and Acherontas.

Black Altar contributed four tracks to that nearly hour-long release, including “In the Labyrinths of Sitra Achra“, which is the subject of the lyric video we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OCCULSED — “HEINOUS PULSE”

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Jul 292025
 

(written by Islander)

This makes our sixth premiere of music from the Atlanta-area death metal band Occulsed since the start of 2021. In those past features we’ve described their music as “a filthy discharge of clobbering and eviscerating madness.” We’ve called it “grotesque,” “putrid,” “abysmal,” and “abhorrent.” We’ve highlighted the band’s talent “for creating electrifying visions of horror and disease, of madness and mayhem, and of blood-freezing intrusions from spectral realms.”

We’ve also asserted that the music is “is both predatory and hopeless, noxious and deranged, horrifyingly imperious and seemingly gleeful in its deviant revels,” but “so well-constructed and maliciously well-realized that it becomes addictive (as well as foul).”

Now we get a chance to try to cook up further ways of describing just how punishing and paranormal the music of Occulsed really is. They have a new album named Antegnosis coming our way in September via Everlasting Spew Records, and we have a song from it coming your way right now. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HUMANITY ZERO — “FORGIVENESS DEVOURED”

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Jul 292025
 

(written by Islander)

The musical evolution of the Greek band Humanity Zero continues. In its early phases and continuing through many albums the band embraced death metal in the vein of such bands as Death, Hypocrisy, Unleashed, Nile, and Immolation. By the time of the 2017 album Withered In Isolation, the reference points included My Dying Bride, Tiamat, Amorphis, Katatonia, and Ophis. The movement in a doomed direction was even more pronounced on the following album Proselytism as the music became slower still and even more nightmarish.

And now Humanity Zero brings us their sixth album, Cursed Be The Gift Of Life. It comes almost seven years after Proselytism. Think of what has happened to the world during those seven years, and maybe you can begin to guess about the direction of this band’s new music.

But there’s no need for guesswork: As a tangible sign of what those long intervening years have wrought in Humanity Zero‘s increasingly frightening and doomed musical interests, today we premiere a song from the new album named “Forgiveness Devoured“. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BELLICISTE AND ÚIR

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Jul 282025
 

(written by Islander)

This coming Friday (August 1st) two excellent black metal bands, Belliciste and Úir, will release an album-length split on cassette tape (and digitally). It includes four songs from Belliciste, three from Úir, and one song that is a collaboration between the two bands. Today we’re very happy to share a full stream of all the songs.

Further commentary is likely unnecessary, but of course you’re going to get it anyway. This is an hour-long compendium of music, and because most days for most people are hurried and harried, explaining why it would be worthwhile to pause for this, from its beginning to its end, may be useful. Beyond that, the commentary functions as an expression of thanks to these musicians for enriching our hurried and harried days with something this superb. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VELZEVUL — “ABIGOR”

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Jul 252025
 

(written by Islander)

Elegantly garbed and golden-masked, the symphonic black metal band Velzevul has emerged from the far east of Russia with their debut album Pandemonium set for release in September by Satanath Records and More Hate Productions.

Their album imagines the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, a nuclear wasteland on the shores of the Sea of Japan — that almost wholly enclosed body of water bordered by the Japanese archipelago, the Korean peninsula, and mainland Russia. Its concept is described in these words on behalf of the band and the labels (as translated from the Russian text): Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IMPERIALIST — “BENEATH THE SANDS OF TITAN”

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Jul 242025
 

(written by Islander)

The California-based black metal band Imperialist have released two albums so far (Cipher and Zenith), and their third one — Prime — is now set for release by Transcending Obscurity Records on September 5th. We’ve been fortunate to host premieres of music from those first two albums, and are fortunate again to premiere a song from the third one today.

Speaking of good fortune, all three of Imperialist‘s albums have featured tremendous cover paintings that connect with the band’s science-fiction themes, Adam Burke having created the first two and Eliran Kantor devoting his tremendous talents to the new one. Kantor‘s two-panel piece reveals a panorama of intricate detail. Its entire expanse creates a daunting alien vision, but it draws the eye in.

Something similar stands out about Imperialist‘s new music: Their songs are crafted with great attention to detail and executed with eye-popping skill, and they also draw the listener in (often from the very first seconds) and then wholly consume attention with their musical visions while creating a viscerally physical response at the same time.

The song we’re premiering today, “Beneath the Sands of Titan“, is an excellent example of these achievements, and it also seems to connect with the album’s cover art because what Eliran Kantor rendered might indeed be a vision of Saturn’s greatest moon — undergoing a catastrophic event. Continue reading »

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