AN NCS PREMIERE: TOOMS — “LOWLANDER”

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May 122026
 

(written by Islander)

The cover image on Tooms‘ new album Karst might make most people wonder about the musical direction this trio from the west of Ireland decided to follow over the years that have passed since their 2020 full-length debut, The Orb Offers Massive Signals. It doesn’t seem to match up with the band’s reputation for creating progressive sludge metal that delivers punishing heaviness and oppressive gloom, digging deep into the muck of life.

It might make a bit more sense in the context of what the press materials circulated on behalf of the band’s label Cursed Monk Records say about Karst, referring to the guitars’ “rich, snarling effervescence beneath a crust of dried blood and dirt” and the music’s “sense of life, in all its glorious, torturous, filthy, vivid vibrancy”.

But Tooms’ appreciation of life’s gritty vibrancy and their perception of beauty within it is clearly quite different from what’s represented in a floral arrangement. To understand that, listen to “Lowlander“, the song from Karst we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HALTER — “HOLOCAUST JACKALS”

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May 112026
 

(written by Islander)

Six years after their last album, the Russian band Halter are returning this month with a new full-length. Titled Another Strong Hand For A Damned Land, it’s set for co-release on May 25th by Symbol Of Domination (Moldova) and the Russian labels Wroth Emitter and Arx Productions.

It brings to the table old-school death/doom tinged with touches of sludge, stoner, and gothic metal. It was written and recorded during difficult times in Halter’s country, times marked by the Covid pandemic, the strengthening of a tyrannical regime, and of course the brutal war.

Unavoidably, all of those events affected the music and the lyrics. The labels tell us: “Lyrically, through profound symbolism, the songs are filled with the experiences of recent years, an anti-war message, a desire for freedom, and bitterness over the fate of people in the region.”

What we have for you today is the premiere of a video for an immediately infectious and powerfully moving track called “Holocaust Jackals“, which is powerful on multiple levels. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FOGOS — “WYRM”

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May 062026
 

(written by Islander)

We are told that the name of the Barcelona-based black metal band Fogos was “inspired in the fires that enlighten the path of the dead and their main themes: paganism, nihilism, death and the decay of the human soul.” They began that daunting path of bloodshed and decay with their debut album Corpses and Ashes (2022), and now they continue onward with a new and even more murderous album named Of Wyrm And Men.

On the new album this band’s experienced lineup is augmented with guest appearances by Rider G. Omega from Obsidian Kingdom and our friend J. F. Fiar from Foscor and Jade. It also benefits from professional production, with recording accomplished at Moontower Studios in Spain and mastering by Dan Lowndes at Resonance Sound Studio in New England.

Of Wyrm And Men will be co-released on June 21st by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Poisoned Furrows Records (U.S.), and what we have for you today is the premiere of a stunning album track named “Wyrm“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VOIDTHRONE — “DREAMING RAT”

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May 052026
 

(written by Islander)

If we think of ourselves as listener-fish scurrying through the sea of our days and music-makers as throngs of fishers trying to catch our attention, what lures work best? For some fish it might be affectionate familiarity with a band’s previous music. Lacking such familiarity, it might be a genre description or a “for fans of” reference or an al-luring piece of cover art.

In the case of Voidthrone from the Pacific Northwest and their new album Dreaming Rat (set for release on May 8th), it might be all of that, but they have one additional lure — an intriguing concept underlying the album (or overarching it). They organize the album’s nine songs into a triptych of parallel “Arcs” which together create “a three-part cosmic death ritual”. Each numbered Arc has its own title, and we’ll get to those, but the three could be summed up with these words:

“a solar system burning through its lifespan, a civilization collapsing under its own complexity, and a parasite replicating itself across language, culture, and flesh”

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): IVOIRE — “URAGANO”

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May 042026
 

(written by Islander)

On May 8th the Italian metal band Ivoire will release their debut album Uragano. It began a long process of taking shape more than four years ago through a series of personal reflections written by the band’s founder Nicolò Lenoci, and then gradually evolved as he sought musical expressions for those ideas — musical expressions that ultimately moved between post-metal, sludge, and black metal influences.

When the time arrived for fully fleshing out the music and recording it, Nicolò (performing guitars and bass) was joined by vocalist Antonio Caggese, drummer Giovanni Solazzo (Turangalila, Duocane), and some guests whose contributions we’ll identify a bit later. Afterward, the band found its definitive line-up for live performances, with members we’ll also identify below.

Here is how Nicolò introduces the album: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ARROGANT DESTRUCKTOR — “THE OLD SPIRIT REMAINS”

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May 012026
 

(written by Islander)

Initially formed in 2012 as a studio-only black metal band, Arrogant Destruktor from Birmingham (UK) eventually expanded into a full line-up and have released three albums and a few shorter releases in the ensuing years.

Since the release of their 2023 album Written in Blood from the Blade, they’ve enlisted a new vocalist, and the current lineup now has a fourth album — The Old Spirit Remains — set for release on June 19th by Satanath Records (Georgia) and The End of Time Records (Ireland).

What we have for you today is the premiere of a video for the new album’s dark and daunting title song. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: WAMPYRIC RITES AND NOIRSUAIRE — “CONSECRATION OF NOCTURNAL ENTITIES”

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May 012026
 

(written by Islander)

Two steadfast standard-bearers of vampyric black metal mysticism and nocturnal transcendence have joined forces on a new album-length split that will be released on May 5th by the Lithuanian label Inferna Profundus Records. These two are Wampyric Rites from Ecuador and Noirsuaire from France, and the authentic name of their split is Consecration Of Nocturnal Entities.

Each band has forged three songs for the album, for a total of 34 minutes of galvanizing, glorious, and grievous music, and it truly is a union of kindred spirits. On this Bandcamp Friday we’re giving everyone a chance to listen to all of it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND REVIEW): EVEALE – ENTER THE WOODLAND REALM

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Apr 302026
 

(Andy Synn is here to guide you on a journey… into the woodland realm)

There are lots of different factors one can use to analyse, criticise, and appraise a band… ambition, execution, innovation, intention.

But the one that’s more important than any of them – in my opinion, at least – is passion.

And make no mistake, Eveale is very much a passion-project for its members (whose work you may have heard in bands like Am I In Trouble? and Ashenheart) whose goal on Enter the Woodland Realm – which releases on Friday but we’re premiering exclusively here today – is to channel their love of Black Metal, in all its forms, into nine rich, evocative songs that pay tribute both to the history of the genre and to the glory of nature.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOREWORM — “NO REPRIEVE”

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Apr 292026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we’re a bit like a caboose pulled along at the end of a powerfully surging freight train, the train being the Canadian death metal band Goreworm rushing forward to the June 12 release of their second album Miasmic Solitude by Transcending Obscurity Records.

We’re a bit like the last car because three songs from the album have already debuted and we’re now premiering the fourth one — “No Reprieve” — though of course Transcending Obscurity might release more before we hit the June 12 mile marker.

On the other hand, the surging freight train analogy doesn’t completely fit the picture, because Goreworm’s music isn’t a straight-ahead, all-wheels-on-the-rails kind of affair, as you’ll soon witness if you haven’t already. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GRAVEIR — “A FUTILE EXHORTATION”

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Apr 282026
 

(written by Islander)

For nearly a decade we’ve been recommending the recordings of the Brisbane-based black metal band Graveir, and we’re doing it again today. Their discography to date has included a pair of albums — Iconostasis (2016) and King of the Silent World (2020) — plus an EP and a pair of splits. And now they have a third album named The Festering Triad that’s set for release on May 29th by Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings.

As their label has accurately described, Graveir’s music has proven to be “bleak, violent and uncompromising.” It’s capable of evoking fury, chaos, and degradation, but also creating mind-warping melodic visions that are unearthly and even mesmerizing but also profoundly frightening. And here is how Apocalyptic Witchcraft describes their new full-length:

The Festering Triad, their third album, is a bleak vision of societal decay and corrupted power. Across eight tracks, bile-fuelled aggression surges through anxiety-ridden drums, convulsing guitars, and serpentine basslines—forming a suffocating, venomous descent into rot.

What we have for you today is a startling sign of just how accurate that description is, a song named “A Futile Exhortation“, which arrives with a tremendous video that captures many of the album’s dire concepts. Continue reading »

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