AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: FERNDOM — “STONE-TOOTHED ABYSS”

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Feb 052026
 

(written by Islander)

I’ve previously explained that the forthcoming debut album of Ferndom piqued my interest before I ever heard a note. First, it’s a one-person project from my hometown of Austin, Texas (the person goes by Vileinist, a clever name for reasons you’ll soon learn). Second, the title of the album is Tesuque, named for a place near Santa Fe in New Mexico that I and family members have visited frequently.

And, well, the third reason for getting interested is that Vileinist is a violinist, and uses an electric violin to replace traditional guitar parts throughout the album.

The occasion for first paying attention to Ferndom at our site was its release of the first single from Tesuque, a completely captivating song called “Cacophony of Ice“. We’re paying more attention today because we’re premiering a video for the album’s second single, “Stone-Toothed Abyss“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: FROZEN OCEAN — “BORTKASTADE DÖDSRUNOR”

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Feb 052026
 

(written by Islander)

The music of the band Frozen Ocean (the solo work of Vaarwel) could broadly be characterized as a melding of depressive rock and atmospheric black metal. Its musical output has been prolific: Frozen Ocean has released 11 albums and a variety of shorter works since 2005. Yet there’s been a significant interval between full-lengths since 2015’s Prills of Remembrance. Now a new Frozen Ocean album named Askdrömmar is finally on the way, with a release date of February 13th set by the Apocalyptic Witchcraft label.

In its previous releases Frozen Ocean has thematically explored a wide range of subjects and inspirations. The new album draws inspiration from the writing of John Ajvide Lindqvist and the music of Lifelover, with lyrics written entirely in Swedish. Its themes are described on behalf of the label this way: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HEIR CORPSE ONE — “DESTINATION: DOMINATION”

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Feb 042026
 

(written by Islander)

The Swedish heavy metal luminaries who formed Heir Corpse One in 2020 obviously had their tongues in their cheeks when they picked the name, twisting the call-sign of the U.S. president’s official plane to suit the twisted tale they wished to tell.

That tale, which began to unfold in the band’s 2021 debut album Fly the Fiendish Skies, envisioned a group of wealthy passengers fleeing the pandemic in a private jet (like that ever happened!), only to crash, descend into cannibalism, and trigger a zombie outbreak.

The narrative was so tailor-made for the manifold awfulness of the covid pandemic that it wouldn’t have been surprising if Heir Corpse One had been a “one and done” project. But no, these people obviously had so much fun making that first album that they forged on, not just with the music but with the gruesome concept story.

And so now we’re on the verge of getting the second Heir Corpse One album, Destination: Domination. And by “verge”, we mean the brink of February 6th, which is when Emanzipation Productions will disgorge the record. As you’re about to discover first-hand, it’s a ghastly delight. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CEPHEIDAE VARIABLE — “THE CONDUIT”

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Feb 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Fans of astronomy may pass their eyes over the name Cepheidae Variable, pause, take a second look, and come away puzzled. But the band’s solo creator, Ryan Koepke from British Columbia, Canada, has an explanation:

The name “Cepheidae Variable” is a bit of nonsense. I wanted to name the project “Cepheid Variable”; however, I quickly realized every word and combination of words under the sun has been used at this point. So it became a play on words, and now it’s about a family of jellyfish.

Nonsense it may be, but the story brings a smile — and so does Cepheidae Variable’s music, though it’s far away from nonsense. As captured on the project’s debut album Primordial Reverie (released last November), it’s a head-spinning but carefully plotted amalgamation of varied inspirations and stylistic ingredients. Ryan’s identification of bands whose music has heavily influenced him gives some sense of that: Dream Theater, Haken, Intervals, Wintersun, and Caligula’s Horse.

The album is itself carefully plotted and tells a story, even though it doesn’t include vocals. As he has explained: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISGUSTINGEST — “DIGITAL CYST”

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Feb 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Look around and you can find forms of entertainment (as well as real-world events) that are disgusting. Keep looking and you can find things that are more disgusting. And then there is Disgustingest.

Dictionaries and grammarians would frown on that word, but as metal band-names go, it works a lot better than MOST DISGUSTING.

But what were these Coloradans thinking when they picked that name? After all, the history of death metal is filled with big rotting piles of maggot-ridden, stomach-churning musical foulness. It’s a high bar to surmount (or if you prefer, a really low one to crawl under) to hold yourself out as Disgustingest. But these people do their damnedest to live up to the challenge, as you’re about to find out.

Today we’re helping announce that on February 20th Paper Wings Records will release Disgustingest’s second EP, aptly named Coagulating Putrescence, and we’re also premiering its first single, “Digital Cyst“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PHASMA — “VI”

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Jan 302026
 

(written by Islander)

Transcending Obscurity Records is helping get this new year off to a hard-charging start, with new records by Mors Verum, Decipher, Apolaustic, and Phasma now set for release in the coming few months and songs from each of them now out in the world for streaming. Three of those bands are new to the label, and one of those is Phasma, a Greek group who have drawn upon a wide range of metal influences to create their forthcoming third full-length, Purgatory.

As a sign of the breadth of influences Phasma have drawn upon, T.O. recommends the album for fans of Mgła, Dying Fetus, Crypts of Despair, Kriegsmaschine, and Psycroptic. And if that lists leaves you wondering how (and how well) these Greeks have interworked such disparate styles, we have a concrete example for you today in our premiere of Purgatory’s startling closing track, “VI” (all the songs are simply and solely identified with Roman numerals). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DWELLNOUGHT — “ILL WHISPERS”

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Jan 302026
 

(written by Islander)

Just two days into this dreadful new year I found myself mentally knocked flat by the first song revealed from a debut album by the Italian band Dwellnought. Not completely struck dumb by it, because I was able to feverishly peck out a scramble of words soon after hearing it, but stunned anyway. And so what a stroke of good fortune it was to be invited to premiere another song from the album.

This newest song, which you’ll now be able to hear for yourselves, is “Ill Whispers“. The album is Monolith of Ephemerality (a title that will mean something to you when you listen). And the release date through Caligari Records is February 20th. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WSTRĘT — “ENLIGHTENED MISANTHROPY”

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Jan 292026
 

(written by Islander)

Near the end of last summer I came across a two-song debut EP named Subhuman Eschatology by the Polish band Wstręt. As I wrote at the time, it floored me. It was like someone spun the intensity dial until it wouldn’t go any further.

Those two songs warped together ingredients of black and death metal to create body-bruising blows and to inflict mind-shredding, needle-sharp riffing that dug in deep. The songs generated moods that were wrecking and wracked, terrorizing and tormented, exhilarating and oppressive, coupled with ragged, reverberating roars were heartless and harrowing.

Given the nature of that introduction to Wstręt, I found myself simultaneously frightened and thrilled to discover that Godz Ov War Productions would be releasing a second EP from them, this new one a 20-minute affair named Enlightened Misanthropy.

Now you’ll have a chance to form your own impressions about it through our full stream of these five new tracks in advance of the EP’s release tomorrow — though of course we have some impressions of our own to share first. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ZARAZA — “THE YEARNING MOUTH OF THE FOREST”

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Jan 282026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we help introduce people to a new raw black metal band, a two-piece outfit named Zaraza born from the hills of Appalachia and the decayed streets of the Rust Belt. These two, Azara and Mictlantecuhtli, introduce their their music with these words: “Rising from holler and rust, gnawing at the marrow of time, a blasphemy against life and cosmos, summoning shadows that devour memory and light” — or more succinctly as “Appalachian darkness, Rust Belt desecration”.

In the coming spring Zaraza will release a debut EP named …And You Will Remember This Winter through So Below Productions, and what we have for you today is a video premiere of its first single, “The Yearning Mouth of the Forest“, which includes a guest vocal appearance by Mor Grish of Ofstingan/Burial Oath. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SPLENDIDULA — “KILTE”

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Jan 282026
 

(written by Islander)

On April 3rd Argonauta Records will release a new album by the Belgian band Splendidula, whose music blends atmospheric black metal and suffocating doom. The album’s title, Absentia, is a fitting one because the music’s emotional core lies in the tragic absence of loved ones, including the sudden loss of bassist Peter Chromiak in 2022.

In December of last year we premiered a video for the Splendidula single “Echoes of Quiet Remain“, which included a guest vocal appearance by Aaron Stainthorpe, and today we’re premiering another Absentia single and video in advance of the song’s official release on January 30th. The name of this one is “Kilte“, and to introduce it we begin with the comments of Splendidula vocalist Kristien: Continue reading »

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