AN NCS PREMIERE: SOTABOSC — “FREYJA”

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Mar 252026
 

(written by Islander)

Here is background information about the Spanish band Sotabosc whose music we’re sharing with you today from their debut album El batec dels Maquis:

SOTABOSC was founded in 2023 in Barcelona by Oscar Linares and Manel Song, known for their work in Syberia, together with Xavi Forne, creator of the dark-folk project Ulmus and founder of Error! Design. In 2025, the project solidified with the addition of David Rodríguez on vocals and Gerard Serrano on bass, completing a lineup deeply connected to the Catalan underground scene and involved in bands such as Amargor, Arna, Malammar, Stained Blood, Vampyric Winter, Llacuna, Hurricade and Carontte, among others.

Firmly rooted in an anti-fascist ethos, SOTABOSC conveys its message through lyrics sung entirely in Catalan and a carefully crafted visual identity, including artwork, logos, stage aesthetics and graphic materials. Their artistic and political discourse form a coherent whole, integral to the project.

The album itself has a distinctive structure, and to describe it we’ll again quote from materials we’ve received: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): AGGRESSIVE PERFECTOR — “COME CREEPING FIENDS”

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Mar 242026
 

(written by Islander)

Commas are critical units of punctuation. “Let’s eat Grandpa!” is not the same as “Let’s eat, Grandpa!” Or, as in the joke about pandas and firearms, “Eats shoots and leaves” is not the same as “Eats, shoots, and leaves”. But even though Aggressive Perfector named their new album “Come Creeping Fiends“, I’m still reading it as “Come, Creeping Fiends” or “Come Creeping, Fiends”, i.e., as an invitation to people like us rather than a preview (or warning) about what happens within the course of the album.

Well, now that you have that interpretation of the title in your head, which you now won’t be able to forget, we’ll provide our own invitation to listen to the album, an invitation that goes on for much longer than the grammatical contortion we’ve applied to the record’s name.

Or, you could skip the invitations, scroll down, and just listen to all the evil songs now, before Dying Victims Productions releases this magnificently diabolical album on March 27th. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VIMBULNATT — “KERNUMWANDLUNG”

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Mar 232026
 

(written by Islander)

The German black metal duo Vimbulnatt have been on a creative hot streak from the emergence of their first single in 2019. Since then they’ve released a continuing flood of singles and demos, plus four albums and an EP. Their most recent album (until now) was Der dunklen Tugenden. Der Urgrund, released in November 2024, and now they’re following that with a new full-length named Der dunklen Tugenden. Echos.

This new record will be co-released by Kernkraftritter Records (Germany) and Void Wanderer Productions (Netherlands) on May 28th. To help introduce it, we want to share these evocative words we’ve received from the labels about the music’s inspiration: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WRANG — “VOOR ONS DE ZEE”

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Mar 232026
 

(written by Islander)

The cover painting chosen by the Dutch band Wrang for their new album Verwording isn’t conventional imagery for a black metal band — and Wrang is unmistakably a black metal band. But it’s a choice that connects to both the album’s music and its lyrical themes. Here’s some information provided on behalf of Dominance of Darkness Records, which (along with Korpituli Productions) will release Verwording on April 24th:

Wrang’s themes here differ from those prior, ranging from societal critiques to more abstract themes, such as the inner need for strife, leaving behind home and what you know in a longing for something else. But, like most of the band’s music, these lyrics can also be a bit contradictory: on one hand, always looking for something, yet never at ease once it’s reached. Always restless, defiant, yet always torn – such is Wrang, to the bitter end.

And so that cover art offers an apt metaphor for the album’s sonic and lyrical themes: “always drifting on stormy waters, always searching, never settling, desperate yet defiant.” How does the music represent such themes? We have an example today in our premiere of a video for the album’s second single, “Voor ons de zee” (The sea before us). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ASENHEIM — “DER WÄCHTER DER NACHT”

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Mar 202026
 

(written by Islander)

The German pagan/black metal band Asenheim are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. That’s an exceptionally long time for the life of any metal band, and Asenheim have filled those years with releases — no long hiatuses, no deaths and rebirths, just a steady progression of creativity. To commemorate this milestone anniversary, Asenheim will have their tenth album, Elbenblut, released on April 24th by Dominance of Darkness Records.

The new album is again the coordinated work of Asenheim founder Tiwaz and second member of long standing, Valfor. It’s an 11-song, 70-minute opus whose themes are set in the Tolkein universe, and we’re premiering a lyric video (in German) for one of those songs today — “Der Wächter der Nacht“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEIMLER — “DARKNESS FALLS”

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Mar 192026
 

(written by Islander)

Death metal does not have to be interesting, innovative, or even moderately intelligent to be enjoyable. We all know this and most of us will freely admit it. In fact, sometimes it’s at its most enjoyable when its dumber than a box of rocks. And conversely, sometimes it can become so busy, disjointed, and intentionally unfamiliar that the band’s labored adventurousness is unpalatable, or so pretentiously serious that it becomes a big yawn (and not the yawning of our adored abysses).

On their new album Darkness Falls, the Spanish death metal band Deimler have found a sweet spot (indeed, many sweet spots) between these extremes. Their music is monstrous and mauling but it’s also frequently mind-boggling in its intricate adventurousness. It powerfully creates unsettling atmospheric auras but also hits like battering rams. It’s packed with hooks, and it includes guitar solos that are eye-opening rarities in the realms of death metal.

As vivid proof of these claims, today we’re premiering a full stream of Darkness Falls on the eve of its March 20 release by Awakening Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HELL TREPANNER — “THE CONSECRATION OF ETERNAL IMPURITY”

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Mar 182026
 

(written by Islander)

“Darkness enthroned through the death of purity.” With that legend, the Peruvian band Hell Trepanner announce the inspiration for their new album, which will be released on March 20th by the respected Chinese label Awakening Records. The label provides a more extensive but no less daunting description:

The Consecration of Eternal Impurity is a ritual descent into the profane, where each track serves as a hymn to spiritual corruption and transcendence through chaos. This release explores the paradox between the sacred and the impure, narrating a process of inverted consecration in which purity is sacrificed to give way to a higher form of darkness. With abrasive riffs, relentless drums, and dense atmospheres, the work constructs an oppressive sonic landscape that invokes ancient deities, forgotten ruins, and forbidden ceremonies. It is a manifesto of blasphemous power that redefines the essence of ritualistic and obscure death metal.

As you’re about to discover through our full streaming premiere of this tremendous new album, Hell Trepanner powerfully carry forward the pentagram-strewn banner of South American extreme metal, and we’re proud to help flood the world with its horrid wonders. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ASHEN HORDE — “ENTROPY AND ECSTASY”

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Mar 172026
 

(written by Islander)

This makes the fourth time in a nine-year period when we’ve had the extreme pleasure of premiering music by Ashen Horde, and this time it’s a song from their forthcoming fifth album, The Harvest, which is set for release on May 1st.

In one of those previous premieres we wrote that “Ashen Horde have demonstrated an adventurous spirit, with an ever-evolving amalgam of genre influences and no real interest in boxing themselves in.” Over and over again they’ve blended together such ingredients as technical death metal, black metal, and flares of prog metal with often unexpected but reliably breathtaking results — and as you’re about to discover, they’re still marching flying to the beat of their own drummer. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HROB — “ZOTROČENÝ OHEN”

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Mar 172026
 

(written by Islander)

The Slovakian death metal band HROB was founded by Michal (guitar, vocals) and Kiko (guitar) in November 2021, and eventually the band settled into a solid lineup completed by drummer Matej and bassist Vrana. Atomic Vision Productions released their self-titled demo in 2023, and now their debut album Brána Chladu is set for co-release on April 27th by Memento Mori (Spain) and Night Terrors Records (Netherlands).

The labels describe the music as “a putrid death-doom metal abomination that evokes a sense of dread and desolation,” alternating between “slime-slow passages soaked in brooding heaviness and shake-you-from-a-trance pummeling blasts,” with a “well-timed injection of hauntingly melodic leads and caveman-crude tremolo riffing, respectively.”

What we have for you today is the album’s second single, the whiplash-inducing “Zotročený Oheň“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ONCHOCERCIASIS ESOPHAGOGASTRODUODENOSCOPY — “GUTTED AND CORPSED”

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Mar 162026
 

(written by Islander)

After the next paragraph we’re going to refer to this band as OxE, not because it’s too difficult to copy/paste their full name but because reading it repeatedly might cause your eyes to transmit a message to a part of your brain that might then cause you to swallow your tongue, which would be entertaining to see but because we couldn’t see that… OxE it is.

The band’s full name is Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. They are located in Quebec City, though the three members hail from different countries (The Popu is German, Alice Simard is Canadian, Jesse Agiomamitis is Australian). To date they’ve discharged a demo, a pair of EPs, and a debut album named The Rotted Plinth of Sachiel.

Now they’re back with a second album, mysteriously and menacingly titled Fugue Gnawed from the Scabbed God Cerebrum. It’s set for release on April 3rd by Stillbirth Records and Gore House Productions, and today we help pave the way with our premiere of the album’s second single, “Gutted & Corpsed“. Continue reading »

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