AN NCS PREMIERE: HORION — “STRONGHOLD”

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Feb 102026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we introduce you to Horion, a relatively new band from the Basque Country of Bayonne, France, and their debut EP Doom which will be released on March 26th by Void Wanderer Productions. Their music could be summed up as a dark and melodic brand of black metal infused with death and doom influences, but it is unusual in several respects.

First and foremost, the music prominently features cello performances which (as Void Wanderer accurately portrays) are “sometimes melodic, sometimes abrasive, always engaging a dialogue with the guitars and carving out soundscapes between chaos and melancholy”. But the music also includes a distinctive songwriting approach, which you’ll discover for yourselves through our premiere today of the EP’s first single, “Stronghold“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORGAN — “DOGMA”

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Feb 102026
 

(written by Islander)

A long seven years ago we prepared a feature called “Where Doom Meets Death“. One of the bands we spotlighted then was Organ from Belluno, Italy, and their extensive EP Eterno. We summed up the music as “massive, mountainous, megalithic music, and equally immense in the scale of its bleakness” — “both crushing and celestial, mortifying but mesmerizing, apocalyptically desolate yet also delirious, reaching frenzies of intensity that seem to straddle the line between shattering grief and the rapture of being burned by holy fire.”

Eterno was indeed a stunning release, and left us looking forward to what the future would bring for Organ. It has been a very long wait, but at last Organ are returning, with a new album named IMMOBILISM that will be released on April 8th through Invisible Order Records. In addition to helping announce this eagerly anticipated event, today we’re premiering one of the new album’s five nightmarish tracks — “DOGMA“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GLADIUM REGIS — “DURINDANA”

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Feb 092026
 

(written by Islander)

Gladium Regis was born in the early 2000s in Italy, and later moved forward in London to produce a dungeon synth release named Kingdom in 2020 (during the intervening years, the project’s alter ego Arcanist Augur Svafnir co-founded and fronted the Italian pagan black metal band Draugr). Now Svafnir has re-directed the music of Gladium Regis in a way intended to re-capture “the unpolished grandeur of early 1990s symphonic and epic black metal”, and the results are manifested in a new album named Quest.

Although Gladium Regis is Svafnir’s solo project, he is accompanied on Quest by some talented guests: Davide Straccione (Shores of Null) provided guest vocals on three songs; Lupus Nemesis (Atavicus) joined Svafnir on additional instrumentation, choral arrangements, and final mixing at Genxia Studios; and Tamoth (Obscura Nox Hibernis) contributed acoustic guitar passages for the album’s intro and intermezzo.

What we have for you today is the premiere of the second single from Quest, a song named “Durindana“. But before we get to it, we want to share some of the words of introduction provided by the Dusktone label, which will release the album on February 27th: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: AZIMUT AND OCTOPUS KRAFT — “AGNI PARTHENE APOLEIA”

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Feb 092026
 

(written by Islander)

In September 2023 the Ukrainian band Azimut independently released their debut album Stuma, which interwove a wide range of influences, including sludge, post-metal, and black metal. Now the boutique Ukrainian label Robustfellow Prods. is releasing Stuma on a limited edition of cassette tapes, with a special bonus track.

The bonus track is a musical collaboration between Azimut and the Ukrainian project known as Octopus Kraft (now the solo endeavor of Yurii Dubrovskyi). It’s two-part title is “Agni Parthene / Apoleia“, and we’re premiering a lyric video for it below. The piece is described as follows: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GJALLARHORN’S WRATH — “THE ABYSSWALKER”

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Feb 062026
 

(written by Islander)

Last year the multi-national (but largely Spanish in origin) symphonic blackened death metal band Gjallarhorn’s Wrath released their debut album The Silver Key through Non Serviam Records. We published an enlightening interview with bassist Lord Ashler and had the pleasure of making video premieres for two songs off the album in advance of its release. Today, with equal pleasure, we’re premiering a third video from the band, this one for the song “The Abysswalker“.

The video, directed by bandmember Javi Iron, is quite a spectacle, interweaving fast-cutting and eventually rain-drenched footage of these raging heathens throwing themselves headlong into the song’s performance, along with striking imagery of an armored figure, presumably the Abysswalker of the song’s title.

The music is quite a spectacle too. Continue reading »

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”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
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 »

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