AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BANISHER — “MANIFEST OF JUSTICE”

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Jan 082026
 

(written by Islander)

The death metal band Banisher was formed in Rzeszów, Poland, in 2005 by Hubert Więcek (DIETH, ex-Acid Drinkers live, ex-Decapitated). Since then, the band’s full lineup has also included members of such well-known groups as Fleshgod Apocalypse, Belphegor, Vital Remains, and Hate.

They have released four albums over the last 20 years, and now, after a six-year hiatus, a fifth one is set for release on January 30th by Selfmadegod Records. Its title is Metamorphosis.

To help introduce the new album, today we premiere a song from it named “Manifest of Justice“, presented with a lyric video. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NECROSEXUAL — “THE BRIMSTONE BROTHEL”

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Jan 072026
 

(written by Islander)

The last time we hosted a premiere by Philadelphia’s Necrosexual (damn, have seven years really gone by since then?) we immediately urged people to set aside any reflexive skepticism that might have been spawned by the band’s name, their shock-rock appearance, and the often macabre storytelling within their songs, and instead to dive into their multifaceted musical nastiness with open minds.

Yes, seven years have gone by since then, years that saw Necrosexual release a couple more EPs, a split, and a live album, but no new songs for roughly the last five of those years. As you can see from this post’s title, however, Necrosexual are returning. They have a new album set for release in late February, and its title pretty well sums up the current path of the world, at least as perceived by anyone who reads the daily news: Road To Rubble.

To help introduce the new album, what we have for you today is the premiere of its second single, “The Brimstone Brothel“. But before we get to that one, we have some thoughts about the first one, the aptly named “High Times In Hell” — as well as the same urging expressed in the first paragraph above. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EXIMPERITUS — “GOLDEN CHAINS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF INDIVIDUAL GREATNESS”

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Jan 072026
 

(written by Islander)

We haven’t forgotten that the full name of Eximperitus is Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum. How could we forget? And it’s obvious from their logo up there, isn’t it? But we’ll play along with the abbreviation, especially since that seems to be the preference of the band’s label Willowtip Records.

We also haven’t forgotten the 36-word title of this Belarusian band’s 2016 debut album, though we couldn’t recite it even at gunpoint, any more than we could recite Eximperitus’ full name. Their 2021 sophomore album — Šahrartu — was easier on the tongue, as were all the one-word song titles. Their forthcoming third album, Meritoriousness of Equanimity, is pronounceable, even though it quadruples the number of syllables compared to the title of the second full-length.

However, Eximperitus have mostly reverted to form in their song names on the new one. Many are quite long, and all of them are, for want of a better word… mysteriously exotic. Take, for example, the name of the song we’re premiering today — “Golden Chains for the Construction of Individual Greatness” — although it’s tidy compared to Track No. 7 on Meritoriousness of Equanimity:

“Molecular Disintegration of an Unattainable Solitary Will in a Vessel of Wisdom…as a Result of the Soul’s Aspiration to Break the Summed Up Set of Delusions of Reason… in the Course of a Personal Experience of Accepting the Imperfection of the World and Proving that Time Gets Rid of the Fragile and Leaves Invulnerable” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HARROWED — “BLOOD COVENANT”

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Jan 022026
 

(written by Islander)

I suppose I should make one thing clear right up front: The song we’re about to premiere is from a forthcoming album by the Swedish death metal band Harrowed, not the British metallic hardcore band Harrowed about whom our Andy Synn has sung praises here a couple times in the past.

The Harrowed that’s our focus today has an enticing pedigree, featuring as it does guitarist Tobias Alpadie, who has spent time in VAK and previously as a member of Tribulation’s live lineup (among other things), and vocalist/drummer Adam Lindmark, a member of Morbus Chron before their dissolution. Harrowed’s live lineup now also includes bassist Dag Landin (ex-Morbus Chron, Tøronto) and guitarist Estefan Carrillo (Hazemaze, Morbid Breath).

What’s coming our way in February is Harrowed’s debut album The Eternal Hunger, previewed on behalf of their label (Dying Victims Productions) as “a twisted mass of putrid filth, incorporating elements of old-school American and Scandinavian death metal, a lethal dose of punk riffage, and mind-bending weirdness (and even some shattered shards of skewed melody, if we’re counting).” That’s enticing too, isn’t it? Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GRAUFAR — “VIA NECROPOLIS”

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Dec 312025
 

(written by Islander)

Everything that happens today will be the last this or the last that or the last that other thing that happens in 2025. This is the last NCS premiere of 2025, and it’s a very good one.

To help ring out 2025 and to help ring in the New Year we’re premiering the first single and the title track from a new Graufar album named Via Necropolis. We present it with a lyric video that includes live footage of the band’s performances filmed across 9 different shows, including Wacken Open Air Festival.

Graufar, whose name is an old German word for the color “grey”, are a relatively new group but have quickly achieved some notoriety. Founded in 2020 in Linza, Austria, they released their debut album Scordalus in 2024 and in that same year won Wacken Metal Battle Austria and went on to place ninth in the international finals at Wacken Open Air. The forthcoming second album builds on these foundations. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DENOMINATE — “LIMINAL”

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Dec 302025
 

(written by Islander)

The Finnish band Denominate have been on an increasingly fascinating musical journey as they’ve moved from release to release over the last decade. In one sense, they’ve always been a death metal band, but they’ve been consistently exploratory since the advent of their 2015 debut EP, Realms of Confusion, and their music is now best described as progressive death metal.

Our last encounter with them was in the context of their second full-length in 2020, Isochron, reviewed here by our Andy Synn. Even then, Andy highlighted the band’s prog-metal magic in an album that had its fair share of ingredients from the realms of technical death metal.

And now Denominate are returning with a third album, Restoration, which represents the culmination (to date) of their adventurous evolutions. It still displays a lot of eye-opening technical skill and includes a fair share of ravaging attacks, but it’s also the most multifaceted (and prog-inclined) release by Denominate so far, one in which captivating melodies and atmospheric passages play prominant roles — as you’ll learn for yourselves through our premiere of a stunning second single from the album today. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLACK MOLD — “ANTINOMY”

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Dec 242025
 

(written by Islander)

On this Christmas Eve don’t worry that your stocking (mental or physical) will be filled with lumps of coal come the dawn. Worry instead that it will be filled with Black Mold. Although, depending on your tastes, that might be one of the best gifts you could hope for.

To be clear, we’re not talking about Stachybotrys chartarum, the fungus whose musty spores can cause mycosis or trigger illness or even death among those allergic to its spores. Instead, our subject today is a new outgrowth of punk-infused black metal by the Portuguese band Black Mold — seven poisonous new songs collected on an EP named Antinomy that’s set for tape release by Helldprod Records on Christmas Day, December 25th. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LIGATION — “ERUPTION”

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Dec 222025
 

(written by Islander)

“Recommended for maniacs of wildest Pungent Stench, Pan.Thy.Monium, Disharmonic Orchestra, Phlebotomized, and domestic iconoclasts Xysma as well as the heyday of Amphetamine Reptile – this is what it sounds like After Gods!”

And that’s the head-scrambling “FFO” recommendation offered on behalf of Personal Records for the debut album from Finland’s Ligation that they will release on January 23rd. If you know anything about those other bands, it’s a wild combination to consider, but the music’s wild too — which probably shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given that Ligation’s lineup includes members drawn from the ranks of Profetus, Convocation, Sum of R, and La Murga, among others.

How wild is it? You’re about to find out, through our premiere of a bamboozling track off the new album named “Eruption“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ECTOVOID — “IN UNREALITY’S COFFIN”

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Dec 222025
 

(written by Islander)

In this year-end holiday season many of you are attempting to calm your nerves, to arrange your jumbled thoughts in some orderly fashion conducive to rationality, to find a smidgeon of peaceful reflection in a chaotic world. If so, you’ve come to the wrong place.

You might think instead about being entombed wide awake within a formless coffin, devoid of purpose, transfixed by chaos, bled for eons, your memory fading in clouds of ash, your inner voice becoming a scream, in unreality confined for eternity.

Those words in that last paragraph are drawn from the lyrics of the title song to Ectovoid’s new album In Unreality’s Coffin which we’re premiering today. The remainder of the lyrics are equally nightmarish. So is the music. Find your year-end peace somewhere else. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FAYENNE — “PRIMORDIAL SURFACE”

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Dec 192025
 

(written by Islander)

This marks our second encounter with the Swedish black metal band Fayenne. The first occasion (and one not soon forgotten) was their 2019 demo Ancient Womb of Mercury, about which I frothed at the mouth thusly:

“In these three tracks, Fayenne come for your throat, teeth bared and blood boiling. But while the light-speed drum blasting, beautifully vibrant bass, wild, spinning riffs, and howling, hate-filled vocals burn like a wildfire out of control, there’s a lot more going on in the songs than a soundtrack to the Wild Hunt.

“The reverberating leads (both darting and sinuous) are exhilarating, and have the sorcerous feel of black magic incantations, and there’s both classic heavy metal bombast and blood-pumping thrash in the riffing. The songs also manifest rhythmic dynamism as the momentum turns from racing to d-beat-like gallops or the stateliness of a grim but solemn procession.

“Ancient Womb of Mercury is a great blend of styles, black metal being only one of them, and even at only three tracks it will kick your adrenaline into overdrive.”

I and many others hoped for more Fayenne tirades, but we’ve had to bide our time. At last, however, Fayenne are returning, and with a debut full-length that’s now set for an MC release on February 26, 2026, by Void Wanderer Productions. The album’s name is The Calling From The Depth. Continue reading »

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