AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: REJECT THE SICKNESS — “ACTA NON VERBA”

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Feb 262025
 

(written by Islander)

This year the Belgian metal band Reject the Sickness are celebrating their 15th year of music-making with a new album named Signs of the End that will be released worldwide on May 30th, and to help introduce it we’re premiering an official video for a multi-faceted song from the album named “Acta Non Verba.”

Over the course of that 15-year career Reject the Sickness haven’t stood still (and no one who’s heard their music would be able to stand still either). Instead, their music has evolved, along with their lineup, to the point where the new album discharges an amalgam of heavy-grooved death metal, accents of atmospheric black metal, and “a dash of metalcore.” It’s the kind of music that feeds the need for hard-charging, muscle-moving mayhem but also contributes memorable (though often dark) melody, and white-hot vocal intensity.

You’ll see what we mean when you listen to “Acta Non Verba.” Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CULT OF EXTINCTION — “DIVINE RETALIATION”

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Feb 262025
 

(written by Islander)

Seven long years ago we premiered the title song to the debut demo by Cult of Extinction, the perfectly named Black Nuclear Magick Attack. We summed it up as “music that upholds the standards of annihilating savagery that govern war metal, yet delivers more than the mere mindless and murky bludgeoning often vomited forth by less talented practitioners.”

Since then, this solo project of the German lone wolf Void (who is also behind Imperceptum) has uncaged two albums, Ritual in the Absolute Absence of Light (2019) and Gnosis of the Wicked (2022), both of them also well-named in light of the nature of the music, and now a third album blackens the horizon. Entitled Nightmare Ascension (another title that honors truth in advertising), it will be released on March 3rd by Winter Demons, a sub label of Darkwoods that’s “devoted to near-death experiences only.”

What we have for you today is an official video for an advance single from the new album called “Divine Retaliation.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CRYPTS OF DESPAIR — “TERMINAL DAIS”

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Feb 242025
 

(written by Islander)

We’ve had lots of good things to say about the previous music of the Lithuanian band Crypts of Despair, most recently within Andy Synn’s review of their 2021 album of blended death and black metal All Light Swallowed, which he described as “a perfect example of the level of annihilation that can be achieved by the crossbreeding of these two savage styles” — “the sort of highly-evolved, apex predator that doesn’t really need to do anything particularly new or revolutionary to achieve its goals – it simply kills and kills and kills again, without remorse or restraint.”

At an earlier time, in the context of their preceding album The Stench of the Earth, I also referred to their music as both “an irresistible headbang trigger” and a simulacrum of “what it feels like to suffer a cranial fracture and concussive trauma.”

Now these killers are returning with a third full-length (their second one for Transcending Obscurity Records), and a title as bleak as those of the first two: We Belong In The Grave. What we have for you today is the third single from the album, “Terminal Dais.“ Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BEWARE OF GODS — “TEMPLE OF THIEVES”

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Feb 212025
 

(written by Islander)

“Industrial-tinged Doom with vocals in the style of Chris Cornell, Chino Moreno, and Thou. FFO: Conan, NIN, Radiohead & Failure.”  That’s the intriguing elevator pitch for the music of the Chicago-based one-man band Beware of Gods and the band’s new album Upon Whom The Last Light Descends II: Amnesia Island.

As the album title signifies, it’s the second installment in a four-part work, a conceptual work inspired by ‘The Blind Idiot God’ from the HP Lovecraft mythos known as Azathoth — “a malevolently indifferent Infinite Creator of Chaos re-imagined as the Looming Dread treading all of Us which can only be overcome by turning to face it.”

We’re told that other literary and film inspirations include: Dune,The Matrix, Dracula, Demian, Mad Max, Blade Runner, Jonah & The Whale, and Foundation.

While “industrial-tinged doom” is a decent shorthand for the music, it’s also too limiting. There’s another combination of invocations in the band’s bio that’s more evocative: “Cosmic Horror / SCI FI / Psych / Myth / Noir“.

Hopefully, the foregoing paragraphs have effectively teased you into listening to a song from the new album we’re premiering today, even if you missed Beware of God‘s first album, because this new song really is one you should not miss. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GRYLA — “BANNERS SOAKED IN CRIMSON ESSENCE”

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Feb 212025
 

(written by Islander)

We get a lot of first impressions of music before ever hearing a note. In the case of Gryla‘s second album, we see a primitive rendering of a naked Christ under the bleak light of a black sun, about to be stoned by angry men under the observation of a gnarly logo. We see the album’s name, The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass. We see a photo of the sneering performer, who appears just as angry as the assaulting figures in the cover art.

First impressions are followed by second impressions, the music itself. And even though you’ll have some idea of what’s coming if you’ve heard this Norwegian one-man band’s first album (2024’s Jaundiced Hag of the Wood), you’ll have a better idea from the song we’re premiering today — “Banners Soaked in Crimson Essence“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SEVENTH STATION — “ON SHOULDERS OF GIANTS”

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Feb 202025
 

(written by Islander)

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

(Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke, 5 Feb 1675)

We begin with that famous quotation because it is likely the source of the name that the unconventional international band Seventh Station gave their forthcoming new EP, On Shoulders Of Giants. They chose that name because the five songs on the record honor five great musical artists of the 20th century, many of them classical composers. Standing on those shoulders, Seventh Station have given the compositions their own distinctive twists, transforming the original works into expressions of contemporary metal that are as unorthodox, indeed mind-bending, as Newton’s theories must have seemed when he envisioned them from the shoulders of the giants in his own fields.

At the very end of this admittedly very long feature we’ve included a track-by-track commentary (a fun-loving one) by Seventh Station vocalist Davidavi (“Vidi”) Dolev that sheds light on what inspired each song on the EP and what the band sought to accomplish with each one. Although it’s at the end, you should really read it first if you want want a deeper understanding of what you’re about to hear. Just reading it, without listening, is also kind of a dazzling experience, and undoubtedly will leave adventurous listeners intensely curious about what’s coming. (That was certainly the effect it had on us before we started listening).

But Vidi Dolev‘s comments only hint at what the songs are going to sound like, leaving the door open for someone rash like me to offer up some descriptive verbiage, while humbly acknowledging that there’s really no substitute for listening first-hand. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INTO THE FRAY — “S(OWULO) T(EIWAZ) T(URISAZ)”

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Feb 202025
 

(written by Islander)

The Russian band Into The Fray released their self-titled first full-length in 2021. They think of it as a foundation, as “a collective image of a decade-long history,” but not the complete achievement of their ambitions. They view their second album Deofolist, which will be released in May of this year, as an evolution, and as a more well-formed demonstration of the path they have now found and intend to continue following.

In a nutshell, Into the Fray have been inspired by groove metal, and they mention Pantera, Lamb Of God, and Hatebreed among their inspirations. Lyrically, they have focused (particularly in Deofolist) on military history, on tales of warfare across the centuries, pointing to the thematic influence of bands like Bolt Thrower and Just before Dawn. As you’ll see, their music sounds like warfare too. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DISSOCIA — “SAMSARA”

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Feb 192025
 

(written by Islander)

“A new progressive death metal band featuring members of Persefone and Wormed.” Say no more! Whatever they’re doing, with those pedigrees it must be worth checking out, right?

Digging a bit deeper into the back-story of Dissocia reveals that it unites the talents of multi-instrumentalist Daniel R. Flys from Persefone (and Eternal Storm) and drummer Gabriel Valcázar from Wormed (and Cancer), with additional contributions on their debut album To Lift The Veil from violinist Paul R. Flys.

At first blush, this would seem to be a head-scratching union. On the one hand, the other bands in which Dani Flys and Gabriel Valcázar are involved are exceptionally good, but on the other hand the music of those bands tends to be dramatically different from each other, and so guessing what Dissocia is all about might not be something you’d want to bet money on.

The other reason why it would be foolish to guess is that Dissocia‘s music really doesn’t sound like any of those other bands — but it too is exceptionally good, as you’ll discover for yourselves through our premiere of a visualizer for “Samsara,” a song from the debut album in advance of its release by Willowtip Records on March 21st. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EXILETH — “DEATH OF THE ALMIGHTY”

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Feb 192025
 

(written by Islander)

At least on the global stage, our sense is that the Armenian extreme metal scene has gone relatively unnoticed. And that includes our own site: We try hard to look beyond the usual landscapes of North American and Western European extremity, but a search of our posts reveals that in our 15+ years of existence we’ve only written about seven Armenian metal bands — ARTE-X, Eternally Scarred, Ildaruni, Basturma, Garhelenth, Temple of Demigod, and Dogma. That’s probably more often than many sites devoted in whole or in part to extreme metal, but it’s still a number dwarfed by our coverage of music from many other locales.

In the case of Armenian metal, ignorance is not bliss, because even the relatively small sampling across our own pages reveals a lot of talent. And today we have another case in point — the eighth time we’ve written about an Armenian band, and this time it’s the gnarly and galvanizing death metal quartet Exileth. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FELGRAVE — “OTHERLIKE DARKNESSES”

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Feb 182025
 

(written by Islander)

The Norwegian one-man band Felgrave has created a new album that could be superficially represented as the raising of three monuments. Entitled Otherlike Darknesses, it consists of three songs of towering dimensions, two of them at 18 minutes or slightly above and the third at 12 1/2.

That’s a prospect that may be daunting to consider. It boldly tests the attention spans of most listeners, and it’s a test for Felgrave as well. Although the project’s 2020 debut album A Waning Light also included much longer-than-average songs, and did so successfully, these new monuments are even bigger. The test is whether they can succeed in drawing listeners into their environs and creating enough wonders and thrills to keep those listeners from wandering away.

Some of you have already begun grading the test, because the band’s new label Transcending Obscurity Records has already debuted “Pale Flowers Under An Empty Sky,” the song that’s 12 1/2 minutes long. Today we’re premiering one of those even longer two songs, and it’s the title track — “Otherlike Darknesses” — which comes last in the running order. Continue reading »

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