AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STRUCTURE — “HERITAGE”

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Apr 222025
 

(written by Islander)

In the moments of silence, when we have slipped from rooms and the gaze and demands of others, we can wander through all that has been, hold the precious, present moment in our hands and weigh both our delights and despair with reasoned measure.

Those are the words that serve as a preamble to a forthcoming debut album named Heritage that we found in press materials for the album. The album, which we’re now premiering in full, is the work of a project named Structure, one established in 2021 by Dutch musician Bram Bijhout, who is perhaps best known for his guitar work with Officium Triste, whom he served for seven years.

That preamble and the album’s name (and its cover image) point toward what inspired it, as Bram has explained: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): COGAS — “AMONG THE DEAD: HOW TO BECOME A GHOST”

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Apr 212025
 

(written by Islander)

We prize extreme metal because it captures and conveys emotional intensity in more powerful ways than most other musical genres do. However, the emotional intensity of the music and vocals aren’t always reflected in lyrics. Often written after the music, the lyrics may be entirely unconnected to the experiences and moods that inspired the music; worse still, they may also be mundane, cliched, and entirely forgettable.

That kind of criticism won’t be applied to the new sophomore album by Cogas. It is rooted, both musically and lyrically, in the frustration, pain, and anger spawned by conditions in their homeland of Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean and a place of remarkable, varied beauty and rich, fascinating history, but also (based on our own reading) a place apparently plagued by high youth unemployment, enormous outflows of young people seeking to escape such conditions, and both mental and physical health problems among those who’ve remained.

Cogas themselves, who have been based in London for some time, have explained what inspired their new album Among the Dead: How to Become a Ghost: Continue reading »

A 420 VIDEO PREMIERE: OF WOLVES — “HALFTONE”

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Apr 202025
 

(written by Islander)

In celebration of today’s high holiday, and with heads bowed in the direction of the Waldos, we’re hosting a rare Sunday premiere. Blaze and praise!

What we’ve got for you is the premiere of an attention-grabbing animated video for “halfTONE“, the latest single by our friends in Of Wolves, a musically always-hard-to-pin-down but always-captivating band from Chicago whose heads and hearts always seem to be in the right place in turbulent times. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PERCIPIENT — “PORTALS”

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Apr 182025
 

(written by Islander)

Percipient is a doom/death metal band hailing from Denver, Colorado. They tell us: “Originally formed in 2020 under a different name, the band endured a series of lineup changes and a brief hiatus before re-emerging with a refined vision. In 2022, they adopted the name Percipient — a reflection of their paranormal lyrical themes and obscure, atmospheric sound.”

As they continued finding their way, and now with a solidified lineup, they also found their voice, or rather voices, because their music has evolved in ways that, while undeniably haunting, are haunting in different ways — as you’re about to find out for yourselves.

The results of Percipient‘s work are now encompassed by an album aptly named Apparitions, which will be released on April 25th. What we have for you today is the premiere of their lyric video for the song “Portals“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BRZASK — “DER WANDERER IM RIESENGEBIRGE”

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Apr 182025
 

(written by Islander)

For reasons you will soon understand, we have learned today about the Karkonosze mountains, often called “The Giant Mountains” in English literature at least since the early 1700s. We’ve learned that it is a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system, and home to the source waters of the Elbe River.

We’ve also learned that the Karkonosze region is one steeped in dark tales and ancient traditions, haunted and harrowed by mountain spirits. And most relevant to what we’re up to today, we’ve learned that the landscapes and legends of this area provided the inspiration for the debut album of the Polish black metal band Brzask, which is set for release on May 2nd by Vendetta Records. The album’s name is Der Wanderer im Riesengebirge, and it’s the album’s fascinating and highly infectious title song we’re bringing you now. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ÖVERVÅLD — “VIGARV”

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Apr 172025
 

(written by Islander)

We’re about to present a new EP that’s a prime example of music that’s vitriolic and vicious, ferocious and vile, yet as catchy as whatever respiratory virus is now asserting its dominance over a pitiful humanity. It doesn’t play to the cheap seats — it hates you and wants to eat you alive — but even while it’s ruthlessly gutting its listeners and ravenously consuming the remains behind truly abominable vocals, it does so with a flair that’s viscerally compelling.

We’re talking about a new four-track barrage from the Swedish death metal band Övervåld (though it wouldn’t be wrong to brand the new EP “blackened death metal”). The EP’s name is Vigrav and it will be released on CD and digitally by the band on April 20th, with a vinyl edition expected in May via Seven Metal Inches Records. Here’s how Övervåld introduce it: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ANOXIA — “REVEL IN SIN”

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Apr 162025
 

(written by Islander)

Unless you’re a medical professional or someone who’s been choked out you may not know that “anoxia” is a state of total oxygen deprivation within tissues or organs, an extreme form of “hypoxia” that can cause dizziness, disorientation, and permanent damage to the brain and other bodily organs.

You may have an idea why the Australian death metal band Anoxia chose that name if you heard their debut EP Languish in Suffering (the dizziness, the disorientation, the brain damage), though their music equally brings to mind the kind of organ damage caused by severe beatings.

But really, they were just getting warmed up, just beginning to explore their malevolent methods of inflicting punishment on listeners and audiences, methods that are now better perfected through their debut album Revel in Sin, as you’ll discover through today’s premiere stream in advance of the album’s April 17 co-release by Brilliant Emperor Records and Gutter Prince Cabal Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VETUS SANGUIS — “CAPÍTULO I – DIMENSÃO HORRENDA”

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Apr 152025
 

(written by Islander)

First impressions do matter, even if our younger selves grew tired of hearing that stern advice from parental figures. In the case of how we spend our time around here, we see how bands and record labels choose singles to make first impressions of albums that the public can’t yet hear.

Sometimes those choices turn out to be misleading, like the strained politeness of a wild child being introduced to a stranger, or often like the forced and feigned wildness of someone who turns out to be really very dull. No wonder people usually wait to hear everything before making a purchase decision, unless it happens to be a band whose previous music they know well, but sometimes even then because even the best of us make mis-steps.

In the case of the Portuguese black metal band Vetus Sanguis, the first impression we had of its debut album Capítulo I – Dimensão Horrenda was “Trombetas Diabólicas,” a song that you won’t reach until nearly a third of the album has gone by. The impression it made was startling. When we premiered it, we advised listeners to take big gulps of air before listening. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HELLEVAERDER — “HANDEN GEKETEND IN IJZER”

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Apr 142025
 

(written by Islander)

Fighting their way forward since 2017, the Dutch black metal band Hellevaerder made their first large mark with a 2022 debut album (In de nevel van afgunst) and followed that with their appearance in Verloren vertellingen, a 2023 split with fellow members of the Zwotte Kring circle — Asgrauw, Schavot, and Duindwaler. And now they return again with a second full-length, Fakkeldragers (“Torchbearers”).

The album will be released on June 19th in a variety of formats by a triumvirate of labels — Void Wanderer Productions (NL), War Productions (PT), and Zwaertgevegt (NL) — and they recommend it for fans of Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, Emperor, Mayhem, and Sargeist.

What we have for you today, as a preview of the delirium and damnations the album brings, is a first listen to the album track “Handen geketend in ijzer” (which might be translated as “Hands chained in iron”). But first, here’s some background about the album’s thematic conception — which continues a narrative Hellevaerder began in their first album: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SEXMAG — “SEXORCYZM”

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Apr 142025
 

(written by Islander)

In an age when online porn is as easy to get as water from a faucet, the Silesian band Sexmag‘s name seems like an anachronism. Does anyone buy sex mag’s any more? Does anyone still publish them? Maybe there’s a museum for them somewhere?

It’s fair to say that the band’s music is also a throwback, in the sense that it summons the old spirits of bands like Sarcófago, Tormentor, Bulldozer, and Destruction. But don’t think listening is like wandering through a heavy metal museum or a museum of quaint publications with pinups in the centerfold. It’s more like being thrown into a filthy, blood-spraying orgy where the degenerate participants are vicious devils and demonesses.

But as you’ll already know if you threw yourselves into Sexmag‘s 2021 EP Sex Metal (which we gleefully premiered here), there’s more going on in their music than lewd and crude pentagram-draped romps, and that’s even more evident on their new album Sexorcyzm, whose title track we’re premiering through a video today.

And by the way, though we’re having fun with their name, they reportedly chose it in honor of an important old Polish heavy metal band named Kat (the Polish word for “executioner”), who recorded a song named… “Mag-Sex”. And based on that song’s lyrics, which tell a tale of a man raised by witches, its title might be better understood as… “magic sex“. Continue reading »

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