AN NCS PREMIERE: URANIUM — “CORROSION OF EXISTENCE”

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Oct 232025
 

(written by Islander)

If there were a Cookbook for Cataclysm you might find a recipe that called for a base stock of hurricane, whisking in blizzards blown by the four winds, a strong helping of avalanche, handfuls of human viscera (explosively ejected), a seasoning of sewage to taste, and everything drenched in lethal fissionable material hot enough to glassify sand and stone. Listening to the music of Uranium, it’s easy to imagine they found that recipe but then altered it for transmutation into sound because it wasn’t sufficiently ugly or painful.

There are other ways of trying to preview the music. Sentient Ruin Laboratories calls Uranium an “American nuclear black industrial weapon”. They call the monstrous tracks on Uranium‘s new album Corrosion of Existence “plutonium-fueled auditory terror” and “an unimaginable cauldron of destruction”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SHORES OF NULL — “AN EASY WAY” (AND A REVIEW OF “LATITUDES OF SORROW”)

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Oct 222025
 

(written by Islander)

Latitudes of Sorrow is a new five-song split featuring the music of two bands whose past music has garnered substantial praise both here and elsewhere: Convocation from Helsinki and Shores of Null from Rome. The esteemed Everlasting Spew Records will release the split on November 21st.

At the beginning of this month we had the privilege of premiering one of Convocation’s compelling songs from the split, “Empty Room,” and now we’re following that with the premiere of “An Easy Way” by Shores of Null. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MIASMIC SERUM — “BETTER LEFT DEAD”

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Oct 212025
 

(written by Islander)

Last year we had the ghoulish pleasure of reviewing and premiering a full stream of Infected Seed, the debut album from the Italian band Miasmic Serum, which we called “one of the most thrilling and accomplished death metal assaults of the year so far.”

We are fortunate that Miasmic Serum are already back with a new EP named Better Left Dead that will be released on October 24th by Iron Fortress Records, and equally fortunate to be the bearer of another full streaming premiere.

Whereas that debut album was thematically focused on poisons, venoms, and hallucinogens, for this new EP the band have drawn inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft, and in particular his short story “Herbert West – Reanimator” and the cult 1985 film adaptation Re-Animator. The EP also features the band’s new vocalist Riccardo Marconato (Afraid Of Destiny). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VICTIM OF REALITY — “DESPERATION”

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Oct 202025
 

(written by Islander)

In this feature we share with you a powerful new discovery, the Belarusian band Victim of Reality, and an excerpt from their forthcoming debut album The Dump of Human Hopes.

You can anticipate from the name of the band, the name of the album, and the record’s cover art that they don’t make happy music. Instead, they devote themselves to old school atmospheric doom/death, drawing influence from the likes of My Dying Bride, Swallow the Sun, Saturnus, Evoken, and Funeral.

Here is how the labels that will release the album portray the impact of the band’s music: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY — “NECROBOTIC ENSLAVEMENT”

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Oct 202025
 

(written by Islander)

Before anyone in the public at large heard a note, it was predictable that the new album by Glorious Depravity would get lots of attention. First and foremast, there’s the band’s lineup, which includes members of Pyrrhon, Gravesend, Woe, Scarcity, and more. And then… well hell… look at that extraordinary cover painting by Dan Seagrave. If you’re a fan of extreme metal, it’s damned tough to see that and not want to hear what’s inside.

The new album, Death Never Sleeps, isn’t this band’s first strike. They launched that with their Ageless Violence debut album on Translation Loss almost five years ago, and the solid strength of that one provided yet another reason to expect the new one would seize attention. This time around, the attention is even more well-deserved because the band have stepped up their game in multiple ways.

There’s commanding proof of Glorious Depravity‘s advancement in the two songs from the new album that have debuted so far, and we have further proof in our premiere today of a third one — “Necrobotic Enslavement“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ZERO SWANN — “GRAVE WAX HORTICULTURE”

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Oct 172025
 

(written by Islander)

Those of you who follow our weekend roundups of new music are aware that I’ve made many discoveries (and then shared them) through perusing the recommendations of Rennie Resin‘s starkweather Substack. His most recent collection of recommendations included thoughts about a new album from a band named Zabus that’s principally the work of Jeremy Moore from Washington, D.C. He followed that offering with these words about a band whose song we’re premiering today:

Zero Swann is another splinter from Jeremy Moore and Benefactor comes two years after the Amon Zonaris release. This project has similarities to Zabus in its approach to sound, using copious amounts of reverb and delay and vocals forward in the mix. While Zabus is decidedly post punk given the psyche treatment, Zero Swann is its more sinister, noisier, atavistic twin. Almost free form and nightmarish in approach where songs are spasms and rattles rather than crafted and honed into shape.

That was my introduction to Zero Swann, framed as only Rennie can do, and one thing led to another… the other thing being today’s video premiere of “Grave Wax Horticulture” from Zero Swann‘s Benefactor album — which is being released today on the Saccharine Underground label. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SAKNA — “ALLTID”

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Oct 172025
 

(written by Islander)

The story behind Sakna’s forthcoming album De Syv Dødssynder, and the reasons why it is both the first and last album by this Canadian project, are fascinating (maybe even jaw-dropping, given the quality of the music) but also deeply sad. We should begin with that story.

As we’ve been told, Sakna is the solo work of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Solemn, a work that began in 2006, when Solemn was only 14 years old, as a musical adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy. By the age of 18, he had recorded all of the album’s vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, organs, and drums himself, drawing on such varied influences as Windir, Mournful Congregation, Emperor, Wolves In The Throne Room, Cor Scorpii, and more.

In 2011, Solemn took his own life, before anything was done to release the album other than Solemn leaking an early preview single (“Del I – Helvete”) to YouTube in 2009. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MALKASIAN — “OCCULT 5”

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Oct 172025
 

(written by Islander)

As we sometimes do, we’re going off most of our well-beaten paths with the song and video we’re about to premiere. No shrieking or guttural growling this time, but only singing. No blast-beats or brutality, but only the blues. But lest you think we’ve completely lost our way, these blues are very heavy — just as promised by the title of the album that includes the song — and very devilish too.

The name of the song is “Occult 5“, and it’s the latest single to be disclosed by the Denver band Malkasian from their new album Heavy Blues, which will be out on October 22nd. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DET — “DESTRUCTIVE ELITE TERROR”

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Oct 162025
 

(written by Islander)

In case anyone is still puzzled by the meaning of the Finnish band DET‘s name, they’ve spelled it out in the title of their forthcoming debut album: Destructive Elite Terror.

The album is set for release by Dying Victims Productions on that most metal of dates, October 31st. It follows up DET‘s 2022 demo Death Night, their 2023 demo Vengeance, and their 2023 split with Krusifoitu. What we bring you today is the opportunity to hear — and get revved up by — the entire album. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PILE OF KNIVES — “LACERATION”

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Oct 152025
 

(written by Islander)

This band from the Pocono Mountains region of Eastern Pennsylvania aren’t trying to fool anyone. They call themselves Pile of Knives. They named their first EP No Light. The name of their new one is Driven By the Blade, and its cover art is a photo of meat cleavers and a gutting knife on a blood-soaked backdrop.

Their music is also unabashedly bludgeoning and brutal, and when they’re not trying to beat the living hell out of listeners, they’re furiously cutting them up and spraying the remains with acid.

Well, that’s one way of trying to capture Pile of Knives‘ amalgam of slam, death metal, beatdown hardcore, and deathcore, which invokes the legacies of such bands as Skinless, Dying Fetus, Internal Bleeding, Origin, and Through The Eyes Of The Dead, but also the likes of Crawlspace, Final Resting Place, Shattered Realm, and No Zodiac.

We’ll try out some other ways of capturing the experience in print as we discuss a song from Driven By The Blade that we’re premiering with a video today. Its name is… “LACERATION“. Continue reading »

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