AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DEFIANT — “CAESARS MESSIAH”

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Jul 092026
 

(written by Islander)

Not for the first time, an extreme metal band has used excerpts from The Passion of Joan of Arc to illustrate one of their songs. This time it is the Croatian black/death metal band Defiant, who commemorated their 20th year of existence in 2025 with the release of their fifth album, Mammon Mantra. But in the video we’re premiering for their song “Caesars Messiah” from that album, Defiant aren’t celebrating the famous martyr, but using the scenes for a different purpose.

The Passion of Joan of Arc is a 1928 French silent film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and starring Renée Jeanne Falconetti. It focuses on the time that Joan of Arc was a captive of England and depicts her trial and execution for heresy by French clergymen loyal to the English. It is rightly regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. Even seeing only the excerpts used by Defiant, you can get a sense of why that is.

But, as suggested above, the lyrics of “Caesars Messiah“, which you will also see in the video, seem to have a different moral than the injustice visited upon Joan and the reasons for her ultimate elevation to sainthood by the church. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEHUMANIZING ITATRAIN WORSHIP — “2D COMPLEX”

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Jul 082026
 

(written by Islander)

The best anime death metal from China! That sounds like a narrow niche, doesn’t it? It’s also a description that leaves some big unanswered questions about what the music sounds like – questions we will help answer today.

But first, there’s a question about the meaning of this band’s name – Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship. They have answered that question: “The band name ‘Itatrain’ actually comes from a viral 2012 incident in Shanghai: a fan was caught kneeling and worshipping a train decorated with ‘LoveLive!’ characters. We thought that kind of fanaticism was both stupid and hilarious at the time, so we decided to name the band after it.”

The LoveLive! multimedia anime universe has also played a role in the music of Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship. Their vocalist Kiryu Zhang admits that “on our previous efforts, people probably saw us as just that ‘weird anime slam band’ sampling LoveLive! for shock value.” But what began as a “meme” bedroom project has survived for a decade, and the music has considerably evolved as well.

Perhaps one sign of that is the fact that it’s our site that was invited to premiere the band’s new album, 2D Complex (二次元コンプレックス), in advance of its July 10 release by Stillbirth Records and Gore House Productions. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VILE FORM — “ORB”

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Jul 072026
 

(written by Islander)

The bare bones: The Philadelphia death metal band Vile Form features members of the grindcore trio Die Choking and the death/doom outfit Burden. Since forming up in 2024 they have released two EPs — Unending in 2024 and Death in early 2025 — and in the spring of last year they released a compilation of the two EPs titled Death Unending.

Now, to put some meat on the bones: The opener of the Death EP, which then became track 6 on Death Unending, is a song called “Orb“. Lyrically it pictures gleaming orbs in the sky, but they turn out to be the dreadful demon orbs of Vile Form’s eldritch entity Subulonagus, orbs that absorb life and disgorge what they consume to create a grotesque fortress.

What we have for you today is the premiere of Vile Form’s video for that song, a video that guitarist Jeffrey Daniels has described for us in detail: Continue reading »

AN NCE PREMIERE: SUFFERING QUOTA — “OVERPOWERING WEIGHT”

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Jul 072026
 

(written by Islander)

Three years ago we introduced the premiere of a Suffering Quota song with these words:

“Adjectives like ‘terrorizing’ and ‘explosive’ have tended to surround the music of the Dutch grindcore band Suffering Quota like swarms of angry hornets. Of course, sensations of fury and violence are endemic to a lot of grindcore, but adjectives like those don’t always come to mind as frequently as they do with this band.

“Yet those aspects of their music, while integral and vital to what they do, really aren’t all that sets them apart from a lot of their peers. What really sets them apart is the feeling that they’d get bored just blowing off the doors in listeners’ heads and wrecking the hell out of whatever’s inside. It’s got to be more interesting than that.”

We’ve repeated those words because they still hold true for the band’s new album Sisyphean Life, which will be released on September 25th by Tartarus Records in collaboration with 7 Degrees Records. We’re again in the fortunate position of proving the point with a premiere, this time a song from the new record named “Overpowering Weight” (and we have some thoughts about the album as a whole too). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CARCHARODON — “THE BALLS’ LAW”

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Jul 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Somehow, in our 16+ years of existence, today is the first time we’ve featured the music of the Italian band Carcharodon. It’s especially mystifying because the band’s discography includes four albums and a slew of shorter releases, and because the band’s genre-crossing music hits dead-center in some of our favored wheelhouses. In the case of the Carcharodon hellions, however, late is definitely better than never.

The occasion for us getting on board the Carcharodon road-hogs is the forthcoming September 26 release of their fifth album by Satanath Records. The name of the new album is Never On Your Side, and the song from that album which we’re bringing you today is “The Balls’ Law“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: FIMBUL WINTER — “WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT AT NIGHT”

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Jul 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Like many other ardent fans of melodic death metal, we were first drawn to Fimbul Winter last fall by the musical pedigrees of their lineup: The band was formed by Amon Amarth co-founders Anders Biazzi and Niko Kaukinen, along with longtime Amon Amarth drummer Fredrik Andersson, and they were joined by venomous vocalist Clint Williams (Munitions, Nemesium). And then Fimbul Winter’s music pulled us all the way in – first with a single called “Mounds of Stones” and then with a debut EP named What Once Was.

Our reviewer here called Fimbul Winter a “battle horde”, creating music on that EP that was “sharp and aggressive”, “pulling from a massive well of fiery and head-on aggressive guitar riffs”, making battle anthems but also loading them with earworms, and “injecting life into the sometimes staid waters of melodeath”. And we put that first single on our list of last year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs — though really any of the EP’s songs could have warranted that award.

Fortunately, that EP wasn’t a one-and-done effort. This past May Fimbul Winter released another terrific single (“Crowned In Ash“), and today they’re releasing a compelling new one called “When The Sun Comes Out At Night” — with Johan Lindstrand from The Crown joining them as a guest vocalist. We are most happy to share it with you today through our premiere of a lyric video for the song. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: COMPLEXANT — “AFTERLIFE”

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Jul 022026
 

(written by Islander)

The Australian band Complexant have been making a name for themselves in their home country since 2022 through tours in which they’ve shared the stage with such bands as Cryptopsy, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Defeated Sanity, Unearth, and Disentomb, and they’ve extended their music across international waters with a string of singles and a 2023 EP (A Rite of Passage). Complexant should draw a lot more attention both at home and abroad when Bleeding Art Collective release their debut album Apex later this month.

As the band’s music has evolved into what’s represented on Apex, they have drawn influence from bands such as Behemoth, Suffocation, Emperor, and Nile, focusing on an intersection of death and black metal that’s rightly described as “a sound defined by weight, darkness and unrelenting intensity”.

We have a very strong example of these qualities today in our premiere of a video for a song off Apex called “Afterlife“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HORRIFIER — “BODY HOARDER”

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Jul 022026
 

(written by Islander)

Maniacally savage and also macabre. A vicious killing spree, but trading off with chords of groaning menace and otherworldly agony. Ruthlessly bludgeoning but also parting interdimensional veils with melodies of hideous and haunting splendor.

Those were among our thoughts about the debut album from a group of young Norwegian marauders who took the name Horrifier, a record aptly titled Horrid Resurrection that Personal Records released in the fall of 2023. They are older now, of course, but the added years seem to have made them even madder, meaner, and more merciless, though no less proud in wearing the influence of such bands as Autopsy, Entombed, and Repulsion.

Those are some quick reactions to Horrifier’s forthcoming second album Revelations of Gore (another apt title), which is now set for international release by the same Personal Records on August 7th. We have a few deeper reactions to share along with our premiere today of a song called “Body Hoarder“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KHOLSTOMER — “FOREST”

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Jul 012026
 

(written by Islander)

One English dictionary defines “nuanced” as “something characterized by subtle shades, fine distinctions, or layered meanings.” The riffing in the very riff-centered song we’re now premiering is nuanced in all those ways, but it coheres in the creation of compelling dark moods.

The song, “Forest“, is one of seven encompassed by an album titled Elegy, which is the debut full-length from the American-Polish black metal band Kholstomer that’s set for co-release on August 15th by Satanath Records and Pagan Fury Records. The band was founded by James Oskarbski (Odious Spirit) and (as the labels say) “draws inspiration from literature, history, and the contradictions of human nature”. Elegy, for example, was “informed by reflections on Tolstoy’s view of mortality and war”:

“Drawing from the idea that history is shaped less by great individuals than by vast, impersonal forces beyond anyone’s command, Elegy finds both tragedy and transcendence in human limitation.”

As for the music, the labels recommend it for fans of Dawn, Mgła, Emperor, Woe, and Winterfylleth. But now let’s get to “Forest“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TORPOR — “ƉUNGEON ƉWELLERS”

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Jul 012026
 

(written by Islander)

We have devoted a lot of attention over the years to a UK band named Torpor, a point we mention because some of you may recall that coverage — and because the Torpor whose music you’re about to hear isn’t that band. But as you’re about to discover, although the names are the same, there’s no way anyone could confuse the music of the two groups.

Today’s Torpor is a Polish band originally formed in Warsaw under the prime influence of Bathory. They began making short releases in 2018, including a 2021 EP (The Ancient Tales), but now they’re primed for the release of a debut album by Dying Victims Productions on July 24th.

The new album, Ɖungeon Ɖescent, fully reveals the path they’ve been on. It could be considered “the idiosyncratic side of ancient heavy metal” or “swords & sorcery metal”, which are among the phrasings circulated on behalf of Dying Victims, but with spices of black metal in the mix; the classic Bathory influence still makes its mark too.

As a sign of what Ɖungeon Ɖescent presents, we’re premiering a thrilling album track named “Ɖungeon Ɖwellers“, one that creates an ancient atmosphere (swords and sorcery indeed) while getting listeners’ hearts pumping and leading them through a sequence of changing moods. And we’ll tell you right up-front that it features clean singing, which connects to the glorious old heavy metal traditions that this Torpor have embraced. Continue reading »

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