AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THORNS OF RUINS — “WICKED SOULS”

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Jun 302026
 

(written by Islander)

Thorns of Ruins makes its first appearance in ours page today. It is the solo work of Thomas Aamodt, who is probably better known for his other project, the Norwegian black metal band Ildfar.

We’re informed that the idea for Thorns of Ruins started back in 2022 when some of the songs that would become Ildfar’s second album, Nattemørkets kall, did not fit within Ildfar’s universe. Rather than abandon them, Thorns of Ruins was formed – and since then Aamodt has strived to create even greater musical separation between the two projects.

That separation is now most evident in Thorns of Ruins’ second album, Stellar Reverence, which will be released on August 13th by a trio of labels — Satanath Records, Black Plague Records, and Pagan Fury Records.

The new music still shows its connections to black metal, but it also reaches across genre lines to create intersections with doom and death metal, and to craft melancholic, atmospheric, and melodic experiences. We have an example of how multi-faceted the music is, through our premiere of a lyric video for the song “Wicked Souls“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CEREMONIAL WORSHIP — “PANTHEON OF SUFFERING”

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Jun 302026
 

(written by Islander)

The Greek black metal band Ceremonial Worship now find themselves in the tenth year of their existence. In that time they’ve released a pair of EPs, a split, and two albums — with a third one slated for international release by the Eternal Death label on July 31st.

This new album, Between Sleep and Death, is the work of a new lineup (though with founder High Priest C.W. still in the lead), and it has drawn comparisons to both classic Hellenic black metal (the legacy of Rotting Christ, Varathron, Necromantia) and “second wave” bands such as Kawir, Legion of Doom, Nocternity, and even mid-period Nightfall.

What we have for you today is the premiere of the second advance track off the new album, a truly ravishing song called “Pantheon of Suffering“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RAPID — “MOONLESS NIGHT”

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Jun 292026
 

(written by Islander)

A decade has passed since the Finnish metal band Rapid released their first demos, eventually leading to their 2022 debut EP Blackstar Oppression Regime. The music captured in those four songs has rightly been described on behalf of their label as an electrifying collision of “the urgency of hardcore punk, the hook-oriented propulsion of speed metal, and the spidery aura of old-wave black metal”.

Here we are, four years later, and Rapid’s debut album Enter the Realm of Fire is set for release on August 21st by Dying Victims Productions, and we’ll help you get your week off to a diabolical start with the premiere of an album track called “Moonless Night“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LITOSTH — “ECLIPSE”

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Jun 262026
 

(written by Islander)

Shades of mental and emotional darkness have been features of heavy metal in general, and extreme metal in particular, for a very long time. Sometimes it’s been represented through supernatural imagery and lyricism, sometimes by more direct experiences of real-world turmoil and desolation.

But while it’s commonplace to see descriptions of metal songs or albums as “dark”, it’s still startling (and shuddering) to read about the ethos of Litosth’s forthcoming fourth full-length, Dreaming. It is described in the press materials proffered by Personal Records as a record that “offers no comfort, no resolution, no redemption”:

“What it offers is something more disturbing and necessary: the complete architecture of collapse. Eight tracks that do not describe the fall — they are the fall…. The album descends layer by layer through what remains when everything that was imposed is stripped away: faith, morality, purpose, and the illusion of ascent. What remains is not liberation. It is only ashes, emptiness, and silence…. Dreaming is not a record about dreaming. It is about finally ceasing to do so.”

How does this Brazilian duo of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Maicon Ristow and lyricist Wendel Siota plumb such desolate depths through their music? We have a partial answer today in our premiere of a guitar-and-bass playthrough video for the song “Eclipse“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NINTH REALM — “DAMNATION’S VEIL”

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Jun 262026
 

(written by Islander)

On August 28th Transcending Obscurity Records will release Damnation’s Veil, the second full-length from Maryland-based Ninth Realm. The label rightly describes it as “a scathing form of death/thrash metal music bearing influences of hardcore and heavy metal, with a slight blackened edge”, and a narrative theme that delves further into the band’s original dark fantasy world, Tythorin.

Today we’re premiering the new album’s title song, but before we get to that we’ll encourage you to check out the first two singles from the album that have preceded the one we’re revealing today. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ENTROPIST — “THE VISION”

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Jun 252026
 

(written by Islander)

Entropist is a Colorado progressive metal band primarily composed of people who have been friends since college days more than a decade ago. After many years of effort, they have recorded and will soon release their monumental debut album, aptly named The Vision. It is described as “a dual‑layered concept record that intertwines a fantastical narrative of demons, celestial beings, and the void with a grounded exploration of mental struggle, nihilism, and the search for meaning”.

As you can see, it’s adorned by a painting created by Shannon Bortfeldt that’s visually arresting, and it also captures the emotional and narrative weight of the story’s opening moments. It’s a fitting prelude to an extensive album that’s also colorful, repeatedly arresting, and an effective representation of the fantastical narrative that unfolds through the lyricism. We are happy to share it with you now, on the eve of its release. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WORMQUIZITOR — “AM I BEAST”

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Jun 242026
 

(written by Islander)

Four years after their debut album, Sickness Define: Society, the Belarusian black/thrash band Wormquizitor have completed their second full-length, Esthetic of Fear, which will be released by a trio of labels on July 21st. As we are told, its ten tracks “explore themes of state violence, propaganda, war in all its forms, nuclear obsession, hopelessness, and punitive psychiatry.”

To help spread the word, today we’re premiering the new album’s second single, “Am I Beast“. That title sounds like a question, and at least in the case of the music the answer is pretty clearly YES. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: TOOMS — “WHITETHORN”

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Jun 242026
 

(written by Islander)

On May 29th of this year Cursed Monk Records released Karst, the powerful second album from the Irish sludge metal band Tooms. Leading up to the release we premiered a song from it named “Lowlander“. In that context, we described the music as “dismal and disconcerting,” but “galvanic as well as distressing, intriguing as well as traumatic”.

As that song demonstrates, and as Tooms repeatedly demonstrate over the course of Karst, their music hits with heavyweight force and also explodes in episodes of searing intensity and battering fury.

Today we have a startling reminder of all that, and one that hopefully will seize the attention of people who may have overlooked Karst so far. It is an attention-seizing video for what Tooms call the darkest song they’ve ever written — “Whitethorn“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HOC EST BELLUM — “FILTH MAJESTY”

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Jun 232026
 

(written by Islander)

At the end of this week, on June 26th, Time To Kill Records will release Filth Majesty, the debut album of the Finnish band Hoc Est Bellum. That name means This Is War, and as a sign of what their music sounds like, it is absolutely accurate. As you know, we prefer to use our own words in describing the music we recommend, but this is one occasion where the promotional materials hit the nail on the head:

Based between Helsinki and Turku, the power trio unleashes a savage blend of grinding and bestial black/death chaos, channeling a sound that is both primitive and devastatingly direct. Their music thrives on raw aggression and ritualistic intensity, forged in an atmosphere of apocalyptic dread, satanic hostility and visions of mankind’s imminent extinction….

Conceived as an act of ruthless sonic warfare, Filth Majesty descends with the force of dive bombers cutting through the sky, unleashing wave after wave of black-death devastation. Each track hits like a strafing run, relentless and unyielding, carving through silence with bursts of violence and scorched intensity.

That’s probably all you need to know in deciding whether to subjugate yourself to the full-album stream we’re presenting today, but of course, for better or worse, we have our own thoughts about the album to share — and later on in this article we’ll share an extensive statement by the band as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DESTROY MY BRAINS — “DECONTRIBUTE”

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Jun 222026
 

(written by Islander)

After the release of their self-titled debut album in 2017, the Saskatchewan-based doom/sludge band Destroy My Brains embarked on a four-record sequence whose titles (the first letter of each one) spelled out the word “W.I.L.T.”. The last of those albums, Tormented, was released in 2022. And now Destroy My Brains are following that sequence with a devastating new album that is itself named Wilt, which will be released at some point during the coming summer.

The band say the new album “features 7 collosal slabs of filth and spans over 1 hour of unrelenting destroy time.” Their guitarist/vocalist Jarret has shared a few more thoughts about it:

Wilt is a representation of everything we have ever wrote before, and it means everything that Destroy My Brains has ever stood for from the beginning. Nothing has changed and our message remains clear and the same. We have always wrote about the hate for authorities and society, the corrosion of standards, represtations of nihilism, and the destruction of self and others. We have always been a fuck the world band and we still are.

These songs, 12 years later from the band’s beginnings still carry that same weight and message.The songs are a self-destructive collage of pain and suffering, and on this album we touch on some very deep personal themes as well. Get ready to get sucked down a twisting tunnel of destruction, as our sonic filth degrades and devolves you.

Speaking of devolving, what we have for you today is the premiere of Wilt’s first single, and its name is “Decontribute“. Continue reading »

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