AN NCS PREMIERE: PEST — “LIGHT FADES”

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Sep 262025
 

(written by Islander)

We spin through space, the ground beneath us ever-turning, and as the rotations accumulate sometimes what was lost is found again.

Ensconced in Lower Saxony, the German black metal band Pest came to life in 1997 and released five albums and an EP between then and 2014. The fifth of those full-lengths, Buried, was so named because it was to be the band’s last one following the death of Pest‘s co-founder Mrok. And so Pest was lost. But now they’re found again.

With an album-length split released last year (sharing sides with the band Cultus), these plague doctors returned, and on October 17th Pest will at last release their sixth album through Heidens Hart Records, a haunting and harrowing record fittingly named Eternal Nightmares. Today we bring you its second single, “Light Fades“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KARATE STEVE — “TIME UNDER TENSION”

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Sep 252025
 

(written by Islander)

We’re latecomers to the talents of the Boston-based quartet KARATE STEVE, but thanks to the song and video premiere we’re now hosting, we’re enthusiastically on board. Latecomers, because the song is the title track to the band’s forthcoming third album, Time Under Tension, and we overlooked the first two. On board, because it’s a hell of a good song, one that gets the blood pumping and nerves jangling.

By way of background for others who might also be newcomers, the band was formed about a decade ago and consists of guitarist/vocalist Ben Davis, lead guitarist/vocalist Robb White, bassist Earl Brown, and drummer Zach LeWinter. They’ve drawn from a wide array of influences, from ‘90s death metal and hardcore to thrash, sludge, and more, and the album title-song you’re about to hear is a good example of how well KARATE STEVE mix and match those influences. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PERISHING — “LAS RUINAS DEL PALACIO”

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Sep 162025
 

(written by Islander)

The stunning cover artwork created by Belial NecroArts for the debut album by the band Perishing commands attention, creating a vision of spectral magnificence and frightening desolation. But it is more than a chilling piece of visual art standing on its own, because the visions it creates pair very well with the death/doom metal of this talented Costa Rican band.

The name of the album (which also fits very well as a title for the artwork) is Malicious Acropolis Unveiled. It is only Perishing‘s second release overall, following their Lutum demo last year, but the band’s members have previously honed their talents in such groups as Astriferous, Mortual, and Necroferum, and they have made a work that will shiver you from head to toe.

We back up those thoughts today with our premiere of a song from the album in advance of the record’s October 11 release by Transcending Obscurity Records. Its name also links arms with the cover art, and with the album title: “Las Ruinas del Palacio“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORDER OF THE EBON HAND — “HEIRS”

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Sep 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Long ago, in 2005 to be precise, the Greek band Order of the Ebon Hand embarked on an ambitious project, the goal of which was to explore each card in the Tarot deck through the perspectives of black metal. In that year, which arrived eight years after their debut album The Mystic Path to the Netherworld, they released XV: The Devil, the first card they drew from the deck. Fourteen years later, with only a couple of splits and compilation appearances to fill the gap, they released VII: The Chariot.

Obviously, Order of the Ebon Hand don’t work quickly. But the unhurried nature of their artistry may be a vital part of what has made their music so extraordinary. We attempted to capture what they rendered on those first two albums in the Tarot sequence by describing the songs as “beautifully crafted and expertly executed”, as “pageants of turmoil, torment, terror, and inconsolable anguish”, “warlike and violent” but also “manifestations of ravaging desolation”, experiences “of ominous foreboding and titanic ascension”, and “breathtaking extravaganzas” that “seem to be devouring the world in fire and flood”.

And now, six years after their last album, they’re on the verge of releasing XI: Justice, the third card in the band’s musical Tarot sequence, and we could hardly be more thrilled to premiere a song from it today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PENTHOS — “Όλεθρος (OLETHROS)”

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Sep 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Seemingly out of nowhere, but really out of Athens, Penthos released their self-titled debut album in 2022, and next month they will follow that with a second full-length named Erevos. The music is rightly previewed as traditional black metal in a more Scandinavian than Greek vein, a changing tapestry of dark moods and supernatural forces, experiences both devastatingly bleak and hellishly fierce.

As an example of the band’s meticulously crafted changing states, today we’re presenting the second advance song from the album, a shuddering and startling sensation called “Όλεθρος (Olethros)“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SILENT TOMBS — “DISSOLVE”

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Sep 122025
 

(written by Islander)

Personal Records has already conclusively demonstrated its taste for a range of extreme metal genres, with a roster of releases that appeals to a variety of tastes. But the releases might show a special affinity for doom/death (or death/doom) metal, and we have a prime example of that today.

What we’re about to present is the second single from the forthcoming debut album of Silent Tombs, a Mexican band who whole-heartedly join “the primitive lineage of doom from the 1990s and early 2000s.” That album, Mourning Hymns From Beyond, is the work of an experienced lineup that now includes Enrique Martínez and Arturo Delgado handling guitars, Mauricio González on bass, Felipe González on drums, and Victor Mercado providing vocals. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BERGSVRIDEN — “I HAGGANS AFTON”

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Sep 112025
 

(written by Islander)
”Folk Metal” is such a sloppy label. It has been applied to such an extraordinarily broad range of bands who sound very little alike that it’s a near-useless appellation — near useless because it doesn’t tell you what kind of “folk” or what kind of “metal” or how those intertwined influences (whatever they are) might play out together.

And so, we’re steering way clear of that genre term as we introduce you to I Haggans Afton, the latest album from the wicked Swedish band Bergsvriden, which will see release tomorrow via the Dusktone label.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with Bergsvriden, you could guess that their music has a folk influence, else why would we begin by even mentioning the “folk metal” pigeonhole? But it’s the details that matter, and especially for listeners who might reflexively shy away from anything associated with that label. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THAUMATURGY — “PLAGUE RITUAL”

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Sep 112025
 

(written by Islander)

Thaumaturgy: the working of miracles, magic, or supernatural feats, whether genuine or illusory. The term originates from Greek, meaning “miracle working,” and is associated with any art that invokes supernatural powers, performing wonders or creating illusions through esoteric knowledge and ritual practice.

It’s worthwhile to begin with that definition, because thaumaturgy is an uncommon term: according to this source, the word’s frequency of use in modern written English is 0.02 occurrences per million words. We will appreciably increase the number of those meager appearances today because Thaumaturgy is the name of the Kansas-based band whose song “Plague Ritual” is the subject of this premiere. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): REVELATOR — “LIGHT OF THE DEVIL’S FIRE”

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Sep 102025
 

(written by Islander)

The Alberta-based black/death metal band Revelator named their debut album Light The Devil’s Fire, and that is exactly what they attempt to do in their music — to wake up Lucifer, to ignite his flames to bonfire intensity, and to ascend with them to heights of evil glory.

Bold words those, but we can back them up today with a full streaming premiere of Revelator‘s revels in advance of the album’s September 12 release by Nameless Grave Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CRAWL — “NO WAY OUT”

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Sep 092025
 

(written by Islander)

In late June of this year something very surprising but very welcome happened: The vanguard industrial death metal band Crawl released their first album in almost 30 years through THC MUSIC/Virgin Music Group.

That album, No Way Out, was the horned flowering of seeds planted when Crawl reunited for a record release show on the occasion of the reissue of their remastered EP Womb, originally released in 1993 under the band’s previous name, Bleed.

Following that August 2019 performance, the band decided to start writing new material, and eventually produced No Way Out — despite being slowed by the challenges of reintegrating after so many years and despite the big roadblock thrown up by the covid pandemic (as well as a lot of subsequent impediments we needn’t detail that created further delays).

All the obstacles undoubtedly spawned a lot of wrenching frustration among the members of Crawl, but for both old die-hard fans and a lot of new ones, the album proved to be well worth the wait. It seemed like the band had picked up right where they left off so many decades ago, without missing a step. As a tremendous example of what we’re getting at, today we’re premiering a visually startling lyric video for the new album’s title track. Continue reading »

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