SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: SERPENT SKIES, DREAM UNENDING, SHEVILS, FIMIR, APOTHECARY, HAGEL, SQUAMATA, MAGEC

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Sep 262026
 

(written by Islander)

As you can see, I had time to beef up this roundup. Though why we talk about enlarging things as beefing them up, I don’t know. Photos of gigantic pumpkins are circulating this time of year, and to get sea-borne we could also suggest that you’ll have a whale of a time, just like Jonah did. Or like the black mold that rapidly covers your bathroom crevices, we can say that we’ve broken the mold of the usual 4-6 songs today.

Anyway, there’s a lot here, seven songs from forthcoming albums and one complete release that will knock you down, burn you down, and leave whatever’s left moaning for help.

I also arranged these things, as I often enjoy doing, to prevent you from getting settled into any kind of comfortable flow, but instead to experience a loss of balance and perhaps even a jolt of whiplash. I’m just trying to model modern life. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: ARCHITECT OF SETH, CLØUDY SKIES, DUMAL, DUNGEON SERPENT, IMMORTAL DISSOLVER, MESSE DE MINUIT, OUTER HEAVEN, TEMPLE OF VOID, VELNIAS, WITCH RIPPER

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Sep 192026
 

(written by Islander)

It has been quite a while since I’ve done this, 92 days to be precise — “this” being to use the OVERFLOWING STREAMS banner for one of these Saturday roundups instead of the usual SEEN AND HEARD. I don’t have a precise dividing line between them, it’s more of a gut feel, but my gut tells me that 10 selections is an overflow.

Beyond using the different banner name for collections of this size, I also dispense with the time required to download, upload, and re-size album art, and I put the release info in lists instead of sentences. I also had delusions of trying to be a bit more concise in my comments about the songs and videos, too, but for the most part I didn’t succeed.

I also didn’t spend time trying to figure out a flow for the music, a sequencing that would generate either companionability or stark contrasts among the songs (or both), but instead put everything in alphabetical order by band name.

The objective of all this was to be more efficient with the time I’ve got this morning so I can include more instead of less. In some settings less can be more, but not today. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: UNDERDARK, LIZARD CULT, LŌTICO, OF WOLVES, METHEDRINE

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Sep 122026
 

(written by Islander)

Welcome to The Department of Broken Records. I know that’s what I’ll sound like if I explain how tough it was for me to make choices for this roundup or how late I slept this morning, so I’ll just skip that (get it?) and go straight to the songs and videos, which I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I have — even though the oversleeping has made the collection briefer than average. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: DARKEST HOUR, GREAT FALLS, WORM ALTAR, NERVOCHAOS, MILIM KASHOT VOL. 7, GRISEVILLE

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Sep 052026
 

(written by Islander)

As we all do, some days I wake up feeling like shit but still have to forge ahead with daily tasks. Today is one of those days.

The covid virus is still spreading around the country, and an updated vaccine for it became available last week. Because I’m in a demographic with an elevated risk of serious infection, I got the updated shot at a local pharmacy late yesterday afternoon. That’s what caused me to feel like shit this morning. I have a mild case of the sniffles but mainly I ache all over. It’s not so bad if I stay perfectly still, but any kind of movement is painful.

If my past experience with the vaccines is a guide, this will all pass by tomorrow or the next day at the latest, and for me the discomfort is a price worth paying for the enhanced immunity. The daily tasks I still feel the need to forge ahead with include preparing this column you’re now reading.

I mean, I could have just blown it off and gone back to bed. No one would have fired me for shirking. No one else would have suffered serious damage (probably). But this is the kind of daily task that takes my mind off of what ails me instead of turning up the torture dial — so on we go. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: NAILS, THRONEHAMMER, NIHILO, MORGUE SUPPLIER, PLUTONIAN SHORE

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Sep 042026
 

(written by Islander)

It’s a Bandcamp Friday. But you probably knew that. I failed to put it on my calendar but the engorgement of our in-box over the last 24 hours reminded me. So even though we’ve already published our usual three features for the day I decided to do this fourth one so I don’t feel quite as overwhelmed in preparing the usual Saturday roundup.

Be forewarned: you might experience whiplash as you move from song to song today (and within some of the songs too). Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: MANNVEIRA, LUGUBRIOUS GARMENT, MORGUE, BEATEN TO DEATH, NO GRAVE, CASA DE PIQUE, FLAGELO, FEAR FACTORY

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Aug 292026
 

(written by Islander)

This happened to be a week when I paid a lot of attention to the emergence of new songs and videos. In my case, what that means is saving links and making lists instead of actually listening and watching. I don’t know why I do this. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, given that the result is just a gigantic string of band names and links staring me in the face on Saturday mornings like this one. I guess it’s further evidence that I have a bit of OCD in my makeup, though “a bit of OCD” probably isn’t a term that clinicians use; I’m wary of finding out what their actual diagnosis might be.

Anyway, the list stared at me and I stared back. A few notable names caught my eye, along with a notable piece of artwork, and so I checked those out. They were all winners, and that greatly speeded my task. I also added one of the few songs on the list that I actually listened to last week; I knew even then that it had to be here.

But I started the morning with music from the two Colombian bands you’ll find below, two bands I didn’t know about until receiving a recommendation for them a few days ago. And then the last thing I heard before finishing the selection is also the last song and video in this grouping — yet another notable name.

The word of the day, by the way, is “pandemonium”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: BLACK ROYAL, MOTHER OF GRAVES, ANAGNORISIS, OFFERNAT, STATIC ABYSS, LACONIST

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Aug 222026
 

(written by Islander)

My short vacation which spanned last weekend prevented me from writing both this Saturday column and the usual one on Sunday. So for today I had two weeks’ worth of possibilities to choose among, along with many more on my list from previous weeks. Deciding what to recommend is always difficult, but today’s decisions were monumentlly difficult. That will be true for tomorrow’s column as well.

I think I’m best advised to cut this introduction short and get right into the music. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: DAWN OF DEMISE, WAYFARER, SVRM, DISHUMANE, TELESTERION, SLOTH HERDER

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Aug 082026
 

(written by Islander)

I was able to spend a fair amount of time yesterday afternoon checking out new music I’d noticed over the past week, and made the choices you now see — though I again got a late start on the writing due to Friday night diversions that also went late. Here are just a few quick notes on what’s ahead:

I do enjoy making these roundups a roller-coaster ride, genre-wise. It was easier to do that with this one because the music that made the biggest impressions on me as I listened yesterday just happened to make a big spread of different experiences. You’ll see. If you’re not crazy about one thing, just keep on going, because the next thing will be a different kind of creature.

I’m not sure I will be able to post a SHADES OF BLACK column tomorrow. My wife and I are going to a birthday event for an old friend, and we’ll have to leave home well before I usually finish those columns. Maybe I’ll feel like making enough of a head-start this afternoon that I can get something ready, even if it’s short, before we head out. Or not. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A BANDCAMP FRIDAY: CH’AHOM, WELLNESS CHECK, DUMAL

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Aug 072026
 

(written by Islander)

We’ve arrived at another Friday when Bandcamp relinquishes its share of sales to artists and labels. The timing is always a bit awkward for me because I usually post roundups of new music on Saturdays, too late to help people take advantage of Bandcamp’s temporary boon to music-makers. Of course, our usual week-long series of premieres and reviews still provide a lot of recommendations, and listeners can always save things for the next Bandcamp Friday (which will happen on September 4th).

I didn’t plan to do a roundup today because I had agreed to premiere and review a new album, but that fell through at the 11th hour. So I have some unexpected time to fill that hole, though not as much as I would have liked. I wish I could do more today, but a little something is better than a lot of nothing, especially because all of the following three songs are stupendous in different ways. If all goes well, I’ll have a lot more music to share tomorrow.

P.S. Although this little roundup doesn’t include releases by Dark Descent Records or Unholy Anarchy Records, both of those labels have pledged to donate 20% of any purchases made today on their Bandcamp pages to the GoFundMe established by Neill Jameson (of Krieg, and a contributor to NCS) to help deal with expenses after the recent passing of his wife Nikki from cancer and his need to become a full-time caregiver for their autistic daughter Vale. Direct donations to the GoFundMe can be made here. Please help if you can. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KRALLICE, BEASTLOR, SEKTION VASORÉ

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Jul 282026
 

(written by Islander)

I only had one song premiere to prepare for today and nothing else for us to share with you besides the review from Andy that opened our day. So I impetuously decided to pull together this roundup of new music.

The first two choices attracted my attention because their overlapping lineups include people who I think it’s fair to say are luminaries among discerning metal listeners, those of us who search for more than “the same old, same old”. These artists’ creative interests and impulses also often lead them in unexpected directions, so there was an important intrigue factor in making the choices.

The third choice was much more impulsive. I just decided to listen to the music of the last band to e-mail us yesterday, a band with no reputation I knew of, and only two demo songs to their name. I’m so glad I yielded to that impulse, and I hope you will be too. Continue reading »

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