SEEN AND HEARD: THE MUNSENS, LAMP OF MURMUUR, AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION, NIPHREDIL

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
Sep 182025
 

(written by Islander)

As I write this I am in Nottingham, England, and eagerly looking forward to attending Andy Synn‘s wedding on Saturday. An overnight flight brought me from Seattle to London with an early arrival yesterday, and I didn’t feel too much the worse for wear despite only napping for an hour on the 8-hour flight. Then came a car ride to Nottingham and a lunch there with Andy, his bride-to-be, and some other American friends (including DGR) who have also come over for the event.

By the end of our long lunch and a post-prandial drink at another spot, I was hitting the wall. I fought to stay up until 6 pm and then crashed hard. But I woke up early this morning after 12 1/2 hours of sleep feeling great, and now I’m quite happy with my jet-lag solution!

Of course it’s still weird being on UK time, weird in the sense that I decided to pull this round-up together with something like 7 hours to go before it will magically appear in line with our normal daily posting schedule, instead of just minutes. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: RIPPING REMAINS, DYING REMAINS, FERAL STATE, SUNKEN, TANVALD, CRATOPHANE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 062025
 

(written by Islander)

Long story short, I overslept. I mean, I way overslept, and in a few hours from now, as I start to pull this roundup together, I’ve got to do something else that isn’t blogging. So I will have to truncate today’s collection.

P.S. Truncate descends from the Latin verb truncare, meaning “to shorten,” which in turn can be traced back to the Latin word for the trunk of a tree, which is truncus. Incidentally, if you’ve guessed that truncus is also the ancestor of the English word trunk, you are correct. Truncus also gave us truncheon, which is the name for a police officer’s billy club, and the obscure word obtruncate, meaning “to cut the head or top from.” (lifted from this place) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A BANDCAMP FRIDAY: BLUT AUS NORD, PRIMITIVE MAN, SMOHALLA, MILIM KASHOT VOL. 6

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Sep 052025
 

(written by Islander)

Today is another Bandcamp Friday. If you’ve forgotten the fine print, this means that from midnight last night to midnight tonight (PST) Bandcamp will waive its usual revenue share (10% for physical items and 15% for digital items) for sales through the platform.

Sadly, there’s other fine print you can find here about the impact of the Trump administration’s elimination of the de minimus exemption from tariffs. There is apparently an exception for “informational media” entering the US, which includes vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, books, sheet music, and other items, but don’t forget the decision of many European postal services to suspend shipments to the U.S. following the elimination of the de minimus exemption. Of course, this tariff-related shitstorm will not affect purchases of digital music.

Speaking of storms, our in-box blew up over the last 24-48 hours with messages from bands and labels seeking to take advantage of this Bandcamp Friday, which always happens every time one of these Friday’s rolls around. I managed to keep my nose above water and picked a few recommendations for you — on top of the great volume of other recommendations we’ve made since the last Bandcamp Friday. I wish I could make this a bigger roundup of recommendations, but life has gotten in the way. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A TUESDAY: EXITIUM SUI, STARER, OLD YEAR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 022025
 

(written by Islander)

I only had one premiere to write up for today and only one other post on the calendar (an interview you can find here), so I felt a compulsion to add something more, hence this brief roundup of new songs.

The first two picks were pretty obvious to me, coming from bands we’ve been following at NCS for a good long while. The third one was from a project I knew nothing about before this morning, but after hearing it I felt like a cut of meat that had been “tenderized” until paper thin, and I thought you might like to feel that way too. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: NO RAZA, EGOCIDE, THEMATA, VILE APPARITION, VÍGLJÓS, JUNEAU, WSTRĘT, HETEROPSY

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 302025
 

(written by Islander)

This Saturday roundup is larger than usual — one new music video, seven songs from records due for release over the next couple of months, and an EP released a week ago.

Once again, I fell down a rabbit hole of high-powered musical intensity expressed in differing ways, from brutal and bludgeoning to mind-lacerating. I’m also going to give myself a pat on the back (because you’re too far away to do it) for arranging the songs in a way that I think provides a coherent flow (flow really isn’t the right word for the movements from song to song, but I haven’t thought of a better one).

P.S. In the U.S. this is Labor Day Weekend, a three-day break from work for a lot of people (but not everyone). As is our habit around here, we’re not taking a break. As usual for us during holidays, we’re just going to ignore this one and continue fouling the airwaves straight through Monday. Of course we hope you’ll come back to see what we have in store tomorrow and the next day, but even if you aren’t here we will be. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: IGORRR, BEASTWARS, AFSKY, AEPHANEMER

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 292025
 

(written by Islander)

With only one track premiere on our calendar for today I grabbed the free time to once again get a head start on our usual Saturday roundup of recommended new music. I picked four songs out of the great flood of new things that surfaced this week.

This little collection includes offerings from bands that have been personal favorites for a while (I’ll get to some newcomers to my ears over the weekend), and it begins and ends with songs paired with very good videos, both of which also include some very different combinations of metal and classical music (and the third song does too). Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: VALDUR, HADOPELAGYAL, NARRAT, NOW I’VE DONE IT, VALONTUOJA, NARCOTIC WASTELAND

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 232025
 

(written by Islander)

I got a late start today. When I collapsed late last night I had many ideas about what to recommend, a very long list of potentials, but only one decision. The choosing came this morning, and was painful because I knew I needed to get this thing finished before the sun got too high in the sky and therefore left some songs behind. I can put a few of them into tomorrow’s SHADES OF BLACK column.

Unlike yesterday’s head-start on this roundup I haven’t pinned a couple of big names at the top to act as a lure for all the swimming fish out there. This will be more like using a dragnet to trawl for bottom-feeders. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: TESTAMENT, EVOKEN, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT, MASTIFF, WEREWOLVES, TERZIJ DE HORDE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 222025
 

(written by Islander)

The year is almost two-thirds finished, 63.84% done and dusted as of today, to be precise. (I didn’t do the math, but relied instead on this extremely helpful website, which shows that the year will be 66.03% complete on August 29th.) We know from experience that the remainder of the year is going to rush by like a flood, even with a bunch of holidays bobbing along in the froth. We’ll be in year-end season before we know it.

Speaking of a churning froth, this past week included a big surge of worthy new songs and videos, and fortunately I had enough time to get a head-start on the usual Saturday roundup. I seem to be renewing a habit of leading off with some large names most of you will know and then falling down a crevasse into lesser-known territory, comparatively speaking. If you know all these names already, congratulations, you have excellent (though possibly deranged) taste! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: CORONER, PARADISE LOST, WODE, KANONENFIEBER, SILENT TOMBS, ANTI RITUAL, DEFIGUREMENT, IN SHAME

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Aug 162025
 

(written by Islander)

Before we launch into this Saturday’s roundup all of us here want to express the great sadness we felt after seeing the tragic statements yesterday from Tomas Lindberg and At the Gates, reporting on Lindberg‘s affliction with Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (a cancer in the mouth and pallet) and the failure of invasive surgery to eliminate it. Based on the statements, it appears that chemo treatment has become the last hope for arresting the disease. According to the band, he “has been receiving dedicated care in a specialized ward where he is being closely monitored around the clock.”

Those same statements reported that Lindberg had recorded the vocals for a new At the Gates album on the day before the surgery last spring. Of course, he has left an indelible mark on the history of metal already, but it will be great to hear him again when the album is finished.

We wish him strength and convey our heartfelt hopes for ultimate success in the hard battle he has been waging. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: AMORPHIS, PROGENY OF THE SUN, TEMPEST, LAANG, DARK WATCHER, ZLOBNIK, CRUSTY OLD TOAD, DISTRESS

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Aug 092025
 

(written by Islander)

It’s unlikely I will be able to write a SHADES OF BLACK column for tomorrow, due to conflicting weekend plans with my wife. So I’ve made this Saturday roundup a big one, and I’ve included a greater-than-usual number of black metal bands.

I decided to put a shiny bauble at the top of the group, hoping that it might lure some people to dig deeper into the pile before realizing they’ll get cut up by all the sharp objects underneath. Which is to say, there’s really nothing like Amorphis waiting for you later on. Continue reading »

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