Album Reviews Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

SRPNTS: “SECOND SHAPE”

Sep 302026

(This is Daniel Barkasi’s review of a debut album by the German occult black metal band SRPNTS, which will be released on October 2nd by Serpent Sun Records.)

Discovery is at the heart of what makes our music-craving juices flow, for this scribe anyway. There’s always the insufferable “nothing good came out since 1991” curmudgeons, but to the truly initiated, the current day is quite an exciting, and sometimes overwhelming, time to be in the thick of the near constant barrage of quality music that comes our way most weeks. While plenty of the best musical moments do come from acts that we’re already familiar with, sometimes that thrill comes from a completely fresh entity that couldn’t have been predicted.

With that in mind, enter SRPNTS. Continue reading »

SPIRIT POSSESSION – CATHEDRAL SPEECH

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Sep 292026

(Andy Synn prepares to worship at the altar of Spirit Possession, whose new album is out on Friday)

Allow me to begin this review with a semi-spoiler, if I may?

Because, if nothing changes between now and December, there’s a very high likelihood that Spirit Possession‘s third album will be taking one of the highly-coveted slots in this year’s “Critical Top Ten”.

But, then, something like that has been on the cards for the Portland-based pairing of Steve Peacock (vocals/guitar) and Ash Spungin (drums) ever since their self-titled 2020 debut, with the subsequent release of 2023’s stunning Of the Sign… only serving to expose even more people to the band’s riveting and instantly recognisable blend of frenzied, finger-picked riffage and equally frenetic, effortlessly fluid, drum work.

And now, with the imminent release of Cathedral Speech, it feels as though the dynamic duo are, finally, right on the verge of being accepted as true masters of the black arts.

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

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

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 »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): METALADIAN — “DEADITATION”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Sep 252026

(written by Islander)

The premiere we’re about to present is an unusual one in several respects. For one thing, the music isn’t brand new — it is an album named Deaditation that was released by the Canadian band Metaladian this past July — but the video is new, and it is a rare lyric video that takes listeners through the entire record. That makes sense, because the album itself presents a complete narrative arc — “an immersive descent into pain, revenge, and ultimately redemption….”

The premiere is unusual in other respects, mainly because of interesting details about the band’s lineup and history. Continue reading »

ASTRAL ALCHEMY — WEAVING CHILLING MAGICAL DREAMWORLDS

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Sep 252026

(After a hiatus since last spring our South African contributor Vizzah Harri has returned with his review of a debut album by the New York band Astral Alchemy, which was released this past June by Naturmacht Productions. As is often the case, the music prompted thoughts that led him off in many unpredictable directions, in addition to noting just how many happy boxes it checks.)

You click on the cover that has the purple on it.

This is a clear sign that it will be a certain form of black metal par excellence … Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: JØTNARR / KULK / REMOTE VIEWING

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Sep 242026

(Andy Synn once more serves as our in-house ambassador for the UK Metal scene)

Like I’ve said before, many times, it’s impossible for any of us here at NCS to cover all the artists/albums we really want to, which means some hard choices have to be made each month.

This extends, obviously, to these irregular “Best of British” columns, as while I’d love to highlight each and every band from here that I think would be worthy of your time… I just don’t have the time myself to do so.

Case in point, I’m probably not going to be writing anything about the new albums from Green Lung (which is a good album, no doubt, but they already receive enough praise and attention elsewhere), Noctule (simply because I haven’t heard it), or Burner (which, to be totally honest, I thought was a massive disappointment, though I’m sure lots of people are going to love it), so you’ll just have to form your own opinions on those without my penetrating insights (I know, I’m so sorry).

The three bands I’ve chosen to cover here today, however, all have much less exposure, and all skew much more towards the harsher side of the sonic spectrum, which is why I thought it was more important to feature them than some of the more hyped-up members of the scene… a decision which, hopefully, you’ll all agree was the right one after checking them out.

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HÆNESY — “ESENTIA”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Sep 232026

(written by Islander)

At the end of this week, just two days from now, the Hungarian band Hænesy will have their third album released in cooperation with Fractions of Life Records. Its name is Esentia, and we have lots of thoughts about it, but most important we have a full stream of all the music to share with you.

“Atmospheric black metal” is one descriptor of what you’ll hear, but it’s not an entirely satisfactory one, in part because Hænesy’s music owes as much to post-rock as it does to black metal (with other influences also playing roles) and in part because it doesn’t tell you anything about the nature of the atmospheres the band create. We’ll make an attempt to do that below. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RORCAL – MAHRE

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Sep 232026

(Andy Synn presents an exclusive premiere of one of the darkest, harshest albums of 2026)

Success, or so they like to say, can be a double-edged sword.

And the music business in particular is full of bands who have reached the heighest of heights – whether critical, commercial, artistic, or some combination of all three – only to then have to live in the shadow of their success for the rest of their careers.

For Swiss Black/Sludge/Doom coven Rorcal this sonic apotheosis came in the form of 2019’s demonically intense Muladona (based on the novel of the same name), whose visceral, soul-scarring assault on the senses deserves – in my opinion, at least – be held up right alongside the nastiest, gnarliest works of Dragged Into Sunlight, Primitive Man, and This Gift Is A Curse at their very best.

That’s not to say that the band’s previous output – from the colossal Drone-Doom of Heliogabalus to the grinding attack of Világvége to the asphyxiating, Post-Metallic atmospherics of Κρέων – were in any way lacking (indeed, the latter is, quite rightly, considered to be something of an underground gem), but Muladona raised the bar so much, creatively and conceptually, that both 2021’s Witch Coven collaboration and 2023’s more Blackened Hardcore-leaning Silence still felt somewhat eclipsed by their progidigious predecessor.

This Friday, however, will see the release of the band’s nightmarish new album, Mahre, which doesn’t so much seek to escape the shadow of Muladona as it does dive even deeper into it, pursuing a darker, more disturbing path, and today we have distinct (mis)fortune of presenting the album in its entirety via the medium of a fascinating, and disturbing, full-length video accompaniment for the record, created by the band’s frequent collaborator (and friend of the site) Eeli Helin.

MAUNAH – HJARTA

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule No Responses »

Sep 222026

(Andy Synn delivers another justified “exception to the rule” courtesy of Denmark’s Maunah)

I was today years old (well, actually, by the time you’re reading this that won’t actually be true any more, but just go with it) when I discovered that NCS has an honest-to-god Wikipedia entry.

Which I guess means we’re finally “a big deal” and will need to start charging you all for our services.

That’s how this works, right?

Now, in all seriousness it was legitimately interesting to see what got mentioned, and what didn’t (and suggest a few updates to the text), with regards to the site, our history, and our ethos.

In particular, the original version of the page – now updated – failed to mention the fact that the term “no clean singing” is very much an in-joke these days, rather than an iron-clad dictum, especially since we make so many “exceptions to the rule” on an almost daily basis.

And one of those exceptions we’re so happy to make these days is the debut album from Danish progressive doom-dealers Maunah.

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): S.C.R.A.M. — “COMA FILAMENT”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Sep 212026

(written by Islander)

Pranjal Tiwari, the Oakland-based creator behind the musical project S.C.R.A.M. (which stands for Safety Control Rod Axe Man), was inspired to create S.C.R.A.M.’s new album Coma Filament by a single image — a ghost ship encountered in the outer reaches of space light years away from where any human has been before. He named the album for a galaxy thread that forms part of the Coma Wall, one of the largest known superstructures in the observable universe. And he created the music as an answer to the question, “What if Andrei Tarkovsky had directed the first Alien movie?”

If you’re a fan of science fiction, and more specifically of tales of horrors encountered in deep space, then you should be quite intrigued at this point. If you’ve actually seen Tarkovsky’s 1972 Soviet science fiction and psychological horror film Solaris, based on Stanisław Lem’s 1961 novel of the same title, then you’re even more excited. I certainly was, because in this writer’s humble opinion that’s one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, based on one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written.

To be clear, Coma Filament isn’t a re-telling of Alien or any other single literary narrative. The idea of what might have resulted if Tarkovsky had directed Alien is more about what kind of soundtrack would best suit such a movie, and more broadly what kind of listening experience would evoke the physical and psychological pressures of a journey through deep space and the terrors we imagine might be encountered there, with Tarkovsky acting as the muse.

We have Pranjal Tiwari’s answers to these questions today through our full streaming premiere of Coma Filament in advance of its release this Wednesday, September 23rd, the Fall Equinox. Continue reading »

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