AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): I PROÉLEFSI — SELF-TITLED

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jul 032025
 

(written by Islander)

The Scream!

Despite the fact that black metal has warped in ways that never would have been foreseen by its young first-wave and second-wave progenitors, certain tropes still tend to define the genre in the minds of many bands and listeners. One of those is the screaming — the harsh, high-pitched, rasp-edged vocal volatility that has contributed to both the raw aggression and the supernatural aura of the genre.

What happens when there are no screams? And not just no screams, but reputedly no vocals of any kind, not even the kind of deathly gutturals and possessed wails (among many other vociferous manifestations) that have found their way into the genre?

Well, the answers vary among the small range of black metal projects, usually one-person formations, whose music is entirely instrumental. In the case of the Chilean project I Proélefsi, what happens is a range of experiences that include both atmospheric and avant-garde elements, drawing inspiration from, the likes of Emperor, Setherial, Abigor, and Limbonic Art, as well as Dark Ambient music.

You’ll discover the initial results of I Proélefsi‘s creative visions (near wordless but not entirely so) in the band’s self-titled demo that we’re about to premiere. But before getting to the music, we’d like to share what the band’s solo creator M. has to say about it: Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 022025
 

(Andy Synn has four more recommendations from June which you may or may not have overlooked)

As usual, I’d like to take some time during the intro to this edition of “Things You May Have Missed” to apologise to all the bands who I couldn’t find space for this month, especially Imipolex and Mugshot (who were this close to making the cut), Putridity, Marasme, and Varhara (although the latter three have all been lined up for future editions of The Synn Report, which assuages my guilt somewhat).

Still, I’m hopeful that the four artists/albums that I did choose to cover will more than satisfy your hunger for new music, so I hereby present a mix of Prog, Thrash, Hardcore, Black Metal, and Crust that should satiate at least some of your cravings (for a while, anyway).

Continue reading »

CHESTCRUSH: “ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jul 022025
 

(DGR has conceived lots of ways of expressing just how crushing and destructive the new album from the multi-national group CHESTCRUSH really is, and they’re all laid out before you below.)

It is not uncommon for a metal band to ruminate on the concept of hate when the spectre of subject matter for an album arises. Hate is metal’s territory; it is logical for the musical drive of the extreme to tilt in such an extreme emotion’s direction. The force of hate as a concept is that it grabs hold of a human being like nothing else, refusing to let go. Whole personalities can be mutated by it, and if you’ve ever worried that our species hadn’t basically signed its own death warrant from the beginning, bear in mind just how well hate can grab hold of people.

The joyous moments of life are ephemeral and drift through memory; they are life as it should be, but the darker moments hover above us for eternities. Grudges can be held for lifetimes and generations. Hate can fester and turn into a cancerous ball that kills its host, snuffing out any potential for good being done in the world in favor of endless bleakness.

While many bands use hate and misanthropy as inspiration, few among the thousands that grace us with their presence each day have truly captured the oppressive weight that such an emotion can place upon a person. The utter disdain for anything in existence can often lead a group astray into carnival sideshow territory just as easily as it can serve as the spark for an auditory conflagration. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STYGIAN — “DREADLANDS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 012025
 

(written by Islander)

Dreadlands is the debut album of the Italian band Stygian, which will be released on July 4th by Time To Kill Records. In its thematic conception and its lyrical expression, it reflects serious thought, scorching insight, and honest rage. Here is part of Stygian‘s preview of what the album is about:

Dreadlands explores the contrast between two spiritual worlds: the harmony-centered pagan traditions and the legacy of Abrahamic religions, which often channel humanity’s most violent instincts. While pagan rites served to express and contain primal forces, maintaining balance between humankind and nature, monotheistic dogmas have frequently justified war and destruction in the name of faith. This work stands as a tribute to life, to the sacred bond between people and the natural world — a bond shattered by centuries of religious conflict.

At the end of this article we’ll share more comments from Stygian about the album, including their statements about the meaning of each of the record’s 10 songs. In between here and there we’re also sharing a full stream of Dreadlands, which musically is itself an intersection or fusion of two worlds, a hybrid of crust punk and black metal. The music proves to be as fierce, as wounded, and as defiantly resilient as the album’s thematic insights. Continue reading »

ONIRIK: “CURLING SERPENTS UNDER STONE”

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Jul 012025
 

(Today we present a review by our Norway-based contributor Chile of a new album by the Portuguese black metal band Onirik, out now on I, Voidhanger Records.)

Imagination is a wonderful thing. As far as mind goes, it’s faster than the speed of light, stronger than a gravitational pull of a black hole, and can jump over mountains and oceans with a single leap. Without it, the world would be a completely different place and our lives much poorer, or as the great American author Henry David Thoreau put it: “This world is but a canvas to our imagination”.

With that said, we can all agree (well, we would) that out of all the music genres in existence today, metal is the one relying the most on imagination and the endless possibilities it brings. Merging influences, crossing the boundaries of genres, or just applying new formulas to old experiments are just but a taste of the wonders that metal can unleash on to the world.

So, finally coming to the point, let our imagination take us to that faraway land known as Portugal and to one of its premier black metal bands, Onirik. Forging the dark matter with vision and dedication, the band (or more precisely, Gonius Rex, the mastermind behind it) has been a purveyor of ritualistic celebrations for over twenty years now, with no sign of stopping soon. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: CAGED BASTARD, OBŠAR, SANGUISUGABOGG, IGORRR

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 292025
 

(written by Islander)

Between signing off on yesterday’s roundup and starting this one, various events conspired to prevent me from making this one as substantial as yesterday’s. One of them involved a surfeit of gin, another a forgetfulness about something I agreed to do today with my spouse; possibly the two are connected.

A rash of new musical discoveries over the last 24 hours was also a contributing factor. They complicated the making of choices at a time when time has become short.

Well, enough about all that, I’d better get started or this collection will turn out to be even briefer than brief. Be forewarned: Nothing in here today resembles conventional black metal, or even black metal at all in some cases. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CRYPT SERMON, CULT BURIAL, AMIENSUS, DEFACEMENT, TETRAGRAMMACIDE, BEYOND MORTAL DREAMS, BRUXIST

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jun 282025
 

(written by Islander)

As usual I had a lot to choose from for this Saturday’s roundup. I gravitated to six bands whose music I and/or others at NCS have showered with past praise, but chose to end it with one band’s first release.

Geographically you’ll bounce back and forth across the Atlantic, take a trip to the Indian subcontinent, and then go further west and south to Australia for the final two records. Your head will probably bounce around a lot as you go through the music too. Continue reading »

GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, JUNE 2025

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 272025
 

(In the following piece, NCS writer Gonzo reviews five recent albums he caught up to in June.)

It’s been way too fucking long since I’ve been able to crank one of these out.

Without going into too much detail, life has most decisively gotten in the way of me being able to post much. It’s been long enough, and I’ve done a great job of giving myself a pretty serious case of FOMO since the last time I posted a column that wasn’t a gigantic write-up of a festival. I live for that shit, but it’s also an exhausting endeavor.

Besides, there’s simply been too many good releases in the past few months for them not to be mentioned within these pages. Here’s five of them you should check out. Continue reading »

THE SUN DOES NOT SET ON THE “SONS OF SET”: A REVIEW OF LYCOPOLIS’ NEW FULL LENGTH

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 262025
 

(After a months’ long hiatus our Vietnam-based contributor Vizzah Harri has arisen again to write (as only he can) about a new album from the Egyptian black metal band Lycopolis, and many other wide-ranging subjects that the music led him into.)

Let’s play a game?

The adults running things are playing lots of games out there these days that started out as silly and became rather fucking terrifying of late.

Our game is simple.

Go to Bandcamp.

Type Sons of Set.

Play Eldest Son.

Try to sit still.

Fuckit, I’ll spare you the effort, here it is:

Verify human?

Success! You’re not a robot if you failed, though if you were absolutely comatose the past 117 seconds, please call a doctor.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS — “IN THE GLOW OF THE VATICAN FIRE”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  1 Response »
Jun 262025
 

(written by Islander)

The lyrics of most extreme metal songs are often an after-thought, both for the bands and for fans and “critics”. They’re often written after the musical core of the songs has solidified rather than intertwined with it from inception; they’re usually difficult to hear, since vocals usually function as simply another instrument that adds fuel to the emotional fires; and if we’re being honest, the words are quite often uninspiring and forgettable.

The extensive lyrics of In The Glow Of The Vatican Fire, the forthcoming tenth album from the Connecticut-based “avant-sludge metal” outfit When the Deadbolt Breaks, are a startling departure from those norms. This writer had them in hand and decided to read all of them before listening to anything from the album. They left me shaken. Continue reading »

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