AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): URLUK — “MEMORIES IN FADE”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 092026
 

(written by Islander)

Last month we published an interview by our Comrade Aleks with the two members (U. and M.) of the Italian band Urluk, focusing on their new album Memories In Fade. Aleks introduced it with an explanation that although the band had remained true to their haunted lyrical themes, the music has changed direction significantly as compared to their last album More. Urluk’s U. acknowledged the change, commenting in the interview that “[t]he atmosphere surrounding Urluk today is less about aggression and more about reflection, decay, and memory — things slowly dissolving rather than burning violently.”

In the interview, the band’s members provided further insights into their music’s evolution from the doomed black metal of their last album. As U. described, “Memories In Fade draws from a broad palette: Post Black, Gothic Rock, post-punk atmospheres, touches of Dream Pop, and even hints of 60s folk-blues. Keyboards play a larger role this time, sometimes creating that bittersweet, almost life-affirming melancholy reminiscent of Type O Negative.”

What we have for you today is a full stream of this very interesting new album in advance of its April 10 release by Pest Records. Before we get to our own thoughts about it, let’s share one more excerpt from the interview which compares the new album with the one before it:

Conceptually, the albums are connected, but musically they stand quite far apart. More was still deeply rooted in black metal — dense, abrasive, and very direct in its emotional expression. Memories in Fade feels like the aftermath. If More was about the weight of experience, this new record is about the residue it leaves behind: fading memories, nostalgia, and the strange calm that follows turmoil. The sound has become softer in some ways, yet more vulnerable. Continue reading »

BLACKER THAN THE BLACKEST BLACK: NATURE MORTE / NON EST DEUS / SISYPHEAN / ULTHA

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 082026
 

(Andy Synn presents a quartet of recently released Black Metal recommendations)

For reasons we may never understand a huge percentage of the Black Metal scene decided to release their new albums last week – including a surprise drop from long-time NCS favourites Ultha – and, despite our best efforts, we’re probably not going to be able to cover all, or even most, of them here.

But I’ve chosen four visceral examples from this veritable smorgasbord of blackened delights to highlight here today all the same, as I refuse to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XXVI: RIP BO LUEDERS AND JAMES LOLLAR

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 072026
 

(Our friend Daniel Barkasi returns with another monthly collection of reviews for recommended releases, and this time draws his lot from what the month of March brought us.)

I had a bit of a different angle planned for the beginning of this edition until April 2nd, but we’re going to take an unwelcome detour.

News that day came out informing us that we lost two important artists – James Lollar, known as the darksynth legend Gost, and Harms Way guitarist Bo Lueders. Both had an indelible impact in their respective genres, and their losses are a devastating shock to the friends and family of these two fine folks, but of course also to those who followed and embraced their creative endeavors. Harms Way’s crushing, vibrant approach to hardcore is a go-to for me, and Lueders came across as an excellent guy who touched the lives of many through his music, his podcast, and his all-around good nature.

Due to my personal experiences, I want to focus on Gost/James Lollar for a moment – an artist who holds an esteemed place for myself and many others due to his extremely innovative and genre-molding music, which in tandem with Perturbator, Carpenter Brut, Dance with the Dead, Mega Drive, and Dan Terminus, invented and perfected the darksynth sound. His dense, incredibly aggressive and monolithic productions are ones for the ages. A discography that has been in regular rotation since hearing Behemoth in 2015. My wife and I were lucky enough to cover a live show of his in December of 2023 – the only time either of us got to view his work live, and what an indelible experience it was. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GOATPSALM — “BENEATH”

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Apr 062026
 

(written by Islander)

The Russian band Goatpsalm first caught our attention almost a full decade ago, when we reviewed their third album Downstream a few months before its February 2016 release by the UK’s Aesthetic Death label. Back then I wrote (in part):

The music of Goatpsalm is spacious, mystical, shamanic. It conjures images of aboriginal rituals, as if holding the keys to dark communions with nature and with spirits that have been long lost to time. Some of this effect comes from the band’s frequent use of sounds from the natural world — rain, wind, waves breaking on a shore, bird song — and some derives from unusual instruments….

While all of the songs on Downstream make significant use of dark ambient and electronic music, sometimes touching the edge of industrial music, that’s only one aspect of the album. Yes, there is a meditative, and even narcotic, quality to the album, but it’s often heavy as hell and chilling, too….

[I]t’s the kind of album that really will carry you away. In your head, you’ll be far downstream from where you started by the time it ends — and for me it has been a trip worth repeating. I haven’t heard anything else quite like it this year.

And now here we are, a decade later, and Aesthetic Death will be releasing Goatpsalm’s fourth album, Beneath, at the end of this week. There’s an interesting story about how the album came to exist and why its completion took so long, and we’ll share that with you later in this article, but first we’ll give you a chance to hear Beneath in its entirety. Continue reading »

WITCH RIPPER – THROUGH THE HOURGLASS

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Apr 062026
 

(Andy Synn finds love in the hyperdrive all over again with Witch Ripper)

Let me begin by telling you a little story I don’t think I’ve shared before.

I’ve been a big fan of Seattle-based Prog-Metal maestros Witch Ripper for some time now – I first wrote very positively about their first album, Homestead in 2018, and lavished even more praise on 2023’s outstanding, album of the year contender, The Flight After the Fall – but, due to the exorbitant postage costs involved in shipping anything from the US over the last few years, getting a hold of either of these albums in physical form proved to be prohibitively expensive.

Thankfully I’d become friendly with the band’s vocalist/guitarist, Curtis Parker during this time, and while I was in Seattle for Northwest Terror Fest in 2024 (tickets for this year’s edition still on sale, btw) he very kindly offered to hand-deliver copies of both record’s to me at my hotel, an offer which I duly accepted.

But here’s the thing – and the thing that Curtis himself didn’t know (but absolutely will after this) – I thought I was getting CD version of both albums, so when he walked around the corner with two LPs in hand, well… let’s just say I was very surprised, but tried not to show it, even though I had no idea how was going to get these two pieces of vinyl back to the UK without breaking them.

Thankfully I was ultimately able to transport them both home safely (and then, not long after, track down affordable copies of both albums on CD as well) and they now sit proudly on my vinyl shelf as part of my small, but much-loved, LP collection, and I’m hopefully going to add their excellent new album, Through the Hourglass, to the shelf right alongside them very soon.

Continue reading »

GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, MARCH 2026

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Apr 062026
 

(Gonzo makes another of his monthly appearances at NCS today, with reviews of four albums released in March 2026.)

We’re only three months and some change into 2026, and I swear on Satan’s taint that I’ve already identified at least 3 new albums fighting for contention in my annual top 20 list. Dark and uncertain times always make fertile ground for raw, ferocious music, and if we can take anything from the hellscape we’re all currently stuck in, let it be that.

Let’s take a look at four of them that helped March suck a whole lot less for me. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: PANOPTICON, PURE WRATH, ETHEREAL DARKNESS, LIGHTLORN, RAAT, UNTO THEE, DANDELION, MÉLANCOLIE DU DHAMPIR, CŒUR DE RONCES

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 052026
 

(written by Islander)

I had planned to post most of this SHADES OF BLACK column last Sunday. I obviously failed to get it finished in time for posting then, the result of being out very late on Saturday night and having to leave home very soon after waking up the next morning. I thought about finishing and posting it during a weekday last week, but never had enough time, so here it is at last on this resurrection day.

For the original version of the column I picked new music from six bands, which included four singles, two albums, and one EP — obviously a hell of a lot of music. But for today I’ve made the collection even bigger by including individual songs from three more bands at the end.

I found all the opening selections (the first five) to be emotionally very powerful — authentically powerful — and much of it apparently reflects its creators’ own sometimes difficult inner journeys (and some geographical ones as well). The results are sometimes haunting and sometimes harrowing, sometimes solemn and sometimes shattering or wondrous. They move moods as well as channel them; they’re often inspired by memories, and they’re likely to inspire a listener’s own memories too, as passionate music often does.

I don’t mean to suggest that the final four songs are lacking in emotional power — far from it — but they’re more what I’m prone to call mind-benders.

I haven’t written as much about the albums and EP as I think I should. Time still hasn’t been generous with periods of solitude over the last few days. But of course my own thoughts about the music are surplus to requirements — all you really need are working ears and freedom from distractions. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: DOWNFALL OF NUR, NON EST DEUS, STARER

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 032026
 

(written by Islander)

This past week has provided yet another flood of new metal, maybe even more than usual. I’m staring at dozens of new open tabs on my beleaguered computer, stacked on top of dozens more from the previous couple of weeks, and getting that anxious feeling that comes from the certain knowledge that I’ll barely make a dent in what’s there.

But I did have time to make a small dent today, thanks to waking up even earlier than usual and with a relatively clear head. No matter the clarity, I don’t have a very well-understood reason for why I picked the following three selections. They just kind of jumped out at me, I guess because they’re all very recent and from bands who’ve got a very appealing track record, at least for me.

With any luck, I’ll make some bigger dents in this weekend’s NCS roundups. For now, get your heads dented with these: Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

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Apr 022026
 

(Andy Synn presents another round-up of cool stuff you may have missed last month)

A couple of days ago I promised you a second one of these “Things You May Have Missed” articles… and here it is.

Of course, even with double the usual number of bands to cover I’ve still barely scratched the surface of what March had to offer, so if you have any extra time on your hands I’d recommend also checking out the new releases from Alkhemia, Cult of Occult, Defacing God, Dionysiaque, Dollhaver, Gorenado, The Oldest House, Qwälen, and Rivers Ablaze.

Before then, however, here’s four artists/albums – including two debuts – that I’ve personally selected as being particularly worthy of your attention.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VANIR — “WYRD”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 012026
 

(written by Islander)

For people of a certain age and living in a certain time, melodic death metal opened a magical musical portal. Principally originating in Sweden, it eventually led enormous numbers of listeners around the globe (including this writer) into new worlds. Other portals forged of metal were opening at the same time, and many others have opened since then, but thanks to bands like the Danish group Vanir, this one has remained open.

Vanir have been musically exploring other worlds (often mythic ones) since 2010, with a discography that has come to include seven albums, and their eighth one — Wyrd — will be released in just a couple of days by Mighty Music. As the label describes, “The record revolves around the timeless theme of fate – spun from war, from the choices of humankind, and from the consequences that have shaped our world”, and it “invites the listener into stories of downfall and triumph, of lives lost and victories won.”

What we bring you today is the chance to hear Wyrd in its entirety. Continue reading »

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