MORTUARY: “GREAT BLACK EARTH”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 202026
 

(This is a guest review of a new EP by the veteran Mexican band Mortuary (released last month by HPGD Productions) written by Jason Kiss, also known as Lonegoat from Goatcraft and Lord Abyss from Amorphophallus Titanum.)

As I have grown older, my patience for speed metal has waned substantially. Nevertheless, I continue to hold an affinity for proto-death metal expressions in which speed metal is driven beyond the confines of its own limited logic and, through excess, transforms into something altogether more menacing and expansive.

One might argue that Morbid Angel on Abominations of Desolation, alongside Necrovore’s Divus de Mortuus and Possessed’s Seven Churches, were among the first to exemplify this rupture; they produced the conditions for death metal to emerge as its own original coterie unshackled to its speed metal roots. What compels me not is speed metal in itself, but rather this fractured threshold where the spirit of extremity in metal is nourished and an Aristotelian potentiality is actualized; where speed metal dies so that something more sinister can take its place.

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FADING AEON: “FADING AEON”

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May 202026
 

(DGR prepared the following extensive review of the third album, self-titled, by the German epic melodic death metal band Fading Aeon, which was released in March of this year.)

It seems if nothing else, 2026 is going to be the summoner of old ghosts for yours truly as we find ourselves once again cycling back to review a band that we started covering over seven years ago. Now, if you’ll please ignore the part that we’re coming up on the site being nearly-seventeen as well, a few of us are going to stand up and listen to our knees pop louder than the thunder and lightning shows that’ve been happening outside our windows recently. Is it any wonder we seem to attract groups that’ve taken long hiatuses between albums for new premieres?

Germany’s Fading Aeon are one of a fleet of three-piece melodeath groups that’ve appeared in the past decade – apparently they have little time for the bullshit of your standard four-to-five piece lineup – although they occupy a different musical sandbox than most, favoring epic tales of battle and heroism instead, with the song lengths to match. It hasn’t been uncommon for the Fading Aeon crew to release an album consisting of five songs and yet still have a run time sailing well over forty-minutes in range.

The group’s newest self-titled album, which saw release in mid-March, is no different in that regard. As the band have matured, so too has their songwriting ability, and while they started out incredibly ambitious, what has made Fading Aeon something to watch is how they’ve grown into the role that they sought out to start with. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): KUR•NU•GI•A — “CARMINA INFERORUM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
May 192026
 

(written by Islander)

Prepare to jump off your usual beaten tracks, indeed off the tracks of the world altogether, as we present Carmina Inferorum — Latin for “Songs of he Underworld”. This is the debut album of the mysterious Polish avant-black-death-metal band KUR•NU•GI•A (not to be confused with the Ohio death metal band Kurnugia or the Finnish black metal band Kurnugia). It will be released by Godz Ov War Productions on May 22nd.

Curious about the band’s rendering of the name and what it refers to, I found a source (here) that includes this description:

Kurnugi, also called Kur-nu-gi-a, was the Sumerian underworld. It was dark, vast, and final. It lay beneath the earth, beyond the Mountains of Sunset. Souls descended here after death, stripped of light and joy. The dead ate dust, drank from mud, and lived in shadows…. Kurnugi was not punishment; it was fate.

Those words increased my curiosity about the music before hearing a single note, as did a Lovecraftian chant that appeared in the announcement of the album by Godz Ov War on social media (a chant that’s interpreted to mean “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming”):

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn…

But the album’s cover image and KUR•NU•GI•A’s band photos made me even more curious. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: RELIQUIA / SILO / TYRANNUS

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May 192026
 

(Andy Synn returns to his homeland, in spirit at least, for another edition of the Best of British)

I’m still over in the good ol’ US of A at the moment, gearing up for this year’s edition of Maryland Deathfest, and while I’ve loved my time here – as always – I’ll admit that I’ve been feeling the occasional pang of homesickness every now and then.

So to help quell my longing for the green and pleasant lands of my birth I thought I’d put together another carefully-curated collection of British bands, from a variety of styles and sub-genres, to remind us all of what’s waiting for me when I get home.

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LORN: “SEARING BLOOD”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 182026
 

(We begin a new week at NCS with our Norway-based contributor Chile and his compelling review of the first new album in more than 9 years from the Italian black metal band Lorn.)

Italy has been a hotspot for quality extreme metal for years now it seems, and it is still moving on an upward path. It is hard then to imagine a time when the scene was much smaller and only a handful of bands strived to make a mark for themselves.

Maybe somewhat overshadowed by the likes of Mortuary Drape, Bulldozer or Death SS, many other bands were holding their own in those early times and are still a worthy listen. All of this helped the new and upcoming bands in the years to come, and by the time the late ’90s came around is when things began to develop in different directions.

Out of that time immemorial comes Lorn. Starting their musical voyage around the turn of the century, they came into their own by releasing their debut in 2006. With their activities seemingly going up and down over the years, like the road to the mighty Dolomites out of their native city of Bolzano, the band maintained a string of quality releases culminating in the phenomenal Arrayed Claws from 2017.

Now, even if the name of that album doesn’t ring an immediate bell, the absolutely outstanding cover should. The intermingled, leering forms of teeth-baring wolves (or something like such animals) adorned in a shade of deep purple, captured perfectly the essence of one of the best metal albums to come out of the Italian scene. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DAUÞUZ, VYR MUK, GOD SHELL, EMBER VALE

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 172026
 

(written by Islander)

I’m getting a very late start this morning. I wrote an explanation and then deleted it because my late start is the result of a level of stupidity that’s kind of embarrassing even for me. Better to just dive in.

What you’ll find below is a truncated version of what I originally planned. The collection begins with a single and then continues with three EPs, the last of which is a rehearsal demo that’s the band’s first release. Continue reading »

SUBMERGED: “RESURFACING NAUTICAL RUIN”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 152026
 

(We present DGR’s review of a new EP from the nautical brutal death metal band Submerged, which was released last month by New Standard Elite.)

We’ve been buried in an absolute gamut of albums over the past few months, and as is our usual tradition we have tried and failed to keep ourselves afloat in the flood of music. One day there will be maps drawn with shipwreck masts poking out of the water and one of them will just be the NoCleanSinging logo. Fitting then, given that today’s subjects are the San Diego, California brutal death metal group Submerged and their new EP Resurfacing Nautical Ruin.

A newer project of sorts, having been formed in 2023, Submerged were quick to break the dam on material, and after a demo in 2023, proceeded to pour out an album in 2024 titled Tortured At The Depths. Today’s EP Resurfacing Nautical Ruin – unleashed upon the world in mid-April via brutality merchants New Standard Elite – is the continued tale in Submerged’s torrent of music.

Gather up your diving gear then because we’re about to take a dip in the ocean of disgusting bass guitar tone, rattle-can snare, and vocals emerging from hydrothermal vents themselves for three songs and almost twelve minutes of singular violence and tremendous brutality. Continue reading »

WE FOLLOW THE EARTH – FOAMDRINKER

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May 142026
 

(Andy Synn dedicates his first post-NWTF review to the Post/Sludge/Doom stylings of We Follow the Earth)

Right now, in case you didn’t know. we’re in what’s called the “post Northwest Terror Fest slump”… which is where we’re largely reliant on DGR’s forethought in producing a bunch of reviews to cover for the fact that he and I are visiting Seattle and spending more of our time (which includes spending some much-needed face-to-face time with Islander) drinking and hanging out and explicitly not writing for the site.

That being said, I’m going to try and fit in a few reviews – starting with this one – between now and the end of our trip (which also involves a trip to Baltimore for Maryland Deathfest), so let’s cut to the chase, shall we, and get into it with the new album from North Carolina Sludge-slingers We Follow the Earth.

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AVERSIO HUMANITATIS: “TO BECOME THE ENDLESS STATIC”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 132026
 

(We present Daniel Barkasi’s review of a new album by the Spanish black metal band Aversio Humanitatis, which is out now on Debemur Morti Productions.)

The question of why we dedicate so much time and energy to this music isn’t one that pops up into this writer’s brain often; to the initiated, there’s a plethora of reasons, of course. Once in a great while, a band or an album does serve as a stark reminder of what makes this boiling underbelly of audible chaos so very special.

Enter Spain’s Aversio Humanitatis, a band who have regularly been a part of my admittedly expansive rotation. Most notably with the release of 2020’s Behold the Silent Dwellers – an album that made these ears perk up immediately, like our dog Jericho when we’re making salads (yes, our good boy loves romaine lettuce). There’s a discordance woven into that album that keeps it off-kilter enough to satiate my hunger for music that doesn’t stick to pre-defined genre guardrails. Moreover, the innate skill to compose truly intriguing black metal that’s equally enraged and impetuous is a combination that’s irresistible.

Six years have passed, and Aversio Humanitatis finally returned with To Become the Endless Static in tow, their third full-length effort via the always reliable Debemur Morti Productions, who are on a hot streak unlike any other label in 2026 for this fellow’s money. What was in store was beyond whatever one’s imagination could devise. Continue reading »

EPIGRAM: “OBSOLESCENT”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 122026
 

(This is DGR’s review of the debut album from Epigram, the SoCal-based project of musician Luis Echevarria, who is accompanied on the album by drummer and additional vocalist Mikey Wilson.)

Believe it or not, the album you see before you here is not the first time we have reached across the expanse of the internet to discuss Southern California death metal group Epigram. While it is tempting to act as if we made it on the ground floor of their newest release Obsolescent, in actuality we spoke of the band way back in the horse-drawn cart days of 2017, briefly mentioning them among an absolute wall of releases in our year-end roundup, in the segment we dedicate to writing about all the EPs of the year.

Eight and a half years is a long time though, enough that we can cycle back around to the exact same dogshit world state – and the people running it – and yet the band themselves had, up until early March, been radio silent. Their re-emergence in early March with Obsolescent is – thanks to time – almost a relaunch of the band. With only an EP to their name before, it can seem as if the Los Angeles based crew are fresh faces on the scene, but surprisingly, even with that vast expanse of time between releases it sounds as if Epigram have taken the route of natural maturity on their previous sound as opposed to full-blown relaunch, creating blackened death metal with a very, very light symphonic touch that could easily have fought blow for blow with the mid-2010’s releases from Hour Of Penance like Paradogma and Sedition. Continue reading »

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