SEVENGILL – PENUMBRA

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jan 222026
 

(Andy Synn takes a deep dive into the new album from Greece’s Sevengill, out now)

They say that you should never judge a book – or an album – by its cover.

And while I’ve yet to receive a satisfactory explanation of who “they” actually are – or, indeed, why any of us should listen to “them” – it’s been my experience that they’re not actually wrong.

After all, I’m sure we’ve all encountered an array of albums whose terrible/cheap/tacky (delete as appropriate) cover art has failed to reflect the actual quality of the music contained within (and vice versa).

That being said, an eye-catching album cover… such as, say, the one you can see above which adorns the front of the recently-released new album by Greek Post-Metal trio Sevengill… can definitely help capture the attention of potential new listeners before they’ve even heard a note.

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AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MATRIPHAGY — “FROM NOTHING TO NOTHINGNESS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jan 212026
 

(written by Islander)

On January 23rd, just a couple days from now, Iron Fortress Records will release a new EP by the Massachusetts brutal death metal trio Matriphagy, digitally and in a CD edition that also includes songs from a previous Matriphagy split and an EP as bonuses. What we have for you today is a premiere stream of all the songs on the new EP.

This EP, titled From Nothing to Nothingness, includes three tracks, the last of which is Matriphagy’s demented and demolishing re-working of the Cryptopsy song “Benedictine Convulsions“. All three songs are ruinously punishing, unhinged in various ways, and frequently as head-spinning as they are traumatic. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): KARLOFF — “REVERED BY DEATH”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 202026
 

(written by Islander)

Reportedly, the German band Karloff “formed in 2018 initially as a means for erstwhile Graveyard Ghoul member Tom Horrified to blow off some punk-oriented steam with a couple close comrades.” But they’ve obviously turned out to be more than a one-and-done “let’s do this for the hell of it” outfit.

Not only have Karloff followed up their initial 2018 demo with five more releases, including an EP, a handful of splits, and their 2022 debut album The Appearing, they’ve persistently evolved their music in ways that most listeners probably wouldn’t have expected based solely on their first couple of releases.

And they’ve done that again on their forthcoming second album Revered by Death, as you’re about to discover for yourselves based on our full streaming premiere of the record today. Continue reading »

ORACULUM: “HYBRIS DIVINA”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jan 202026
 

(Our contributor Chile (that’s his nickname, not his country of origin) has chosen to review the recently released debut album by the Chilean band Oraculum, recently released by Invictus Productions.)

If there is one truth about any given year when it comes to metal, it’s that we are constantly on the lookout for greatness. Sometimes it comes unexpectedly like a stranger in the night trying to pass us by in a dark alley, and other times it rams you head-on like a raging bull stomping over your mangled body.

You know already where we are going with this. Some bands are all about stomping and show us absolutely no mercy, which is also the reason why we appreciate them for that very feeling of might and strength. That is the story of Chile’s (the country) Oraculum. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BARBARIAN — “REEK OF GOD”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 192026
 

(written by Islander)

From everything we’ve read about the members of Barbarian over the last 15 years or so, they’re a trio of die-hard metal maniacs whose heads are filled to the brim with music from a variety of classic eras throughout heavy metal history. They have also consistently demonstrated a rare ability to let that array of influences almost instinctively flow through their own songwriting in ways that are familiar but never formulaic, so much so that you never know quite what they’re going to do from one album to the next, or even within individual songs, except you know it’s going to light a bonfire in your head.

Undoubtedly, the songwriting process of these Italians begins with riffs — because the songs are usually packed to the brim with them — but it’s also clear they devote a lot of care to refinement of their initial ideas, with the objective of leaving no one bored, and least of all themselves.

To repeat, you never know quite what’s going to happen, or even which inspirations might work their way into the music, but you can be damn sure the results will be interesting… and exhilarating… and heavy metal to the core.

Which brings us to Barbarian’s new album Reek of God, which we’re excited to share with you from start to finish today in advance of its January 23 release by their new label Dying Victims Productions. Continue reading »

ECTOVOID – IN UNREALITY’S COFFIN

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jan 192026
 

(Andy Synn gets his Death Metal on with the new album from Ectovoid, out now on Everlasting Spew)

Playing “Extreme Metal” – whatever your chosen flavour may be – is, as we all know, serious business.

That being said, it’s not a crime to have some fun while you’re doing it, and Birmingham, Alabamaniacs Ectovoid – whose line-up comprises members of serious death-dealers like Metaphobic, Father Befouled, and Seraphic Entombment – sound like they’re having an absolute blast (pun only marginally intended) on their recently-released third album, In Unreality’s Coffin.

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SHADES OF BLACK: BONG-RA, UDRĘKA, VERDUN, FERNDOM, SEAR, LUCERNA MUNDI

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 182026
 

(written by Islander)

Two days ago people in the tiny Spanish village of San Bartolomé de Pinares renewed a tradition that’s purportedly five centuries long — building bonfires in the central streets and riding horses through the flames. This is done on the eve of the festival of Saint Anthony the Abbott, the patron saint of domestic animals, because what honors domestic animals better than forcing some big ones to hurtle through an inferno?

I always look for photos of the event because they’re typically amazing and because they’re usually pretty good metaphors for people here and around the world trying to brave whatever fiery hells are burning around us. Lots of those to choose from these days.

Oddly, when I went looking for photos of this year’s ritual I had to wade through snowy photos of armed Greenlandic polar bears and sled dogs. What the hell was that about? (Well, I knew, and I guess it’s proof that AI is good for something besides kicking people out of work and threatening humanity with extinction.) Continue reading »

PUSH! – PLOWING AHEAD

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Jan 142026
 

(Andy Synn is plowing ahead with reviews in 2026, aided and abetted by the new one from Push!)

There’s a line in the song “Movie Night” by Aesop Rock that answers the question “What kind of dog is that?” with the words “That’s a mutt… it’s five-dogs-in-one.”

And while we can’t be sure exactly what breed the spiky hound adorning the cover of Plowing Ahead is, it’s clearly not a pure-bred.

But, then again, neither are Push!, as while the Portuguese quintet are definitely a Hardcore band – one with the likes of Born From Pain, Sworn Enemy, and Merauder in their auditory ancestry – there’s also at least some Metal in their DNA too, as the hybrid-vigour of their new album so plainly demonstrates.

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THE BEST METAL ALBUM OF 2025 (RAFI’S PICK): TRIVAX — “THE GREAT SATAN”

 Album Reviews, LISTMANIA 2025  No Responses »
Jan 132026
 

Artwork by Nestor Avalos; recommended for fans of Melechesh, Behemoth, Dark Fortress

(Last month Israeli metal writer Rafi Yovell made his reviewing debut at NCS, and while he hasn’t brought us a year-end list to share in our nearly completed 2025 LISTMANIA series, he has enthusiastically identified his album of the year.)

Black metal almost always comes with rage for religious fanaticism, regardless of where or when you’d argue the genre began. Fascinatingly enough, though, I think the Middle East was where black metal would reach its conceptual summit.

There have been many great black metal releases from the region, but last year the Iranian-born but now UK-based Trivax blessed us with one of the best extreme metal records I’ve ever heard.

Surely, I wouldn’t be the first to point out that awesome metal tends to flourish from hardship. And my pick for the best metal album of 2025? Holy fucking J’hannam, The Great Satan takes that concept to a whole other level… Continue reading »

BEZDAN: “UPON THE ALTAR”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jan 122026
 

(Our Norway-based contributor Chile has brought us his first review of 2026, and the subject is the long-awaited debut album by the Croatian extremists Bezdan.)

Where did the time go? Well, that’s not really a rhetorical question. Listmania 2025 started happening and the wheels just seemed to fell off my proverbial writing wagon, so the time mostly went with me pouring over all the published lists and scratching my head at how the hell did I miss this or that album. Nevertheless, as a wise man said once: “Metal is never late, nor is it early. It arrives precisely when it means to”. Or something like that.

As another wise man said once (or twice) on these very pages, it seems like we do spend a lot of our time here at NCS playing catch-up, so here we go once again. This review would have been better suited to have happened around the time of the actual release date of this album back in late November or at least early December, but time is relative anyway, as we are about to find out. Continue reading »

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