SHADES OF BLACK: DIMHOLT, POKUTA, EMBRACED BY DARKNESS, HAMMERFILOSOFI, HUBRIS, POGARDA

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 122025
 


Dimholt

(written by Islander)

In compiling this Sunday’s column I can’t say that I intentionally searched for unsettling music, but that’s where the listening trail led me — in directions that were chilling, depressive, and enraged.

Time being limited (as always), I left a few discoveries behind that were especially raw and abusive, in addition to being unsettling. I hope to get back to them later. One thing that struck me about what I didn’t leave behind is that all the music that follows turned out to be more multi-faceted than first impressions might suggest. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STARER — “ANCIENT MONUMENTS AND MODERN SADNESS”

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Oct 102025
 

(written by Islander)

The name Starer won’t be new to our regular long-term visitors. We’ve been avidly following and writing about this project (the solo symphonic black metal endeavor of Kentucky-based Josh Hines) off and on for the last five years, almost from the issuance of Starer‘s first singles in 2020.

In that time, Starer has released five albums and a multitude of shorter works. The fifth album, Ancient Monuments and Modern Sadness, was released overnight, and we’re sharing it at NCS today. Because the album has been out for some hours, this feature may technically be more of a “news” item and review than a premiere, but it’s close enough that I’m sticking with the post title. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LUCTUS — “TAMSOŠVIESA”

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Oct 092025
 

(written by Islander)

Now almost a quarter-century into their lifespan, the Lithuanian black metal band Luctus are poised to release their fifth album Tamsošviesa (Chiaroscuro) via Inferna Profundus Records. As the band explain, it “marks a new passage in our journey through the ever-shifting borderlands of light and darkness,” representing “both a continuation and a turning point – a chapter where our path through the twilight sharpens into clear focus.”

The album is indeed a changing progression through realms of shadow and brightness, creating excursions within each song that are at times poignant and haunting, and at other times frighteningly diabolical and utterly ferocious. It’s a meticulously crafted work, viscerally powerful and hard-hitting but also frequently mesmerizing as it ranges from major tropes of black metal into sonic territories beyond those traditional boundaries.

We have a lot more to say about the album below, but the main point of this feature is to let you hear all of it for yourselves. Continue reading »

ABRADED: “ETHEREAL EMANATIONS OF CTHONIC CARIES”

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Oct 092025
 

(We present Todd Manning’s review of an album released by the Ohio band Abraded through Redefining Darkness Records on September 26th.)

Metal, punk, grind, and hardcore are definitely separate genres, yet those bands that explore the overlap often are some of the most vicious around. Cleveland’s Abraded know this territory well and rule it with a crusty hand. Their latest, Ethereal Emanations From Cthonic Caries, dropped recently courtesy of Redefining Darkness.

Both grindcore bands and death metal bands make use of the blast beat, but when it comes from the grindcore side of things, it just hits different. Bands such as Abraded possess that grindcore-driven sound, full of kinetic physical violence. Despite the tempos that death metal bands achieve, these grindcore-style beats just sound faster.

Although Abraded now have a full lineup for shows, on this album mainman Patric Pariano is credited with doing basically everything (with David Kirsch on bass), and the drumming is maniacal. Just listen to opener “Ethereal Emanations” as he dances between ripping grind beats, crusty D beats, and mid-paced death metal riffs. For the vocals, his unhinged approach splits the difference between low and hardcore vocals and the kind of crazed, hyper-fast approach that Kataklysm used on their very early albums, such as Temple of Knowledge, before they slowed down. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RED RIGHT HAND OF PLAGUE — “TRANSGRESS. SCAR. NUMEN”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Oct 082025
 

(written by Islander)

The cover art for the debut album of Red Right Hand of Plague is unusual, and intriguing, especially if you don’t know anything about the music of this Portland (Oregon) project. So is the album’s title: Transgress. Scar. Numen. So is this statement that appears on the album’s Bandcamp page:

IN THE EYE OF YAHWEH
HER ITHYPHALLIC REJOINDER

But really, I’m not sure anything could adequately prepare (or forewarn) people for what happens within the album. Labeling the music an amalgam of raw black metal and grindcore isn’t wrong, but that doesn’t come close to capturing just how wild the music really is.

In the paragraphs that follow, we’ll try to come closer, just for the hell of it, but you’ll have the chance to get really close because we’re premiering a full stream of Transgress. Scar. Numen today in advance of its October 10 release. Continue reading »

MASTIFF: “FOR ALL THE DEAD DREAMS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Oct 082025
 

(This is DGR‘s vivid review of a new Mastiff EP that’s set for release on October 24th by Church Road Records.)

Have you ever had a band that were perfect for ruining what would otherwise be a good day? A band that could drag you down into the depths of anger, violence, and misery no matter what in the world was happening outside? You could wake up and have everything be sunshine and rainbows, birds landing on your windowsill, all the animals of the forest resting kindly on your shoulder, and your beloved waiting just out of frame – only to put on a release by said group and have the whole feeling be annihilated and the skies darken around you?

What if we pitched the idea that sometimes that actually feels good in its own right? A weird sort of audio-masochism that works inversely to how your personality actually works? That we take this ugly music and it somehow gets us through the day no matter the situation. Propelled by either the sheer force of anger or the more nebulous ‘force of dumb’. That sometimes the artistic expulsion that helps them exorcise whatever demons might be bothering them works equally for us, calming anxiety and settling nerves.

No? Have you ever listened to the UK’s Mastiff, whose brand of sludge-infused hardcore is perfect for bullrushing whatever room you’re in and declaring, “Oh you thought things were going to be good today? Well, not on my watch!” Continue reading »

TERZIJ DE HORDE – OUR FLESH IS NOT OURS ALONE

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Oct 082025
 

(Andy Synn takes a breath before diving in to the new album from Terzij de Horde)

There’s a certain sense of satisfaction to be had from knowing just how long we’ve been writing about the work of Dutch Black Meta/Hardcore crew Terzij de Horde.

As a matter of fact, their debut album, Self (which turns ten years old later this month) has the distinction of being an all-time favourite of mine, while this interview with the group that I conducted back in 2016 remains (in my opinion at least) one of the most interesting and in-depth discussions I’ve ever had with a band.

Which is why I’ve been looking forward so much to the release of their upcoming third album, Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone, which comes out this Friday.

Continue reading »

AGRICULTURE – THE SPIRITUAL SOUND

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 072025
 

(Andy Synn navigates both the hype and the hate surrounding the new album from Agriculture)

If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my time here at NCS – beyond just how much DGR loves …And Oceans – it’s that you can’t (and, often, shouldn’t) pre-judge a band based on its press-releases.

Case in point, the way that Agriculture were immediately hyped-up as “the next big thing” when they appeared on the scene – combining the suggestion that the band’s inevitable success was a foregone conclusion with an almost “pick me” like intimation that they “weren’t like other Black Metal bands” – felt more like a cynical attempt to astroturf a bandwagon rather than cultivate a reliable fanbase.

And while the band themselves didn’t necessarily help matters – the whole “spiritual sound of ecstatic Black Metal” thing quickly became a meme unto itself – I’ve never had any reason to question their integrity or their sincerity… even if their creativity hasn’t always been properly harnessed to its best effect.

But that (the latter part I mean, not the former) might just be about to (finally) change.

Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

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Oct 062025
 

(Andy Synn returns to regular posting today with an apology and an attempt to atone for his absence)

As you may have noticed, I missed a lot of stuff last month… mostly because I was very busy, first with my superb stag-do (“bachelor party” to those who don’t know what that means) which involved myself and my chosen band of brothers heading to Islay for a weekend full of whiskey (so much whiskey), and then my wonderful wedding (yes, that’s right, I’m a married man now) which also involved the extended NCS family coming to visit (which, of course, meant we spent most of the week before and after the event hanging out).

As a result I had very little time to actually sit down and listen to music, let alone write about it, and it’s really only thanks to the valiant efforts of DGR – who was smart enough to write a bunch of reviews in advance of him and Islander coming over – that we actually stayed active and afloat for much of September.

It won’t surprise you to learn then that my “short list” of albums to potentially write about this time around was much, much longer than usual, and even though I’ve tried to compensate for this by increasing the number of albums from 4 to 6, I still feel like I need to apologise to the likes of Cult Member, Nexion, Occulsed, Ordeals, Piece, and Yotuma for not having the time or space to include them (and an additional apology must also be extended to Hexrot, whose late-August release I honestly had every intention of reviewing).

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEATHFUCKINGWOUND — “VOID MMXXV”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Oct 062025
 

(written by Islander)

We’re about to premiere the debut EP of a Finnish duo who call themselves DEATHFUCKINGWOUND. To introduce it, we begin with the band’s own statement of intent:

“While the world is currently being courted by flames ignited by weak men wielding unfathomable power only paralleled by their insatiable greed and corrupt lust for land and wealth that isn’t theirs, art can be used as a bridge between the oppressed and the beaten, to be then deployed as a weapon against the aforementioned flaccid figures hiding in their ivory towers. Those towers burn, too. Everything burns.

“Our objective is to harness our own strengths into a tangible aural form that is equally unyielding and full of rage as the free spirits craving for the flesh of the sovereigns poisoning this world. VOID MMXXV is a documented moment in time that hopefully reaches many minds alike, representing merely the firsts steps taken towards our own caustic annihilation.”

Continue reading »

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