OVERFLOWING STREAMS: ARCHITECT OF SETH, CLØUDY SKIES, DUMAL, DUNGEON SERPENT, IMMORTAL DISSOLVER, MESSE DE MINUIT, OUTER HEAVEN, TEMPLE OF VOID, VELNIAS, WITCH RIPPER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 192026
 

(written by Islander)

It has been quite a while since I’ve done this, 92 days to be precise — “this” being to use the OVERFLOWING STREAMS banner for one of these Saturday roundups instead of the usual SEEN AND HEARD. I don’t have a precise dividing line between them, it’s more of a gut feel, but my gut tells me that 10 selections is an overflow.

Beyond using the different banner name for collections of this size, I also dispense with the time required to download, upload, and re-size album art, and I put the release info in lists instead of sentences. I also had delusions of trying to be a bit more concise in my comments about the songs and videos, too, but for the most part I didn’t succeed.

I also didn’t spend time trying to figure out a flow for the music, a sequencing that would generate either companionability or stark contrasts among the songs (or both), but instead put everything in alphabetical order by band name.

The objective of all this was to be more efficient with the time I’ve got this morning so I can include more instead of less. In some settings less can be more, but not today. Continue reading »

PLÈVRE – CITÉ MOUROIR

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 172026
 

(Andy Synn takes a journey through a dying city with France’s Plèvre)

This… is not the review I was supposed to be posting today.

No, that review will now be coming next week, due to the fact that – just as I was coming to the end of the writing process – I was approached by one of my contacts with an offer for an exclusive premiere for that very same album that I/we simply couldn’t refuse.

Of course, this left me with something of a dilemma… what was I going to write about for today instead?

Thankfully my ever-expanding “to do” list furnished me with numerous options, some of which I’ll hopefully still be able to get to after this (even if only as part of my regular “Things You May Have Missed” round-up at the end of the month), with the fascinatingly dark debut from French Post-Black foursome Plèvre (which comes out tomorrow) ultimately demanding my attention (and, hopefully, yours) the most.

Continue reading »

NOVAE MILITIAE: “APOCRYPHON OF THE UNBORN LIGHT”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 162026
 

(We present Daniel Barkasi’s enthusiastic review of a new album by the French black metal band Novae Militiae, which is set for release by Serpent Sun Records on September 18th.)

When it comes to conversations about the top-tier creators of black metal, there are certainly plenty of names that get thrown out. You’ll hear Misþryming and Darvaza come out of my mouth quite a bit, and we could absolutely throw out quite a list of bands that hit the proverbial spot, but that’s not the point.

Rather, a number exist that should get talked about far more often than they do. Today, that changes, at least for us, with Novae Militiae, the mysterious and dedicated French curators who have been strengthening with each subsequent release since their 2011 EP Affliction of the Divine. Having since unfurled two full-lengths of unmistakable quality since that fiery debut, the group has momentum on their side. Most recently, Topheth engulfed the senses with a monstrous, fierce quality that was coarse and oddly psychedelic in a raging sort of manner. An album which no doubt left an impression.

That was six years ago, however, and it’s been relatively quiet in their camp, until now. Aligning with the burgeoning Serpent Sun Records, who seemingly can’t release anything that’s less than stellar since their founding last year, they present us Apocryphon of the Unborn Light. To say the ascent continues is a gross understatement; this is a record of immense impetus and fuming intensity that aims to overwhelm to the point of the listener wondering what the hell just happened. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BONE EATER — “PARASITES OF DEAD EARTH”

 Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 152026
 

(written by Islander)

Bone Eater is a New Brunswick-based death/doom/sludge unit, led as a solo outing by the multi-instrumentalist Scott Miller. Formed in 2021, it takes its name from a worm that bores into the bones of rotting whale carcasses to feed off of them.

Bone Eater released its debut EP MMXXII in 2022. And now, on September 18th, Bone Eater will release its second EP, MMXXVI. This one will be compiled with the debut release and put out via Ancient Temple Recordings and Phage Tapes on vinyl and CD, and through Doomshire Tapes and Crypt Death Mortuary on tape.

The new EP is a two-song offering, but it’s a substantial one, with each song reaching beyond the 10-minute mark. The EP is also a devastating, take-no-prisoners destroyer, as you’ll begin to discover through our video premiere of its first song, “Parasites of Dead Earth“. Continue reading »

HORIZON ABLAZE – LIVETS HØST

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Sep 152026
 

(Andy Synn catches up with a long-time NCS favourite and their long-awaited new album, out now)

Correct me if I’m wrong, but eight years is a pretty long time to go between albums.

Hell, in the last eight years I’ve attended multiple weddings (including my own), been to more funerals than I’d like, gained new friends, lost some others, and travelled to more countries than I can currently name off the top of my head.

What I’m saying is that a lot can change in eight years, so the Horizon Ablaze of 2026 is, inevitably, not the same band they were in 2018… both in terms of their overall line-up (with previous bassist Ole Madsen now replaced by former live-guitarist Jan Laksesvela) and in relation to how they’ve all changed and grown as people during the near-decade long gap between releases.

But, you know what they say… the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Continue reading »

GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, END-OF-SUMMER EDITION

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 152026
 

(Our Denver-based writer Gonzo had an eventful summer, and reported on some of those events in our pages, but he now returns to reviewing and recommending albums — six of them released earlier this year.)

Well, fuck.

To say the past three months have been busy would be my own personal understatement of the year. Said months included, in no particular order: My wedding, three festivals, one World Cup road trip, one trip to North Carolina to see Acid Bath at a brand-new venue in Asheville, and other random adventures I’m somehow blanking on. June now seems like a blurry haze, July was like a metalhead’s paradise, and August was mostly spent recovering.

As a result, life forced me to break routines and generally fall behind on business as usual this summer. Among the normal routines I broke: Posting my usual monthly roundup here. And like any routine, once it’s broken, it’s hard to get back on the horse and continue riding. As it turns out, my will to write prevails.

But now that we’re about 75% of the way through 2026, it’s been quite the year for heavy music—much of which we’ve already covered here. The following five albums are some of the best I’ve heard during that stretch that still slipped through the cracks. Continue reading »

KRALLICE – SCOUR ORDER

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 142026
 

(Andy Synn says to expect the unexpected when it comes to the new album from Krallice, out Friday)

Love them or hate them (and, of a certainty, there’s plenty of folks in both camps) Krallice have long been one of the most reliably progressive, artistically provocative, bands in Metal.

Of course, while their avant-garde ambitions and experimental excursions haven’t always paid off – don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely a fan, but I’m also willing to admit that their discography isn’t perfect, although that’s probably to be expected from a group continually trying to challenge themselves and take chances with their sound – it’s to their credit that every release, from Dimensional Bleedthrough toYgg Huur to Crystalline Exhaustion, has presented a slightly different face (or, at least, a subtly different facet) of the band.

And, in that sense, Scour Order is no different.

Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: CONTENTION / FROM BELOW / GOD’S HATE / INITIATE / JUDICIARY / VILE MIND

 SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 102026
 

(Andy Synn presents six short-but-sweet releases from across the Hardcore spectrum)

A book I read recently (and I’m just now realising that “recently” was actually months ago) brought up the topic of “overflow”, particularly as it pertains to the impact – or impacts, plural – of simply having too much information.

And while the original focus of the discussion was more about how an excess of scientific data, leading to a glut of scientific publications, can potentially devalue the resultant perception of the work, the theme also transfers over nicely to the topic of reviews (and, particularly, review scores).

Put it this way, with more and more music being released (and, importantly, made more widely accessible) each year, and more and more reviews of said music being written in response, it’s inevitable that there’s going to be more albums receving higher scores, which will in turn give the audience the impression that reviewers are being too generous and that scores are being devalued… even if the normal distribution remains the same.

It’s a problem, even if it’s not one people think about very often, and one reason I’m glad we don’t do ranked scores here at NCS, as our role is more to curate the vast array of new releases each month and help them find their audience, not put them against one another in competition.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HKSPK — “HEIMKEHR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 102026
 

(written by Islander)

Because some people seem to value our daily premieres, they offer many opportunities for this listener/writer to both re-connect with bands we’ve learned to admire and to connect for the first time with others whose music is a new discovery.

Today we make one of those first connections by premiering a new album named Heimkehr by the German band HKSPK. This isn’t HKSPK’s first release — it was preceded by their 2024 Holy Scum debut album and their 2025 EP The Human Butcher — but it’s the first exposure we’ve had to their music.

That exposure has made an eye-opening impression, and we are glad for the chance to now share the whole album with you in advance of its release tomorrow (September 11th). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SHRINEBURNER — “HYMNS OF DESPAIR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 092026
 

(written by Islander)

Hymns of Despair is the entirely fitting name of the debut album from Chicago-based Shrineburner. Press materials we’ve received describe the music as “earthquake-inducing”, and as “a sonic glacier of abyssal doom/sludge metal infused with fringes of psychedelic, cosmic, blackened elements”. As you will soon discover through our full streaming premiere of these six hymns in advance of Friday’s release date, those descriptions are also entirely fitting.

But of course we have slab of our own descriptions to drop on you. Continue reading »

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