AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): PUTERAEON — “MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
May 282025
 

(written by Islander)

We should begin this album-premiere feature with what the great Dan Swanö has said about Puteraeon‘s forthcoming fifth album, Mountains of Madness:

“I have had the pleasure to work with Puteraeon since 2017 and their releases have always been solid, but the quality of this new album completely took me by surprise. It is just so damn good it’s hard to fathom! It’s like they thought about every little detail on how to make the album brutal as hell, yet memorable and extremely epic. I dare to say this one will go down in the history books as one of the best Swe-Death releases ever.”

If that doesn’t make you sit up straight and pay attention, probably nothing will — though the name of the album and Ola Larsson‘s cover art should also seize your attention. Continue reading »

MARTWA AURA: “LAMENT”

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May 282025
 

(Barely one week ago the Malignant Voices label released a new album from the Polish black metal band Martwa Aura, and our Norway-based writer Chile was tremendously impressed by it, as you’ll see from his review below.)

Once in a while, instead of devising some cute, little introductory story about how my childhood formed my adulthood listening habits, or how my lifestyle determines my deathstyle, or something, we could just go straight to the point, the good old in medias res. So this time, we dive head first into the deep, black end of the pool.

Not surprisingly, some metal bands just don’t care about matters of publicity or marketing and they’re just in it for the sake of their art, or so they say. Those in the black metal genre seem especially culpable of this by doing the bare minimum, dropping albums without any kind of big announcements or follow-ups, seemingly having no interest whatsoever to deviate from that path.

Anyway, Martwa Aura. Just by saying that they are a Polish black metal outfit should pique the interest of anybody even tangentially interested in the genre itself, as Poland has been a hot spot of black metal for a number of decades already and has produced some of the most magnificent music in existence during that period, as mentioned recently in the Wędrowcy~Tułacze~Zbiegi interview published on this very site.

You guessed it right by now, Martwa Aura dropped to minimal fanfare a new album called Lament on May 19th through the Polish label Malignant Voices, five years after their previous one Morbus Animus. This being their third full-length should make them an established name on the Polish scene, but the feeling is they’re still being a well-kept secret just waiting to explode like an atom bomb onto an unsuspecting population.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): LOATHFINDER — “BROKEN BRANCHES AND TORN ROOTS”

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May 272025
 

(written by Islander)

The Polish band Loathfinder made their recording debut with a 2017 EP (deliciously titled The Great Tired Ones), and then followed that two years later with the Aspects of Oblation split with Alaska-based Druj. Now at last they are on the verge of releasing their first album, Broken Branches and Torn Roots, through Godz Ov War Productions.

Our own Andy Synn reviewed that 2017 debut EP and described it as “hideously heavy and gloriously grim Blackened Death/Doom,” offering up “four tracks of bone-grinding riffs, putrid vocals, and suppurating, suffocating grooves, which seem purposefully designed to ruin your day.” He also wrote:

Yet as disgustingly dirty (love that guitar tone) and remorselessly gloomy as the band are, there’s a real method to their madness, above and beyond the compulsion to simply wallow in sonic filth…. All in all this is one hell of a nasty piece of work, and one which thoroughly deserves your time and attention.

But roughly 8 years have passed between the EP and the forthcoming album, long enough that even early fans of the band may wonder whether, and if so how, their music has changed over the interim. You’ll get your answers today as we premiere a full stream of Loathfinder‘s full-length debut. Continue reading »

CARNAL FORGE: “THE FRACTURED PROCESS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
May 272025
 

(This is DGR‘s review of a new EP by the Swedish band Carnal Forge, released in March by ViciSolum Productions.)

Much as it is tempting to turn every review into a tome that could challenge Webster’s Dictionary in terms of pages, sometimes something shorter and sweeter is the order of the day. Carnal Forge have been kicking about since the late ’90s, with one real lengthy gap between releases in that time. Their 2019 album Gun To Mouth Salvation was their first full-length in close to twelve years so it’s not too hard to believe that in an age of ever-shifting lineups a near-six-year gap would then follow before we heard from the guys again.

March 2025 offered us a peak behind the curtain of what the band still have in the tank with a three-song EP entitled The Fractured Process, and judging by the near-eleven or so minutes of material that this EP is offering up, they’re not looking to rock the boat too hard. Carnal Forge are continuing the walk the pathway of some very sinister melodeath and thrash music, effectively kicking the machine back into motion right where it left off from Gun To Mouth Salvation. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 272025
 

(Andy Synn makes his first attempt at catching up with all the killer new releases from the last month)

As you may have noticed, my posting rate has been way down this month, mostly because I was off enjoying myself – first at Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle (after which I stuck around to hang out with the rest of the NCS crew and extended family) and then at Maryland Deathfest (which, as of writing this, ended about 15 hours ago, give or take) in Baltimore.

To make up for this I plan on doing not one, not two, but three editions of “Things You May Have Missed” for May, focussing on a hefty helping of artists/albums I would have written about if I’d not been so busy (and by “busy” I mean “busy having fun”).

As usual (though not always, to be fair) I’ve tried to cover as many bases, and as many different genres (and sub-genres), as possible in each article – variety is the spice of life, after all – in the hope of not only introducing some of you to your favourite new band or record but also, possibly, pushing you a little outside of your comfort zone and getting you to check out something you wouldn’t normally listen to.

So let’s begin, shall we?

Continue reading »

BURIED REALM: “THE DORMANT DARKNESS”

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May 262025
 

(Our old friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth returns to NCS to sing the praises of a new album by Colorado-based Buried Realm that saw release in April of this year.)

“Who the hell is Josh Dummer?”

Greetings and salutations, friends. The above question was what I asked myself upon hearing Buried Realm’s 2020 album Embodiment Of The Divine, a surprisingly polished platter of modern melodeath in the vein of Scar Symmetry and Bloodshot Dawn, two bands whose output I greatly enjoy.

Dummer is the sole member of Buried Realm, handling all songwriting, guitars, bass, and vocals, with the exception of a number of notable guests on each album (more on that in a moment). I was impressed at the level of skill present on Embodiment, to the point that it ranked as my number 7 album of 2020. 2022’s eponymous follow-up was equally impressive, with a better sound, and ranked as my number 10 album of the year in a very strong crop of albums.

Now, Dummer returns with The Dormant Darkness, and I have thoughts. Continue reading »

MASSACRED: “MORTAL ANNIHILATION”

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May 262025
 

(What follows is DGR‘s review of the latest slab of brutality released by the Argentinian band Massacred.)

As if there were ever any chance we weren’t going to cover this one. We don’t have a military-grade spy satellite overlooking the entirety of the world when it comes to heavy metal, but even to those of us who may have bifocals thicker than a California Business Code Of Conduct book, this one wasn’t going to sneak by that easily.

We’ve reviewed some absolutely incredible albums over the course of the year so far and we’re always looking for more. That’s why this one went skating across the desk at the old NCS offices, as we continue our endless sisyphean task of attempting to track down new music for our readers to devour. As if they had a hunger, neverending, and a singular focus on simply obtaining more.

It’s rare that we get to touch base with the solo brutal death and slam scenes these days. The whole genre has seen explosive growth over the past decade as recording implements have democratized and been able to reach wider audiences. It’s resulted in a breed of musician whose desires are different than pure artistic expression, laying somewhere familiar to the grindcore crowd wherein music can be both emotional expulsion and an internet shitpost – the two need not be mutually exclusive.

Argentina’s Massacred is to be appreciated, then, as their aspirations are waved on a banner, worn proudly, and stated so up-front that you could never accuse them of trying to be more than what they are — which is pure and unadulterated Mortician-inspired death metal, one that just happens to have a taste for both horror movies and, surprisingly enough, the Resident Evil series of video games. Continue reading »

TERROR CORPSE: “SYSTEMS OF APOCALYPSE”

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May 232025
 

(DGR continues to dig back into the earlier months of this year in search of gems previously overlooked at NCS, and found another in the debut EP of Texas-based Terror Corpse. Below is his vivid review of this sonic maelstrom.)

The union of death and grind has been fruitful for decades now. The deathgrind genre is one where the artist has had more capability to define what the music is than the listener does; over the years it has become a field wherein any death metal group with a taste for hardcore punk riffs or the classic circle pit grind guitar parts could find themselves standing side by side with groups for whom “slop” is the definitive way to describe their music, their peers within the sphere doing just the same, creating chaotic hybrids of unrelenting death metal that just happens to be very abbreviated.

The genre’s one unifying aspect as it has gone through its many mutations and transitions since the initial fusions began has been that the music is immensely abrasive. Terror Corpse is a union of Houston, Texas based musicians whose resumes delve deep into the death and grind underground (a block of Terror Corpse‘s lineup hails from the Necrofier crew). Their newest EP Systems Of Apocalypse will easily rank up there as one of the most chaotic, heaviest, and noisiest releases out this year, perfectly assembled for the deathgrind-loving ghouls of the heavy metal world. Continue reading »

SERENITY IN MURDER: “TIMELESS REVERIE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 222025
 

(Serenity in Murder‘s Timeless Reverie has been out since the end of February on Apostasy Records, but it won’t let go of DGR, and so even now he feels compelled to sing its praises.)

One of the joys of being an internet dork such as we are is that we get to witness regional scenes and tastes sprouting up across the world and then attempt to archive it. While the language barrier is always a little daunting, depending on the country, the need for loud aggression is more universal. It’s not surprising that the semi-permanent poverty and extreme artform of heavy metal has held appeal across the world in that regard.

Sometimes you need to just yell and share your band’s name with a Slayer song, and whatever gets filtered through that particular point in time is transformed based on the person’s ambition. It’s why you can have some of the most musically inclined and smartest people in the world playing essentially the dumbest fucking thing possible – either in an attempt to elevate the artform or the more commonly cited reason of “it’s just fun”. Continue reading »

VADER: “HUMANIHILITY”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
May 212025
 

(The Polish titans Vader have bestowed upon us a new EP named Humanihility that will be sprung free by Nuclear Blast on May 30th. Below is our writer DGR‘s take on what it offers.)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s that time of year in which Vader drops a new EP on us that will no doubt offer a solid preview of things forthcoming from the now three-guitarist-armed band. Vader have done this like clockwork for years now, in between full-length albums offering up a two- or three-song EP that shows where their headspace is at, usually as a tight enough package on its own that it can hold people over for the extended wait that some album cycles tend to require.

They’re also a pretty good preview of what sort of Vader you’ll likely be getting on whatever upcoming full-length the titans have in store. Will it be death metal heavy Vader? Will it be thrashier Vader? Will Vader buck all trends and finally go full avante-garde and unleash some sort of blackened folk swing with extra emphasis on tuba? Will we get another fun cover song in the mix? Will we finally figure out how to work the word “lugubrious” into a review without calling attention to it beforehand?

Schrödinger’s Vader exists in multiple forms in the lead-up to the first spin of a new Vader EP and the sheer potential of it all is enough to keep things exciting. Continue reading »

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