SHADES OF BLACK: AKVAN, ESKAPISM, PIT OF DESPAIR, IDOLOS

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Jun 222025
 

(written by Islander)

I got a call last night from an anxiety-prone Millennial family member asking whether I thought World War III had just begun. He said he couldn’t bear to read very much about what had just happened but knew that I would have done so quickly.

I did my best to calm him down, tried to explain why I thought this won’t turn into WWIII and to assure him we’re all safe in Seattle (I didn’t mention the funding cuts to programs that combat domestic terrorism or the 22-year-old intern who was put in charge of the main DHS hub for that).

But yes, I’ve been reading a lot. I can’t help it, even though I know it’s pointless, even though no one really knows where this is headed but every pundit has an opinion (the smart ones tick off discouraging possibilities but then acknowledge that no one knows). It seems like an odd time to be thinking about music, but as usual on days like this the music becomes something of a refuge (NCS as a sanctuary city!). And so, on we go… but where to begin? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: MALTHUSIAN, UPON STONE, BEFORE THE DAWN, CASTRATOR, ENTRAILS, A CAT IN THE BRAIN, LOMMI, BOMBUS, GLUED MOUTH

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jun 212025
 

(written by Islander)

This Saturday selection of new songs and videos provides a lot to take in, and lots of twists and turns in the musical path as you move from one to the next (which is what I hope you’ll do).

Fair warning: I’ve included a pair of songs that feature entirely clean singing, and another where singing trades off with harsher expressions. Today’s collection is also a mix of well-known bands (at least well-known to yours truly) and others that have scoured my ears for the first time this week. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MROME — “BONEYARD TWIST”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 202025
 

(written by Islander)

The Polish band MROME have been making music since the mid-’90s, first under the name Kingdom and then as MROME. Under the latter name they’ve released four albums so far, most of which we’ve paid attention to (as you can see here), and on June 23rd they’ll release a fifth one.

Entitled Boneyard Twist, the new one includes 9 tracks recorded live in the studio, and the band have described it to us as “a kind of return to our dark roots from the early ’90s, inspired deeply by the first wave black metal.” Lyrically, they tell us, the songs deal “with grave residents, disabilities of body and mind, necromancy and… monks exploding!”

What we have for you today is a full stream of the new record, preceded (of course) by some thoughts about it. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORTALHA NEGRA — “NECROMANTE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 182025
 

(written by Islander)

Helldprod Records has marked June 18th as the release date for Mortalha Negra‘s debut EP, Necromante. While Mortalha Negra is a new name, the person behind it is well-known: Armando Exekutor has led Flagedör for more than two decades and is also a fixture in Gravedancer, whose debut album was released in 2023 (and those are just two aspects of an extensive musical resume within the Brazilian scene, and elsewhere).

Under the banner of Mortalha Negra, A. Exekutor has joined forces with drummer J. Ferrante to create sulfurous black thrash with a powerfully occult atmosphere. Helldprod previews the EP with these words: Continue reading »

DEADGUY – NEAR-DEATH TRAVEL SERVICES

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jun 182025
 

(Andy Synn encourages you all to book a trip with Deadguy on their long-awaited new album)

Don’t call it a comeback!

Or… maybe do? Because if there’s one time you’re probably justified in using that word it’s when a band has a thirty year gap between albums (especially if it’s a thirty year gap between their debut and their follow-up).

The thing is, no matter how influential and iconic Fixation on a Coworker was (and still is, to be clear) there’s no getting around the fact that it has been a very long time since 1995, and during the intervening three decades between then and now the Hardcore scene has grown and expanded and evolved to such an extent that the big question actually seems to be… does the world need a new Deadguy album?

Well, here’s the thing, however you answer that question – mine would be a resounding “yes”, by the way – all that really matters is that this is the album that Deadguy themselves needed to make.

Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORBYDA — “UNDER THE SPELL”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 172025
 

(written by Islander)

The Leipzig-based band Morbyda will have their debut album Under the Spell released on June 20th by Dying Victims Productions. If enough people find it, we predict it will bring throngs of people under its spell, people across a wide range of ages who relish the glories of devil-horned heavy metal. This quartet may be fairly new to the scene, but they sound like they’ve been at this for decades.

“Blackened speed metal” is the high-level descriptor of the music, and it’s not off-base, but it doesn’t fully capture all the traditions Morbyda pull from, or the absolutely electrifying and fist-pumping results they’ve achieved. With this album, they become a band worth watching very closely Continue reading »

SARGASSUS – VITRUVIAN RAYS

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 172025
 

(According to our own Andy Synn, now is the perfect time to get to know Finnish quartet Sargassus)

One thing I mentioned in the intro to yesterday’s review (which you can, and should, read here) was that while we don’t always end up covering some of the bigger bands out there, sometimes we’ll do it just because we enjoy doing so.

But what I failed to mention is that there’s another benefit to occasionally covering some of the more notorious names… because if and when those articles start doing larger numbers and attracting new readers (as has been known to happen every now and again) there’s inevitably a knock-on effect that brings more eyes to the smaller and/or more underground names we usually write about.

Which is why I’ve chosen to follow up my Cryptopsy coverage with some words about the recently-released debut album from Progressive/Melodic Black/Death Metal quartet Sargassus.

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VANISHING EARTH — “THE BOUNDLESS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jun 162025
 

(written by Islander)

Anyone who was even a semi-regular visitor to our site from 2011 through 2023 will recognize the name Oak Pantheon. Over that period we wrote 24 articles about this Minneapolis band’s music, dating back to their first single and continuing through our review of their last album, 2023’s The Absence.

And yes, it did turn out to be their last album, because this past February Oak Pantheon announced that they were amicably splitting up. They explained on social media: “Drifting motivations and musical interests have made it difficult to agree on a cohesive path forward. We will likely work together again, just in different forms.”

Throughout the entirety of their existence and their quite varied musical expressions Oak Pantheon was principally a collaboration between Sami Sati and Tanner Swenson. Since the dissolution of Oak Pantheon neither of them has abandoned music-making. In the case of Sami Sati, we are happily announcing today that he has a new project called Vanishing Earth that serves as a continuation of his efforts and ambitions in Oak Pantheon.

And today we are also very happily hosting the premiere of Vanishing Earth‘s musical debut, a two-song EP named The Boundless that will be released on June 17th. Continue reading »

CRYPTOPSY – AN INSATIABLE VIOLENCE

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jun 162025
 

(Andy Synn is here to feed your insatiable hunger for more Cryptopsy whose new album is out Friday)

It’s generally understood, by our regular readers at least, that we tend to favour covering smaller, up-and-coming, or less well-exposed bands whenever and wherever we can, largely because – at our level, at least – those are the bands who will benefit the most from our coverage.

That doesn’t mean we won’t cover bigger bands or more notorious names when the opportunity presents itself to do so… it’s just that, after a band reaches a certain level of popularity (or notoriety) it’s easy for our voice to just get lost in the storm of acclaim (or criticism) that tends to follow most releases of a certain magnitude.

Case in point – do Cryptopsy really need us to review their new album? Well, they’re currently on the cover of Decibel which suggests that a) no, they really don’t, and b) the movers and shakers in the industry might finally be coming around to the fact that the band are (still) kind of a big deal.

But just because a band doesn’t need our help doesn’t mean we don’t want to write about them, and to be quite honest I’ve been itching to put my thoughts about An Insatiable Violence down on paper (or, at least, on the internet) for you all to read for quite some time.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: STYGIAN, OSMIUM, DEATHWINDS

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Jun 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Sad to say, this Sunday’s column is much shorter than usual. I got a late start on it, but the bigger explanation is that early tomorrow I’m flying to my former stomping grounds in Texas to be at a Tuesday memorial service for a close friend and vital mentor, with an even earlier flight back to Seattle the next day. That means I need to get a head-start today on premieres I had agreed to host over the next three days before my old friend’s passing following a long illness. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries