SHORT BUT SWEET: GUYOĐ / LOW / NIGHTMARER

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Jan 282026
 

(Andy Synn recommends you carve out some time in your schedule to check out these 3 EPs)

Last year, after several years of promising – but, ultimately failing to deliver on those promises – I actually managed to listen to (significantly) more EPs than the year(s) prior.

So in 2026 I’m going to try and continue that trend – or, at the very least, try to stay about on a par with last year’s numbers – beginning with this terrifying triptych of deathly delights from Guyođ (AUT), Low (NL), and Nightmarer (US/DE).

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AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TARLUNG — “AXIS MUNDI”

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Jan 272026
 

(written by Islander)

As an older person who’s been smoking cigarettes since age 16 I feel like a band named TarLung was made for me. Though they probably have a natural following among coal miners, hash fiends, and people who do enough weed each day to stop a water buffalo in its tracks and haven’t changed their bong water since the Obama Administration.

With a name like that, I also expected this Viennese band’s music would be unhealthy, nasty, and possibly choking. And I wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t entirely right either, because while their new album Axis Mundi does deliver crushing (and often nasty) sludge and doom, it includes many other captivating ingredients as well.

You’ll be able to understand that for yourselves because what we have for you today is a full premiere stream of the album in advance of its January 30 release by Argonauta Records. Continue reading »

TOMBSEEKER – TOMBSEEKER

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Jan 272026
 

(Andy Synn presents some meaty Death Metal from an up-and-coming new band)

Well, I think it’s safe to say that 2026 is fully under way now and, while the year – in my opinion at least – has yet to produce an obvious early stand-out, there’s definitely been a bunch of good-to-great records already released, which bodes well for next 11 months or so.

Indeed, just by taking a quick glance at what’s coming up/coming out in the next few months (including a few extremely promising promos currently sitting in our inbox) I can tell you that there’s a lot to look forward to, and that’s without even taking into account whatever unexpected comebacks, surprise releases, brand-new debuts… and whatever other unnanounced albums that are yet to make an appearance.

Our plan, of course, is to cover as many of them as possible – though I’m sure there’ll be a vast array of albums which we’re simply not able to dedicate enough time to – and so, in that spirit, I thought I’d pen a few words about the recently-released self-titled debut from Kansas City crush-mongers Tombseeker.

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AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SKULLD — “ABYSS CALLS TO ABYSS”

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Jan 232026
 

(written by Islander)

Yeah, Skulld dropped the “e” from their name but it still sounds the same and it still accurately portrays how their music may leave you feeling, i.e., skulled, and you won’t need an exam in a blue concussion tent on your playing field to provide confirmation. Your inability to form a complete sentence will be sufficiently diagnostic (except for those of you have that problem all the time).

But in truth, Skulld’s new album Abyss Calls To Abyss has a great many other things going on in the music besides furiously ramming your head until you wake up to the most abominable conditions of life as many people must now endure it. Unquestionably, it is indeed a loud and angry deathpunk wake-up call, but it has deeper dimensions as well, in both its lyrical themes and its musical spectrum.

Below, we’ll dig into those depths and altering dimensions, but the main thing we’re doing is proudly giving you the chance to hear the album from front to back in advance of its January 30 release by Time To Kill Records. Continue reading »

VOIDHÄMMER: “NOXIOUS EMISSIONS”

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Jan 232026
 

(We have our contributor Chile to thank for the following vivid review of the debut demo from California’s Voidhämmer, which was released earlier this month by Caligari Records.)

Yes, the temperature outside is about to go down below -20°C or -4 on the Fahrenheit scale for all you non-followers of the International System of Units (which somehow makes it more tolerable on paper, just barely), and with spring thaw still months away, what better way to warm up than to fire up some filthy, rotting death metal.

You could argue that your everyday central heating would suffice, but nothing warms the heart and soul as hearing those riffs pounding down from your speakers and into your orifices. Newcomers in the Californian outfit of Voidhämmer, who are not really newcomers (see below), understand this very well and offer a variety of putrid riffs on their debut EP/demo Noxious Emissions. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TJAKTJADÁLVVE — “ENCOMPASSING NOTHING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Jan 222026
 

(written by Islander)

For most people (definitely including this writer) the name Tjaktjadálvve will be a tongue-twister. Apart from wondering how it is pronounced, I also wondered what it meant, and so I spent some time searching for an answer.

One thing I found was an interview from last fall in a Hungarian publication of Matthew Bell, the Australia-born but Sweden-residing musician behind the black metal project he named Tjaktjadálvve. With some help from an online translation tool, I saw that Bell gave this answer about the word’s meaning:

The word means “autumn winter” in the Sámi language. A lot of my music is based on my experiences in northern Sweden, so the name seemed perfectly fitting. Continue reading »

SEVENGILL – PENUMBRA

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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.

Continue reading »

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

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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”

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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 »

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