AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): COGAS — “AMONG THE DEAD: HOW TO BECOME A GHOST”

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Apr 212025
 

(written by Islander)

We prize extreme metal because it captures and conveys emotional intensity in more powerful ways than most other musical genres do. However, the emotional intensity of the music and vocals aren’t always reflected in lyrics. Often written after the music, the lyrics may be entirely unconnected to the experiences and moods that inspired the music; worse still, they may also be mundane, cliched, and entirely forgettable.

That kind of criticism won’t be applied to the new sophomore album by Cogas. It is rooted, both musically and lyrically, in the frustration, pain, and anger spawned by conditions in their homeland of Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean and a place of remarkable, varied beauty and rich, fascinating history, but also (based on our own reading) a place apparently plagued by high youth unemployment, enormous outflows of young people seeking to escape such conditions, and both mental and physical health problems among those who’ve remained.

Cogas themselves, who have been based in London for some time, have explained what inspired their new album Among the Dead: How to Become a Ghost: Continue reading »

DAWN OF OUROBOROS: “BIOLUMINESCENCE”

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Apr 212025
 

(Below we present DGR‘s review of the new album by Dawn of Ouroboros, which was released last month by Prosthetic Records.)

Oakland’s Dawn Of Ouroboros have been a vexing band since their founding, part of a class of black metal collectives for whom the genre is one more arrow in the quiver than something to be wholly defined by. They’re part of a grouping for whom the multi-faceted, multi-genre approach has led to something less conventional than straightforward songwriting and more avant-garde with the addition of many a post-black metal and shoegaze element into their overall approach.

Being frank, there’s even been a sense within the band’s music that they’re still searching for how to jam all the pieces together, and so a journey into their discography can be a journey through just as many generally beautiful and transcendent moments as there are times when the band are still learning how to juxtapose such oppositional elements together within the same particular song.

As a result, they’ve been difficult to pin down on each album – like a creature stubbornly moving just to the side every time you’re about to finally set the specimen in place for display. They’ve been a musical cat that doesn’t want to be picked up, somehow turning to liquid and falling through your arms every time.

There is no singular approach to a band like Dawn Of Ouroboros, and so a single- dimensional approach falls to pieces within a song or two. Very few musical narratives fit the band as a result, but the one that has been steady is that as they’ve gotten deeper into their career, they’ve gotten distinctly better. Each album shows a stronger understanding of just how to take these musical parts and jam them together without it sounding like you’ve broken out a brad-nailer for that particular purpose. Their newest album Bioluminescence is the strongest example of that yet. Continue reading »

ESKRÖTA – BLASFÊMEA

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 212025
 

(Andy Synn has a lot of love for the new album from Brazilian blasphemers Eskröta)

Look, let’s cut to the chase shall we?

Sometimes all you really need in life is a cavalcade of righteous riffs and hefty, headbangable hooks to help get you through the day.

And if they come with a side-helping of “stick it to the man” ideology, and a welcome sense of social conscience?

Well, that’s all the better.

And, lo and behold, Thrashcore/Crust Punk crossover crew Eskröta deliver all that and more on Blasfêmea.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: SIGNERI, AMBULACRUM, LÁSTIMA, OLESIN, MÜTTERLEIN

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 202025
 

(written by Islander)

I didn’t think I would do this column today. First, because yesterday I agreed to an emergency request for a premiere today in celebration of the high holiday. And second, because I didn’t go to sleep until 2 am this morning due to an alcohol-fueled reunion with old friends last night.

But so far I haven’t received what I agreed to premiere, and though my brain is very fuzzy I’m thinking some blackish music might clear away the fuzz. So, blaze and praise, here we go. Continue reading »

DISARMONIA MUNDI: “THE DORMANT STRANGER”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 182025
 

(Last month brought us the first Disarmonia Mundi album in a decade, and it was just a matter of time before their sworn fan DGR would have something to say about it. Today is that day.)

In today’s exercise we’re going to try not to feel old. We’re going to ignore the aching backs and shattered knees, the thinning hairlines and bags under our eyes, the newly acquired arch support in our shoes, and we’re going to ignore that we’ve lately been on a kick of discussing the generational effect of music.

We’ll ignore that we’re now surprised whenever we see people at a show getting a mark from the venue that isn’t just a wristband stating that they can’t drink and we’re going to ignore that somehow despite showing no interest in two of the following three things, we somehow have still managed to attain a perpetual scent of black coffee, cigarettes, and Icy-Hot/Ben Gay that seems to follow us fucking everywhere.

The way things have been going lately, we’ve gotten pretty good about sticking our head in the sand. While we’re at it we’re even going to ignore that there exists written record of the last time we reviewed Italian melodeath studio project Disarmonia Mundi‘s previous album from almost ten years ago or that in the opening segments of that review, we even joked about just how goddamned long it had been between that disc and 2009’s The Isolation Game, an album that we’ve been going to bat for over the course of sixteen years.

Let’s just brush all of that aside and take things at face value and say that the perpetually underrated Disarmonia Mundi have returned once again after an impressive gap in time between albums for a new 2025 release entitled The Dormant Stranger, or else we’re all going to turn to dust. Continue reading »

CAVE SERMON – FRAGILE WINGS

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Apr 172025
 

(Andy Synn provides his first impressions of the brand new Cave Sermon album)

Well, well, well… isn’t this a surprise!

And not an unpleasant one, let me make that crystal clear, as Divine Laughter, the second album from Post-Metal prodigy Charlie Park (aka Cave Sermon) was absolutely one of the best albums of 2024 (and only narrowly missed out on a place in my “Critical Top Ten”).

That being said, it’s entirely normal to be a little bit wary and/or sceptical whenever an artist is this prolific – after all, you can have too much of a good thing, and it’d be all too easy for them to accidentally end up repeating themselves, to increasingly diminishing returns, if they haven’t allowed themselves the necessary creative space between releases.

Thankfully, however, despite the truncated timescale between releases, I’m happy to say that Fragile Wings cleverly complements its fantastic predecessor – while also providing some welcome creative contrast – without simply attempting to copy what made it such a success.

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ÖVERVÅLD — “VIGARV”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 172025
 

(written by Islander)

We’re about to present a new EP that’s a prime example of music that’s vitriolic and vicious, ferocious and vile, yet as catchy as whatever respiratory virus is now asserting its dominance over a pitiful humanity. It doesn’t play to the cheap seats — it hates you and wants to eat you alive — but even while it’s ruthlessly gutting its listeners and ravenously consuming the remains behind truly abominable vocals, it does so with a flair that’s viscerally compelling.

We’re talking about a new four-track barrage from the Swedish death metal band Övervåld (though it wouldn’t be wrong to brand the new EP “blackened death metal”). The EP’s name is Vigrav and it will be released on CD and digitally by the band on April 20th, with a vinyl edition expected in May via Seven Metal Inches Records. Here’s how Övervåld introduce it: Continue reading »

BLOOD ABSCISSION: “I I”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 172025
 

(Last Friday Debemur Morti Productions unveiled the second album from the shadowy black metal band Blood Abscission, and today we share thoughts about it written by our Norway-based contributor Chile.)

Everyone loves a good mystery story in their metal. It mesmerizes the listener, it heightens the experience, it pulls you in and makes you a part of something extraordinary. And certainly, a lot of metal music is no stranger to mystery, but black metal is the one genre where it all comes together, having a natural penchant for histrionics and lurking in the shadows. 

Mystery made many a band on the scene more interesting and more attractive to the audience, for theatricality and deception are powerful weapons. We needn’t look further than the last ten years of bands appearing in their hoodie-wearing, face-covered outfits, having only initials for identities. If we’re lucky that is, for there are those who opt for total anonymity.

And so the anonymous mystery streak continues with our guests today, of whom nothing is truly known, except that their name is Blood Abscission and that they make great black metal. Speculating on origin or any additional information would be just that, a speculation, and since I absolutely suck at lottery or guessing games, we’ll leave it at that. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ANOXIA — “REVEL IN SIN”

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Apr 162025
 

(written by Islander)

Unless you’re a medical professional or someone who’s been choked out you may not know that “anoxia” is a state of total oxygen deprivation within tissues or organs, an extreme form of “hypoxia” that can cause dizziness, disorientation, and permanent damage to the brain and other bodily organs.

You may have an idea why the Australian death metal band Anoxia chose that name if you heard their debut EP Languish in Suffering (the dizziness, the disorientation, the brain damage), though their music equally brings to mind the kind of organ damage caused by severe beatings.

But really, they were just getting warmed up, just beginning to explore their malevolent methods of inflicting punishment on listeners and audiences, methods that are now better perfected through their debut album Revel in Sin, as you’ll discover through today’s premiere stream in advance of the album’s April 17 co-release by Brilliant Emperor Records and Gutter Prince Cabal Records. Continue reading »

KARG: “MARODEUR”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 162025
 

(Below you will find Didrik Mešiček‘s review of the newest and soon-to-be-released album by the Austrian band Karg.)

Austria is not a name we typically associate with a thriving metal scene, but in the last decade or so quite a few new-ish bands have been popping up, generally delivering a fairly black metal sound, often depressive, sometimes hopelessly romantic. Karg is another one of those bands coming from the small Austrian scene where it seems most people know each other.  The band has had a nearly complete lineup change in 2018 and this will be their 9th full-length album already despite remaining fairly obscure. Marodeur will be released on AOP Records on the 18th of April.  Continue reading »

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