NO CLEAN SINGING

AZELL – ASTRALIS

Oct 282025

(Andy Synn has some very nice words to say about the second album from Kentucky’s Azell)

I do love a good concept album, don’t you?

A lot of that I attribute to my dad’s influence, as he was (and is) a big Prog fan, which meant I grew up being viariously exposed to the likes of The Wall, Tales from Topographic Oceans, and Quadrophenia.

And while some of my turn to Punk and Hardcore (and then Metal) in my teenage years may have been a form of rebellion against the outlandish excess and indulgent extravagance of these sorts of records, over time I’ve come to appreciate them as an art form more and more.

Note, however, that I explicitly said good concept albums, because there’s also been a lot of bad ones – from self-indulgent fantasy fan-fiction to shamelessly generic sci-fi schlock to badly-plotted (and barely coherent) political allegories, and everything in between – and it’s important to draw a distinction between the two.

Thankfully, however, the new album from sludge-slinging husband-and-wife duo Azell falls firmly on the former side of the divide.

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEAD AND DRIPPING — “NEFARIOUSLY SCINTILLATING THROUGH VACANT GALACTIC RESERVOIRS”

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Oct 282025

(written by Islander)

New Jersey-based Dead and Dripping has created macabre musical intersections of sensations that are ghastly, putrid, bludgeoning, and malicious, but also machine-precise, head-spinning, and dazzling (in a very demented way).

Anyone who has dabbled in Dead and Dripping’s three previous albums already knows this, but you will know it in spades when you have the chance to hear the new one, or even just the songs from it that have been disgorged so far, or even just the one we’re premiering today.

But before we get to the music, we ought to remind folks about Dead and Dripping’s wordplay, as revealed in the band’s perpetually twisted and luxuriously multisyllabic song titles. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INFERNAL DIATRIBE — “RAKTAKSHI SADHANA”

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Oct 272025

(written by Islander)

It’s easy to imagine that the Kolkata black metal band Infernal Diatribe subsist on a diet of rage and the tears of their enemies, washed down with the blood of a dissolving world. They manifest terrors and tribulations, infiltrated by tendrils of the exotic and overlaid by clouds of the occult.

Their forthcoming debut album, to be released by a trio of labels on November 29th, is inspired by and deeply rooted in an ancient Hindu concept known as Mahabhuta Pralaya (which is also the album’s name), a process of complete cosmic destruction that paves the way for a new cycle of creation and the rebirth of the universe. Their description of the concept is lengthy, but worth absorbing before listening to the music: Continue reading »

UMULAMAHRI AND SUFFERING HOUR: A TALE OF TWO EXTREMELY EXTREME EPs

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Oct 272025

(Gonzo is busily thinking about what to cover in his next monthly review roundup for NCS, but in the meantime he’s pulled together some thoughts about a pair of EPs released in the early days of October by two U.S. bands.)

When you spend a significant amount of time bulldozing your way through new music discoveries, a lot can happen. For one, it eventually becomes a hell of a lot harder to be impressed at anything. Your brain starts to tune out anything formulaic or unimaginative. Quality will always triumph over quantity, you start to tell yourself, and surely you’ll find yourself immersed in the throes of a dopamine hit that can only be generated by the nastiest, vilest, and more extreme foray into sonic depravity the human mind can possibly conjure. Just keep searching.

Then, at long last, when your quest for heavy music fulfillment reaches a zenith, it leads you to the very edge of the abyss you were once so intent on finding… and you suddenly find yourself afraid to look down, fearing what lies below.

In the case of these two EPs, the abyss stares back. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: BLUT AUS NORD, KRALLICE, THOKKIAN VORTEX, ETĚR, TEUFELNACHT, NATTRADIO

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Oct 262025

(written by Islander)

This has been one of those rare weekends when, due to some other plans falling through, I had a ton of time to immerse myself in new metal and spew out a bunch of thoughts in print. Yesterday I compiled music from 8 bands, and today I’ve got 6 (I did have 8 but ran out of writing time). These bands, of course, exhibit their creativity through varying shades and phases of black metal — except the last one, a final curveball for you.

This collection includes three complete EPs as well as enticing excerpts from records not yet out. I hope you’ll give them all a chance. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: HELLRIPPER, ABYSMAL DAWN, OMEGAVORTEX, OMNIVORTEX, SOULFLY, VALLETTA, ROTGUT, LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Oct 252025

(written by Islander)

I spent more time than usual last night listening to heavy music and, unlike what often happens on Friday nights, I didn’t get destroyed (except by the music), so I felt pretty good upon awakening this Saturday. Which is why this roundup is as bulging as it is.

In my listening excursion I fell down a rabbit hole, not intending to, but that’s what falling down is about. Except this rabbit hole was like a steep and rapid descent (more jet-fueled than gravity usually powers), with a fuckload of fireworks and sharp edges on the way down, and who knew rabbits had such big teeth and vicious red eyes?

Or to put it more prosaically, there’s a ton of high-speed thrashing and vigorous battering ahead of you. At least until the end, when I indulged something very different, for people who don’t want to thrash their reproductive organs off today or otherwise get their craniums fractured and their grey matter whipped up in a centrifuge. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TESTAMENT, LYCHGATE, THE RUINS OF BEVERAST

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

Oct 242025

(written by Islander)

With only one premiere on the calendar today and having completed it, I thought I ought to do something else before beginning to think about tomorrow’s usual roundup of new songs and videos. The something else I decided upon is this brief head-start on that roundup. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LIMINAL SPIRIT — “A BETTER PLACE”

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Oct 242025

(written by Islander)

The song we’re about to premiere marked our introduction to Liminal Spirit. Both that name and Liminal Spirit’s music may be new to you too, so we’ll begin by sharing what we’ve learned — including what we know about the unusual subject matter of the forthcoming EP (Unwell) that includes the song we’re premiering.

Liminal Spirit is the solo project of Milwaukee-based multi-instrumentalist Jerry Hauppa. Prior to this, he was involved in the sludge metal band Northless, the death metal band Ara, and the instrumental space-focused band Deorbit. He has referred to Liminal Spirit’s recordings as “seance music”, a fusion of genre ingredients “designed to channel spiritual passage”. That fusion could be summed up as “progressive doom metal”, but as you’ll discover, that shorthand isn’t quite complete. Continue reading »

ERYN NON DAE – DISUNITED STATES OF ANIMA

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Oct 242025

(To mark its release, Andy Synn has the pleasure and the privilege of writing about the fourth, and final, album from Eryn Non Dae.)

There is no way of talking about the new album from NCS-approved post-genre provocateurs Eryn Non Dae. without addressing the unexpected passing of their long-time vocalist, Mathieu Nogues Boisgard, in 2023.

Something like that would devastate any band, and I’m sure we all would have understood if the group had chosen to call it a day then and there in order to spend time processing their grief and dealing with their loss.

But the one small mercy amidst this tragedy, however, was that Boisgard had not only already set a title, Disunited States of Anima, and completed the lyrics for the record, but had also demo’d his vocal parts in a way which meant they could – if necessary – be used to complete the album.

And that’s exactly what the band decided to do, honouring his memory by dedicating the last couple of years to slowly, and diligently, bringing his final work (and his final words) to life.

That, however, is also the last time I am going to mention this particular aspect of the record’s development, as while it is undoubtedly important context I’d like to think that Boisgard wouldn’t have wanted the album to be defined by the tragic circumstances surrounding its creation but rather judged solely on its own musical merit.

Which is exactly what I’m going to do.

AN NCS PREMIERE: VEILBURNER — “MATTER O’ THE MOST AWFUL MARTYRS”

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Oct 232025

(written by Islander)

This makes the lucky 13th time we’ve written about the music of Veilburner (beginning 11 years ago), and the 7th time we’ve premiered their music — that’s a lot of prime numbers! Which is fitting because this is a prime band, their music not easily divisible into conventional component parts but instead twisting and looping back onto itself much like the ever-feeding Ouroboros that the band favor in their symbolism.

The subject of today’s premiere is “Matter o’ the Most Awful of Martyrs,” the third song to be revealed from Veilburner’s new album Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy, which will be released on November 14th by Transcending Obscurity Records. Continue reading »

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