OUR LIST OF 2025’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 14): THE OMINOUS CIRCLE, VENUS STAR, HAVUKRUUNU

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2025  No Responses »
Jan 212026
 

(written by Islander)

We’ve reached Part 14 of this list today, which includes three songs I think are exceptional for reasons beyond their addictive qualities.

I’ll also report that I’ve been able to spend enough time with other candidates on my gargantuan list of 2025 songs that I’ve succeeded in mapping out all the remaining Parts of this list except the last one. Figuring out the last one is always a daunting and distressing challenge, and I’ll be agonizing about that one probably right up to the eve before I post it at the end of next week. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BINAH

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jan 212026
 

(We present Comrade Aleks’ interview of Ilia Rodriguez from the death metal band Binah — a very eloquent and moving discussion that focuses on Binah’s new album Ónkos, which was released last October by Osmose Productions.)

The underground champions Ilia Rodriguez (vocals, guitar, synthesizers) and Andrews McIvor (guitar, bass, synthesizers) have performed with numerous bands, but for 14 years now they’ve remained faithful to their joint brainchild, Binah. Rarely but effectively, they produce their technical death metal pieces, and Ónkos is the third full-length in Binah’s discography.

The duo recorded Ónkos with a guest-drummer – Dan Mullins, who’s involved in several other bands, notably Blasphemer and My Dying Bride. While Binah’s previous albums had a standard structure (intro, outro, eight tracks in between), the new work consists of two gargantuan tracks, “Mount Morphine” and “The After Evermath,” totaling 43 minutes. The songs vary from ambient intros to persistent and abstract death metal constructions and bulldozer riffs in death-doom vein.

This is an album with a real story behind it, and we’re going deep into it together with Ilia. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): KARLOFF — “REVERED BY DEATH”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
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 »

OUR LIST OF 2025’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 13): HOODED MENACE, GRAND CADAVER, DOOMSDAY

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2025  No Responses »
Jan 202026
 

(written by Islander)

Triskaidekaphobia is a recognized affliction, but no one should fear this 13th installment of our infectious song list. Instead, it should be relished, though in the case of some aspects of the following music it may be worth remembering that in the tarot deck, XIII is the card of Death, often depicting the Pale Horse with its rider. You’ll probably relish those aspects too. 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 »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BARBARIAN — “REEK OF GOD”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 192026
 

(written by Islander)

From everything we’ve read about the members of Barbarian over the last 15 years or so, they’re a trio of die-hard metal maniacs whose heads are filled to the brim with music from a variety of classic eras throughout heavy metal history. They have also consistently demonstrated a rare ability to let that array of influences almost instinctively flow through their own songwriting in ways that are familiar but never formulaic, so much so that you never know quite what they’re going to do from one album to the next, or even within individual songs, except you know it’s going to light a bonfire in your head.

Undoubtedly, the songwriting process of these Italians begins with riffs — because the songs are usually packed to the brim with them — but it’s also clear they devote a lot of care to refinement of their initial ideas, with the objective of leaving no one bored, and least of all themselves.

To repeat, you never know quite what’s going to happen, or even which inspirations might work their way into the music, but you can be damn sure the results will be interesting… and exhilarating… and heavy metal to the core.

Which brings us to Barbarian’s new album Reek of God, which we’re excited to share with you from start to finish today in advance of its January 23 release by their new label Dying Victims Productions. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2025’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 12): TOMBS, VACUOUS, CLAIRVOYANCE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2025  2 Responses »
Jan 192026
 

(written by Islander)

I spent some time this weekend trying to figure out what I should add to this list after the three segments I’ve planned for the first three days of this week, which is as far as I’ve gotten. I thought I ought to pay more attention to songs from albums that didn’t make any of our year-end lists, and albums we didn’t even review, and songs I didn’t comment about in weekend roundups. I have a lot of listening ahead of me.

But today’s choices are all from albums we paid attention to in print last year. They were all on my radar back in late December when I started mapping out the first two weeks of this January rollout. They are all from albums we reviewed and that rightly received their fair share of acclaim during YE list season. Continue reading »

ECTOVOID – IN UNREALITY’S COFFIN

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jan 192026
 

(Andy Synn gets his Death Metal on with the new album from Ectovoid, out now on Everlasting Spew)

Playing “Extreme Metal” – whatever your chosen flavour may be – is, as we all know, serious business.

That being said, it’s not a crime to have some fun while you’re doing it, and Birmingham, Alabamaniacs Ectovoid – whose line-up comprises members of serious death-dealers like Metaphobic, Father Befouled, and Seraphic Entombment – sound like they’re having an absolute blast (pun only marginally intended) on their recently-released third album, In Unreality’s Coffin.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: BONG-RA, UDRĘKA, VERDUN, FERNDOM, SEAR, LUCERNA MUNDI

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 182026
 

(written by Islander)

Two days ago people in the tiny Spanish village of San Bartolomé de Pinares renewed a tradition that’s purportedly five centuries long — building bonfires in the central streets and riding horses through the flames. This is done on the eve of the festival of Saint Anthony the Abbott, the patron saint of domestic animals, because what honors domestic animals better than forcing some big ones to hurtle through an inferno?

I always look for photos of the event because they’re typically amazing and because they’re usually pretty good metaphors for people here and around the world trying to brave whatever fiery hells are burning around us. Lots of those to choose from these days.

Oddly, when I went looking for photos of this year’s ritual I had to wade through snowy photos of armed Greenlandic polar bears and sled dogs. What the hell was that about? (Well, I knew, and I guess it’s proof that AI is good for something besides kicking people out of work and threatening humanity with extinction.) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: IMMOLATION, INFERI, HELLRIPPER, BONE WEAPON, BOSSE-DE-NAGE, TEMPLE OF VOID

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 172026
 

(written by Islander)

Thinking back on the last week’s domestic and international news, it sure looks like humanity is circling the drain at an increasing rate of speed and frothiness. (Speaking of which, if you haven’t listened to the new music from Circular Ruin you should, and not just because their name so perfectly captures the current moment.)

On the other hand, the flow of new metal during the past week was more like the opposite of that, a great spinning flow surging up and out of the drain like a reverse-whirlpool of dark waters flooding out of the underground. New songs spun out from bands with prominent names but also from groups whose names are dramatically more obscure (but should becoem better known).

Even with my high waders on, I was only able to divert a small amount of the surge into this weekly column, and it’s a rarity in that all but one of the bands are from the U.S. Hopefully I’ll be able to divert more of the surge toward your attention in tomorrow’s Sunday column, but the Seahawks are in an NFL playoff game tonight and I’m not sure what kind of shape my head and heart will be in come the dawn, so who knows? Continue reading »

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