NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HOODED MENACE

Sep 222025

photos by Pasi Nevalaita

(Finland’s Hooded Menace have a new album on the way, set for release on October 3rd by Season of Mist, and today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview with Lasse Pyykkö.)

My eyes filled with tears of affection when I put my hand on Hooded Menace’s seventh album Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration. These seven tracks captivate with the inspiring melodies of ’80s heavy metal, the mood and sound of ’90s death-doom, and even a hint of VHS horror soundtracks. These songs warm with a reminiscence of early Paradise Lost, and even Harri Kuokkanen‘s exemplary death metal growl at times recalls the roar of Holmes in his prime.

Meanwhile, the guitar harmonies (Lasse Pyykkö‘s specialty) can’t help but evoke sheer metal classics. Drummer Pekka Koskelo, with a quarter-century of underground experience, hammers away with the focus and intensity of the possessed — and in short, this trio is a dream team.

I can’t hide my excitement with this driving, filled-with-hooks record, but I prefer to hand the floor over to Lasse Pyykkö himself; he has a few things to tell about Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration. Continue reading »

BEFORE THE DAWN: “COLD FLARE ETERNAL”

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Sep 222025

(Before the Dawn released their new studio album Cold Flare Eternal on September 5th via Reaper Entertainment, and today we present our DGR‘s extensive take on the record.)

I worry sometimes that I might not be fully over the initial excitement of Before The Dawn actually coming back after its extended inactive period. To me, they were a perfect gateway band and guide for people into the more extreme realms of heavy metal. At times they could be immensely heavy, groovy, and sharp, and with a luxurious clean singing voice to help reinforce the music alongside some brutal growls.

Before The Dawn were a great way to ease people into extreme music. The good-cop/bad-cop vocal stylings have only spread further, and while it became the calling card of many a metalcore band proper, the Finnish journeymen that made the band up always hewed more toward a melodeath style of things. Continue reading »

BLOG BREAK (PART 2)

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Sep 202025

(written by Islander)

Being at least moderately realistic, I realize that not all of our visitors in a given week will visit us every single day. Some people will land on this post without having landed on the one a week ago, which was another break from what I usually do for NCS on the weekends. In that week-ago post I shared the news of Andy Synn‘s impending wedding and why that would alter our usual coverage of music for a handful of days. I also re-shared that news in a new-music roundup a couple of days ago. But since some of you will have missed those, here’s a quick recap:

Today is the day when our Andy Synn will take his vows in front of family and friends in a beautiful place on the outskirts of his hometown of Nottingham, England. I am happy to say that I will witness it in person, as will our fellow NCS slave DGR and a few other close friends from our side of the pond. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SILENT TOMBS

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Sep 192025

(Today we happily present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Victor Mercado, vocalist of the Mexican doom/death metal band Silent Tombs, whose excellent debut album will be released by Personal Records on October 17th.)

Islander already wrote about the forthcoming release of Silent Tombs’ album Mourning Hymns from Beyond, and it’s hard to add something new to his words. This bunch of experienced extreme metal musicians from Colima, Mexico managed to create a stunning melodic death-doom masterpiece combining all the key influences of the genre yet obtaining a clear individual touch.

These mid-tempo songs built of riffs heavy as a coffin lid, soaring breathtaking melodies, and a firm, vivid rhythm-section accompanied by killer growling parts make a modern classic. I’m still surprised with the top level of this release and its mature, natural vibe, and I bet that this interview with Victor Mercado will give you an answer to some questions you may have after listening to the first singles from Silent Tombs. Continue reading »

DAWN OF ASHES: “INFECTING THE SCARS”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Sep 192025

(DGR finally surrendered to his impulses and wrote the following review of an album released in June by Metropolis Records, the newest nightmare from L.A.-based Dawn of Ashes.)

Many, many moons ago when the planet was young and the amino acids that would eventually become the building blocks of life were still bubbling within the primordial soup – such as, last year – in a fit of inspired pique and otherwise wholesale madness just to torpedo any crumb of legitimacy that might be granted to the name tag of yours truly, I reviewed Gothminister‘s eighth studio album Pandemonium II: The Battle of the Underworlds.

The costume-wearing kitsch and otherwise designed to be blatantly infectious goth-rock and metal rhythms charmed me, fully aware that a band this late in their career had mostly evolved into spectacle rather than musical artform. At the time they were a group I had a surprising amount of history with, having followed them since 2004’s Gothic Electronic Anthems, and the idea of having them drift through the hallowed halls of this site was – at the time – far too amusing to pass up.

I have also never heard the end of it to this day, and to hear it told, have also opened the gates to some of the more wild premieres we’ve hosted in the year since with the reasoning being that we had already covered a Gothminister album so why the hell not? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: THE MUNSENS, LAMP OF MURMUUR, AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION, NIPHREDIL

Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 5 Responses »

Sep 182025

(written by Islander)

As I write this I am in Nottingham, England, and eagerly looking forward to attending Andy Synn‘s wedding on Saturday. An overnight flight brought me from Seattle to London with an early arrival yesterday, and I didn’t feel too much the worse for wear despite only napping for an hour on the 8-hour flight. Then came a car ride to Nottingham and a lunch there with Andy, his bride-to-be, and some other American friends (including DGR) who have also come over for the event.

By the end of our long lunch and a post-prandial drink at another spot, I was hitting the wall. I fought to stay up until 6 pm and then crashed hard. But I woke up early this morning after 12 1/2 hours of sleep feeling great, and now I’m quite happy with my jet-lag solution!

Of course it’s still weird being on UK time, weird in the sense that I decided to pull this round-up together with something like 7 hours to go before it will magically appear in line with our normal daily posting schedule, instead of just minutes. Continue reading »

NOVEMBERS DOOM: “MAJOR ARCANA”

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Sep 182025

(What follows is DGR‘s extensive review of Major Arcana, a new album from Novembers Doom that’s set for release on September 19th by Prophecy Productions, with videos for all three pre-release singles at the end)

The sadness of September continues unabated with all of your favorite titans of melancholy seeming to have chosen this month as the time to unleash their latest creative opus upon the world. Chicago’s November’s Doom have long earned their right to stand among the mightiest in this arena, with a career of well over thirty years and – now – twelve albums to their name.

Their newest one Major Arcana sails into port after a six-year journey for the Novembers Doom crew since their previous release Nephilim Grove in 2019. Major Arcana delivers unto its listeners ten songs and about fifty-six minutes worth of music. Continue reading »

REVOCATION – NEW GODS, NEW MASTERS

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 172025

(Andy Synn offers some advance thoughts on the new album from long-time NCS favourites Revocation)

Seriously though, stop me if you’ve heard this before, but… sometimes it seems like we spend a lot, if not most, of our time here at NCS playing catch-up.

But, every so often, we do manage to get at least a little bit ahead of the curve and, with the new Revocation album (their ninth, and the first to feature new bassist Alex Weber and new guitarist Harry Lannon) set for release next week, today’s review marks a rare occasion where we’ve got an opportunity to set the tone and help structure the audience’s expectations in advance.

So let’s not waste any more time, and get to it, shall we?

PARADISE LOST: “ASCENSION”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Sep 172025

(This is DGR‘s review of the new album from Paradise Lost, which is set for release on September 19th by Nuclear Blast.)

Ascension, the new album from Paradise Lost, marks the group’s first release of new material in five years since the heady days of 2020’s Obsidian. Paradise Lost have kept busy in that time since, with its members launching a bevy of other projects and working their way into music production and management, and the group themselves have even eased themselves into a bit of the nostalgia cycle with full-album performances of releases celebrating their thirtieth anniversaries.

Paradise Lost have seen and been through multiple eras, to the point where by both longevity and mark of quality the band have become a cultural pillar of the death and doom scene. In recent years, Paradise Lost have settled neatly into a sound that combined multiple eras for the band, letting Nick Holmes both sing and growl his way through crushingly heavy music, but even after doing so it had seemed like Paradise Lost were starting to stretch as far as they could with the style they had adopt on 2015’s The Plague Within.

Which may be why the five-year gap between releases might have worked in their favor because Ascension makes one hell of a lasting impression – even after many listens. Continue reading »

KRIGSGRAV – STORMCALLER

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 162025

(Andy Synn is here to tell you whether to grab an umbrella, or just run for cover, when the new album from Krigsgrav arrives this Friday)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but… sometimes it seems like we spend most of our time here at NCS playing catch-up.

But the key word there is “most”.

You see, while it’s not easy to stay on top of all the new releases every week (although Islander does a damn good job of at least keeping track of new songs and/or album announcements) we do still manage to at least get a few reviews out each month in advance of their respective release dates.

And when the band is an old friend of the blog – figuratively speaking – like Krigsgrav (whose new album is out this Friday) we try to make a special effort to deliver our verdict in a more timely manner.

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