KAMRA: “UNENDING CONFLUENCE”

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Sep 162025
 

(Our Slovenian writer Didrik Mešiček prepared the following review of a new album by the Slovenian atmospheric/experimental black metal band Kamra.)

Slovenia is rarely, if ever, on the map of interesting metal countries so today I’m happy to get to talk about some local lads who are definitely doing a lot of things right. Black metal continues to be one of the more interesting and innovative subgenres in metal today, and Kamra’s first album, Cerebral Alchemy, was already a good representation of that, but the band will now be releasing their second full-length album called Unending Confluence through Avantgarde Music on the 19th of September. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PERISHING — “LAS RUINAS DEL PALACIO”

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Sep 162025
 

(written by Islander)

The stunning cover artwork created by Belial NecroArts for the debut album by the band Perishing commands attention, creating a vision of spectral magnificence and frightening desolation. But it is more than a chilling piece of visual art standing on its own, because the visions it creates pair very well with the death/doom metal of this talented Costa Rican band.

The name of the album (which also fits very well as a title for the artwork) is Malicious Acropolis Unveiled. It is only Perishing‘s second release overall, following their Lutum demo last year, but the band’s members have previously honed their talents in such groups as Astriferous, Mortual, and Necroferum, and they have made a work that will shiver you from head to toe.

We back up those thoughts today with our premiere of a song from the album in advance of the record’s October 11 release by Transcending Obscurity Records. Its name also links arms with the cover art, and with the album title: “Las Ruinas del Palacio“. Continue reading »

R.I.P. TOMPA LINDBERG

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Sep 162025
 

(written by Islander)

Today all of us here were greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg.

In the middle of August Lindberg and At the Gates released tragic statements reporting on Lindberg‘s affliction with Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (a cancer in the mouth and pallet) and the failure of invasive surgery to eliminate it. Based on the statements, it appeared that chemo treatment had become the last hope for arresting the disease. According to the band, Lindberg had been “receiving dedicated care in a specialized ward where he is being closely monitored around the clock.”

Those same statements reported that Lindberg had recorded the vocals for a new At the Gates album on the day before the surgery last spring. Of course, he has left an indelible mark on the history of metal already, and it will be great to hear him again when the album is finished. But now we are left to mourn his passing, while remembering his vital contributions to the growth and evolution of extreme metal.

Rest In Power. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORDER OF THE EBON HAND — “HEIRS”

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Sep 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Long ago, in 2005 to be precise, the Greek band Order of the Ebon Hand embarked on an ambitious project, the goal of which was to explore each card in the Tarot deck through the perspectives of black metal. In that year, which arrived eight years after their debut album The Mystic Path to the Netherworld, they released XV: The Devil, the first card they drew from the deck. Fourteen years later, with only a couple of splits and compilation appearances to fill the gap, they released VII: The Chariot.

Obviously, Order of the Ebon Hand don’t work quickly. But the unhurried nature of their artistry may be a vital part of what has made their music so extraordinary. We attempted to capture what they rendered on those first two albums in the Tarot sequence by describing the songs as “beautifully crafted and expertly executed”, as “pageants of turmoil, torment, terror, and inconsolable anguish”, “warlike and violent” but also “manifestations of ravaging desolation”, experiences “of ominous foreboding and titanic ascension”, and “breathtaking extravaganzas” that “seem to be devouring the world in fire and flood”.

And now, six years after their last album, they’re on the verge of releasing XI: Justice, the third card in the band’s musical Tarot sequence, and we could hardly be more thrilled to premiere a song from it today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PENTHOS — “Όλεθρος (OLETHROS)”

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Sep 152025
 

(written by Islander)

Seemingly out of nowhere, but really out of Athens, Penthos released their self-titled debut album in 2022, and next month they will follow that with a second full-length named Erevos. The music is rightly previewed as traditional black metal in a more Scandinavian than Greek vein, a changing tapestry of dark moods and supernatural forces, experiences both devastatingly bleak and hellishly fierce.

As an example of the band’s meticulously crafted changing states, today we’re presenting the second advance song from the album, a shuddering and startling sensation called “Όλεθρος (Olethros)“. Continue reading »

THE GREAT WHITE NOTHING – PASSAGE I: MELANCHOLIA

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Sep 152025
 

(Andy Synn travels deep into The Great White Nothing… and likes what he finds there)

Sometimes it seems like we spend most of our time here at NCS playing catch-up.

And the reason for this is… well, we kind of do.

After all, there’s just so much released each week/month/year that it’s impossible to stay on top, or ahead, of it all, and often by the time we find something that really grabs our attention (and/or find the time to actually get some writing done in between all our other commitments) the release date for whatever it is has already passed.

Case in point, the debut album from Belgian Post-Metal/Post-Hardcore/Post-Black quintet The Great White Nothing was actually released on the 31st of August, but I didn’t stumble across it until over a week later, and then didn’t find time to sit down and properly pen a few thoughts about it until now.

But, as the unofficial mantra of this site goes, better late than never… right?

Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XX: CHANGES, TEMPERATURES, AND RIFFS

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Sep 152025
 

(Daniel Barkasi returns with his monthly collection of album reviews, this time recommending six albums released in August 2025.)

As summer nears its conclusion, the heat has finally (sort of) calmed down a little in the Floridian swamp. It’s about damn time. The dogs can finally be taken outside and we’re not a dripping puddle of sweat in 1.2 seconds. More like 10 minutes, which is an improvement that’s most welcome!

On a sad personal note, my wife and I lost our precious dog Kaiya last week. It wasn’t completely unexpected – she had just turned 17 and had some worsening health issues – and her body just couldn’t keep going. We had a hell of a 17th birthday bash only a few days prior, but she sadly plummeted quickly not long after.

My wife had her for literally half of my wife’s life, and I had the distinct pleasure of having her in my life for over a decade. She was the best girl – sweet as can be, loving, gentle, and quirky in the best ways. It’s still hard for me to write this, as I miss her terribly and it’ll be fresh for a while. One of our other dogs, Hiroki, has taken it especially hard, as they were incredibly close. He seems to be on the mend, thankfully, as he sits next to me. Continue reading »

BLOG BREAK

 Off Topic  2 Responses »
Sep 132025
 

(written by Islander)

That photo up there was my view of last night’s sunset from the deck of an Air BnB on Whidbey Island in Washington’s Puget Sound. I’m here for a reunion of some old friends, most of whom I haven’t seen since we made this same trip a year ago. I’ll be going back home tomorrow afternoon.

Last night was a late night, loaded up with alcohol and talk. That made for a late wake-up this morning, and I’m one of only two people in our group of seven who are awake yet at this point. I briefly thought about pulling together at least a brief roundup of new music, but my rumbling stomach and fuzzy head convinced me that pumping my skull full of loud noise wouldn’t be a great idea. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: COLOSALIST

 Interviews  1 Response »
Sep 122025
 

(On September 9th Hoggorm Music released the debut album of Colosalist, a Czech band of veteran members split between Norway and Czechia. Comrade Aleks fell for the album and arranged the following excellent interview with Colosalist‘s well-spoken founder Petter (formerly Petr) Staněk.)

In the mid-’90s Petr Staněk was a guitarist and vocalist in two Czech bands – the death metal crew Scapegoat and the doom band Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, but the first one only managed to record a few demos, and creative differences forced him to leave the second one somewhere around 2001. Much water has flowed under the bridge since then. Petr moved to Norway, managed to play gothic with LiveEvil and industrial with Robotized, and then remembered the past and started Colosalist.

He recorded his first Colosalist EP Pass into Oblivion with the bass guitarist of the Czech band Endless, Petr Hutin, back in 2014, but it was only seven years later that he assembled a full line-up and recorded his first large-scale work Two Suns. Petter Staněk is now joined by two more former members of SSOGE: Zuzana Zamazalova Klementova (vocals, violin) and Filip Chudý (bass), as well as Jan Jaglarz (drums), who played in the gothic doom band Euthanasia since 1994, and Tomáš Paulus (guitar) from Second Chance.

Well, this is some kind of miracle, but as a result, Two Suns sounds like a decent doom album from the second half of the ’90s with significant gothic metal influences and the characteristic sound of SSOGE of that period! “Creeping Frost” with its rhythm, rough vocals, and violins laid on driving metal reminds one of the album Themes. It’s even interesting that Petter’s voice hasn’t changed much in a quarter of a century! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SILENT TOMBS — “DISSOLVE”

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Sep 122025
 

(written by Islander)

Personal Records has already conclusively demonstrated its taste for a range of extreme metal genres, with a roster of releases that appeals to a variety of tastes. But the releases might show a special affinity for doom/death (or death/doom) metal, and we have a prime example of that today.

What we’re about to present is the second single from the forthcoming debut album of Silent Tombs, a Mexican band who whole-heartedly join “the primitive lineage of doom from the 1990s and early 2000s.” That album, Mourning Hymns From Beyond, is the work of an experienced lineup that now includes Enrique Martínez and Arturo Delgado handling guitars, Mauricio González on bass, Felipe González on drums, and Victor Mercado providing vocals. Continue reading »

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