NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CHURCH OF THE SEA

Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews 2 Responses »

Aug 182025

(Comrade Aleks brings us the interview a member of the Greek clean-singing band Church of the Sea, whose second album Eva was released this past April by These Hands Melt.)

The second album of the Athenian band Church of the Sea, Eva, follows the same direction as their debut, Odalisque (2022). The trio consists of Irene (vocals), Vangelis (guitars), and Alex (synths and samples), and together they continue their dive into the hypnotic depths of doom metal with a hypnotic female voice and atmospheric samples.

In Eva, this doom-gaze serves as a frame for the story of the biblical Eve, reconsidering her role in the original canon, where she is shown as the first sinner, guilty of corrupting man. Eve is a rebel through Church of the Sea‘s perspective: a seeker of knowledge, accepting what religion or society considered “forbidden”; this is not a story about the fall of man, but about the rise of woman. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEMIURGON — “APOPTOSI”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Aug 182025

(written by Islander)

“Demiurgon whip up a storm almost literally with their kind of ferocious, unbridled death metal. Hurtling towards the listener at ridiculous speeds, it stirs up a variety of emotions usually of the violent kind. Mostly though, there is sheer trepidation listening to the forceful nature of their music, and strangely, at the same time an innate sense of awe witnessing the control they have over the entire catastrophic event.”

We don’t usually yield the floor to the oratory of record labels or PR agents when discussing a band’s new music, having a pronounced preference for our own rhetoric, but that paragraph quoted above was too on-point to ignore. It’s from the promotional materials disseminated by Transcending Obscurity Records in support of Demiurgon‘s new album Miasmatic Deathless Chamber, which T.O. will release on September 26th.

How on-point is their description? You probably already know if you’ve heard either of the two advance tracks released from the album so far, but you’ll certainly find out today through our premiere of the third one — “Apoptosi“. Continue reading »

RENUNCIATION – MAKE BABYLON GREAT AGAIN

Album Reviews No Responses »

Aug 182025

(Andy Synn sets out to see just how “great” the new album from Renunciation, out now, actually is)

Look, if you’d asked me before now I would have sworn blind that I reviewed Autelmorte, the second album from Renunciation, back in 2022.

But, as it turns out, I only managed to mention them as part of my regular end of year round-up (where it seems a couple of you also discovered them).

Which makes it doubly fortunate that I randomly stumbled across their third album, Make Babylon Great Again, towards the end of last week, as not only do I get to review it but I also get a chance to properly introduce you all to their shamelessly infectious amalgam of blast-driven, hyper-melodic Black Metal and fret-melting, pulse-pounding Tech Death.

SHADES OF BLACK: ANTIVERSUM, PORENUT, VÖRNIR, BÁL, YMBEROPHILIA

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

Aug 172025

(written by Islander)

About half an hour after I finished yesterday’s roundup I left home with my wife and didn’t return until nightfall. Waking up later than usual today, I immediately got diverted from anything musical by reading a long discussion by two really smart people about a harrowing political and economic subject. By the time I finally re-oriented myself to the column you’re now reading, my clock for this thing was winding down, so it’s shorter than I had hoped it would be.

In deciding what I’d need to leave on the cutting room floor, I found myself focusing on music that in different ways is unorthodox, at least in how I think about black metal orthodoxies. But you can be the judge of that, as I hope you will be. Of course, to judge, you need to listen. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: CORONER, PARADISE LOST, WODE, KANONENFIEBER, SILENT TOMBS, ANTI RITUAL, DEFIGUREMENT, IN SHAME

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 5 Responses »

Aug 162025

(written by Islander)

Before we launch into this Saturday’s roundup all of us here want to express the great sadness we felt after seeing the tragic statements yesterday from Tomas Lindberg and At the Gates, 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 appears that chemo treatment has become the last hope for arresting the disease. According to the band, he “has 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, but it will be great to hear him again when the album is finished.

We wish him strength and convey our heartfelt hopes for ultimate success in the hard battle he has been waging. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABYSSALIS — “SENESCENCE”

Premieres No Responses »

Aug 152025

(written by Islander)

Before we all barge or stumble our way into the weekend we have one more song premiere to share with you, an eye-popping track named “Senescence” from a forthcoming five-song EP by the Atlanta-based death metal band Abyssalis.

Entitled Adaptation, the EP will be released by Transcending Obscurity Records in an album-length package that also includes the band’s 2023 debut EP The Mountain, making for an 11-song statement of Abyssalis‘ capabilities. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MASS PUNISHMENT — “ENEMY WITHIN”

Premieres No Responses »

Aug 152025

(written by Islander)

Today we’re premiering both a hard-hitting new song from the New Jersey-based metal band Mass Punishment and a hair-raising video for it. The name is “Enemy Within“.

This new song follows on the heels of the band’s latest album, Proving Grounds Devastation, which was released last fall. Mass Punishment describe the theme of the song this way: “When you are infiltrated by those who seek to hold you back, cause you harm and celebrate your failures. Face your enemy within, and conquer them.” Continue reading »

CASTRATOR: “CORONATION OF THE GROTESQUE”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Aug 152025

(Today is the day when Dark Descent Records releases the second album by the death metal band Castrator, and to help spotlight the event we present DGR‘s review and a full stream of the album.)

Sometimes, you just have an extrasensory idea that an album is going to be one you’re going to enjoy. It’s not enough to launch your own late night hotline to allow people to speak to dead relatives but wow, does it feel close to it. The combination of artwork, genre, musicianship involved if you’re extra nerdy like us around here, and sometimes even the cover song in the tracklisting manage to align the planets just right and you just know that this is one you’ll like.

Listening to such an album then becomes an exercise in watching a detonation cord burn. The lead up to the final explosion is exciting but it’s a tense exercise watching it burn down when you’re waiting ever so intently for that moment when the album catches fire for you and becomes one that you lock in with. In the case of Castrator and their new album Coronation Of The Grotesque, thankfully that wait is not tremendously long. In fact, a rough estimate would place that initial explosion around song two, and if not then, by song four, and if not then there’s a pretty good one at song six and if not… well you can guess how this is going to go. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CRUEL BOMB — “CRUEL BOMB”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Aug 142025

(written by Islander)

Ferocious speed, riffs with mean hooks, beats with spine-shaking groove, howling mad vocals, hardcore belligerence, and enough flash and flair to keep listeners on their toes in between wanting to body-check someone in a mosh pit. In essence, that’s what the Pennsylvania thrash band Cruel Bomb bring to the table in their self-titled debut album which will see release tomorrow (August 15th).

To flesh this out, let’s take the album’s second track and lead single “Target Neutralized“, which arrived with a video that lets us see (through strange lenses) these marauders in action. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: KING WITCH / SEA MOSQUITO / TECHNOLOGIST

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Aug 142025

(Andy Synn offers up another tasty platter of meaty British Metal for you all to enjoy)

It feels like it’s been ages since I last did one of these “Best of British” articles… though, in truth, it’s only been a couple of months.

But, whatever the reasons behind this slight delay (mostly due to the fact that I’ve been busier than usual recently, although it hasn’t helped that at least one of the albums/artists I was going to cover ended up coming to us for an album premiere, thus taking them out of contention… looking at you here Ba’al) I’m now once again set to present you with three more recent releases from the always verdant, ever versatile British Metal scene.

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