AN NCS PREMIERE: HORROR WITHIN — “TEARS OF ANGELS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 022025
 

(written by Islander)

On October 3rd Dolorem Records will release Soul Awakening, the debut album of the French death metal band Horror Within. After listening to the song from the album we’re about to present, it would be a good guess as to why they named it “Tears of Angels” — because they apparently want to make the heavens cry and plead for mercy.

The music, which draws influence from the likes of Entombed and Dismember, is mercilessly mauling, brutally bone-smashing, reflexively head-moving, and as chilling as it is electrifying — and that’s true of the album as a whole. While noting that the band draw on “the roots of Swedeath — that saturated sound typical of the HM-2 pedal”, Dolorem makes another accurate observation about the album:

Horror Within isn’t just organized chaos: it’s a constant search for balance between old-school savagery and a modern aesthetic. Syncopated rhythms, dissonant textures, unexpected breaks, oppressive atmospheres — the band injects contemporary tension into their music, without ever sacrificing coherence or impact.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ORDO KARNIVORUM

 Interviews  1 Response »
Sep 022025
 

(Here is Comrade Aleks‘ interview of guitarist/vocalist Sergey from the Russian black metal band Ordo Karnivorum, who released their second album last spring.)

Ordo Karnivorum was founded in Ivanovo, Russia two or three years ago. It is now a trio: Sergey (guitars, vocals), Alexander (guitars), and Eugenia (bass). Their unholy debut as a duo, Noir (2023), drew some attention to the band, but due to the low live activity it was easy to get lost among other black metal bands. However, their new crushing full-length work The Restless should change the rules of the game.

Live, unpolished sound, high-quality stuff, and a fanatical approach to deathly black metal with harsh vocals and macabre philosophy make me feel some sympathy to the wicked Ordo Karnivorum. Let’s take a look at the band’s inner machinery, maybe we’ll find something interesting there! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HASARD — “ABGNOSE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Sep 012025
 

(written by Islander)

It’s tempting to think of the French artist Hazard as a musical Jekyll and Hyde. In his longest-lived solo project, Les Chants Du Hasard, he is committed to “revisiting nineteenth-century symphonic music in the light of a black metal attitude” (to quote the label I, Voidhanger Productions). In his more recent solo project Hasard (again to quote the label), “the perspective is reversed: the darkest and most dissonant black metal is the fertile ground on which fascinating orchestral melodies with a dark, melancholic and resigned mood flourish.”

And so it’s tempting to compare these two different aspects of Hazard‘s musical talents to the creations of Robert Louis Stevenson (who frantically wrote his novella in the grip of illness or drugs or both) — to compare them to Dr. Jekyll, the educated and erudite Victorian-era physician who was nevertheless beset with persistent urges he considered depraved, and the outright evil and remorseless monstrosity of his alter ego Edward Hyde, in whom Jekyll fruitlessly sought through potion to confine impulses he wished to suppress, an experiment that ended in despair.

I don’t intend to press the comparison too far, despite the fact that photos of Hazard themselves seem to be set in a much older era than our own, but it serves at least a superficial purpose, because it may help you prepare yourself for the ravages of Hasard‘s new album Abgnose, which I, Voidhanger will release at the end of this week (a Bandcamp Friday). Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 186): MODERN LIFE IS WAR

 Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT  No Responses »
Sep 012025
 

Recommended for fans of: Comeback Kid, Shai Hulud, Rise Against

One of the best things about a band announcing a new album – especially a band as seminal to their scene as this – is that it often acts as a prompt to go back and re-listen to their previous works, which often (in my case, at least) results in you developing a new appreciation for their earlier material.

Case in point, when prodigal Punk/Hardcore legends Modern Life Is War announced their upcoming fifth album (set for release this Friday, some twelve years since their last full-length record) I took it upon myself to revisit their discography just in case I wanted to write something about them to commemorate the occasion.

And not only did I end up rediscovering the band – while also developing a greater appreciation for the impact that legendary acts like Minor Threat, Rancid and Black Flag have had on their music – but I also found myself connecting even more deeply this time around with their intensely personal, yet intimately relatable, lyrics and their distinctly dystopian (yet not hopeless) take on modern life (it’s war, don’t you know?).

Now, a word of warning… I’m off to Islay this weekend to spend a couple of days touring some of the island’s many distilleries (it’s my stag-do, if you were curious), so this article will be a little different to most of its predecessors as I’m going to focus my attention mostly on my favourite songs on each of the band’s albums, rather than trying to cover them all comprehensively.

But the one positive side-effect of this of course is that – if you like what you’re about to read and/or hear – you’ll still have lots to discover and appreciate on your own time!

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ONE OF NINE, WALDGEFLÜSTER, KALEŽ, ARROWS

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
Aug 312025
 

(written by Islander)

Today I decided to focus on four selections: two songs from forthcoming albums, a debut EP, and a debut full-length. The two songs are tragic but breathtaking. The EP and the album are also stunning, in different ways.

The world often seems like it’s either burning or devolving into a deep and disgusting pool of glop (“shit” is an overused word), but if you immerse yourself in what I’ve chosen today I wager you’ll forget all about that, even if it will all eventually come back to you. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: NO RAZA, EGOCIDE, THEMATA, VILE APPARITION, VÍGLJÓS, JUNEAU, WSTRĘT, HETEROPSY

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 302025
 

(written by Islander)

This Saturday roundup is larger than usual — one new music video, seven songs from records due for release over the next couple of months, and an EP released a week ago.

Once again, I fell down a rabbit hole of high-powered musical intensity expressed in differing ways, from brutal and bludgeoning to mind-lacerating. I’m also going to give myself a pat on the back (because you’re too far away to do it) for arranging the songs in a way that I think provides a coherent flow (flow really isn’t the right word for the movements from song to song, but I haven’t thought of a better one).

P.S. In the U.S. this is Labor Day Weekend, a three-day break from work for a lot of people (but not everyone). As is our habit around here, we’re not taking a break. As usual for us during holidays, we’re just going to ignore this one and continue fouling the airwaves straight through Monday. Of course we hope you’ll come back to see what we have in store tomorrow and the next day, but even if you aren’t here we will be. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: IGORRR, BEASTWARS, AFSKY, AEPHANEMER

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 292025
 

(written by Islander)

With only one track premiere on our calendar for today I grabbed the free time to once again get a head start on our usual Saturday roundup of recommended new music. I picked four songs out of the great flood of new things that surfaced this week.

This little collection includes offerings from bands that have been personal favorites for a while (I’ll get to some newcomers to my ears over the weekend), and it begins and ends with songs paired with very good videos, both of which also include some very different combinations of metal and classical music (and the third song does too). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANTIVERSUM — “DE NEMESIS OMNES ET OMNIA”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 292025
 

(written by Islander)

Ten years ago we premiered Total Vacuum, the debut demo by the Swiss band Antiversum shortly before its release. Almost eight years ago we then premiered the title song from the band’s debut album, Cosmos Comedenti. Finally, Antiversum are coming back with a second album, this one named De Nemesis Omnes et Omnia, set for release on September 19th by Amor Fati Productions, and once again we have a premiere.

Upon learning about the album I couldn’t resist investigating the meaning of its title. It’s not a classical Latin phrase, but seems to be Antiversum‘s own construction. Most likely, it literally translates to “Of nemesis, everyone and everything”. An AI comment I didn’t ask for when google-searching suggested that it means “all people and all things are either subject to or derived from nemesis,” and possibly as “a declaration that divine retribution and vengeance apply to everyone and everything in existence.” I suppose the reference to divinity derives from the fact that Nemesis was, after all, a Greek god.

These interpretations of the album title, though unconfirmed, would be in line with the fundamental nihilism inherent in Antiversum‘s profoundly disturbing musical representations of horrifying menace, cosmic collapse, and the vast maw of the void that awaits. Continue reading »

DIVERGENCE: “IN CYCLED AEONS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 292025
 

(Here is DGR‘s review of the latest EP from New York-based Divergence, released last month.)

Following the paths charted by heavy metal’s history has long been a hobby around here, with others having taken up the travelling pack and walking stick and played musical cartographer as the genre became less one defining sound and more of a filter that conventional music was squashed through, only to have it emerge as its own ‘heavy metal’ counterpart. One of the things that is quickly revealed by such travels, though, is that heavy metal has a lot of divergences – four at least, if you trust the ole metal archives these days – and a person could easily lead a life in which many of those are ignored in favor of specializing in one or two breaks from the path.

This is how you have people who could easily name every sludge band to ever emerge from the muck of musical misery but would fail in separating a single song between bands like Sonata Arctica and Blind Guardian. It’s how you could lead a life in which you may never cross paths with a single band bearing the name of Divergence, even though there have been a few throughout the years with a concentration of them based on the East Coast.

This current Divergence then, hails from New York and plays a very technically infused style of death metal, with regional bleedover for taste when it comes to heavy, chugging riffs and a monstrous groove bordering on the overwhelming. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LECHEROUS NOCTURNE — “SERPENTENCE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Aug 282025
 

(written by Islander)

Lecherous Nocturne aren’t in a race to amass a mountainous discography. Although this South Carolina band first came together in the late ’90s they’ve released only four albums, after some early demos and an EP. The last three were spaced five years apart. With five years having elapsed since the last of those (2018’s Occultaclysmic, enthusiastically reviewed at length here), it might be time for something new — and something new is indeed on the way.

We’ve learned that Lecherous Nocturne are at work on a new full-length assault of ferocity entitled Violust, and what we’ve got for you today is a playthrough video by the band’s bassist James O’Neal of one of the new songs, a blazing breath-taker named “Serpentence“. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries