SHADES OF BLACK: LUCTUS, NATÜRGEIST, MANIA, ARKHAAIK, TRYPANON, DOWNWARD

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Jul 132025
 

(written by Islander)

Although this Sunday’s collection includes varying shades and phases of black metal I would say they have unsettling sensations of madness and murder in common, and most of them feature a muscular heart-hammering punch as well as abundant doses of crazed ferocity and mind-bending psychosis.

In many instances you’ll also encounter some of the most unhinged vocals you’re likely to find outside the hideous real-world history of self-immolation.

Only in extreme metal could an introduction like that qualify as “enticing,” but I know our audience well enough that I’m sure it will be. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: PARADISE LOST, AMORPHIS, CAR BOMB, NOVEMBRE, HIGH PARASITE, TIGGUO COBAUC, CIRCLING OVER, OROMET, CORRIDORÉ

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 122025
 


Paradise Lost

(written by Islander)

When I finished yesterday’s head start on today’s column I thought I’d focus today on lesser-known bands. As you can see, I didn’t completely follow through on that notion. What grabbed me as I listened turned out to be a mix of names everyone knows and names more likely to be new discoveries.

I’ve led with the luminaries. Maybe they will function like old friends greeting you at the door to their home and pulling you inside, where a group of strangers are waiting to do unexpected things to you, some of which, as it turns out, are going to hurt. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VISITANT — “STARLESS”

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Jul 112025
 

(written by Islander)

Visitant is an excellent name. Unlike the more mundane “visitor”, it suggests the appearance of something uncommon, something supernatural and possibly dangerous, like an apparitional visitation from the spirit world. That idea is reinforced by the striking red-hued cover image on this U.S. band’s debut album Rubidium.

True to the name they chose, Visitant‘s music turns out to be uncommon as well, a changing braid of varying genre ingredients that creates altered and interwoven sensations — sensations haunting and harrowing, disconsolate and vengeful, diaphanous and pulverizing, and altogether head-spinning.

You’ll get an idea of just how variable those ingredients are when you see the “for fans of” references provided by Visitant‘s label Exitus Stratagem Records: Gojira, Opeth, Naglfar, Between the Buried And Me, Enslaved, Dimmu Borgir, Mgła, Leaves Eyes, and Chelsea Wolfe.

Of course, not all those allusions become relevant within each song on Rubidium. The weave tends to change from song to song. The one from the album we’re focused on today is “Starless“, presented through a gripping lyric video made by Motus Insaniam. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: HIDEOUS DIVINITY, CRYPTOPSY, GREEN CARNATION, DESASTER, BRÉVINE, THEURGION

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jul 112025
 

(written by Islander)

Consider this a head-start on the roundup I usually put together on Saturday. A hell of a lot of new songs and videos popped up this week, and even with this head-start I still won’t be able to make more than a dent in that big moving wall, but at least it will be a bigger dent this week.

I decided to focus today’s collection on the bigger names scrawled on that wall, but before finishing we’ll still turn our gaze to a few names not yet written in such large letters. I haven’t figured out what tomorrow’s column will include, but my aim will be to dig even deeper into obscurities (at least relatively speaking). Continue reading »

EMBERTHRONE: “CURSIVE”

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Jul 112025
 

(Sacramento-based DGR reviews a very recently released EP by Sacramento-based Emberthrone, and comes away happy.)

Sacramento’s Emberthrone are one we’ve kept a curious eye on for a little bit now. Part of a small-town-sized wave of deathcore-leaning projects that sprang up in the lockdown years wherein a lot of people suddenly had a bunch of free time out of nowhere for some reason, Emberthrone seemed like a solid union with a lot of potential just based off of its lineup alone at the time. Uniting some of the scene’s workhorses for vocals and drums in the form of Monte Bernard and Gabe Seeber, the group’s complete portrait included bassist Quentin Garcia and guitarist Martin Bianchini.

Their group’s four-song debut Godless Wonder found them a home on Seek & Strike, a label that has slowly developed an arc for being the home of boutique ass-kickers in prefix-core heavy form. Godless Wonder was a reliably solid brick of music that fell perfectly in line with a lot of the bruisers that’ve emerged from California’s filing cabinet over the years. In the three years hence, though, the lineup for Emberthrone has remained fairly solid save for what seems to be a new face behind the kit, translating into an interesting round two for the band.

Now more matured and gelled together as a band, Emberthrone returned in early-July with a second EP bearing the name Cursive that seems to be forged by experience and a stronger vision of what sort of project they want to be, while also much more determined to throw its heft around than they did before. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HEBEPHRENIQUE — “VISIONS OF MAGDALENE”

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Jul 102025
 

(written by Islander)

“Think Gorguts by way of Mayhem, filtered through Anaal Nathrakh’s violent theatrics and a heavy dose of dystopian dread.” That’s part of how Gutter Prince Cabal and Brilliant Emperor Records vividly preview Decathexis, a new album from the Australian band Hebephrenique that those labels are set to release on August 23rd. And there’s more:

“Decathexis is a whirlwind of spite-fueled vocals, mechanical precision, and hypnotic ambience, anchored by songwriting that hurts as much as it surprises. It’s more technical, more aggressive, and somehow even more unstable than their acclaimed EP [Non Compos Mentis], a deeper dive into madness and alienation.”

At first blush it’s hard to believe that the new album could be more aggressive or destabilizing or disorienting than that 2023 EP. When we premiered it, we frequently resorted to words like “insane,” “crazed”, “kaleidoscopic”, “diabolical”, and “dazzling”. We analogized it to a theater of devilish carnivals set in hellish asylums and a labyrinth of lunatic splendors.

We further wrote that “it’s also one of the most fascinating and engrossing records we’ve heard this year, and it marks the advent of a remarkable new talent that we hope will return with more madness soon.” Now our wish is coming true. As a first sign of what new madness comes our way we’re premiering a video for “Visions of Magdalene“, the first single from Decathexis. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: GJALLARHORN’S WRATH — “WICCAN WYRD”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jul 102025
 

(written by Islander)

On September 5th of this year Non Serviam Records will release The Silver Key, the debut album from the Spanish band Gjallarhorn’s Wrath. It’s a new name, but the group has older roots. Non Serviam provides this background:

Gjallarhorn’s Wrath is an extreme metal band from Barcelona, born from the legacy of Oblivion, an atmospheric black metal act founded in 2001. Oblivion made a strong impact on the Spanish metal scene with their deep exploration of light and darkness. They performed across Spain and toured with Norwegian legends Ancient. Over time, the band members went their separate ways, and the group disbanded. However, the spirit of their music endured.

Years later, the core members reunited with a shared vision to create something even more ambitious. With the addition of vocalist Alex, Lord Ashler moved to bass, Javi Iron returned to handle drums, keys, and composition, and Arash continued as lead guitarist. Together, they formed Gjallarhorn’s Wrath, blending the raw aggression of blackened death metal with the grandeur of orchestral and cinematic elements.

What we’re presenting today is a transfixing video for a sonic spectacle from The Silver Key named “Wiccan Wyrd“, a song that justifies Non Serviam‘s description of this band’s new music. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MASS DECEPTION — “RUINS OF DOMINION”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 102025
 

(written by Islander)

In 2016 the Dutch metal band Mass Deception launched their recording career with Revelations, the first album in a conceptual trilogy. They followed that in 2019 with Redemptions, and now (following the 2022 EP Halls of Amenti), they’re closing the story with a new album named Resurrections that will be released by Gruesome Records on July 25th.

To help spread the word, what we have for you today is the premiere of a riveting video for a riveting song off Resurrections called “Ruins of Dominion“. Continue reading »

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS – A VOID WITHIN EXISTENCE

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jul 102025
 

(Andy Synn provides some advance insight into the new album from Abigail Williams, out 18 July)

Let me be frank about something… I have been lucky enough to have had access to this album for much, much longer than most people.

Long enough, in fact, for me to fall in love with it, fall out of love with it, rediscover it all over again, and have the opportunity to totally reappraise it in light of my long-running relationship with the band and their music.

And, let me tell you, there’s a chance that maybe… just maybe… this will finally be the album which garners Abigail Williams the respect they’ve long deserved.

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LOTAN — “INCANTATION OF HATRED”

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Jul 092025
 

(written by Islander)

For a change, let’s cut to the chase and then come back and fill in some additional details.

What you’re about to experience in this premiere, as the Danish band Lotan accurately say about their new album Yetzer Hara, is sound as a weapon, ruthlessly wielded to express both fury and crushing dismay over the pathetic failures of humankind. Continue reading »

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