AN NCS PREMIERE: INSINERATEHYMN — “SEMPITERNAL SUICIDE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 172025
 

(written by Islander)

The last time we got a chance to premiere a song from L.A.-based Insineratehymn, we began the introduction this way: “All is fire in the premiere we’re now presenting, from the very name of the band — Insineratehymn — to the conflagration consuming the demonic figures in the album’s fantastic cover art, and the blood-boiling heat of the song we’re premiering.”

The occasion that time was to help spread the word about this raging, rotten, and reaping death metal band’s second album Disembodied. The occasion today is to draw attention to their forthcoming third album Irreverence of the Divine in advance of its April co-release by Memento Mori and Rotted Life. To do that, we present the fifth track in the running order, “Sempiternal Suicide“. Continue reading »

TENTACULT: “UNTAMED REVULSION”

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Mar 172025
 

(On March 11th Transylvanian Recordings released a disgusting new album by Sacramento-based Tentacult. It’s fitting, therefore, that Sacramento-based NCS slave DGR is reviewing it today.)

Like any good proper umbrella genre that has absolutely exploded you can take the phrase “death metal” and draw ever finer concentric triangles from it into a pyramidic tower of subgenres with each sprouting two to three more lines from it until eventually you reach descriptors long enough that you run out of breath before you finish defining the sounds that make up a group.

By the end of it, you can construct a very pretty geometric structure of lines that’ll entrance your local social media “spiritual” influencer. At times it can be like trying to speed-read aloud a complicated dinner recipe in a single breath, your very last utterance of “blank-death metal” usually followed by the sound of you collapsing to the floor due to lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain.

In layman’s terms though, you can often break down the view of death metal into four categories: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DROUTH, DÉMONOS, SVARTA HAVET, LUX INTERNA, AASH, MRAKOMOR

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 162025
 

(written by Islander)

I’m afraid I have a self-imposed deadline to finish this weekly collection of music from the blacker arts so I can turn to other obligations, and so I’ll dispense with an introduction and dive right into all the quite varied music I’ve picked for your entertainment and edification.

DROUTH (U.S.)

To begin, here’s “False Grail“, a startling new song from a new album named The Teeth of Time by Portland’s Drouth. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: RALE, MONDOCANE, JADE, MINUTTI HULLUUTEEN, SLUDGE KEEPER, THAT GODFORSAKEN WRETCH

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 152025
 

(written by Islander)

I had an attack of spring fever this morning. It’s definitely not springtime weather here in the Puget Sound (it’s quite cool and wet, the wind is howling, and if that keeps up our power will inevitably go out). I just didn’t want to do anything that seemed remotely like work, and compiling these roundups is remotely like work.

But the old obsession not to let any days go by at NCS without spreading the word about music eventually won out over laziness, though it may not win out over wind, and so I will attempt to be not too windy in what I write.

I thought about leading with some of the bigger names who have recently released new music in an effort to draw people toward more obscure names in today’s collection (I was thinking about the likes of Cancer, Gaahls Wyrd), Benediction, and Rivers of Nihil) but so many of the more obscure names are so appealing to me that I decided to just get right to them. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MOONFALL — “ODE TO THE RITUAL HILLS”

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Mar 142025
 

(Written by Islander)

The Finnish black metal band Moonfall trace their origins back to 2008, and their first demo to 2010. But there things ended for a decade until the duo reunited, releasing a new demo in 2020 and a split with Regere Sinister the following year. Now, at last, they’ve made a debut album named Odes to the Ritual Hills that’s set for an April 11 release by Iron Bonehead Productions.

Much could be said about the activities of the two performers (Goatprayer and Black Moon Necromancer) because both have been active over many years in a multitude of other bands, including Witchcraft, Ceremonial Torture, and Beherit. But rather than detail those histories and find linkages between them and what’s about to be available on the new album, let’s instead turn immediately to the music. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CLACTONIAN — “EVERLASTING PALEOLITHIC”

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Mar 142025
 

(written by Islander)

We have written frequently over the last seven years about the music of the Italian band Thecodontion, whose primeval and prehistoric thematic interests have been as interesting and erudite as their guitar-less but ever-evolving formulations of death metal. And so we were highly intrigued to learn last year that Thecodontion vocalist G.E.F. had started a new band named Clactonian, joined by Thecodontion drummer V.P. (also in SVNTH), Finnish bassist K.H.P.K. (from Ashen Tomb), and Italian guitarist B.Z. (Spell of Decay).

Like Thecodontion, the thematic interests of Clactonian are rooted in prehistory, and particularly the Paleolithic Age. The name itself is a term given by archaeologists to an industry of European flint tools made by an extinct species of archaic humans who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. (You can find more about here.)

Last summer we premiered Clactonian‘s debut demo, Dea Madre, whose cover art you won’t have forgotten if you saw it. The music followed a path of early bestial black/death metal that drew strong influence from Beherit but also should appeal to fans of Archgoat, early Bathory, and some bass-driven bands like Barathrum or early Necromantia for the slower sections.

And now we’re bringing you Clactonian‘s second demo, Everlasting Paleolithic, in advance of its official release on March 28th. Prepare for… PALEOLITHIC BLACK METAL OF DEATH! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MÜTTERLEIN, CARONTE, CAUSTIC WOUND, AUSTERE, KORSAKOV, WAR MAGIC

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Mar 142025
 

(written by Islander)

I had a narrow opening in today’s schedule for a roundup of new songs and videos, and not a lot of time with which to fill it, so I won’t waste the time with further introductory remarks. We’ll get right to it, beginning with:

MÜTTERLEIN (France)

Ever since seeing the recent announcement of a new Mütterlein album a group of metal-loving friends and I have been greedily rubbing our blood-stained hands (contrary to rumor we don’t have talons and the blood is from paper cuts). The rubbing has become more intense since hearing the album’s first single (not that kind of rubbing, get your minds out of the gutter). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ALZHAGOTH — “AD FINEM”

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Mar 132025
 

(written by Islander)

What is “pagan death metal”? It might be death metal that lyrically honors and celebrates old pre-Christian mystical belief systems, or current non-theistic ones, without much other connection between the music and what inspires the lyrics. Or the connection might be deeper than the words. Or the words might open doors to an imaginary cosmos of recent origin but ancient trappings, accompanied by music designed to reveal what lies beyond the door.

Which brings us to the Italian “pagan death metal” band Alzhagoth. Thematically, they have created their own cosmogony, a vast cosmogony of chaos and even monstrosity, and a cult devoted to the dark god whose name is the name of the band. As for the music, they’ve explained in a recent interview:

“For us, chaos isn’t merely random, but filled with potential. Each element can become part of a subtle order, crystallizing into a track that reflects the darkness of Alzhagoth. In this way, the music becomes an attempt to capture eternity in a single moment, transforming turmoil into something sublime, in the romantic sense of the word.”

What this means in more concrete terms is revealed in Alzhagoth‘s debut album Ad Finem, which will be released tomorrow through Inertial Music, and which we’re now revealing in its entirety. Continue reading »

IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT – GOLDSTAR

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 132025
 

(Andy Synn welcomes another decadent dose of weirdness from Imperial Triumphant)

There comes a time in every band’s career… well, not every band’s career, let’s be honest… when they have to decide what to do with their success.

Do they allow it to change them, and their sound, in an attempt to chase the always alluring, ever-elusive dragon of fame and fortune (more the former than the latter, these days)?

Or do they stick to their guns, refuse to bow to outside pressure, and maintain their integrity, in the hope that success will continue to find them regardless?

Well, I’m sorry to say that with the upcoming release of their sixth album, Goldstar – which is neither a direct-to-video sequel to 2022’s Spirit of Ecstasy, nor a throwback to 2015’s breakthrough Abyssal Gods, but a special, third thing – it seems that Imperial Triumphant have decided that it’s finally time to cash in on their growing celebrity/notoriety and produce something with more artistic accessibility and marketable mass appeal.

That’s right everyone, Imperial Triumphant have finally “sold out”.

Continue reading »

CANTU IGNIS: “THE FATHOMLESS DOMINION”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 132025
 

(In mid-February the Colorado-based metal band Cantu Ignis released their second album, adorned by wondrous undersea cover art by Mark Erskine. DGR came across it and found the music pretty wondrous too, as you’ll see from his review below.)

Much as we would like to pretend that we are cooler than having a schedule or anything resembling a routine, the year in heavy metal has developed a flow to it. Some things you could set your watch by, while others are a bit more nebulous but are still guaranteed to happen. Metal’s obsession with water and chthonic depths is one such predictably recurring aspect. Even when used as base set-dressing for album art and title, there is some sense of a certain heavily-referenced mythos weaving its way in through the cracks. As cliffs will all eventually break down into piles of sand via the crashing of the waves, you can expect at some point within the year we’re going to head into the depths below.

If anything, what is shocking is that it took until the middle of February to stumble upon one, though you could argue that even then the kind of group drawn to it is to be expected as well. What is alien in the galactic sphere is also alien in the waters below, and if there’s anything the modern age of tech-death groups love it is something alien. They can bend realities to their will in song form and subject matter, and the latest to lap from that particular font of inspiration is Colorado’s Cantu Ignis with their second full-length album The Fathomless Dominion. Continue reading »

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