NO CLEAN SINGING

HEAVEN SHALL BURN – HEIMAT

Jun 232025

(Andy Synn has a lot of history with Heaven Shall Burn, which now includes their new album, Heimat, which is set for release this coming Friday on Century Media Records)

Way back in the year 2002 a young man who would one day come to be known (in certain dark corners of the internet, at least) as Andy Synn fell in love with an album by the name of Whatever It May Take by German Metalcore icon(oclast)s Heaven Shall Burn, who would go on to have a major influence on his music tastes for the foreseeable future.

That same year he also encountered an outstanding (some might even say seminal) piece of cinema named 28 Days Later, from director Danny Boyle, which would also have a huge impact on the media he would choose to consume going forwards and set the standard for what home-grown Horror could be.

And now, here we are in 2025 with new releases from both band and director demanding our attention once more… but while one of those has proven to be a crushing disappointment, let’s hope that the other one lives up to its legacy, shall we?

SHADES OF BLACK: AKVAN, ESKAPISM, PIT OF DESPAIR, IDOLOS

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK 1 Response »

Jun 222025

(written by Islander)

I got a call last night from an anxiety-prone Millennial family member asking whether I thought World War III had just begun. He said he couldn’t bear to read very much about what had just happened but knew that I would have done so quickly.

I did my best to calm him down, tried to explain why I thought this won’t turn into WWIII and to assure him we’re all safe in Seattle (I didn’t mention the funding cuts to programs that combat domestic terrorism or the 22-year-old intern who was put in charge of the main DHS hub for that).

But yes, I’ve been reading a lot. I can’t help it, even though I know it’s pointless, even though no one really knows where this is headed but every pundit has an opinion (the smart ones tick off discouraging possibilities but then acknowledge that no one knows). It seems like an odd time to be thinking about music, but as usual on days like this the music becomes something of a refuge (NCS as a sanctuary city!). And so, on we go… but where to begin? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: MALTHUSIAN, UPON STONE, BEFORE THE DAWN, CASTRATOR, ENTRAILS, A CAT IN THE BRAIN, LOMMI, BOMBUS, GLUED MOUTH

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Jun 212025

(written by Islander)

This Saturday selection of new songs and videos provides a lot to take in, and lots of twists and turns in the musical path as you move from one to the next (which is what I hope you’ll do).

Fair warning: I’ve included a pair of songs that feature entirely clean singing, and another where singing trades off with harsher expressions. Today’s collection is also a mix of well-known bands (at least well-known to yours truly) and others that have scoured my ears for the first time this week. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MROME — “BONEYARD TWIST”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Jun 202025

(written by Islander)

The Polish band MROME have been making music since the mid-’90s, first under the name Kingdom and then as MROME. Under the latter name they’ve released four albums so far, most of which we’ve paid attention to (as you can see here), and on June 23rd they’ll release a fifth one.

Entitled Boneyard Twist, the new one includes 9 tracks recorded live in the studio, and the band have described it to us as “a kind of return to our dark roots from the early ’90s, inspired deeply by the first wave black metal.” Lyrically, they tell us, the songs deal “with grave residents, disabilities of body and mind, necromancy and… monks exploding!”

What we have for you today is a full stream of the new record, preceded (of course) by some thoughts about it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DÉCRYPTAL — “HORDE D’INVERTÉBRÉS”

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Jun 202025

(written by Islander)

We’re about to present a song that should make even the most hardened and hard-to-please death metal fans sit up and pay close attention. It’s a track called “Horde d’invertébrés” off the debut album Simulacre from Quebec’s Décryptal, which will be co-released on July 11th by Me Saco Un Ojo and Rotted Life.

In the space of just this one song Décryptal lead listeners through a musical house of horrors, pulling us forward from one ghastly room to the next, with enough return trips among them to embed their hideous visions in a listener’s head (and providing a time to bang our heads as well). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OSKOREIEN — “PRISMATIC REASON”

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Jun 192025

(written by Islander)

Oskoreien is back!

For people with discerning musical tastes and long memories, that will be a very happy piece of news. For people who may be encountering the Oskoreien name for the first time, it’s a project formed in Los Angeles in 2003 by multi-instrumentalist Jay Valena. As his solo endeavor, Oskoreien released a pair of demos and then a self-titled debut album in 2011, followed by a split with Botanist five years later and then a second album, All Too Human, in 2016 — but nothing since then.

If you haven’t explored those previous releases, they are well worth your time, especially if you’re a fan of multi-faceted melodic black metal (and you can learn more about some of them, and about Jay Valena‘s very interesting inspirations, through the reviews and an interview we published in those earlier years). Oskoreien‘s forthcoming third album, Hollow Fangs, will also be well worth your time. It’s set for release on July 18th, and today we’re premiering its opening track “Prismatic Reason“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: RAHVIRA — “ONLY FORWARD”

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Jun 192025

(written by Islander)

The history of the Armenian people is a long tale of subjugation and sorrow. As one source explains, between the 16th and 19th centuries the traditional Armenian homeland came under the rule of the Ottoman and Persian empires, and by the 19th century the eastern part of it had been conquered by the Russian empire. During World War I, up to 1.5 million Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian genocide. And after the Russian empire ceased to exist, the First Republic of Armenia was absorbed by the Soviet Union. The Republic of Armenia, as it now exists, became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, landlocked and surrounded by Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

In April of this year the Armenian black metal band Rahvira (the duo of vocalist Aleksandr “Arson” Muradyan and songwriter/instrumentalist Tigran Rahvira) released an album named Ghosts Of Darkness through Holy Mountains Music (Yerevan, Armenia) and Wine And Fog Productions (Italy). As the band describe, the album “presents the struggles and sorrows of the Armenian people, dedicated entirely to the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide”.

“These songs emphasize the experiences, losses, and hopes of the Armenian people” and represent “the determination of the Armenian people to persevere despite the pain and suffering they have endured…. This album is not only a tribute to a critical chapter of Armenian history but also a spiritual journey — from pain to rebirth — that calls upon us to never forget, while urging us to continue living and triumphing, drawing strength from the past.”

What we have for you today is Rahvira‘s official video for a song from Ghosts of Darkness called “Only Forward“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORTALHA NEGRA — “NECROMANTE”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Jun 182025

(written by Islander)

Helldprod Records has marked June 18th as the release date for Mortalha Negra‘s debut EP, Necromante. While Mortalha Negra is a new name, the person behind it is well-known: Armando Exekutor has led Flagedör for more than two decades and is also a fixture in Gravedancer, whose debut album was released in 2023 (and those are just two aspects of an extensive musical resume within the Brazilian scene, and elsewhere).

Under the banner of Mortalha Negra, A. Exekutor has joined forces with drummer J. Ferrante to create sulfurous black thrash with a powerfully occult atmosphere. Helldprod previews the EP with these words: Continue reading »

DEADGUY – NEAR-DEATH TRAVEL SERVICES

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Jun 182025

(Andy Synn encourages you all to book a trip with Deadguy on their long-awaited new album)

Don’t call it a comeback!

Or… maybe do? Because if there’s one time you’re probably justified in using that word it’s when a band has a thirty year gap between albums (especially if it’s a thirty year gap between their debut and their follow-up).

The thing is, no matter how influential and iconic Fixation on a Coworker was (and still is, to be clear) there’s no getting around the fact that it has been a very long time since 1995, and during the intervening three decades between then and now the Hardcore scene has grown and expanded and evolved to such an extent that the big question actually seems to be… does the world need a new Deadguy album?

Well, here’s the thing, however you answer that question – mine would be a resounding “yes”, by the way – all that really matters is that this is the album that Deadguy themselves needed to make.

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORBYDA — “UNDER THE SPELL”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Jun 172025

(written by Islander)

The Leipzig-based band Morbyda will have their debut album Under the Spell released on June 20th by Dying Victims Productions. If enough people find it, we predict it will bring throngs of people under its spell, people across a wide range of ages who relish the glories of devil-horned heavy metal. This quartet may be fairly new to the scene, but they sound like they’ve been at this for decades.

“Blackened speed metal” is the high-level descriptor of the music, and it’s not off-base, but it doesn’t fully capture all the traditions Morbyda pull from, or the absolutely electrifying and fist-pumping results they’ve achieved. With this album, they become a band worth watching very closely Continue reading »

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