NO CLEAN SINGING

DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT – INNERN

Sep 102025

(Andy Synn takes a look deep inside the new album from Der Weg Einer Freiheit, out Friday)

I recently saw someone joking online – although, truthfully, it was more of a wry observation – that “true Black Metal is fuelled by ennui“.

And although this statement was slightly tongue-in-cheek (made in response to one of those oh-so-serious “Black Metal is only for those filled with true evil and hate” types) well… there might just be something to it.

After all, we’re talking about a genre which – for all the subsequent mythologising around its early days – was started by a bunch of angry, angsty teenagers chafing against the rigid strictures of religious morality and staid suburban life that left them with no real outlet for their emotions, or any real direction for the future… and if that’s not a perfect recipe for “listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement” then I don’t know what is.

And while some may have questioned how “true” Der Weg Einer Freiheit‘s particular brand of intensely introspective, blast-driven Black Metal actually is… there’s no question that when it comes to exploring and expressing this internal strife and struggle (heck, their new album literally translates as “Inside”) they’ve never been afraid to take a stark, unflinching look at their own inner workings.

AN NCS INTERVIEW: RAUHNÅCHT

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Sep 102025

(Not long ago the Antiq label released a new album from Rauhnåcht named Zwischenwelten. It is a very impressive and moving assembly of music, and so are the eloquent answers given by the band’s mastermind Stefan Traunmüller in response to the questions of our Comrade Aleks in the interview we present below.)

Stefan Traunmüller is a veteran of the Austrian underground. His first project was the melodic black gothic band Golden Dawn, founded in 1992, and it’s still somehow alive. But Stefan also took part in about a dozen projects, the most fruitful of which is Rauhnåcht. Zwischenwelten (“In-between Worlds”) is the fifth album in the fifteen-year history of the project, not counting five smaller releases.

The new forty-minute full-length consists of six compositions, performed in the spirit of nostalgic, charged, and aggressive (by measure of anger-management courses) yet atmospheric black metal. Conceptually, as one can already assume from the cover of Zwischenwelten, Stefan adheres to pagan positions with an emphasis on the spirit of old Bavarian legends.

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t call this work totally “pagan” or “folk”, and the author himself entitles his creation precisely – “Alpine black metal”. Hence the prickly cold of high-speed black metal and the sublimity of contemplative ambient, providing short-term respites along with infrequent acoustic interludes – it’s a breathtaking journey through the blizzard and piercing cold of the mountainside in the company of old spirits of that land. The vocal parts are represented not only by screaming, but also by clean, harmonious singing, which is characteristic of pagan metal in general.

All the elements of Zwischenwelten are composed in such a way that you easily agree that Stefan‘s black is precisely Alpine, and Stefan is the best choice if we want an excursion in the world of Rauhnåcht. Continue reading »

IN MOURNING: “THE IMMORTAL”

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Sep 092025

(Below you’ll find DGR‘s extensive review of the eagerly awaited new album from the Swedish band In Mourning, released at the end of August by Supreme Chaos Records and Dalapop.)

Over the course of a two-decade-plus career and seven full-length albums, Sweden’s In Mourning have had eras to their overall sound. Considering how varied their overall discography has been, you can still – albeit with stretching that would make your average fitness class jealous – somewhat neatly gather together their releases into historical periods of the band.

The core of their overall progressive death metal sound over the years has been augmented time and time again, resulting in a forlorn and poetic melodeath era of the group that saw full expansion in The Shrouded Divine and Monolith as well as a conceptual, more doom- and post-metal oriented mid-era of their career comprised of albums like The Weight Of Oceans, Afterglow, and Garden Of Storms.

A band having specific historical epochs like this is often reflective of landmark albums and seismic changes to a band’s overall sound – which often follows with releases that run in a similar vein as a band discovers a new path to travel down, either to diminishing returns over time or with a sound that becomes so ingrained with their identity that they’re near inseparable. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CRAWL — “NO WAY OUT”

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Sep 092025

(written by Islander)

In late June of this year something very surprising but very welcome happened: The vanguard industrial death metal band Crawl released their first album in almost 30 years through THC MUSIC/Virgin Music Group.

That album, No Way Out, was the horned flowering of seeds planted when Crawl reunited for a record release show on the occasion of the reissue of their remastered EP Womb, originally released in 1993 under the band’s previous name, Bleed.

Following that August 2019 performance, the band decided to start writing new material, and eventually produced No Way Out — despite being slowed by the challenges of reintegrating after so many years and despite the big roadblock thrown up by the covid pandemic (as well as a lot of subsequent impediments we needn’t detail that created further delays).

All the obstacles undoubtedly spawned a lot of wrenching frustration among the members of Crawl, but for both old die-hard fans and a lot of new ones, the album proved to be well worth the wait. It seemed like the band had picked up right where they left off so many decades ago, without missing a step. As a tremendous example of what we’re getting at, today we’re premiering a visually startling lyric video for the new album’s title track. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PLAGUE CURSE — “UMBRAGE EARNED”

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Sep 092025

(written by Islander)

Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Let’s immediately address what you’re about to hear and then come back and fill in some details about who’s doing it.

Figuratively speaking at least, it might be smart for you to strap on body armor and a tough helmet before you press play on “Umbrage Earned,” the Plague Curse song we’re now premiering, because it’s a roaring blast front of weaponized sound. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): WINTERNIUS — “UNDERWATER DARKNESS”

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres No Responses »

Sep 092025

(written by Islander)

We have for you today what we think will be a big eye-popping surprise, a carnival of musical wonders, something like a black metal rock opera, namely a full stream of the forthcoming second album by the evil Italian wizards in Winternius.

Titled Underwater Darkness, it’s set for release on September 12th by the Dusktone label, and it follows the band’s 2020 debut album Open the Portal and their 2023 EP Kultra Nightmares.

Still at the helm is founder Roby Grinder, also known as Winternius during his time with Sacradis, a band active in the Italian black metal underground from 1996-2011. The lineup through the years has included members and former members of Sacradis, Spite Extreme Wing, Abysmal Grief, and Necrodeath.

Winternius call their music “Black Rising Metal”, and you may understand why when you hear this album. It’s certainly not conventional black metal by any stretch. Up in the first paragraph we’ve already hinted why, but would like to explain in greater (but hopefully not too tedious) detail. Continue reading »

TODAY IS THE DAY: “NEVER GIVE IN”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Sep 082025

(We present Wil Cifer‘s review of the new album by Today Is The Day, which will be released on October 3rd by SuperNova Records.)

When it comes to Steven Austin’s demented little band, Today is the Day, expect the unexpected. The only thing aside from Austin’s familiar high-pitched snarl that their 14th album has in common with previous releases is that it’s different than what he has done before. It’s confrontational but in a much different way. Austin has been churning out his jagged blend of grindcore and noise rock for 32 years, so you can’t blame him for wanting to change things up. This might be his least metallic album yet, but that does not stop the music from stabbing your ears as the songs lead you through a labyrinth of personal narrative cloaked in bizarre experimentation. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ILDVERDEN — “DOWN TO THE HOLE”

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Sep 082025

(written by Islander)

Beginning in 2007 the Crimea-based Ukrainian band Ildverden released four albums, the last of those in 2015. In the 10 years since then, of course, Ildverden‘s homeland has been wracked by increasingly awful upheavals, and yet the band’s sole participant Kvolkaldur has chosen to persist, much as his country has, and so next month will see the release of Ildverden‘s stunning fifth album, Thou Not Shalt.

It should not be surprising that after 10 years — and especially those last 10 years — both Ildverden‘s music and lyrical themes have changed. As summed up by the labels that will release the album, the lyrics “have somewhat moved away from the pagan theme towards nihilism, detachment from what is happening and what exists, reflections and regrets, with moods of existentialist philosophy,” plunging “into melancholic deep reflection on the meaning and meaninglessness of existence itself.”

As for the music, the songs are more compact and reflect the emergence of different stylistic amalgams, of which we provide a stirring example today through our premiere of the album track “Down To the Hole“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ACHATHRAS — “EMANATION OF CHAOS”

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Sep 082025

(written by Islander)

Achathras is the name of a black metal band who surfaced for the first time earlier this year with two singles released in May and August. Cult Never Dies, the label that will release their forthcoming debut album, describes the Achathras three-person lineup as one that “features anonymous musicians from acclaimed and long-running black metal acts.”

And indeed, we don’t know who they are or where they’re located. They apparently want their music to speak entirely for itself, as an expression of their homage to the European black metal scene of the late ’90s. Which is just fine, because the music speaks in ways that really seize attention — as you’ll learn when you hear the band’s third single that we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: ADUR / CULT BURIAL / TRUDGER

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 082025

(Andy Synn has three more slabs of home-grown heaviness to recommend today)

If you’ve been keeping track recently you may have noticed a slight dip in my output frequency, mostly because I’m having to also focus on recording the last few vocals and bass-lines for our upcoming release (which we’re aiming to have out towards the end of November).

Unfortunately (for you, not so much for me) I’m likely going to be even more busy for the next few weeks, not only finishing off the recording process but also getting ready for my upcoming wedding so… well, I’ll do what I can to help keep the lights on around here, but you might be seeing even less from me for a little while.

That being said, I’m not going to let another opportunity to highlight some home-grown heroes pass me by, so prepare yourselves for three more delicious metallic morsels which represent the “Best of British”.

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