NECROPOLISSEBEHT: “TAURUNOVEM – TH’ASTRAKTYAN SERFDOME”

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Mar 122026
 

(Norway-based NCS contributor Chile has an amazing new find he wants to recommend today, even if spelling or pronouncing it poses a challenge.)

We have already spoken many times about all the good sides and the benefits of metal music as a whole. In fact, there is so much metal going around that we will never run out of it, as opposed to water, clean air, or soil to grow our food, just to name a few. In effect, you’ll be hungry, thirsty, and full of pollutants, but at least you’ll have some great music to accompany you.

Anyway, this abundance makes life that much easier for all of us, listeners and reviewers alike, and especially those of us lucky enough to be both. Just close your eyes and at a stone’s throw in any direction, there is a great band waiting to be found.

In comes Necropolissebeht. The strangely named international crew (ok, it’s Germany and Canada), with just one previously released EP from 2022 under their belts, comes back to drain your world of hope and any traces of light in the form of their just-released debut album, similarly strangely named Taurunovem – Th’Astraktyan Serfdome. Continue reading »

SLAUGHTERDAY: “DREAD EMPEROR”

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Feb 202026
 

(Our Norway-based correspondent Chile sent in the following revel of a review for the new album by Germany’s Slaughterday, which was released last week by Testimony Records.)

Some bands are the epitome of working class heroes. You know, somebody who just goes about doing their thing and doing it great, but not really getting the kind of appreciation and attention needed, yet every time the need arises, they come through and become the heroes we both needed and deserved.

German band Slaughterday are exactly that band. Wearing their influences on their proverbial sleeves (they are named after an Autopsy song, after all), they have been doing their own thing for over fifteen years now in a career that has already spawned several great albums.

Last time we met Slaughterday was just a couple of months back when the NCS writer Zoltar did an interview with the band’s bassist/guitarist Jens Finger, with the occasion being them signing to Testimony Records and the first release on the new label being a step away from their usual brand of death metal. Continue reading »

ULTIMA: “I: KATABASIS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Feb 112026
 

(Our Norway-based writer Chile reviews the debut album of the Spanish black metal band Ultima, released last month by Obscurant Visions.)

The beauty of loving different genres of music, and in particular, different genres of metal, gives us the opportunity and a benefit of reaching out for precisely that single piece of music that befits our current state of mind.

Be it something hellishly heavy, calmingly droning, or just something in the middle, no one can argue that the selection of riches is not adequate. We are talking about decades upon decades of talented musicians spoiling us for choice.

Moving through those boundless vasts, we are today travelling to Spain for a fresh dose of black metal conjured in the deepest dwellings of the psyche tailored for anyone bearing a heavy mind, courtesy of Ultima and their just released debut album I: Katabasis. Continue reading »

STRANGULIATORIUS: “FLIES DON’T LIE”

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Feb 042026
 

(In January Horror Pain Gore Death Productions released a new album from the Lithuanian death metal savages Stranguliatorius, and below we present our Norway-based contributor Chile’s review of this new full-length atrocity.)

It is not surprising that metal, one of the shining lights of postmodern art, that paragon of human creativity, has made a foothold in many different places around the world, and is luckily not limited anymore geographically or in any other way.

Hailing from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, Stranguliatorius is another one of those worthy entries in our everlasting, world-encompassing quest for all things filthy and deadly. No strangers on these pages, we have been visited by these death dealers before.

One of their previous albums got plenty of love here back in 2018, and deservedly so, with our editor calling the band “damned clever songwriters,” managing to concoct “a toxic brew of old school death metal, grindcore, doom, and d-beat crust”. Sounds good to me.

Now, I’ve been to Vilnius some years back and it really is a nice place, but there’s obviously something in the water, as they say, judging by the savage intensity on display. 

While some death metal bands have that distinctive stench arising from the decaying, rotten flesh with the imagery and riffs that go with it, some acquire a different perspective and put themselves in the role of the cold-blooded, flesh-cutting pathologist himself.

Sister, pass the scalpel, please.

Continue reading »

VOIDHÄMMER: “NOXIOUS EMISSIONS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jan 232026
 

(We have our contributor Chile to thank for the following vivid review of the debut demo from California’s Voidhämmer, which was released earlier this month by Caligari Records.)

Yes, the temperature outside is about to go down below -20°C or -4 on the Fahrenheit scale for all you non-followers of the International System of Units (which somehow makes it more tolerable on paper, just barely), and with spring thaw still months away, what better way to warm up than to fire up some filthy, rotting death metal.

You could argue that your everyday central heating would suffice, but nothing warms the heart and soul as hearing those riffs pounding down from your speakers and into your orifices. Newcomers in the Californian outfit of Voidhämmer, who are not really newcomers (see below), understand this very well and offer a variety of putrid riffs on their debut EP/demo Noxious Emissions. Continue reading »

ORACULUM: “HYBRIS DIVINA”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jan 202026
 

(Our contributor Chile (that’s his nickname, not his country of origin) has chosen to review the recently released debut album by the Chilean band Oraculum, recently released by Invictus Productions.)

If there is one truth about any given year when it comes to metal, it’s that we are constantly on the lookout for greatness. Sometimes it comes unexpectedly like a stranger in the night trying to pass us by in a dark alley, and other times it rams you head-on like a raging bull stomping over your mangled body.

You know already where we are going with this. Some bands are all about stomping and show us absolutely no mercy, which is also the reason why we appreciate them for that very feeling of might and strength. That is the story of Chile’s (the country) Oraculum. Continue reading »

BEZDAN: “UPON THE ALTAR”

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Jan 122026
 

(Our Norway-based contributor Chile has brought us his first review of 2026, and the subject is the long-awaited debut album by the Croatian extremists Bezdan.)

Where did the time go? Well, that’s not really a rhetorical question. Listmania 2025 started happening and the wheels just seemed to fell off my proverbial writing wagon, so the time mostly went with me pouring over all the published lists and scratching my head at how the hell did I miss this or that album. Nevertheless, as a wise man said once: “Metal is never late, nor is it early. It arrives precisely when it means to”. Or something like that.

As another wise man said once (or twice) on these very pages, it seems like we do spend a lot of our time here at NCS playing catch-up, so here we go once again. This review would have been better suited to have happened around the time of the actual release date of this album back in late November or at least early December, but time is relative anyway, as we are about to find out. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2025: A YEAR-END TOP 25 LIST FROM NCS WRITER CHILE

 LISTMANIA 2025  5 Responses »
Dec 192025
 

(Norway-based metal writer Chile joined our cadre roughly 13 months ago, a bit too late (or too soon) to participate in last year’s LISTMANIA orgy, but he does so this year with an excellent list of 25 albums that helped make 2025 a great year for metal.)

2025, eh? Bloody hell. We’ve felt the dissociation induced by the constant barrage of whatever was going wrong with the world on that particular day. We’ve felt the joy of new beginnings and the desperation of old wounds clawing at our serenity. We’ve felt compassion for the suffering of others, but were sometimes too helpless to act. There was 4 AM whiskey-soaked wisdom, there was bloody-knuckled politics.

We’ve made mistakes, and tried making some of them right again. Some by the grace of others, some we will take to our graves. The clouds passed by, and the days beneath them are passing still. We’re only human, after all. And in the midst of it all, there was the pure, thaumaturgical elation that metal brings to our lives and like all addictions compels us to come back for more. So here we are again. Continue reading »

ONIRIK: “CURLING SERPENTS UNDER STONE”

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Jul 012025
 

(Today we present a review by our Norway-based contributor Chile of a new album by the Portuguese black metal band Onirik, out now on I, Voidhanger Records.)

Imagination is a wonderful thing. As far as mind goes, it’s faster than the speed of light, stronger than a gravitational pull of a black hole, and can jump over mountains and oceans with a single leap. Without it, the world would be a completely different place and our lives much poorer, or as the great American author Henry David Thoreau put it: “This world is but a canvas to our imagination”.

With that said, we can all agree (well, we would) that out of all the music genres in existence today, metal is the one relying the most on imagination and the endless possibilities it brings. Merging influences, crossing the boundaries of genres, or just applying new formulas to old experiments are just but a taste of the wonders that metal can unleash on to the world.

So, finally coming to the point, let our imagination take us to that faraway land known as Portugal and to one of its premier black metal bands, Onirik. Forging the dark matter with vision and dedication, the band (or more precisely, Gonius Rex, the mastermind behind it) has been a purveyor of ritualistic celebrations for over twenty years now, with no sign of stopping soon. Continue reading »

BALMOG: “LAIO”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 052025
 

(In his review below, our Norway-based contributor Chile has some very nice things to say about the recently released fifth album by the Galician black metal band Balmog.)

Apart from being a generally well-conceived idea, black metal is also an excellently executed idea, evidenced by thousands if not tens of thousands of bands in existence. Bands coming from all four corners of the world, bringing their own cultural identities to the table and letting them shine through their music. Obviously, black metal being the subject, “shine” is maybe a bit misleading, but you get the idea.

All this makes life much easier for us reviewers, because you can pick any place on Earth, and you’ll find something interesting. Like our guests today, for example. Coming from the town of Soutomaior in the Spanish province of Galicia, Balmog is an undoubtedly interesting band, and also a very experienced one. With a career pushing on two decades, the band has been constantly releasing quality stuff and in good quantity too.  Continue reading »

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