AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: FIMBUL WINTER — “WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT AT NIGHT”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Like many other ardent fans of melodic death metal, we were first drawn to Fimbul Winter last fall by the musical pedigrees of their lineup: The band was formed by Amon Amarth co-founders Anders Biazzi and Niko Kaukinen, along with longtime Amon Amarth drummer Fredrik Andersson, and they were joined by venomous vocalist Clint Williams (Munitions, Nemesium). And then Fimbul Winter’s music pulled us all the way in – first with a single called “Mounds of Stones” and then with a debut EP named What Once Was.

Our reviewer here called Fimbul Winter a “battle horde”, creating music on that EP that was “sharp and aggressive”, “pulling from a massive well of fiery and head-on aggressive guitar riffs”, making battle anthems but also loading them with earworms, and “injecting life into the sometimes staid waters of melodeath”. And we put that first single on our list of last year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs — though really any of the EP’s songs could have warranted that award.

Fortunately, that EP wasn’t a one-and-done effort. This past May Fimbul Winter released another terrific single (“Crowned In Ash“), and today they’re releasing a compelling new one called “When The Sun Comes Out At Night” — with Johan Lindstrand from The Crown joining them as a guest vocalist. We are most happy to share it with you today through our premiere of a lyric video for the song. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2025’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 11): RIVERS OF NIHIL, FIMBUL WINTER, GRAVETAKER

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2025  No Responses »
Jan 162026
 

(written by Islander)

After today there will be 10 days left to complete this series before I stop at the end of January (unless I panic and post a segment on a weekend). I’m guessing some of you are wondering when I’m going to include more of the 2025 songs you played most often, because I’m confident there’s no way we’ve hit everyone’s favorites so far — there’s just way too many good candidates out there. But I also suspect that this list is already serving as a reminder of that very fact.

My own mind has reached the boggled stage where I know I’m going to have to leave off a great many songs that really got their hooks in me (and you) last year. I also know I’m incapable of ranking the remaining candidates in any way that will make the decisions easier, even with 10 more installments to come after this one.

Well, I’ll leave those agonies for another day and focus instead on today’s trio of addictives tracks. Continue reading »

CLEARING THE SLATE PART III: THEMES FALL APART

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 112025
 

(This is the third Part of what projects to be four record-review collections by DGR — collections of multiple reviews that are shorter by his standards than what you usually see from him — all of them intended to clear his slate in preparation for his year-end lists to come.)

Just four albums after the shovelfuls of music you’ve been flinging at us already? What sort of madness is this?

At one point I swear I had a theme going for this particular grouping of albums. I cannot for the life of me remember what that theme was. I think at one point it was just me archiving September releases but that fell apart quick. The other was an attempt to cover bands that’ve been long-running but have somehow not found much footing here at the olde’ NCS cliff wall, but that too kind of hit a snag.

Finally, the ever-constant moving cogs of the metal machine assured that releases would shift back and forth and my review archive would soon resemble a crayon box after an attack by a toddler. An interesting swatch of color all splattered around places you don’t necessarily want them to be. Thus, as Part three of four, my inevitable “organization can get fucked” mindset finally kicks in. Ballast must be launched, otherwise this review boat is going down. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: EVEN IF WE LOSE, BELIEVE IN NOTHING, FIMBUL WINTER, JADE, HALLUCINATE, SPIRIT OF REBELLION, BINAH

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Oct 052025
 

(written by Islander)

I thought about deleting the placeholder post I made yesterday but then decided to leave it there so you can see the explanation for why this SEEN AND HEARD roundup arrives a day late. That way, I can get right to the music.

Sad to say, I don’t think I’ll be able to compile a SHADES OF BLACK feature today. Continue reading »