AN NCS PREMIERE: PYRE OF DESCENT — “LOVE’S SOMBRE DEATH”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 272026
 

(written by Islander)

In early 2020 we hosted the premiere of a thought-provoking debut EP by the Berlin-based band Pyre of Descent. Later that same year they released another EP (Love’s Sombre Death), and now they have a debut album named Albedo that’s headed for release by two labels and the band this coming September.

The new album is described by one of those labels as “a mature form of occult/dark rock with some post-punk and gothic sensibilities, somewhere at the intersection of Fields of the Nephilim, The Devil’s Blood, and Aluk Todolo.” Based on that description alone, you can guess that it’s a fork in the road leading away from many of our usual beaten paths here, though not entirely divergent (as you will see).

One song from the album has been revealed already, and today we premiere a second one, “Love’s Sombre Death (Canto II)“. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DARK PLAGUE, PYRE OF DESCENT, LA BESTIA DE GEVAUDAN, MATAVITATAU, SPIRIT POSSESSION, SKELETAL SERPENT

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Aug 142026
 

(written by Islander)

As many of you will know, I usually post a column at NCS on Sundays with recommendations in the expanding orbit of black metal. I wasn’t able to do that last Sunday due to leaving home on the early side of the day for what turned out to be a cool birthday celebration in a forest for a friend. I had made some choices for the column by then, and wanted to carry through with them whenever I could this week, while adding a couple of songs I’ve discovered since last weekend.

But it took me nearly all week to get this finished. It comes to you on another day when I’m about to depart from home and computer for most of the day; I have a ridiculously early start on a journey to the Seattle airport for a long weekend vacation. I’m doubtful that I’ll be able to assemble the usual new-music roundups for this coming Saturday and Sunday, but we shall see.

In the collection you’re now looking at I’ve interwoven an album, an EP, and four singles. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): PYRE OF DESCENT — “PEAKS OF ETERNAL LIGHT”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  2 Responses »
Feb 172020
 

 

Crystalline notes echo across incorporeal spheres, soulful arpeggios ring out and reverberate, back-beats rock from the kit as a vibrant bass punches the pulse, the melody soars like an anthem, dour vocals present a gothic haunting gloom and turn to scarred howls, and spiraling guitar solos scintillate the senses. “Fyre” is a compulsive rocker, irresistible in its rhythms, but in its ethereal, chiming melodies it seems like a musical spell woven with threads made of light.

“Fyre” is the first song presented on the debut EP of the Berlin-based band, Pyre of Descent, and it makes for an enthralling introduction to Peaks Of Eternal Light, which will be released on February 24th by the Italian label Terror From Hell Records. But as compelling as that song is, the remaining three tracks are equally seductive, and equally aimed at transcendental goals — as you shall discover through our stream of the entire EP today.

Not for naught does TFH Records describe it as “31 minutes of enigmatic grace paired with sorrowful tension”, and not for naught do Pyre of Descent introduce their creations in these words: Continue reading »