AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SOLNEGRE — “IN THE STILLNESS OF THE WOMB (THE SOLIS EXTINCTIO SESSIONS / LIVE FROM DIORAMA SOUND)”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 102026
 

(written by Islander)

The Spanish band SolNegre first seized our attention here through their release in 2024 of a single song named Annihilation of the Self, which extended for more than 21 minutes. Our reviewer called it “a veritable odyssey of expressive, expansive, atmosphere-heavy Death Doom rich in both metallic weight and melodic depth”, “at times mournfully minimalist and melancholy, at others morbidly heavy (and not afraid to crank up the Death Metal influences)”.

SolNegre followed that last April with their second album, Anthems of the Grand Collapse, and that seized our attention too. Our review praised it as “[e]asily one of the best Doom (or Doom-related) albums of the year, possessing a scintillating sense of grandeur and a vivid artistic vision thoroughly befitting the similarly epic and evocative artwork that adorns its cover” — “a heavy album – both musically and emotionally – [but] also an album of surprising variety”.

However, along with bringing the triumph of that album, 2026 has proven to be a year of heartbreaking tragedy for SolNegre, an unexpected tragedy that occurred just before the live recording of the song and video we’re bringing you today. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 052026
 

(Andy Synn has six stellar recommendations for albums from last month to share with you)

It’s always difficult to pick what bands I’m going to include in these monthly catch-up articles – I only have so much time, and so much space, I can give them, after all – but I’m pretty pleased with the variety of different styles on display across the six entries which make up today’s column.

That being said, if you’re still craving more new music from last month that you may have missed, I’d encourage you to also check out Astraya, Atlantic Ridge, Carrion Spring, Heiden, Maranatha, Sewer Altar, and The Saddest Landscape.

But first…

Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ATAVISTIA / HOLY BLADE / SOLNEGRE / TIDES OF ACCRETION

 SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Aug 222024
 

(Andy Synn recommends a quartet of short but sweet recent releases to check out)

We’ve featured a bunch of pretty big and/or up-and-coming bands this week – Spectral Wound, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Leprous – so maybe it’s time to shift focus back on some lesser-known names?

And since I also haven’t covered anywhere near enough EPs so far this year I was thinking… why not kill two metaphorical birds with one proverbial stone and write about a bunch of short-form releases that, perhaps, haven’t gotten enough attention?

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SOLNEGRE — “VESSEL PART I: THE NIGHT WITHIN”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 292023
 

We are premiering a powerful song in this feature, but we’re also doing much more than that. We’re introducing you to a new band (this is the first of their recorded music to be revealed); we’re presenting the new single’s cover art for the first time; and we’re sharing insights into what inspired the music, and news about what will be coming next.

The band is SOLNEGRE, from the Balearic Islands near the eastern coast of Spain. The band is new, but the members are not newcomers to heavy music. Indeed, the two founders have been bandmates since 1995 and members of the Doom Metal sextet Helevorn. They chose to part ways with that band but quickly re-united in this new project, later joined by two other performers, who also has extensive experience in underground metal.

They have taken their musical inspiration from the old school greats of Doom/Death metal from the ’90s, referring to such bands as My Dying Bride and and early Anathema and Opeth, and more recent comparative references might include the likes of Shape of Despair, Ahab, and Doom Vs.

SOLNEGRE have inked a deal with the Armenian label Funere for the release of their debut album this fall (which includes guest appearances), but in the meantime they will be releasing their first single on April 7th, a song named “Vessel Part I: The Night Within”, and that’s what we’re premiering today through a visualizer video. Continue reading »