NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MALAURIU

Mar 312026

(Today we follow up yesterday’s NCS premiere of Malauriu’s new album The Third Nail with this interview by Comrade Aleks of bandmembers Schizoid and RM.)

Malauriu (“Bad Omen”) was formed in Sicily in 2013. The band’s lineup has changed several times, fitting its anarchic black metal image. Today, all of Malauriu’s members have relocated to the UK, and the only remaining original member is guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist Schizoid. Having recorded two full-length albums, five EPs, and participated in nearly ten splits, Malauriu have prepared their third major effort, aptly titled The Third Nail.

The album’s cover, which depicts a unique scene from a Sicilian religious festival, is undoubtedly a highlight, but for a more complete picture, check out the tracklist, which includes a cover of GG Allin’s “Abuse Myself, I Wanna Die,” featuring the growl of the monstrous Mentors’ founder Dr. Heathen Scum. This unbridled ode to self-destruction is delivered with a distinctive, unbridled punk drive and extreme vocals, and its lyrical content, as well as its destructive delivery, generally matches the spirit of the album. Fueled by nihilism and prickly malice, the blackened “Death Celebration,” “The Curse of All Flesh,” and “Empowerment Rites”, or the slower, dense, textured “Purple Ceremony” grant everything you may expect from the songs with such names.

In order to reveal some details behind The Third Nail’s production, we organized this interview with Schizoid himself and the band’s vocalist RM. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 312026

(Andy Synn presents the first of two articles covering some of the many things he missed in March)

There were just SO many releases during March that I wanted, but didn’t have time, to cover, that you’re getting two “Things You May Have Missed” articles this week, rather than the usual one.

Of course, even with twice the usual number of entries I’m still having to leave a horrifying number of bands on the proverbial cutting room floor, and some (but not all) of the bands also considered for this article include Bedrängnis, Circle Back, Deadnate, Egocide, Funeral Pile, Mammon’s Throne, Mariner, Poison the Well, and Teratoma… with many more still on the short-list for the next article as well.

I’ve also got another edition of The Synn Report to somehow squeeze in before then too, so I’d better stop wasting time with this preamble and get to the music, which once again features a quartet of bands, all from different genres, that I would take it as a personal favour if you all checked them out.

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE GREAT OBSERVER — “SENTENCED AT HIGH NOON”

Premieres No Responses »

Mar 312026

(written by Islander)

The Italian band The Great Observer developed serious ambitions for delving into profound subjects after they began coming together in Rome in 2021 — ambitions reflected in the choice of their name and the philosophers they drew upon for lyrical inspiration.

To express those ambitions in their music, they spent years working toward an alchemy of Mediterranean black metal (Mortuary Drape, Zemial) and early death/thrash (such as Canada’s Slaughter, Master, Order from Chaos). The results are now encompassed by a debut album named Loss of Transcendence that will be released on April 30th by Blackseed Productions.

We will share more details about what inspired the band, but first we’ll turn to the album track we’re premiering today — “Sentenced at High Noon“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEVENIAL VERDICT — “RITUALS OF IGNORANCE”

Premieres No Responses »

Mar 312026

(written by Islander)

Devenial Verdict’s new record could be considered a retrospective on a 20-year career, but also a reimagining of their past. As a reflection of that concept, the name of the record (which is a combination of two EPs) is Old Blood – Fresh Wounds. To explain, here’s this Finnish band’s statement about the record, which is now set for release by Transcending Obscurity on May 1st:

“This release celebrates the 20th anniversary of Devenial Verdict. We wanted to update some of our older songs on this EP; these songs mark some of the most important musical moments of us as a band. We have the first instances of dissonance in our music and the seeds of our melancholic and atmospheric leanings; we have brutal passages and rare instances of melody. It was really eye opening to realise that all the influences were there all along! Some of these songs have never been properly released and exist only as live videos captured at our shows.

“We wanted to add the Soulthirst EP to this release since 2026 marks the 10 year anniversary for that release. Soulthirst functions as the bridge between all of our older material and our current sound, which we fully unleashed on Ash Blind in 2022.”

What we have for you today is the premiere of the new album’s opening song, “Rituals of Ignorance“. According to a note at Metal-Archives, it was originally part of a four-song demo recorded in 2010 but never officially released. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MALAURIU — “THE THIRD NAIL”

Premieres No Responses »

Mar 302026

(written by Islander)

On April 3rd Adirondack Black Mass will release the third album by Malauriu, fittingly named The Third Nail (though we suspect that name has other meanings besides the fact that it’s the band’s third full-length). We’re giving it a big showcase, not only providing listeners a full stream today but also publishing an interview of Malauriu’s founder Schizoid and their vocalist RM tomorrow.

Those of you seeing the album’s cover art for the first time will likely be perplexed by how strange it is, and it’s worth sharing Schizoid’s explanation, because the cover image connects to the album’s lyrical themes, and indeed to the often macabre nature of the music. Here is an excerpt from the interview we’re publishing tomorrow: Continue reading »

IMMOLATION – DESCENT

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Mar 302026

(Andy Synn takes on the titans in Immolation for the start of a new week here at NCS)

One of the things we love doing here at NCS is pushing new and up-and-coming bands and helping them find their audience.

This, however, is not one of those times.

Because what we also love doing is celebrating seminal artists undergoing a well-deserved career-resurgence, and few bands deserve recognition in that regard more than Immolation.

THE DUSKFALL: “THE EVERLASTING SHADOWS”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Mar 302026

(This is DGR’s review of the first new album by The Duskfall in a dozen years. It was independently released earlier this month.)

There is no such thing as the phrase “did not have that on my bingo card for the year” when said bingo card has effectively been shot to shreds and has existed as confetti since mid-January. While loathe to make predictions for the year outside of trying to will albums into existence by virtue of bringing them up at end-of-year season, a lot of that has basically been a smoking hole in the ground and replaced with a lot of new band and genre explorations in its place.

While we aren’t unfamiliar with bands returning from hibernation at this site – we’ve had a few premieres over the years for groups taking another shot after a decade-plus away – there are times when albums you expected to happen or were even being hinted at just kind of don’t. For whatever reasons, the group will go silent, the assumption being that they’re basically done, so that upcoming album forever exists on a hard drive somewhere but otherwise won’t be seeing the light of day. Eventually the thought just leaves your recollection and a group’s standing catalogue becomes its cenotaph. This was the case with The Duskfall, who it seemed like might have quietly called it a day after five decent-to-great albums. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: DIMMU BORGIR, SHADOWSPAWN, THORIUM, TERROR, VEIL OMEGA, IVOIRE, SLEEPBOMB, BLOOD GRAVE

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Mar 282026

(written by Islander)

I took a break from NCS last weekend, a short vacation that led me to eastern Washington. That means I now have twice the usual number of new songs and videos sitting in front of me as I ponder what to feature today. But rather than try to go back and figure out what I might have done last Saturday, today I focused mainly on what surfaced within the realms of metal over just the last week. It was a lot, and so I’ve made this roundup a bit bigger than usual.

I’ve managed to pull out eight new songs, six of them accompanied by videos. I think they provide considerable variety, and I’ve arranged them in a way that made sense to me as I listened to everything. Of course, they’re also a reflection of the darkness inside my head these days.

Tonight I’m going to a retirement party for a close friend. She’s too young to be stopping work altogether, just closing one chapter in her life and starting a new one, but I still want to be there. Doubtless, it will keep me out late, with probably a three-hour round-trip on the travel alone. I don’t know if that will impact tomorrow’s SHADES OF BLACK column, but it might. Another reason why today’s collection is bigger than usual. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RIVERFLAME — “WHERE DRAGONS ONCE RULED”

Premieres 1 Response »

Mar 272026

(written by Islander)

“Riverflame were created in 2024 by members of Hail Spirit Noir, Ponte Del Diavolo, and OWLS.” That short announcement got my attention just as effectively as if it had been a meteor plowing into the house next door. Those other groups happen to be personal favorites, so there’s that, but the strong attraction also derives from curiosity about what these four musicians have done together.

What they’ve done is to record an album named Lunar Crusades that will be released on April 24th by code666/Aural Music. But what shape(s) does the music take? That’s hardly predictable, given the distinctively different nature of the music they’ve made in their other bands. The label provides some strong clues by describing the album as “a journey of epic medieval black metal atmospheres and neo-classical arrangements,” channeling “the spirit of Stormkeep, Summoning, and Dissection.”

Even more tangible clues were provided through the release of a song that shares the band’s name, and now we’re presenting more evidence through our premiere of the stunning album track “Where Dragons Once Ruled.” Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SAILLE — “CYCLE OF CYNICISM”

Premieres No Responses »

Mar 272026

(written by Islander)

Today we have a reminder for you — and, as you’ll see and hear, it’s not a subtle nudge or a polite whisper. The reminder is that the epic black metal band Saille (originally formed in Belgium but now a fully Netherlands-based group) released their sixth album Forebode last month through Non Serviam Records, and it’s one you really ought to check out if you haven’t already. The reminder takes the form of a new lyric video for the ravishing album track “Cycle of Cynicism” that we’re premiering today.

For those listeners who are new to Saille’s music, this latest album provides a great introduction. It includes four new songs, of which “Cycle of Cynicism” is one, but also a newly re-recorded version of “Haunter of The Dark” from their 2013 album Ritu and an extended classical version of “Eater of Worlds” from their 2014 album Eldritch, with additional instruments.

In addition, the physical edition of the album (unlike the digital version) includes three bonus tracks — live recordings, featuring a violinist, that were captured at Metal Méan Festival and Graspop Metal Meeting.

And now… onward to the new lyric video for “Cycle of Cynicism“. Continue reading »

Older Entries