AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WOLFBASTARD — “F.O.T.D”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 272026
 

(written by Islander)

Any year that brings us a new Wolfbastard record isn’t a complete failure, even a year like this one which is already turning into an abysmal beast — with 10 months left to go! In fact, the worse everything around us looks, the more fuel it adds to Wolfbastard’s fires.

Their newest release, arriving four years on from their third album Hammer The Bastards, tells you what’s coming right in the name: Satanic Scum Punks. And sure enough, it delivers a drunken brawl in Hell’s filthiest bar, where the denizens’ eyes are red, their teeth filed to points, and their blood-hunger ravenous. Get in, get fucked, or fuck off.

The song-names point the way too — such tracks as the opener “It’s Fucking Dark” (you can say that again), “Let the Bastards Burn”, “Blood on Steel”, “Drink for Hell”, “Fuck the Bastards”, and “Maniac Street Rats”. The name of the song whose video we’re premiering today — “F.O.T.D” — is a bit more obscure, but you’ll figure it out (it’s “Fuck Off Then Die!”). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BARBARIC OATH — “SWORD AND SORCERER”

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Feb 272026
 

(written by Islander)

The German duo Barbaric Oath made their truly barbaric debut with a three-song demo in 2024 accurately named Attack Attack Attack!, and on March 27th of this year they’ll have their debut EP Sword, Sorcery, Vengeance released by Caligari Records.

As you might guess from the EP’s title, the songs thematically focus on fantasy from ’70s and ’80s cult films, as well as role-playing games like Heroquest. But the music isn’t what most people would imagine as “sword and sorcery” metal. For example, it’s about as far away from power metal as you could get. Instead, it’s a gutting, gouging, thunderously bone-breaking, and vocally unhinged attack of blackened death metal — “a sound more akin to the likes of Finland’s Belial, Mythos, and early Bolt Thrower” (to quote from the PR materials).

What we’ve got for you today is the premiere of “Sword and Sorcerer”, the second song to be revealed from the EP so far — and it’s likely to get all your nerves firing on full auto. Continue reading »

VESSELES: “HOME”

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Feb 272026
 

(We present NCS writer Gonzo’s review of the debut album released in January by the California band Vesseles.)

A friend once made an interesting point to me about metal in general:

With some exceptions, metal is basically the modern-day equivalent of counterpoint.

It’s important to note that this friend wasn’t just spewing uninformed opinions—he’s a damn good guitarist and he’s released at least one equally good death metal record in the past few years. Also, it helps that I agree with his observation.

But as much as I could bore the shit out of you all about metal and its atavistic origins, this review isn’t about that.

Instead, I’m going to tell you about why California’s Vesseles is not only keenly aware of what they owe to classical music in their ambitious debut, Home, but also how deftly they wield it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MOROS — “CONSUMED BY AGONY”

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Feb 262026
 

(written by Islander)

We’ve been avidly following the Philadelphia-based extreme metal band Moros since the days of their first EP in 2016, and now we reconnect with them because in March they will release their second full-length, aptly titled Cemetery Hallucinations.

In its current configuration, Moros includes founding guitarist/vocalist Jay Dost, founding bassist and backing vocalist John Hauser, and drummer Mike Howard. Over time, their music has stylistically evolved, moving from punk-infused sludge to the kind of dreadful and damaging music encompassed by their last EP and even more so by this new album. To quote Jay Dost: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CRYPTWORM — “INFECTIOUS PATHOLOGICAL WASTE”

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Feb 262026
 

(written by Islander)

We have observed before that only in the musical realms of death metal are adjectives like “grotesque”, “disgusting”, “regurgitating”, “mutilating”, “rotten”, “foul”, “putrescent”, and “maggot ridden” considered words of praise. Try publicly excreting those words on the music of Taylor Swift or Luke Combs and see where that gets you. But those are among the descriptors discharged on behalf of Me Saco Un Ojo Records and Extremely Rotten Productions for the forthcoming third album by the UK filth-mongers Cryptworm, and they cause salivation around here instead of disgust and repulsion.

The name of the new album is Infectious Pathological Waste, a title that would also cause most surface-dwelling music consumers to run for the hills — and they would run sooner and faster if they caught a glimpse of the album’s colorfully horrific cover art. We, however, are more than ready to dive into this diseased effluvium, maybe involuntarily swallow some of it, and see what happens.

You can have a big gulp yourselves, through our premiere of the new album’s traumatizing title track. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: INVICTUS

 Interviews  No Responses »
Feb 262026
 

(In late January Me Saco Un Ojo and Memento Mori co-released a new album by the Japanese death metal band Invictus, and that led our contributor Zoltar to reach out for the following good interview with guitarist and vocalist Takehitopsy Seki.)

While the Japanese grind and death scene has granted us some of the wackiest, most disturbing bands over the last twenty-five years or so (we dare you to try to listen to GORE BEYOND NECROPSY or CATASEXUAL URGE MOTIVATION for 24 hours straight and not want to murder everyone), they also know a thing or two about recreating note-perfect tributes to their American elders. Unsurprisingly, the sound of the early ’90s Floridian mob left an obvious mark on many, including Nagano’s own INVICTUS, whose second album was released on vinyl by Me Saco Un Ojo and CD by Memento Mori.

This trio may be obvious MONSTROSITY fans but their extremely tight musicianship, powerful drive, and thrash leanings truly set them apart from the clone pack, and guitarist and vocalist Takehitopsy Seki does obviously know what the fuck he’s talking about, based on the following answers… Continue reading »

TRANSMISSIBILE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES — AN INFECTIOUS ADDENDUM PART 3 OF 3

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2025  No Responses »
Feb 252026
 

(We concluded the rollout of our 2025 Most Infectious Extreme Metal Song list at the end of January, but our South African contributor Vizzah Harri has prepared a three-part Addendum of infectious songs that weren’t included in our main list. The complete title of this Part 3 is: Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies – An infectious Addendum Part 3 of 3 (Shit’s about to get weird; BSL-4 entities + 1 bonus track).

 A lot of work goes into art. “Good art is that which brings meaning to reality. Creation is that what brings forth substance and truth.” A lot of us who look for new music become excited with new tones akin to being painted with colors imaginary, palettes that don’t yet exist. If that is all Leet-speak to you, then I’ll just say that you don’t need to fear this turning into the wheat and chessboard problem.

There’s one writer who perpetually fails to adhere to time constraints while jokingly asserting it’s nothing but a construct in this plagued rodent race. One that in aspirational pseudo-linguistical fashion was able to fool the underground in hacking his favorite metal blog by an enforced coup d’état on the infectious series 2 years ago. Sheeit, jokes aside, this is the infectious addendum nobody asked for (except for the fact that Islander has a Desert Eagle .50 pointed at my shiny head to get this shit done before the eschaton arrives). Here are the last infectious cuts you haven’t heard yet from last year. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HELA — “A REIGN TO CONQUER”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 252026
 

(written by Islander)

Almost six years after their previous album Vegvísir (November 2019), the Spanish doom metal band Hela have created a new album, A Reign To Conquer, that will be released on February 27th by Ardua Music and Tormo Records. Those six years were of course tremendously eventful in the life of the world (and tremendously disruptive), and Hela encountered their own internal challenges which delayed the completion of their newest work. But sometimes the struggle to overcome challenge leads to triumphs that smooth sailing never would have produced, and that’s true of A Reign To Conquer.

To be sure, as the labels rightly describe, Hela’s new album is still a voyage “through realms of shadow and sorrow” — a voyage that in some important respects will be familiar to fans of their preceding albums. But other changes will be noticeable. Among them is the appearance of Hela’s new vocalist, Raquel Navarro, and we should begin with her contributions as we start introducing our premiere stream of the new full-length today. Continue reading »

TRESPASSER – יְהִי אוֹר

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Feb 252026
 

(Andy Synn prepares to burn it all down again with the new album from Black Metal anarchists Trespasser)

Despite what you might think, I don’t necessarily have to agree with a band’s beliefs in order to enjoy and appreciate their music (the sheer number of Christian, Satanic, or otherwise religious bands I’ve written about and recommended over the years is testament to that).

Don’t get me wrong, there are certain ideologies, etc, I choose not to engage with or support – and that is very much my personal line to draw – but, for the most part, there’s just something about a band who truly believes in what they’re singing/screaming about which makes them far more engaging to me.

And, make no mistake about it, Swedish anarcho-philosophers Trespasser have never been afraid to wear their beliefs and ideals right out on their sleeves.

Continue reading »

THE ALGORITHM: “RECURSIVE INFINITY”

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Feb 252026
 

(Here’s DGR’s review of the latest album by Rémi Gallego in his guise as The Algorithm – a record released last November.)

Last of the 2025 releases

Sometimes you cover artists purely because you want to have some sort of written record that you can backtrack to in order to follow how your opinion of them over the years has changed. It is this approach that has led to me consistently covering French electronica-metal-adjacent act The Algorithm as it has gone through its many permutations since the early 2010s.

The brainchild of musician Rémi Gallego, The Algorithm has gone through a series of transformations, matamorphising over time upon different themes as heavy metal evolved and various electronica genres sprang into existence. Describing The Algorithm as being a creature of pure absorbtion would be reductive, but instead it is one that has seen new forms as Rémi has traveled the world of music. Some releases have been jarringly abrasive, others far more danceable. Occasionally The Algorithm has dipped heavily into a complete synth-heavy nightmare and other times it has been freewheeling in its painterly approach.

From album to album, it’s never been clear what to expect – sometimes that statement even works for remix-to-remix with other collaborators – and it wasn’t until the releases of Compiler Optimization Techniques and Data Renaissance that it had seemed like The Algorithm had grown into its own artistic shoes.

It is in this that I find myself covering The Algorithm over and over again: not only for a sort of personal attempt at archiving an opinion of an artist over the years but also to track how a project has changed, grown, and even matured in that same time. It is why, now almost two and a half months into 2026, I’m taking one last look into 2025 through the lens of a project that skates along the surface of metal without becoming a full-blown metal act, and why I find myself continually fascinated with the genre-blurring at play in The Algorithm’s late-November of 2025 release Recursive Infinity. Continue reading »

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