AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PAARA — “KYLMÄÄN KYLÄÄN”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 292026
 

(written by Islander)

We have a very unusual song for you in this premiere, one that will carry listeners through a variety of sensations and musical traditions (some much older than others), and one whose head-spinning and heart-pounding experiences are vitally connected to the band’s inspirations and ambitions for the album that includes it.

That album, Laulut tulen ja jään, is the third full-length from the Finnish band Paara, and it will be released by the Dusktone label on October 30th. Once again, it reflects Paara’s sense of place and of history, vitally connected to the brutal yet beautiful landscapes of the cold North they call home and the dark myths spawned there, but the album has other meanings as well, as Paara explain:

Laulut tulen ja jään is an allegory for death, depression and loss. In simplicity it’s a hero’s journey – war breaks, our hero needs to end the suffering and heads out to face death in the underworld. The album paints a dark picture of this mythic North with gods of old. You could also say that the album is esoteric, because it’s filled with hidden meanings, mythology and folktales. So, it’s more complex than what it first seems. It beckons for the listener to come back and dig deeper.

What we have for you today is the premiere of a Finnish-language lyric video for a song from the new album nbamed “Kylmään kylään“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: URNA — “DREAM DEATH, TOWARDS REBIRTH”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 292026
 

(written by Islander)

On October 16th ATMF will release a new album named The Great Jihad by the Italian esoteric extreme metal band Urna. It is Urna’s fifth album since the band’s inception in 2003 but their first one since ATMF released Mors Principium Est thirteen years ago. Obviously, Urna’s creation of the new album has been quite a journey, especially since early demos for songs on the new album were already taking shape in the early period after the last album’s release. We’re further told that the album was recoded through multiple sessions between 2014 and 2025, across Italy and the United Kingdom.

Urna’s lineup for The Great Jihad is a new one. In addition to founders RM and MZ it includes Sibilans (Anamnesi, Simulacro) on drums and T (Sangue Nero) on bass. It is also the first Urna album with lyrics entirely in English (with the exception of their 2003 debut Justa Funebria, originally performed in Italian, the band’s releases have traditionally employed Latin).

The album also has an unusual and deeply thought-out conceptual perspective, one summarized as follows:

In esoteric and mystical Islamic traditions (such as Sufism), the phrase “The Greater Jihad” (Jihad al-Nafs) refers strictly to the internal spiritual battle—the struggle against one’s own base desires, ego, and illusions to purify the heart and align with the divine. The entire record has been framed around this concept, defining RM’s continuous internal spiritual journey through Hermetic philosophy, Kabbalah, Buddism, and more.

The music has also evolved, and we have a striking example of that evolution in the album track we’re premiering today, “Dream Death, Towards Rebirth“. Continue reading »

SPIRIT POSSESSION – CATHEDRAL SPEECH

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 292026
 

(Andy Synn prepares to worship at the altar of Spirit Possession, whose new album is out on Friday)

Allow me to begin this review with a semi-spoiler, if I may?

Because, if nothing changes between now and December, there’s a very high likelihood that Spirit Possession‘s third album will be taking one of the highly-coveted slots in this year’s “Critical Top Ten”.

But, then, something like that has been on the cards for the Portland-based pairing of Steve Peacock (vocals/guitar) and Ash Spungin (drums) ever since their self-titled 2020 debut, with the subsequent release of 2023’s stunning Of the Sign… only serving to expose even more people to the band’s riveting and instantly recognisable blend of frenzied, finger-picked riffage and equally frenetic, effortlessly fluid, drum work.

And now, with the imminent release of Cathedral Speech, it feels as though the dynamic duo are, finally, right on the verge of being accepted as true masters of the black arts.

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ASGRAUW — “CONFABULATIE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 282026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we are most happy to renew your acquaintance with the Dutch black metal band Asgrauw, a member of the Zwotte Kring circle whose music we’ve enthusiastically covered since the fall of 2017. Although their recording history precedes our discovery of them back then, we’ve been playing close attention ever since.

Following relatively soon on the heels of their sixth album Oorsprong, which was discharged in 2024, Asgrauw have a new album for us this year. Its name is Solips, and it will be released by a collective of labels on different formats (we have details at the end of this feature).

The music of Asgrauw has always been lyrically thought-provoking, and their changing lyrical interests haven’t been predictable. One of their labels sums up the subject matter of the new album this way:

Seven albums in, and Asgrauw still doesn’t give a damn about your expectations. Solips is a reckoning, a brutal, unflinching dive into the abyss of perception. You want answers? You’ll get questions. You want comfort? You’ll get the cold, unyielding truth: reality is yours alone to define…. Doubt everything. Question everything. Solips is here.

As an example of what Solips delivers, today we’re premiering a video for a song called “Confabulatie“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARMORY — “PILLARS OF FIRE”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 282026
 

(written by Islander)

“Can you take some clean singing with some sci-fi shred?” That’s the quick pitch I received for this premiere from the publicist for Dying Victims Productions. Prudence would have dictated that I listen before responding, but Dying Victims hasn’t steered me wrong, even if the steering (stylistically speaking) is kind of like what’s required for Formula 1 drivers racing through metropolises, so I immediately said yes, with fingers crossed that it wouldn’t be a mistake.

The reference to “sci-fi shred” was appealing, and so was the branding of Armory’s new album Echoes of the Astrolith as a “speed metal U.F.O.”. But while the name of our site is a bit tongue-in-cheek, not all the tongue is in the cheek. At least in the case of this writer, it’s more serious than joking. So, what had I gotten myself into? What are you about to get yourself into? Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: IRREVERSIBLE MECHANISM

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Sep 272026
 

(written by Islander)

As you can see, I have the music of only one band for you today, and only one of their songs rather than a complete release. This is because I have to leave my home and the virtual world (two different places, it may surprise you to know) very early today and didn’t have time to make a head-start yesterday.

I’m again venturing across Puget Sound to join friends for the viewing of a football game featuring our beloved home team. Due to time zone differences the game has an early start, which means I’ll have to decide what kind of alcohol would go best with breakfast, to calm the nerves, which will get jangly even though our team is heavily favored to win the game.

I thought about not posting even this very brief piece, but concluded that I had (barely) enough time for what you’re now about to hear (and perhaps read). The thought of leaving a void for even one day around here bothers me, as does the void that the future will leave as its final gift. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: SERPENT SKIES, DREAM UNENDING, SHEVILS, FIMIR, APOTHECARY, HAGEL, SQUAMATA, MAGEC

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 262026
 

(written by Islander)

As you can see, I had time to beef up this roundup. Though why we talk about enlarging things as beefing them up, I don’t know. Photos of gigantic pumpkins are circulating this time of year, and to get sea-borne we could also suggest that you’ll have a whale of a time, just like Jonah did. Or like the black mold that rapidly covers your bathroom crevices, we can say that we’ve broken the mold of the usual 4-6 songs today.

Anyway, there’s a lot here, seven songs from forthcoming albums and one complete release that will knock you down, burn you down, and leave whatever’s left moaning for help.

I also arranged these things, as I often enjoy doing, to prevent you from getting settled into any kind of comfortable flow, but instead to experience a loss of balance and perhaps even a jolt of whiplash. I’m just trying to model modern life. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): METALADIAN — “DEADITATION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 252026
 

(written by Islander)

The premiere we’re about to present is an unusual one in several respects. For one thing, the music isn’t brand new — it is an album named Deaditation that was released by the Canadian band Metaladian this past July — but the video is new, and it is a rare lyric video that takes listeners through the entire record. That makes sense, because the album itself presents a complete narrative arc — “an immersive descent into pain, revenge, and ultimately redemption….”

The premiere is unusual in other respects, mainly because of interesting details about the band’s lineup and history. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FLESHCRAWL

 Interviews  No Responses »
Sep 252026
 


Photo Credit: Christian Sobeck

(The lineage of the German death metal band Fleshcrawl is a long one, with its founding dating back to 1987, but the band persists — their new album Epitome of Carnage was released last June. Our Comrade Aleks interviewed Fleshcrawl guitarist Apu Justin Reisch close to that release date for another publication, and we present it here for the first time in English.)

In 2027, the ferocious Bavarian death metal outfit Fleshcrawl will turn 40! Naturally, the lineup has undergone numerous changes over the years; and only the drummer (and backing vocalist) Bastian Herzog represents nowadays the band’s original lineup, which makes the situation surrounding their new release, Epitome of Carnage, all the more intriguing.

Vocalist Sven Gross had been a long-standing member of the band as well, but he lost his battle with cancer tragically in 2021. Since that year Boris “The Savage” Sharafudinov performs vocals, while guitarists Christian Kalbrecht and Apu Justin Reisch joined Fleshcrawl one year earlier in 2020. And it’s good to mention bassist Manuel Markowski, who has been on board already for 15 years.

So given such turnover, it is remarkable that the group has managed to revive and faithfully capture the spirit of the original Fleshcrawl—complete with its old-school charm, massive, churning power, and infernal delivery. Continue reading »

ASTRAL ALCHEMY — WEAVING CHILLING MAGICAL DREAMWORLDS

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 252026
 

(After a hiatus since last spring our South African contributor Vizzah Harri has returned with his review of a debut album by the New York band Astral Alchemy, which was released this past June by Naturmacht Productions. As is often the case, the music prompted thoughts that led him off in many unpredictable directions, in addition to noting just how many happy boxes it checks.)

You click on the cover that has the purple on it.

This is a clear sign that it will be a certain form of black metal par excellence … Continue reading »

 Older Entries