NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): S.C.R.A.M. — “COMA FILAMENT”

Sep 212026

(written by Islander)

Pranjal Tiwari, the Oakland-based creator behind the musical project S.C.R.A.M. (which stands for Safety Control Rod Axe Man), was inspired to create S.C.R.A.M.’s new album Coma Filament by a single image — a ghost ship encountered in the outer reaches of space light years away from where any human has been before. He named the album for a galaxy thread that forms part of the Coma Wall, one of the largest known superstructures in the observable universe. And he created the music as an answer to the question, “What if Andrei Tarkovsky had directed the first Alien movie?”

If you’re a fan of science fiction, and more specifically of tales of horrors encountered in deep space, then you should be quite intrigued at this point. If you’ve actually seen Tarkovsky’s 1972 Soviet science fiction and psychological horror film Solaris, based on Stanisław Lem’s 1961 novel of the same title, then you’re even more excited. I certainly was, because in this writer’s humble opinion that’s one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, based on one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written.

To be clear, Coma Filament isn’t a re-telling of Alien or any other single literary narrative. The idea of what might have resulted if Tarkovsky had directed Alien is more about what kind of soundtrack would best suit such a movie, and more broadly what kind of listening experience would evoke the physical and psychological pressures of a journey through deep space and the terrors we imagine might be encountered there, with Tarkovsky acting as the muse.

We have Pranjal Tiwari’s answers to these questions today through our full streaming premiere of Coma Filament in advance of its release this Wednesday, September 23rd, the Fall Equinox. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE CRAWLING — “A SONG TO NURSE THE SICKNESS”

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Sep 212026

(written by Islander)

Within the dark domains of death/doom Northern Ireland’s The Crawling hold a special place for this writer and others at our nefarious site. Their music is not comfortable, because they have devoted themselves to renderings of “lonely desolation, bleak truths and never healing wounds of loss and regret” (not our words, but they speak accurately), yet their records have been so powerful on both a raw sonic level and emotionally that they stand out, and we go back to them.

We’re three years on from The Crawling’s last album of new music, All of This for Nothing, and soon we will have something more from them, a new two-song EP named What We Leave Behind (they also released a fantastic live album this past January, which you can find here).

What we have for you today is an exceptionally well-made video for the first of these two tracks, “A Song To Nurse The Sickness“, and while we will of course share our own thoughts about it, we’ll turn back to the previously quoted press materials for their own evocative introduction: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: POLDERHAAT, BONJOUR TRISTESSE, SERPENT, ÜBERCHRIIST

SHADES OF BLACK 2 Responses »

Sep 202026

(written by Islander)

This collection of recommended music will be much shorter than yesterday’s. We’ve got a visitor coming to the house any minute now, and after that I’ll be heading across Puget Sound to join friends in watching our beloved Seahawks play another team named for a bird, one that wouldn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell if an actual osprey decided to mess with it in the avian world, but this being a football game in which a star player might get butt-hurt right away, as one of ours literally did in the first series of the Hawks’ opening game, you never know.

Now that I’ve made my excuses, on we go…. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: ARCHITECT OF SETH, CLØUDY SKIES, DUMAL, DUNGEON SERPENT, IMMORTAL DISSOLVER, MESSE DE MINUIT, OUTER HEAVEN, TEMPLE OF VOID, VELNIAS, WITCH RIPPER

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

Sep 192026

(written by Islander)

It has been quite a while since I’ve done this, 92 days to be precise — “this” being to use the OVERFLOWING STREAMS banner for one of these Saturday roundups instead of the usual SEEN AND HEARD. I don’t have a precise dividing line between them, it’s more of a gut feel, but my gut tells me that 10 selections is an overflow.

Beyond using the different banner name for collections of this size, I also dispense with the time required to download, upload, and re-size album art, and I put the release info in lists instead of sentences. I also had delusions of trying to be a bit more concise in my comments about the songs and videos, too, but for the most part I didn’t succeed.

I also didn’t spend time trying to figure out a flow for the music, a sequencing that would generate either companionability or stark contrasts among the songs (or both), but instead put everything in alphabetical order by band name.

The objective of all this was to be more efficient with the time I’ve got this morning so I can include more instead of less. In some settings less can be more, but not today. Continue reading »

NORTHWEST TERROR FEST 2027: FIRST LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT AND TICKETS ON SALE

Metal News 2 Responses »

Sep 182026

(written by Islander)

As you know by now (or damned well should!), No Clean Singing is the chief sponsor of Seattle-based Northwest Terror Fest. Since the first year of the fest in 2017 we’ve been supporting the event in a variety of ways, including our core cadre of writers lending their brains and brawn (but mainly brawn) to the three days of music before and after doors open. We are very proud to be NWTF’s main sponsor again for the next edition of the fest on May 6-8, 2027.

Today NWTF has officially announced the first wave of bands confirmed to perform next year, and you can see those 19 names on the poster above. It’s a hell of a roster, and more great names are yet to come. In addition, NWTF launched Early Bird sales of full-festival passes yesterday at a discounted price. Those passes were first offered only to people who had subscribed to the NWTF e-mail newsletter, and they sold out quickly even though we hadn’t announced any of the bands.

Another round of full-price festival passes goes on sale today at 10 a.m. Pacific Time at this location:

http://tinyurl.com/nwtf2027

This round of 3-Day passes is being offered at the lowest price you’ll see for the full weekend (aside from the already-gone Early Bird round). Quantities are limited, and once this allotment evaporates the fest will release a second round of 3-Day passes at a higher price.

Now, for a few more details: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HAINTGROVE — “KINGDOMS IN THE THICKET”

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Sep 182026

(written by Islander)

Once again, and for the third time since mid-June, we’re connecting you to the powerful music and words of the Texas-based black metal band Haintgrove.

The first occasion concerned the project’s debut single, “Starless Passage“, which served as the opening chapter to a larger concept centered on the experiences of enslaved Africans in the colonial South, a concept that approaches the subject “through atmosphere, landscape, memory, and emotional perspective”.

The second occasion, in August, was our premiere of Haintgrove’s second single, “I Dream in a Tongue I Cannot Speak“, along with a beautiful yet desolate video that Haintgrove filmed along the coast of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

And now we’re premiering a third song, “Kingdoms in the Thicket“, which sheds more light on Haintgrove’s inspirations, and specifically the role that the Lowcountry plays in those inspirations. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ADVERSOR — “SHATTERED VISIONS”

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Sep 182026

(written by Islander)

“[M]erging the ferocious thrash attack of prime Kreator with the soaring melodies of Nevermore and Vektor.” That’s a very quick introduction to the sound of the Italian band Adversor and their forthcoming fourth album This Mortal Coil, which is set for release on November 6th by Selvajaria Records.

But we have a more direct representation of Adversor’s new music for you today through our premiere of a song off the new album called “Shattered Visions“, and a pulse-racing video to go along with it. Continue reading »

PLÈVRE – CITÉ MOUROIR

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 172026

(Andy Synn takes a journey through a dying city with France’s Plèvre)

This… is not the review I was supposed to be posting today.

No, that review will now be coming next week, due to the fact that – just as I was coming to the end of the writing process – I was approached by one of my contacts with an offer for an exclusive premiere for that very same album that I/we simply couldn’t refuse.

Of course, this left me with something of a dilemma… what was I going to write about for today instead?

Thankfully my ever-expanding “to do” list furnished me with numerous options, some of which I’ll hopefully still be able to get to after this (even if only as part of my regular “Things You May Have Missed” round-up at the end of the month), with the fascinatingly dark debut from French Post-Black foursome Plèvre (which comes out tomorrow) ultimately demanding my attention (and, hopefully, yours) the most.

AN NCS PREMIERE: ORB (OCCULT RENEGADE BASTARDS) — “FIRST FROST”

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Sep 172026

(written by Islander)

Today we help spread the word about a new Philadelphia-based band — a new band, but formed by people who aren’t newcomers to heavy music. The name of the band is ORB (which stands for Occult Renegade Bastards), and it’s the joint effort of vocalist Lord Gourd (aka Lord Klauf from Morgul Blade) and Jim Viola (also from Morgul Blade, and a member of Wild Beyond) on guitars, bass and keyboards. On their debut album they were joined by session drummer Miles Ziskind.

That album, Supernatural Season, is a fitting celebration of the time of year we’re about to enter here in the northern hemisphere. As the band describe, it’s “A veneration to all that is autumnal, nocturnal, and supernatural” — a journey into “the Land of Forever Autumn”.

Of course, as you can already tell from the album’s cover art and those references to nocturnal and supernatural happenings, the album is especially suited to a particular night that lies ahead of us in October, and its October 23 release date will make it available in time for that parting of the veils that will occur on October 31st.

As for what ORB’s music sounds like, we have an example in our premiere today of its second single, “First Frost“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ILLWIND

Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews No Responses »

Sep 172026

(This past July Personal Records released a fine debut album [for which we did a premiere] by the Peruvian band Illwind, whose lineup was forged from members of some top South American bands such as Reino Ermitaño, Cobra, Arcada, and Argul. The album provided the impetus for our Comrade Aleks to re-connect with Illwind’s Marcos Koifman, and that produced the following excellent interview with him.)

About 10-15 years ago, the Peruvian band Reino Ermitaño was well-known to doom metal fans. The aesthetics of shamanic rituals, textured riffs, subtle psychedelia, bassist Marcos Koifman’s expressive artwork, and Tanya Duarte’s vocals among other features set the band apart from their contemporaries. Reino Ermitaño was disbanded, and its members joined new outfits, yet Marcos Koifman made his manifest only now with the new doom-act Illwind.

From the ten-minute heroic doom metal anthem “Crimson Skies”, and the down-to-earth “Wanderer” or “Portal,” to the droning stoner-armored “God of Sleep” and the hypnotic “Lucifer’s Mule”, Illwind proves their intention to make something special and refreshing for the underground Doom Cult. It was a proper reason to interview Marcos, as Illwind’s debut album The Unfolding at the End of Light did not go unnoticed for both NCS co-writers and dedicated readers.

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