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

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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

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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.

Continue reading »

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.

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: WYRDSTÆF — “PRIMORDIAL BLOODLINES”

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Sep 162026
 

(written by Islander)

On September 4th of this year the Apocalyptic Witchcraft label released Primordial Bloodlines, the debut album from UK-based Wyrdstæf, a band whose music is described as “atmospheric blackened tribal metal band”, and what we have for you today is the premiere of an evocative lyric video for the album’s title song.

The inspiration for both the band and their first full-length is worth describing at length, because it provides important insights into what you’re about to see and hear. To do that, we’ll excerpt the following eloquent passages from the materials circulated by Apocalyptic Witchcraft: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CUTTERRED FLESH — “THE LETTER U”

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Sep 162026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we again find ourselves in the favored position of premiering a song from an album by the long-running Czech death metal band Cutterred Flesh.

We have done this twice before, for each of their two most recent albums before this newest one. The last time, three years ago, we praised “the band’s capacity for inflicting bombastic, mind-mauling, and terrifically brutalizing punishment, while also throwing in unexpected changes that keep listeners perched on their toes.” And lo and behold, they are doing that again.

The name of their new album is The Shapes of Hidden Malice, and it will be released by Transcending Obscurity Records on November 13th. Each song on the record represents a unique horror story inspired by classic authors. In the band’s words: “They dissect the mechanisms of fear and translate them into sound”.

The song we have for you today (the fourth single to be revealed so far) is “The Letter U“. Continue reading »

NOVAE MILITIAE: “APOCRYPHON OF THE UNBORN LIGHT”

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Sep 162026
 

(We present Daniel Barkasi’s enthusiastic review of a new album by the French black metal band Novae Militiae, which is set for release by Serpent Sun Records on September 18th.)

When it comes to conversations about the top-tier creators of black metal, there are certainly plenty of names that get thrown out. You’ll hear Misþryming and Darvaza come out of my mouth quite a bit, and we could absolutely throw out quite a list of bands that hit the proverbial spot, but that’s not the point.

Rather, a number exist that should get talked about far more often than they do. Today, that changes, at least for us, with Novae Militiae, the mysterious and dedicated French curators who have been strengthening with each subsequent release since their 2011 EP Affliction of the Divine. Having since unfurled two full-lengths of unmistakable quality since that fiery debut, the group has momentum on their side. Most recently, Topheth engulfed the senses with a monstrous, fierce quality that was coarse and oddly psychedelic in a raging sort of manner. An album which no doubt left an impression.

That was six years ago, however, and it’s been relatively quiet in their camp, until now. Aligning with the burgeoning Serpent Sun Records, who seemingly can’t release anything that’s less than stellar since their founding last year, they present us Apocryphon of the Unborn Light. To say the ascent continues is a gross understatement; this is a record of immense impetus and fuming intensity that aims to overwhelm to the point of the listener wondering what the hell just happened. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BONE EATER — “PARASITES OF DEAD EARTH”

 Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 152026
 

(written by Islander)

Bone Eater is a New Brunswick-based death/doom/sludge unit, led as a solo outing by the multi-instrumentalist Scott Miller. Formed in 2021, it takes its name from a worm that bores into the bones of rotting whale carcasses to feed off of them.

Bone Eater released its debut EP MMXXII in 2022. And now, on September 18th, Bone Eater will release its second EP, MMXXVI. This one will be compiled with the debut release and put out via Ancient Temple Recordings and Phage Tapes on vinyl and CD, and through Doomshire Tapes and Crypt Death Mortuary on tape.

The new EP is a two-song offering, but it’s a substantial one, with each song reaching beyond the 10-minute mark. The EP is also a devastating, take-no-prisoners destroyer, as you’ll begin to discover through our video premiere of its first song, “Parasites of Dead Earth“. Continue reading »

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