AN NCS PREMIERE: CARCHARODON — “THE BALLS’ LAW”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Somehow, in our 16+ years of existence, today is the first time we’ve featured the music of the Italian band Carcharodon. It’s especially mystifying because the band’s discography includes four albums and a slew of shorter releases, and because the band’s genre-crossing music hits dead-center in some of our favored wheelhouses. In the case of the Carcharodon hellions, however, late is definitely better than never.

The occasion for us getting on board the Carcharodon road-hogs is the forthcoming September 26 release of their fifth album by Satanath Records. The name of the new album is Never On Your Side, and the song from that album which we’re bringing you today is “The Balls’ Law“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: FIMBUL WINTER — “WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT AT NIGHT”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 032026
 

(written by Islander)

Like many other ardent fans of melodic death metal, we were first drawn to Fimbul Winter last fall by the musical pedigrees of their lineup: The band was formed by Amon Amarth co-founders Anders Biazzi and Niko Kaukinen, along with longtime Amon Amarth drummer Fredrik Andersson, and they were joined by venomous vocalist Clint Williams (Munitions, Nemesium). And then Fimbul Winter’s music pulled us all the way in – first with a single called “Mounds of Stones” and then with a debut EP named What Once Was.

Our reviewer here called Fimbul Winter a “battle horde”, creating music on that EP that was “sharp and aggressive”, “pulling from a massive well of fiery and head-on aggressive guitar riffs”, making battle anthems but also loading them with earworms, and “injecting life into the sometimes staid waters of melodeath”. And we put that first single on our list of last year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs — though really any of the EP’s songs could have warranted that award.

Fortunately, that EP wasn’t a one-and-done effort. This past May Fimbul Winter released another terrific single (“Crowned In Ash“), and today they’re releasing a compelling new one called “When The Sun Comes Out At Night” — with Johan Lindstrand from The Crown joining them as a guest vocalist. We are most happy to share it with you today through our premiere of a lyric video for the song. Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: MONOLORD, ACID KING, MIZMOR – LIVE IN LOS ANGELES, JUNE 27, 2026

 Concert Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  No Responses »
Jul 032026
 

(Kyle Doerksen is a very good photographer of varied scenes and subjects, as you can see here. He also has a taste for metal, and that led him to The Regent Theater in Los Angeles last weekend to witness performances by Monolord, Acid King, and Mizmor. We are greateful that he sent us the following report on the show and his accompanying photos.)

I arrived way too early, as I had never taken photos at The Regent and wanted to get the lay of the land. The room is an old theater from 1914 that operated as a high-end film house, a grind house, and then the logical conclusion: an adult movie theater. The theater eventually shuttered in 2000 and reappeared in 2014 in its current form.

A corridor leads you to two sets of double doors that open into the main room, with a bar to the left and right. A flight of steps down to the sloped floor makes for great sightlines but an awkward pit. There is also a fairly sizable upstairs that hosts another bar, a VIP area, and some sort of makeshift bleacher seating.

After a quick loop, I settled in up front and patiently waited for the show to start. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: COMPLEXANT — “AFTERLIFE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 022026
 

(written by Islander)

The Australian band Complexant have been making a name for themselves in their home country since 2022 through tours in which they’ve shared the stage with such bands as Cryptopsy, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Defeated Sanity, Unearth, and Disentomb, and they’ve extended their music across international waters with a string of singles and a 2023 EP (A Rite of Passage). Complexant should draw a lot more attention both at home and abroad when Bleeding Art Collective release their debut album Apex later this month.

As the band’s music has evolved into what’s represented on Apex, they have drawn influence from bands such as Behemoth, Suffocation, Emperor, and Nile, focusing on an intersection of death and black metal that’s rightly described as “a sound defined by weight, darkness and unrelenting intensity”.

We have a very strong example of these qualities today in our premiere of a video for a song off Apex called “Afterlife“. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jul 022026
 

(Andy Synn wants you to check out these four albums you may have missed in June)

There’s an unfortunate “catch-22” involved in these “things you may have missed” columns… because while they’re important as away of catching you all up on, well, things you may have missed (the clue is in the title) they also take up time and energy that might otherwise be expended on upcoming albums instead.

Of course, while we do love getting advance promos here at NCS (hint, hint) a lot of what we do (well, a lot of what DGR and I do) is finding newly and/or recently released stuff and trying to signal boost it once it’s already out in the world, and right now there’s only a handful of albums in my extensive “to do” list that haven’t actually been released yet (though I’ve got one lined up for Monday that will definitely please any fans of ultra-heavy Metallic Hardcore among you).

So maybe I shouldn’t sweat it so much… maybe we’re always going to be playing catch-up and the thing to focus on is that getting the music into the right ears is more important than getting it out there in advance.

And in that spirit, here’s four from June (with another four to follow next week) that you might not have heard yet, all of whom focus on the darkest side of the metallic spectrum in one way or another.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HORRIFIER — “BODY HOARDER”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 022026
 

(written by Islander)

Maniacally savage and also macabre. A vicious killing spree, but trading off with chords of groaning menace and otherworldly agony. Ruthlessly bludgeoning but also parting interdimensional veils with melodies of hideous and haunting splendor.

Those were among our thoughts about the debut album from a group of young Norwegian marauders who took the name Horrifier, a record aptly titled Horrid Resurrection that Personal Records released in the fall of 2023. They are older now, of course, but the added years seem to have made them even madder, meaner, and more merciless, though no less proud in wearing the influence of such bands as Autopsy, Entombed, and Repulsion.

Those are some quick reactions to Horrifier’s forthcoming second album Revelations of Gore (another apt title), which is now set for international release by the same Personal Records on August 7th. We have a few deeper reactions to share along with our premiere today of a song called “Body Hoarder“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KHOLSTOMER — “FOREST”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 012026
 

(written by Islander)

One English dictionary defines “nuanced” as “something characterized by subtle shades, fine distinctions, or layered meanings.” The riffing in the very riff-centered song we’re now premiering is nuanced in all those ways, but it coheres in the creation of compelling dark moods.

The song, “Forest“, is one of seven encompassed by an album titled Elegy, which is the debut full-length from the American-Polish black metal band Kholstomer that’s set for co-release on August 15th by Satanath Records and Pagan Fury Records. The band was founded by James Oskarbski (Odious Spirit) and (as the labels say) “draws inspiration from literature, history, and the contradictions of human nature”. Elegy, for example, was “informed by reflections on Tolstoy’s view of mortality and war”:

“Drawing from the idea that history is shaped less by great individuals than by vast, impersonal forces beyond anyone’s command, Elegy finds both tragedy and transcendence in human limitation.”

As for the music, the labels recommend it for fans of Dawn, Mgła, Emperor, Woe, and Winterfylleth. But now let’s get to “Forest“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TORPOR — “ƉUNGEON ƉWELLERS”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  No Responses »
Jul 012026
 

(written by Islander)

We have devoted a lot of attention over the years to a UK band named Torpor, a point we mention because some of you may recall that coverage — and because the Torpor whose music you’re about to hear isn’t that band. But as you’re about to discover, although the names are the same, there’s no way anyone could confuse the music of the two groups.

Today’s Torpor is a Polish band originally formed in Warsaw under the prime influence of Bathory. They began making short releases in 2018, including a 2021 EP (The Ancient Tales), but now they’re primed for the release of a debut album by Dying Victims Productions on July 24th.

The new album, Ɖungeon Ɖescent, fully reveals the path they’ve been on. It could be considered “the idiosyncratic side of ancient heavy metal” or “swords & sorcery metal”, which are among the phrasings circulated on behalf of Dying Victims, but with spices of black metal in the mix; the classic Bathory influence still makes its mark too.

As a sign of what Ɖungeon Ɖescent presents, we’re premiering a thrilling album track named “Ɖungeon Ɖwellers“, one that creates an ancient atmosphere (swords and sorcery indeed) while getting listeners’ hearts pumping and leading them through a sequence of changing moods. And we’ll tell you right up-front that it features clean singing, which connects to the glorious old heavy metal traditions that this Torpor have embraced. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 196): TODOMAL

 THE SYNN REPORT  1 Response »
Jul 012026
 

Recommended for fans of: Moonspell, Anathema, Tiamat

I always try my best to ensure that each edition of The Synn Report is different from the last, in the sense that I never want to have too many Black Metal, or Death Metal, etc, entries in a row.

For example, so far this year we’ve had some maddeningly technical Death Metal brutality (Eximperitus), broodingly proggy Black Metal (Juodvarnis), genre-splicing Industrial Electro-Punk (Doodseskader), riff-heavy Death/Hardcore crossover (Black Breath), and gnarly blackened Sludge (Erdve), so today we’re continuing to keep things fresh by featuring the doomy romanticism of Spain’s Todomal (whose new album is out on Friday).

Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THORNS OF RUINS — “WICKED SOULS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jun 302026
 

(written by Islander)

Thorns of Ruins makes its first appearance in ours page today. It is the solo work of Thomas Aamodt, who is probably better known for his other project, the Norwegian black metal band Ildfar.

We’re informed that the idea for Thorns of Ruins started back in 2022 when some of the songs that would become Ildfar’s second album, Nattemørkets kall, did not fit within Ildfar’s universe. Rather than abandon them, Thorns of Ruins was formed – and since then Aamodt has strived to create even greater musical separation between the two projects.

That separation is now most evident in Thorns of Ruins’ second album, Stellar Reverence, which will be released on August 13th by a trio of labels — Satanath Records, Black Plague Records, and Pagan Fury Records.

The new music still shows its connections to black metal, but it also reaches across genre lines to create intersections with doom and death metal, and to craft melancholic, atmospheric, and melodic experiences. We have an example of how multi-faceted the music is, through our premiere of a lyric video for the song “Wicked Souls“. Continue reading »

 Older Entries