AN NCS PREMIERE: TSAR STANGRA — “TAGA ZA YUG”

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May 132026
 

(written by Islander)

We always relish the opportunity to brandish the paintings of Paolo Girardi across the top of our page, especially when his artwork adorns music that’s as noteworthy as the album we’re focusing on today.

That album, Химните на разрушените светове (Hymns of the Broken Worlds), is the second full-length from Цар Стангра (Tsar Stangra), a Bulgarian pagan black/folk metal project based in Quebec City, Canada, who have dedicated themselves to forging a fusion of extreme metal and Bulgarian ancestral tradition.

The band was originally founded as a solo project in 2007, evolved into a full band, and released their debut album Небесният ковач (The Heavenly Blacksmith) in 2017. Much time has obviously passed since then, but Tsar Stangra is at last ready to reveal new works through this second album, which is is set for release on July 1, 2026 — a date (they tell us) that is “symbolically aligned with the celebration of July Morning, freedom, and Rock And Roll.”

To help spread the word about the new record, today we’re premiering a rollicking yet also sinister track named “Taga za Yug“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FOURNIER — “CAST ADRIFT”

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May 132026
 

(written by Islander)

Today we help introduce the death-metal-addicted among you to a formidable new force — a New Zealand trio named Fournier, whose self-titled debut EP will be released next month by the also formidable Caligari Records.

We’re told that Fournier were inspired not only by pioneers such as Morbid Angel, Immolation, and Timeghoul but also by contemporary artists like Hyperdontia, Phrenelith, and Engulfed, and they harnessed those inspirations to create tense, violent, and overwhelmingly oppressive death metal.

Many of those inspirations shine through in the song from Fournier that we’re premiering today, an exhilarating marauder named “Cast Adrift“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GLOOMY GRIM — “BORN IN FIRE 2026”

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May 132026
 

(written by Islander)

This is a song premiere that requires historical context because it is a musical celebration and memorial by the bandmates and family of a man taken from the world too soon.

The history begins in 1995 in Finland when Agathon started the black metal band Gloomy Grim as his solo project. In time he gathered other musicians around him, and over the following decades Gloomy Grim released seven albums, assorted shorter works, and several compilation records.

Over that time Agathon (aka Ykä) also became a key figure in other groups, including Airdash, Soulgrind, Thy Serpent, and Corporal Punishment, and he also performed on recordings by Barathrum and Walhalla, among other bands.

Agathon passed away from cancer in 2022. A memorial concert has now been organized, and it will be held at the Hellsinki Metal Festival’s See You In Hell club Bar Loose on August 6, 2026.

But in addition to that, a group of labels will release an album called Gloomy & Grim: A Tribute To Agathon on June 6th — a date that would have been Agathon’s 58th birthday and is the 30th anniversary of the release of Gloomy Grim’s first demo.

The final song on that album is a re-recording of Gloomy Grim’s “Born In Fire“, and that’s the track we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

AVERSIO HUMANITATIS: “TO BECOME THE ENDLESS STATIC”

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May 132026
 

(We present Daniel Barkasi’s review of a new album by the Spanish black metal band Aversio Humanitatis, which is out now on Debemur Morti Productions.)

The question of why we dedicate so much time and energy to this music isn’t one that pops up into this writer’s brain often; to the initiated, there’s a plethora of reasons, of course. Once in a great while, a band or an album does serve as a stark reminder of what makes this boiling underbelly of audible chaos so very special.

Enter Spain’s Aversio Humanitatis, a band who have regularly been a part of my admittedly expansive rotation. Most notably with the release of 2020’s Behold the Silent Dwellers – an album that made these ears perk up immediately, like our dog Jericho when we’re making salads (yes, our good boy loves romaine lettuce). There’s a discordance woven into that album that keeps it off-kilter enough to satiate my hunger for music that doesn’t stick to pre-defined genre guardrails. Moreover, the innate skill to compose truly intriguing black metal that’s equally enraged and impetuous is a combination that’s irresistible.

Six years have passed, and Aversio Humanitatis finally returned with To Become the Endless Static in tow, their third full-length effort via the always reliable Debemur Morti Productions, who are on a hot streak unlike any other label in 2026 for this fellow’s money. What was in store was beyond whatever one’s imagination could devise. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: XENOSIS — “SEA OF TEETH”

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May 122026
 

(written by Islander)

We heartily welcome the return of Connecticut-based Xenosis, who will have their fifth album Hermetic Transmutation released by Transcending Obscurity Records on June 5th.

We also enjoy imagining the looks on people’s faces when they get their brains scrambled by the music. Brain-scrambling will likely occur even among listeners who got their heads spun and bodies bruised by the band’s last album, Paralleled Existence, in 2021 — because Xenosis have somehow managed to level up the madness.

As proof of that, we offer you today an album track named “Sea of Teeth“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TOOMS — “LOWLANDER”

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May 122026
 

(written by Islander)

The cover image on Tooms‘ new album Karst might make most people wonder about the musical direction this trio from the west of Ireland decided to follow over the years that have passed since their 2020 full-length debut, The Orb Offers Massive Signals. It doesn’t seem to match up with the band’s reputation for creating progressive sludge metal that delivers punishing heaviness and oppressive gloom, digging deep into the muck of life.

It might make a bit more sense in the context of what the press materials circulated on behalf of the band’s label Cursed Monk Records say about Karst, referring to the guitars’ “rich, snarling effervescence beneath a crust of dried blood and dirt” and the music’s “sense of life, in all its glorious, torturous, filthy, vivid vibrancy”.

But Tooms’ appreciation of life’s gritty vibrancy and their perception of beauty within it is clearly quite different from what’s represented in a floral arrangement. To understand that, listen to “Lowlander“, the song from Karst we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

EPIGRAM: “OBSOLESCENT”

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May 122026
 

(This is DGR’s review of the debut album from Epigram, the SoCal-based project of musician Luis Echevarria, who is accompanied on the album by drummer and additional vocalist Mikey Wilson.)

Believe it or not, the album you see before you here is not the first time we have reached across the expanse of the internet to discuss Southern California death metal group Epigram. While it is tempting to act as if we made it on the ground floor of their newest release Obsolescent, in actuality we spoke of the band way back in the horse-drawn cart days of 2017, briefly mentioning them among an absolute wall of releases in our year-end roundup, in the segment we dedicate to writing about all the EPs of the year.

Eight and a half years is a long time though, enough that we can cycle back around to the exact same dogshit world state – and the people running it – and yet the band themselves had, up until early March, been radio silent. Their re-emergence in early March with Obsolescent is – thanks to time – almost a relaunch of the band. With only an EP to their name before, it can seem as if the Los Angeles based crew are fresh faces on the scene, but surprisingly, even with that vast expanse of time between releases it sounds as if Epigram have taken the route of natural maturity on their previous sound as opposed to full-blown relaunch, creating blackened death metal with a very, very light symphonic touch that could easily have fought blow for blow with the mid-2010’s releases from Hour Of Penance like Paradogma and Sedition. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HALTER — “HOLOCAUST JACKALS”

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May 112026
 

(written by Islander)

Six years after their last album, the Russian band Halter are returning this month with a new full-length. Titled Another Strong Hand For A Damned Land, it’s set for co-release on May 25th by Symbol Of Domination (Moldova) and the Russian labels Wroth Emitter and Arx Productions.

It brings to the table old-school death/doom tinged with touches of sludge, stoner, and gothic metal. It was written and recorded during difficult times in Halter’s country, times marked by the Covid pandemic, the strengthening of a tyrannical regime, and of course the brutal war.

Unavoidably, all of those events affected the music and the lyrics. The labels tell us: “Lyrically, through profound symbolism, the songs are filled with the experiences of recent years, an anti-war message, a desire for freedom, and bitterness over the fate of people in the region.”

What we have for you today is the premiere of a video for an immediately infectious and powerfully moving track called “Holocaust Jackals“, which is powerful on multiple levels. Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES — VOLUME XXVII: A DREAM OF SPRING

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May 112026
 

(We present another monthly collection of reviews by Daniel Barkasi, who focuses his attention this time on albums released during April 2026.)

Spring – that lovely time when the cold goes away and I don’t need thermal undergarments to go outside. Alas, Mother Nature can’t seem to make up her mind – freezing one day, gorgeous the next. One day, we experienced the conditions of all four seasons in a single day. Those kinds of swings have been common all over – ask the poor iguanas in Florida – so we just have to push through it.

When titling this edition, yes, of course we’re parodying the A Song of Ice and Fire book series that’ll seemingly never finish, so with a lack of judgement in the humor department, this is where we landed. At least this column will be done before the next book comes out.

Also, totally unrelated – the horses are finally home! It’s good to have them back, and by the time we’re writing about May releases, we’ll hopefully be able to announce the arrival of our girl Naru’s foal.

The beginning of festival season is of course upon us, and NCS’s very own Northwest Terror Fest is literally days away as I write this. To all attending, have the absolute best time, and thanks for making it and this lovely place what it is. I’ll join the group someday. Maryland Deathfest follows, of course, with a lineup that’s difficult to imagine being real. For me, Fortress Festival immediately follows, so stay tuned for a documentation of my adventures in the town of Scarborough. Continue reading »

APOLAUSTIC: “NO PLENITUDE WITHOUT SUFFERING”

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May 112026
 

(We begin a new week at NCS with DGR’s review of the debut album from the Swiss band Apolaustic, which is out now on Transcending Obscurity Records.)

Often when a band splits with a long-tenured vocalist it can feel like the group have hard-capped themselves at about eighty percent of their potential. While the reasons why long-time vocalist Romain Negro stepped down from Swiss tech-death group Stortregn are likely out there, that sort of muckracking – while amusing – has never been something we’ve been too interested in here. Instead, we exist in a series of zeroes and ones: is person in band? is person not in band? and we roll from there.

Sometimes, lineup changes can even be refreshing; a new perspective can recharge a band. But when you have a creature created already so strong, it can feel a bit like you’ve hobbled yourself on both fronts. and the respective projects that form afterwards always land at “pretty good” but never the “spectacular” heights of old. Thankfully, Stortregn’s One Eternal release went far in assuring us that would not be the case and now we also have Apolaustic, a new solo effort from Romain Negro handling all of the songwriting and vocals while recruiting Nicolas Muller on drums and Merlin Bogado for bass and guitar work for an album that is not all too dissimilar from the high-speed extremity of Stortregn, except for the much, much larger taste for melodic black metal. The result is in an eight-song, forty-minute release entitled No Plenitude Without Suffering, and thankfully Apolaustic have also dodged the eighty-percent potential cap with an absolutely killer album. Continue reading »

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