NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FVNERAL FVKK — “INDECENT IDOLS”

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Oct 192026

(written by Islander)

We have been avidly following the towering epic doom progressions of Fvneral Fvkk since their first release in 2017 (the Lecherous Liturgies EP). In considering that EP, after first wondering whether it would be a serious undertaking in light of the band’s name, we wrote:

[T]his music is no joke. The largely mid-paced songs are really well-written, anchored by intensely seductive melodic hooks. They’re also plenty heavy, undergirded by a potent rhythm section (you can almost feel those drum strikes gradually cracking your skull like a car windshield crazing under the blows of baseball-sized hail). Compulsive headbanging is the order the day, except when it’s time to crawl like someone who’s suddenly lost the use of his legs, with an anvil on his back.

Apart from those sensations, the band’s lyrical themes further strengthened their appeal in these quarters. Although the music was presented with an often-ecclesiastical solemnity and grandeur, the band’s purpose was to expose and scorch the depravity of the clergy and the “black-robed pedophile ring” many of them have run under the auspices of the Church (to quote from this very interesting and highly informative 2020 interview at our site).

They continued that mission in their 2019 debut album Carnal Confessions, which our Andy Synn named to his year-end Critical Top Ten list, calling it “without a doubt one of the most brilliant albums of the year.”

Sadly, the band didn’t release any new music for quite a long time after that full-length debut. Happily, we now have a second album from them, this one named Indecent Idols. It will be released at the end of this week by Dying Victims Productions, but down below you’ll be able to stream the whole thing today. Continue reading »

BLACK MASK – VESTIGE OF MERCY

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Oct 192026

(Andy Synn has a thoroughly nasty new recommendation to share with you all today)

Music, for a lot of people anyway, can be an inspirational thing.

The new Cursebinder (reviewed here), for example, seeks to inspire the listener to reflect on the disaffected nature of the metropolitan age, while the latest slab of Deathcore destruction from To The Grave (also reviewed here) hopes to inspire both rage and disgust at the depradation of the modern meat industry.

And the debut album from Black Mask?

Well, that wants to inspire you to meet the violence of the world head on, with a violent reaction of your own.

BITTER LOSS: “THE FUTILE DREAM OF BEING”

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Oct 192026

(The Greek band Bitter Loss released their second album last April, and DGR has gotten around to reviewing it in the following paragraphs.)

Greece’s Bitter Loss is a band who have sat on the backburner for a little while, joining an honored class of groups who’ve not been done right by my personal gauge. Forever in a stasis of being promised a discussion but never quite reached even though they would’ve been fully deserving of their own articles were it not for life and work continually planting their foot on my throat. Thus the continued olive branch extension and attempt to make amends continues, and Bitter Loss’ album The Futile Dream Of Being deserves just as much spotlight as any other – even if in truncated form.

Thrash is a hard genre to quantify and write about these days given its existence being so integral to heavy metal’s cultural explosion over the years. As with many of the initial foundations of a music style, thrash can often feel as if it has been frozen in amber and evolution has long since sailed by – reducing it to a constantly repeating collection of tropes and circle-pit starters, sometimes entry level and otherwise unwilling to change without fearing the offense made to the old guard.

Obviously that isn’t the case, and as with any genre that has been around for a while it has splintered off into its own subfactions – some more fascinating than others in the sheer amount of musical virtuosity required – and many of those can be lively and vibrant even when it seems like the main umbrella is being held up by a collective of aging pillars sticking to what they know is best and true. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: INQUINAMENTUM, OBSCVRE SER, BOARHAMMER, LES BÂTARDES DU ROI

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Oct 182026

(written by Islander)

I’m beginning today’s collection with the same explanation I used in yesterday’s roundup, except I slept even longer and later last night than I did on Friday night. I may have done too good a job in convincing my restless mind to turn itself off overnight, because a big chunk of this morning had passed by before I could begin turning it on again.

The result is that this post is again appearing near mid-day in my time zone. The further result is that I’ve had to cut it back from what I had initially planned, or it would be appearing in the afternoon, and unfortunately I need that time to deal with other personal obligations before the new week launches tomorrow.

And so, this collection of songs is shorter than I wish it were, but I hope you’ll still get something pleasurable out of it. I certainly did. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: IRREVERSIBLE MECHANISM, DÄMMERUNG, KORPSESOTURI, SONIC MOON, HVRT, FAKE DUST

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

Oct 172026

(written by Islander)

I slept for a very long time last night. This is becoming more common on Friday nights. One key factor is that I’m convincing my restless mind that I don’t have to roll out these Saturday roundups as soon as I used to. I can sleep late instead, having realized that the world won’t end if this column arrives near mid-day in my time zone. Our weekend visitors will catch up when they can, or so I tell myself.

I did succeed in making almost all of today’s choices yesterday. The one exception, which comes last in the order, arrived via a recommendation I saw this morning that I couldn’t ignore. I’ll explain when we get there. The five bands that lead up to it are significantly different from each other in the music they make. Which is to say, I’m again satisfied that this collection will keep your head on a swivel as you move from one to the next, and maybe it will spin all the way off! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: EXTOL, AETHERIAN, ARONIOUS, NIDARE

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Oct 162026

(written by Islander)

On almost all weekdays for many years I have committed to make either two track premieres or an EP premiere or an album premiere. Sometimes there is a day off because of some late-stage mishap (never my own, of course), as there was on Tuesday of this week, and sometimes we either receive only one invitation for a track premiere or only one that we’re happy to accept (believe it or not, I do turn down invitations when I can’t enthusiastically recommend a song).

Today was one of those rare days when I only calendared a single song premiere. And so, as on Tuesday, I had a bit of time to use for catching up with new songs and picking a few to recommend in another rare weekday roundup. Barring some kind of unexpected interference I will have more to recommend, as usual, on Saturday and Sunday. Continue reading »

MANNVEIRA: “VESÖLD”

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Oct 162026

(Below you will find Daniel Barkasi’s review of a new album by the Icelandic band Mannveira which is being released today on Dark Descent Records.)

Black metal contains a tendency, if not a foundational principle, to push the envelope in several facets. Recent times have shown the style to be malleable to all sorts of sonic avenues, a fair number of which have been extremely esteemed in the quality department. It’s of no surprise that – again – we land upon an Icelandic act who is doing that in its own volatile and entirely specific manner.

Mannveira is the subject at hand, and we certainly weren’t expecting a new record in the late embers of this year. However, here we are with Vesöld, the follow-up to the chilling Vítahringur – a work that impressed mightily via its psychedelic tones and obscure atmosphere. It wasn’t clear as to when new music might arrive from this collective, so the announcement of this release was a pleasant surprise indeed.

Quite a cast in the band’s makeup, with Vesöld featuring Altari‘s Óskar Þór Guðjónsson, Forsmán‘s Oddur Blöndal (check our their album from earlier this year), Kviðrista’s Illugi Kristinsson, Naðra‘s Hilmar Gylfi Guðjónsson, and Örlygur Sigurðarson, whose credits include 0 and the aforementioned Naðra. In short, a hell of a group with a wealth of differing musical endeavors in their history, returning to present what is Mannveira’s second LP — a piece that doesn’t stray far from the first, but conversely travels a multitude of freshly compelling paths.

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SERPENT SKIES — “WHERE IS YOUR GOD”

Premieres No Responses »

Oct 162026

(written by Islander)

Serpent Skies are a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gävle, Sweden who are returning after a 13-year hiatus with a new chapter in their story.

The band’s current incarnation was formed in 2012. Drawing their inspirations from the classic Gothenburg sound, they released a debut EP named Graveyard Poets that same year, and followed it with a debut album in 2013 titled A Claim To Reality. And then they fell silent for a very long time.

But as noted above, that extensive period of silence has ended. Serpent Skies have recorded a second album, Hollow Crown, which is now set for release on November 20th. It is described as “a thematically driven album exploring identity, inner conflict, loss of control, sacrifice and the struggle to define who we are”.

The band announced their return with a first single from the new album called “The Colors of My Truth“, and today we present a video for its second single, “Where Is Your God“. Continue reading »

CURSEBINDER – PSYCHOHAZARD

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Oct 162026

(Andy Synn recommends you all drive carefully, because there’s a Psychohazard ahead)

It was about three-and-a-half years ago, by my count, that I first wrote about excellently-named Polish “Post-Black” quartet Cursebinder just prior to the release of their debut album, Drifting (read all about it here).

Of course, a lot has changed in the world since then – some of it good, much of it bad, and a fair amount still largely inexplicable – and there’s no guarantee that the Cursebinder of 2026 (despite having managed the rare feat of maintaining a consistent line-up since they were formed) will still be the same band they were in 2023.

If anything, however, it seems like the group have only become more themselves – more confident, more collected, more creative – in the intervening years, with the result being that their new album (set for release one week from today on Avantgarde Music) is easily their most wide-ranging, yet also more cohesive, work yet.

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NO WORTH OF MAN — “I DEFY”

Premieres No Responses »

Oct 152026

(written by Islander)

We are rapidly approaching the most metal night of the year, a time when veils will be parted and a cavalcade of deathless fiends will spread mayhem through the human world — or at least we and centuries of our ancestors have so imagined, with thrills and chills galore.

It is thus a very good time for us to share with you a new video from the UK band No Worth of Man which conjures imagery of the band as vampire hunters in a neon-soaked Miami from the ’80s. The song that gets this treatment is “I Defy“, the opening song from the band’s debut album The Killing Streets, which was released last February by Brutal Records. Continue reading »

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