AN NCS PREMIERE: INSANITY CULT — “WHISPERING DEPTHS”

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Jan 242025
 

(written by Islander)

After a long six years or so, we at last have a chance for a reunion with the aptly named Green black metal band Insanity Cult. That’s roughly the extent of time that has elapsed since their last album, All Shall Return to Chaos, and their subsequent split (Contemplation in Discordance) with Void Omnia.

The occasion for the reunion is a new Insanity Cult album named Κάθοδος, which will be released on February 28th by the Chilean label Tragedy Productions, in collaboration with Order of Antinomianism, the circle of which Insanity Cult is a member along with such bands as Isolert, Sørgelig and Sores.

What we have for you today is the premiere of a song from the album named “Whispering Depths.” Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SHAGOR — “HERSIELINGH”

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Jan 242025
 

(written by Islander)

In 2020 the Dutch black metal band Shagor made their recording debut with an album named Sotteklugt. I was bowled over by it. As I wrote in my review: “This is one of my true favorites among all the black metal albums I’ve heard this year, and I don’t think my affection for it will fade, even a little, as time passes.”

Roughly five years later Shagor are returning with a second album named Lyksalver, which will be co-released by Vendetta Records and Swarte Yssel on February 8th. They have floored me again, and I think will floor many of you too – though the better metaphor would be more like getting hurled into the Sun. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OOBRIS IOS — “DOSTRATIS SATOD DUVON XAGAN”

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Jan 232025
 

(written by Islander)

Many people, including people at this site (witness these six articles going back to 2015), have had many good things to say about the music of the Canadian atmospheric black metal band Wilt, and that is reason enough to pay attention to Vospat, the forthcoming debut EP of Oobris Ios, because its three-person lineup includes two members of Wilt. Those two people are vocalist Jordan Dorge and drummer Jordan Sanderson, and the third member is guitarist/bassist Ryan Forsyth (from the death metal band Dissolution, among others).

It’s fair to say that Oobris Ios represents a departure (perhaps fair to say an experimental departure) from the members’ previous bands. Among other things, the songs on Vospat represent the telling of a dire and daunting science-fictional or fantastical narrative, related to us in an ancient alien language but prefaced in English this way:

Before light, there was darkness. Almost 14 billion years ago, the entity known as the singularity was slain, and its followers scattered across what is now known as the universe. Their chants within the dark matter echo in the light, constantly trying to diminish its power. Oobris Ios is the dimensional reverberation that those in the light can hear. Bring hate. Bring the dark out of the light and extinguish it once and for all. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MALACATH — “A HYMN FOR THE HARVEST”

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Jan 212025
 

(written by Islander)

In February Eternal Death will release the fifth album by the New England black metal band Malacath, which began as the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Lykos but has been a two-piece of Lykos and drummer Hiraeth for most of Malacath‘s discography. (Both members have been involved in many other bands, including their collaboration in Angel Morgue.)

The new album, Eternal Roar of the Thunder and Rain, brings us four substantial songs ranging in length from 10 minutes to more than 16, followed by a relatively brief acoustic closer (“Eleusis”). What we have for you today is the premiere of one of the long ones, an astonishing epic named “A Hymn for the Harvest.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WHERE THE LIGHT FADES — “TORN OUT”

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Jan 202025
 

(written by Islander)

A new week dawns at our site, and with it we bring a song premiere that’s the dawn of a new EP by Where The Light Fades, a Toronto-area band that arose during the pandemic from the ashes of Astaroth Incarnate.

This new EP is a three-song offering entitled Into The Depths of The Black Creek, and it will be released on January 31st by the Northernshadow label, which previews it this way:

Expect a mixture of black, doom, and some melodic death metal in the vein of Wolves In The Throne Room, Imperium Dekadenz, Mgła, Darkthrone, Taake, and early Katatonia.The lyrics are based on life, death, and grieving – something anyone can relate to. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SPOILED — “ZOMBIE HUNTERS”

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Jan 172025
 

(written by Islander)

With a pair of launching-pad EPs behind them, the Italian hellraisers in Spoiled are now on the verge of releasing their debut album Collapse, which will be discharged in February by the Portuguese labels Gruesome Records and Selvajaria Records. The labels preview what’s coming with this description:

This release delivers 15 tracks of blistering, violent, and fast-paced Thrash/Crossover at 250 BPM. Inspired by legends such as D.R.I., S.O.D., Slayer, Iron Reagan, Crumbsuckers, Ratos de Porão, Raw Power, Nuclear Assault, and Municipal Waste, Collapse is a high-octane homage to the genre’s greats.

Today we have a more concrete preview, as we premiere a video for the album track “Zombie Hunters” — a song that uses familiar legends of the ghoulish undead as a metaphor for a different kind of plague. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THRONE — “MORRIGAN”

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Jan 162025
 

(written by Islander)

“Hell ain’t a bad place to be”, they say. Well, it’s probably because Throne are not running the place, because if they were, hell would be really… hellish. Throne are back with their heaviest, strongest and most desperate effort so far and their solid sludge metal morphed into something more sulphureous, more malignant and definitely more feral.

That’s part of how the Dusktone label introduces this Italian band’s new album Ossarium, which they also describe as “a long, painful trip into the territories laden out by Eyehategod, Buzzoven, and Acid Bath but with an evolved take bordering on black metal sound….”

In support of these descriptions, Dusktone has already premiered a first single named “Aten,” and today we bring you a video for a second one — “Morrigan” — the song that opens the album. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MŮRA — “NEEDLE CATHEDRAL”

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Jan 162025
 

(written by Islander)

“Punishing in its heaviness, violently deranged in its fretwork,  hopeless in its moods, and vocally horrendous, the song takes listeners to a nightmarish place, and freezes us in place while it completes its looming edifice of terror and awe.”

That’s how we summed up the title song to a new EP by the Prague-based blackened death/doom metal band Můra when we premiered it earlier this month. Today we premiere the EP in its entirety, in advance of its release on January 20th by Doomentia Records and Caligari Records. Like the title song, it is a very heavy and relentlessly harrowing experience. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEUS SABAOTH — “CYCLE OF DEATH”

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Jan 152025
 

On their debut album Cycle of Death the Ukrainian band Deus Sabaoth have put purveyors of religious faith in their crosshairs. It’s not an uncommon focus for black metal bands, but this group extends their critique, both philosophically and in their music, in uncommon ways.

Regarding the philosophical concept of the album, the main theme of the lyrics “is to reflect different perspectives on religion and the existential concerns of those who confront their mortality while rejecting any religious beliefs,” and thus they “delve into a personal, internal struggle, exploring the complex emotions and conflicts faced by those who question the very nature of existence.” The following statement from the band develops these ideas further: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GREH — “DYSPHORIC DEVOTION”

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Jan 142025
 

After guitarist Gjero Krsteski left the German horror/punk band Hellgreaser he founded a new band named Greh in 2022 as a one-man project. After releasing an EP and a single on his own, Greh expanded to a full lineup with the joining of drummer Maurice Müller (Hard Strike, Milan) and vocalist Martin Kocula (Grau).

Now a full band, Greh released their 2023 EP Reversion of the Repressed, and then a trio of singles last year. This year — on January 15th — Fetzner Death Records will release the band’s debut album Dysphoric Devotion. It includes those previous three singles and five more original songs, and we’re bringing all of them to you today. Continue reading »

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