DISARMONIA MUNDI: “THE DORMANT STRANGER”

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Apr 182025
 

(Last month brought us the first Disarmonia Mundi album in a decade, and it was just a matter of time before their sworn fan DGR would have something to say about it. Today is that day.)

In today’s exercise we’re going to try not to feel old. We’re going to ignore the aching backs and shattered knees, the thinning hairlines and bags under our eyes, the newly acquired arch support in our shoes, and we’re going to ignore that we’ve lately been on a kick of discussing the generational effect of music.

We’ll ignore that we’re now surprised whenever we see people at a show getting a mark from the venue that isn’t just a wristband stating that they can’t drink and we’re going to ignore that somehow despite showing no interest in two of the following three things, we somehow have still managed to attain a perpetual scent of black coffee, cigarettes, and Icy-Hot/Ben Gay that seems to follow us fucking everywhere.

The way things have been going lately, we’ve gotten pretty good about sticking our head in the sand. While we’re at it we’re even going to ignore that there exists written record of the last time we reviewed Italian melodeath studio project Disarmonia Mundi‘s previous album from almost ten years ago or that in the opening segments of that review, we even joked about just how goddamned long it had been between that disc and 2009’s The Isolation Game, an album that we’ve been going to bat for over the course of sixteen years.

Let’s just brush all of that aside and take things at face value and say that the perpetually underrated Disarmonia Mundi have returned once again after an impressive gap in time between albums for a new 2025 release entitled The Dormant Stranger, or else we’re all going to turn to dust. Continue reading »

CAVE SERMON – FRAGILE WINGS

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Apr 172025
 

(Andy Synn provides his first impressions of the brand new Cave Sermon album)

Well, well, well… isn’t this a surprise!

And not an unpleasant one, let me make that crystal clear, as Divine Laughter, the second album from Post-Metal prodigy Charlie Park (aka Cave Sermon) was absolutely one of the best albums of 2024 (and only narrowly missed out on a place in my “Critical Top Ten”).

That being said, it’s entirely normal to be a little bit wary and/or sceptical whenever an artist is this prolific – after all, you can have too much of a good thing, and it’d be all too easy for them to accidentally end up repeating themselves, to increasingly diminishing returns, if they haven’t allowed themselves the necessary creative space between releases.

Thankfully, however, despite the truncated timescale between releases, I’m happy to say that Fragile Wings cleverly complements its fantastic predecessor – while also providing some welcome creative contrast – without simply attempting to copy what made it such a success.

Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ÖVERVÅLD — “VIGARV”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 172025
 

(written by Islander)

We’re about to present a new EP that’s a prime example of music that’s vitriolic and vicious, ferocious and vile, yet as catchy as whatever respiratory virus is now asserting its dominance over a pitiful humanity. It doesn’t play to the cheap seats — it hates you and wants to eat you alive — but even while it’s ruthlessly gutting its listeners and ravenously consuming the remains behind truly abominable vocals, it does so with a flair that’s viscerally compelling.

We’re talking about a new four-track barrage from the Swedish death metal band Övervåld (though it wouldn’t be wrong to brand the new EP “blackened death metal”). The EP’s name is Vigrav and it will be released on CD and digitally by the band on April 20th, with a vinyl edition expected in May via Seven Metal Inches Records. Here’s how Övervåld introduce it: Continue reading »

BLOOD ABSCISSION: “I I”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 172025
 

(Last Friday Debemur Morti Productions unveiled the second album from the shadowy black metal band Blood Abscission, and today we share thoughts about it written by our Norway-based contributor Chile.)

Everyone loves a good mystery story in their metal. It mesmerizes the listener, it heightens the experience, it pulls you in and makes you a part of something extraordinary. And certainly, a lot of metal music is no stranger to mystery, but black metal is the one genre where it all comes together, having a natural penchant for histrionics and lurking in the shadows. 

Mystery made many a band on the scene more interesting and more attractive to the audience, for theatricality and deception are powerful weapons. We needn’t look further than the last ten years of bands appearing in their hoodie-wearing, face-covered outfits, having only initials for identities. If we’re lucky that is, for there are those who opt for total anonymity.

And so the anonymous mystery streak continues with our guests today, of whom nothing is truly known, except that their name is Blood Abscission and that they make great black metal. Speculating on origin or any additional information would be just that, a speculation, and since I absolutely suck at lottery or guessing games, we’ll leave it at that. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ANOXIA — “REVEL IN SIN”

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Apr 162025
 

(written by Islander)

Unless you’re a medical professional or someone who’s been choked out you may not know that “anoxia” is a state of total oxygen deprivation within tissues or organs, an extreme form of “hypoxia” that can cause dizziness, disorientation, and permanent damage to the brain and other bodily organs.

You may have an idea why the Australian death metal band Anoxia chose that name if you heard their debut EP Languish in Suffering (the dizziness, the disorientation, the brain damage), though their music equally brings to mind the kind of organ damage caused by severe beatings.

But really, they were just getting warmed up, just beginning to explore their malevolent methods of inflicting punishment on listeners and audiences, methods that are now better perfected through their debut album Revel in Sin, as you’ll discover through today’s premiere stream in advance of the album’s April 17 co-release by Brilliant Emperor Records and Gutter Prince Cabal Records. Continue reading »

KARG: “MARODEUR”

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Apr 162025
 

(Below you will find Didrik Mešiček‘s review of the newest and soon-to-be-released album by the Austrian band Karg.)

Austria is not a name we typically associate with a thriving metal scene, but in the last decade or so quite a few new-ish bands have been popping up, generally delivering a fairly black metal sound, often depressive, sometimes hopelessly romantic. Karg is another one of those bands coming from the small Austrian scene where it seems most people know each other.  The band has had a nearly complete lineup change in 2018 and this will be their 9th full-length album already despite remaining fairly obscure. Marodeur will be released on AOP Records on the 18th of April.  Continue reading »

OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XV: LES GRANDES ÉQUIPES

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 162025
 

(With the merry month of March now in our rearview mirror, here we present Daniel Barkasi‘s lavish reviews of six noteworthy albums released during those 31 days.)

We’re going to start talking a bit about football, as I have in some of my previous entries. Not the American kind, but the one that’s actually played with feet. Much like music, it’s one of those things that’s always a constant in my life, bringing many highs and lows, with the deep passion and incredible history of so many clubs keeping me invested. Football in many ways can be a microcosm of the greater world that it’s so ingrained within. Didier Drogba and his Côte d’Ivoire teammates famously inspiring a halt to a civil war is an example of the unification that can happen due to this sporting endeavor. With the World Cup coming to the US next year, one can hope for it to be some kind of catalyst of togetherness as well.

As my beloved Liverpool FC (hopefully) move towards a second Premier League crown – three points in the bag at a tense affair against Steve Harris’ boyhood club West Ham United at time of writing – this is the time of the season where the stakes are so incredibly high. The Champions League is entering its final stages, and the intrigue is palpable as clubs rise and fall. To the uninitiated, this is the biggest club competition in the world, where the top European sides face off in a long and winding competition. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VETUS SANGUIS — “CAPÍTULO I – DIMENSÃO HORRENDA”

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Apr 152025
 

(written by Islander)

First impressions do matter, even if our younger selves grew tired of hearing that stern advice from parental figures. In the case of how we spend our time around here, we see how bands and record labels choose singles to make first impressions of albums that the public can’t yet hear.

Sometimes those choices turn out to be misleading, like the strained politeness of a wild child being introduced to a stranger, or often like the forced and feigned wildness of someone who turns out to be really very dull. No wonder people usually wait to hear everything before making a purchase decision, unless it happens to be a band whose previous music they know well, but sometimes even then because even the best of us make mis-steps.

In the case of the Portuguese black metal band Vetus Sanguis, the first impression we had of its debut album Capítulo I – Dimensão Horrenda was “Trombetas Diabólicas,” a song that you won’t reach until nearly a third of the album has gone by. The impression it made was startling. When we premiered it, we advised listeners to take big gulps of air before listening. Continue reading »

DAUGHTER CHAOS – NOBLE ROT

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Apr 152025
 

(Andy Synn has (almost) nothing but praise for the debut album from Daughter Chaos)

We’ve said it before, but it’s always worth stating again, that if it comes to a choice between writing about a “big name” band or an underrated underground artist nine times out of ten we’ll opt for the latter.

That doesn’t mean we’re averse to covering some of the more (in)famous artists now and then – there’s no doubt that doing so on occasion definitely helps raise our profile, which in turn (hopefully) brings more eyes to the smaller bands we cover – but our focus has always been on covering those groups who don’t receive the attention and exposure they deserve.

Case in point, if I had to choose between the latest chart-busting release from Arch Enemy or the long-anticipated debut album from Daughter Chaos… well, the latter was always going to win that battle.

Continue reading »

DORMANT ORDEAL: “TOOTH AND NAIL”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 152025
 

(DGR provides the following extensive and evocative review of the new album by Poland’s Dormant Ordeal in advance of its April 18 release by Willowtip Records. At 3PM PDT today the entire album stream will premiere here.)

The idea of saving the best for last is something that is hammered into our psychology since early childhood. You must save the best for last, you must save the best for last, you must save the best for last, repeated over and over ad nauseum in mantra-like form until it eventually becomes unspoken sutrah to us as children growing up.

In the current age of instant gratification and the endless dopamine chase of modern society, however, saving the best for last is something that is long lost and a spectre of ages ago. Yet in a strange way it seems as if Poland’s Dormant Ordeal have taken the idea and run with it for their newest album Tooth And Nail because over the course of the album’s eight songs – barring one intro ambient bit – it isn’t so much the song itself that leaves the final impression but the way the song ends.

The final statement made for any particular song comes down to how you close out. Those last moments can prove to be integral to making a song live forever in a person’s mind. One of the things Dormant Ordeal demonstrate time and time again across Tooth And Nail is that one thing is certain: they know how to end a song. Continue reading »

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