THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 032025
 

(Andy Synn highlights six gems from October you may have overlooked)

I’m going to say something controversial here, but… if you see someone talking a big game about how they “listened to 500 albums this month” they’re probably lying.

Ok, maybe not lying (though some are probably doing it just for clout and clicks) but definitely stretching the truth a little, because there’s a big difference in my book between hearing an album and actually listening to it.

Don’t get me wrong, I really do wish I had time to listen to that many albums each month, and I’m sure there are other writers/reviewers out there who legitimately rack up bigger numbers than I do, but chances are that anyone making a hyperbolic claim like that isn’t giving the albums in question the time and attention they deserve… especially if they’re a writer/reviewer who is supposed to actually be offering some insight into the albums/artists in question (something which takes more than just a couple of cursory spins to do).

So while I can’t, at the moment, give a full-throated and whole-hearted recommendation to everything I heard last month – the ones I’ve chosen to feature here are the ones I feel most qualified to comment on, but there’s still many more I need to spend time with and process properly – I would encourage you, once you’re done with this article, to go check out the latest releases from Galge, Scorching Tomb, and Torture Machine (if you’re of a Death Metal-y persuasion), Haeresis, Scalding, and Sunken if you’re more into Black Metal, and Mriodom and Stonebirds if you’re looking for something on the groovy, Stoner-y side of things.

Before then, however, here’s some albums I definitely can recommend to you.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNSOULING — “YOUR MOMENTARY PASSING”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 032025
 

(written by Islander)

Even after the enthusiasm that greeted I, Voidhanger Records‘ release of Unsouling‘s 2024 debut album Vampiric Spiritual Drain, it’s likely that the band’s Minneapolis-based creator Andy Schoengrund still remained best-known for his work in Feral Light. That’s likely to change after the release of Unsouling‘s forthcoming second album, Outward Streams Of Devotional Woe, and not simply because Feral Light has split up. As Andy has shared with us:

“Outward Streams Of Devotional Woe differs from its predecessor in that the meandering exploration of the first album has been replaced with a more sure-footed and focused journey. The anchor of black metal with the bleed into gothic, dark wave, and death metal influences is still very much present, but it is more reigned in and pointed.”

The new album will be co-released by I, Voidhanger Records, Canti Erectici, and Unsouling, and to help pave the road toward its October 3 release we’re now premiering the album’s first single, “Your Momentary Passing“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: UNSOULING — “FLOATING KEY”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 292023
 

Unsouling is a new musical entity, a small needle in a vast haystack of metal. The project’s debut release might easily have been overlooked amidst all the straw no matter how vividly the needle gleamed, but a few important factors make that much less likely:

Specifically: Unsouling is the solo work of Feral Light‘s frontman and songwriter A.S. (Andy Schoengrund); the album was chosen for release by I, Voidhanger Records; and the cover art was created by the wonderfully talented Luciana Nedelea (don’t tell us cover art doesn’t matter because you’d be whistling in the wind around here).

So, this needle sticks out even before the playing of the first notes. Because of the music, it sticks out more like an impaling spear than a needle. Continue reading »