NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): HAINTGROVE — “HAINTGROVE”

Oct 312026

(written by Islander)

We started paying attention to Haintgrove in June when this Texas-based solo black metal project released its first single, “Starless Passage“. That led us to host premieres for two more singles, “I Dream in a Tongue I Cannot Speak” in August and “Kingdoms in the Thicket” in September. And now we’re premiering the entirety of Haintgrove’s self-titled debut album, which includes those three songs and five more, on the day of its release.

Haintgrove’s inspirations and lyrical themes have been as much a part of its appeal as the music. Haintgrove has expressed the short version of that in these words: “Rooted in the history and lingering memory of enslaved Africans in the colonial South Carolina Lowcountry, this album exists to honor those who came before us, and to remember what was carried, what was taken, and what continues forward.”

Creating a further connection to the album’s historical settings and lineage, Haintgrove has created some videos which feature his film and photography of the Lowcountry, and we’ll include them as we work through the music track by track. But at the end we have an album-length stream that pulls all the songs together.

This is an extremely rare weekend premiere at our site — and on a Halloween no less! — but we hope and believe you’ll understand after hearing the album why we made this exception. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARONIOUS — “ANTEDILUVIAN”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Oct 302026

(written by Islander)

Six years have passed since Halloween last occurred on a Saturday, and 11 more years will pass before it happens again, but it is indeed happening tomorrow, and on the verge of that most metal of holidays today has been a big day for new offerings of the devil’s music. We have one more offering for you before this weekday ends, a new song off a new album by Wisconsin’s Aronious in advance of the album’s release by The Artisan Era on November 13th.

The name of the album is The Ever Living Ones, and it follows two previous albums on the same label, Perspicacity (2020) and Irkalla (2022). This new one, which is 11 songs long, is yet another series of steps in the band’s increasingly fascinating musical evolution. The one we have for you today is “Antediluvian” — but before we get to it, you should really listen (or re-listen) to the album’s first single, “Dawn of Diathan“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): COMPLORATIO — “COMPLORATIO”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Oct 302026

(written by Islander)

Today we help introduce the world to Comploratio, or at least the miniscule fraction of the global populus who find catharsis or solace in abject funeral doom.

Comploratio is a different kind of venture for its sole creator Jon Rosenthal, whose extensive musical resume includes such bands as Bergtagen (mentioned first because they released a terrific new EP earlier this year), Starless Domain, Stellar Descent, and Boreal. Hints of doom can be found in the music of some of those other bands, and in JR’s forays into dungeon synth, but sinking completely into funeral is a big new step.

That first step (or rather three of them) is captured in Comploratio’s self-titled debut album, which will be released on Halloween (tomorrow!). Earlier this month Decibel premiered the first of the three songs on Comploratio, and today we’re bringing you all three songs in their entirety. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: REVEL IN FLESH

Interviews No Responses »

Oct 302026

(A revised Revel In Flesh released a new album in September via War Anthem Records, and that exciting development motivated Zoltar to reach out for the following interview with Ralf Hauber.)

It may have happened behind closed doors, away from the public’s eye but effectively: after five great old-school death metal albums released over the course of seven years and bathed in pure Swedish filth, Revel In Flesh imploded, leaving on one side their founding Ralf Hauber and on the other, the rest of the band. Instead of calling it a quit, Hauber sought shelter in the darkness, focusing on his other bands Heads For the Dead and Rotpit while plotting his return to the forefront.

Released last month and now featuring two Swedish members, including his Rotpit and Heads For The Dead comrade Jonny Pettersson of Wombbath, Berzerker Legions and Massacre fame among (many) others, Revel In Flesh’s sixth full-length Flesh For The Kult Of Death isn’t just a true return to form, it’s an actual proof that a death metal band can rise, go on a rampage, then die, only to be resurrected and launch an instant killing spree as a result. You know what they say don’t you? What doesn’t kill you… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABOVE & BELOW — “VOID_//EXE”

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Oct 292026

(written by Islander)

We’re about to take you off of most (but not all) of our well-beaten musical paths through a track that deploys sonic ingredients we don’t often display but which shares a certain evil kinship with some of the more deranged expressions of extreme metal we focus on.

This track, “VOID_//EXE“, is the work of Above & Below, which is the Industrial solo project of Ohio-based Bryce Seditz, who’s better known to our visitors for his roles in Plaguewielder and Horse Drawn, and we’re presenting it through a visualizer video that’s the work of Mourning Shroud (another one of Bryce’s endeavors). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EYES OF AGONY — “EYES OF AGONY”

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Oct 292026

(written by Islander)

It’s highly likely that scrolling metal lovers will freeze in place when they see the painting up above. It’s a ghastly and frightening vision, and one that suits the name of the band whose debut album it adorns: Eyes of Agony.

Yes, When They Return is a debut album, but it was created by experienced hands. Eyes of Agony was established by Danny Cinicolo, founder of such old-school Italian death metal bands as Excidium and Maleficarum, whose histories stretch back to the ‘90s and even into the mid ‘80s. After sharing some of his new songs via YouTube and receiving enthusiastic responses, he enlisted his old friend and bandmate in Maleficarum, Andrea Zanetti, whose experience has included roles in Iconoclast, Schizo, Monumentum, Sinoath, and the aforementioned Maleficarum.

With Zanetti in place as vocalist, the two of them then recruited drummer Davide Billia (whose credits include Beheaded, Hour of Penance, Antropofagus, Putridity, and Septycal Gorge, among many others), guitarist Massimo Boffa (whose resume includes Mind Control and Halley), and bassist Fabrizio Biondi (Jesus) (who was part of Mechanical God Creation).

Their work together resulted in an album of nine tracks and 36 minutes that will be released in November by Awakening Records, and today we’re premiering one of those — the song that shares the name of the band itself. Continue reading »

EXTOL – AURA OF DECAY

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Oct 292026

(Andy Synn, ahem, extols the virtues of the band’s new album, out next week)

Let’s address the elephant in the room immediately, shall we?

Yes, Extol‘s long-awaited sixth album – coming some thirteen years after their seminal (and almost equally long gestating) self-titled record – deserves much, much better artwork, as it’s become painfully clear that Hugh Syme (famous for his work with Rush, Dream Theatre, and even Extol themselves) has been phoning it in for quite some time now.

Thankfully, however, this is one of those times when it’s worth remembering that you can’t always judge a book (or an album) by its cover, as there’s nothing half-assed about the band’s own work on Aura of Decay.

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DECIDUOUS FOREST — “CELESTIAL FORESTS”

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Oct 292026

(written by Islander)

Deciduous Forest is the solo project of Brisbane-based Snjór, guitarist with Graveir and live guitarist for Hebephrenique, Brimstone, and Bruxa. Deciduous Forest drew its inspirations from terrains of atmospheric black metal, neofolk, and blackgaze and announced itself last year with the debut album Fields Of Yore. Now a second album has been prepared, one named Hymns of Time. The Apocalyptic Witchcraft label, which will release the album in January, has described it as “both a continuation of Fields Of Yore and an evolution of Deciduous Forest as a whole, revealing more of its sylvan landscape and haunted spirit of betrayal, regret and loss.”

The album unfolds like a journey through a vast and daunting primeval realm of light and shade, and as a traversing of harrowing and haunting internal realms as well. It is five songs long, and what we have for you today is the premiere of the fourth of those, “Celestial Forests“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SSMMÜT — “A BLIGHT ON THE PERFECT ORGANISM OF DEATH”

Album Reviews, Premieres 1 Response »

Oct 282026

(written by Islander)

SSMMÜTT (please pay careful attention to the umlaut as you sound out the name) is the experimental musical project of Irish producer and illustrator Robert Mirolo, accompanied by a changing cast of supporting characters.

The music has rightly been called “shape-shifting”, further described by the label that’s releasing their new album (Cursed Monk Records) as “a visceral alchemy of Doom, Kosmische, and Ambient textures, often collapsing into the crushing weight of blackened sludge” — and that’s not an exhaustive description.

The name of the album, which will be released on October 30th, is A Blight on the Perfect Organism of Death. We are premiering a full stream of it today, all nine songs and 31 minutes of it, preceded by a likely futile attempt to prepare you for the often vicious, often captivating, and constantly surprising carnival that’s now arrived in your neighborhood. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CANDACE BUCKINGHAM (WALLS OF JERICHO)

Interviews No Responses »

Oct 282026

(Andy Synn doesn’t do many interviews any more, but made an exception for this one)

The main reason I don’t do many interviews any more is due to the fact that I feel like a good interview – not just one that regurgitates the same old boring, boilerplate questions that you can find anywwhere else – is one that you dedicate a bit of time to, and time is something I’m almost always in short supply of these days.

I’d also say that a good interview should be a form of dialogue, one where you get a sense of the personality of the interviewer through the questions they ask, which in turn leads to a more natural and (hopefully) illuminating interaction with the interviewee… which also takes a lot of time to get right.

And did I mention that I don’t really have that much time to spare at the moment?

That being said, when the opportunity fell into my lap to interview the one and only Candace Buckingham (née Kucsulain), formidable frontwoman of Metallic Hardcore legends Walls of Jericho (a band I’ve been a huge fan of for a long, long time, and whose upcoming new album is the sort of record which tempts me to dip back into my big bag of clichés for terms like “comeback”, “revival”, and “renaissance”) I knew I couldn’t turn it down.

So, without further ado, let’s see if I still remember how to converse with another human being, shall we?

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