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  • Non Est Deus – Blessings and Curses Review

    To receive the honor of reviewing duties for Noise’s latest as a superfan of his output is an exciting prospect. I tend to agree with Carcharodon when it comes to their critical consensus, and Kanonenfieber is one of my favorite acts around. So, when I was (presumptively) lucky enough to review the latest Non Est Deus record, Blessings and Curses, I was excited to say the least. We have lavished praise here at AMG across the Noise spectrum, and while his projects range in quality, that quality remains firmly in the top tier of melodic black metal. So, with all that out of the way, is the latest noise from Noise a blessing of black metal righteousness or a curse on the venerable artist’s output?

    Out of the gate, Blessing and Curses works to establish a more unique sound for Non Est Deus in comparison to Noise’s other projects. Whereas Legacy could lean a little too close to Kanonenfieber or Leiþa at times, this latest record makes a clear differentiation between the new Non Est Deus and the old. Noise’s vocals are clear and crisp, sung completely in English, and never hit the heaviness of Kanonenfieber or the tortured emotion of Leiþa. In fact, the first band that came to mind when spinning Blessings and Curses was Rotting Christ. At first glance, this feels like a clear step in a better direction for a project that needed a more unique identity, but upon further inspection, it hampers the album at nearly every turn.

    Blessings and Curses has a strong artistic foundation and conceptual structure, with three interludes (Prayer I, II, and III, respectively) and psalms scourging every major track. The album feels unique in the way that it follows a believer in God who loses their way and becomes disillusioned, directly mirroring the diptych on the album cover, as well as the title of the record. Phenomenal album cover aside, the musical progression isn’t as pronounced as I had hoped based on the concept, and Blessings and Curses is repetitive throughout. Nearly every track follows a similar structure, including choruses that repeat the same cadence and emotional beats on a majority of the songs. Noise returns to refrains that have a main line (usually the song title) followed by a “whispered” section that either repeats that same idea or only a slight variation on it (“Show Mercy”, “My Lord”, “The Forsaken”, “The Indulgence”). It leaves Blessings and Curses sounding like someone trying to replicate Noise as opposed to Noise himself.

    To Blessings and Curses’ detriment, spoken word sections are back, and the album remains worse for it. The opening “Prayer I” feels entirely throwaway, and the interludes are so quick as to make them feel like an afterthought. The psalms on each track also kill momentum, with their placement typically towards the finale of the song. Derailing every track, the psalms are the vegetables before getting to the meat of it all. While they serve the album conceptually, they are half-baked throughout. The idea of splitting the album is an interesting one, and the best tracks are in the back half, but Blessings and Curses is sonically stagnant. “Show Mercy” and “Forgive Me” (an album highlight) play with some very light black n’ roll elements, making me wish the first half had gone all in on that idea, leaving the second half to be a blasting blackened death beast. Unfortunately, neither is that diverse, sitting in this mid space that just sounds a bit like Noise on autopilot. None of the songs are bad, some are even great, but the album as a whole feels like it wastes a phenomenal concept.

    If you told me I would be reviewing Noise for AMG in 2026, I would call you a fuckin’ liar and that you shouldn’t play with my emotions. If you told me that I would be the one to give Noise a proper tongue lashing, I would be doubly upset. As a stalwart fan of the artist, I still enjoyed Blessings and Curses on a lizard-brain level, and there are some truly great tracks (Forgive Me, Kora, Transgression). I appreciate Non Est Deus doing more to differentiate itself from the rest of Noise’s work, but I would love to see it pushed even further and move out of its melodic black metal safe zone. As it stands, a mediocre Noise record is still better than most other offerings out there, but for an artist with such incredible albums under his belt, I prayed for more.

    Rating: Mixed
    DR: N/A| Format Reviewed: A dreamy streamy
    Label: Noisebringer Records
    Websites: Website | Bandcamp
    Releases Worldwide: April 3rd, 2026

    The post Non Est Deus – Blessings and Curses Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

  • The Lumberjack Feedback – New Track Streaming

    French instrumental sludge/post-metal force The Lumberjack Feedback has unleashed a brand new song “Sword Of The Sun”, which can be listened via YouTube player below.
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  • “On our first tour one of the venues burned down, and the cops would shut things down.” Police raids, venue fires and murderous rednecks: the story of Converge, the band who defined metalcore for a generation

    Before Killswitch Engage, Bring Me The Horizon or Architects brought metalcore to new commercial heights, Converge were shaping the genre for the future

  • Country Recording Artist Sarah Harralson Draws Songwriting Inspiration From Famous Line In Nostalgic 90’s Film, The Crow, On New Single “It Can’t Rain All The Time”

    [Single Art | Download JPG] Song exclusively premiered by Nashville.com with the official music video due out April 10 on YouTube Co-produced by Harralson with Dale Penner (Nickelback, Loverboy), and co-written & Bill DiLuigi (Bonnie […]

    The post Country Recording Artist Sarah Harralson Draws Songwriting Inspiration From Famous Line In Nostalgic 90’s Film, The Crow, On New Single “It Can’t Rain All The Time” appeared first on INFRARED MAGAZINE.

  • WARGASM Release New Album ‘Live In London 2025’

    WARGASM have bottled up some of their chaos and preserved it for all eternity with the reveal of a new live album.


    Recorded at the band’s special show at London’s Here at Outernet back in September of last year, it is a comprehensive and contorted look at the mayhem they manage to incite every time they step on stage. The show itself was a phone-free event, so that the focus could be on the music and the music alone, and the result feels like a return to the way things used to be.

    The band themselves sound monstrous, dealing out the behemoth-sized riffs and bile-drenched declarations they have become so renowned for with an extra spring in their step. It’s clear much of that comes from the energy being exuded from the crowd in front of them. Bodies put on the line, voices pushed to their limits, and every last drop of emotion left in the arena.

    The record serves as a document of what is possible when you remember why you love this thing of ours so much.

    The band had this to say about the record, stating, “Doing this show wasn’t an option, there was no album to promote no business reason to do a show – it happened because Wargasm is as an energy – a physical energy. The digital world is becoming a barrier between us all. To throw out the devices that connect us but also keep us apart was beautiful. The moment when the veil lifted needed to be immortalised. This is the first of many recorded Wargasm live events, and now we can all relive the moment in glorious audio and visual forever.”

    You can check out footage of the band playing ‘Spit.’ at the show right here.


    And here is the record in all its glory:


    The band are set to have a busy Summer around the UK and Europe. Here are all of the dates:

    5 – NÜRNBERG Rock im Park
    6 – NÜRBURG Rock am Ring
    7 – PARIS Nouveau Casino
    9 – STUTTGART Wizemann Studio
    10 – ZURICH Plaza
    11 – MILAN Legend Club
    13 – WIESBADEN Schlachthof
    15 – DORTMUND FZW
    16 – BREMEN Tower
    17 – BERLIN Lido
    19 – WARSAW Summer Punch Festival
    21 – DESSEL Graspop Metal Meeting
    24 – STOCKHOLM Broken Summer Fest
    25 – YSSELSTEYN Jera On Air
    26 – MÜNSTER Vainstream
    28 – TÁBOR Mighty Sounds Festival
    30 – BRIGHTON Chalk

    The post WARGASM Release New Album ‘Live In London 2025’ appeared first on Rock Sound.

  • Nihilo – Sign With Xtreem Music

    Swiss death metal ensemble Nihilo has joined forces with Xtreem Music for the release of their fifth studio album, Abyss, set to be unleashed on November 3rd, 2026. More info coming soon.
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  • “Two iconic albums! One unforgettable night!” Thirty Seconds To Mars announce A Beautiful Lie vs This Is War arena tour

    Jared Leto’s band line up extensive arena tour

  • Love Rarely – ‘Pain Travels’

    Covering themes of generational trauma and toxic familial relationships, ‘Pain Travels’ seems a particularly apt title for the debut album of Leeds-based mathcore/post-hardcore quintet Love Rarely. Written and recorded by the band over the course of a year, Love Rarely admit themselves that the album took a darker turn lyrically than initially intended. The result in a record that at first sounds upbeat. Dig deeper, however, and a far more emotionally candid and vulnerable experience reveals itself. Music as catharsis is of course nothing new, but Love Rarely have managed to channel their pain into an album of gloriously life-affirming songs that sound refreshingly distinctive. Having recently supported The Callous Daoboys on their sellout UK tour, and with slots at major UK festivals this summer including 2000 Trees, Love Rarely are perfectly poised to capture a wider audience.

    From its very first notes, ‘Pain Travels’ grabs the listeners’ attention with the infectious, clean and clipped riffs of single ‘I Will’, reeling you in with a swathe of hooky heartfelt melodies. Soaring parallel to the music is powerhouse vocalist Courtney Levitt, whose smooth cleans and direct screams cut through the abrasion and well-executed chaos effortlessly. The affecting ‘Severed’ walks the emotional tightrope of aggression and sensitivity, tackling the subject of cutting out an addictive and abusive family member with lyrics like “Pain travels down when you decide to ruin everything”, acting as the album’s emotional core. Similarly, the dreamy, melancholic ‘Dormant’ is a song Levitt penned about losing a loved one to dementia, and features some of her most plaintive and affecting vocals. 

    Elsewhere, other highlights include ‘I’ll Try’, a three-minute maelstrom of emotion that flaunts the band’s flawless playing to dizzying effect as the initial rage-filled passages break down into sensitive, atmospheric sections, providing the perfect foil for Levitt’s more delicate vocal lines to take centre stage amidst the lilting shoegazey arpeggios of guitarists Taylor and Dan Dewsnap. Outside the album’s more melancholic tracks, the band are able to dial up the chaos too, particularly on the album’s shorter, overtly mathier tracks, like the neck-breaking scattergun riffage of ‘Whiplash’, which sounds like a funk-infused Converge. Equally impressive is the barely one-minute ‘Repulse’, which manages to cram as many left turns as it can into its ferocity-filled run-time. The initially subdued ‘Through Families’ closes the album in heart-rending fashion, capturing some of Levitt’s most powerful vocals on the album. The band’s musical chemistry sparkles once again, with the expressive bass playing of Dan Wilson weaving through Dewsnapp and Taylor’s moving guitar lines. “I can’t change you, but I tried” croons Levitt towards the song’s end, a line which feels like the album’s emotional resolution. 

    ‘Pain Travels’ is often reminiscent of self-titled era Paramore and the sadly disbanded Ithaca, bands who are similarly able to channel darker emotions into vibrant and uplifting music. Throughout the album, the angular guitar work that is the hallmark of mathcore is ever present, but there’s an emotional sensibility here that sets the band apart, giving them their own sound and identity. Coupling their youthful confidence with an emotional directness and maturity beyond their years, ‘Pain Travels’ is the sound of a band already comfortable in their own skin. Nothing feels left to chance; the emotions are raw but the playing is precise and the songwriting tightly focussed. Produced entirely by guitarist/second vocalist Taylor, the record is unfussy, crisp and shines bright whilst managing to stay raw and heartfelt. To hear a band this self-assured and in command of their songwriting prowess on a debut album is thrilling, marking them out as a band with a very promising future indeed.

    ADAM FIRTH

  • Dimmu Borgir- To Headline Norway’s ‘Unholy Halloween’ Event

    Dimmu Borgir have announced a Halloween homecoming dubbed ‘Unholy Halloween’. The Norwegian symphonic black metal outfit will headline a special event at Spektrum Arena in Oslo on October 31st 2026 together with Satyricon and Enslaved.
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  • Abuser – Drop ‘Painbringer’ Song

    In wake of their forthcoming debut full-length release Blood Marks, Polish thrashers Abuser have premiered a visualizer video for another new track in preview called “Painbringer”.
    Read more…