Reviews of metal albums released December 13 – December 19
For the last weekly rundown I expect you’ll be paying half attention to this year, we’ve got a meagre handful of true gems that deserves to be played on repeat into the new year.
Dead Sun – This Life Is A Grave
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Review: Being one of Rogga Johanssons numerous projects, you can be sure that you’re getting some form of Swedish death metal that’s fairly loyal to the original recipe, and a certain base level quality is all but guaranteed. Unfortunately, there’s not all that much else to say about this melodeath album. It’s melancholy in a doomy fashion and as riff focused as you’d hope, but once you’ve listened to the first two tracks, you’ve sort of heard all of it.
Funeral Vomit – Upheaval Of Necromancy
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: A gurgly, old-school-brutal heap of mid-paced, festering fun. Is it perfectly produced? No. Is it innovative or particularly interesting? Nope. Does it get better the more you listen to it? Yup! Like a mutated, scabby beast emerging from its cave of hibernation, it takes a little time to shake off the grogginess, but once alert and mentally centered, its appetite becomes apparent.
Highlight: “Altars of Doom”
Lychgate – Precipice
Genre: Avant-garde black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Back after seven years with their fourth full-length, Lychgate wants to make sure you have the chance to get properly unsettled before sinking into the fluffy, warm comfort of Christmas. Listening to this album feels like being dropped into a darkened museum of bones randomly arranged into a host of abominable shapes, that all come alive around you and start to interact in confused and violent ways. The black metal side to the music is prominent, but not in a trope-y way that makes you go “oh, this is just that-and-that Norwegian band fused together”. But certainly in a way that makes you think of tormented spirits and affronts to all things pious. And the doom side provides that feeling of “dusty, haunted manor with family portraits telling a tale of worsening mental instability”. It’s a bleakly vivid sort of sound that pulls you in and leaves you wondering just where the hell your consciousness went for 47 minutes and 47 seconds.
Highlights: “”Renunciation” and “Terror Silence”
Pythonic – Decomposition (EP)
Genre: Groove/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5
Review: Some Canadian pissed-off groove metal, screaming spittle at you in rhythmic fashion. There’s not quite enough on offer besides crunchy riffs and pummeling drums to really elevate it into something outstanding, but the aggression is there.
Starscourge – Conqueror Of The Stars – Betwixt Sundered Seraphim, The Lands Between Bleed
Genre: Death/black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: A Swedish and Singaporean duo playing epic, blackened death metal inspired to a certain extent (I’m not a player, so I can’s say exactly how much) by Elden Ring. They don’t hold back, showcasing a bunch of different influences, and getting properly nerdy with the lyrics and spoken-word parts. To me, it’s unfortunately too badly produced and messily composed to get any lasting enjoyment from. Also, far too much AI in the band’s various cover art.
Taedifer – Indivinus
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: How about a sizable dose of old school Swedish-style death metal? You know I’m in. This stuff sounds like it’s caked with centuries old dirt and flaking off pieces of crispy clothing and skin as it rises out of a gargantuan tomb to trample and terrorize the surrounding villages. It’s menacing, unrelenting and in a bit of a mood, as it elbows aside insignificant concerns of melody or cerebral depth. It feels grounded in stylistic confidence and finishes off just as strong as it starts, with a couple of well-chosen guest performances.
Highlight: “Hateseed”
Weft – The Splintered Oar
Genre: Atmospheric/avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5
Review: If you’re (for some reason) looking for only one last, freshly released album to listen to in 2025, let it be this one. I thought my highlights list for the year would be good and set by now, but “The Splintered Oar” will definitely make it on there. What Texan band Weft (masterminded by Panopticon violinist Charlie Anderson) have made here is an atmospheric black metal album steeped deeply in achingly beautiful melody and folk-y Americana taking you by the hand and sweeping you off to solemn, desolate, yet breathtakingly striking places. It builds to majestic, roaring highs of anger, offering more than enough heaviness to place it in the extreme metal category, but restraining the harshness to a point where its role is that of the snow-capped peak of the mountain, rather than covering the entire soundscape in jagged ice. It’s deeply soulful, featuring masterful violin work, a wide range of vocal style, and just enough layers to make you feel properly enveloped.
Highlights: “A Dream of Oaks” and “The Hull”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
The Metal Dispatch 