Reviews of metal albums released May 30 – June 05
It’s a hardcore vs black metal slug-it-out for the top spots this week, with us as the audience being the only obvious winners.
100 Demons – Embrace The Black Light
Genre: Metallic hardcore/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Calm down, crossover thrash fans. This is, in fact, mostly a hardcore record. But with riffs like that, who cares what you classify it as? This is dang heavy, gravel-vocal chug heaven, for non-stop, full-body headbanging. And yes, the boys from Connecticut can thrash pretty fucking good when they feel like it.
The rhythms have different levels of energy to them, but it’s lethal in every form. There’s powerviolence, thrash, melodeath-derived-old-school metalcore and groove metal to be found, all with the same, mean-spirited tone. It reminds me of Spiritworld at their absolute heaviest, only that it’s like this for the entire duration of the album. It’s not really attempting anything new, but if you’re looking for kickass in sonic form, it hardly gets any better than this.
Highlights: “Meat For The Beast” and “Night Parade Of 100 Demons”
August Burns Red – Season Of Surrender
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: This is a back-to-basics album from these metalcore mainstays. Rhythmic, lean, speedy riffing and acrobatic melodic leads à la early 2000s with consistently harsh vocals and a few breakdowns thrown in for good measure. At times it’s very As I Lay Dying, at times nearly Hatebreed, but it’s all pretty aggressive, with the expected emotional underpinnings.
If this sounds like just the ticket, then simply jump on board and ignore it. If you were hoping for something a little more varied and genre bending, that’s not what you’re getting this time around. It’s got a hardcore straightforwardness and simplicity to it, which ends up being both refreshing and a bit limiting.
Highlight: “Sonic Salvation”
Converge – Hum Of Hurt
Genre: Hardcore/mathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Certainly wasn’t expecting Converge back so soon, let alone any band who’s already had a release drop in 2026. So I half-figured this would be some sort of conceptual companion to February’s “Love Is Not Enough”, but no. This appears to be entirely its own thing, and it even features a clear stylistic shift for the band. We’re into a distinctly hardcore-rooted sound, with the intricacy of its structures and rhythms turned up since last time, although still keeping the complexity to a moderate level.
The trademark, noisy harshness of the band persists, and at times takes on the bludgeoning feel of sludge. While, as a metalhead, I miss the metallic heaviness of the last album, this feels like more of a statement – a little more like music for the sake of the message, while somehow being more interesting musically at the same time. I tip my hat.
Highlights: “Hum of Hurt” and “Dream Debris”
Evanescence – Sanctuary
Genre: Alternative metal/rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: I’ll keep it brief, so as not to embarass myself, cause the sum total of what I know about Evanescence spans about exactly the 3min 55sec runtime of “Bring Me To Life”. But the early 2000s are (for some unfathomable reason) back, baby, and with them a big, gargoyle-festooned plinth just waiting for this band to claim their rightful spot on it. And so they do, although not giving precedence to neither the majestic flourish of billowing, black capes nor the angsty attitude of their genre-defining origins. But, perhaps most importantly, both of those things are still present, without it sounding like a re-run of past glory.
Highlight: “Rapture”
Evergrey – Architects Of A New Weave
Genre: Progressive/power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: I’ve been pretty on board with Swedish veteran power proggers Evergrey’s last couple of releases, even though I very quickly get my fill of their style of epic melancholy. For those to which this is the main reason they gravitate towards the band, this album will likely be like a comforting cold breeze on a sweltering summer day. The problem with this album is that there’s really not all that much more to it. You get some nice, riff-driven energy up front, and then it’s Michael Bolton-style ballad-metal for pretty much the rest of the duration. Mix it up a little, guys.
Guilt Trip – Armour Of Angels
Genre: Hardcore/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: Again, crossover-lovers, if you’ve got your hopes up seeing another hardcore/metal compo this week, I gotta disappoint you, as this is also, and quite firmly so, putting the emphasis on the former of the two genres. It’s a stompy as hell album with so many breakdowns that it becomes downright routine. That being said, the riffs rip pretty damn hard, and it leans fairly heavily into a Machine Head harsh groove and pinch harmonic style.
The album doesn’t blow me away with its ferocity, and the rhythm style becomes a bit too predictable and formulaic after a while. Also, an intermission on a hardcore record? Hmmm… But the energy is good throughout, there’s some great Alien Weaponry-style thrashing, and it finishes really strong and aggressive.
Highlight: “Resurrected”
Horn – Apokalyps 1618
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: 24 years and now 11 albums in, and this is the first I hear of Horn. Shows how well versed I am in German black metal. But this album proved to be quite the wake-up call. At first it seemed I was being presented with pure, second wave Norwegian grimness, but the sound quickly expands. First of all, the production is excellent, and even though the tone remains suitably melancholy, it also has black feathered wings with which to soar.
The songs on this album build beautifully, and certainly not always in the classic bottom-to-top order. It dips into atmospheric, doom-like lulls and charges on with riff-powered, mounted-reaper-assaults, before ascending to crashing peaks of near blackened death metal force. It allies itself with folk-leaning melody for that pagan feel, without this making it feel less dark in any way. That being said, this isn’t the bleakest, most evil stuff out there, and not all of it feels equally fresh, but it retains a strong identity, delivered with conviction and obvious proficiency.
Highlights: “Am Abgrund steht der Junker” and “Apokalyps 1618”
Nights Of Malice – Chaos Exordium
Genre: Deathcore/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: If you like a bit of Aborted and Summoning the Lich technical brutality and the melodic style of The Black Dahlia Murder, then these Jersey boys (pardon the pun) have you covered. This is deathcore-styled tech death that doesn’t go for the incessant breakdowns or groove-killing djent chugs. Instead you get the kind of explosively violent aggression that moves with the terrifying speed of an apex predator.
This is definitely the kind of extreme metal for the person who takes one look at the album cover and immediately want to see the movie, regardless of quality. This is brutal entertainment from start to finish. Not flippant, but also not boundary-pushing. Great stuff for that heavy gym session.
Highlight: “Ex-Mortis”
Pharmacist – Vertebrae After Vertebrae
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Miss Necroticism-era Carcass? No worries, as Japan’s one-man project Pharmacist is very much keeping that unhinged, fun-loving, constantly experimenting, autopsy-obsessed (no, not the band) spirit alive. On “Vertebrae After Vertebrae”, Pharmacist lean heavily into filthy death metal, which might have prompted the fairly muddled production. I think it’s a bit overdone, but still suits the menacing style.
The vocals consist of a wide range of snarls and growls, all well performed and just perfect for the monstrous sound. The riffs feel hungry and deliver a stupid amount of groove. If this doesn’t get you headbanging, you seriously need to check your pulse. Perhaps not quite as visceral as it could have been with more audible detail, but still an absolute beast of an album.
Highlight: “Endogenica” and “Vertebrae After Vertebrae”
Revolting – Supernatural Anthems
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5
Review: It’s Rogga time again! For those unaware, Rogga Johansson is the man behind probably half of all the old school death metal coming out of Sweden these days. Among the many, many projects he’s involved with are Paganizer, Ghoulhouse, Eye of Purgatory, Leper Colony, Ribspreader (I promise I’ll stop here in a second), Dead Sun and, of course, Revolting.
While I’ve yet to hear anything actively bad from the man, and every now and then he really strikes the bullseye, a fair amount of these releases feel a bit… recycled. It’s crunchy, morbid death metal with a solemn melodic streak not totally unlike (very) early Arch Enemy, and it does the job and scratches a certain itch. Most of the time it’s quite satisfyingly raw and brutal. But a bit too much of it feels repetitive, and I’m wondering if it’s actually less repetitive within the confines of the album itself than it is in regards to the rest of its creator’s discography.
Highlight: “Dungeon Overture”
Shroud – Pax Nocturna
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Review: Whoa, did this one come out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere exactly – it did come out of Montreal, Canada, but for a debut album from a band that formed in 2022, this is nothing short of phenomenal. To be fair, at least some of its members have been in the game for a good amount longer, but coming out of the gates swinging on a new project like this is still a great thing to see. Shroud play black metal with a high-revving thrash/speed engine, which is just what you want for spreading this kind of devilry all the faster.
Because of its mostly mellow, piano-featuring intro track and fairly flat production, the album starts off feeling a lot more understated than it should. You really need to crank your speakers to fully enjoy it. They certainly don’t skimp on the occultist, venomous black metal feel, but the thrashy riff rampages are absolutely the stars of the show. The fact that they build up to these dominant sections with a bit of hooded nihilism just makes them all the more satisfying once they get going. It’s on the ever so slightly long side for a blackened thrash album, and a crisper sound overall would have really elevated it, but I just find myself enjoying the hell out of track after track after track regardless.
Highlights: “Death Blows Over” and “The Eternal Void”
Üga Büga – Valley Of The Wolf
Genre: Stoner/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Review: An exciting young stoner/sludge band out of Virginia, USA, whose style revolves around a fantastical, comic-inspired concept. This mostly matters for the lyrics, but the music itself is also far from conventional. It swings from crashing riffs and throat-rending coarseness to floaty psychedelia and jazzy progressions.
Variation and imagination are the great strengths of this album, along with the performances themselves. It sounds really good throughout. The issue, at least intermittently, is that some of the tonal- and rhythm transitions can feel fairly abrupt and, at times, unmotivated. There’s more than enough cool stuff on here to warrant a higher rating, it’s just that the way it’s all put together is a bit messier than what really suits it. Still, it’s a lively, enjoyable and truly creative effort.
Highlight: “Valley of The Wolf”
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 