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Weekly Rundown August 21 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released August 15 – August 21
This week’s in a bit of a mood, either violently acting up or sulking in the shadows. All done in style, though.
Cobrafuma – Droga Total
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: You really don’t need to say anything else than “Portuguese thrash” to pique my interest, so if you add elements of punk, sludge, speed and death ‘n’ roll on top of that, you’ve truly and fully captured my attention. The debut album of Cobrafuma is incredibly light on its feet, but still carries loads of attitude and insolent groove.
What you’re essentially getting is galloping, mid-to-high tempo punk thrash with coarse, shouted vocals, a distinctly regional melodic flair and a well-defined but spartan production. You’re not left with an ounce more than necessary. Not all of the tracks knock my socks off, but the ones that do proceed to set fire to said socks and make molotov cocktails, just to be able to inhale the resulting fumes and go even wilder.
Highlight: “Quem é este man”
Fen – Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth
Genre: Atmospheric black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Sometimes atmospheric metal manages to sound like it’s absorbed the essence of a certain kind of landscape, and this is very much the case with Fen’s eighth full-length. It sounds like a gnarled, forested valley going through the upheaval of millennia’s worth of growth and decay, disasters and stagnation alike, in the span of mere minutes. It reminds me of Enslaved at their least proggy but most lushly atmospheric and conceptually exploratory, which should be considered high praise.
Tonally it remains a blackened affair all the way through, but exists almost as much within doom, folk and gothic metal, without drawing attention to any obvious tropes. There’s aggression, dry riffing and chilling tremolo to be had, but this feels less like obligatory, unholy “dressing up” and more like essential ingredients to describe the most harrowing of natural events.
Highlights: “Tectonic” and “Glacier”
The Night Eternal – Cold Velvet
Genre: Heavy/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: If you liked the Spell album from a little earlier this year, chances are you’ll be feeling this one as well. As suggested by the album title, it’s classic heavy metal with a velvety kind of gothic-melodic veneer, further enforced by emotionally expressive, slightly theatrical vocals.
Everything sounds delicate and reverb-y, with gentle riffs and elegant guitar solos. There is some force to be had, but it’s reserved for the big moments. To me a lot of its non-harmonic melody lines feel more distracting than impactful, and the vocals aren’t really my cup of tea, but it feels conceptually complete and stylistically confident.
Highlight: “Eurydice (Don’t Look Back)”
Oddland – Unilluminate To Illuminate
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Oddland are a Finnish prog metal band founded all the way back in 2003, and now on their fourth full-length. Their style on “Unilluminate to Illuminate” reminds me of Haken in many ways, but the album starts off even more adventurous than I’ve come to expect from the brits, with deft switches from delicate acoustic cleans with sax sprinklings to growly, tech-chugging aggression, versatile vocals and engaging, unpredictable melody lines.
The band manage to keep up this impressive dynamism and creativity for about the first half of the album before things unfortunately start to deflate. The force seems to fizz out and the song progressions start to feel purposeless and somewhat repetitive. There are still great moments throughout, but overall it loses some of the strength of its statement.
Highlight: “Eternal Erode”
Rituals of Sorrow – The Ire of God
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: This deathcore one-man project places itself somewhere between the rhythmic chugging of a band like Kublai Khan TX and the grandeur of Lorna Shore, with a touch of blackened melody, metalcore dexterity and brutal death metal heft and nastiness.
It’s very much a “pick and mix” of different ingredients, with slamming breakdowns meeting sharp technicality and acrobatic solos, and unsettling, mournful atmosphere transitioning into percussive riffs, grooves and roars. The vocals produce everything from screeches to phlegmy gurgles. and the low end booms like slow motion shockwaves. For a deathcore fan it’s a candy bag of violent variety. For me it’s a bit too unfocused and preoccupied with well-worn genre traits, but it keeps surprising with its versatility all the way throughout.
Highlight: “Subjects of Ymir”
Street Tombs – Existence Is Corruption
Genre: Death metal/punk
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: For those yet unfamiliar in the realms of morbidity: when death metal is described as “fun”, this is basically what we mean. Thrashy riffs, eager, steady rhythms, dive bombing guitar squeals, a generous amount of solos, vocals like ripping dry leather and a completely unapologetic and light-hearted thematic and tonal immersion in horror, decay, defilement and suffering.
From the alleyways of sunny Santa Fe, New Mexico come creeping the ghouls of Street Tombs, back with their second full-length after releasing the equally riff-tastic but more grimy and light-shy “Reclusive Decay” back in 2023. This time they’re not skulking around the sewers, but chasing down unsuspecting victims on the open streets. The album feels athletic and spritely, but with the proper heaviness and rawness of a solid low end and coarse vocals to keep it grounded. It doesn’t challenge the format in any way, and can get a bit same-y in terms of rhythms at times, but serves up a delicious combination of crust punk spite, hardcore stomp, and black ‘n’ roll groove, that overshadows any such petty faults.
Highlights: “Upset the Grave” and “Septic Values”
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?
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Weekly Rundown August 14 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released August 08 – August 14
On the doorstep of autumn, the remains of the summer metal harvest yields a mixed bag of slightly off-kilter flavors.
The Absolution Sequence – Dread Cycle
Genre: Technical groove/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Causing waves (in an irregular, high frequency pattern, of course) all the way from Tasmania, The Absolution Sequence are finally out with their debut full-length after starting up all the way back in 2013. Their sound is Allegaeon-reminiscent in its aggressive techiness and slightly aloof, stark atmosphere, but leaning much more into groove, not unlike a lesser-well-known band like Alustrium. While it’s generally quite speedy, it’s not out to completely overload your mind like all the big tech death acts seem to be these days.
There’s heaps of cool playing on “Dread Cycle”, mixed with a slightly uneasy, dark mood that gives the album an effective overall feel. My main issue is that, at least to my ears, none of the melodic tendencies are carried on through the riffs. The chugging heaviness just hits and does its own thing, pretty much regardless of what’s led up to it, resulting in a disjointed flow that doesn’t really go anywhere. A great technical groundwork, that to me lacks memorability.
Highlight: “Ghost Mantra”
Abyssal Rift – Relics Of Great Ash
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: If you feel like disappearing down a dark, root-lined, musty-smelling hole in the ground for a good half hour, this album will pull you there. It’s half-dissonant death doom that goes big on the unsettling factor and tries decently hard to be unpredictable as it chases you through crumbling, claustrophobic cave systems. The majority of the songs lack a solid, grounding riff line to settle on or to mark the peak of the long buildups, which leaves me with a notable degree of dissatisfaction. The abyssal vibes are all there, although I’d say they could go even more extreme with the atmosphere.
Highlight: “The Death of God”
Alligator Rodeo – Optimists Club
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Think Black Label Society, just THICKER, and without any of the cleanliness, and you’re not too far off from this sophomore album by German sludge band Alligator Rodeo. There’s plenty of groove on “Optimists Club”, but no pleasantness. It’s grungy, coarse and dark. A few too many of the songs are a little too straightforward in terms of rhythms and dynamics to really leave an impact, but a lot of it is also really well written and thought out.
Highlight: “Punch Out God”
Coyote Man – Prosthetic Memories
Genre: Progressive/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: This is one of those progressive albums that deserve its classification not on the grounds of its technical unconventionality, but in the way that it takes elements of certain subgenre traits and combines them in a way that hasn’t been done quite like it before. I’d describe it as Intronaut- and Mastodon-like prog sludge with some dreamy-spacey elements from Devin Townsend and a touch of Deftones alternative tone and melody. Apart from the last track, it’s also instrumental, which I would normally count as a negative, but with this richness of composition, I didn’t find myself missing vocals at any point. In fact, when they kick in on “Faith in a Burning Room”, it’s a bit jarring.
The band dip in and out of heavy, chugging riffs and mildly psychedelic, captivating guitar-led melody lines that feel optimistic, yet reasonably solemn. This isn’t your typical “fooling around”, experimental shenanigan-prog. Neither does it feel lofty or in any way overdone. It exists in a world of its own, swirling in and out, up and down on a road of fascinating discovery.
Highlights: “War Hatchet” and “Interpreting Dreams”
Ironflame – Worlds to Conquer
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Had enough of extreme metal’s… well, extremity… for a while? This album, and band, hearkens back to simpler (in a good way) times, when the original legends were making names for themselves. Ironflame play fantastical, battle-ready heavy metal of the kind pioneered by Rainbow, Iron Maiden and Saxon, and these influences are clearly audible on “Worlds to Conquer”.
While certainly not devoid of riff gymnastics or solos (in fact, they’re a big part of what makes the album stand out), this is mostly mid-tempo, resolutely marching epicness led by a supremely competent, Dio-esque vocal performance. The album oozes larger-than-life, darkly mystical mood, not unlike that of Khemmis, and it fits the instrumental style perfectly. A few of the songs do get stuck in the same pattern for a little too long at a time, putting the breaks on the momentum, but if you’re not craving outright speed, you’ll probably not mind the album taking its time.
Highlight: “Night Closes In”
Living Weapon – Death In The Family
Genre: Mathcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Did the Converge releases earlier this year leave you craving more punishment? Fear not, for going into Living Weapon’s debut album you can safely pre-book a hospital bed. The theme of the day is the end of life, but at least we’re going out with a concrete-pulverizing, rebar-snapping series of bangs.
There’s no shying away from the fact that “Death In The Family” is noisy, supremely violent and fairly chaotic, but the band hasn’t made the mistake of creating a relentless, unbroken cacophony that would leave you desensitized by track four. The hostility and industrial, alien atmosphere is ever-present, but the intensity pulls back periodically to reassess and prepare for new, unexpected angles of attack. There’s perhaps not a ton of personality to be found, but it conveys a lot of good thinking, and will leave you with bruises in all the places that you’re most actively trying to defend.
Highlights: “Interspecies Quality Assessment” and “The Leaving Process”
Raunchy – Prisoner
Genre: Alternative/groove metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: In a way I’m not surprised that the existence of this Danish band has completely escaped me up until now, even though they are fellow Scandinavians and have been around since 1992. For one they haven’t released an album in 12 years, and secondly their rather unique style of genre-blending melodic metal would probably only have appealed to my very early, introductory taste in heavy music.
That’s not to say that this is a simplistic, easy-to-label, trend-chasing kind of thing. The band is championing a style all of its own, combining elements of groove, alternative, melodic death, industrial, metalcore, prog, pop… I could go on. At its very best I get small hints of Igorrr, Haken, Leprous, Mercenary, Deftones, Avenged Sevenfold and even Electric Callboy, but where the latter fully embrace the silliness of their pop-electronic/metalcore slick/heavy collision for comic effect, Raunchy seem to expect you to be able to digest the full flavor spectrum of their weird ass potpourri with a completely straight face. For me, there’s simply too much cringe-level sappiness and pop-ballad “wooo-oooh’s”, and too little actually original songwriting in the picture to draw any lasting enjoyment, but for the fanbase it’s a confident and cobweb-free return to form.
Highlight: “Designed Despair”
Soulgrind – Ad Pulchram Mortem
Genre: Gothic/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Review: This long-going Finnish band is another one that hasn’t spent much time on my radar. Their current sound is a rather vibrant mix of gothic emotion, flowing folk and blackened death heaviness. It’s highly melodically inclined, but in a mature and slightly melancholy fashion, that still allows for quite a bit of scope. I deeply enjoy the aggressive-melodic blend, but there are more than a few rocks in the road. The production feels compressed, the performances are somewhat uneven, and their seemingly complete lack of restraint leads to pretty much every single track stretching out a good third longer than what is necessary for it to convey its essence.
Highlight: “The Origin of the White Serpent”
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?
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Weekly Rundown August 07 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released August 01 – August 07
As if sensing the slow retreat of daylight, black and darkened metal slither out of the growing shadows.
Aspen Sanctum – To Withhold The Need To Conquer
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: What’s this? Sunshine and warm, bright colors on a black metal album cover? More worryingly, the pleasantness extends to the music itself. Squealing feedback and blast beats transition into gentle melodies that flow along like a caressing summer breeze as you lie outstretched in the grass by the foot of a tree, half-shaded by the canopy. But every now and then the melancholy chill of a grey cloud blocking the sun’s rays makes you realize that the ambient temperature is, in fact, anything but balmy.
On their debut album, Michigan’s Aspen Sanctum have managed a sound that rekindles forgotten memories, weighed down by the crushing presence of finality, like death’s hand on your shoulder, reminding you that you can never go back to those lost moments in time. Vocals and instrumental heaviness skirt the border of atmospheric death metal on certain tracks, but maintain the hostile sharpness and shrill necessary to not drift off into a genre blend. They vary tempo and mood expertly, and grow and shrink the scale of the impact accordingly. Very close to the absolute ideal mix of beauty and contempt.
Highlights: “Without Illumination” and “The Mortal Trap”
Cancer Bats – Give Me Dirt
Genre: Hardcore/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: You generally know that you’re in for a rowdy good time with Canada’s Cancer Bats, and they’re not looking to change their reputation with “Give Me Dirt”. It’s punky hardcore with added sludge grit and massive hard rock riffs. Parts of it feels rebellious and youthful, while other parts have more of a carefree stoner vibe, with Sabbath-like doom riffs popping up here and there.
To me, it feels like they burn through most of their best ideas in the first half, leaving the march to the end a bit stale, but not lacking in energy. A fun and surprisingly varied album, if a bit front-loaded.
Highlight: “Stay Stuck”
Dymna Lotva – Vyraj
Genre: Black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Dymna Lotva are a Belarusian band effectively exiled to Poland for their anti-totalitarian stance, which by itself makes them worthy of mentioning, at least in my book. They play a semi-depressive form of blackened doom, that also contains haunting beauty and mystic folk elements. It feels thoroughly solemn, as if addressing and invoking powers and sensations hidden behind a veil of dark unreality.
Personally I find my attention drifting in the slowest paced sections of the album, as they tend to get overly minimalistic, and somewhat repetitive in their melody patterns. I’m also not quite on board with some of the vocal performances, but there’s a lot of different flavors on offer. At times quite powerful, and confidently theatrical in a suitably restrained fashion.
Highlight: “Zory”
Electric Callboy – Tanzeid
Genre: Industrial/pop metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Electric Callboy are one one of those bands, not unlike NanowaR of Steel, where the music videos are near-essential companions to the listening experience. I’m not gonna say that the comedy is lost without the visual hijinks, but it is certainly amplified by them. Jumping in at a random point, you could easily be forgiven for mistaking this for straight pop metal, completely missing its big, wriggling, tongue-produced cheek bulge. The comedy is strong with this one, but the music itself is also not bad.
Once you allow yourself to give in to the irreverence and parody of the thing and start bopping your head, it’s very hard to stop, as the album rarely slows down, and serves up some massive hits at regular intervals. I’m detracting some points for simply copy-pasting the Babymetal collab track “RATATATA” from the latter band’s “Metal Forth” album released almost exactly one year ago, and for fluffing up the runtime with no less than four remix tracks (and a cover), but apart from that it had me grinning like an idiot and banging my head all the way.
Highlight: “Elevator Operator”
Gravecrawler – Nidus
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: If you splice together the crusty groove of Swedish OSDM with the nasty slams and gurgles of modern brutal death metal, do you end up completely repelling two major factions of the fan base, or combining them? This is apparently what Gravecrawler have set out to discover, and from what I can gather, they’ve achieved the most favorable of the two outcomes.
At its core this is quasi-melodic, morbid, doom-flirting riff carnage with distinct traces of black metal misanthropy. But it also knows how to stomp holes in the floor as a means of kicking the intensity up a notch, and it’s not overdone in the least. The tone, rhythms and vocal style offer surprising variation, elevating it beyond the bread-and-butter death metal caveman projects. There’s a surprising amount of flavors to be had, in addition to, and not at all distracting from, the simple pleasure of mighty, bone-crunching riffs.
Highlights: “Bogs of Torvus” and “Fetid Bloom”
Hulder – Verbolgen
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: On the band’s third full-length, now-duo Hulder go close to full-on pitch black folk metal, but without much of the melody of a band like Blackbraid, and without losing track of the corpse-painted origins. This is the band flexing the character of their expression, adding more atmospheric and traditional music elements than before, weaving it all together and playing it at such an even flow that parts of it could be mistaken for doom.
Still, this is unmistakably grim, Scandi-inspired black metal, simply pulled in an entirely non-tacky pagan direction, and avoiding the typical Norse influences. It’s quality all the way, offering variation in its nuances rather than experimenting too much with rhythms or mood. Parts of the album might feel a bit flat if you’re not fully immersed, and not all of the rousing buildups feel quite as gripping to me as they probably should. But the conviction is sky high, and the sound distinct enough to mark the band as a truly outstanding player on the forest-dwelling, light-shunning scene.
Highlights: “In Blood and in Earth” and “…And We Shall Sing”
Saprovore – Numinous Abditory Deflagration
Genre: Avant-garde/industrial black/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Normally, projects like this with obvious technical defects will earn a quick skip from me, but several things about Saprovore’s debut full-length kept my attention firmly fixed, as if it’s secreting the sonic equivalent of sticky slug slime. Trying to nail down the sound, I can describe it as half-psychedelic, half cinematic-melodic, wildly unconventional, avant-garde blackened death metal with seemingly random industrial-electronic elements. To some, it will no doubt be completely repulsive, but to me it’s utterly fascinating.
The unsettling atmosphere, the hostility, the sporadic demonic growls, the buried instrumentation, the insidious tone, it’s all part of what kept me invested from beginning to end, and made me ignore/accept the broken, artificial drums, lacking low end and relative aimlessness of the progression. Objectively I can’t quite so easily forgive these aspects, but if you’re in a curious mood, I highly recommend dipping your toes in this possibly bottomless pool of kaleidoscopic madness.
Highlights: “Threnody Pt. II (Exequial Dirge)” and “Sibilantum”
Spectr3 – A Procession of the Dead
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: I’d easily forgive you for reading “Spectr3” and expecting hardcore, alternative metal or even hip-hop to come out of your speakers. But no, this is Spanish black metal, very much in the traditional, Norwegian style. The vocals are muted, the guitars washed out, and the rhythms primitive. Even so, there’s an eagerness and subtle melodic edge to it that sort of betrays its non-typical origins. To me, there’s still too little other than simple genre worship on this album, but fans (cvltists), will no doubt appreciate both its reliability and its distinctive nuances.
Highlight: “Phantom Drummer of Tedworth”
Temple of Dread – Dreadspawn Dominion
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Germany’s Temple of Dread are back once again to play no-frills, light-on-its-feet old school death metal. Production wise it’s a slight step up from 2024’s rock solid “God of the Godless”, offering a fuller and more defined sound. It might just be me, but the guys sound a bit more pissed off this time, like there’s an extra dose of venom behind the dry-snarled vocals and charging riffs. It reminds me of the last-ditch energy that made At the Gates’ final album so special, and while this album doesn’t quite make it to the same level, it shares more than a few stylistic traits with that of the Swedish legends.
Other than this, the band sound very much like themselves, which should please fans (as which I count myself). But it’s this sameness that also raises questions of just how much more they have to offer creatively. A lot of the rhythm approaches are quite similar, and the doomy horror tone is fairly uniform across the album. I had a great time with it simply because the spirit of the band’s revitalization of the classic sound is very much still alive, and sounds better than ever, although I wouldn’t have minded a bit more groove.
Highlight: “Dreadspawn Dominion”
Vertiginous – Incessant Affliction
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: It’s not very often I give a brutal death metal album a higher subjective rating than an objective one, but here we go. Vertiginous are an Indonesian duo now on their second full-length, but in terms of delivery and and the feeling of sheer mass behind the sonic punishment, they give the impression of well-honed experience. The thing steamrolls ahead on an apocalyptic scale, leveling cities and landscape features alike.
The main issue is that almost every single track either starts with or builds up to pretty much exactly the same rhythm pattern, and so you feel a bit like you’re having to weather a torrent of ping-chatter-thunder filler to get to the morsels of monstrous breakdowns or controlled riff sections. The result is unfortunately that the album’s memorability factor is close to non-existent, but it’s a dang good time while it’s going.
Highlights: “Engraved Loathing”
Xandria – Eclipse
Genre: Symphonic metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: For those unfamiliar, Xandria play mostly high-tempo, riff-centric symphonic metal with elements of folk, and a touch of aggression. The energy is great on “Eclipse”, and it sounds both epic and vibrant. It’s got tasty solos, fantastic vocals, decent rhythm variation and excellent production.
My main drawback is the severely unoriginal feel of the melodies. I was actually prepared to give the album a higher rating, but then I realized that the main melody line of “The Grand Delusion” is almost exactly the same as the one performed by Michael Bolton in The Lonely Island’s “Jack Sparrow”, and so my ability to take the whole thing seriously all but evaporated.
Highlight: “Eclipse”
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?
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Weekly Rundown July 31 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released July 25 – July 31
Finishing up July, the big wheels slowly start to grind again in the metal world.
Allt – Ataraxia
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Swedish outfit Allt describe their music as progressive metalcore. Not being familiar with their discography, I can’t speak to past endeavors, but “Ataraxia” is progressive only in stylistic, superficial terms. Djent-y guitars with mildly irregular rhythm patterns and elusive, understated melody lines does not mean innovative. In fact, the whole thing strikes me as rather predictable. That’s not to say that there aren’t some competent compositions and playing on here, but the overall tendency is for any and all complexity to devolve into pop-oriented choruses and safe, easy-to-follow structures.
Complexant – Apex
Genre: Blackened deathcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: You could tack on a fair bit of labels to the sound of the debut album by Australian band Complexant. Deathcore. Tech death. Melodic black metal. Long story short though: it’s heavy, fast and aggressive. The band seem to have picked out some of their favorite ingredients from modern black- and death metal and mashed them together into their own brand of monstrosity. You get chugs and breakdowns, blast beats, dark majesty and technical complexity.
The important part to note is that the entertainment factor is high, and it doesn’t feel overly bound by tropes. There’s plenty of energy and measured brutality. It’s also a mixed bag. Some of the songs feel rushed, like they’re very nearly stumbling over their own strings as they hurl themselves onto the attack. The clean-ish vocals feel underdeveloped, and too few of the melodies truly land for me. But at its best it’s quite the beast, reminding me of such acts as the UK’s Viscera.
Highlight: “Cyclops”
Disfiguring the Goddess – Bloom
Genre: Experimental/brutal death metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: This is not an album for the slam addict that want to be subjected to an uninterrupted steamroller tsunami of avalanche riffs and detonation breakdowns. All of those things are in there, but it soon becomes clear that Disfiguring the Goddess want a lot more out of their music. The album is loaded with electronic elements, nods to hardcore and nu metal, samples, guest performances, and deathcore grooves and melodies. It’s less weird than it’s indulgent, like the album had a massive appetite as it was coming together, and wasn’t content with a single menu’s worth of flavors.
While the band has managed to show restraint in their level of experimentation, resulting in a surprisingly coherent whole, they’ve been a lot more lax with the editing, leading to a fairly bloated runtime. There are more conventional parts that feel like they’re there as a counterweight to the more daring stuff, which, for me, only serves to lengthen the gap between, and distract from, the actual album highlights. There’s nothing bad though, and they keep up the variation and unpredictability to the very end.
Highlights: “Kiss the Dice” and “Echoes Fade, I Remain”
Finsterforst – Still
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: If you’re new to German band Finsterforst’s current sound, you need to disconnect your expectations from the atmospheric nuance of such bands as Panopticon, but also the rowdy irreverence of a band like Korpiklaani, and the live-oriented simplicity of the likes of Feuerschwantz. This is folk metal that’s big, fairly uncomplicated and punchy, but that also carries the rasp and venom of black metal, with big, lofty visions leading to epic scope and extended song lengths. It certainly doesn’t make you forget that it’s nearly 80 minutes long, but if you find yourself connecting with the vibe, then you’ll enjoy all of it.
Highlight: “Im Wind”
Five Finger Death Punch – Legacy
Genre: Alternative metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 1.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Kicking off “Legacy” with its title track, I was left with the flimsy hope that its in-your-face, driving groove would set the example for the whole album. But no. It quickly devolves into artificial rhythms, generic melodies and clichéd, sappy-delivered lyrics, the likes of which makes me itch to skip track after track, until there are no more to skip. Yes there is some heaviness, and yes there is tons of arena-friendly, big groove with plenty of sing-along-ness, but it all feels distinctly formulaic at this point.
Fractal Sun – Divergent Paradox
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: This Costa Rican band play a sci-fi-conceptual, melodic and modern variant of progressive metal, not quite managing the impact of such acts as Spiritbox, but utilizing some of the same traits. There are djent-y guitars and snarling vocals to go with the gentle and lofty stuff, and some effort has clearly been put into joining the two extremes as seamlessly as possible. While the complex rhythm work gets somewhat jittery at times, and some of the mixing throws off the balance a little, the best of what’s on offer flows really well, managing unpredictable, mind-tickling progressions that feel purposefully intricate.
Hexorcist – Crucificial Imprecations
Genre: Death/speed metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Boosted by ferocious speed and a bitchin’ album cover, Hexorcist throw themselves at you with reckless abandon, like the shrieking souls of hell rushing off to war. This is old school, occult-toned death metal that go the thrash-y way of sharpness and velocity, welcoming squeals and dive bombs at every opportune moment. Unfortunately it gets a bit repetitive and same-y after a while, but style-wise they’re delivering big.
Lipoma – Infernal Wounds of Ravenous Flesh
Genre: Goregrind/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: If you’re questioning how a goregrind and melodic death/black metal mashup might make sense, then look no further than to New York band Lipoma for a fully functioning example. It’s all the blood-crazed aggression and swamp-guttural vocals you’d expect, but all of a sudden you find yourself nodding along to vintage Dark Tranquillity riff-carried melodies on steady, marching rhythms. There’s a definite chill and solemnity to the sound that sort of works and sort of doesn’t, as it’s matched up with horror samples and abattoir morbidity.
I will admit that it’s not the most inventive, neither as a genre blend, nor in any one of its different styles isolated, but personally I find more than enough entertainment value and brutal groove on here to keep me engaged for its sub-35 minute runtime.
Highlight: “Teratoma in the Putrid Womb”
Bear McCreary – The Singularity: Eklepsis
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: This is the kind of prog project that has the grandeur, indulgence and melodic verve of Devin Townsend, and the collaborative nature of Ayreon. The album varies wildly in style with the different artists contributing on the songs, and yet it doesn’t completely run away into the scrapheaps of inconsistency. There’s obvious compositional talent behind the proceedings, ensuring a solid overall flow.
In terms of flavor there’s a little bit for every taste, which is both a strength and a weakness. It’s an album where most people will want to pick and choose, rather than embrace the whole. It sort of justifies its momentous runtime by constantly pulling out new tricks and influences, as well as maintaining infectious energy and force, and if you keep an open mind it’s very capable of delighting you all the way throughout.
Highlight: “Black Box”
Nothingness – Godslaughter
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: This summer hasn’t seen much in the way of quality death doom (that I’ve noticed, anyway), and this isn’t exactly that, but for those starved of riffs that sound like collapsing cave systems, this will most likely do the trick and then some. Nothingness is a Minnesotan band that play mid-tempo, old-school-leaning, sky-darkening, happiness-crushing death metal. While far from what I’d call “technical” or “progressive”, there’s an insidious ingenuity to the rhythms that has the beast that is the album regularly shifting its strategy, never letting you get quite comfortable with its approach to chasing and stalking you.
Tonally it’s pretty even-tempered, and while matched with the awesome combined force of drums, guitars and bass it becomes a horrifying spectacle, it can also get a bit tiresome in its lack of variation. There’s not much in the way of shock factor, and it doesn’t unsettle quite like the unhinged evil of a Veilburner album, but it certainly does impress with its sheer weight and relentlessness.
Highlights: “Skull Evulsion” and “Incinerated Immediately”
Tabernakel – Scheintaufe
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Back-to-basics black metal from Germany awaits on this record. The guitars are tinny and sharp, and the vocals creak like the basement hatch of a long-abandoned woodland cabin, but the bass is at least present. There is some actual scope to be found as well, with a moody acoustic intro and a synth-y interlude among the main elements adding a bit of variation. Purists will no doubt be mighty pleased, although for anyone else there’s not too much that stands out.
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?
albums, Allt, Bear McCreary, black metal, Complexant, death metal, Disfiguring the Goddess, Finsterforst, Five Finger Death Punch, Fractal Sun, grindcore, groove metal, Hexorcist, Lipoma, metal, metal albums out this week, new metal releases, new releases, Nothingness, progressive metal, review, Tabernakel, thrash metal -
Weekly Rundown July 24 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released July 18 – July 24
While most of the metal world is either busy touring or working up a tan on some beach, there is still a hunger for new material to be sated.
Faustian – Parable Of The Sewer
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: The Aussies in Werewolves clearly aren’t content with releasing an album under that moniker every year. Aside from them being in a bunch of other bands, sometimes two-and-two together and sometimes not, all three guys decided to form (mostly) black metal band Faustian in 2023. “Parable of the Sewer” is their first full-length, and while there certainly are lycanthropic elements to it (werewolf pun intended), it’s fully committed to the business of light-snuffing and hope-throttling bitterness.
No one familiar with Werewolves will be surprised at the high levels of aggressive intensity on here, but while it supplies great drive and plenty of precise, adrenaline-boosting riffs, it doesn’t completely dominate the experience. They know how to slow things down, load on the atmosphere, escalate and de-escalate. While they do many things right, it doesn’t quite succeed in forging a crystal clear identity of its own, nor convince me 100% that they wouldn’t rather be playing full-on death metal. It’s a solid, blackened alternative to the mainline morbidity, that might grow more distinct with further experimentation.
Highlight: “I Curse You”
The Hu – Hun
Genre: Folk rock/metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: The Hu continue their distinct fusion of traditional Mongolian musical techniques and modern rock and heavy metal, for probably their most diverse album to date. They sound big and confident, with storytelling elements that don’t distract from the easy-to-like grooves and epic melodies.
The main issue with this album is the poorly structured first third, with an energy building, chant-y intro leading into a horribly misplaced collab track with Nothing More that sounds nothing like the rest of the album and sticks out like a Cybertruck driving onto the stage and doing donuts in the middle of a Wardruna show. This is followed by the fairly flat “The Men” and the tender clean track “Echoes of My Father”, leaving you completely baffeled as to what you’re actually in for. The last two thirds make up for it with some truly standout tracks and skyrocketing quality towards the end, although as a full album experience “Hun” is still seriously off balance.
Highlight: “Grey Hun”
Rezn – Cycles in the Infinite Dream
Genre: Psychedelic stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Chicago’s Rezn introduced themselves to me with their companion albums Solace (2023) and Burden (2024), and, although their style of psychedelic doom is certainly not what you’d called speedy, they won me over in record time. These are albums to get lost in, where, despite fairly modest runtimes, you feel like you’ve taken part in something profound at the end. This feeling is rekindled with “Cycles in the Infinite Dream”, although the band’s musical approach has shifted somewhat.
The majority of the tracks feature stoner style riffs and rhythms, with more rock-oriented drum work overall, and mid-level tempos. It’s still heavy, but not in the same cavernous, mountain-shifting sense that we experienced last time around. Is that a deal-breaker? Not at all. Rezn still know how to sound massive and implacable when the mood calls for it, so the benefit of the stylistic shift is bigger contrasts. It’s an album that moves more actively around in its space. There are sections that fight the momentum and can feel a bit repetitive if you’re not in the flow, but they are easily swallowed up by the overall impression of being transported into an alternate reality where the abstract takes wonderful and imposing shape.
Highlights: “Cloudfall” and “The Vessel”
Ripper – Towards Rebirth
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Chilean band Ripper are one of those that have no problem convincing you that they do, if fact, want to play fast – all the time. True to their band name, this stuff will rip its way through your ear canals and throw itself at your brain like an endless tide of mindless undead strapped up with explosives.
Summing up this album, the term “one-dimensional” does come to mind, as every track seems to follow the same formula of head-over-heels guitars and drums, screaming solos and hoarse-grunting vocals. And yet the effort behind pumping out so much wicked, relentless riffage with loads of semi-memorable moments, and coming out the other end of nearly 42 minutes without completely desensitizing the listener, is a feat that I’m more than happy to commend.
Highlight: “The Secret Dawn” and “The Source Exterminator”
Sallow Moth – Hydrophilous Brood
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Get ready to be snatched by your ankles and yanked into a maddening jungle of screaming trees, dancing earth and water moving in steps to a hundred different heartbeats. Yes, this is progressive death metal of the dissonant and experimental variant, which, as regular readers will know, means that I’m either all in or all out. In this case, consider me thrown unceremoniously overboard.
This is the kind of album that I feel actively tries to unsettle you with its insane rhythm changes and listener-hostile, melody-averse guitar antics. Paired with a muddled production and overall lack of groove, I just feel myself lost and unmoved throughout. That’s not to say that I don’t recognize the control and playfulness behind the performances, and those looking to be snatched out of their comfort zone should be all over this.
Highlight: “Distended in Panglacial Advent”
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?
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Weekly Rundown July 10 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released July 04 – July 10
It’s a week for fresh approaches, variety, strong debuts and second winds.
Apogean – Waste Where Life Begins
Genre: Technical death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: On their sophomore offering, Canadian band Apogean take a decisive step away from the slightly generic (but spacey and fun) technical style of their debut and move in the direction of riff-forward, groove-centric blackened death metal, not horribly unlike a band like Vredehammer. Clear elements of hardcore and proggy technicality remain though, so as you get further into the album you realize you’re not faced with quite as drastic a style change as first it might have seemed.
The main problem with this half-step into a new realm is that I’m left uncertain as to what the band actually wants to sound like, as I keep hearing traits clearly inspired by well-known bands of starkly different death metal subgenres. At one moment it’s symphonic deathcore, then a bit of Allegaeon, some Behemoth-style evil solemnity, Sylosis melodic verve and Soulfly thrash-tribal brutality. Apart from a bit of stylistic confusion though, it’s still a well-performed and entertaining album with strong individual tracks, for those who like their death metal treading the middle way between tech-y madness and abyssal blackness.
Highlight: “Daughter of the Oak”
Arise From Worms – A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self Destruction
Genre: Experimental/technical death metal/shred
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: If there wasn’t such a thing as death shred before this album came out, there sure is now. This project combines all-out aggression and technical brutality with a seemingly overpowering need to squeeze out wild, non-harmonizing guitar solos. It’s seriously jarring at first, and even as I find myself getting used to it throughout, it really doesn’t stop throwing you off, and suspect (and hope) it’s intentional. It’s got the same problem as most shred albums in that it’s got no real purpose other than to wow, but this one’s at least a good measure more memorable thanks to its whacky stylistic melding.
DevilDriver – Strike and Kill
Genre: Groove/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: On their 11th full-length since starting out in 2003, California’s DevilDriver have finished dealing with their demons (if that confuses you, check out their most recent discography) and are changing things up a bit. As the title suggests, they go straight for the throat on “Strike and Kill”, loading on the aggression, not forgetting their signature melodic catchiness, but prioritizing high-energy, beat-heavy directness.
Those that enjoy the melodeath-factor to their sound need not despair though, as it’s very much still present, just whipped into a higher rev range by the percussive assault of the riffs and drums. It’s tight and super groovy, although the song structuring and overall wealth of material doesn’t quite match the ferocious progression. I expected to be left wanting more, but at the end of the near 51-minute runtime I’m well stuffed and feeling like the band leaves me at the bottom of a downward slope of memorability. A revitalizing and fun record, if a bit overstuffed.
Highlight: “Dig Your Own Grave”
Dysgnostic – End Whispers
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Dissonant death metal has to hit a very certain spot for it to truly work for me, and I might as well admit from the very start that this sophomore release by Dysgnostic (previously Defilementory) doesn’t quite do that. To me it feels a bit hesitant and distracted, like it keeps pausing and changing direction out of sheer absent-mindedness. And when it strikes, it’s never quite the cataclysmic cacophony that I keep hoping for.
All that being said, this is a thoroughly sinister and hostile album that manages to be both unsettling and rousing. There’s a blackened feel to it, without it taking on any explicitly black metal traits. It’s oppressive and dark, but doesn’t drag you down into despair, and it never feels repetitive. If you’re into bands like Ulcerate, then you’re gonna get more of the same measured mind torture here.
Highlight: “Orphaned and Abandoned”
Iron Slaught – Metallic Torments
Genre: Heavy/speed metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Emerging from the castle crypts once more, after an eleven year absence, France’s Iron Slaught sound like they’ve been deep in study of the arcane arts of underground 80s metal. There’s never any doubt that this is a speed-style classic heavy metal album, but where you expect strict faithfulness to near-formulaic genre conventions, instead you get playfulness and variety, with elements of first-wave thrash, black and death metal.
While not “blackened”, “Metallic Torments” is also far from a bright and bubbly kind of sound. It leans into its medieval concept and doesn’t shy away from melodic sections, buildups and interludes, but the tone remains on the solemn and dark side. Vocalist “Iron” Jérémy offers up a baffling range of styles, each complementing the overall mood of the song and adding tons of character without at all feeling haphazard. The album is loaded with awesome solos and tasty riffs, and strikes an excellent balance between aggressive drive and epic scope.
Highlights: “Ghastly Obsession” and “Soldier of Fortune”
No Cure – It Is Going To Get Dark
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Prepare to have your brain reduced to paste through sonic blunt-but-spiked megaton-force trauma. On their first actual full-length (or at least first release to exceed 30 minutes of runtime), No Cure dishes out the punishment by several truckloads at a time combining hardcore and (mostly) non-melodic metalcore with bestial, thunderous death metal. The result feels like a semi-mechanical monstrosity that blindly consumes everything in its path with almighty chomps.
For the absolute most part, the album is surprisingly varied in terms of rhythms, and not overly reliant on the typical, percussive breakdowns, although they are very much present and used to great, if a bit repetitive and predictable effect. The vocals spit bile, and the riffs are just as meaty and murderous in tone as you could hope for. In the end, I find myself growing slightly numb to the incessant heaviness, but they finish off the album with enough groove and hooks that I’m still left hyped and seeing red.
Highlights: “Slowly Turning Blue” and “Ironclad”
Sojourner – Gateways
Genre: Atmospheric/melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: I’ve listened to a bit of Sojourner in the past and definitely liked what I heard, but never really applied a critical mindset to their music, nor had it linger in my mind for very long. Now they’re back with another spiky-castle-adorned album and more epic-melodic bleakness, and I’m faced with the task of putting into words why I like it, but keep forgetting what each song sounded like only moments into the next one. Their balance of serenity vs brutality and clean vs harsh vocals is not to be faulted. Their progressions are slow, but build well. Yet the melodies sort of just don’t go anywhere, and sorely lack staying power. It’s a shame, because at any given moment, they’re doing quite a lot of things right.
Volubilis – Theasterion
Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Volubilis is a fresh, one-man progressive tech death project out of Quebec, and already from the get-go he’s pulling you deep into an intricate sci-fi concept. When you hear the words tech death and sci-fi, a very specific sound tends to come to mind, which involves frantic bursts of bleep-y notes and drums like an automatic typewriter on critical overload. This is very far from that. The tempos, while fast, are controlled and purposeful, allowing for memorable melody lines to shine through, and riff- and rhythm patterns to actually stick in your mind.
The song progressions are unpredictable and of varying tonality. You get moments of peppiness, wonder, alarm and stress, and for the absolute most part these feel like intriguing developments in the unfolding story. Every now and then I find myself a little jarred at the seeming randomness of a shifting approach, but it very rarely feels like these are thrown in there just for the sake of variation. The production is a bit weird, with a certain hollowness and lack of low end heft, but nothing so egregious that you don’t stop thinking about it after a while. There’s a wealth of innovative thinking going on here, and in a way that makes me think there is going to be more of the like, and even better, coming from this direction in the future.
Highlights: “Homo Cumulus” and “Unukhalai Supernova”
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?
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Weekly Rundown July 03 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released June 27 – July 03
Who would have thought that doom would step up and dominate the height of summer?
Dominum – Night Is Calling
Genre: Power/pop metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Once again starting the week with a big, bombastic album from the melodic-est and accessible-est corner of metaldom, this time featuring Germany’s DOMINUM, which as far as I’m concerned have exploded out of obscurity and onto the big stage. This is massively arena-oriented, rhythmic and pop-melodic power metal in the vein of such acts as Feuerschwanz (and a dozen others of their ilk), dressed up in horror-themed, circus-theatrical garb and makeup. Apart from a few superficial atmospheric elements, this is just as bright as anything of the genre, with a very slight freakshow twist to it. It’s quite entertaining in bits, but a good deal of over-serious songs, clichéd lyrics and a terrible “Thriller” cover weigh down the overall experience.
Metaladian – Deaditation
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 1/5
Objective rating: 1.5/5Review: Just including this one as a curiosity, not because I enjoy picking on obscure underground bands, but because if this stuff gets labeled as some great, pioneering work of genius later on, I’d like to be on record as one of the reviewers who panned it. In which case I would encourage anyone, and the band members in particular, to shove it in my face.
But my honest opinion of it here and now is that it’s nigh on unlistenable ear torture, taking the harshest elements of Meshuggah, stripping away all the driving rhythm elements and replacing it with a seemingly random, doom-styled progression, blackened atmosphere and a crap ton of ugly dissonance and feedback squeals. It would be kind of fascinating if it wasn’t both painful and boring to listen to at the same time. So… well done, I guess?
Moonspell – Far From God
Genre: Gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: This is one for those sweaty summer evenings, hiding from the sun and working up a buzz on “refreshments”. On their 13th full-length, Portugese band Moonspell strip down their sound to the shady essentials, going full-on Peter Steele seductive, abandoned-manor-dwelling, leather-clad goth. It’s not the sunglasses-donning retro-stunt that Tribulation pulled not long ago either, but something far more doom-oriented and straight-faced.
Luckily, the gloomy veterans manage to pull it off by relying on well-practiced commitment to the style. The songs set a mood early on, and then slowly build to slightly understated, but still satisfying highs of instrumental involvement. I’m not a huge fan of Fernando Ribeiro’s cleans, and he certainly doesn’t win me over this time around, but the more spoken-word and growly parts make up for it, and the conviction behind his performance can not be faulted. It’s one for the romantics, this one, with some memorable songwriting, perfectly honed mood and outstanding, melodic solos making up for a certain lack of overall energy and urgency.
Highlights: “Far From God” and “Reconquista”
Mortem – Mørketid
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: These days to be considered a bit of a Norwegian black metal supergroup, Mortem actually predates many of the projects that have since made its members famous (Arcturus, 1349, Thorns). The band was mostly inactive (at least in terms of releases) post 1990, before officially reforming in 2018, and “Mørketid” is their second full-length since then. It basically sounds like straight, old school black metal, but with a gothic-symphonic boost to it, and its frigid aggression harnessed by rhythmic control.
Just when you think the album has settled on the high-intensity, attack approach, it settles into doom-style spooky-morbid storytelling mode. The transitions in and out of these aren’t always quite as seamless, and while they’re clearly going for a certain degree of melodic memorability, it only feels like a half-commitment, which lands several of the songs falling short of their full potential. In the end it’s a satisfyingly dark and focused kind of album that comes up a bit short on lasting greatness.
Highlight: “The Mighty Odious”
Solace – Fading Failing Ruin
Genre: Stoner metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Solace is one of those long-going bands that have simply passed me by completely. And if this album is to be considered representative of their style of stoner metal, I don’t at all mind staying ignorant. There are two major reasons for this. The off-key vocal style, and the mind-numbing bloatedness of the thing. It’s just so frustratingly content to settle into repetitive, stagnant patterns, that I feel like slowly sinking into quicksand, and get increasingly desperate to escape.
But that’s me. For all of my personal reservations, the band clearly has a very distinct style, and have obviously put a lot of thought into the songwriting. There’s undeniably too much material on this 1hr 7min behemoth though, which might not bother fans, but will seriously test the patience of everyone else.
TodoMal – Graveyard of Joy
Genre: Atmospheric doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Now for something truly fresh. Calling this doom is entirely correct, but also entirely insufficient. For that there is too much going on that breaks with expectations and genre conventions, even though it should absolutely appeal to the same kind of audience that will enjoy more conventional melodic doom variants. The scope, instrumental heaviness and riff style is all there, but is expanded on with unsubtle elements of mildly proggy indie- and space rock.
At times it sounds like The Killers or Muse at their slowest and most atmospheric, but with the reassuring mass of a rumbling low end behind it, and a much darker and despair-prone tendency to it. Perhaps most importantly, it’s melodically rich and engaging, without in any way overdoing the emotional investment. It’s not exactly gloomy, and stays well clear of the extreme and aggressive realms, with some song sections and interludes perhaps veering a bit too far off the task at hand. But it’s a smooth, varied and revelatory listening experience for anyone able to open their minds beyond a fixed slit.
Highlights: “Point of Coalescence” and “Humanised Gods”
Witchsorrow – The Devil And All His Works
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: If you prefer your doom to be lurking in church ruins and among derelict gravestones, this is the album you need to turn to this week. Witchsorrow play old school doom not too far from Candlemass, but with a sharper, black ‘n’ roll kind of streak to it. It’s either quite content to creep slowly forwards in the shadows or jump out and rock out on the mausoleum roof, and these two different personalities don’t ever really join together, but stay separated by individual tracks.
The riffs and vocals sound just as spooky-evil as you could hope for, and overall it’s a pleasingly uncomplicated affair that delivers on the promise of the concept. It’s a bit up and down in terms of energy, but the extremes don’t clash as much as they stand clearly apart and provide welcome variation.
Highlight: “Hades Chains”
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?
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Weekly Rundown June 26 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released June 20 – June 26
Fun, charm and cool coexist with anger and violence this week, allowing you to find your preferred corner to dip into, or wade on through it all.
Amberian Dawn – Temptation’s Gate
Genre: Symphonic power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: No kidding, I was cracking my knuckles to take the literary equivalent of a… well, you know… all over this band and their new album based on their image alone. But then, as one tediously must when writing a music review, I hit “play”, and things improved very quickly. The first half of this album is actually bordering on innovative, which in this subgenre should be an eye(ear)-opener. You get symphonic loftiness, thrashy power metal, groovy hard rock, a bit of Children of Bodom-reminiscent neoclassical, synth-supported, solo-tastic flair, and a surprising tonal variation (again, considering the genre).
The musical creativity does take a back seat in the second half, but the vocal performance continues to be top notch all the way through, and very nearly has enough power and distinctiveness to carry the whole thing by itself, so big props to new singer Nicole Willerton. The melodies are solid all the way through, and they steer clear of the worst cheesiness, at least musically. They’re a band that relies on their experience to actually play around with their sound rather than keeping it safe and predictable, which should always be lauded.
Highlight: “Unchained”
Boneripper – Radiant In Ruin
Genre: Metallic hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: I reviewed this Dutch metallic hardcore band’s debut album back in 2024, and, honestly, not much has changed since then, which has both its good and bad sides. Good that we’re getting more thrashy, death metal-mentality hardcore to headbang to. Less good in that the band doesn’t feel like they’ve evolved even a little bit, and there are too many songs on here that feel fairly interchangeable. I dig the aggression of it, and will undoubtedly put it on my gym playlist. But I won’t go around thinking about it.
Highlight: “Truth To Enemy”
Druidess – Trip Meadow
Genre: Psychedelic doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: It’s exciting to hear a young band successfully taking a spin of their own on a tried and tested subgenre, and on their debut full-length album, no less. On “Trip Meadow” they ooze self-aware style, delving deep into trippiness and fuzz but also being selective, and not overdoing any one thing. Led by a strong, Riley Pinkerton (Castle Rat)-reminiscent vocal performance and partially foregoing the typical, muffling production makeup, the band has honed in on the unadulterated cool of their sound.
The riffs are crisp, the bass just wooly enough, and (at least some of) the melodies confidently transcend the doom sphere into traditional heavy metal and rock. It’s not exactly what I would call lively, but you get both uptempo tracks as well as slow crawls, and they coexist without any trouble, which is a testament to the band’s songwriting skills. Goes to show that you can breathe fresh life into this subgenre without going crazy experimental.
Highlight: “Knightingales” and “Descended from Giants”
Entropist – The Vision
Genre: Progressive death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Here we’ve got a fresh extreme-leaning prog metal band out of Colorado, trying to carve out their niche in a landscape stuffed with mesmerizing technicality and endlessly complex songwriting. It feels like they’re pulling a little bit from everything, with percussive riffs out of metalcore and groove metal, heaviness, sharpness and melodic traits out of modern melodeath, then adding sprinkles of avant-garde atmosphere, dissonance and Meshuggah-style rhythms.
For me, the best songs are packed towards the end, where they manage to balance out their melodic/aggressive approach and stay interesting from beginning to end. A bit too many tracks take too long to get started, and overall there’s a notable amount of material that doesn’t really go anywhere satisfying, pushing the runtime up to an hour on the dot. But the best they’ve got to offer speak of a talent that can accomplish great things if pushed into a narrower focus.
Highlight: “Creation”
Forsmán – Brenndar Rústir & Fuðrandi Fjörur
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: There’s something otherworldly about Icelandic black metal that you just don’t seem to get anywhere else, and Forsmán carry on this tradition. Their debut full-length showcases a dense, full-bodied sound that’s bordering on, if not fully crossing into, blackened death metal, not unlike some of the newer Behemoth stuff. But it also retains the necessary chill and shrill to keep it bitter and sharp-edged.
Most of the tracks on this album work with melodic themes, riff patterns and/or atmospheric elements that manage to stand out, but to me they don’t all feel fully realized at the end of the songs. In the instances where they do though, you’re getting a very complete mix of rhythmic and vocal variation, distinctive lead guitar sections, challenging harmonies and effective drum and bass work, making up a sound that’s both immersive and energetic.
Highlight: “Barmafylltar fjöldragrafir” and “Andvana”
Masterplan – Metalmorphosis
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Review: Long-going German power metal supergroup Masterplan are back with another album after a nine year wait, and rather quickly it becomes abundantly clear that they’ve had no intentions of challenging themselves. The riffs, solos and lofty tone are all there, but the tempos are sluggish, the lyrics laughably clichéd and melodies instantly forgettable. If they’d been able to inject some actual energy into the thing, it might have improved significantly, but in its current form it simply feels tired and running on autopilot.
Monument Of Misanthropy – Washington State Charm
Genre: Death metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: This band was one of my 2024 revelations, as their “Vile Postmortem Irrumatio” album easily outmatched the similarly themed and more prolific Aborted release that year. As that former album was “dedicated” to serial killer Ed Kemper, so this is centered around Ted Bundy. Once again, this is technically outstanding, brutal-style death metal that somehow manages to feel indulgent without really overdoing anything.
What’s changed since last time is that some of the outright heaviness and low end bulk has been sacrificed for the sake of agility and versatility, as they dip into deathcore and straight metalcore, both in terms of riff- and rhythm style and accessibility of song structures. It by no means sounds tame, but it doesn’t carry quite the same brute force as last time, and as the thundering morbidity washes over me, I simply don’t find myself caught on the attention-arresting meat hook quite as often. Still, it’s great to see the band not simply copying the formula, and fans of the more groove-centric and technical ends of the death metal realm might find that they prefer this iteration of their sound.
Highlight: “The 1974 PNW Spree” and “Neath Tacoma Asphalt”
Nargaroth – Apocalyptic Steel
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: If you think that album cover looks a bit off for a black metal band, then it’s working as intended, as this is no traditional release from this veteran, German one-man project. It’s a partial re-recording and mixing of material originally tracked back in 2014, and it carries traits of straight heavy metal, doom and death. At its best it sounds purposeful and well considered, but also include both tracks that fail to leave a mark and ones that stick out like redundant body parts. While it does have its strengths, it feel less like a complete album and more like a collection of covers.
Nunslaughter – Satanic Chaos Legions
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Long-running US death metallers Nunslaughter are back to shred and spit blasphemy, and considering they were established all the way back in 1987, you might be surprised to learn that this is only their sixth full-length. On it they get straight to the point, which is furious thrash style riffing, snarling vocals and… well… evil.
The problem is that, while it’s entertaining enough as no-frills, all-out-aggressive Jesus bashing, and there’s nothing strictly WRONG with the musical performances, I feel like I’ve heard this exact album, in very slightly different variations, dozens of times before. The shock factor is completely absent, and as a headbanger’s offering it’s too light on killer grooves. That being said, these do show up with regular intervals, and if you turn off the overly critical part of your brain, you can still have a pretty damn(ed) good time with it.
Highlight: “Christian Ruse”
Phantom – Not Midnight Yet
Genre: Speed/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: I tend to be hard on bands that don’t manage (or care) to match the album runtime with the style of music that they’re playing, so when I saw this new offering from Mexican speed thrashers Phantom breaking 56 minutes, I had my reservations. Now, after listening to it, while I still think that a bit of trimming would be in order, I find no reason to deny that it keeps entertaining greatly from beginning to end. If the fact that this is an album meant to have fun with wasn’t made obvious to you by the album art and song titles, it should become abundantly clear with the inclusion of the Tetris theme at the end of the second track, “Out Of The Mausoleum”.
Compared to last year’s “Tyrants of Wrath”, this is more concerned with complete, varied and memorable songwriting rather than all-out aggression. A fair bit of the Slayer-esque evil factor has been replaced with more melody-prone classic heavy metal, which allows for bigger tonal variation overall, and greater dynamics within each song. They even make a semi-attempt at a ballad, which (apart from the mildly off-key clean vocals) actually fit in decently. The Axl Rose-like falsetto on “Curse Your Name” however, I could have done without. It’s still plenty fast and ferocious though, leaning all the way into blackened, early-Venom savagery at times. It’s an album brimming with ideas, most of which I hope to see further utilized in the future.
Highlights: “Summoned To Kill” and “Sepulchral Majesty”
Speedslut – Cimbrian Rites
Genre: Speed metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: These Danes seem to have gotten everything right on their debut full-length. It’s fast as hell, with a lethal precision to match it. It’s brimming with solos and scorched shredding, and the vocals are perfectly rusty for the highly aggressive style. I recognize some early Motörhead attitude in there, and in terms of tone it dwells comfortably in the darkness without quite crossing into black metal.
In the same way that nailing the style is perhaps the band’s greatest achievement with the album, so is failing to make it their own their most notable shortcoming as I see it. It’s certainly not without character, but I find myself going “oh yeah, there’s that obligatory riff-gallop” and “of course the solo sounds exactly like that”. It leads to a certain feeling of repetition, which will be much less of a problem if you don’t listen often to this kind of stuff, or simply can’t get enough of it. That mild criticism aside though, it’s an album strutting with energy, that manages to sound both suitably coarse and well-defined at the same time.
Highlight: “Pestridden Stallions”
Verdun – Abyssal Womb
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: If this week has left you feeling too cheerful, this is the antidote right here. I can vividly imagine this stuff being played in the catacombs under Paris, lit only by candles. What we’ve got here is French, moderately blackened doom, that draws hostility, a fitting amount of ugliness, but also a driving riff style from sludge.
One of the things this album does most effectively is set a mood – one that you’re completely enveloped by for the duration. Once you’re in, you discover that there are hidden rooms to explore in the darkness, the characters of which leave you feeling different shades of intrigued, unsettled, or even emboldened. Compared to the meaty, forceful middle chunk of the album, it gets a little too sedate for my taste towards the end, but atmosphere-wise it keeps a firm, arresting grip on you till the last note.
Highlight: “He Who Killed the Devil”
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?
albums, Amberian Dawn, black metal, boneripper, death metal, Druidess, Entropist, Forsmán, grindcore, groove metal, Masterplan, metal, metal albums out this week, monument of misanthropy, Nargaroth, new metal releases, new releases, Nunslaughter, Phantom, progressive metal, review, Speedslut, thrash metal, Verdun -
Weekly Rundown June 19 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released June 13 – June 19
With a couple of notable exceptions, this is a sun-drowning storm cloud of a week, with black and doom metal taking firm charge.
Avarice – Perpetual Ruin
Genre: Death/thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: This Danish bunch go for a kind of modernized, basement-brute, stomp-along version of death thrash. Meaning that it’s dominated by hardcore rhythms, and features metalcore/deathcore breakdowns (a few too many for my taste). It’s plenty shouty and chuggy, remaining hostile throughout but also showing off some classy, high-pitched thrash screams and speedy riffing. What lets them down a bit are sluggish tempos and some fairly repetitive song structures.
Belarus Beaver – Grind af den Brune Bäfver
Genre: Death metal/grindcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: This is the kind of metal comedy I can get fully behind. I think it partly takes being able to appreciate the silly side of deathgrind in general, but devoting your band concept entirely (and creatively) to the vilification of beavers is just hilarious regardless. Belarus Beaver are not, in fact, from Belarus, but from Sweden, which becomes obvious from most of the lyrics and track titles anyway. Absolutely everything is beaver themed, and most of it carries horror references, which is just spot on.
The best part of the album is that it’s not just blazing, relentless guitars, drums and incomprehensible gurgle-shrieks for 33 minutes straight. There’s some actual thematic connection between the song titles and the kind of mood they exude. You get crusty, classic death metal, blackened spookiness and doomy, tongue-in-cheek gloom, with plenty of grindy fun of varying tempos in between. What I’m missing are those spine-tingling, hair-raising highlights of brutal groove. There are some in there, but most of the songs start off more or less as good as they ever get. Still, if you crave some actually well-produced, varied deathgrind, and don’t mind dreaming about maniacally vibrating beavers for a few nights (they’re in all of the song visualizers), then by all means, dig in.
Highlights: “Bävulen” and “Under a Beaver Moon”
Destructor – Tales of Glory
Genre: Thrash/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: If you like the idea of combining old school, speedy thrash with NWOBHM, both in concept and execution, then this stuff is made specifically for you. Destructor bring back all the charm of that early era of heavy metal, with the cheekiness of 80s thrash, and the cool thing is that they’re doing it having been founded in 1984 and continually active since 1999.
There’s nothing groundbreaking on “Tales of Glory”, but the spirit of the album certainly lives up to the title. It feels chest-beatingly adventurous, with plenty of epic solos and shreddy riffs to boost the energy level. A bit too much of it feels polishing old ideas for my taste, but the effort to please seems genuine.
Highlight: “Fall to Your Knees”
Einherjer – Lifeblood
Genre: Folk metal/black ‘n’ roll
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Apart from a temporary split-up that lasted from 2004 to 2008, Norway’s Einherjer have been going steadily since 1993, mixing black metal with rock ‘n’ roll swagger, Norse mythology themes and an epic-melodic flair. Lately they have been bleeding off some of the aggression in favor of more live-friendly, instantly recognizable, chest-beating material, and still succeeding in making it feel distinct and fairly original.
“Lifeblood” starts very much in this vein, with chant-able lyrics, rad riffing, and a tasty solo. Then it gradually settles down, becoming simpler and slower, “culminating” with the ballad-like “Dei Så Ser”, before somewhat ramping things up again just before the end. I wouldn’t mind it so much if the songwriting felt inspired and well thought out, but too many parts of it feel plain dull, with meandering rhythms and simple riffs that feel like filler. The spirit is still there, but the execution lacks heart and direction.
Gold Spire – Steps Into Shadow
Genre: Avant-garde death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: I feel like the whole sax-in-progressive-extreme-metal-thing got old real fast, at least for me. On this one though, it makes more sense, mostly because it’s an actual, key element to the music, and not a toss-in afterthought. It’s a relatively dark album, but feels orderly thanks to controlled drum work and mostly steady rhythms. It’s a kind of death doom that has formed a partnership with mildly experimental jazz, and at its best it works really well. Unfortunately, most of the songs feel like very close variations of the same idea, and so you’re not left with the impression of having traveled any noteworthy conceptual distance at the end.
Inherits The Void – The Silent Abscission
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: I’m increasingly associating France with quality melodic black metal these days, and this latest release by Inherits the Void certainly helps that process along. This is their fourth full-length since forming in 2020, and this diligent release schedule seems to have allowed them to both mature and tastefully diversify their sound in record time.
On “The Silent Abscission” they strike an optimal balance between sharp cold and rumbling force, allowing the songs to feel both monumental and vicious at the same time. There’s a more-than-decent amount of melodic scope, with a sprinkle of synth and sax for added flavor, and they use all this to successfully expand upon the more traditional blast-beats-and-corpse-paint aggression that most of the tracks are grounded in. It’s not quite what I’d call unique just yet, but give them a couple of years and I’m sure they’ll keep making strides.
Highlight: “Wrath of the Endless Sea”
Loneshore – Nothing Left To Deconstruct
Genre: Melodic/progressive doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Looking for an album to sink into and settle down with for a bit? What’s that? You don’t want to fall asleep to it? It also needs to keep you engaged? Well, I can’t make any promises, but in theory this sophomore album by Brazilian melodic death doomers Loneshore ticks all these boxes. This is a smooth, elegantly layered kind of sound that flows steadily and builds from gentle trickles into roaring rapids.
If you’re looking for straight melodic death doom, you may be in for some disappointment, as the aggression wanes and burns off for extended sections, testing the patience of any listener primarily looking for force and/or intricate instrumentation. All of it sounds gorgeous, but there are a few unnecessarily repeating patterns, and some of the cleaner sections do stretch on for quite some time. Still, it doesn’t feel overindulgent. More like willing to let the concept spread its wings to their full extent.
Highlight: “Parhelion”
Lumen Ad Mortem – A Grave Ascent
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Australia isn’t typically a country I’d associate with frigid, snarly black metal, but what does that matter as long as it’s good? Lumen Ad Mortem have plenty of icicle-stabbing aggression in store, but tend towards an epic, solemn-melodic variant of the classic sound. I probably wouldn’t bat an eye if you’d have told me that this came out of Scandinavia. A bit too much of it feels like it’s following closely in the footsteps of long-established names, and some of the songs feel unnecessarily stretched out in the name of grandeur. But they really nail the tone and scope.
Mork – Monolitt
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Mork are back to once again prove that you can keep straight riff-and-tremolo black metal interesting if you just put your mind to it. This time around they drop even the minutest shred of pretentiousness, and, like an old skin, shed the layer of muted, misty low-fi-ness that has stuck to their latest albums for that “authentic” feel. “Monolitt” is crisp as glacial water, and immediately lashes out with riffs like wicked claws. Paired with proper chugging power and an appropriate amount of low-end rumble, the result is a ferocious, ultra-direct sound that’s purpose built to go on the attack, and carrying enough weight behind it to do some lasting damage.
Each track has a different feel to it, leaning into moderately contrasting elements of dissonance, gloom, melody or groove. There’s doom, black ‘n’ roll, a bit of thrash and heavy metal and a few proggy rhythm acrobatics, but these are all consigned to the nuances of the album’s overall flavor. They manage a great balance between epic, folk-tinged scope and energetic urgency, with little to no room for atmosphere or any sort of fluff. Those who enjoyed the vastness of 2023’s “Dypet” and/or the slightly experimental nature of 2024’s “Syv”, might find this a bit too straightforward and lacking the customary murkiness. But for me this is very close to the perfect blend of well-defined, raw hostility, awesome instrumental control, and subtly creative and mature songwriting that has the music explore and strike from a multitude of different angles along the same, unified trajectory of black metal excellence.
Highlights: “Torden” and “Ferdamann”
Saidan – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist
Genre: Black/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: If this week’s Mork release is too traditional for you, then might I highly recommend this oddball stuff out of Nashville, Tennessee. They are basically the answer to what happens when you build a black metal project around the melodic style of peppy-adventurous, Japanese anime theme songs, but insist on keeping it melancholy and gothic. The result carries that classic emo sad-romantic character (both sonically and visually), and if that sounds like ear poison to you, you might as well skip this entirely.
For the more curious and/or adventurous, there’s some seriously solid songwriting in store, with excellent performances to go with it. The sound is icy cold, like half-frozen purple ink, and the soaring-on-broken-wings melody is countered by some truly ferocious aggression. For me, the whole horror theme feels pretty superfluous, and the contrasts in tone are a little jarring, but then I’m not really into the kind of culture and image that they’re pulling inspiration from. If you’re a fan of theatrical, tragic black metal in general, then you shouldn’t hesitate to dive into this.
Highlights: “Stained Glass Sin // Fang Driller” and “Ethereal Blood”
Lindsay Schoolcraft – Harrowing
Genre: Gothic/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: A short, moody and satisfyingly melodic, modern goth-alternative album from Canadian solo artist Lindsay Schoolcraft. It periodically hits with chugging force, builds to symphonic heights, and is effortlessly carried by a powerful vocal performance. It feels fresher than a lot of its peers that fail to break out of the pattern of repeating early 2000s greatness, and although the melodies don’t all feel quite as original, they are all very tonally consistent.
The variation on the album is quite good, and at 25 min 22 sec, it certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome. I’m missing that certain something for this particular sound to truly stand out, but it’s also much better than run-of-the-mill.
Highlight: “I Wait for You to Fall”
Scordatura – Led Into Oblivion
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: These Scots are serving up a full portion of classic-brutal death metal for the first time in six years, and from the level of ferocity let loose on here, it sounds like it it was high time to relieve some pressure. While the coarse vocals and ripping guitar tone draw from the morbid greatness of old, the level of technicality has a much more modern and moderately progressive feel to it. It’s not overdone, but certainly elevates what might otherwise have felt a little stale.
Parts of the album have a certain grindcore impatience to them, and the general energy level and precision have no problem keeping up. Some of the rhythm transitions can feel a little rushed and overly restless, and allowing for a few more sections of controlled, savage groove would likely have made this an even more satisfying listen. That aside, it’s very obvious that this is a band that refuses to settle for “good enough”, as each song explores a slightly different approach, be it in terms of tone, tempo or rhythmic variation. It’s all crushingly heavy, regardless.
Highlight: “Oppressed / Repressed”
Warning – Rituals Of Shame
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Review: This album has that certain feeling of inevitability, like its coming was long foretold, whispered in shadowy circles, and now, 20 years after Warning’s last release, its time has come. If you’ve been anticipating the return of these doom metal greats with baited breath, then I’m joyous to announce that it’s very likely everything you were hoping for. And if this is your first time with the band, I actually think it’s the perfect introduction.
Rituals of Shame is deeply sad, funeral-slow and not exactly what you would called varied in terms of nether tone, tempo or intensity. It’s led by a truly outstanding, achingly soulful vocal performance, somewhere between Eddie Vedder and REM’s Michael Stipe. What it does so well is communicate sorrow, regret, longing and other dark emotions without it feeling completely miserable (looking at you, My Dying Bride). It’s music that you want to stay with even though it hurts, because you get the feeling of being understood, of being guided by a steady hand, and that it will, in fact, pass. It’s a near-perfect representative of its subgenre, and the only noteworthy issue I had with it was a slight sense of stagnation towards the end. Which might honestly just be me lacking the required patience at the time.
Highlights: “Stations” and “Rituals of Shame”
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?
albums, Avarice, Belarus Beaver, black metal, death metal, Destructor, Einherjer, Gold Spire, grindcore, groove metal, Inherits the Void, Lindsay Schoolcraft, Loneshore, Lumen Ad Mortem, metal, metal albums out this week, mork, new metal releases, new releases, progressive metal, review, Saidan, Scordatura, thrash metal, Warning -
Weekly Rundown June 12 – 2026
Reviews of metal albums released June 06 – June 12
Death metal strikes back with a vengeance and in several different forms, facing some competition but certainly dominating in terms of both consistent quality and volume.
Bloodhunter – Sons Of The Abandoned
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: This is basically a Spanish version of Angela Gossow-era Arch Enemy, so much so that it’s borderline plagiarism. It’s got the same kind of energy, riff tone, level of groove and snarly female harsh vocals. Its best tracks manage a great balance between virtuose, heavy metal-style melody and aggression, and make checking out the album worth it by themselves. Unfortunately, there’s an overload of fairly weak, messily written material surrounding the highlights, the band seems overly preoccupied with aesthetics, and the production (at least on streaming) is fairly underwhelming.
Fires In The Distance – Circadian Promise
Genre: Melodic death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Review: Fires in the Distance have managed to earn a spot as one of my absolute favorite bands, with 2023’s “Air Not Meant for Us” firmly cementing this position, being my top album of that year. Now they’re back with a new vocalist/guitarist, but still very much the dreamy-melodic approach to their atmospherically rich, Insomnium-style death doom. New to their repertoire are sparsely-used clean vocals, which, in the face of some immediate skepticism, suit their sound very well, and are executed with fitting emotional restraint.
My main issue actually turns out to be the harsh vocals. While the addition of black metal-style screeches and Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity)-style high pitched rasps is welcome, the lack of throaty, low growls is indeed felt. And while their previous albums were by no means “effective” in pacing, I find myself missing a measure of grandeur and force this time around, both in the heavy and more serene parts. The latter of which regularly take on a slightly simplified, gothic feel that make the dips in energy more profound. All that (mostly subjective) nitpicking aside though, this is a masterfully composed album that flows beautifully, and manages bigger contrasts than its predecessors. Its emotionally potent, somber melodies mesh effortlessly with the heaviness, and are at most times completely engrossing.
Highlights: “Of Radiance and Levitation” and “Agonal Dreaming”
Fleshcrawl – Epitome Of Carnage
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Time again for me to learn about a long-going German underground extreme metal band that I’ve never heard of before. Fleshcrawl got started under its current name all the way back in 1991, and had quite the release streak leading up to 2007. Since then they’ve had a comeback album in 2019, that hasn’t been followed up until now. For those also uninitiated, this is Entombed-school crunchy death metal, the like of which fellow countrymen Endseeker are more actively championing these days.
Fleshcrawl play a musty, no-frills iteration of the sound. Any vestiges of melody are scaled back and uniformly sinister, and the band seem almost unwilling to let loose the groove, although when they do, it hits like it should. The album is full of treats for fans of both the band and the subgenre in general, but isn’t free from filler, which pushes the runtime unnecessarily to a near 48-minute duration. Also, I’m pretty suspicious of that album cover. Still, a real heavyweight of an album that’s strictly focused on what it does best.
Highlight: “Blood Dominion”
Goetia – Mortuary Cult
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: This is the untamed, unpolished, unmuffled roar of the underground right here. Goetia are a band from the US capital that play a furious, back-to-basics form of death metal powered by hardcore and grindcore spite and relentlessness. Being their debut full-length, they fire on all cylinders, and apart from the odd Sabbath-style, spooky-doom mood-setter-section, it’s a non-stop chase by the ravenous undead.
This has all the charging drum work, snarling vocals and shredding you would hope for, and more. The production makes it sound a bit like it’s all taking place inside a heavy canvas sack where the bottom’s about to fall out, but I’d almost be disappointed if it wasn’t a bit ragged. I think the whole is stronger than the individual standout moments, but it’s a heck of a statement for a debut.
Highlight: “Lanterns of the Dead”
Goreworm – Miasmic Solitude
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: This is one of those albums where the cover makes it hard to dislike even before you’ve listened to a single note (that is, unless you suffer from severe arachnophobia). What becomes immediately apparent as this monstrosity starts playing is that they’ve gone for a fairly lean production, favoring vocals and the higher pitched ends of the instrumental performances. This really highlights the precision of the band, the melodic nuances and the inventive rhythm gymnastics.
The unfortunate thing about said production is that it’s fairly uneven. At times the riffs and drums feel deeply buried in the murk, and much of the low end heft is lost, lessening the impact. Then, at later points, the punchiness returns and it feels like a proper beast again. It doesn’t have the smoothest flow, but makes up for it with distinctiveness. It’s a band that clearly want to leave a mark, and they’re certainly heading in the right direction.
Highlight: “The Enthralling Grave”
Khemmis – Khemmis
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: On their fifth full-length album Khemmis go self titled. It feels like they’re reaching for a pinnacle, without seemingly having to try too hard. That’s not to say that the band is underachieving. Quite the opposite. But while they’re being quite inclusive in combining the different aspects of their sound, they’re not in need of stretching past the comfort zone. It all appears to be thoroughly “built in” at this point.
You get heavy metal, epic doom, and a touch of stoner, death and prog, all flowing together beautifully courtesy of the band’s confident songwriting and effortlessly brilliant performances. This is simply a joy to listen to. It goes solemn, triumphant, threatening and contemplative, and it all sounds like it naturally belongs as part of the story. At times they do sound a tad too comfortable, like they’re revisiting moments of previous glory, but it’s also hard to fault the band for “sounding like themselves”. This is a band more than good enough to be headlining festivals at this point, and this album thoroughly proves it.
Highlights: “Invocation of the Dreamer” and “Gilded Chambers”
Nuclear Tomb – Epoch Inhumane
Genre: Experimental thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: This feels like the perspective of one of those early “Robocop” prototype abominations after it’s broken free and causing havoc out on the streets. What you get is a whacko strain of death thrash that you can’t for a single second hope to tell what to do. It’s gonna run it’s own race, be it backwards, down alleys, up fire escapes and crashing heedlessly through any wall or obstacle in its way. It’s a bit too directionless for my taste, but it’s also delightfully free-spirited and rebellious, with some excellent shredding stuffed in between the madness.
Highlight: “Lifeless Transformation”
Stitched Up Heart – Medusa
Genre: Alternative metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: If you’re missing some big and catchy ear candy this week, why not take a bite of this? I won’t pretend I know anything about Stitched Up Heart, but on their latest album they sound (a lot) like In This Moment, but with Spiritbox djent chugs, a bit of nu metal sound effects and plenty of Lady Gaga-like pop beats and melodies. Yes, it gets pretty generic at times, but none of it’s egregious. Most importantly, it’s got loads of energy, panache and punching power.
Stormkeep – The Nocturnes Of Iswylm
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: It’s time to let out that 90s teenage fantasy nerd lusting at posters of pale skinned, tribal-tattooed, dagger-wielding goth girls. But you probably got that from the goofy album cover. The music on it, though, isn’t actually nearly as silly as I had expected. Epic and bombastically melodic, yes, but still cold and, at times, really aggressive black metal. It’s got some questionable clean singing/storytelling parts, but it adds variation, and feels like part of the vision. The fantasy black metal fanbase is a peculiar one, and I think the album’s a bit too uneven and purposefully dorky for anyone else, but there’s very clearly some talented musicianship going into it.
Highlight: “Carnal Tapestries of Nailtorn Flesh”
Tarja – Frisson Noir
Genre: Symphonic metal/rock
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Review: I’ve not listened much to the solo material of ex-Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen, but it doesn’t take long to recognize that this is a step up in heaviness from what she seems to have settled into. It’s a big, lofty album with lots of guest performances. Sadly, while there is a decent amount of solid playing on here, the songwriting simply isn’t up to snuff. Neither, at least to my ears, is Tarja’s voice. While there’s plenty of force, she sounds tonally rigid, and damn me if she isn’t even off key on several songs (which could definitely be blamed on the mixing). Compared to some of the best symphonic metal out there, many of the tracks are plain underwhelming, and creatively it’s got nothing on the stuff of solo-career peers like Charlotte Wessels.
Thorium – Suburban Rot
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Danish death metallers Thorium are back and once again trying something slightly new. I first discovered these gents with their 2022 release “Danmark”, and, while I was probably overly enthusiastic with the score, it was a great introduction to the band, packed as it was with meaty riffs and morbid grooves. 2024’s “The Bastard” offered a slightly different guitar tone (possibly influenced by guest composer Rogga Johansson), greater atmospheric depth and more varied songwriting.
“Suburban Rot” sees the bang going for a more muted, lurking approach. It’s not lacking in rumbling riff charges, but the overall tempo is down, to the point where some of the engagement factor is lost. They make up for it with some really strong highlight tracks, and overall they strike a good balance between straightforward, old school savagery and more exploratory, doomy shifts in rhythm approach.
Highlight: “MG42”
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 