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The Metal Dispatch’s Top Albums of 2025
100: Frozen Land โ Icemelter 
99: For The Pyres – At the Pyres of Sin 
98: Unleashed โ Fire Upon Your Lands 
97: Dead Heat โ Process Of Elimination 
96: Sanguisugabogg โ Hideous Aftermath 
95: Sadist โ Something To Pierce 
94: Skaphos โ Cult Of Uzura 
93: Trold โ I Skovens Rige 
92: Heruvim โ Mercator 
91: Pupil Slicer โ Fleshwork 
90: Martrรถรฐ โ Draumsรฝnir eldsins 
89: Vacuous โ In His Blood 
88: Oromet โ The Sinking Isle 
87: Wretched Path โ Sea of Death 
86: Blood Monolith โ The Calling Of Fire 
85: Inhuman Condition โ Mind Trap 
84: Blood Abscission โ II 
83: Hazzerd โ The 3rd Dimension 
82: 16 โ Guides For The Misguided 
81: Kamra โ Unending Confluence 
80: Katatonia โ Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State 
79: Bent Sea โ The Dormant Ruin 
78: Last Retch โ Abject Cruelty 
77: Poison The Preacher โ Vs The World 
76: Howling Giant โ Crucible & Ruin 
75: Outlaw โ Opus Mortis 
74: Vittra โ Intense Indifference 
73: Nite โ Cult Of The Serpent Sun 
72: Tower โ Let There Be Dark 
71: Der Weg Einer Freiheit โ Innern 
70: In The Woodsโฆ โ Otra 
69: A Flock Named Murder โ Incendiary Sanctum 
68: Faetooth โ Labyrinthine 
67: Warfield โ With The Old Breed 
66: Nailed To Obscurity โ Generation Of The Void 
65: Selvans โ Saturnalia 
64: Doomsday โ Never Known Peace 
63: Cryptosis โ Celestial Death 
62: Ancient Death โ Ego Dissolution 
61: Lik โ Necro 
60: Conjurer โ Unself 
59: Blindfolded And Led To The Woods โ The Hardest Thing About Being God Is That No One Believes Me 
58: Scorching Tomb โ Ossuary 
57: SpiritWorld โ Helldorado 
56: Fell Omen โ Caelid Dog Summer 
55: Jade โ Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream 
54: Century – Sign of the Storm 
53: โฆAnd Oceans โ The Regeneration Itenerary 
52: Drouth โ The Teeth Of Time 
51: Haggus โ Destination Extinction 
50: Blackbriar โ A Thousand Little Deaths 
49: Shadow Of Intent โ Imperium Delirium 
48: Mantar โ Post Apocalyptic Depression 
47: Teitanblood โ From the Visceral Abyss 
46: Dessiderium โ Keys To The Palace 
45: Imperial Triumphant โ Goldstar 
44: King Parrot โ A Young Person’s Guide To 
43: Mortal Scepter โ Ethereal Dominance 
42: Gaahls Wyrd โ Braiding The Stories 
41: Jinjer โ Duรฉl 
40: Sacrifice โ Volume Six 
39: Morax โ The Amulet 
38: Lamp Of Murmuur โ The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy 
37: Puteraeon โ Mountains Of Madness 
36: Havukruunu โ Tavastland 
35: Sarcator โ Swarming Angels & Flies 
34: Wytch Hazel – V Lamentations 
33: Between The Buried And Me โ The Blue Nowhere 
32: Despised Icon – Shadow Work 
31: Blackbraid โ Blackbraid III 
30: Caustic Wound โ Grinding Mechanism Of Torment 
29: Bleed From Within โ Zenith 
28: Veilburner โ Longing For Triumph, Reeking Of Tragedy 
27: Dormant Ordeal โ Tooth And Nail 
26: Revocation โ New Gods, New Masters 
25: Mors Principium Est โ Darkness Invisible 
24: Aephanemer โ Utopie 
23: Weft โ The Splintered Oar 
22: Deftones โ Private Music 
21: The Haunted โ Songs Of Last Resort 
20: Employed To Serve โ Fallen Star 
19: Abigail Williams – A Void Within Existence 
18: Qrixkuor โ The Womb of the World 
17: Coroner โ Dissonance Theory 
16: Cryptopsy โ An Insatiable Violence 
15: Impureza โ Alcรกzares 
14: Witherer โ Shadow Without A Horizon 
13: The Great Old Ones – Kadath 
12: Scalp โ Not Worthy Of Human Compassion 
11: Igorrr โ Amen 
10: Allegaeon โ The Ossuary Lens 
9: Castle Rat โ The Bestiary 
8: Gorotica โ Daily Grind Of The Medieval Age 
7: 1914 โ Viribus Unitis 
6: Kalaveraztekah โ Nikan Axkan 
5: An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City 
4: Creatvre โ Toujours humain 
3: Whitechapel โ Hymns In Dissonance 
2: Warbringer โ Wrath And Ruin 
1: Scour โ Gold
A list of my favorite 100 metal albums released in 2025
(Click the arrows to progress through the slideshow above, or scroll down the list below).
Compiling this list I more or less abandoned objectivity completely, and arranged the albums by level of impact, both immediate and lasting, on me personally. I love the fact that, no matter how many AOTY lists that get put out there, virtually no one will agree 100% with any other person’s picks, which speaks to the sheer size and complexity of the stylistic spectrum within metal music today.
In an attempt to sum the year up, I suppose what strikes me the most is just how many grindcore-style releases I really got behind. Also, just how few other people, particularly reviewers, seemed to do the same. Prog and straight death metal seem to have had a bit of a setback, but still have great success combining forces. Thrash is as strong as it’s been in a long time, and technical metal seems to have found a sweet spot where individual bands are able to achieve clear distinction, instead of all of them sounding like the product of the same dozen-limbed, frantically out of control, homicidal cyborg. Power-, symphonic- and other mostly melodic metal hasn’t made much of a splash, but melody has been allowed back into the extreme without diluting the ferocity, which I’m always a fan of.
Anyway, without further ado, agree with me or not, here are my top 100 albums of the year. Bear in mind that I haven’t had the time to listen to absolutely everything that dropped. So if you find that a major release is missing from the list, then that’s probably the reason. That, or I think everyone else is wrong, and the album is completely overrated. Feel free to speculate.
100: Frozen Land โ Icemelter
Genre: Power metalBorrowing some heft from melodeath, riff elements from thrash and groove, with rhythms from straight heavy metal, and infusing it with a highly eager, instrument-forward, Finnish melodic sensibility, this is a power metal album thatโs bursting with fun-factor and adventurous spirit.
99: For The Pyres โ At The Pyres of Sin
Genre: Death metalNo, I can, in fact, not get enough of classic Swedish death metal. Itโs a non-stop headbanging good time, overflowing with groove and all the brutal bells and whistles you would expect from this style.
98: Unleashed โ Fire Upon Your Lands
Genre: Death metalItโs not innovative at all, but feels confident in just the right kind of way. Itโs as if the OSDM revival has shown them that itโs okay to rely on the old ways and embrace the sort of thinking that got them started in the first place.
97: Dead Heat โ Process Of Elimination
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcoreThis is a thrash-forward variant of southern Californian crossover, carrying elements of Slayer and Anthrax, among others. It delivers mid-and high tempo serrated-edge riffing with deadly accuracy, and to equally murderous levels of effect, which is a feat in itself.
96: Sanguisugabogg โ Hideous Aftermath
Genre: Death/extreme metalIโm gonna say it: It feels mature, if such a thing is possible with track titles like โErotic Beheadingโ. Thereโs an industrial edge to a lot of it, even technical, giving much more a feeling of considered songwriting rather than impulsive, live-oriented chug-piling.
95: Sadist โ Something To Pierce
Genre: Progressive death metalThis is one to jump on if you want your death metal to challenge you, but are tired of the surgical technicality of the modern stuff. Sadist plays it murky and whacky, and doesnโt go overboard with the complexity.
94: Skaphos โ Cult Of Uzura
Genre: Blackened death metalIt dips into eldritch horror and ritualistic soullessness, but first and foremost itโs an utter assault of coarse riffs, canon-barrage drums and rusty, gurgled vocals.
93: Trold โ I Skovens Rige
Genre: Folk metalThis gang of merry trolls understand perfectly how to play around and have fun within the style, while both keeping it simple enough to not have to philosophize over, and also keeping it alive and varied with some actual great musicianship.
92: Heruvim โ Mercator
Genre: Death metalHereโs a Ukrainian debut old school death metal album that sounds like itโs traveled all the way from the late 80s and picked up traits from some of the more influential bands along the way.
91: Pupil Slicer โ Fleshwork
Genre: MathcoreThis is not your average, fiendishly complicated, rubbing-alcohol-flavored piece of mathcore. Itโs aggressive, for sure, and certainly not straightforward. But there are layers to the harshness, and the band deftly maneuvers between them in a way that is both satisfyingly unpredictable and which produces a rich level of variation.
90: Martrรถรฐ โ Draumsรฝnir eldsins
Genre: Black metalEnter a whirling confluence of the damned, like an infernal whirlpool in the dark, pulling at the edges of your sanity and challenging your sense of comfort at every turn.
89: Vacuous โ In His Blood
Genre: Death metalThereโs a place you can go musically, that potentially works quite well for the dirtier and more fiendish spectrum of metal, where everything doesnโt have to fit together perfectly well, and this becomes part of the point. Vacuous exists in this slightly demented, slightly listener-hostile place.
88: Oromet โ The Sinking Isle
Genre: Doom metalIf youโre looking for funeral doom with the same kind of all-enveloping, seemingly endless scope as Bell Witch, then this is likely to sate your hunger. It keeps rising, and rising, and rising, and pulls you along with it to unseen domains of the skies.
87: Wretched Path โ Sea of Death
Genre: Death metalCompletely stuffed to the brim with skull crushing riffs, served out on easy-to-follow rhythms that sometimes take on a hardcore-like flavor. If it wasnโt for the awesome riff tone, roaring vocals and delicious solo work, Iโd be tempted to call it one-dimensional, but it has all the right elements to make me a pure addict.
86: Blood Monolith โ The Calling Of Fire
Genre: Death metal/grindcoreThis feels like the full force of the primal savagery behind all death metal unleashed, and further boosted by the ferocity of grindcore. But beneath the storm-whipped, turbulent surface grinds a steady wheel, steering the onslaught in a controlled direction.
85: Inhuman Condition โ Mind Trap
Genre: Death/thrash metalThe surprise lies not in it being experimental, progressive or terribly distinct, but in that it manages to be so goddamn engaging despite its faithfulness to that original, Obituary-like style.
84: Blood Abscission โ I I
Genre: Atmospheric black metalThis is a synthetic-melodic, highly atmospheric black metal project. Very importantly, it doesnโt get lost in its distant wanderings, staying on course and getting both exultant and in an uproar at times.
83: Hazzerd โ The 3rd Dimension
Genre: Thrash metalThrash! Unfiltered, unmodified, unpretentious, on-point thrash that takes its mission just the perfect degree seriously. Not markedly old school nor modern, it perfectly blends speed, groove, sharp precision and impatient attitude into a pure, timeless thrash extravaganza.
82: -(16)- โ Guides For The Misguided
Genre: Sludge metalThis is still a coarse, roaring, bone-rattling sound with a threatening tone, but damn are you getting your fill of groove on this one. Many of the riffs are Metallica-level catchy and the lead guitar gets into some seriously tantalizing escapades.
81: Kamra โ Unending Confluence
Genre: Atmospheric black/death metalItโs a monumental, barely controlled series of half-dissonant, darkly atmospheric waves of unholy cacophony. And, worryingly, it makes more and more sense the longer you listen to it.
80: Katatonia โ Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State
Genre: Progressive/gothic metalThis album feels like the natural continuation of 2023โs โSky Void of Starsโ, which doesnโt speak all that much to the bandโs powers of innovation, but as styles go, itโs a very good one to keep exploring.
79: Bent Sea โ The Dormant Ruin
Genre: GrindcoreItโs a lively one for sure, particularly in the drum department, and given that itโs 20 tracks long, itโs a huge plus that theyโve managed a high level of variation, even incorporating a couple of atmospheric interludes.
78: Last Retch โ Abject Cruelty
Genre: Death metalWhat is otherwise a perfectly murky, malevolent, mid-tempo affair with dry-gurgling vocals, almost sinking into doom on a few occasions, will on most of its tracks set off on a riff rampage that, at times, feels almost comically eager.
77: Poison The Preacher โ Vs The World
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcoreThey serve up plenty of is that Power Trip-style, old school death metal-derived raspy brutality, and coupled with the fired-up, no-way-but-forward mentality of eager, short-form thrash, it sets off like a Mad Max-styled monster truck.
76: Howling Giant โ Crucible & Ruin
Genre: Stoner/psychedelic metalThis is a gorgeous sounding album that will have you delighting in the classic, tasteful instrumentation as well as the enveloping atmosphere. There is a mild prog-ness to the rhythms, but nothing distracting or overly complicated.
75: Outlaw โ Opus Mortis
Genre: Melodic black metalThis is black metal that dares to dream, and even though these dreams drip with melancholy, itโs not the venomous nor overly nihilistic kind we so often get from Northern Europe.
74: Vittra โ Intense Indifference
Genre: Melodic death/thrash metalIn my opinion, there are few things as badass as good death thrash. And, as evidenced by this fun-loving Swedish bunch, it certainly doesnโt have to take itself all that seriously in order to achieve said bad-assery.
73: Nite โ Cult Of The Serpent Sun
Genre: Heavy/black metalItโs still devilishly catchy in as tasteful a way as can be managed, and seems to absolutely revel in that spine-tingingly cool lead guitar work, reminiscent of the very best you get from Tribulation and Ghost.
72: Tower โ Let There Be Dark
Genre: Heavy metalWhat might be the most impressive part of the album is that the band manages to craft slow, ballad-like tunes that are, if anything, even more captivating than the high-energy, galloping, solo-tastic tracks.
71: Der Weg Einer Freiheit โ Innern
Genre: Atmospheric black metalIt can be harsh and aggressive, and peaks with plenty of force, but itโs not an overwhelmingly negative minded thing. Thereโs wonder and constructive thought mixed in with the bleakness, making for a fuller spectrum of tonality than you might expect.
70: In The Woodsโฆ โ Otra
Genre: Progressive black/doom metalIt sounds bleak and mature, but never one-dimensional, and it never gets stuck in neither misery, misanthropy or contemplation for very long at a time. It feels confidently relaxed, flexing beauty, catchiness and depth like itโs second nature.
69: A Flock Named Murder โ Incendiary Sanctum
Genre: Progressive black/doom/death metalIt transitions organically into different iterations of itself like the weather on a particularly tempestuous day, and you get the feeling that itโs an elemental force that decides the fates of many.
68: Faetooth โ Labyrinthine
Genre: Atmospheric doom metalThis is a very well-balanced experience, where the transitions between mellow and coarse feel otherworldly smooth, allowing you to properly immerse your mind into a world of blissful gloom without fear of getting jarred when the intensity builds.
67: Warfield โ With The Old Breed
Genre: Thrash metalImmediately establishing a malicious tone and a headstrong, impatient approach to song progression, the guys deliver on this promise on track after track.
66: Nailed To Obscurity โ Generation Of The Void
Genre: Melodic/progressive death/doom metalStepping comfortably into Katatonia-levels of accessibility and leaning fully into Opeth- and Leprous-like progressive-mindedness, this is a many-faceted sound that doesnโt end up over-complicated.
65: Selvans โ Saturnalia
Genre: Avant-garde black/heavy metalWelcome to the theatre of the damned. It will spook you, move you, amuse you and bewitch you, and you will likely not come out the other end with your soul still in your possession.
64: Doomsday โ Never Known Peace
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcoreThey successfully add an epic dimension to the sound with the guitar-led melodies and solos, and the fuck-it-all attitude shining through every seam makes it difficult not to like.
63: Cryptosis โ Celestial Death
Genre: Progressive thrash/extreme metalItโs the kind of progressive approach that isnโt exhausting in its complexity, rather being preoccupied with moving the style in different directions away from the core, precisely so that you canโt accurately label it, and instead accept it as something genuinely unique.
62: Ancient Death โ Ego Dissolution
Genre: Progressive death metalItโs not extreme in its unconventionality, but does most things in its own way, like itโs mutated from a very recognizable shape into something more complex, while retaining most of its original aspects.
61: Lik โ Necro
Genre: Death metalEverything is stylistically spot on, from the hoarse, throat-rending vocals to the over-crunched guitars to the Sabbath-style-evil tone and the very moderately folk-derived melodies.
60: Conjurer โ Unself
Genre: Progressive sludge/doom metalThere is frail melody to juxtapose the crashing harshness, and they craft the transitions between the two in a way that make them seem like two sides of the same coin rather than two clashing personalities, although the contrast is just as strong as youโd hope for.
59: Blindfolded And Led To The Woods โ The Hardest Thing About Being God Is That No One Believes Me
Genre: Technical/experimental death metal/deathcoreThereโs awesome technical control, a good deal of groove, and it both rises into symphonic heights as well as dissolves into atmospheric mist.
58: Scorching Tomb โ Ossuary
Genre: Death metalThis thing was designed to detach your skull from the spinal cord by way of excessively forceful headbanging. What youโre in for is crisp, bloodthirsty death metal in the vein of Cannibal Corpse, but with a massive focus on meaty grooves.
57: Spiritworld โ Helldorado
Genre: Hardcore/thrash metalAs you listen to Spiritworldโs brand of metallic hardcore, you might think to yourself, how hard can it be to make direct, catchy riffs like this? But then the saying goes โ if it was easy, everyone would do it.
56: Fell Omen โ Caelid Dog Summer
Genre: Black/heavy metal/punkThis is (naturally) a single individual in a suit of armor, clearly having the time of his life playing cellar-dungeon-darkness-meets-biker-tomfoolery punky, speedy black metal. Thereโs nothing sinister about this, but the harshness plays a critical part as contrast to the silliness.
55: Jade โ Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream
Genre: Atmospheric/melodic death metalLike a storm sweeping over the peaks of a mountain range, the sonic turbulence resounding across the valleys below, this atmospheric death metal album rolls over you, forcing you to lean into it to keep your footing.
54: Century โ Sign of the Storm
Genre: Heavy metalRegardless of the fantasy-leaning, gloomy themes, and sometimes full-on doom choruses, the playing always, always takes you back to riff- and solo heaven, which feels inexplicably reassuring, like a car accelerating in perfect accord with the decreasing g-forces as it comes out of a tight bend.
53: โฆAnd Oceans โ The Regeneration Itinerary
Genre: Symphonic/avant-garde black metalYou take in the first couple of minutes of a song and think you know exactly where this is headed, and then they change it up with a bit of synthwave, or an atmospheric break, only to continue in a new, interesting direction.
52: Drouth โ The Teeth Of Time
Genre: Black/death metalIt has an adventurous and daring spirit to it, like the feeling you get from great epic doom and conceptually solid prog metal, and without borrowing any of the technical tropes.
51: Haggus โ Destination Extinction
Genre: Grindcore/hardcoreThere are a few by-the-numbers tracks (and even these hold a high standard) and then thereโs a generous handful of true entertainers, rocking your world with style shifts, endearing attitude and/or sick riffs.
50: Blackbriar โ A Thousand Little Deaths
Genre: Symphonic/gothic metalI guess Iโm a goth now, โcause this stuff just instantly struck a chord with me. Not being familiar with the band, I went in with customary low expectations considering the genre, but had pretty much all of my prejudices swept away and drowned like scattered castaways in a stormy ocean.
49: Shadow Of Intent โ Imperium Delirium
Genre: Deathcore/technical death metalThe balance they strike between roaring deathcore pandemonium, death metal savagery, tech death instrumental flourishes and theatrical grandeur is right up there with the very best of their discography, as well as that of their peers.
48: Mantar โ Post Apocalyptic Depression
Genre: Blackened punk/sludge metalThe energy on here is bottomless and highly infectious. The blackened edge is still there, but steered more in the direction of black โnโ roll, which is absolutely the correct choice for this sound.
47: Teitanblood โ From the Visceral Abyss
Genre: Black/death/war metalListen attentively, and you will find that it breathes, builds, rises and hunches like a terrible beast, the appearance of which you can only gleam as a black contour. If you think that the vast majority of dark extreme metal is too safe, then this is for you.
46: Dessiderium โ Keys To The Palace
Genre: Progressive/melodic death metalDessiderium still play melodic, effortlessly complex extreme/death prog that explores its soundscape, sometimes like a curious little critter and sometimes like a frenzied predator.
45: Imperial Triumphant โ Goldstar
Genre: Experimental/avant-garde black metalItโs the sound of a particular brand of madness, or at least a very interesting interpretation of this madness made sonic manifest. It is art, and it is inspired, well-crafted and on-brand art at that.
44: King Parrot โ A Young Personโs Guide To
Genre: Grindcore/hardcoreThis album feels like chugging gasoline and promptly pissing it onto a fire. Itโs strutting with barbed wire bravado and reckless abandon, but instead of going in the murky, ultra-heavy direction of death metal, it pulls from hardcore and punk, making it agile and spiteful.
43: Mortal Scepter โ Ethereal Dominance
Genre: Blackened thrash metalThereโs an air of prestige, and a tendency of wanting to flesh things out beyond the dagger-storm of riffs and hyperactive drums. Thereโs darkness, but in that cosmic, uncaring universe sort of way rather than demonic, and itโs not without a sense of adventure.
42: Gaahls Wyrd โ Braiding The Stories
Genre: Avant-garde black metalIt feels like a small universe of its own, where we travel down a spiraling, non-linear timeline, the progression being felt as both near-stationary floating, and stark sprints of riled-up panic.
41: Jinjer โ Duรฉl
Genre: Progressive/groove metalThe balance between the harshly mechanical, startlingly aggressive, jaw-droppingly dexterous and brilliantly melodic is so pleasingly struck on here that I find my enthusiasm steadily growing as well as regularly peaking throughout the duration.
40: Sacrifice โ Volume Six
Genre: Thrash metalItโs the first by these Canadian thrash metal greats in 16 years, but thereโs certainly no cobwebs to be found on here. Itโs got an aggressive, blackened edge, and radiates confident, energetic malice, in a โletโs show โem how itโs doneโ kind of way.
39: Morax โ The Amulet
Genre: Heavy/doom metalโOccultโ heavy metal, when done tastefully, can embody pretty much everything of what metal is about outside of the โextremeโ sphere. The Norwegian one-man project that is Morax does exactly this.
38: Lamp Of Murmuur โ The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy
Genre: Black/gothic metalThe symphonic, gothic and prog elements that were present last time around have now been boosted, making for a more melodic and stylistically varied sound. Slightly less sharp and aggressive, but still dramatic.
37: Puteraeon โ Mountains Of Madness
Genre: Death metalThis is a Lovecraft-themed, fairly cold-toned, modestly melodic, Swedish old school death metal album that boasts a beefy production, playful rhythms and a constantly threatening tinge.
36: Havukruunu โ Tavastland
Genre: Black/heavy metalIt seems to come from a place of genuine musical inspiration and appreciation, and the mood goes where itโs needed in order to tell the story. Whether that be a hailstorm of sharp aggression or solo-happy, ride-across-the-hills, high-spirit stuff.
35: Sarcator โ Swarming Angels & Flies
Genre: Thrash/black metalSometimes you get the sense that a metal subgenre was created awaiting the day when a band comes along and discovers a way to maximize its inherent potential. I certainly get that sense with Sarcator and blackened thrash metal.
34: Wytch Hazel โ V: Lamentations
Genre: Heavy metalFrom the exquisite vocal quality to the warm embrace of the production, eager rhythms and tastefully understated but-ever-present riffs, it doesnโt break stylistic stride for a single second of its 45 minute, 9 second runtime.
33: Between The Buried And Me โ The Blue Nowhere
Genre: Progressive metalI get slightly different iteration of the band with every song, and a new surprise at almost every turn. Itโs got heaviness, aggression, dazzling instrumentality, excellent interplay, impactful melody and a good dose of catchiness.
32: Despised Icon โ Shadow Work
Genre: DeathcoreโShadow Workโ is an instant ambush assault of charging drums and demolishing guitars, rounded off with gut-punch grooves and a touch of bitter-sweet melody.
31: Blackbraid โ Blackbraid III
Genre: Atmospheric folk/black metalThe album feels loaded with emotion, not in any sort of tender or overly earnest way, but the highly expressive screams and melodies on here are loaded with passion.
30: Caustic Wound โ Grinding Mechanism Of Torment
Genre: Death metal/grindcoreWhile itโs a savage, dirt-covered, rotting monstrosity to the core, itโs not completely inaccessible. The riffs are meaty, the squeals are sharp, the bass is very much present and menacing, and the vocals sound like theyโre hacking up innards piece by shredded piece.
29: Bleed From Within โ Zenith
Genre: Metalcore/groove metalEven though there are a few tracks on here that are more miss than hit, the ones that pierce the bullseye are all radiant, vital examples of how to make youthful, melodic extreme metal that bridges the gap between light and dark.
28: Veilburner โ Longing For Triumph, Reeking Of Tragedy
Genre: Progressive death/black metalInstead of a forbidden, underground ritual, weโre now in the devilโs laboratory/workshop, where all sorts of abominations are born, altered and grafted to each other and all manner of impractical objects.
27: Dormant Ordeal โ Tooth And Nail
Genre: Death/black metalDespite its jaw-clenched aggression, itโs impressively controlled and highly precise, without feeling like itโs being held on a leash. The melodies give it depth and reach, without deflating the force or disrupting the progression.
26: Revocation โ New Gods, New Masters
Genre: Technical death/thrash metalA lot of it sounds like a kind of complex task-solving, and I must conclude that itโs not as overwhelmingly pleasing as its predecessor. But itโs not far off, and it’s more layered, allowing you to appreciate different facets of it on each new listen.
25: Mors Principium Est โ Darkness Invisible
Genre: Melodic death metalFor people like me, who desire both more of what Iโve loved previously and attempts at branching out and evolving, this is like a personalized gift basket.
24: Aephanemer โ Utopie
Genre: Symphonic/melodic death metalItโs the lofty yet playful neoclassical style that the shred monsters of the 80s championed, and bands like Chrildren of Bodom took into the realm of extreme metal, now revived with aggressive melodeath fervor and a flair of prog death complexity.
23: Weft โ The Splintered Oar
Genre: Atmospheric/avant-garde black metalSteeped in achingly beautiful melody and folk-y Americana, it sweeps you off to solemn, desolate, yet breathtaking places. It builds to majestic, roaring highs of anger, but restrains the harshness to a point where its role is that of the snow-capped peak of the mountain,
22: Deftones โ Private Music
Genre: Alternative/progressive metalYou get hard-hitting grooves and hardcore aggression, and itโs juxtaposed with dreamy, contemplative atmosphere, rhythm- and melody tangents, a tone that travels between deeply psychedelic and fluffy calm, and mood that goes from ecstatic elation to sadness and anxiety.
21: The Haunted โ Songs Of Last Resort
Genre: Melodic death/thrash metalThey go heavy on the thrash and groove, but always with the throat-ripping vocals and a ravenous aggression fueling the momentum. The start of the album is insanely strong, and it keeps up the quality all the way through.
20: Employed To Serve โ Fallen Star
Genre: Metalcore/groove metalโFallen Starโ vibrates with vigor, exploding with forceful performances and radiating positive, creative energy. A brilliant lighthouse of a release that will likely bridge the gap between the mainstream and the extreme for many.
19: Abigail Williams – A Void Within Existence
Genre: Atmospheric black metalAn album I never ended up reviewing, but certainly couldn’t leave out of this list. The gravity of it is mercilessly arresting, and it’s as masterfully dynamic as it is scrupulous in its tonal and stylistic range.
18: Qrixkuor โ The Womb of the World
Genre: Atmospheric death/black metalIt feeds on your fear and causes light itself to wither and die. An orchestra of beautiful malevolence plays in the background, while the vocals hiss like serpentine demons and the guitars thrash and writhe in blind rage and agony.
17: Coroner โ Dissonance Theory
Genre: Progressive thrash metalItโs truly fascinating to get all this deadly riffage, Testament-like groove and Kreator-like snarling vocal work deftly navigating their way through a complex, yet organic and surprisingly melodic system of ebb-and-flow energy, and subtly layered moods.
16: Cryptopsy โ An Insatiable Violence
Genre: Technical death metalItโs got some of the most spine-tinglingly crushing riffs Iโve heard all year, and manages to inject austere, darkly majestic melody without it diluting the malevolence.
15: Impureza โ Alcรกzares
Genre: Folk/death metalThe transitions between castanets and acoustic guitar and murderous chugs with predatorial vocals include both complete shifts and stylistic blends, and somehow work incredibly well regardless. A thing I didnโt realize how much I needed in my life.
14: Witherer โ Shadow Without A Horizon
Genre: Blackened death/doom metalIt feels like being buried alive and hearing the earth move around your coffin like a great beast tossing and turning in its sleep, while other buried souls scream their lungs out in agony and despair all around you.
13: The Great Old Ones โ Kadath
Genre: Atmospheric black metalIt is a full, rich soundscape of tragic melody and powerful natural forces that feels as steady and intentional as it is unpredictable.
12: Scalp โ Not Worthy Of Human Compassion
Genre: Grindcore/death metalScalpโs third full-length feels like being subjected to a spiked, hyperactive garbage compactor infused with the rage born of the worldโs collective unfairness. Again, and again, and again the album delivers cataclysmic bangers, punching up with barbed-wire-bound fists.
11: Igorrr โ Amen
Genre: Experimental extreme metal“Amen” sounds like the most coherent album Iโve listened to of Igorrr’s to date, and thatโs not saying it feels in any way tamed, or even housetrained. The flow writhes and glitches along in typical, spasmic fashion, and, long story short, itโs a great fucking time.
10: Allegaeon โ The Ossuary Lens
Genre: Technical/melodic death metalItโs always moving forward, in leaps and bounds, scurrying along complex tunnel networks, prowling the shadows and taking jet-fueled flight. Melodically, itโs as vibrant as it is focused, which is a hard thing to pull off.
9: Castle Rat โ The Bestiary
Genre: Doom/heavy metalWhat Castle Rat does so well within the fantasy doom genre is that they donโt make music ABOUT an imaginary realm, describing it in the role of storytellers, or poke half-ironic, half-loving fun at the concept from a meta standpoint. Their music IS the fantasy realm.
8: Gorotica โ Daily Grind Of The Medieval Age
Genre: Grindcore/death metalItโs hyper aggressive and savagely heavy, but instead of sticking with the intention of simply causing damage, they’ve crafted a series of flavorful, outstanding chapters in a mildly unhinged tale of cannibalism and medieval sadism, thatโs about as serious as a Tarantino-film.
7: 1914 โ Viribus Unitis
Genre: Black/death/doom metalIt’s extremely well balanced, and spins a dynamic tale that takes us through the entirety of the war, and chances are good you’ll come out the other end feeling things you might not have expected from a blackened death metal project.
6: Kalaveraztekah โ Nikan Axkan
Genre: Progressive/melodic death metalThis is progressive death metal thatโs absolutely dripping with Mesoamerican instrumental folk elements. It makes for a saturated and highly distinct sound not quite like anything else Iโve ever heard. It hits damn hard, is highly varied, and just oozes potential.
5: An Abstract Illusion โ The Sleeping City
Genre: Progressive/atmospheric death metalItโs got amazing melodic depth, feels completely organic, and builds beautifully. Itโs impressively heavy as well as hypnotically atmospheric, with the kind of pull that has you โwaking upโ, as if from a trance at the end of it.
4: Creatvre โ Toujours humain
Genre: Progressive/avant-garde extreme metalTalk about outdoing yourself. โToujours Humainโ is alive, and running a whole bunch of different operations simultaneously, continuously evolving as its incomprehensible mind processes new information and reacts to it in ways both benign and hostile.
3: Whitechapel โ Hymns In Dissonance
Genre: DeathcoreThis stuff will shake your brain into a paste of submissive appreciation that theyโll knead into a ball and throw repeatedly into a wall. Thereโs tons of groove, and an impressive range of tempos, vocal styles and riff tones. Did I mention itโs unbelievably goddamn heavy?
2: Warbringer โ Wrath And Ruin
Genre: Thrash metalThis might be the most focused, best produced thrash metal release that I have ever heard. Pause for effect. And that isnโt even nearly the best part of it…
1: Scour โ Gold
Genre: Black metal/grindcoreThe achievement of this album can be compared to the effort of mounting a chainsaw as a bayonet to a rotary cannon and somehow employing it as a precision weapon. The combination of frigid-toned, razor-edge ferocity and raw brutality on here might be the best Iโve ever heard. To me, this is everything that extreme metal is about and more.
What’s your AOTY? Voice your eclectic preferences in the comments below.
-(16)-, …and oceans, 1914, A Flock Named Murder, Abigail Williams, Aephanemer, Allegaeon, an abstract illusion, Ancient Death, Bent Sea, Between the Buried and Me, blackbraid, Blackbriar, bleed from within, blindfolded and led to the woods, Blood Abscission, Blood Monolith, castle rat, Caustic Wound, Century, conjurer, Coroner, Creatvre, Cryptopsy, Cryptosis, Dead Heat, Deftones, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Despised Icon, Dessiderium, doomsday, Dormant Ordeal, Drouth, Employed to Serve, Faetooth, Fell Omen, For The Pyres, Frozen Land, Gaahls Wyrd, Gorotica, Haggus, Havukruunu, Hazzerd, Heruvim, Howling Giant, Igorrr, imperial triumphant, Impureza, in the woods…, inhuman condition, Jade, Jinjer, Kalaveraztekah, Kamra, katatonia, King Parrot, lamp of murmuur, Last Retch, Lik, mantar, Martrรถรฐ, Morax, Mors Principium Est, Mortal Scepter, Nailed to Obscurity, nite, Oromet, outlaw, Poison the Preacher, pupil slicer, Puteraeon, Qrixkuor, revocation, Sacrifice, Sadist, sanguisugabogg, sarcator, Scalp, Scorching Tomb, Scour, Selvans, Shadow of Intent, Skaphos, spiritworld, Teitanblood, The Great Old Ones, The Haunted, Tower, Trold, Unleashed, Vacuous, veilburner, Vittra, Warbringer, Warfield, Weft, Whitechapel, Witherer, Wretched Path, wytch hazel -
Weekly rundown December 19 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released December 13 – December 19
For the last weekly rundown I expect you’ll be paying half attention to this year, we’ve got a meagre handful of true gems that deserves to be played on repeat into the new year.
Dead Sun โ This Life Is A Grave
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Review: Being one of Rogga Johanssons numerous projects, you can be sure that you’re getting some form of Swedish death metal that’s fairly loyal to the original recipe, and a certain base level quality is all but guaranteed. Unfortunately, there’s not all that much else to say about this melodeath album. It’s melancholy in a doomy fashion and as riff focused as you’d hope, but once you’ve listened to the first two tracks, you’ve sort of heard all of it.
Funeral Vomit โ Upheaval Of Necromancy
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: A gurgly, old-school-brutal heap of mid-paced, festering fun. Is it perfectly produced? No. Is it innovative or particularly interesting? Nope. Does it get better the more you listen to it? Yup! Like a mutated, scabby beast emerging from its cave of hibernation, it takes a little time to shake off the grogginess, but once alert and mentally centered, its appetite becomes apparent.
Highlight: “Altars of Doom”
Lychgate โ Precipice
Genre: Avant-garde black/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Back after seven years with their fourth full-length, Lychgate wants to make sure you have the chance to get properly unsettled before sinking into the fluffy, warm comfort of Christmas. Listening to this album feels like being dropped into a darkened museum of bones randomly arranged into a host of abominable shapes, that all come alive around you and start to interact in confused and violent ways. The black metal side to the music is prominent, but not in a trope-y way that makes you go “oh, this is just that-and-that Norwegian band fused together”. But certainly in a way that makes you think of tormented spirits and affronts to all things pious. And the doom side provides that feeling of “dusty, haunted manor with family portraits telling a tale of worsening mental instability”. It’s a bleakly vivid sort of sound that pulls you in and leaves you wondering just where the hell your consciousness went for 47 minutes and 47 seconds.
Highlights: “”Renunciation” and “Terror Silence”
Pythonic โ Decomposition (EP)
Genre: Groove/death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Review: Some Canadian pissed-off groove metal, screaming spittle at you in rhythmic fashion. There’s not quite enough on offer besides crunchy riffs and pummeling drums to really elevate it into something outstanding, but the aggression is there.
Starscourge โ Conqueror Of The Stars โ Betwixt Sundered Seraphim, The Lands Between Bleed
Genre: Death/black/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: A Swedish and Singaporean duo playing epic, blackened death metal inspired to a certain extent (I’m not a player, so I can’s say exactly how much) by Elden Ring. They don’t hold back, showcasing a bunch of different influences, and getting properly nerdy with the lyrics and spoken-word parts. To me, it’s unfortunately too badly produced and messily composed to get any lasting enjoyment from. Also, far too much AI in the band’s various cover art.
Taedifer โ Indivinus
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: How about a sizable dose of old school Swedish-style death metal? You know I’m in. This stuff sounds like it’s caked with centuries old dirt and flaking off pieces of crispy clothing and skin as it rises out of a gargantuan tomb to trample and terrorize the surrounding villages. It’s menacing, unrelenting and in a bit of a mood, as it elbows aside insignificant concerns of melody or cerebral depth. It feels grounded in stylistic confidence and finishes off just as strong as it starts, with a couple of well-chosen guest performances.
Highlight: “Hateseed”
Weft โ The Splintered Oar
Genre: Atmospheric/avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Review: If you’re (for some reason) looking for only one last, freshly released album to listen to in 2025, let it be this one. I thought my highlights list for the year would be good and set by now, but “The Splintered Oar” will definitely make it on there. What Texan band Weft (masterminded by Panopticon violinist Charlie Anderson) have made here is an atmospheric black metal album steeped deeply in achingly beautiful melody and folk-y Americana taking you by the hand and sweeping you off to solemn, desolate, yet breathtakingly striking places. It builds to majestic, roaring highs of anger, offering more than enough heaviness to place it in the extreme metal category, but restraining the harshness to a point where its role is that of the snow-capped peak of the mountain, rather than covering the entire soundscape in jagged ice. It’s deeply soulful, featuring masterful violin work, a wide range of vocal style, and just enough layers to make you feel properly enveloped.
Highlights: “A Dream of Oaks” and “The Hull”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown December 12 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released December 06 – December 12
The darkest month of the year receives a suitable injection of black and gothic metal, with an aftertaste of harsh, modern chugging to go with it.
Abbie Falls โ Life is just a temporary plan
Genre: Metalcore/nu metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: One of my first thoughts diving into this latest release from Czech band Abbie Falls was that a lot of it reminds me of Bleed From Within. It’s got a lot of the same groove, technical melodic playing, and the same level of fury, with even more frantic energy. Where it diverges is in its unabashed leanings into modern metalcore, deathcore and nu metal conventions, like the predictable breakdowns, djent-guitars and sudden shifts to turntable hip-hop rhythms. There’s also a decent amount of electronica-based industrial in here as well, and it all adds up to a fairly varied and almost desperately expressive kind of sound, like the band is clawing for your attention at every turn. The good part of that is that they’re very obviously trying very hard, and got the instrumental chops to back it up. A tad too conventional in parts, but highly entertaining.
Highlights: “Black Void” and “Purge”
Dawn Of A Dark Age โ Ver Sacrum
Genre: Atmospheric black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: A melding of traditional acoustic instruments and heavy metal-level aggressive black metal into long, chant-y, slightly ritualistic feeling songs that feel a lot like epic doom. Everything is well performed, and the music moves through many rewarding phases both beautiful, sad and bitter, but in the end there’s a bit too much repetition going on to really get excited.
Kaosophia โ Funeral Of The Gods
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: A Ukrainian black metal duo that, despite a few influxes of soulful, guitar-based melody and rainy-day-atmosphere, is a staunchly gritted-teeth, infernal-rumble double bass drum, raspy-vocal dark and deeply bitter kind of thing with several similarities to typically mid-to-low-paced, Eastern European blackened death metal. Most of it sounds really good, but most of it is a bit too straightforward to leave a real mark.
Lord Of The Lost โ Opvs Noir Vol. 2
Genre: Gothic/industrial metal/rock
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: The German goth sensations are back with the second part to their “Opvs Noir” album released earlier this year. They’re still very much leaning into the bombastic catchiness that saw them to the Eurovision final, and even have one of the co-finalists from that year joining them on a song. There are other guests as well, and to me these collabs make for the best tracks on the album. Outside of these, there are very, very few surprises.
Highlight: “What Have We Become?”
Lust Of Decay โ Entombed In Sewage
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Some strong ear defilement coming your way in the form of semi-brutal, gory death metal with harsh, hammering rhythms, gurgling vocals and slamming riffs. There’s a modicum of groove in there, but it’s never really allowed to dominate. This is about punishment and shoveling rotting filth.
Martrรถรฐ โ Draumsรฝnir eldsins
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Enter a whirling confluence of the damned, like an infernal whirlpool in the dark, pulling at the edges of your sanity and challenging your sense of comfort at every turn. This Icelandic/American project plays a saturated form of black metal, pouring on layers of atmosphere and disharmonic melody over rushing drums, subtle, dissonant symphonic backing elements and growling vocals somehow sounding both wet and hoarse at the same time. It’s a kind of sound that sucks you in and leaves you too petrified to turn away, as it becomes your whole reality. There are only four tracks on the album, but each play different parts in the experience, as they explore new areas of the nightmarish underworld.
Highlight: “Skรถpunin” and “Dauรฐinn”
Orbis de Ignis โ Ancestral Strides
Genre: Doom/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: This album combines a lot of what I love about the sadder side of Amorphis (much thanks to the vocal style) and Norwegian classic doom band Sahg. What this is in essence is melancholy doom in the vein of My Dying Bride, but taken in a distinctly Finnish melodic direction and added a few mild progressive touches. The guitars get to soar into overcast skies on dark daydream tangents, and the tone glides between sullen gothic introspection and trickles of hope. Not all of the melody lines work quite as well, but the ones that do have the potential to stick in your mind a long time. This has a lot of promise, and I’m looking forward to hearing more.
Highlight: “Golden Snake”
Pincer+ โ Who Are You When No One’s Around
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: A crushing, heavily metallic hardcore album out of Australia that’s got great momentum, groovy-yet-abrasive chugs and, of course, ground-splitting breakdowns. It insistently grabs a hold of your attention and keeps shaking you to the beat of the music to ensure that you’re involved all the way through the sub-22 minute runtime. There are a few, shoegaze-y melodic moments, but mostly this is about slamming your feet into the ground to the musical equivalent of breaking apart a concrete floor with sledgehammers.
Highlight: “Concrete Lullaby”
Sun Of The Suns โ Entanglement
Genre: Progressive groove/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Fronting their sound with the rumbling chug-grooves of the likes of Orbit Culture, Sun of the Suns is an Italian semi-progressive groove- and technical death metal band. It’s a modern style, but not embracing trendy tropes either, instead opting for brutal aggression mixed with classic melodic depth. There are not quite enough songs that really stand out, but there’s nothing weak either, so if you’re looking for some well-executed heavy riffs with a bit of space in between to get lost in, then this is for you.
Highlight: “On The Last Day Of Earth”
Windswept โ The Devil’s Vertep
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: A black metal project by Drudkh’s Roman Sayenko, this is back-to-basics evil stuff with marching rhythms and stripped-down winter gale melodies. It sounds raw and suitably primitive, but with some depth to it, and a few well-chosen folk elements. The vocal style is a bit too phlegm-y for my taste, and overall there aren’t a ton of distinguishing features, but it’s to-the-point and confident in its unholy brand.
Highlight: “The Potion”
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 December 05 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released November 29 – December 05
As most of the metal world shies away into its various caves as we head into December, there are always a few, brave stragglers that dare contend with the Christmas hits.
Blรคkken โ Swiatowstret
Genre: Black/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: You might think “yawn, yet another Polish blackened death metal band”, but this one’s a little bit different. Sure, the vocalist snarls at you like you’re the scum of the earth and the melodic and atmospheric parts drip with bitterness. But then it suddenly changes gears and roar off on neck-breaking thrashy riffs, or shuffle unexpectedly into Gojira-like prog grooves. There’s enough of it that it doesn’t feel random, and not so much that it emerges completely from the blackened death metal pit. It’s got no less than five interludes, as well as an intro, which feels like an unnecessary attempt to add depth, but at least the main tracks usually get straight to business, and when they do they hit hard.
Highlight: “Sลowa zatrute goryczฤ ”
Blood Red Throne โ Siltskin
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Didn’t expect Blood Red Throne to be back with new stuff this soon, although technically it’s been nearly two years since their January 2024 release “Nonagon” (which was a banger), but I’m sure as hell not complaining. This will be no less than their 12th full-length, and while there are definitely traces of the old school in the tone, feel and technical execution, this is very much up to date, leaning into tech death and aggressive melodeath in the vein of Black Dahlia Murder. If you’re here for riffs (no surprise if you are) then you’ll get stuffed to bursting point and beyond. Every track feels tight and purposeful, delivering heaps of punishing groove. Conceptually there’s not much to talk about, but there’s been a shift away from apocalyptic fury to the slightly darker and more sinister, which makes for a welcome, if slight, change of flavor.
Highlights: “Beneath The Meansโ and โHusk In The Grainโ
Death Obvious โ Death Obvious
Genre: Experimental death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Delving into the vast emptiness expecting nothing but hardship and calamity, this album will be the soundtrack to your suffering. It’s the debut album of this Finnish duo, and it’s clear that they’re trying to carve out a niche of their own. They do a lot of carving, but never really land anywhere, remaining floating and relatively undefined as the album comes to a close. They go a lot of interesting places on the way, but the question remains if there was any plan at all from the get-go.
Enthroned โ Ashspawn
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Long-going Belgian black metallers Enthroned are not here to entertain you. While not piercingly dissonant or overly chaotic, hardly anything of the “Ashspawn” listening experience can be described as pleasant, catchy or harmonious. There’s very little in the way of melodic flow, it scores high on hostility, and the song structures feel ever so slightly disorienting. Personally I find just a tad too little to hold on to, but it stands out in the kvlt crowd and is undoubtedly well crafted, with a really cool album cover.
Ghoulhouse โ Realm Of Ghouls
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Very nearly on the day 1 year after their last album, Sweden’s Ghoulhouse dumps another truckload of zombie-horror, brittle-bone-crunchy death metal on your twinkly-lights-festooned doorway. For a death metal junkie it’s not all that much more than empty calories, but it’s tasty calories, and it hits the sweet spot. The vocals are ragged, the bass is meaty and the rhythms quite agile, just as it should be.
Hexjakt โ Blessing Of The Damned
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: A bass-heavy, steady-moving caravan of Swedish classic doom. It borrows a bit of stoner groove and adds a lot of sludge roughness to its vocals, then explores both darkly epic, open expanses and the sinister shadows of buried ruins. It tends to get a little too comfortable grinding out the same kind of riffs for long periods of time, but manages both enveloping atmosphere and head-on confrontations to great effect.
Sepulchral โ Beneath The Shroud
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: I don’t think I’ve actually come across Spanish old school death metal before, so this’ll be a first. It’s the kind that sounds both mad and kind of happy-go-lucky at the same time, as it hops along on eager, predictable rhythms, riding on warm, blunt riffs like a steadily revving engine. And yet the vocals and tone spell nothing but doom and suffering. This style of death metal feels old, like the notes were found in musty, ancient tomes. It doesn’t get lost in ritualistic atmosphere or experiment with the formula like the Veilburner album from a couple of weeks ago, but somehow seems like it comes from the same, forbidden place.
Highlight: “Blood, Phlegm, Black bile”
Skogskult โ Skogskult
Genre: Stoner/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Out from the Swedish woods rumble a compact behemoth of a doomy stoner record, dragging the parts of the forest spirit caught in its chunky tires with it. That’s not to say, like the band’s name might suggest, that this is some endlessly atmospheric, folk-stuffed kind of thing. Old school doom and heavy rock ‘n’ roll form the very center of its workings, and its patient groove pairs perfectly with the phenomenal, powerful vocals. The tempo varies from a slow trudge to enthusiastic chugging, matching the mood of the given song perfectly. The album starts a bit too slow for its own good, but picks up significantly, and manages a surprisingly wide range of melodic and emotional flavors throughout. And the best part is that it doesn’t quite sound like anything else.
Highlights: “Pakten” and “Jag Ger Mig Av”
Upon A Burning Body โ Blood Of The Bull
Genre: Deathcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: I was not familiar with the band prior to discovering their 2022 album “Fury”, but the album plays regularly in my earbuds at the gym. It was a great mix of driving groove and metalcore aggression, with a moderate melodic dimension. With “Blood of the Bull”, the band throw themselves headlong into the current metalcore and deathcore trends, with staccato riffs and rhythms, nu-metal stomps and rapping, and poppy melodic choruses. Losing a ton of character in the process. It’s not badly made at all, but also not the slightest bit distinct.
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 November 21 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released November 15 – November 21
In a week of serious, nefarious, heavy-blow kind of stuff, it’s the cheerful and riff-happy stuff that wins out.
Bragging Rights โ Carpe Jugulum
Genre: Groove/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Do you have a desire to immerse yourself into the turbulent, lightless currents of that “The way of all flesh”-era Gojira dark, slightly droning groove riffing, having it envelop and tenderize you by way of blunt force trauma? That’s more or less what you’re in for with “Carpe Jugulum”. Compared to the earlier mentioned inspiration, this is a less progressive, more focused kind of sound, going low and at a mostly unhurried pace, but with a feeling of unstoppable momentum. There is melody, but it’s scaled back, radiating up from the depths like a faint glow, then slicing through at times with the lead guitar. Each single song is a tad one-dimensional in scope, mostly revolving around a limited number of riff- and rhythm approaches, but overall you’re not left with a lingering feeling of repetition. More like a violent, nocturnal ocean voyage.
Highlight: “Prey”
Depravity โ Bestial Possession
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Semi-technical, modestly melodic, but first of all ripping a gory path with a fierce sense of urgency, these Australian death metallers’ third full-length means business. It’s a crisp, lethal kind of sound with good low-end punch and plenty of aggression to propel it at a brisk pace. It’s a decidedly modern sound, but retaining the savagery of old and not leaning too hard on technical tropes. Personally I was missing just a bit of personality. I wouldn’t say it sounds too “clean”, but having just a few too many tracks fail to really grab my attention. Still, the playing is top notch, it’s a great blend of speedy groove and morbidity, and at it’s best it’s absolutely killer.
Highlights: “Call to the Fallen” and “Rot in the Pit”
Frozen Land โ Icemelter
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Borrowing some heft from melodeath, riff elements from thrash and groove, with rhythms from straight heavy metal, and infusing it with a highly eager, instrument-forward, Finnish melodic sensibility, this is a power metal album that’s bursting with fun-factor and adventurous spirit. It has a whiff of the neoclassical, and just enough of a vague hint of Children of Bodom synth-guitar interplay that my heart immediately starts beating faster. Yes, there are quite a few parts that sound quite recognizable from others of its ilk, and the vocal performance doesn’t quite reach the level of the subgenre’s best, but there’s not a single track on here that doesn’t at least make me smile and nod my head without even thinking about it.
Highlight: “Chosen, Corrupt and Cancerous” and “Dead End”
Gloombound โ Dreaming Delusion
Genre: Doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: We’ve had some pretty darn good funeral doom lately (Bell Witch/Aerial Ruin, Oromet), and this one still does enough to stand out. It manages the feat of combining the murkiness of old school, graveyard-death metal and the misty atmospheric sense of longing and overcast sadness of darkly emotional doom. It takes a while to get to the truly arresting moments, but be assured that they are there to be found, and worth your patience.
Highlight: “At the Precipice to Longinquity”
Morbikon โ Lost Within The Astral Crypts
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: This is blackened thrash that goes light on the groove and heavy on the un-holiness. There’s still shredding, to be sure, and the tempo is mostly high, with precise drum work and hairpin-turn rhythm transitions. But it draws heavily on the tone and feel of early, semi-melodic black metal. A fair bit of it reminds me of Abbath’s current solo project, which should be taken as a big compliment. It lacks a bit in uniqueness, but makes up for it with clear intent of creating something that’s constantly in your face and engaging.
Highlights: “Heavens That Burn and Eons Divided” and “Numeric Portal Ascendency”
Olde Throne โ Megalith
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Going strong on the pagan vibes and leaning moderately into atmosphere, New Zealand’s Olde Throne play chilling and haunting black metal that where the harshness mostly stays clearly separated from the more melodic folk elements. They do both aggression and stretched-out, melancholy calm really quite well, which makes for a balanced and layered experience. My main issue is that the instances of jungle atmosphere and tribal instruments feel a bit misplaced, as they make promises of a different kind of flavor, when, in fact, the actual black metal is not that much different to the classic, northern European variant. But there are also songs on here where the style morphs and mixes with the folk influences, and that where you really get the character of the band shining through.
Highlight: “Ail Na Mireann”
Stone Nomads โ Empires Of Stone
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: A Texan bunch of low-end groove appreciators that very successfully blend old school doom with crashing stoner riffs and that bulky Southern sludge. And while the style doesn’t sound all that original, this is not a straightforward, utterly predictable sort of release. A bit like with Pantera, they have a very clear idea for the purpose of each song, and aren’t afraid to take detours and quickly skip lanes to change things up, although always heading for the same destination. Some of the riffs on here are truly massive, and they vary the tempo and intensity to an extent you probably wouldn’t have expected for a doom project. It’s produced to sound big, like it’s inflating your skull as you listen, but it’s not complicated or overly layered – quite the opposite, and in the best possible way.
Highlights: “Desolate Sands” and “Mount Aras”
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 November 14 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released November 08 – November 14
A week that might make you feel better about embracing the coming darkness of winter, with black and blackened metal delivering truly outstanding releases.
1914 โ Viribus Unitis
Genre: Black/death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Review: Music about WW1 should be grim, and there is little doubt that Ukrainian band 1914 agrees with me on that point. The three sides to their sound play different parts in setting the scene of warfare – the blackened presence of wasted life and hopelessness, the death metal roar of merciless, mechanized slaughter, and the doom lull of heart rending sadness and misery. Their fourth full-length exudes anger and bitterness, but also reverence. It’s extremely well balanced, and spins a dynamic tale that takes us through the entirety of the war, and chances are good you’ll come out the other end feeling things you might not have expected from a blackened death metal project.
Highlights: “1914 (The Siege of Przemyลl)” and “1918 Pt 3: ADE (A duty to escape)”
Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin โ Stygian Bough Vol. II
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: It’s become a pretty safe bet that whatever lurches our way from the musty tomb Bell Witch surely record in is going to be top-notch. This time they’ve decided to make a sequel to the 2020 collaboration effort “Stygian Bough Volume I”, and once again they’ve teamed up with Aerial ruin. The good thing is that, unlike some collaboration projects, this genuinely changes the sound. Yes, it’s still funeral doom, but, despite the sorrowful tone and rather mellow vocal style, it feels like it’s (near) constantly on the move. It’s gripping, doesn’t take forever to build, and doesn’t feel repetitive for more than fleeting moments. It doesn’t quite send shivers down my spine with its peaks like they’ve managed in the past, but this is a dense, rewarding album that no doom fan should miss.
Highlights: “Waves Became the Sky” and “The Told and the Leadened”
Chairmaker โ Leviathan Carcass
Genre: Grindcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: If nothing but the fastest and most furious will do for you, forget the movies and put this one on. Maybe on repeat, ’cause it’s over in less than 15 minutes. This is grindcore with death metal elements, that simply does not let up, yet calls attention to its technical riff- and drum work just enough for you to get half an appreciative nod in before it rages on. There’s a bit of dissonance and a few breakdowns just to jar your brain even further. The vocal style is a bit one-dimensional, and it’s not the most imaginative thing you’ll hear this week. But it sure as hell rips.
Highlight: “Pigfucker”
Lamp Of Murmuur โ The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy
Genre: Black/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Following up 2023’s excellent “Saturnian Bloodstorm” was never gonna be a walk in the park, but the L.A.-based solo project Lamp of Murmuur has risen to the task. It’s not exactly more of the same, but the style will be very recognizable, and it brings the same level of unholy enthusiasm, sounding almost gleeful in its unreserved instrumental approach. The symphonic, gothic and prog elements that were present last time around have now been boosted, making for a more melodic and stylistically varied sound. Slightly less sharp and aggressive, but still dramatic, and still undeniably black metal. Some listeners will likely bemoan the slight departure from the “Immortal sound” into something a bit more rounded, but it still feels daring, committed and conceptually solid.
Highlights: “Forest of Hallucinations” and “Reincarnation of a Witch”
Stellar Circuits โ Phantom :: Phoenix
Genre: Progressive/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Here’s some moody, silky-melodied and djent-riffed prog metal for those who like it melodic and moderately emotional. I hear Chevelle, some Deftones, a pinch of later era Linkin Park and a tiny drop of Gojira – ingredients that all play together quite nicely, for a coherent and particular kind of flavor rather than a wild, adventurous mishmash. It does sound like they’re just coasting along in certain parts, but they certainly know how to pick it up and pour out some proper aggression and head-turning instrumentation. The vocals have great range, and overall the album feels highly mature and accomplished, while retaining a young and vital sound.
Highlights: “Bury The Ashes” and “The War Within”
Veilburner โ Longing For Triumph, Reeking Of Tragedy
Genre: Progressive death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Now on the 8th full-length release in 11 years, the maddened musical forges of Veilburner surely never run cold. Last year’s “The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom” was the one that finally caught my attention, and I was both taken aback and enamored with how it sounded so different from pretty much everything else in the blackened death metal sphere. The weirdness thankfully lives on with this one. Instead of a forbidden, underground ritual, we’re now in the devil’s laboratory/workshop, where all sorts of abominations are born, altered and grafted to each other and all manner of impractical objects. It’s a riff-heavy release, with some solos and tasteful melodic work, which makes it extra fun, but it’s also got a patient, doomy side that does introduce a bit of repetition and slight stagnation every now and then. Still, it very much stands on its own and keeps up the highly impressive quality of this hard-working band.
Highlights: “Pestilent Niche” and “That Which Crypts Howls Grandeur”
Voidceremony โ Abditum
Genre: Experimental death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: How about some death metal in the style of an experimental jazz jam, while being unpredictably pulled into a black hole? This is a dense sounding and fairly restless sort of listening experience, with any one approach rarely lasting more than 15 seconds. It’s well produced, and they haven’t drowned the instrumental performances in layers of atmosphere, which makes it surprisingly quick to get into if you’re of the mind to pay proper attention. If you’re not, then you might very well suffer a headache. Behind all the perceived randomness there’s some razor sharp technicality, and you’re definitely getting a well-measured and varied progression rather than just a wall of noise.
Highlight: “Seventh Ephemeral Aura”
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 November 07 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released November 01 – November 07
A week that’s out to test your sanity, pulling you up, down, inwards and into several pieces.
Astronoid โ Stargod
Genre: Progressive/avant-garde metal/shoegaze
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Let’s go on an adventure skipping through a selection of pleasant dimensions to the uplifting tones of 80s rock and heavy metal. There are notes of sadness involved, and a good deal of dreamy contemplation, but for the most part it’s cushioned by gentle-yet-expressive vocal work and warm melodies. The guitars are clearly present, offering gallops and chugs that draw from prog, hard rock and even a slight bit from black metal. But they rarely get to outshine the synth based atmosphere, which strongly sets the tone for the entire experience. There are a few too many mellow and un-challenging tracks on here for my taste, but it’s elegantly and cohesively crafted as a result of a very clear and well executed vision.
Highlights: “Love Weapon” and “Dream Protocol ’88”
Cold Steel โ Discipline & Punish
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Dropping their debut full-length like an artillery-fired nail bomb, Florida’s Cold Steel are making sure it’s obvious they mean business. Their trade is crossover thrash of the harsh, percussive kind, in the shape of mid-tempo, chugging punishment rather than a blistering riff fest. It’s dirty, angry, heavy and slightly unhinged, bursting with character and delivering an awesome collection of opening tracks. The middle section of the album is a slight letdown comparatively, as it slows down and takes on very similar rhythms, but they bring back the intensity towards the end. It’s tight, purposeful and decently varied, promising great things for the future.
Highlight: “Blacksmith of Damnation”
Ildaruni โ Divinum Sanguinem
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: This is Armenian black metal that emerges like an army of the dead from ancient and forgotten halls carved into the heart of the mountain. That’s not saying it’s locked in rigor mortis. On the contrary, it bristles with grim energy and strikes with both blade-edged fierceness and towering force. There is a definite epic quality to it, with a melodic approach that brings to mind solemn melodic death metal, but the snarling vocals and shivering tone keeps it rooted in the blackness. Its folk elements provide clear distinction, while it remains quite traditional in its instrumentation otherwise. There’s not a weak track on the album, and one or two more truly outstanding songs might have elevated it into undeniable greatness.
Highlights: “Forged With Glaive and Blood” and “Zurvan Akrane”
Norilsk โ Gigantes Mortui
Genre: Doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: While certainly heavy and boasting harsh elements straight out of bloodthirsty death metal, the temperament of this album feels mostly lifted from classic doom. Some of the rhythms are surprisingly light on their feet, bringing to mind stoner and even a hint of punk. But the tone remains mostly bleak and crushing, with only faded hints of levity present in the restrained melodies. At times it sounds massive and ancient, at times impatient and quite mobile. It stands out in the death doom subgenre as something that offers more than just crushing bulk, and while slightly uneven in structure and sense of purpose, it’s well worth your attention.
Highlight: “La libertรฉ aux ailes brisรฉes”
Omnium Gatherum โ May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way
Genre: Melodic death/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Finnish veterans Omnium Gatherum are now on their 10th full-length, but playing with the energy of a band half their age. What we get on this latest release is a vibrant, fairly accessible form of melodeath with undeniable Finnish traits and accompanying charm, and a good deal of swagger from classic heavy metal to go with it. There’s a lot to like, but pushing the envelope it most certainly is not, and that album cover does not do it any favors.
Oromet โ The Sinking Isle
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: If you’re looking for funeral doom with the same kind of all-enveloping, seemingly endless scope as Bell Witch, then this is likely to sate your hunger. It keeps rising, and rising, and rising, and pulls you along with it to unseen domains of the skies. The bass is a constant, steady companion, and the patient drumming, like the footsteps of a titan, carry you effortlessly along. While, as expected, moving at a glacial pace, it’s a truly dynamic listen, bringing you the unstoppable force of a tsunami as well as serene calms of near-silence.
Highlights: “Hollow Dominion” and “Foresaken Tarn”
Pupil Slicer โ Fleshwork
Genre: Mathcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: This is not your average, fiendishly complicated, rubbing-alcohol-flavored piece of mathcore. It’s aggressive, for sure, and certainly not straightforward. But there are layers to the harshness, and the band deftly maneuvers between them in a way that is both satisfyingly unpredictable and which produces a rich level of variation. There is noise and dissonance, but also groove, melody and experimentingย with genre influences. It’s a band flexing its capabilities and expanding its repertoire, doing so confidently and fully committed to making it work within the flexible framework of their base style. The effort is there all the way, as it claws, snaps and roars at you in rhythmic outbursts.
Highlights: “Heather” and “Gordian”
Qrixkuor โ The Womb of the World
Genre: Atmospheric death/black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Review: This will dissolve the ground underneath your feet and send you hurtling into a realm of shifting shadows, unsettling shapes and pure madness. In essence it is a strain of terrifying death metal, feeding on your fear and causing light itself to wither and die. An orchestra of beautiful malevolence plays in the background, while the vocals hiss like serpentine demons and the guitars thrash and writhe in blind rage and agony. Given the depth, it feels a lot like doom, and it bites with a blackened bitterness, but when the intensity builds there is no denying the rumbling, musty savagery. It keeps morphing and evolving, alive with corrupting potency. It’s a lot to take in, but never really becomes overwhelming, and the nightmare comes to an end after a little over 50 minutes, which is no more or less than it needs to leave you broken down yet in complete awe.
Highlights: “The Womb of the World” and “Slithering Serendipity”
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 October 31 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released October 25 – October 31
This is a wild week, pulling from all kind of influences and taking you to weird, wonderful and terrifying places.
Aephanemer โ Utopie
Genre: Symphonic/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Mash up Children of Bodom, Finntroll, Arch Enemy, Yngwie Malmsteen, and perhaps a bit of An Abstract Illusion for a touch of that towering solemnity, and you should at least be approaching an accurate impression of what to expect from this band. It’s the lofty yet playful neoclassical style that the shred monsters of the 80s championed, and bands like COB took into the realm of extreme metal, now revived with aggressive melodeath fervor and a flair of prog death complexity. Added some distinctly Finnish-sounding folk melody and a touch of thrash riffing, this scores sky high on both distinction, vibrancy and richness, without sacrificing too much heaviness. The two-parter title track finish is a bit on the slow side, and tonally I think they could have aimed for even greater contrasts, but it’s plenty dramatic, and good for dozens of repeat listens.
Highlights: “La Rรจgle du Jeu” and “Le Cimetiรจre Marin”
Avatar โย Don’t Go In The Forest
Genre: Alternative/groove metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Still doing their thing, rarely repeating tricks and never playing it predictable or safe, Avatar steadily forges on, and kindly allows us a slice of their current state. And it’s as entertaining and baffling as ever. Pulling from freaky alternative, stadium rock, industrial, classic heavy and aggressive groove with traces of Slipknot, among many others, the number of traits and influences is too long to keep listing. It’s got punchy tracks, but overall aggression has been scaled back for the sake of variation and an interesting album progression. Not as conceptual as “Feathers & Flesh” or “Avatar Country”, it still has a fairly coherent mood that’s distinct enough to clearly differentiate it from earlier releases. Not landing with quite the same impact as last time around on 2023’s “Dance Devil Dance”, it’s more endearingly weird, and feels like stronger storytelling. Like all Avatar albums it grows on you, and finishes about as strong as it starts.
Highlights: “In The Airwaves” and “Abduction Song”
Believe In Nothing โ Rot
Genre: Blackened sludge/noise metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Get ready to go to a bad place, where no amount of happy thoughts can shake the steadily increasing discomfort. It creeps, it lunges, it scratches, screams and cowers, like a wounded animal slowly dying. It’s got the coarse, aggressive bulk of sludge with a blackened, doomy mood and an inclination for unpleasant noise. A bit uneven in production, and feeling a bit static in parts, it builds to chilling highs of violence that will leave you craving the warm embrace of the sun.
Highlight: “Fist Full Of Worms”
Burned In Effigy โ Tyrannus Aeternum
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: These guys had an excellent debut in 2022 with “Rex Mortem”, laying the foundations for a melodeath sound mixing Black Dahlia Murder with At the Gates, and taking it in a tastefully restrained neoclassical direction. This latest album picks up where the last one left off, and keeps pushing the instrumentation in a slightly more technical and progressive direction. It’s a delight to listen to for a melodic extreme metal fan, although not quite as memorable as its predecessor.
Highlights: “Befouled Benefaction” and “Wage of Exile”
Cemican โ U k ‘u’ uk’ankil Mayakaaj
Genre: Folk/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: An explosion of Aztec folk flavor riding on massive groove- and melodic death metal, somewhat in the vein of Sepultura. There are traces of thrash and power metal as well, and they’ve got some light prog tendencies. It’s really cool as a concept and delivers plenty of ear candy, although technically it’s a bit messy, and the songwriting and production somewhat uneven. It doesn’t stand strong as a cohesive statement, but offers an energetic and fairly varied taste of the band’s distinct style.
Highlights: “KUKULKรN WAKAH CHAN”
Despised Icon โ Shadow Work
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Review: Back after six years, Montreal’s Despised Icon make the wait plenty worth it. “Shadow Work” is an instant ambush assault of charging drums and demolishing guitars, rounded off with gut-punch grooves and a touch of bitter-sweet melody. The band’s hardcore influences are strongly represented throughout, and you also get a bit of slam and modern death metal, as if it wasn’t brutal enough already. There are a bunch of highlight tracks on this, standing strong as massive stone pillars, each bristling with furious energy and expressing it in a slightly different, yet equally punishing and impressive way. It’ll leave your brain rattled and senses overloaded.
Highlights: “Death Of An Artist” and “The Apparition”
Howling Giant โ Crucible & Ruin
Genre: Stoner/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: On their third full-length, Nashville’s Howling Giant pull you into a harmonious, isolated world of understated wonders, and take you exploring in leaps and bounds as well as gentle treks. This is a gorgeous sounding album that will have you delighting in the classic, tasteful instrumentation as well as the enveloping atmosphere. There is a mild prog-ness to the rhythms, but nothing distracting or overly complicated, and a warm, doom-like patience to the progression. This will effortlessly capture your attention and likely leave you wanting more as it rounds off.
Highlights: “Beholder I: Downfall” and “Hunter’s Mark”
One Of Nine โ Dawn Of The Iron Shadow
Genre: Melodic/atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Tolkien-themed, epic black metal sums this up pretty well, but doesn’t quite prepare you for the scope of it. The album’s feel is incredibly cohesive, even as both sadness, anger and contemplation are projected, and also invited from the listener. The instrumentation is very traditional, and not this project’s biggest draw, but the lofty, longing, majestic atmosphere and melody truly fleshes out the sound and conjures images of the rich fantasy setting that it’s based in.
Highlight: “Quest of the Silmaril”
Outlaw โ Opus Mortis
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Brazilian band Outlaw follow up their excellent 2023 release “Reaching Beyond Assiah” with an equally solid effort in their fourth full-length. This is black metal that dares to dream, and even though these dreams drip with melancholy, it’s not the venomous nor overly nihilistic kind we so often get from Northern Europe. There are just enough hints of a grand vision to make you sense the deeper dimensions of the sound. It sounds earnest and serious, and sells it by staying relatively modest, while delivering rock solid performances based on carefully considered songwriting.
Highlight: “Those Who Breathe Fire” and “A Million Midnights”
Primitive Man โ Observance
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: The sound of being buried alive, trapped inside a massive industrial drill that’s digging deeper and deeper into the earthy blackness. There is no salvation, no silver lining, only mounting pressure and despair. At its best, it offers grating, frightening texture to the mostly funeral-paced descent, but there is also droning noise and repetitive patterns that seem like attempts to drive you mad. It’s a very specific sort of misery that fans of this kind of nihilistic punishment will no doubtย appreciate greatly.
Highlights: “Seer” and “Devotion”
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 October 24 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released October 18 – October 24
This week we look at an album I shamefully forgot about, and a lot of playful and moody heaviness going up against each other.
An Abstract Illusion โ The Sleeping City
Genre: Progressive/atmospheric death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Review: This one belongs to last week, but somehow I managed the feat of zooming right past it (I know, I just have that certain talent). And considering the band, I couldn’t just leave it. 2022’s “Woe” was on the top of a lot of people’s AOTY list, and while I wasn’t quite as obsessive about it, it certainly opened my eyes wide open to the band. With this one, it’s tempting to resist getting dragged along with the wave of praise it’s already received, but there’s really no point. It’s really, really good, and deserves all the praise it gets. On the dot an hour of runtime feels just right for this kind of sound, which is the kind where the interlude is 3 minutes 46 seconds. It’s got amazing melodic depth, feels completely organic, and builds beautifully, both rapidly and slowly, to intensely satisfying climaxes of intensity. It’s impressively heavy as well as hypnotically atmospheric, with the kind of pull that has you “waking up”, as if from a trance at the end of it.
Highlights: “Like A Geyser Ever Erupting” and “Blackmurmur”
The Acacia Strain โ You Are Safe From God Here
Genre: Deathcore/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: You may be safe from god here, but certainly not the chug, chug, CHUGS. This thing wants to pulverize the powder that was your bones before you hit play. It’s stark and dark, hostile and impatient, at least up until the end and the near-14 minute closing track. A bit weird, and not entirely earned, but the overall runtime feels on point. I could have wished for a bit more meat on the bones of some of the mid-album tracks, but the force is there all the way through, and you can feel the churning, destructively calculating mind behind it at any time.
Highlights: “A CALL BEYOND” and “MOURNING STAR”
Bonginator โ Retrodeath
Genre: Death/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: This is death metal that you can imagine being played at the arcade – the one that’s real lax about the “smoking” restrictions. It’s a real ode to the 80s, with plenty of audial references to movies in particular, but the actual metal part feels much more modern, at least if you don’t consider the murky, bass-heavy production. There’s hardcore all over this thing, a fair bit of catchy industrial rigidity and also some modern slam and brutality, but the heart of the matter is still those killer riffs. It’s too bad they’re a bit muffled under all the layers, but the force of them still comes through. It’s a retro blast that does away with most of the OSDM tropes, and injects life and character in their place.
Highlights: “All Cops Are Biomechs” and “Pizza Time”
Conjurer โ Unself
Genre: Progressive sludge/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Conjurer follow up their 2022 masterpiece of unease “Pรกthos” with a further study of what can be found in the dark recesses of the human psyche. This one is sharper, more technically progressive in its rhythm approach, but also prone to long, slightly disconnected doomy sections that either feel like explorations of alternative spaces or simply time-outs in the otherwise violent, fairly dissonant expressions. As before, there is frail melody to juxtapose the crashing harshness, and they craft the transitions between the two in a way that make them seem like two sides of the same coin rather than two clashing personalities, although the contrast is just as strong as you’d hope for.
Highlights: “There Is No Warmth” and “Hang Them In Your Head”
Elettra Storm โ Evertale
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Italian power metal band Elettra Storm are already back with their sophomore release after last year’s really fun “Powerlords”. The highlights are still the strong vocals and adventurous, optimistic melodies. The playing is still moderately technical, approaching prog on certain songs, with mixed success, and they’ve got a decent amount of classic heavy metal groove. Still fun, ever so slightly more mature and varied, but perhaps not quite hitting the same glorious peaks as its predecessor.
Hostilia โ Face the Fire
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Compared to the Testament album a couple of weeks ago, this is very far from “mature” thrash metal. But is that really what you want out of your thrash? Those treasuring the youthful exuberance of the early pioneers of the genre will have plenty to appreciate on Swedish band Hostilia’s debut. This is all about badass riffs, solos, and barking vocals. The production’s a bit shabby and it doesn’t exactly hit like a wrecking ball, but it’s fast, mean and focused, with plenty of groove, a good bit of aggression, and just the kind of mischievous feel you’d hope for.
Highlight: “P.T.D.”
Nine Treasures โ Seeking The Absolute
Genre: Folk metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Are The Hu not quite metal enough for you, but you enjoy the traditional Mongolian style? I’d give Nine Treasures a go if I were you. This is lively stuff, with acoustic instruments and folk melodies led by Mongolian vocals forming the core, then dressed with riffs and a bit of modern groove. It doesn’t “conform”, per se, to any sort of easily identifiable metal formula, nor does it feel particularly “wild” or “tribal”. There’s a good bit of rock ‘n’ roll, but also heaviness, and an organic progression highlighting the group’s songwriting talents. It’s the best of both worlds, really, with each track standing on its own and telling a different story.
Highlights: “Seeking the Absolute” and “Real Dream”
Phaeton โ Neurogenesis
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: I discovered this little instrumental prog band back in 2023 with “Between Two Worlds”, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s far from the boldest or most ambitious stuff out there. I just like it, and sometimes that’s enough. There’s a gentle simplicity to the melodies, and a curious, cosmos-gazing quality to the tone and feel of the whole thing. It’s not overly technical, so doesn’t feel like an extended jam session, but does leave you wanting a bit more substance.
Psychonaut โ World Maker
Genre: Progressive/psychedelic metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Psychonaut’s third full-length flows steadily and constantly like an ocean current in the dead of night, carrying you along on a never-ceasing journey of sensory impressions you take in with your eyes closed and leaned back, floating under the stars. It is deeply immersive and gorgeously smooth, even when it builds to intense peaks. Therein also lies my biggest complaint, which is that it’s understated to the point where you’re left with blanks in your memory of the experience, simply because it doesn’t give you enough to pay attention to. It’s moderately complex and dreamily psychedelic, sacrificing some heaviness for the sake of said flow. It’s a pleasant and rewarding experience, if not the most memorable.
Highlight: “And You Came With Searing Light” and “Endless Currents”
Scorching Tomb โ Ossuary
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Get ready to form the most savage stank face you’ve pulled in weeks. This thing was designed to detach your skull from the spinal cord by way of excessively forceful headbanging. What you’re in for is crisp, bloodthirsty death metal in the vein of Cannibal Corpse, but with a massive focus on meaty grooves. None of it is particularly original, but instead of digging themselves a deep, impenetrable and indistinguishable OSDM grave in a cemetery of hundreds just like them, they prioritize vocal and tonal definition, and modern production values that offer building-leveling power and translate the energy behind the performances brilliantly. As a bonus, if you wondered what the album title “Ossuary” actually means, the band has helpfully left the explanation in the title track.
Highlights: “Diminished to Ashes” and “Sanctum of Bones (Ossuary)”
Soulfly โ Chama
Genre: Groove/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Soulfly’s latest can be fairly easily summed up as a kind of bubble or cloud made up of their signature tribal-vibe atmosphere, with a wildly thrashing multi-blade contraption at its core in the form of stark, rhythmically rigid riffs. There’s not all that much more to it honestly, and in the cases where the riffs either A: fall into some tasteful grooves, or B: go nuts and assault your with wild waves of rapid, ear-punishing chugs, it feels really worthwhile. But the rest of the time, there’s a bit too much purposelessness and empty calories for the whole experience to feel truly special.
Highlight: “Nihilist”
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 October 17 – 2025
Reviews of metal albums released October 11 – October 17
This is a week of big comebacks and massive crowd pleasers looking to slay monstrous beasts of the underground.
Age Of Ruin โ Nothingman
Genre: Heavy/melodic death metal/metalcore
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: A long-going US metalcore/melodeath project that’s now on their fifth full-length. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it feels disjointed, but stylistically it’s a meld of thrash, heavy, gothic, groove, metalcore and hardcore, aside from the melodic death center. The problem is that it doesn’t quite perform strongly in any individual one of these iterations of the sound. Melodically it’s a bit iffy, especially as far as the vocals go, but they’re significantly stronger going hard and rowdy, and serve up some cool riffs and solos.
Battle Beast โ Steelbound
Genre: Heavy/pop metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Regular readers of mine will probably do a double take at me rating a pop metal album this highly. What can I say? It deserves it. It’s been a minute since I’ve encountered a start to an album that’s this much fun. Past the opening track, you’re served four energetic, modern- and retro-pop bangers in immediate succession, that’d get the sullenest trve cvlt basement dweller to start head bopping. Led by an awesome vocal performance and sprinkled with Finnish melodic shred, it really is a hoot of a time. I’m making a deduction for a less exciting second half of the album and a completely unimaginative album cover, but overall they’ve really won me over with this one.
Highlight: “Twilight Cabaret”
Carcosa โ The Axe Forgets, The Tree Remembers
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: A bruising deathcore album that finds a middle ground between percussive harshness and symphonic, metalcore-melody. It’s tight, it’s sharply honed, and it’s not overly obsessed with chugs and breakdowns. I would say that there’s a bit too much filler around the big highlights, so non-diehards like me have to wade a bit to get to the big catch, but it successfully implements a bit of atmosphere and is varied enough to give off a dynamic feel, which certainly isn’t a given in this subgenre.
Coroner โ Dissonance Theory
Genre: Progressive thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Review: What’s this? Thrash that requires you to think? Fans who have followed this band since the start in the 80s won’t be surprised at this, but not having released an album since 1993, they’ll have drifted beyond the radar for a lot of people today. What you get is rather stark, almost industrial-toned thrash with deeply considered rhythm control, and an atmospheric depth far beyond what’s to be expected from the subgenre’s riff-obsessed core. It’s almost dreamy in parts, sending your mind wandering, and I do think that it’s a bit energy-zapping at times. The production also feels a tad subdued for what this likely aims to be. But as you adjust your expectations it starts to make more and more sense, and on repeat listens it gets more and more engaging. It’s truly fascinating to get all this deadly riffage, Testament-like groove and Kreator-like, snarling vocal work deftly navigating their way through a complex, yet organic and surprisingly melodic system of ebb-and-flow energy, and subtly layered moods. A masterful execution making for quite the comeback.
Highlights: “Symmetry” and ” Consequence”
Defigurement โ Endbryo
Genre: Technical grindcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: A dizzying assault of frantically racing riffs and drum beats, that’s somehow less technically minded than I had expected. A good portion of this is the kind of chaotic savagery that’s considered vanilla in this subgenre, and only in select parts does it go nuts with odd rhythms and spacey vibes. If you want a bit of a sonic challenge, this will do that for you, but there was a lot of potential for uniqueness that I think it failed to grasp.
Erdling โ Mana
Genre: Melodic industrial metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: I first discovered Erdling while they were still small and edgy, and I thought they balanced their ultra-catchy iteration of Neue Deutsche Hรคrte with a fitting amount of alternative mood. Now, of the charm and novelty is gone in the pursuit of sounding as big and accessible as possible. It does its job quite decently, but there’s nothing interesting about it.
Evoken โ Mendacium
Genre: Doom/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: Seven years after their last release, funeral doom staples Evoken drop their seventh full-length descent into terror. And while, yes, the abyssal death metal elements make for an ever-ominous presence in the pooling blackness of this album*s underbelly, it’s also what makes it shift forwards in lurches and lunges, on squealing guitars and pouncing drums. And the solemn, darkly medieval atmosphere is enough to describe an entire odyssey crawling through catacombs and castle dungeons. The pace is agonisingly slow at times, but it feels like just the right kind of emptiness and space in the soundscape, and only adds to the mood of despair and hopelessness. It’s epic in a way, but not fated for any sort of glory, wonder or conquest, only horror, decline and dark fascination.
Highlights: “None” and “Matins”
Grailknights โ Forever
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Yes, you realize within the first five seconds that this is not to be taken seriously, and I’m sure the music videos are hilarious. But I don’t think they could have made the actual music much more predictable if they tried. It’s massively upbeat, cheesy as only the Germans know how to make it, and fun, outstanding tracks are offset by sleepy ballads.
Graveripper โ From Welkin To Tundra
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Graveripper slapped me in the face in all the best ways with their 2023 debut “Seasons Dreaming Death”. It was an all-guns-blazing, rough-edged graveyard demolisher of a pissed-off blackened thrash album, promising great things for the future. Now they’re back, with a tone that’s clearly been hung to chill in the cooler, and a much cleaner and crisper production. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing I will leave up to individual taste, but some of the chaotic ferociousness has been lost in favor of precise, well-defined beats and riffs. It’s still highly aggressive, and definitely gets your head moving, track after track, but a few of the tracks do come off as fairly by-the-numbers blackened thrash. It’s a ripping good time, if not a bit too reined-in.
Highlight: “Bring Upon Pain”
Impermanence โ Anicca
Genre: Technical death/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: The debut album of a young, Polish blackened tech death band with plenty of instrumental chops, a good feel for tonal consistency, and no desire to play it safe. It comes off as experimental in the way it wriggles between different rhythm approaches and song sections. It’s not entirely bewildering, and somewhere in there might be a clear method, but there is a prevailing feeling of hesitance and disorganization, which the overall shape of the thing isn’t intentionally chaotic enough to absorb or mask. But the talent is clearly there.
Internal Bleeding โ Settle All Scores
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Old school, brutal slam sent bursting out of the sewer drains. It’s gritty as all hell, with strong hardcore roots and a great sense for hard-hitting rhythms. To me it’s a bit too much of the same kind of thing repeated several times, but it feels vital, and just as ready to cause damage as you need it to be.
Kaupe โ Destroyer of Worlds
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: A (mostly) instrumental prog metal band out of Florida, here presenting their third full-length. It feels grounded, not massive in scope, but still conceptually solid and coherent, with a dry, warm sound that bears elements of heavy metal, hard rock and sludge. It’s not your typical shred-fest of colorful melody, rather something approaching classic doom and stoner in mood. That’s not to say it’s particularly understated, but while it’s decently adventurous and groovy, there’s a certain stoicism about it as well, which I find characterful. It doesn’t really offer any massive hits, but no two tracks feel quite the same, and tickle the mind in ways that will take you to both soothing and exciting places.
Highlight: “Unresolved Trauma”
Ladon Heads โ Steel For Fire
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Review: Retro fantasy-metal with traces of speed and thrash, this gets the vibe just right, with a galloping sense of adventure. describing familiar lands of legend. The vibe extends to the vocal and instrumental performances, but nothing here really blows your socks off. It’s a bit too mellow, too concerned with style to go anywhere new, and there isn’t quite enough enthusiasm shining through. Still, a good time.
Sabaton โ Legends
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: Enough glorifying WW1, time to switch focus and create some crowd chants about tyrants and mass bloodshed from much further back in history. Templars are cool, right? And getting people all roused up about the exploits of Julius Caesar, Ghengis Khan, Napoleon and Vlad the Impaler sounds pretty much right on the money. There are few metal bands as epic-bombastic as Sabaton, and that hasn’t changed one bit on their eleventh full-length. This is all about the chest-beating feels. Forget that the lyrics are as dumb and wooden as the beach spikes in the “Troy” movie, forget the tedious realities behind the romanticized legends, this is about living a few minutes of phantom glory and belting your lungs out in front of a massive stage. And for that this is exactly what you want.
Sintageย โย Unbound Triumph
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: A glorious trip back to the 70s and the heyday of classic heavy metal. The raspy, high-pitched-vocals, galloping rhythms and soaring, feelgood solos – it’s all there. Just as depicted on the cover, this is stuff you imagine projected like a lightning bolt from the highest mountain peak, causing the denim-and-chains masses to converge in headbanging worship. The spirit is not quite as effectively evident in every single song on the album, but enough to be thoroughly convincing. It doesn’t go off the rails or really surprise you, but it stays on message and is willing to rock your socks off all the way through.
Highlight: “Electric Walls”
Tombs โ Feral Darkness
Genre: Experimental sludge/black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: A style-indifferent, groove-amendable, crunchy, noisy and coarse amalgamation of sludge, black metal and a few other, related flavors into a beast of a record. It’s got grit pouring out of every crack and cavity, and a death-stare, anti-conventional gothic attitude radiating from the vocal performances and subdued melodies. It’s stronger the more aggressive and crushing it gets, with some of the atmospheric, spoken-word sections not feeling quite as convincing as they need to be compared to the blackened confidence of the harshness. But it provides character, and lets you know that there is more to this than just snarling nihilism and skull-grinding heaviness. It’s just unpredictable enough to keep you intrigued as well as feeling like wielding a sledgehammer.
Highlights: “Feral Darkness” and “Wasps”
Tribal Gaze โ Inveighing Brilliance
Genre: Death metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Review: On their third full-length, Tribal Gaze load on the stomps and breakdowns. It’s still very much old school death metal, and it’s just as chunky and grimy as you’d hope. But now there’s an influx of contemporary dissonance and slam-like rhythms, which transforms it into a much more urban-feeling kind of monstrosity than 2022’s “The Nine Choirs”, which I dug pretty hard. It’s not the direction I would have asked for, but in the end it’s up to the band, and they do as they intend with a highly convincing level of investment. There’s still a good bit of that savage Soulfly-feel to it, and while some of the rhythms get a tad predictable, there’s so much bone-crunching brutality going on, and plenty of skin-ripping riffage, that you can’t help but be in awe.
Highlights: “To the Spoils of Fate” and “Ruling in a Land with No God”
Wretched โ Decay
Genre: Technical/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Review: With their first full-length in 11 years, and fifth overall, Wretched want to savor your attention for as long as possible. This is melodic and technical death metal that doesn’t call undue attention to its musicianship, and doesn’t feel much at all like its Scandinavian genre peers. Those are both, at least in my book, two of its strongest qualities. Let’s just get it straight early on – this is an album that takes its time. At 1hr 5minutes runtime, it’s got no hurries getting to its destination, and while it’s not the richest, most moving or most intriguing hour you’ll spend listening to a metal record, it’s also not tedious. There’s always something going on, and it doesn’t feel tired or repetitive or unimaginative. There’s explosive aggression, rousing melody, doom-like atmosphere and intense technicality. And it all blends together really nicely. A bit lacking in focus, perhaps, but highly rewarding if you connect with it.
Highlights: “Decay” and “The Royal Body”
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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The Metal Dispatch 