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Weekly rundown August 22 – 2025
We seem to be out of the summer siesta and bands from all manner of spires and catacombs are poking their heads out to show off what they’ve been working while you were at the beach.
Amenspear – All My Gods Are Dying
Genre: Experimental black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is absolutely, in essence, black metal, but jump in at the “wrong” part of a given song, and you might be led astray. The mood is very much out of a hopelessly grey and rainy day, the production is spartan and the riff and vocal approach mostly matches the subgenre expectations. But you get individual tracks leaning into sludge, rock, doom and even a bit of old school death metal. It all ties inn quite well, making for a refreshingly varied style. A few fairly repetitive and low-impact tracks detract a bit from the experience, but overall I’m excited to see this project mature further.
Ashen – Leave The Flesh Behind
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Ashen is an Australian band that, rather refreshingly, doesn’t lean decisively neither backwards nor forwards in their chosen style of death metal, yet still manage to deliver something impactful. This thing oozes “ancient evil”, dipping into both that old school mire of malevolence as well as smashing its way out of the cave with monstrous, club-wielding force. It’s not “brutal” or “technical”, but certainly assaults you with a towering sound that’s both bulky and spiky in all the right places. Apart from the doomsday atmosphere, the groove is the real standout quality on the record, as the guitars work beautifully with the rhythms to prowl from one pulverizing riff section to the next. I imagine this will be a treat to experience live.
Highlight: “Leave the Flesh Behind”
Blackbriar – A Thousand Little Deaths
Genre: Symphonic/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Whelp, I guess I’m a goth now, ’cause 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. Basically, this is dark folk tales performed by angelic vocals and set to gorgeous, dramatically somber melodies, then added heavy riffs to increase the impact. The weakest part of the album, just to get that out of the way, is the rhythm approach, which is very clearly not prioritized, and you get pretty much exactly the same tempos throughout. It’s not badly performed, just not very engaging. I could also have wished for bigger contrasts between the ethereal, piano-led trickles to the majestic highs of orchestra-boosted drama, but then the band doesn’t seem interested in tapping in to any of the more extreme metal traits. The melodies truly make up for this slight lack of dynamism though, and while the tone and songwriting style doesn’t change notably from song to song, the lyrical and melodic contents do an excellent job to instill identity and memorable flair.
Highlights: “The Fossilized Widow” and “I Buried Us”
Burning Witches – Inquisition
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5I didn’t think the world of 2023’s “The Dark Tower”, but on this latest release, Burning Witches manage to make more of a splash. The key seems to be buying fully into the over-the-top theatrics of their power metal influences, while keeping the instrumental approach tight and fairly aggressive, with a strutting bravado to the rhythms and a thrash-like, threatening tone to the riffs. The vocals walk this tightrope between the epic and badass with what sounds like well-honed understanding, and strike a good balance between force, attitude and melody. There’s a general handful of fun highlights on the album, but also a few that don’t really contribute much other than pushing the runtime closer to 50 minutes. Apart from this, it’s a release that affirms the band as an outstanding contributor to the classic heavy metal revival.
Highlights: “The Spell of the Skull” and “Mirror, Mirror”
Corridoré – Abandon
Genre: Atmospheric doom/black metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 4/5A meld of dark feelings, both silken and abrasive in texture, into a monumental and moving sound that borrows from doom, black metal and atmospheric rock. There are aspects to this blend that I simply can’t get to work for me personally, chief of which are parts of the vocal style and the more trope-y instrumental elements of black metal being used to add ugliness and harshness to expressions of anguish and despair. Some of the melody-driven atmospheric sections can also get a good bit too introspective and a bit repetitive for my taste, but they are offset by parts that contain haunting beauty. The album is a mostly slow affair, but varies greatly in intensity. The feeling you’re left with is that of an extensive sonic realm that you could probably keep exploring forever, if you’ve got the mind to stay constantly immersed in mild depression.
Highlight: “Like Moths” and “This Great Divide”
Deftones – Private Music
Genre: Alternative/progressive metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to review a new album by a band of such status as Deftones as if it was their first (this is their tenth), not taking into account expectations linked to previous styles and achievements? Well guess what, you’re pretty much getting that here, ’cause Deftones is just one of those bands that never really “clicked” with me, and so I’ve spent very little time with their material. But even an outsider like me can tell that you’re getting a very complete experience with “private music”. You get hard-hitting grooves and hardcore-like aggression, and it’s 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, and several other places beyond that. And yet, despite its wide-reaching branches, the trunk that is the band’s signature sound effortlessly carries it all, leaving you with no doubt that all of it belongs. It’s certainly on the serene side overall, but never feels complacent, which keeps it from getting dull. Some real though and talent went into this, and what feels like just the right amount of ideas.
Highlights: “my mind is a mountain” and “ecdysis
Desaster – Kill All Idols
Genre: Black/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5German veterans Desaster are back with their 10th full-length since debuting back in 1996. They play a ragged, ominous version of primitive black metal with strong thrash elements, and also a few from speed- and traditional heavy metal. The latest album has its ups and downs, and in the end doesn’t strike me as their finest work, feeling slightly directionless and with several tracks either taking too long to get to the point or over-relying on old tricks. That being said, it’s far from toothless, and strikes out with rebellious energy at pleasingly frequent intervals.
Feuerschwanz – Knightclub
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5This will be more like a mention than an actual review, cause those inclined to consume this kind of stuff will hardly get hung up on my opinion. Entirely predictable with overblown bombast, stupidly simple riffs and recycled melodies, it is by no means meant to be taken even the least bit seriously, and is all about the catchy-factor and sing-along choruses, which it definitely delivers in spades.
Innumerable Forms – Pain Effulgence
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Usually death doom conjures up mental images like being trapped in musty underground caverns lit by a faint, ghostly glow, with terrifying rumbles echoing along the dripping walls. While the tone of this album certainly is sinister enough, and there’s a decent amount of oppressive atmosphere to deal with, I get the feeling that this is more about the music than it is about painting a vivid soundscape. Innumerable Forms’ latest falls pretty decisively on the death metal side. Even though it’s slow and patient for extended stretches, it seems almost constantly eager to burst out into chugs and dive-bombing solos, and has a well-rounded production that brings out the best of each instrument. Despite its changing temperament, the mood stays very consistent, bringing the very essence of doom – hopelessness and the sense of crushing weight – like a black, low-hanging cloud cover. It does rely on a few, recognizable OSDM-tropes every now and then, but if you sit down and take it in you will quickly come to realize just how ominously alive this thing is.
Highlights: “Blotted Inside” and “Ressentiment”
Jack The Joker – The Devil To Pay In The Backlands
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is Brazilian prog metal in the vein of Leprous, just a bit more freaky, and (these days) significantly more heavy, not too far from Haken in that regard. Compared to the latter band, these guys prioritize instrumental acrobatics over melodic flow on this album, so it’s not one to seek out for a cohesive, satisfyingly conceptual experience. It’s got a good deal of that Devin Townsend playfulness, although they have a ways to go before reaching that level of songwriting and instrumental proficiency. That being said, they do a lot of things right, and clearly strive to push boundaries. Not that it really surprises as a prog album, but both vocals and instruments tug at the reins and poke at the limits of their capabilities. It results in a few weaker moments, but also quite a few impressive ones, and they showcase a great aptitude for mixing exploratory melody with youthful heaviness.
Highlight: “Denied”
Mob Rules – Rise Of The Ruler
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is some fine German power metal, managing a highly entertaining balance between epic melody and classic 80s metal riffage. It’s not overdone, and both the vocals and instruments sound great. Even with a retro feel, it comes off as modern and vital. The main issue is simply the lack of originality, but if you’re just out for rousing ear candy your should definitely give this one a spin.
Panzerchrist – Maleficium, Pt. 2
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Panzerchrist is a Danish band playing snarling, tar-drenched, spiny death metal. They obviously have a bit of a war gimmick goin on, but this is less prevalent on the second chapter of the two-part “Maleficium” album, which delves into witchery and dark myth. And, to their credit, this is evident in the musical choices on the album as well as the lyrical ones. Outside of the imposing riff charges, there’s graveyard atmosphere and a sinister tone, with vocals alternating between hissing whispers and dry snarls. The transitions between downtempo, spooky sections to full-on death metal assaults can be a bit jarring at times, but overall the balance between the two works well, and the overall feeling is that of them complementing each other. Once you get what it’s about it doesn’t offer the biggest surprises, but also doesn’t let off the gas pedal.
Highlight: “Harmbidder”
Signs Of The Swarm – To Rid Myself Of Truth
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If you’re familiar with the antics of modern, technical deathcore, then despite the violent sonic assault that this album is, there’s nothing on here to shock you. Wet, throaty vocals, hyperactive, demolishing rhythms and brutal-styled guitars, this is unmistakably deathcore, but also leaning into Cattle Decaptitation-styled death metal. What I’m strangely missing on this release is a good, rumbly low end. The bass is definitely audible, but not filling out the sound the way I would have expected. It leaves the punches a little low on mass. They’re definitely working on pushing boundaries in terms of technicality, and it’s objectively really quite impressive, but not unique.
Steegmoord – Mandatory
Genre: Progressive/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5Instrumental prog that really digs its groove riffs. The rhythms morph to the mood, and never really get out of hand. It sounds like it was created first and foremost with the guitar playing in mind, even though the drums are just a tad too distinct in the mix. It’s not a very fleshed out sound, more like a demonstration, but it’s got enough drive to keep your interest throughout.
White Mantis – Arrows At The Sun
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Here’s some oddball thrash for you. I would call some of the vocal- and melodic transition choices on here questionable, but it brings that weird-unique factor that makes the whole thing stand out. It’s got plenty of galloping riffs and lightning solos, but also a good deal of atmosphere, giving it a conceptual dimension and allowing your mind to go to work on visualizing its little realm.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown August 15 – 2025
This is a week of both reliability and fringe ideas are able to triumph, even as both the safe and inventive fail in other hands.
Anthrodynia – Unspeakable Horrors Emanating From Within
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5The title doesn’t leave much room to wonder what kind of experience you’re in for on the debut album by these death doomers. It emanates a “we’re all fucked” attitude, and offers not a single hint of positivity. The crunchy riffs, while a bit repetitive, and the earthy vocals complement each other well, and the mood stays consistently ominous and depressing.
Baest – Colossal
Genre: Death/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Not having read anything about this latest release by Danish death metallers Baest before diving in, I was taken aback by the (excuse the pun) colossal change in sound from the 2022 EP “Justitia”, and everything before that, for that matter. Blast beats and boulder-chomping riffs have been replaced with cheeky gallops and licks, cowbell and prog rock-like solos. Well, at least partially. There are still brutal tracks and parts on here, but as a whole it’s definitely a huge branching out, almost all the way to death rock, and brings to mind the likes of Avatar far more than, say, The Haunted or Blood Red Throne. At its best, once you get over the initial shock, the album is actually a lot of fun. The main problem is that it’s pretty uneven, pulling in different directions almost from track to track, wanting to be silly, groovy, angry, solemn and clever all in one package. And it doesn’t quite work. It would help if every track was solid, standing as strong individual statements, but there are almost as many flawed tracks as great ones. Still, the playfulness is endearing, and in these times of old school death metal dominating the extreme sphere, it’s really nice to get a band that dares to be different.
Highlight: “Misfortunate Son”
Fell Omen – Caelid Dog Summer
Genre: Black/heavy metal/punk
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Talk about nailing a style! This stuff sounds like Kvelertak meets old school Darkthrone on speed, and with an even worse production. This is the kind of stuff where it hardly matters whether your speakers cost $10 or $1000 – it’s the spirit of the music that matters. The origin 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. There’s nothing sinister about this, but the harshness plays a critical part as contrast to the silliness, and allows the gothic atmosphere to function as a theatrically ominous soundscape-shaper, rather than just a tacked-on, pretend-evil vibe. The music sounds like it belongs in some alternate, shadowy realm that only its creator can allow you to visit, and it’s a privilege to have been invited.
Highlights: “The Fire Is Still Warm” and “Poise On Rune”
Fermentor – Agreement
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5An experimental project that only contains two technically oriented instrumental elements, namely guitar and drums. The tone and feel of the thing in somewhere between whimsy and ominous, as the style varies between melodic prog and technical death metal. Because there’s no bass, the music has no good low-end floor or push, and so there’s just this sense of the two instruments dancing frantically while floating in space.
Incite – Savage New Times
Genre: Groove/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Incite are back with their seventh full-length, and a slight shift in style to go with it. It’s still groove metal with strong thrash elements, but they’ve now gone in a harsher, leaner and more hardcore-oriented direction. The rhythms are a bit more start-stop, with some slightly clunky transitions here and there, which isn’t great for the flow, but also veers away from the stereotypical. It has a few highlight tracks where they sound properly pissed off and ready for battle, but also some that either lack punching power or where the instrumental approach gets a bit repetitive. It reminds me of Kataklysm and early Machine Head, and sounds hungry and vital despite the experience behind the levers.
Highlight: “Just a Rat”
Justice For The Damned – Stay Relentless
Genre: Hardcore/deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is metallic hardcore going to war with a deathcore arsenal. Once you hear the first couple of songs you know pretty much exactly what you’re gonna get for the rest of the 30 minute experience, and that’s okay, cause even though it’s all expected, the delivery is good at worst and exceptional at best. It’s dry, throaty roars on top of jump-around rhythms and grim-toned, crunchy riffs, with plenty of chest-beating energy behind it. It rarely devolves into the generic, and stays loose and relevant throughout, managing an infectious combo of groove and hard-hitting, percussive aggression.
Highlight: “Built To Be Broken”
King Yosef – Spire Of Fear
Genre: Industrial metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I’m not well versed in the dystopian realms of industrial metal, so King Yosef is complete news to me, but the fact that this project is now six albums deep becomes evident in the craftsmanship. It’s a hostile, beat-heavy experience, but with a great deal of haunting, synthetic, noise-tinged atmosphere to go with it. It’s got the heaviness and ferocious nature of metal, with the rhythm and structure mentality of hardcore and hip-hop. The energy takes a bit of a dip past the halfway point, with tracks starting out doomy and ethereal before getting their bite on far into the song. Apart from this there is much to like, with strong song identities and a consistent mood that has you feeling trapped in an eternal state of smoggy dusk, containing both beauty and horror, threats and opportunities.
Highlight: “Vi Coarctus” and “Lichen”
Unleashed – Fire Upon Your Lands
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5The viking death metal O.G.s are back with their 15th(!) release since getting the raiding party started in 1989. And while they are certainly not the most prominent or influential in this niche part of the subgenre today, “Fire Upon Your Lands” proves that it’s by no means time to put the axe down. Fire up one of their early releases, and I think you’ll find that the same, hungry energy has re-emerged all these years later. It’s not innovative at all, but feels confident in just the right kind of way, like they don’t have to try too hard to show their best side. It’s as if the OSDM revival has shown them that it’s okay to rely on the old ways and embrace the sort of thinking that got them started in the first place. It’s half-groovy, half-melodic, mid-to-high tempo, moderately epic, but mostly malicious-sounding old school death metal that knows what it wants, and how to impress by way of having a good time making aggressive music.
Highlights: “War Comes Again” and “To My Only Son”
Warmen – Band Of Brothers
Genre: Melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5For those not familiar with this band, this is former Children Of Bodom keyboardist Janne Wirman’s baby that he birthed as a side project back in 1999. The band resurfaced in 2023 after a long break, releasing the entertaining “Here For None”, giving that lingering COB itch a good scratch with the combo of virtuoso solo work, sharp riffs and power-esque, synth-driven melodies. In that regard, all is well on “Band of Brothers”, but, long story short, it’s not enough. While there’s plenty of fun to be had, you have to ignore a lot of pretty lazy rhythm work along the way, and melodically you’ve definitely heard it all before. Technically it’s not particularly impressive, but a lot of it is quite tasty. If that sounds like it’s enough, this album will satisfy.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown August 08 – 2025
Dark and spiritual underground dwellers are being offset by vibrant, fun-loving mass pleasers this week, and it will no doubt divide the fanbase.
Ashes Of Ares – New Messiahs
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5For fans of Iced Earth (which is basically the origin of this band) this will probably be a fairly enjoyable, low-demand listen of groove-like riffs and the distinct, belting vibrato vocals of Matt Barlow. But on a more general basis this is seriously trite, with a poor, blunt production, unengaging rhythm work, mediocre melodies and formulaic songwriting.
Babymetal – Metal Forth
Genre: Pop/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I won’t spend a ton of time on this album, because I honestly think that reviews of bands like Babymetal need to be written and read by people that genuinely like them, and who don’t care to classify them. For me, when something crosses this far into the land of pop sensibilities, it loses too much of the foundation on which I base my opinion (Sleep Token being a prime example of this). Fans of this will, for instance, probably don’t care that it’s stylistically all over the place due to the fact that it’s completely dominated by guest performances, whose influences overshadow any distinct core sound. There’s alternative, metalcore, deathcore, pop, symphonic, power, rap, electronica… and the list goes on. Bottom line though, is that it’s a lot of fun. It’s flavorful and catchy, with several strong tracks, and none of it is poorly written. But spending any significant time considering the question of WHY it was made, and I just lose interest.
Blackbraid – Blackbraid III
Genre: Atmospheric folk/black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5The degree to which this is still black metal is a consideration best left behind when diving in to this album, because it will only distract you. Think of it more like blackened folk, and you’ll probably enjoy it more. Like the album art suggests, this is a sound born of the night, but not of complete darkness. There is life, pale light, and a horizon full of promises, despite the woes of the day just left behind. The 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. It’s an epic affair with long main track alternating with mostly acoustic interludes. These might be a tad long for some, but once you’re in the flow most of them are engaging enough to keep your mind from disconnecting. It’s beautifully produced, and delivers both vicious aggression and a grand sense of scope, closer to melodic death metal than black metal in that regard. Nothing feels overstated, and offers fantastic immersion for anyone able to take it for what it is.
Highlights: “The Dying Breath of a Sacred Stag” and “God of Black Blood”
Cytolysis – Surge Of Cruelty
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This is one of those “didn’t stop to consider whether they should” scenarios. The band obviously thought it might be interesting to dive into groove-progressive rhythms for their otherwise fairly grounded brutal death metal sound, and my verdict is that it only partially works. The rhythm work feels a bit tacked on, like they’re refusing to keep things predictable just for the sake of it, and the result is that the flow suffers woefully. Otherwise, it’s pretty solid.
Dropout Kings – Yokai
Genre: Rap/nu metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5A pop-hop/nu metal hybrid that hands out both barbed wire and sugar. It’s certainly not something you to for authenticity of rap or metal attitude. It’s youthful, emotional, poppy and able to swing a few punches when it gets pissed off. Way too many “whooo-ooooh” gang vocals for my taste though.
Liv Sin – Close Your Eyes
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 2/5
Objective rating: 3/5Liv Sin is one of those bands who have fun with throwing in growls and death metal riffs to an otherwise over-the top, power-leaning heavy metal sound. It adds a contrasting layer of aggression, but feels a bit superficial considering the unremarkable heavy-handed rhythms and clichéd lyrics.
Lord Of The Lost – Opvs Noir Vol. 1
Genre: Gothic/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5More grand goth metal incoming from Hamburg. This album feels like a slight nod back to their pre-Eurovision days of half-accessible angst, but that boldness of success has definitely come to stay. Boasting big guest appearances from Within Temptation, Deathstars, Feuerschwanz and more, it’s meant to be big, whatever the mood. To their credit, these added flavors don’t shift the stylistic course of the album significantly. It remains bombastically somber, with the ever-present hint of seduction. Vocals and production are outstanding, as usual.
Malthusian – The Summoning Bell
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Forget about comfort, forget about restraint, and say goodbye to convention. Malthusian play fiendishly free-structured, yet technically sharp blackened death metal that sounds like the hungry, anguished gurgle-sighs of hell itself. Whenever it pleases the dark forces, they slow it down into death doom, showing off their horrifyingly convincing atmospheric sensibilities, as well as retaining an iron grip on their rhythmic precision. Then, when the volcano erupts, it’s back to chugging death metal full of guitar squeals, and it’s all buried under a moderate layer of dead earth, This is not one you come to headbang your way through, it’s to enter a state of chaotic, unholy euphoria.
Highlight: “The Summoning Bell”
Pustulant Flesh – Gurgling Pustulence
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5The Danes have a good grip on crunchy death metal, and here’s some of the gleefully gory variant. It seems almost a bit hurried at less than 20 minutes, like they were eager to just get it out there, and I would have welcomed a few more tracks. It’s nasty stuff, full of throaty gurgling and slimy sound effects, but in essence it’s a bunch of murderous riffs delivered with bass drum hammer blows. Nice!
Sinsaenum – In Devastation
Genre: Melodic/blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is definitely not an album where you can go in expecting a genre-bound experience. The supergroup is at its core a blackened death metal band, and tonally this doesn’t stray too far away from these roots. But its riff- and rhythm energy seems to come from groove metal, and the solo affinity from thrash. It’s also fairly melodic, sometimes in a grounded way, and sometimes in a more sprinkle-on-top symphonic way, which can feel like a bit of a disconnect. Being a tribute to the late Joey Jordison, there are also clear nods to Slipknot, particularly on “Last Goodbye”. Despite being a bit uneven, there are so many tasty treats to sink your teeth into. It’s hyperactive riffs and all out instrumental aggression all the way, showcasing an infectious appetite for sonic devastation.
Highlights: “The Old Lie” and “Front Towards Enemy”
Theurgion – All Under Heaven
Genre: Doom metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a bleak, almost gothic doom album with half a foot into death metal, which brings a nice crunch to the guitars and some snarling vocals. But mainly it’s a darkly grand, atmospheric experience that doesn’t float away into the ether, but stays grounded in sad, folk-gothic melodies. The clean vocals are done in this off-key howling sort of fashion that really isn’t for me, but fit in with the overall mood. At its best it feels epic in a mourning-the-past sort of way, and pulls you into a world of moonlight piercing dramatic, black cloud formations over the gargoyle-adorned graveyard.
Highlight: “Thrice-named”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown August 01 – 2025
Metalcore makes a big push this week, delivering some solid stuff, but having to share the spotlight with its more brutal and progressive cousins.
Accvsed – Dealers Of Doom
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This is the debut album of German metalcore outfit ACCVSED, but it sounds like the product of a decade’s worth of experience. Their sound pulls from several corners of the modern metalcore spectrum, and I’m tempted to call them Germany’s answer to Bleed From Within, as they share some distinct similarities in both the harsher and more melodic aspects of their style. But there are key differences as well – they pull more from both djent and industrial when they go heavy, and more from pop, electronica and post-hardcore in the softer sections. Still, for a band that adheres to the breakdown-prone, rhythmically bound trend of today, they are able to shake things up and surprise you every now and then with some seriously solid songwriting.
Highlights: “Dealers of Doom” and “Never Enough”
Barbarous – Initium Mors
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Old school-ish, sledgehammer death metal from California. You get that awesome crunch to the riffs and disciplined, terror-tactics assault of the drums, hungry-beast-vocals and with a moderate portion of groove to go along with it. If you’re in it for the riffs and raw brutality, then look no further. It hits hard and doesn’t feel like the band has to try very hard to come up with decently varying forms of sonic punishment. It’s not a revelation in any way, and could do with some truly massive bangers, but it never goes stale, and remains very true to its style throughout, keeping it tight and sweet at just under 30 minutes runtime.
Highlight: “Conscious Decomposition”
Creatvre – Toujours humain
Genre: Progressive/avant-garde extreme metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5I first discovered this one-man project on the 2021 release “Eloge de l’ombre”, as I found myself drawn to the unique take on progressive, blackened extreme metal: Wild, noisy, unpredictable and evil. Progressive not for the sake of style but because that’s how the vision takes shape. And yet, I found it slightly limited by its production, and felt it had even more to go on in terms of scope. On this latest release I, as the listener, get exactly what I asked for, and for once it truly elevates the whole experience to the next level. Talk about outdoing yourself. “Toujours Humain” 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. It doesn’t come across as chaotic, but it’s also not a harmonious experience. It transcends a slew of different moods, styles and atmospheric realms, but retains a sinister edge. It’s a trip, and one I heartily recommend you take if you’re the least bit adventurous.
Highlights: “810-M4SS” and “Hope Inc.”
Crungus – Hollow
Genre: Blackened/brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A mostly brutal (but not excessively so) death metal project with varying levels of blackened leanings. There are moments that bring on the cold bitterness in spades, but the main intention seems to be pounding punishment. Recommended for those who don’t much like the sillier side of modern, gurgly death metal.
Hammer – Trapped
Genre: Death/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5A modern death-like project out of Scotland that’s very clearly trying to tweak the formula into something ever so slightly out of the ordinary. It’s got a few mildly progressive rhythm transitions, a moderate bit of dissonance, and partially-committed groove leanings. Sometimes it works quite well, sometimes it doesn’t leave all that much of an impression.
Harvested – Dysthymia
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5If modern, sharp, precise death metal, lacking the traditional “texture” and going for all-out aggression and surgical technicality over atmosphere and any pretense of “old school”, then this might very well hit home for you. It’s a confident, no-nonsense sound with a good amount of groove and restrained showmanship. I’m tempted to call AI on that album cover though.
Knosis – Genknosis
Genre: Metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Rhythmic, modern metalcore that, which seems to be the current trend, embraces elements of alternative metal, as well as experimenting with complicated, progressive rhythms. It doesn’t quite convince me that there’s a strong, overarching plan, but it has a few strong songs, and should not disappoint fans.
Terrordome – Plagued With Violence
Genre: Thrash metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Now for a dose of untamed Polish crossover thrash. You’ve got the speed of… well, speed (metal)… and the ill-mannered-ness of hardcore both sort of pulling in the same direction, and it makes for quite a ride. Luckily, it’s also got some muscle to go with the teeth, so you’re getting meaty riffs and malicious groove, very much in the vein of Kreator. Speaking of which, the (mock) satanic themes also fit in nicely with the style. It’s a pleaser of a stomp-y, snarling, adrenaline-fueled riff machine, and I can vividly imagine the mayhem it will cause live.
Highlight: “Satanic Decree”
To The Grave – Still
Genre: Deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is not your typical, grand, symphonic or electronic-melodic deathcore. This is straight-faced, harsh, percussive punishment, but, essentially, not utterly without tact or groove. The growls are pit-guttural, the riffs are harsh, the tone is stark, but luckily they are in fact interested in seeing you headbang outside of the breakdowns, so it’s not completely dehumanizing. Conceptually there’s not a ton to dig into, but they manage to keep it tight and focused, leaving you properly shaken and riled up with just a (roughly) 21 minute runtime.
Highlight: “Death Walking Terror”
Victim of Fire – The Old Lie
Genre: Crust/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Victim of Fire blend crust punk and old school Swedish-style chugging melodeath to great effect. This isn’t a folk-inspired, massively layered or ostentatiously produced sort of thing. In fact, the hiss-snarling vocals are fairly buried in the mix, and the drum work feels more punk than death metal to me. As a result it’s light on its feet, but the riffs are plenty crunchy and meaty, leaving you with nostalgic impressions of such classic sounds as that of early Arch Enemy. Despite its no-nonsense, hurried and seemingly unsentimental approach, the melodies are somber, so it doesn’t come across as uncaring or flippant in any way. It’s honest, uncomplicated, and honed-in to its chosen style.
Highlights: “The Old Lie” and “Front Towards Enemy”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown July 25 – 2025
Each part of the more extreme reaches of the metal spectrum has something to say this week, and it’s all worth paying attention to.
Atomic Witch – Death Etiquette
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is a tasty sampling of classic elements from old school thrash and death metal, without having to shift completely into a retro mindset. On their second full-length, the band constantly tugs at the reigns, refusing to relax into predictable patterns, delivering vocals that go from high pitched shrieking to throat-clearing snarls, and rhythms that both float and sting like a determined boxer. There’s both dissonance, heft and melody, showcasing the heaviness of death as well as a certain epic, NWOBHM-like flair. It might not land quite enough satisfying, headbanging grooves for some, and is perhaps more eager than stylistically confident, but overall it’s a riot of a listen.
Highlight: “Of Flesh & Chrome”
Azure Emote – Cryptic Aura
Genre: Avant-garde death/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Think a progressively minded Fleshgod Apocalypse with a nod to the symphonic approach of Dimmu Borgir and then mix in a few different acoustic folk instruments and matching atmosphere, not unlike the style of Thy Catafalque, and you should be on to what this band’s like. If definitely feels more avant-garde and experimental than theatrical, but it’s not a “difficult” sound to get into. In fact, it could probably benefit from an even fuller, detail-minded production to really land the force of the death metal fury, as an even stronger contrast to the mythical, solemn atmospheric parts. It’s a bit lacking in outstanding, true highlight-tracks, but it’s got a really distinct flavor that offers plenty of ear candy throughout.
Highlight: “Feast of Leeches”
Beheaded – Għadam
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5On their seventh full-length, this long-going Maltese death metal band has taken a step away from their earlier crisp, technical-brutal style to don the unholy cloak of blackening. That’s not to say that this isn’t still a hard-hitting, riff-focused, rhythmically pummeling sound, but the production is now on the muted side, and the tone has crept all the way down into the musty, plague-infested cellar. What you get is a potent mix of ceremonial, underworld evil and proper, red-hot death metal fury with a healthy touch of groove. There’s perhaps a bit of dynamism lost in the band’s stylistic shift, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a half-effort, landing somewhere roughly in between Rotting Christ and Behemoth. Not too morose, not too savage, this is a solid, well-balanced effort.
Highlights: “Għadam” and “Iljieli bla qamar”
Black Magnet – Megamantra
Genre: Industrial/alternative metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Behind the screen of distortion coating Black Magnet’s sound you will find clear nods to alternative greats like Nine Inch Nails and Deftones, as well as a dash of psychedelia like that of White Zombie and straightforward aggression in the style of Ministry. In short, it makes for a punchy sound that still has layers, depth and decent variety. Whether it be manic electronica or club-beat-riffs, menacing noise or riotous hardcore energy, the band makes it work for them. It sounds confident, like a solid base that I’d like to hear them branch even a little bit more out from. It feels like the only significant thing the album lacks is a massive, furious, thorny anthem to make the crowd lose their shit. For now, it’s almost low key, which might be where they prefer to be for the moment, but still hits plenty hard.
Highlights: “Endless” and “Coming Back Again”
Bloodletter – Leave The Light Behind
Genre: Melodic thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Add a splash of epic heavy metal to old school thrash and this should for all intents and purposes be the result. Speedy riffs coupled with mid-to-high tempo rhythms, bark-snarly vocals and melodic, soaring leads, that’s in essence what you get on here. Variation in not the album’s strongest suit, and it’s not mind-blowingly distinct, but you’re in for repeated surges of headbanging, style-faithful satisfaction.
Cold Slither – Cold Slither
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5G.I. Joe-themed, Accept-like 80s heavy metal that’s strong on the goof factor, but not quite enough to ignore the fact that the music itself is fairly uninspired. It’s fun, with some breakneck solos, tasty licks and on-theme soundbites, but never really leaves a lasting mark.
Cordyceps – Hell Inside
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This feels like a ride in a demonic, high speed stone crushing machine. It’s brutal, pounding death metal with gurgling vocals and dissonant riffs, that sometimes get hooked on off-kilter rhythms. It’s impressively punishing at times, and with the right kind of unholy-cacophony-atmosphere to it.
Goblinsmoker – The King’s Eternal Throne
Genre: Doom/sludge metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Properly fuzzy, bass-heavy doom with coarse, sludge-like vocals and riff tone. It quickly tells you exactly what you’re in for, then cocoons you in a thick blanket of sound to keep you transfixed. There is not much variation at all to speak of, mostly only vibes.
Hebi Katana – Imperfection
Genre: Doom/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5A Japanese doom band that\s going their own way, blending in elements of classic heavy metal and indie. A lot of this actually reminds me of Queens of the Stone Age, but with fuzz, occult tone and galloping riffs. The vocals are a bit of an acquired taste, but work very well for their style, and remind me of several iconic grunge/alternative/indie vocalists.
Hemelbestormer – The Radiant Veil
Genre: Atmospheric/progressive doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5It’s the band’s fourth full-length, and for those unfamiliar, this is Belgian, mostly instrumental, atmospheric, exploratory doom metal that’s traditionally incorporated some black metal elements, but those are way scaled back on this release. This is doom that only partially sticks to the formula. Sure, there are prolonged head-down, eyes-closed, morose, dreaming-of-better-times parts all over the album, and there are tracks that are all-ponderous, but you also get rushes of excited rhythms and hopeful, energetic melodies. And these are all welcome detours – nothing really ever pulls you out of the flow or feels like it doesn’t belong. Once you’re in, it’s all part of the same other-world, taking the shape of barren-yet-dramatic landscapes both over and under ground, through day and night, light and shade.
Highlights: “Satre” and “Usil”
Jordfäst – Blodsdåd och hor
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I caught onto Swedish black metal band Jordfäst on their excellent debut, which consisted of only two long tracks. Since then they have stuck to the two-song-approach, but taken to splitting up each song into four parts, making each section of the experience a bit more manageable. Personally I preferred the original approach, as it felt a tad more coherent and thematically confident. But if you don’t actually look at the progress bar as “Blodsdåd och hor” plays, then the experience is fairly seamless, with unbroken track transitions between the four parts of each song. The production is noticeably improved from the last two releases, with more punch and detail in both highs and lows, while still allowing for a simplistic sound free of fuss. It’s chillingly melodic, and utterly saturated with Scandinavian folk elements, as is the band’s style. It’s more aggressive than the debut album, and doesn’t quite capture the same epic, haunting grandeur, but pleases in pretty much every other aspect.
Highlights: “Ett altare av skärvor, Pt. 1” and “Dit gudarna trälar är, Pt. 2”
Kontusion – Insatiable Lust For Death
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Get ready to be chased through dead, jagged woods by a hungry, grind-structured death metal beast. Old-school in both instrumental and vocal approach, it’s got a nice crunch to it, a bit of hardcore simplicity and feedback-squealing, and has been moderately dulled by a reverb-favoring production, increasing the feeling of being stuck in a cavern with some multi-eyed abomination. The tone is full-on terrifying, without resorting to horror gimmicks. A fair bit of the time there is little to differentiate it from a host of its peers, but it has a knack for always presenting at least two different faces of its personality during each song, giving you both relentless trotting, blast beats and groove-forward riffs.
Highlight: “Throne of Skulls”
Malformed – Confinement Of Flesh
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Malformed play Finnish old school. semi-melodic death metal that’s strutting with creative energy. The drums are lively, the riffs crunchy and the vocals perfectly dry-guttural. It’s actually a riot from start to finish, but is unfortunately marred by a poor finish and a few rough edges in the performances that are a bit too distracting to completely ignore. Massive potential for the future though.
Scalp – Not Worthy Of Human Compassion
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5Easily the heaviest thing you’ll hear this week, Scalp’s third full-length feels like being subjected to a spiked, hyperactive garbage compactor infused with the rage born of the world’s collective unfairness. Every performance from the band is loaded with fury, and when this collective output joins together in rhythmic, riff-led unison, it stirs something deep inside you that makes you want to wring necks. Again, and again, and again the album delivers cataclysmic bangers, punching up with barbed-wire-bound fists. Is it grindcore? Is it powerviolence? Is it death metal-infused hardcore? Who cares? From the thundering of the low end to the concrete-ripping riff tone and flesh-shredding vocals, this is a triple-album-worth of explosive punishment packed into a sub-18 minute runtime, and it absolutely devastates.
Highlights: “EGODEATH” and “CROWSFOOT”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
albums, Atomic Witch, Azure Emote, Beheaded, Black Magnet, black metal, Bloodletter, death metal, grindcore, groove metal, Hebi Katana, Hemelbestormer, Jordfäst, Kontusion, Malformed, metal, metal albums out this week, new metal releases, new releases, overview, progressive metal, review, Scalp, thrash metal -
Weekly rundown July 11 – 2025
This week goes light and dark, fast and slow, aggressive and light-hearted, and offers a good deal of surprises.
Angerot – Seofon
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Angerot are back with their fourth full-length of crunchy, modestly blackened death metal. It sounds tough and sinewy, which works well as a stylistic feature, but it also manifests as a lack of dynamism in the performances, vocal and instrumental alike, which isn’t great for the flow. That aside, it’s more than punishing enough, with some real beastly energy and sections of bloodthirsty groove. The tone is sinister and ever so slightly morose, and I get the mental image of this being performed in a dilapidated, filthy and very dimly lit room, with upside-down crosses and blasphemous passages carved into the walls. The production is good though, with plenty of force and a good, sharp edge to the lead guitar.
Highlight: “Her Song Ov Feathers & Ivory”
Born Of Osiris – Through Shadows
Genre: Progressive/electronic deathcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I haven’t really followed the progress of this band since I discovered them on 2019’s “Simulation”, but this latest album is definitely lacking a good deal of the elements that sold me on their sound back then. It’s still technical, playfully progressive and melodic, but “suffers” from several of the typical symptoms of becoming big and popular. Chant-able choruses, bright, poppy synth elements and at times fairly rhythmically rigid, breakdown-prone riffing as a default for heaviness. Still, the production is great, and most of the songs flow really well. It’s not an album that should leave you bored.
Celestial Wizard – Regenesis
Genre: Power/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is for all of us that want fun and aggression to coexist when visiting the less serious corners of the metal spectrum. It’s got all of the fierceness and melodic verve of a Finnish melodeath project, but slightly simplified and leaning way into classic power metal. They haven’t achieved the best songwriting on this one, but it’s got a handful of highlights and is properly entertaining.
Cronos Compulsion – Lawgiver
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5The debut album from a young gang of US death metallers, and it’s not messing about. It feels towering, swathed in darkness, and dangerous in a slightly unpredictable way. There’s a touch of dissonance and a few progressive-minded rhythm switches, some of which are a bit iffy, but it doesn’t feel experimental in any significant way.
Disembodiment – Spiral Crypts
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Festering, murky death metal that comes rumbling out from below a layer of maggoty intestines. The bass does a tremendous job to maintain the gore-horror mood, without it tipping over into flippant- or meta-territory, although it does include some well-fitting sound clips and atmosphere alluding to 80s horror movies. The band knows exactly what kind of sound they’re going for, and they’ve nailed it. I wouldn’t have complained over a little more crispness for that scratching-in-your-ears feel, but it’s also not severely muffled. The tempo varies, and the drum work is exactly as precise and pummeling as it needs to be, with ravenous guitars and raw-throated vocals making up the meat of the beast.
Highlight: “Infected to Rot”
Front Row Warriors – Running Out Of Time
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Classic feel-good, wind-in-your-hair heavy metal with female lead vocals. It’s not advanced in any way, but the lyrics and melodies will have you singing along, and the tone is on a favorable tipping point between comfortable and cool.
Hell – Submersus
Genre: Blackened doom metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5When I choose to describe this album as “cinematic”, know that it has to do with the immersive, enveloping quality of the music. I see myself in a massive, dark auditorium, barely lit by a red glow, like that album cover, and the screen/stage opens up like a great maw to swallow you into a world of eternal damnation. It’s a sinister, ground-trembling sound, but it doesn’t feel hostile in a way like it’s about to attack you. You’re being subjected to the machinations of the underworld, and they barely take note of your presence. It’s a smooth, uncomplicated listening experience, and everything feels very deliberate, but it’s not too slow, not too uneventful, just pouring on sulfurous atmosphere and mountainous bass and riffs. It’s not overly oppressive or disturbing, just naturally evil.
Highlights: “Hevy” and “Bog”
Imperial Crystalline Entombment – Abominable Astral Summoning
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Like a melding of Immortal and Satyricon, this is severely chilled black metal played from deep within an ice cave. It’s got a sharp aggression to it, and uses it to spearhead an assault of marching riffs and charging drums. While it’s got melody in it, it’s not exactly melodic, more majestically atmospheric, but with the instrumental performances front and center. A more punchy production might have allowed it to hit harder, and even bigger contrasts between attack and pause would probably allow individual passages to stand out more clearly. But if you’re into atmosphere-loaded, aggressive, classic black metal, then you can’t go wrong with this.
Highlight: “Esoteric Offerings” and “Insufferable Shivers”
Impureza – Alcázares
Genre: Folk/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Hearing the description “flamenco-infused death metal”, my expectations immediately pulled from Fleshgod Apocalypse. But, while they’re not worlds apart, this is definitely not quite the same. While the flamenco certainly adds a sense of occasion, the overall feel is not distinctly theatrical. The folk elements mostly function separate from the death metal, which by themselves sound like non-Scandinavian classic melodeath, leaning ever so slightly into modern tech death. The most important part is that this isn’t overproduced. It’s fierce and powerful, but it’s not an apocalyptic cacophony. The guitar attack is direct and purposeful, and the rhythms deftly skip between playful, folk-inspired passages and visceral assaults. The 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 didn’t realize how much I needed in my life.
Highlights: “Bajo Las Tizonas De Toledo” and “Reconquistar Al-Ándalus”
In The Company Of Serpents – A Crack In Everything
Genre: Sludge/doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This feels first and foremost like sludge that every now and then chills out with a desert rock vibe, and that in itself is a very cool pairing, mixing coal-powered, lurching heaviness with acoustic-melodic playfulness. But it’s also got a doomy heaviness and pace, and a stoner-like, groovy approach to the riffs. Add the final touch of a tastefully low-fi production, and you’ve got an expression that is both distinct and still fairly familiar. It’s dark and a bit cynical, but dares to dream, and takes you on a journey through dry landscapes of sun-burned paleness and black, impenetrable shadows. It sounds a little understated at first, but once you get attuned, you’re hooked.
Highlights: “A Patchwork Art” and “Cinders”
Philosophobia – The Constant Void
Genre: Progressive/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Classic progressive metal with moments leaning into softer prog rock, and some straight, melodic heavy metal passages when a bit of epic is called for. It’s got a few transitional hiccups and slightly uneven vocal work, but thanks to a flair for storytelling, it’s surprisingly immersive.
Sheev – Ate’s Alchemist
Genre: Progressive stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Parts of this sound like the more dreamy side of Mastodon, while the rest is distinctly more groovy than sludgy, and progressive in a rhythm-minded rather than style-bending sort of fashion. They tend to get lost in repetitive patterns a bit too often, but the prog-stoner combination (unless you’re already familiar) will grow on you.
Viogression – Thaumaturgic Veil
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is one of those albums where every other song is an interlude, which doesn’t quite work for me unless they’re super short (which they’re not) and they do push the runtime beyond what is strictly necessary. Beyond this, what you’ve got in store is mildly chaotic, moderately blackened, progressive death metal. It’s too uneven to be able to fully recommend, but it’s got spirit and demonstrates good variation.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
albums, Angerot, black metal, Born of Osiris, celestial wizard, death metal, Disembodiment, grindcore, groove metal, Hell, Imperial Crystalline Entombment, Impureza, In the Company of Serpents, metal, metal albums out this week, new metal releases, new releases, overview, progressive metal, review, Sheev, thrash metal -
Weekly rundown July 04 – 2025
No way around it, this is a damn short week, but that just means you have more time to pay attention to the small handful of gems in store.
Anger Machine – Human Error
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5This is the second full-length of this Dutch thrash outfit. Theirs is a groove-centric sound, not without speed but also not showcasing the most neck-breaking rhythm maneuvers. The biggest downside is the lyrics and choruses, which are heavy handed and fairly rigid, breaking up the flow. But there’s a bunch of cool riffs, and the tone is great.
Meth Leppard – Gate Keepers
Genre: Grindcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/514 minutes and 33 seconds is short even in the coked-up-hummingbird world of grindcore, but the amount of ground covered by this Australian outfit on their second full-length makes you start to question just how much of the material on records three or four times the length is actually essential for the listening experience. To be fair, this stuff is extremely to-the-point. Boosted by roaring vocals and a vey death metal-esque rhythm section, this isn’t quite your typical punky grindcore, but a merciless barrage of gut-punches in the irreverent and relentless style of fellow countrymen Werewolves. Yes, it’s a tad one-dimensional, but it’s also so damn focused and entertaining.
Highlights: “Mind-Ctrl-Alt-Delete” and “Algorithm & Blues”
Mortual – Altar of Brutality
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is death metal that’s never seen the light of day. It’s an abomination of the dark, hissing and gurgling curses from the shadows. The band is clearly much more concerned with vibes than any sort of innovative songwriting or crowd-pleasing attributes like groove, but it’s also far from hopelessly drowned in a mire of noise or fuzz. Although it’s not the most punchy thing in the world, the low-end is very much present and threatening, and it knows how to jab at your throat with its murderous and impressively precise riff work.
Highlight: “Fiendish Visions”
Seasons In Black – Anthropocene
Genre: Groove/doom metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 2.5/5I’m pretty sure that if Dethklok turned into a groove metal band, this is more or less what they’d sound like, just more varied. The problem with this is that there’s a slightly comical edge to the heavy-handed rhythms, on-the-nose tone and forced-serious vocal style, that very likely isn’t meant to be taken as such. In fact, the doom-like mood and dark themes work very well in short amounts and on a very superficial level, but it’s a bit too stiff and stereotypical to stand up to a closer inspection.
Stygian – Dreadlands
Genre: Black metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A casual listen to this might excuse mistaking it for blackened death metal, as it boasts deep growls, a slightly muted production and a good rumble to the low end. But pay half attention and you’ll soon recognize the whole-body-banging rhythms and fairly simplistic structures of hardcore. A bit more energy would have done this album good, as it seems a bit sedated at times. Still, the tone is spot on unholy troublemaker, and the switches from cult-y black metal vibes to punk anger make up an engaging dynamism.
Warkings – Armageddon
Genre: Power/heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Not being the biggest power metal buff, I didn’t discover Warkings until they dropped their 2022 release “Morgana”. Their riff-focused, rather aggressive sound struck a chord with me, and although their typically Germanic, bombastic approach to songwriting and production is evident, it’s not overpowering. “Armageddon” is an epic, chest-beating, war-romanticizing beast, but if you don’t care to join in with the chants, then there’s plenty of chugging riffs and solos to divert your attention. This album stands out as one for the power metal enthusiast though, as it includes guest performances by Orden Ogan, Dominium and Subway to Sally, and the interesting, dynamic tracks are balanced out by the anthemic, fairly by-the numbers ones. That being said, even these ones are mostly solid, so it’s still absolutely a listen to recommend.
Highlights: “Armageddon” and “Circle of witches”
Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5What a beautiful sound this album has. From the exquisite vocal quality to the warm embrace of the production, eager rhythms and tastefully understated but-ever-present riffs, it doesn’t break stylistic stride for a single second of its 45 minute, 9 second runtime. For those unfamiliar, this is medieval-styled heavy metal of the NWOBHM-variant, and yes, it’s retro, but not in a way that limits it. I raved about their 2023 release “IV: Sacrament”, and am more than happy to repeat myself in regards to this one. Although its mood is a tad brighter than the slightly doomy feel of its predecessor, I still recognize the use of epic groove and moderate melancholy to be like “Ghost at their absolute best”, to quote myself. It’s not an album for headbangers, although it’s not a sleepy affair. It’s more about storytelling and overall vibes, but keeps surprising you with inspired instrumental contributions and gorgeous melodies.
Highlights: “I Lament” and “Elements”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown June 27 – 2025
Reaching the height of summer doesn’t always mean that the metal wellspring dries up, as demonstrated by the meaty lineup we’re in for this week.
Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services
Genre: Hardcore/metalcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5A vital return for this veteran band, sounding just as hungry and pissed off as is essential for a hardcore group to really hold their own and confidently broadcast their message with authenticity. As you might expect, this is metallic hardcore leaning slightly into math, and so it’s stark and punishing in a sort of under-exaggerated way. The instrumental sound is raw but full, and the vocals are perfectly rusty and weary, without that getting in the way of the energy behind them. I find my favorite tracks exclusively outside the singles. That might say more about me than the music, but I don’t really respond that strongly to their more conceptually minded approaches. However, when they go back to basics and sound their most primitive and angry, you are left in no doubt as to their continued relevancy.
Highlights: “Barn Burner” and “The Forever People”
Deciduous Forest – Fields of Yore
Genre: Atmospheric black/folk metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5As black (or at least dark) metal goes, this is rather pleasant-sounding. It’s refreshing to hear synth-led melody that doesn’t immediately scream Finnish folk, but still manages to send your mind soaring over misty, forested hills. It’s austere, but far from miserable, a bit repetitive rhythm wise, but well produced.
Fer de Lance – Fires On The Mountainside
Genre: Heavy/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Nailing the proper level of solemnity for an epic heavy metal sound can be crucial. Too much and it’s cheesy – too little and you’re achieving no immersion. Fer the Lance get it right on their sophomore LP. High-flying vocals with an above average conviction are paired with patient, doom-like tempos, laying the foundation for a journey to be savored at a fairly relaxed pace. It’s adventurous far more than it’s gloomy, but also not without heaviness, also including a bit of harsh vocal work and a few bitter, black metal-leaning tonal turns. It’s dramatic in its own, measured way, and achieves distinction through their clearly very carefully honed instrumental finish and overall production.
Highlight: “Ravens Fly (Dreams of Daidalos)”
Heaven Shall Burn – Heimat
Genre: Metalcore/melodic death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5One of the things I have always appreciated about Heaven Shall Burn is their obvious melodeath influence, and they’re not shying away from it on “Heimat”. Several of the heavier songs contain riffs that sound straight out of Gothenburg in the late 90s/early 2000s, and they’ve got the proper melodic passages to go with it. What is indeed missing, which bothers me less personally, is, truth be told, any hint at originality. The riffs and melodies sound mostly interchangeable with earlier work, and there is little complexity in the song structures. The lengthy runtime emphasizes this problem. That being said, there’s a good mix of heavy and more melodic tracks, and, to their credit, they successfully resist the temptation to go fully soft and accessible.
Inhuman Condition – Mind Trap
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Three albums in, and Inhuman Condition have proven not only their eagerness, but a highly impressive consistency of quality to go with it. In short, there’s not all that much more to say about it than that it’s rock solid Floridian death thrash. The 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. The fact that it’s thematically morbid and sadistic is also entirely predictable. Much of the success must be credited to the rhythm work, which is about as dynamic as can be without getting distracting or messing up the flow. It also doesn’t hurt that the riff tone is awesomely vicious, the vocal style satisfyingly coarse, and the low end perfectly punchy.
Highlights: “Face for Later” and “Severely Lifeless”
King Potenaz – Arcane Desert Ritual Vol. 1
Genre: Doom/stoner metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Warm and atmospherically rich stoner doom out of Italy. It’s structured into four long tracks which you’re invited to get utterly lost in as you imagine floating through wondrous desert landscapes.
King Witch – III
Genre: Doom metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5As female-vocal doom goes, this is vibrant and powerful, without leaning too hard into nostalgia. It’s groovy in a non-stoner, vital and catchy way that’s more reminiscent of hard rock than classic heavy metal. Its’ got traces of grunge and great crunchy heaviness paired with mildly epic, solo-prone melody, without it ever taking off and becoming too lofty. The production is punchy and modern, in stark contrast to the fuzzy, muddled style that such contemporaries as Castle Rat like to go for. In this respect, it might not be able to find a dedicated niche audience, and will perhaps fall a bit in between the mainstream and the underground. But its musical qualities – vocals, rhythms and melodies alike – deserve to be appreciated regardless of your finer points of preference.
Highlight: “Sea Of Lies” and “Swarming Flies”
Lord Belial – Unholy Trinity
Genre: Melodic black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5There’s nothing subtle about Swedish band Lord Belial’s brand of black metal, so if you’re the type that’s looking for atmospheric nuance or genuine, bitter misanthropy, this isn’t for you. It’s big, it’s aggressive and usually quite intense, with a strong penchant for semi-symphonic melody. I would not go so far as to call it technical, but the instrumental performances are front and center, with plenty of detail to be found both in the high and low frequencies. Noting at all surprises me on this album, but nothing really disappoints me either. Once you’re attuned to the sound you can enjoy it fully for what it is, both the gothic-epic and the snarling blasphemy.
Highlight: “Scornful Vengeance”
Noumenia – Echoes
Genre: Atmospheric metalcore
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A dark, atmosphere-rich metalcore (modern metal) band out of Italy that delivers big on catchiness and tonal consistency. The compositions are quite simple, and betrays a fairly limited vision, but it’s got quite decent dynamics and flow.
Putridity – Morbid Ataraxia
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Unflinching, merciless, gory, squealy death metal from these long-going ear defilers. The drums in particular never let up, pounding and clicking away like some infernal noise torture device. The guitars sound like they’re ripping through walls made of raw flesh, and the vocals are low and threatening without going completely over the top. For me its way, way, way too repetitive, with only a precious few instances of clear variation from the unstoppable assault. But fans will be able to appreciate it being impressively precise and wickedly savage at the same time.
Ready For Death – Pay With Your Face
Genre: Hardcore/thrash/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Combining the relative levity of punk with the ferocity of hardcore, the tempo of thrash and wrapping it in a layer of dystopian, industrial tone, theme and production, READY FOR DEATH stood out to me with their self titled 2022 release, and continue to do so with “PAY WITH YOUR FACE”. This one feels like they’ve honed in on their crossover thrash side, but the edge is still slightly muffled and noisy, and the attitude feels very down to earth and punk-like. It’s not a gut-punch of a sound, and it’s not the most even thing in terms of strong songwriting, but it feels raw and free-spirited, which is just right for this particular corner of the metal spectrum.
Highlight: “SEWAGE OF THE DIVINE”
Shadow Of Intent – Imperium Delirium
Genre: Deathcore/technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5It will come as little surprise to you that Shadow of Intent’s latest album sounds absolutely massive. But let’s go one step further and call it terrifyingly majestic, because it’s only appropriate. The melodic dimension of the band’s style has, at least in my opinion, always been their strongest suit, drawing on gothic melancholy, but able to deliver it in a darkly epic manner that perfectly complements the brutal technicality that goes with it. This has in no way changed on “Imperium Delirium”, and the balance they are able to 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. It’s almost a bit much at times, suggesting that greater contrasts in intensity might have made for an even more impactful and memorable experience, but at the same time I can’t really fault their style for lacking dynamism. It’s great, simple as that.
Highlights: “Feeding the Meatgrinder” and “Apocalypse Canvas”
Sodom – The Arsonist
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5To describe “Sodom’s “The Arsonist” with one word, I would call it confident. Everything from the production to the instrumental interplay to the vocal style and the runtime. At nearly 49 minutes, it’s not a short album, but the old timers have no trouble keeping you entertained. Therein lies the foremost strength of the album. It doesn’t exactly sound young, but also very far from tired or complacent. The slightly muffled finish isn’t for me, but the riff tone hits just right, there’s decent rhythm variation, and it’s got that bloodshot Slayer edge that separates it from the more fun-loving and antics-driven thrash metal. I definitely wouldn’t go so far as to call it original, but highly satisfying, especially for longtime fans.
Highlights: “Witchhunter” and “Sane Insanity”
Thanatorean – Ekstasis Of Subterranean Currents
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This is Polish, abyssal black metal, but taking a fairly primitively styled, manageable shape. The feeling you’re left with is one of utter evil, heading for nothing but despair where you thought there might await you unholy rapture. The force with which it lands, paired with the gravelly vocal style, bring to mind blackened death metal, but the shivering, sinister tremolo is firmly old school black metal. It’s an album that both swipes right at you with a scythe as well as sneaks up on you in the shadows with a dagger. The rhythms are primal and engaging, and overall it’s surprisingly varied while remaining pleasingly consistent.
Highlight: “Thrice-Hexed”
Wanted – Cutting Edge
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5This is pure nostalgia. Wanted’s sound is straight out of the 80s, and there is precious little about it to suggest that it was just now released in 2025. It’s a bit too uneven to make a solid impression, but it’s got plenty of charm.
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown June 20 – 2025
This week is out to banish the light and warmth of summer, pouring on darkness and anger in clear defiance of sunny optimism.
Alestorm – The Thunderfist Chronicles
Genre: Folk/power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5I will admit that I got over being endeared by Alestorm’s party-pirate schtick rather quickly after first learning of them, but kept appreciating their commitment to silliness and on-theme antics. Lately though, their albums have been straight up lazy, offering little but empty calories served up in formulaic fashion. This one is a bit different. Instead of going all-out party metal, it feels like the boys have taken a decisive step (back) to rowdy folk metal, bringing to mind the likes of Finntroll, and even Children of Bodom in parts. There are some actually interesting instrumental performances, varying moods and solid melodies, and, contrary to my expectations, the 17-minute finisher is one of the best tracks on the record.
Highlight: “Killed to Death by Piracy”
Black Majesty – Oceans Of Black
Genre: Power metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Classic, shred-y, instrument-driven power metal out of Australia. Apart from it being far too long at nearly an hour runtime and not offering a shred of innovation, it’s highly style-confident, and sounds fittingly lofty.
Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence
Genre: Technical death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5When I describe this band’s sound as “ferocious tech death”, you gotta forget the likes of Archspire and Fallujah. Cryptopsy is much more in touch with “straight” and brutal death metal, in the way that it sounds coarse and monstrous. It’s precise and fast, yes, but there’s a ravenous, predatory force behind it that constantly tugs on the reigns. It’s got some of the most spine-tinglingly crushing riffs I’ve heard all year, and manages to inject austere, darkly majestic melody without it diluting the malevolence. Tonally and vocal-wise it’s not super varied, but very consistent and fitting for the style. An absolute blast if you’re looking for something both massive and uncompromisingly aggressive.
Highlights: “The Art of Emptiness” and “Until There’s Nothing Left”
Haggus – Destination Extinction
Genre: Grindcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Haggus takes the form of a street-stomping, pissed off punker that also happens to be a rotting, flesh-eating undead. Essentially it’s grindcore, confirmed by its sub-25 minute runtime, total lack of buildups and steady, impatient tempos. But it also showcases goregrind nastiness, death metal heaviness, groove and melody, and plenty of punk and hardcore levity. There are a few by-the-numbers tracks (and even these hold a high standard) and then there’s a generous handful of true entertainers, rocking your world with style shifts, endearing attitude and/or sick riffs. I’d say that the first half is definitely best, but there aren’t any real lulls or drops in quality, so you can expect a good thrashing till the very end.
Highlights: “Do You Love Mincecore” and “Bound By Realms Of Cruelty”
Hellevaerder – Fakkeldragers
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5Hellevaerder is a Dutch black metal band that’s now on their third full-length, and that experience is clearly audible on “Fakkeldragers”. If you don’t pay it all that much attention, it’ll probably sound like run-of-the-mill, cold, folk-tinged, windswept black metal, but the devil is absolutely in the details. The band is not content to rely on atmosphere to provide the nuance. Instead they apply subtle tonal- and rhythm shifts, helped by an effective use of bass and tremolo, that sometimes feel like they’re performing two sides of a dynamic duel. The production is suitably lean and sharp. I could have liked a bit more punch to the riffs, especially when they’re at their most aggressive, but for the most part the mood comes through perfectly. The vocals sound tortured, like they’re performing painful invocations, and contribute to the feeling of sinister witchery at work.
Highlights: “De laatste dageraad” and “Fakkeldragers”
Imha Tarikat – Confessing Darkness
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bitter black metal out of Germany on offer here. Marching, often high-tempo rhythms drive the songs forward at an unstoppable pace, spreading the misery steadily across all of reality. There’s an aggression borrowed from blackened death metal that ensures a good, solid impact, and the dark melody paints an expansive picture of lands swathed in smoky blackness. There’s a hint of a sinister western groove to the guitars, and the vocals are hoarse rather than full-on harsh, which provides the band some welcome distinction. It’s probably a bit longer than necessary at nearly 56 minutes, but certainly doesn’t ever run out of energy.
Highlight: “Another Failed Ritual”
Malevolence – Where Only The Truth Is Spoken
Genre: Groove metal/deathcore
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Am I really gonna be THAT guy and proclaim that with their latest release, Sheffield’s Malevolence have crossed the threshold and gotten “too big”? Well, let’s accept the facts: Their 2022 release “Malicious Intent” was a big hit, and very deservedly so. The follow-up was never gonna sound underground, but one could at least hope that the band would strive for the same level of aggression. And it sounds like they have, but at the same time clearly not been able to help themselves in terms of trying to produce…hits. Many of the choruses are streamlined and feeling fairly tame, with some actual ballad work entering the fray, and deathcore breakdowns becoming the standard solution for a “heavy” finish. All that being said, there’s even more groove than before, and at it’s best it’s actually insanely good. And when they really set out to rip your face off, they take the teeth, eyes and tongue with it.
Highlights: “If It’s All The Same To You” and “With Dirt From My Grave”
Mugshot – All The Devils Are Here
Genre: Hardcore/death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Mugshot take demolition-minded hardcore and weaponize it further, with meaty death metal guitars and stone-crunching vocals. Everything’s about the beatdown rhythms and threatening tone, bringing to mind a wrecking ball being flung around like a flail by massive machinery. In certain parts it gets fairly similar, but the next industrial-like scrape or squeal, groovy riff or playful rhythm variation is never far away. It’s a bludgeoning affair that’s (thankfully) over in just over 25 minutes, which is right on point for this kind of punishment. If the Malevolence album wasn’t quite heavy enough for you, these guys will probably grant you your fix.
Highlights: “I Will Be Here Forever” and “Vale of Tears”
Patristic – Catechesis
Genre: Blackened death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Merciless yet solemn blackened death metal that’s clearly adhering to a blasphemous concept. At times it prowls, at times it hurtles itself at you full force, and some times it just goes rabid with fury, thrashing everything around it. It never really lands anything truly memorable, but feels like it’s on the verge of it several times.
Reflection – The Battles I Have Won
Genre: Heavy/power metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Miss Dio? You can get a taste of that unapologetically epic style on here, both vocal and instrumental wise. It’s far from a bombastic and “big” sounding record, but it’s perfectly melodic and methodical about its progression in a way like it’s continuously telling a story with every element at its disposal. It lacks a bit of force and energy to really leave a mark, but the style is highly endearing.
Tenebrae In Perpetuum – Vacuum Coeli
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 2.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Atmosphere-leaning black metal from Italy, that’s not the least bit interested in harmony. It’s bitter, maddening and ugly, with a very lean production and highly traditional approach to performances.
Witherer – Shadow Without A Horizon
Genre: Blackened death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4.5/5This one will require some post-listen light therapy. It 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. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to its progression, other than it taking the shape of a deeply disturbing nightmare that refuses to let go, and gets even more oppressive the more you fight for consciousness in an attempt to wake up. It’s disharmonic, but not in a technical or actively jarring way. The tempo is doom, but the drum, bass and guitar interplay is so intricate and at odds with each other in an oddly organic way that it feels quite busy at times. The vocals are mostly deep and gurgly, and it feels heavy in a deep and echoing way, but it’s not at all overproduced. Dive in, and forget what comfort and happiness feels like.
Highlights: “Fiat Umbra (Burial Beneath the Stalactites” and “Solar Collapse Mandala”
As always, if you think I’m completely off on an observation, unfairly dissed your favorite band, or need to give an album another shot, why not pop a comment down below?
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Weekly rundown June 06 – 2025
Stretch your taste and take in the variety of this mixed week, offering fun, danger, sadness and a few cerebral challenges.
Austere – The Stillness of Dissolution
Genre: Gothic/black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5As band names go, Austere have chosen a fitting one for the style of music they make. I was impressed with their 2024 effort “Beneath the Threshold”, and wouldn’t you know, they’re back with more just a year later. On this one they’ve flipped the black/gothic balance in favor of the latter, prioritizing atmosphere and mood over harshness and cold, guitar-led melody. It’s a subtler sound, perhaps too subtle. Even though theirs is not a particularly slow approach, the transitions are often very gradual, and not a heck of a lot of ground is covered during the course of a song, which is often in the 7-minute realm. Still, their mastery of the tone, achieving both melancholy and hopefulness, is just as strong as before. The clean-sung parts are performed with true emotional weight, highly fitting their slight shift in style. If you’re looking for dark gothic metal devoid of the kitsch-factor, this is absolutely recommended.
Highlight: “Redolent Foulness” and “Rusted Veins”
Battlesnake – Dawn Of The Exultants And The Hunt For The Shepherd
Genre: Heavy metal/hard rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Battlesnake is a zany Australian heavy metal project that’s now on their third full-length in as many years. It draws inspiration from 80s and 70s heavy metal, but drops most of the shred. It’s mostly mid-tempo, hard rock-rhythm, fairly light hearted stuff, taking on a lot of that cyber-punk synth tone that Ghost has been dipping into for their last two releases. It’s not exactly what you’d call heavy, but has some cool uses of guttural vocals that mesh very well with temporary tips into a darker mood. I would classify this as style over substance. There are a lot of fun antics going on, with short spoken-word interludes here and there, but the actual music is for the most part not all that innovative. Still, it bristles with charm and has enough highlights to keep you invested.
Highlight: “Murder Machine”
Bear Mace – Slaves Of The Wolf
Genre: Death/thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Bow down to our werewolf overlords. It’s a neat thing when you can look at a ridiculous death metal cover and just go “yeah, why the hell not”. And be delighted when the music matches the visual expression perfectly. This is hard-hitting death thrash with a strong emphasis on the former of the two. The thrash mostly appears in the form of shredding and upbeat tempos, but the tone, vocals and low end are all dimly-lit, blood-dripping butcher’s work. Notably, it’s not obsessed with old-school style, which is a departure from the norm these days. It’s neither filthy, crusty, musty or grimy, nor is it in any way polished. It’s just punishing, riff-driven, headbanger-friendly bad-assery all the way.
Highlights: “The Iceman Cometh” and “Worthless Lives”
Dissonant Seepage – Dystopian Putrescence
Genre: Brutal death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5Slamming, brutal death metal has a fairly narrow purpose to fulfill, and often very little interest in doing anything apart from this. “Dystopian Putrescence” at least tries to play around a bit with its rhythms, and goes into some technical rhythm work now and then, while not overloading you with tropes.
Gaahls Wyrd – Braiding The Stories
Genre: Avant-garde black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5Rooted in the conventional, but presenting an extraordinary blossom on the splayed fingers of branches stretched wide through decades of growth, “Braiding the Stories” was always going to be a wide-reaching experience. In fact, it 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. Comparing it to the style of Enslaved, this is more contrasting – managing both greater departures from, and closer visits to, the original, primitive Norwegian black metal sound. It’s not doom, it’s not gothic, and it’s not really folk. It’s primal, transcendent, dramatic and dark in a natural way.
Highlights: “Time and Timeless Timeline” and “Flowing Starlight”
Gruesome – Silent Echoes
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5In stark contrast to the Rivers of Nihil album last week, this is back-to-basics, old school prog death that will inevitably draw comparisons to Death. It goes very light on the low end, staying agile and precise, some times skipping into thrash and even a bit of adventurous classic heavy metal. It feels like style worship, and it probably is, but it’s a very specific sort of sound that you don’t hear all too often these days, even with the insatiable OSDM revival going on. To me it feels ever so slightly hollow, like the shape and technical approach came first, and the artistic intent was more of an afterthought, but for the absolute most part this doesn’t stop me from really enjoying it. The atmospheric intros are very cool, and the restlessness of the thing is energizing.
Highlights: “A Darkened Window” and “Shards”
HolyRoller – Rat King
Genre: Stoner/psychedelic metal/rock
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5This band caught my attention with 2022’s “Swimming Witches”, mostly due to the successful balance between desert crunch, mid-tempo stoner groove and restrainedly melodic vocals. “Rat King” feels a bit more sluggish, and could have used a bit more punch to the riffs. The vocals however, are as good, if not better than last time, adding a touch of the epic and a much-needed melodic dimension.
Highlight: “Rat King”
Katatonia – Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State
Genre: Progressive/gothic metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album feels like the natural continuation of 2023’s “Sky Void of Stars”, which doesn’t speak all that much to the band’s powers of innovation, but as styles go, it’s a very good one to keep exploring. Melodically, it’s just as strong, if not stronger, particularly in the slower, calmer sections. It’s definitely some of the most beautiful gothic doom I’ve ever heard. As a progressive album, it’s restrained, but the transitions employed in their most dynamic songs are silky smooth and completely organic. My biggest complaint is that they front load their most dramatic and heavy songs, leaving the last half fairly understated and soft. But as a balm for your ears and mind, there’s hardly anything better out there.
Highlights: “Wind of no Change” and “Thrice”
King Parrot – A Young Person’s Guide To
Genre: Grindcore/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5This album feels like chugging gasoline and promptly pissing it onto a fire. It’s 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. There’s not a dull moment on here, but it doesn’t need to get chaotic or overly noisy in order to fulfill its purpose of shaking your brain to a paste. There’s tons of groove, the rhythms (although often hectic) are easy to follow, and combined with some killer riffs, it truly gets your heart pumping.
Highlights: “Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On” and “Punish the Runt”
Ophiolatry – Serpent’s Verdict
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3/5
Objective rating: 3/5A speedy, mildly technical and modestly brutal Brazilian death metal project. Performance-wise it’s a bit one-dimensional, but they sneak a good number of tasty riffs in there. It is, however, far too long.
Orthodox – A Door Left Open
Genre: Hardcore/groove metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Returning after 2022-highlight “Learning to Dissolve”, Orthodox is back to punish your eardrums with distorted chugs. That album felt like a lost, early Machine Head album given the metallic hardcore treatment, and although this album goes a different way, there are certainly elements of the same style on “A Door Left Open”. But this time it’s almost entirely about the rhythms, leaving nearly all traces of melody behind, and going lighter on the groove. While there’s a lot of technically impressive twists and turns on here, almost tipping over into mathcore, a great deal of the character of the predecessor is lost, which is a shame. The savagery is still there, its’s just not quite as dynamic.
Highlight: “Keep Your Blessings”
Phase Transition – In Search of Being
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5Phase Transition is a Portuguese, female-fronted prog metal band that bring to mind the symphonic and melody-rich styles of several Finnish and Dutch greats. What this album isn’t though, is overproduced. It’s got a clean, fairly lean sound, not lacking fullness but also far from bloated. Granted, I would have liked a bit more force in the peaks, especially considering that the band isn’t at its best in the calmer sections. But the album is well balanced, and considering this is their first full-length, I see great potential for expansion. The violin solos are a very welcome touch.
Highlight: “The Other Side”
Refusal – Venomous Human Concept
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3/5Ah yes, any week with a bit of crunchy death metal is a good week in my book. This is the Finnish, grindcore-tinged kind, which makes it quite lively. Songwriting-wise it’s a bit clunky, not delivering the smoothest transitions or biggest highlights. But there’s plenty of buzzsaw riff goodness.
Volbeat – God Of Angels Trust
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5This might be as close as we’ll ever get to an “evil” Volbeat album. There must have been some temptation for Michael Poulsen to pull the sound in the direction of his highly successful Asinhell death metal project, but, likely in an effort to clearly differentiate the two styles, it sounds like he’s held back. As a result, the heaviness on “God of Angels Trust” feels superficial, manifesting in a select few (decidedly badass) riffs. The rhythms feel largely uninspired, sometimes outright repetitive, and the melodies and choruses are very typically “Volbeat”. All that being said, there are a handful of real highlights, a few refreshing departures from the expected, and the rugged charm of the early records, which has only occasionally resurfaced in the years since, can be clearly felt.
Highlight: “Demonic Depression”
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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