Search
1000 results for “less_beauty”
-
The #RedWattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata) is a bird native to southern Australia.
It is the second largest species of Australian #honeyeater.
This beauty was so trusting. It was intently focussed on this discarded sweet on the footpath, pecking away and checking on me periodically as I photographed from only a few feet away.
The sexes are similar in plumage. And I read with interest that juveniles have less prominent wattles (1 cm or 1/2 inch long fleshy growths) on either side of their neck and browner eyes.
#Altext pic 1.
🙌❤️
#birdsofmastodon #MostLiveable #downunder #animalsofmastodon #melbourne #MostLiveable #victoria #Narrm #victoria #Australia #makesmehappy
-
𝗥𝗼𝗼𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗷𝗸 𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗷𝗸 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘅: '𝗢𝗽 𝗷𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗳𝘁𝗶𝗷𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗻'
Dankzij 'Kopen zonder Kijken' weten we alles over de kleurrijke interieursmaak van Roos Reedijk (49), maar hoe zit het eigenlijk met haar uiterlijk? Is more daar ook less? In een interview met de nieuwe 'LINDA.' onthult de interieurstylist ál haar beautygeheimen.
https://www.rtl.nl/boulevard/entertainment/artikel/5474982/roos-reedijk-eerlijk-botox-jonge-leeftijd
-
Nicholas Radburn— "If you think about locations transformed by the transatlantic slave trade, you’ll likely recall American plantations or former slaving forts on the coast of West Africa. You are less likely to think of the English countryside. Nowhere is this truer than Lakeland, a rural area of northwest England that has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its cultural importance and natural beauty, which is seemingly unmarred by industry and commerce. [...] Lakeland thus captures the appealing essence of rural England: comforting, unchanging, and insulated from the outside world.
Despite its carefully cultivated appearance of timeless pastoralism, Lakeland was nonetheless intimately connected to the Atlantic World through the manufacturing of gunpowder for the slave trade. "
@histodons #histodons #SlaveEconomy #RuralEngland #HistoryOfTrade
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2023/07/24/the-lake-district-and-atlantic-slavery/
-
Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Dr. A.N. GrierTo anyone who actually found 2025 to be a solid-to-great year, I envy you. For me, 2025 was one of the absolute worst years of my life. And that counts divorce and suicidal years. With many of you, it began with working my ass off to keep my job in these trying times of financial uncertainty—especially with AI rearing its ugly fucking head. Well, that’s before that bubble bursts and causes more issues than it did before. Then, after returning from a NYC work trip, my 19-year-old black devil, King, collapsed from liver failure, resulting in having to put down a feline friend I’ve raised since a kitten and who I had as my companion for nearly half my life. Jump ahead a few months and, out of the fucking blue, my father collapses in the yard, never to regain consciousness again. With months of heartbreak and stress coming down on my heart like a rain shower of titanium dildos, some professionals were convinced I suffered a literal heart attack. After months of tests and medications, it’s clear that age and stress have crept up on me. The result of all this shit led to one of the worst years of productivity in the sacred halls of Angry Metal Guy. So, I apologize to everyone for the lack of output, especially when 2025 was a solid-to-great year of metal releases. Hopefully, this list will suffice and provide a few killer records that the rest of the crew idiotically withheld.
I’d be lying if I said listening to music and writing reviews came easily to me this year. Hell, writing in general has been difficult to do, and I do it for a living. But the fun, creative elements of AMG have been lost to me for months, which is sad as hell because I know I have way more curse-word combinations flowing through my veins. Thankfully, the support of this group and my family has been fundamental to getting me back on a path to mental and physical health so I can feel somewhat like a normal person. Thankfully, keeping busy with editing/deleting other writers’ lists1 and putting together my elite one has brought back a touch of spark. While I will always be the grumpy Grier that everyone knows and loves hates, I do appreciate the support from the entire gang—being a part of this monster that AMG built, being belittled by Steel, being filthy with Kenny and Grymm, trolling Dolph, hating on Doom, annoying the Shark, and getting provocative gifts from Ferox—because it’s a surprisingly therapeutic experience. Which is kinda fucked up, now that I think about it…2
So, let’s raise a glass to this coming year and let’s hope it’s a 3.5/5.0 compared to this 0.5/5.0 one. And enjoy these awesome picks you ignored because some of these idiots colluded for analytics.
#ish. The Haunted // Songs of Last Resort – This selection surprised even me. Though I fucked up and ran out of time to review The Haunted’s newest opus, Songs of Last Resort, it regularly surfaced on my playlists and, in classic Grier fashion, secured my “ish” selection. If you’re new to a Grier list, I reserve my “ish” pick for those records I can’t put down. Though in most cases, these selections can legitimately be considered my eleventh pick. Regardless, Songs of Last Resort is a welcoming return to form that reminds me a lot of the band’s output during the period of One Kill Wonder and RevolveR. Sure, it helps that One Kill Wonder’s Marco Aro is back in the band, but this album’s flow is similar to those others. The longest track on the record clocks in at four-plus minutes, while the others come and go like a phantom sucker punching each time you arrive at a new landing on a creepy-ass staircase. After being set up perfectly with the addictive opening track, “Warhead,” the short, punchy “Death to the Crown” swings a left hook before the chonky bass-kicking “Bleeding Out” has you belting the chorus at the sky. Then, the whole thing drops into the mid-paced back-to-backers, “Labyrinth of Lies” and “Letters of Last Resort.” Come all The Haunted enthusiasts and let us rejoice.
#10. Sexmag // Sexorcyzm – SEXXXXXXXMAG!!!!! You all knew this was going to happen. But really, it makes perfect sense when you consider the influences these crazy Poles incorporate into their music. Bands like Bathory, Darkthrone, Slayer, and Mercyful Fate, to name a few. After years of demos and EPs, Sexmag finally released their first full-length under the ever-sexy name, Sexorcyzm. Even sexier are track names like “Inkubus,” “Sex z diabłem,” and “Psalm I – Intronizacja Szatana.” I don’t know what any of them mean, but they either have “sex” in the title or just sound sexy. But, in all seriousness, the band’s wild blend of black, death, and thrash influences makes this one of the funnest records of the year. The skill is impressive, the vocals are outlandishly ugly, and the album’s dynamics bring everything to life in the most pleasing and gross way. If you skipped on this album because you thought Grier was doing one of his assinine trolling fests, you are wrong, and you need to correct your sexiness.
#9. Vintersorg // Vattenkrafternas spel – While not the band’s best output in a long line of great albums, Vattenkrafternas spel is still one of the best Viking/folk metal records of 2025. Infusing the Vintersorg of old with the new, Vattenkrafternas spel sets out to capture the hearts of its entire fanbase in this meaty, hour-long journey through the band’s signature Viking, folk, and progressive landscapes. The production does wonders for the album when compared to past offerings that are as compressed as hard tack. Be it the blackened beauty of “Efter dis kommer dimma,” incorporating gorgeous, male and female clean vocals, or the folky “Malströmsbrus” with its Vintersorg yodeling and addictiveness, Vattenkrafternas spel pushes and pulls on those strings of yore to bring you something comfortable yet refreshing. That said, no Vintersorg record is complete without the outrageous key atmospheres so prevalent and unique to their sound. Songs like “Ur älv och å” and “Ödsliga salar” fulfill that urge, ensuring erections for this kind of key play remain hard and girthy.
#8. Bear Mace // Slaves of the Wolf – As many of you know, I am not a big death metal guy. I was at one point, but the predictability of the style, as it became trapped on endless repeat as old masters tried to remain relevant into the 00s, began to turn me off. That’s not uncommon for any other genre that had a heyday at one point in metal’s existence. The acceptance that lovers of the genre might surface and borrow shamelessly from previous groundbreakers has allowed me to enjoy what I once did. Bear Mace is just such a band that, every time I spin one of their releases, I’m transported back in time when Massacre, Bolt Thrower, and the like were fresh to my pubescent self. And this year’s Slaves of the Wolf sees Bear Mace punching it up to a new level and delivering crushing riff after crushing riff. I cannot deny that the nasty, relentless attacks of “Slaves of the Wolf,” “The Iceman Cometh,” and the back-to-back “Prophecy” and “Cancerous Winds” keep me coming back time and again. While all Bear Mace is macy, Slaves of the Wolf stands above the others and delivers big bear slaps. Or something like that.
#7. Gaahls Wyrd // Braiding the Stories – Regardless of whether you interpret “wyrd” as “weird” or “word,” both can be applied to Gaahls Wyrd’s sophomore outing, Braiding the Stories. Whether Gaahl’s words hit you harder than the band’s weird approach to atmospheres and influences is completely up to you. Be it captivating, moody numbers like the title track or the balls-to-the-walls “Time and Timeless Timeline,” Braiding the Stories has all a Gaahl fan could ever want. From low whispers to Gaahl’s terrifying shrieks, the moods captured on this record are stronger and far superior to anything the band has ever put together. It’s an unsettling disc that fucks around with track lengths, moods, and everything in between. At one point, you are cruising through a nearly nine-minute-long, atmoblack piece before being pummeled to death for three new minutes. Then, you’re chilling in two minutes of an ethereal nightmare before the hammering of drums comes down on your head like that of Mephorash. It’s a bewildering, disorienting experience that is so pleasing it should be illegal. Gaahl’s days atop the mighty Gorgoroth might be over, but Gaahl ain’t going anywhere yet.
#6. Mors Principium Est // Darkness Invisible – This one might be a surprise to many because Mors Principium Est’s last record, Liberate the Unborn Inhumanity, was not good. This was probably in part because Andy Gillion, the staple of the band since 2011, and the wizard that brought us the impressive guitar work of …And Death Said Live and Dawn of the 5th Era, left the fold. To make matters worse, Gillion dropped one hell of a killer record last year in the form of Exilium. Regardless of whether anyone agrees that Darkness Invisible is a return to form for MPE, it’s indeed far superior to its predecessor, and a record that has been haunting me since its release. Perhaps it’s the mood I’ve been in for the last few months that dragged Darkness Invisible, scratching and screaming, into my year-end list. Or maybe it’s because no matter what MPE releases, I’ll find something to love. For those who skipped it, check out the gorgeous female vocals of “All Life Is Evil” and the heart-wrenching melodeath of tracks like “Of Death” and “Summoning the Dark.”
#5. In the Woods… // Otra – In the Woods… have been around a long time in a lot of different iterations. Be it the coming and going of founders and bandmates, or the careless attitude of genre and sub-genre fuckery, this Norwegian outfit has worked tirelessly to cement both the lineup and the direction the band wants to be identified as in this new era. While 2022’s Diversum began the exploration of blending styles, this year’s Otra did far more to ensure the concrete begins to settle and cure. Tapping into their wide variation of influences, you can capture everything from Borknagar-esque progressions to the black ‘n’ roll character of Carpathian Forest and the low, doomy patterns of Type O Negative and A Vision Bleak. And, somehow, it all works—each song biting on the ass-end of its successor, forcing the music to flow in a pleasing, yet unlikely recordpede. It’s been a while since I felt that In the Woods… might have something worth getting excited about, but this new direction creates palpitations in my olde, black heart.
#4. Green Carnation // A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia – Green Carnation has been a literal staple in my life for fuck knows how long. And each record has a place, mood, and time that work—regardless if it’s the wild choirs and orchestrations of Journey to the End of the Night, the one-track Light of Day, Day of Darkness, the goth-rock of A Blessing in Disguise, or the acoustic bliss of The Acoustic Verses. This Norwegian outfit has damn-near tried it all, and it works each time. But 2020’s Leaves of Yesteryear was a goddamn epic, and it’s hard to consider anything would be anywhere as strong. Sadly, A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is not as strong. Does that make it a bad album? Fuck no. That’s why it’s on my list. Like its predecessor, it’s engulfed in moods and textures that only Green Carnation can do. And with two more parts in sight for what can clearly be described as the beginning of something new, there’s a good chance these gents will be on even more Grier lists.
#3. Ars Moriendi // Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres – No Grier list is complete without mention of the mighty Ars Moriendi. Though I dropped the ball when it came around for review, that didn’t stop me from spinning this record since its release in June. As with all Ars Moriendi releases, Arsonist continues to push his limits in everything from performances to songwriting and production. And Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres is no different. Be it the engulfing atmospheres of the two-part “L’abbé de Monte-à-Regret,” the impressive bass work of the powerful “Trouver la fontaine,” or the heart-wrenching piano and clean vocals of “Puisqu’elle est éternelle,” this new record is a captivating display of progressive black metal prowess. Sprinkled throughout with electronic effects and hypnotizing sound bytes, Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres is a full experience that cannot be disconnected or Spotified. To truly understand it, you must get lost in it.
#2. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence – I’ve been an Abigail Williams fan for a long time, but never has one of their albums hit me as hard as A Void Within Existence does. Combining elements of second-wave assaults, atmospheric black metal, and crushing sadness, this new record is perhaps the band’s best. While a couple of songs reach the heights of Song o’ the Year, not a single one is out of place. After the black metal pummeling that is “Life, Disconnected” and “Void Within,” “Talk to Your Sleep” stomps your ass straight into the ground, developing a nice interlude from the norm, and a headbangability that is unique to the band’s songwriting. When the album closes with “No Less than Death,” a clean-vocal performance sends me in a depressive spiral that I still haven’t recovered from. Ken Sorceron and co. have done it again, alternating between peaks and valleys of emotion that disrupt basic brain functions and leave me in an absolute pit of despair.
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – I don’t think there’s much more that I can say about Havukruunu that hasn’t been said before. For years, these fantastic Finns have been scratching that itch for old-school Bathory-core that is almost as good as the real fucking thing. And, for years, they’ve nestled gently into my year-end lists but never quite climbed over other incredible albums at the time. This year, things have changed. Tavastland is not only the best album of the year but arguably Havukruunu’s masterpiece. Incorporating every element of their sound into this near-perfect track list, you’ll experience everything from bludgeoning Bathory-meets-Immortal riffs, feel-good Viking plods, melodic passages, and seamless transitions that make repeat listens oh-so soothing. Not to mention, the tight performances and open production will have you gushing over Humö’s fantastic bass work. It’s a monstrous, lively, and energetic album that’s difficult to put down and never disappoints, regardless of whether you’re in the mood for pillaging unsuspecting villages or sitting on the beach with a daquery.
Honorable Mentions
- Lychgate // Precipice – I wish I had given this record more time. Instead, it had to be released in fucking December. Stop doing that! Regardless, this is a weird fucking record with a lot of balls and a lot of aggression that you plebs should listen to.
- Hazzerd // The 3rd Dimension – OK, hear me out. The 3rd Dimension is one of the best thrash records of the year, and you’re a poser if you disagree. With Death Angel-like vocals and Exodus-meets-Slayer riffage, all wrapped up in some impressive technicality, ya can’t go wrong with Hazzerd’s newest outing.
- Cradle of Filth // The Screaming of the Valkyries – I can’t deny it, The Screaming of the Valkyries is fucking good. So good that I can’t stop spinning it. With the help of new female vocal support, a new guitarist, and some killer, punchy tunes, this new record is an embedded thorn in my ass that I can’t locate or remove, no matter how I try.
- Them // Psychedelic Enigma – The story goes on, even when we all thought it was over after the NYC debacle known as Fear City. Looking to milk their characters and lyrical directions to death, Them is back with a new chapter in Psychedelic Enigma. Though it’s not as good as recent releases, it still helps my longing heart continue to beat in hopes of a new King Diamond record.
- Blood Red Throne // Siltskin – This was yet another release I fooked and never wrote up. If you’re a fan, Siltskin is more than worth it, but don’t get your hopes up if it doesn’t meet all your expectations.
Disappointments o’ the Year
- Machine Head – UnatØNed – I dØN’t really knØW what to say abØUt UnatØNed that I haven’t said already. It’s a directiØNless collectiØN ØF “best hits”—that dØN’t hit at all—instead ØF a full-length release. Even if mØSt people have issues with the band’s entire discØG, yØU can’t deny that, at ØNe point, there was passion in Machine Head’s music. NØW, it’s all abØUt thØSe hit pieces that make it ØN year-end lists pulled by iTunes, SpØTify, and yØUr lØCal rØCk radiØ. Which makes me sad because I ØNce held sØMe respect for Flynn, but there are ØNly sØ many disappØIntments ØNe can take befØRe they have nØ chØIce but tØ mØVe ØN.
Songs o’ the Year
- Abigail Williams – “Talk to Your Sleep”
A Void Within Existence by Abigail Williams
Abigail Williams – “No Less than Death”
A Void Within Existence by Abigail Williams
- In the Woods… – “Let Me Sing”
- Gaahls Wyrd – “Time and Timeless Timeline”
Braiding The Stories by Gaahls WYRD
#2025 #AbigailWilliams #ArsMoriendi #BearMace #BlogPosts #BloodRedThrone #CradleOfFilth #DrANGrierSTopTenIshOf2025 #GaahlsWYRD #GreenCarnation #Havukruunu #Hazzerd #InTheWoods #Lists #Lychgate #MachineHead #MorsPrincipiumEst #Sexmag #TheHaunted #Them #Vintersorg -
Saunders and Dear Hollow’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Steel Druhm
Saunders
Yes, folks and loyal AMG readers and devotees, another year is nearly done and dusted. As per tradition, the time has come to share reflections and recommendations from another eventful year. Personally, 2025 threw down some rough moments and life challenges, navigating a spike in anxiety-driven mental and physical health concerns. Previously, I have mentioned how much AMG has grounded me over the years, keeping my focus and motivation on track when other parts of life navigate turbulence, stress, or uncertainty. This has proven especially pivotal this year and highlights the importance of contributing in some small way to this amazing blog and how much it means to me.
Highlights… After a few lean years post-pandemic on the gig front, as an avid concertgoer, 2025 proved productive for getting my mojo back for live music. I caught Karnivool in action for the first time in over a decade, ripping through infectious prog metal anthems and impressive new jams from their highly anticipated album set to drop in early 2026. An unexpected gig was a solo show in my hometown from none other than former Fear Factory legend Burton C Bell, performing in a local dive venue. Ploughing through career classics and some solo material, the setlist offered up gems like “Drive Boy Shooting,” “Scapegoat,” “Scumgrief,” and “Replica.” It was a nostalgic joy.
Meanwhile, after years of stubbornly jaded neglect, I finally bit the bullet and witnessed Metallica live. Probably a couple of decades too late, however, as an impressionable young’un raised on early Metallica, it was a cool experience to finally see the aging juggernaut in a stadium setting that will remain in the memory bank for years to come. A couple of days later, I once again caught the mighty Opeth at the iconic Sydney Opera House with quality support from Caligula’s Horse, before rounding out the year by finally seeing Dying Fetus live in an extra beefy triple bill including Ashen and 200 Stab Wounds. Good times indeed….
Big thanks to everyone for keeping this mighty blog running and cogs turning. From the ever-growing readership and awesome AMG community, through the entire, recently beefed-up writing crew, inspiring colleagues and all-around awesome people, to the higher powers (Steel Druhm, Angry Metal Guy, Sentynel, Doc Grier, and all the other editors) for their extra behind-the-scenes work whipping us into line. Cheers all to a safe, happy, and healthy 2026.
#ish: Green Carnation // A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia – After being mesmerized by Green Carnation’s timeless opus Light of Day, Day of Darkness many years ago, I never really expanded my listening beyond that widely regarded masterpiece. Then comeback album Leaves of Yesteryear dropped in 2020 and turned me from a casual listener into an avid fan of their work. A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia signals a long-awaited return and the first part of a planned trilogy from the seasoned Norwegian veterans of classy, mood-driven progressive metal. Admittedly, this album didn’t reach the dizzying heights or quite gain the traction of its predecessor. Nor does it disappoint, adding another finely crafted chapter in Green Carnation’s enduring career, while building excitement for the two albums to complete the trilogy. Meticulously crafted and chock full of emotive, silky, and delightfully catchy gems, A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is another top-shelf prog metal jam.
#10. Caustic Wound // Grinding Mechanism of Torment – Back in 2020, Seattle’s Caustic Wound emerged from the muck and unleashed a gnarly ball of unvarnished deathgrind rage courtesy of debut, Death Posture. Due to the endearing old school charms and brawling, stomping attack, Death Posture left a lasting impression, amping anticipation for their long-awaited return on sophomore slab, Grinding Mechanism of Torment. Though a little less refined and losing a smidgen of the debut’s grimy charm, Caustic Wound otherwise pounded out wickedly crunchy, buzzsawing deathgrind with violent glee, infectiousness, and subtle variety to keep you coming back for more. The album’s tight construction and propulsive performances deftly harness the controlled chaos and blasty, groove-laced fun, as the likes of “Drone Terror,” “Advanced Killing Methods,” and “Blood Battery” attest.
#9. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth – One of the purest and nostalgia-driven prog releases of 2025, the sophomore album from Seven Sisters singer/guitarist Kyle McNeill was a progtastic delight, wielding old-timey, ’70s prog feels with a transportive, fantastical flair. Phantom Spell crafted a timeless, epic yet remarkably fresh experience, despite the obvious devotion to progressive rock legends and eras of the past. Dueling guitar leads, rollicking organ, and tight, expressive rhythms shine across a superbly performed and produced opus. For all the musical smarts, clever progressive arrangements, and technical showmanship, McNeill’s songwriting and powerful vocals are spot on, resulting in a nuanced though hugely hooky and focused collection, infused with folk and classic heavy metal elements, complementing the classic progressive rock core. Bookended by two spectacular epics (‘The Autumn Citadel” and stunning, heart-wrenching melodies of the closing title track), Heather & Hearth is equally compelling in its more compact, punchy forms (“‘Evil Hand,” “Siren Song”).
#8. Barren Path // Grieving – Grind delivered big time in 2025, with numerous high-quality releases to absorb. None quite delivered the hammer blow impact of the debut LP from Barren Path, featuring Gridlink alumni, including grind shredding extraordinaire Takafumi Matsubara. It’s amazing what can be achieved in a manic thirteen minutes of calculated mayhem and precision deathgrind madness. Barren Path shares traits with Gridlink’s razor-sharp precision and abrasive intensity; however, it refuses to be pigeonholed or cast into the shadows of the Gridlink legacy. Beefy production, coupled with a prominent death metal influence, riffs to burn, gripping performances, and techy edge, Grieving loudly announced Barren Path as the next innovative heavy hitter to take the grind scene by storm. All too brief if utterly compelling, I’m excited to see what this elite line-up can cook up next as they set about creating their own unmatched legacy.
#7. Changeling // Changeling – For the second time in my 2025 top ten, an album surpasses the hour-length mark, often questionable territory as far as optimal album length. The prolific Tom Geldschläger (aka Fountainhead) hired an army of high-profile musicians and contributors to bring his elaborate progressive death metal vision to vibrant life with an overstuffed and incredibly entertaining, wildly ambitious debut opus. Amongst the core lineup, Morean (Alkaloid, Dark Fortress) lends his unique vocals, Virvum’s Arran McSporran features on fretless bass, and powerhouse Mike Keller (ex-Fear Factory, Raven, Malignancy) mans the kit, while a stack of instruments, choirs, and guest musicians add further dimensions and intricacies to the color palette. Changeling is guilty of overreaching on occasions, and the whole thing is an overstimulating example of excess. And though far from perfect, Changeling is nevertheless an astonishingly complex, progressive, and technical marvel. Its bombastic, adventurous gallop, slick songcraft, earwormy hook,s and otherworldly melodies conjure up a hugely inventive and endlessly fun platter.
#6. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues – Generally, I tread carefully from anything core-related in the realms of hardcore, metalcore, and deathcore. I am not opposed to each style, but usually it takes a certain something to win me over. Another winning recommendation from the flippered one, Blood Quantum Blues, the third LP from Seattle metallic hardcore merchants Turian, found the band toying and upending their sound in wonderfully creative and ambitious fashion. Like other genre-busting albums, such as The Shape of Punk to Come and Miss Machine, Turian fuck with the conventions of their metallic hardcore. Shattering boundaries by lacing their signature sound with sharply integrated elements of rock, electronics, sludge, and grind, whipped into a grooving, raw smackdown and addictive delight, Turian pulls no punches and pushes their songwriting creativity to the limit. The line-up nails the newfound songwriting versatility through tight, explosive performances, topped by the raw intensity and charismatic vocals of Vern Metztli-Moon, who channels deeply personal, trauma-informed reflections of her Native American heritage, with vigor and rage.
#5. Retromorphosis // Psalmus Mortis – Carrying on the timeless legacy of legendary Swedish tech death wrecking crew Spawn of Possession, Retromorphosis emerged featuring the bulk of the SoP line-up and a rejuvenated sound, both familiar and energized enough to craft a new chapter of tech death excellence. Herein lies the key to the album’s success. SoP was such a special and unique entity in the tech death field. Retromorphosis pulls the signature songwriting components and twists and contorts them into their own slick interpretation, without simply rehashing past glories. Psalmus Mortis proved to have significant staying power since dropping early in the year, even amidst a pretty stacked year for quality death and tech death albums. Retromorphosis decorate their knotty, fluid and aggressive compositions with tasteful synth work, symphonic flourishes and bedazzling solos, whether charting smartly progressive, labyrinthine terrain (“The Tree,” “Machine”), and thrashy, warped tech death (“Aunt Christie’s Will,” “Vanished,” “Retromorphosis”).
#4. Terror Corpse // Ash Eclipses Flesh – After already delivering a killer grind opus earlier in the year, Terror Corpse got the creative juices flowing again in dropping a full-length debut of immense power and old school grit. Featuring a power-packed lineup featuring past and present members of acts including Malignant Altar, Oceans of Slumber, Necrofier, and Insect Warfare, Terror Corpse comes seasoned with death metal wisdom and experience. Despite a lack of innovation, Terror Corpse winds back the clock and transcends the typical old school death metal hordes. Injecting venomous strains of grind, death-doom, sinister atmospheres, and gut-churning brutality into beefy, riff-driven songs that fondly recall death metal’s glory days, Terror Corpse forge ahead into the here and now with their own character and inspired songwriting. Topped by a bevy of instantly gratifying, oozing riffs and Dobber Beverly’s elite drumming, Ash Eclipses Flesh is a gripping old school death experience.
#3. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs For Spiders – The return of Dax Riggs, and by extension the most unexpected re-emergence of the legendary Acid Bath, were surely two of the most heartwarming music moments of 2025. As a longtime devotee of both Dax and Acid Bath, I had begun worrying that Dax’s music-making days had passed as he slunk into the background and essentially dropped off the radar for the best part of fifteen years. While holding out slim hope Acid Bath will decide to cross our shores, I am stoked Dax and crew are getting the long-overdue credit and exposure they deserve. Though not strictly metal, Dax’s comeback album, and first since 2010’s Say Goodnight to the World, marks a triumphant and warm, comforting return from an underground icon. 7 Songs for Spiders delivered the goods, as Dax and friends dropped an album with a familiar, nostalgic feel that refuses to rest on its laurels. Riggs’ defining vocals sound as vital and deliciously smoky as ever, weaving signature morbid tales, deadly hooks, and earworm melodies through subdued yet deceptively hefty and bluesy folk-doom ditties.
#2. Messa // The Spin – It would be an oversimplification to describe Messa’s fourth LP as a streamlined version of the enigmatic Italian band’s doom-centric formula. Each album has impressed in its own unique way, adding intoxicating twists and charm to continually evolve and refresh their sound. The Spin carries over elements of their past works and character-defining idiosyncrasies, yet feels like Messa’s most laser-focused, accessible, and direct album to date, and also one of their best. While I’ve enjoyed each of the band’s prior works, The Spin is the band’s most efficient and instantly gratifying, and addictive album. Easily Messa’s shortest opus, The Spin, uncorks killer tune after tune. Sumptuous melodies and rich textures color blockbuster doom bangers (“At Races,” “Fire on the Roof”), residing alongside atmospheric, jazz-dappled charmers (“The Dress”), bluesy, emotive slow burners (“Immolation”), and brooding, psych-tinged doom (“Thicker Blood”).
#1. Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria – Weirdly enough, my number one picks often don’t materialize as obviously as one might expect. This has largely been a trend throughout my tenure here at Angry Metal Guy. In all honesty, any of the top three could have been interchangeable in the top spot, but I reserved top honors for the spectacular second LP from Atlanta band Tómarúm. All the more surprising due to sleeping on their well-received debut, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria smacked me upside the cranium with an explosion of creativity and ambitious songcraft, encompassing elements of progressive black, melodic death, and tech death bombast. It’s an overly ambitious, sometimes slightly messy masterwork. Yet the eye-watering 68 minutes largely warrant its exhaustive length. Sure, shrewd editing here and there may have tightened things up. However, the whole experience is so consistently gripping and superbly written and performed that minor quibbles are squashed well below the surface. This fully loaded, immersive masterwork sparkles and scorches through tremendously crafted, multi-faceted compositions, including standout epics, “Shallow Ecstasy,” “Shed This Erroneous Skin,” and “Silver, Ashen Tears,” nestled harmoniously against the blunt force discordance of ‘Blood Mirage,” and compact progressive fireworks of closer “Becoming the Stone Icon (Obsidian Reprise).”
Honorable Mentions:
- Sigh // I Saw the World’s End – Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV – Skepticism of the dangerous game of the re-record was swept aside in a stunning reimagining of their 2007 classic.
- Plasmodulated // An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell – The album title says it all. Delightfully scabby, grooving old school death, seasoned with quirky Voivodisms.
- Igorrr // Amen – When seeking that taste of batshit crazy experimentation and avant-garde lunacy, Amen proved a reliable tonic. A challenging, though freakishly creative and addicting listen.
- Blood Vulture // Die Close – A grungy, Gothy slab of doom designed by talented Two Minutes to Late Night host Jordan Olds (aka Gwarsenio Hall). The future appears bright, judging by this highly addictive debut, which garnered lots of rotation throughout the year.
- Vittra // Intense Indifference – Hugely impressive melodic death platter from Swedish up-and-comers Vittra. Drawing inspiration from their homeland’s classic melodeath past, Vittra injects oodles of thrashy energy, inspired axework, and hooky songcraft, bringing a fresh edge to a retro sound.
- Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail – Perhaps a little late on this one, however, after spending considerable time with Dormant Ordeal’s latest opus, the hype and critical praise are indeed justified—a fine example of brutal, crushing Polish blackened death.
- Species // Changelings – Admittedly, like various other overlooked gems, I didn’t spend as much time as I’d like with Changelings. But catching up has been a blast. Species brought the weird on this wacky, proggy technical thrash thrill ride, not to be missed.
Disappointment o’ the Year:
Sadly, we lost a number of metal legends in 2025, headlined by three individual legends that had a profound impact on me over the years. There will never be a larger-than-life frontman/metal icon like Ozzy Osbourne. While his demise was not unexpected, it left a huge void and an incredible legacy never to be matched. At the Gates and all-around iconic Swedish vocalist Tomas Lindberg sadly passed away following a horrible illness, while former Mastodon guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds tragically passed in a motor vehicle accident. Rest in Peace legends….
Non-Heavy Picks (snapshot):
- Aesop Rock (Black Hole Superette & I Heard It’s a Mess There Too), clipping., Bon Iver, Miguel.
Song o’ the Year:
Messa – “Fire on the Roof” – Narrowing down a definitive song o’ the year candidate is often a futile task. Twenty-twenty-five was no exception. Rather than overthink or analyze the situation, I locked in one of the year’s most addictive, replayable gems from Messa’s stunning fourth LP, The Spin.
Dear Hollow
Welcome to the end of 2025! We at AMG hope the year has been kind to you—that your lives are filled with love, your hearts with joy, and our world with peace. I hope that you have found your people and have those you can lean on. If we have ever given you a voice, a platform, or just love and support when you need it, then we have done our jobs.
It feels redundant to say that this year has been a roller coaster, but 2025 pulled no punches. In May, the Hollow household welcomed a second kiddo, a boy, into the fold. He is a supremely easy, endlessly happy little guy, but the stresses of parenthood—and especially of two kids—are a daily lesson of “bend, don’t break.” Our daughter is now four, and learns new things and says sassy things day in and day out, enjoying gymnastics and dancing, and singing around the house for fun.
My reviewing has remained steady this year, if not a little less than the usual. Between parenting two kids, working as a high school English teacher to increasingly apathetic kids, working on a noir crime novel that has paid dividends in complexity (and all the noir jazz my ears can handle),1 continuing to unpack my upbringing and trauma and how they all have affected my views on family, relationships, and self-love, you can imagine how wild each day has been. But I’ve somehow managed it, and the end of the year is here to celebrate it.
Special shout-outs to those who have been instrumental in my journey this year: the ineffable and tireless dream team of Steel Druhm and Angry Metal Guy, the genre-confusing Dolphin Whisperer, my fellow Whitechapel apologists Iceberg and Alekhines Gun, and those who have been supportive all year (Thus Spoke, Killjoy, and Mystikus Hugebeard). Couldn’t have done it without y’all.
To the metal!
#ish. Kalaveraztekah // Nikan Axkan – Subject of a rollicking Rodeö, Mexico’s Kalaveraztekah’s balance of cosmic Aztec atmosphere and cutthroat death metal is sublime. Riffs for days balanced by an experimental madness that conjures cosmic destruction and rebirth, Nikan Axkan recalls the antics of Hell:on, folk influence only sharpens its attack and injects an atmosphere of foreboding. Refusing both gimmick and total immersion, Nikan Axkan is riffy, fun, and evocative, made for a mosh-pit and a soundtrack for the destruction of the Five Suns.
#10. La Torture des Ténèbres // Episode VIII – Revenge of Unfailing Valor – If you’re like MalteBrigge, you’ll probably end up with tinnitus and a sprained shoulder once Episode VIII kicks in, but Ottawa one-woman raw black metal/noise outfit La Torture des Ténèbres returns to the bleak space-faring atompunk of its 2016 debuts alongsdie the dystopic rage that pervades more recent efforts – moments of peace adding dimension and texture. La Torture des Ténèbres is about as ambitious as raw black metal can get.
#9. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar – Goldstar is Imperial Triumphant’s most accessible album, the NYC trio’s signature brand of death/black and jazz funneled into a straightforward art-deco-themed brutalizing. It’s no less adventurous, always punishing, and will stay with you long after your ears stop ringing from the sound of New York City taxis and decadent skyscrapers displayed in extreme metal format: more straightforward, more melodic. While its recent predecessors are an affluent nightlife, Goldstar offers a sunbathed New York City.
#8. Howling Giant // Crucible & Ruin – Nashville’s stoner outfit Howling Giant reconciles the melodies and riffs, exploratory songwriting, and mammoth hooks gathering in each movement of Crucible & Ruin. Featuring hints of knuckleheaded sludge and proggy chord progressions, it’s an album that keeps your attention for forty-eight minutes. New member Adrian Zambrano offers more atmosphere and layers of guitar riffs and melodies to go with the surefire dichotomy of instrumental heft and vocal ethereality. Crucible & Ruin is an experience of fun, subtlety, and above all, riffs.
#7. Geese // Getting Killed – Perhaps the vocals of NYC’s Geese don’t bother me because of Cameron Winters’ similarity to singer/songwriter John Mark McMillan,2 so the album’s sonic anxiety of noise rock, post-punk, country, and blues that creep in and out like lovers who never stay does not bother me. Getting Killed feels viciously aggressive, venomously satirical, and fluid and elastic in its humble movements. Geese are overrated Pitchfork-bait, sure, but an overrated hill to get killed upon regardless.
#6. Structure // Heritage – Steel Druhm’s the real masochist for low and slow, but the balance of sad death/doom and devastating funeral doom in Netherland’s Structure is special. The guitar work in the mammoth riffs, melodic leads, and climactic solos has just a much of a voice to contribute as Pim Blankenstein’s formidable roars—as if griever and grieved converse in both melancholy and rage. Heritage is Structure paying homage to doom metal’s contemplation while paying its dues in death metal’s viciousness – pure devastation.
#5. Patristic // Catechesis – Catechesis is born out of the “impending shadow of the cross.” As tumultuous as the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the church and pagan rebellion, the black/death of Rome’s Patristic assaults the ears with tension, fury, and reverence. The first act is the holy war, a rationalization of steel and zealotry, while the second is the way the soldier tells it to his children, the lessons and cautions borne of blind faith and its devastation. Cathechesis is not only fiery sermons and unending blasphemy, but regret and meditation.
#4. In Mourning // The Immortal – I’ve loved Sweden’s In Mourning since their 2010 album Monolith: balancing chuggy guitars, progressive songwriting, and the slightest hints of doom (such as in 2008’s Shrouded Divine). The Immortal is an album that balances The Bleeding Veil’s darker elements, Garden of Storms’ signature melody, and The Weight of Oceans’ iconic patience. The Immortal offers yearning melodies and chords alongside vicious riffs, and melodeath has never sounded so good.
#3. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – New York’s Yellow Eyes’ Confusion Gate conveys a black metal place better than most, an environment teeming with life. Like the Romantic Sublime, it maintains a crystalline beauty, like a light scattering through broken glass, and a madness born of terror—at the source of the light. Here is the crux of it, from poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The First Elegy”;
Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the Angels’
Orders? and even if one of them pressed me
suddenly to his heart: I’d be consumed
in his more potent being. For beauty is nothing
but the beginning of terror, which we can still barely endure,
and while we stand in wonder it coolly disdains
to destroy us. Every Angel is terrifying.#2. Igorrr // Amen – Gautier Serre’s work with Igorrr has rarely felt bad, but Amen evolves it from his typical standard. You get the typical apeshit antics in the midsection, but a full band fleshes out the jewel-encrusted skeleton for a fully, nearly spiritual experience. Minimalist compositions build upon a breakbeat before cracking into a full choir and death metal experience, while an overwhelming onslaught of insanity reminds us who exactly we’re listening to. Amen is hella fun, as expected, but also something we can take seriously.
#1. Primitive Man // Observance – Primitive Man is the heaviest band on the planet. While I’ve appreciated the Denver trio’s pitch-black approach to death metal laced with noise, doom, and sludge—from afar—Observance booked me in with upbeat tempos and a surprising melody. It swallows you whole like any good Primitive Man album ought to, but the devotion to deteriorating songwriting and weaponized noise. The atmospheric death/sludge counterpart to the riffs of Warcrab, for instance, Primitive Man offers a sound like no other—and it’s the best of the year.
Honorable Mentions:
- The Acacia Strain // You Are Safe From God Here – While incorporating the same ol’ hardcore beatdown you expect from the Massachusetts deathcore OGs,3 denser tones make for higher blasphemy. Simple math, trust me.
- Ethel Cain // Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You – Leaving behind the more experimental and darker tones in noise/drone counterpart Perverts, a more atmospheric and contemplative direction showcases the singer-songwriter’s nostalgic and gentle storytelling that does not shy away from darkness.
- Changeling // Changeling – While lacking the darkness and weight of Ingurgitating Oblivion, guitarist Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger is granted fretless freedom in a tech-death album whose lightness and amorphousness guide ethereal constructions of proggy sensibilities. More Dolphin Whisperer fare but still dope as hell.
- Author & Punisher // Nocturnal Birding – Tristan Shone releases an industrial sludge album that hits like an anvil, casting aside the more atmospheric tendencies for a headbanging good time, amplified by the crunch of new guitarist Doug Sabolick. Melodic motifs based on the birdcalls of migratory birds as a metaphor for immigrants, Shone and Sabolick offer the short and sweet despite a heavy-handed subject.
- Bad Angels // Until Silence – A late-year find, Polish composer Adrian Anioł concocts dense dark ambient sprawls with moody jazz, haunting saxophone glitches, ominous upright bass, and pitch-black meandering. Perfect for walks on spooky rainy nights.
Songs o’ the Year:
- Ethel Cain – “Dust Bowl”4
Surprises o’ the Year
- KPop Demon Hunters Soundtrack – Mainly, how much time I devoted to it. What can I say? I’m gonna be, gonna be golden.
- SpiritWorld // Helldorado – Knuckleheaded riffs for days.5
Disappointments o’ the Year
- Messa // The Spin – Maybe it’s because I saturated my year with sultry noir jazz, but Messa shorts its doom metal with some goofy jazz—all novelty, no substance.
- Orbit Culture // Death Above Life – Once again, the melodeath/thrash riff reigns supreme, but until they can get out from behind the wall of compression, the Swedes continue to tread water.
- Vildhjarta // Där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar – The undersung princes of atmodjent show up with the swampy djunz and forsake everything that makes them legendary. It’s djent—disappointingly nothing more.
-
Dolphin Whisperer’s and Thus Spoke’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Steel Druhm
Dolphin Whisperer
Thus Spoke and I go way back. In fact, after our successful graduation from the same n00b class and into our first list season as full article writers, we had imagined that us two as a listing pair would produce a lethal and novel whiplash.1 So welcome to the bottom (or top) half of this eclectic endeavor that’s sure to leave you with thirty-some-odd unique albums to revisit or ignore or whatever it is you do with our strong and word-riddled opinions.
Now, the keen reader may notice I’ve had a bit of a productivity drop-off since about June. Well, that’s cause my wife gave birth to The Dolphlet, first of his name, and that’s kind of a lot of work, as I’m finding out. Baby comes first, as it goes. But I squeaked out a few important things, including a Coroner review that the unwashed masses claimed didn’t jerk Tommy Baron and co. as full of glee as it should have. I did miss other important things, like several of my list items.2. And I sincerely apologize to the following bands and offer them words of condolence or, something like that, based upon their individual situation: Bonginator, you should be glad I dropped the ball, stop it with the lame interludes; and count your blessings, Hell Ever After, thrash doesn’t need to be a musical; Species, you did thrash right though and I’m happy that others enjoyed you even more; Moths, and more specifically bassist Weslie Negron, I’m sorry that I took on your interview when my son was one month old and my brain was fried—your album rocks and you put in so much work to make Moths special. And lastly, to all the classics, I had grand plans to YMIO because I thought my brain could make that work—haha.3
Angry Metal Guy, however, remains home for me. You, dear readers, are a part of that love and drive that keep me here. Sometimes, I may only be able to conjure a half-funny joke in the comments section—you laugh (let me believe that) and give it two to five likes. Others, I may hype the heck out of a promising underground act until one of my trusted colleagues tells me “Dolph, that’s enough already, I’ll review it, sheesh.”—you liked it probably more than I did anyway. You see, for every word of bleeding hyperbole that we scribble, two sets of eyes may walk away enraptured. When you’re dealing with artists who have anywhere from sub-100 to 30004 listeners on the popularity engine of Spotify, every set counts. Every purchase on Bandcamp or Ampwall counts. Every stream on Tidal or some other competitor counts. Even your damn scrobble on last.fm counts if you’re nerdy enough for that. So sappy as it may seem, along with the herding efforts of Steel and occasionally The Big Dr. AMG Man Himself, you all give life to the bands in this wonderful modern metal scene. Hails!!
#ish. Messa // The Spin – I can’t rid myself of the power that a soaring bluesy lick and a smoky siren voice hold, no matter how I try. Burned into my head are The Spin’s glassy chorused-out chorus escalations. Drenched into the cones of my crackling car speakers are the synth throbs of certified shakers “Fire on the Roof” and “Thicker Blood.” Turn up the volume and turn down the lights, Messa has come to steal attention with yet another platter of throwback creativity.
#10. Quadvium // Tetradōm – Steve DiGiorgio and Jeroen Paul Thesseling stand at the altar of supreme metal bassists in my own personal head canon. They’d helm yours too if you were familiar with the span of their collective talents across acts like Death, Sadus, Autopsy, (DiGiorgio), and Pestilence, Obscura, Sadist (Thesseling). Knowing all this, they decided to make an album together. And in their refinement as performers, they managed to make a supergroup two-bass project more than just a thumpy wankfest. Full of diverse and rich tones, modern and proggy jitteriness, and a rounded, jazz fusion-leaning taste for exploration, Tetradōm provides an exciting notch in the weathered belt of these legends. I don’t know where Quadvium goes next after this, but I hope that it’s anything but dormant.
#9. Scardust // Souls – Every time I hear the introductory stumble of “Long Forgotten Song,” I fall immediately into the spastic and serenading world that Scardust crafts with their hypermelodic, histrionic, and confident progressive metal attitude. Central to this success remains the peerless Noa Gruman, whose every melody lands with honey-slathered tack and sing-a-long inspiration, despite my voice being a far, far cry away from the searing soprano wail that functions as a mic-drop crescendo as often as it needs to. Behind her, though, lies one of modern prog’s most nimble rhythm sections, imbuing even ballads like “Dazzling Darkness” and “Searing Echoes” with a bass-popping and hi-hat chattering clamor that places Souls in a league of its own. Also, Ross Jennings of Haken sounds better here than he has with Haken since The Mountain.
#8. Chiasma // Reaches – Chiasma possesses the unique ability to blend in with the modern paradigm of accessible melody prog in the lane of a band like Tesseract without conforming to its most djentrified tendencies. Rather, floating in its own swirl of Cynic-coded riffage and angelic, layered vocal excess, Reaches explodes with atmosphere and propulsive riff alike. In Katie Thompson’s nimble serenades rests a voice imbued with both a fluttering prowess and an aching heart. And in this sorrow—wrapped in the brightness of bleeping electronic backings, flipping virtuosic guitar runs, and singular voice—a yearning and healing takes place in fervent and fluorescent splendor.
#7. Dawnwalker // The Between – Just when I thought Dawnwalker didn’t have any more surprises left in their bag of tricks that seem tailor-made for my enjoyment,5 these sneaky Brits went and pulled out the one-long-song album. Continuing to live in the space of esoteric philosophy set forth in The Unknowing last year, Dawnwalker collects moods from all their previous works—the melancholy of isolation from In Rooms, the vocal aggression from Human Ruins, a sonic palette even grander in scope than Ages—to explore thoughts surrounding death. In lush construction, plaintive discourse, and time-bending magic, The Between breathes as a meditation bookended by heavy chiming bells—a journey that feels longer than its svelte 30-ish minute runtime but with none of the fatigue its gargantuan ask threatens. 6
#6. Gorycz // Zasypia – It’s a shame that Gorycz isn’t a household name, as their mystical, groovy approach to atmospheric and retching black metal sits among my favorites in the genre as a whole. Zasypia, as part three of a trilogy, tells a tale of despair through a warping pedalboard light on traditional distortion, shrieking throat on the edge of coherence,7 and dancing kit full of jazzy aplomb. In the space that lives between recursive and developing refrains, terror lurks. But in the Gorycz tattered exhale hangs a reverence for the beauty that can emerge from destruction and grieving. Feel every amplified string creak as you fall deeper into this devastating world.
#5. Lychgate // Precipice – You may be aware that this album was released on the 19th of December, a full two days after we were supposed to turn in these lists. Knowing that, I made sure I beat Precipice to the punch of garbage time list upheaval by listening to it, well, before that. In turn, Lychgate made sure that they’d make this late-season blooming count. With the death-thrash spirit of an early Morbid Angel crashing through low-end organ harmony and colliding with Holdsworthian alien guitar bleating, Precipice holds back neither on its urge to wander in arcane atmosphere nor on its urge to churn bodies in kinetic wonder. As another writer (whose name I can’t remember) said, Precipice ensnares by “…oscillating between Zappa’s Jazz from Hell and unearthly, pit-scorching acrobatics.” I couldn’t have put it better myself.8
#4. Barren Path // Grieving – The best grindcore album of the decade so far would come from the manic attack of Gridlink sans Jon Chang. Absent his terrifying shriek, Matsubara’s guitar scatter weighs heavier, Fajarado’s lightning snare rolls clang sharper, all against song lengths that inhabit the true short-form tradition of extreme brevity. The truth is, I’ve spent longer than the album’s length trying to convey its intensity and prowess, so just go and listen to it already. I’ll wait here. No, seriously, do it.
#3. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues – So very rare is the album that aligns like a key to a lock of a heart torn by generational angst. An eloquence exists in the disparity between Turian’s stark societal observations punctuated by raw emotional interjections of “FUCK”. I haven’t bothered to count the instances that this linguistic escalation occurs, but I guarantee that there are more fucks per stanza on Blood Quantum Blues than your favorite album this year. And, after you’ve become addicted to its overdriven noise rock-meets-hardcore-meets-industrial madness, you’ll know every single one as you shout along its contemptuous tales of cultural erasure. Indians don’t vanish, and neither will my love for every riff, every breakdown, and every tirade of Blood Quantum Blues.
#2. Changeling // Changeling – Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger poured everything into Changeling. Arranging over thirty performers across Changeling’s seems Sisyphean in scope, but Geldschläger persevered. Through peerless fretless wailings, every instrument under the sun follows well-developed motifs, and a pure love for metal, Changeling expresses nostalgia and novelty in its every loaded nook and cranny. And behind each moment of dense and exuberant songcraft, Geldschläger has tinkered to deliver an experience that feels carved over a lifetime. On top of all of that, Geldschläger is also a true guitar wizard—he zigs and zags and twists and twirls where others wear a scale to death. Like a classic novel or movie, Changeling reveals its worth both in immediate, jaw-dropping action and deep, attention-stealing detail. Geldschläger even put together a Dolby Atmos mix for the album and held listening parties in Berlin. I hear they’re wonderful. Come to California, Tom!
#1. Maud the Moth // The Distaff – When we seek art, we seek bravery and freedom of expression. And in the music that we seek in a refuge like Angry Metal guy, we often find these qualities expressed in emotional theme, in raw, sonic aggression, or in sweeping guitar-led grandeur. Woven from a different base cloth, Maud the Moth on paper does not fit that mold. Amaya López-Carromero wields, instead, a piano and scrawled diary pages. She, too, has pain, the same as any human who has encountered a world unforgiving to a life that wishes to live in a divergent path. And like the artists we value—or rather, like the artists I value—Amaya presents her vision of this struggle with focused and expanding melodic lines, crushing and crying crescendos, and an earnestness that compels its audience to surrender for a moment to a world created by these musical ideas. When your sadness comes, it won’t weep in blacks and ivories the way that The Distaff does. But you can pop it on and pretend for its run that its triumph will transfer from your ears to the very center of your tingling chest.
Honorable Mentions:
- Pissgrave // Malignant Worthlessness – Tempos that flow like a full sewage pipe and riffage that doesn’t let up until the steaming and warped conclusion. The Pissgrave family flows as one heaving death-fueled machine, and it’s sad to see them close shop. But they left us with a monster of a swansong.
- Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail – Pummeling and emotionally resonant—if a bit ham-fisted in some lyrical choices—Tooth and Nail represents the ideal form so far of what Dormant Ordeal can achieve with their gut-wrenching take on the Polish death metal sound.
- Sterveling // Sterveling – The backdrop of black metal on what is otherwise downcast jam music makes for a combo that is both hypnotic and uncontested in the space. It helps that the vocalist lets out some of the most demented howls I’ve heard this year.
- 夢遊病者 // РЛБ30011922 – Speaking of jam music, 夢遊病者 has, over time, morphed from a more frenetic math rock-indebted experience to this current, flowing state of progressive tone porn. 2025 was a good year for the one-song album. And much like Dawnwalker’s The Between, it takes up about thirty minutes and some change. Restraint, class, and fat bass heaven.
- Aversed // Erasure of Color – I’m not normally one for melodic death metal. But when it comes packaged with this much mic vitriol and a neoclassical sense that reminds me of the late, great Nevermore,9 I pay attention. And I spin it again and again and again—constant rotation since arrival.
- Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – Certain albums that come out late in the year suffer greatly because their true power lies in remaining interesting and unfolding over a long period of time. Immersion Trench Reverie is a special album, and Confusion Gate feels like its sequel. Comfy and caustic all at once.
- Moths // Septem – As the premier progressive metal band from Puerto Rico, Moths has a loaded mission to make a name for themselves. And with another album that keeps its runtime tight and its riffweight heavy, Septem deserves your attention for half an hour and then some. Hey, look, it’s on Ampwall too!
- Grayceon // Then the Darkness – Cello metal at its finest and most relatable. Despite advances in chamber inclusion throughout the metalsphere, not a single band sounds like Grayceon yet. And their songwriting quality remains so high that I don’t care that this album is just about eighty minutes.
- Helms Deep // Chasing the Dragon – There’s a dragon with a jetpack on the cover. I shouldn’t need to say more than that. But note also that Chasing the Dragon comes also loaded with rollicking ’80s flair and pentatonic guitar wizardry that’s so out of fashion it’s cool again. This is metal.
Disappointments o’ the Year:
- Suffering Hour // Impelling Rebirth and Umulamahri // Learning the Secrets of Acid – You’ll see more words about these later, cause they are great. And they are EPs. That’s not enough music when this quality exists.
Songs o’ the Year:
Why give you one when I can give you twenty-seven? Why twenty-seven? That’s my secret. Now, I’ve talked enough. Go out there and enjoy some music, friends. And enjoy this photo of my dogs eating. And the Dolphlet admiring them!
Thus Spoke
I’ve been blindsided by the year’s end again, and now have to find some interesting things to say about 2025. Other than the fact that I turned 3010, my main personal Thing ov Significance is that I managed to land myself a new job, which I’ll start in the new year.11 Don’t worry, though, I won’t be girl-bossing too hard to have time for AMG.
Musically, 2025 has been a (small) step down from 2024 for me, although this could just be due to my attention deficit. I’ve had my finger less firmly on the pulse in the last six months, such that several albums, by artists I like, many on this list, either took me completely by surprise on release day, or crossed my radar barely any sooner, thanks to me actually checking Slack for once. I don’t have any well-defined excuse for this outside of plain old burnout plus terrible organization. On the other hand, the fact that I didn’t review most of my favorite records this year means that I can bat away criticisms of self-indulgence by having a year-end list mostly comprised of albums I didn’t write about. One thing I am happy to have achieved this year is running my first AMG Ranking piece on Panopticon. It might be the most verbose and least exciting of its kind for the majority of site readers, but being forced to immerse myself that extensively in the discography of an artist I love was very cool (albeit intense).
Speaking of my own erratic presence at HQ, leads me on to the hiatus (official or not) of several wonderful people among the staff, particularly my list-buddy Maddog, whom I miss very much. They all have good reasons, and I support them immensely, even if it means fewer of their excellent reviews. Fortunately, we’ve also welcomed many newcomers to our ranks who can pick up my slack in their stead, and whose reviews help me improve my own writing whilst also appending to the endless list of Things I Must Listen To.
As my extensive yapping here shows, my ability to meet a word count hasn’t improved much. Before finally moving on to the list, I’ll take the chance to reiterate my gratitude for everyone reading this, and some people who might not be. Thank you to all the staff for collectively making this all possible, and giving me the opportunity to speak about music and for people—you guys—to actually read it. Thank you for reading. Even if our tastes are completely opposed and you think I’m wrong about everything, I’m glad you’re here.
Now for the bit people actually care about.
#ish. Panopticon // Songs of Hiraeth – Quietly12 released alongside Laurentian Blue, Songs of Hiraeth is a collection of songs composed between 2009-2011 that never saw the light of day. In it, you can hear the incredible development of Panopticon’s signature emotionally swelling black metal style in this period, and this record, like virtually all of them, as I repeated in my ranking blurbs, is gorgeously, absorbingly heartfelt and powerful. Unlike you might expect, it actually increases in intensity as it progresses (for me), with the final trifecta of “The End is Drawing Near,” “A Letter,” and “The Eulogy” all gunning for my Songs o’ the Year playlist with first devastating rage and fury, then heartbroken solemnity and sublime melody throughout. I guess it’s not fully in the list purely because it’s not a ‘proper’ new release, or whatever.
#10. Grima // Nightside – It could have been easy to forget about Grima, given its dropping right on the cusp of the stacked Spring release season we had this year, and the fact that I didn’t instantly mark it down for a TYMHM as with Clouds. But I didn’t forget. Despite their wintry aesthetic, Grima’s music warms my heart with folky magic and ardent blackened blizzards. Nightside is no exception, its warmth coming this time from a renewed emphasis on the atmosphere and bayan after the higher energies of Frostbitten. I love intense, harsh, frosty black metal, and I love how Grima do it (“Impending Death Premonition,” “Where We are Lost”). But what I love most of all about Grima is how they pair that with their folky tendencies, and the way—as Sharky pointed out—Vilhelm’s rasps graze over it all. This culminates, for me, in the more mournful and urgent tone of several tracks on Nightside, where intense moments still feel dreamlike (“The Nightside”), and vocals breathe like ghostly whispers (“Mist and Fog”). It’s not my favorite Grima record (that’s probably Rotten Garden), but being a Grima record at all, given their caliber, means it’s bloody great and has to be on my list.
#9. Bianca // Bianca – Here’s an excellent example of a record I very likely would never have heard were it not for the AMG writer community. And wow, am I grateful I did. Ken‘s description alone caught my interest, let alone the tidbit that the project includes two members of another 2025 favorite of mine, Patristic.13 It takes familiar concepts from metal, both post—ethereal atmospheres and haunting singing—and extreme—sky-piercing shrieks, undulating, relentless double-bass, and tangled guitar blizzards—but sounds like nothing else. Even in combining these elements, Bianca stands alone. The coalescence of blackened, doomed, ambient layers is mesmerizing, the pitches upward into mania, and lapses back into mournful mystique, captivating. Throat-gripping furor arrests me more inextricably than almost anything else this year (“Abysmal,” “Nachthexe”), and transcendent melodies forged from this black fire lift me fully out of my body (“Abysmal,” “Todestrieb”). I’ve been in love since.
#8. Der Weg Einer Freiheit // Innern – Innern’s influence on me was subtle and insidious. I would just put it on, be absorbed—or be sucked back in periodically, if I was working and not concentrating on it—and suddenly it would end. Then I’d listen to it again. Der Weg Einer Freiheit has been developing their particular intense, dark, atmospheric kind of (post-) black over the last decade or so, and with Innern, it’s approaching an apex. Through endlessly enveloping compositions, filled with fury and urgency (“Marter”) or solemn reflection and introspection (“Eos,” “Forlorn”), that flow seamlessly out of one another, Innern folds you insidiously into its depths. Compelling melodies, dynamic rushing percussion, and here-dramatic, there-soft-spoken vocals, each taking pieces and incorporating trials from Der Weg Einer Freiheit’s career so far, drive the thematic compositional thread through irresistibly. From the anticipatory opening shudders to the ebbing chords at its close, Innern is an experience best taken whole, and one I’ve indulged in countless times to go on this magnetic journey once again.
#7. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I never thought this would land here when first announced. Sure, I like Paradise Lost, but their back-catalog is so mixed (in style, let alone quality), that ‘liking’ them for me comes down to enjoying a handful of their now 17 albums. Even the singles’ being good failed to stir anything more than curiosity, given my experience with intra-album inconsistency. But when Ascension did finally grace my ears in full, it appropriately transcended any doubts and softened my heart towards these doom icons again.14 Paradise Lost were heavy again, melancholic and mopey again—in a cool, atmospheric way—and Ascension just flowed, with grungy aggression and sadboi introspection in perfect equilibrium. This easy, natural duality that characterizes Gothic metal, and Paradise Lost themselves as genre pioneers, when they’re at the top of their game, is exemplified in Ascension. Hopefully, the group can stay on this trajectory for number 18, if that comes.
#6. Clouds // Desprins – I don’t understand how Clouds are as good as they are. I mean this as no insult to the musicians; what stuns me is the depth of pathos, and the consistency with which they deliver it, given the relatively understated and idiosyncratic manner in which they execute it. Their characteristic flute-folk-funeral doom is so ethereally, painfully sad without being overwrought, melodramatic, or crushing. It took my n00bish breath away four years ago, and this year Desprins came and took it again; this time with pieces of my soul attached. The music is just so beautiful—unrelentingly bleak, but beautiful, and Clouds’ balance of the dark and the light through the synths and acoustics, and apathetic spoken-word is exquisite and deeply affecting. These composite melodies, swelling and trilling softly, are transportive for me—particularly “Life Becomes Lifeless,” “Chain Me,” “Sorrowbound,” and “Chasing Ghosts.” Desprins is everything I want funeral doom to be: a prolonged dream-state of melancholy that paradoxically brings me joy.
#5. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power – I have never been a Deafheaven fan. In all honesty, I’m still not. Lonely People with Power fires me up and fills my soul, while the rest of their discography continues to leave me completely cold. It seems that, briefly departing from metal entirely with Infinite Granite, has matured their sound, adding layers to their edgy blackgaze. Even when indifferent, I never understood the scorn their music generates, and now that I’ve fallen for Lonely People with Power, it makes even less sense. Not only is the way Deafheaven are combining rich, beautiful melodies with—yes—brilliant black metal simply lovely to listen to, slick, seamless, sharp, etc, it’s also distinctive and engrossing. That’s before even getting into how emotionally resonant it is. And it’s not even like this means it can’t be heavy—heck, one of these tracks is on my Heavy Moves Heavy playlist. It’s not ‘cringe’; it’s a phenomenal record and one of the best to release this year.
#4. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – I have always been most moved—emotionally and aesthetically—by 1914’s brand of WWI-themed blackened-death than any other like act. Viribus Unitis somehow outdoes Where Fear and Weapons Meet, and possibly all of the band’s previous efforts, for evocativeness and being straightforward and compelling. From the now hallmark bookends “War In/Out” to frequent samples to lyrics infused with real soldier testimony, Viribus Unitis envelops the listener in this portal to the past through 1914’s most powerful, urgently melodic compositions. Every song is heavy, dramatic, and snappy in just the right amounts, resulting in a series of back-to-back bangers that also occasionally really, really hit home emotionally. “1918 Pt 3: ADE (A duty to escape)” does all the above to perfection and has received an almost embarrassing number of replays in the short time since release. But “1919 (The Home where I Died)” did actually make me cry,15 and its fade into “War Out” is the perfect end to the monumental achievement Viribus Unitis represents.
#3. Patristic // Catechesis – It seems that every year, I review one particular atmospheric-dissonant death metal record which dominates my listening in that subgenre, and instantly secures a year-end list spot. In 2023, Serpent of Old, last year Ulcerate16, and this year Patristic. Catechesis was an immediate, visceral love for me, and not once since June has it left rotation. Sinister and dark, but irresistible in its seamlessly flowing, captivating macro-composition narrated by roars and solemn sermonizing; it ends far too soon. And in addition to being beautifully atmospheric and magnetic in melody and dissonance alike, it stands out for truly insane performances in their own right. Specifically, the drumming, which continues to blow my mind and propels Catechesis from greatness into excellence with hypnotic, intelligent rhythmic interplay. Patristic’s uncanny ability to make extreme, inaccessible music incomprehensibly engrossing and a magnificent expression of its concept are why I can’t stop listening to Catechesis, and why it’s almost the best record of 2025.
#2. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World – Much like reviewer Kenstrosity, whereas Qrixkuor’s debut Poison Palinopsia rewired my brain with its brilliance, I found follow-up Zoetrope a tad underwhelming. When said sponge began to hint, and then gush unstoppably about the duo’s second full-length, The Womb of the World, which was in his possession, vague hope turned to giddy excitement. Not only the twisted, psychedelic horror of their signature freeform blackened death would await me, but also a full live orchestra. Yet I still don’t think anything could have adequately prepared me for how massive and mad The Womb of the World actually is. With the strings, horns, and piano swooping and crashing about in great surges and falls, Qrixkuor’s already grandiose style fully feels like some tormented classical opus, and it’s utterly magnificent. Things so small as my words can’t do justice to the way the eerie and intense lurching orchestrals, maniacal snarling voices, and cavernous extreme metal combine to create some of the best things I have ever heard, ever. Weirdly memorable and violently compelling despite its monstrosity, I’ve become completely addicted to it since. Ken himself said, it is “a mastapeece for those to whom sanity is immaterial,” when he rightfully deemed it ‘Excellent’. If I must rescind soundness of mind to so esteem The Womb of the World, I will do so gladly.
#1. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings – Last year, Divine Laughter went from unknown to #5 on my year-end list in about 2 weeks, so when I found out there was a follow-up—thanks to my new Flippered list buddy—I dropped everything.17 My stratospheric expectations were not only met, but they were lifted into outer space. I would fear for Cave Sermon’s ability to deliver in the future, but Fragile Wings itself dismisses any trepidation. So recognizably, uniquely Cave Sermon, it displays a new, more uplifting interpretation of their sound. A commenter pointed out the lack of reference to So Hideous in my review, and in retrospect, I see their point, at least in degree: the two projects are similarly experimental and impressively novel-sounding without actually feeling avant-garde. But there is just something about Cave Sermon that puts them in an entirely different category of genius—for me. Fragile Wings is playful but not silly; it’s complex but memorable, groovy, and fun; it’s dissonant and strange, but it’s organic, harmonious, and digestible. The idea that just one person is behind this18 makes it that much more mind-blowing. At this rate, there could well be another Cave Sermon record next year, and on the current trajectory, it may finally land this fantastic artist the official Iconic status they have always deserved.
Honorable Mentions:
- Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail – Hands-down my favorite Dormant Ordeal album so far. Heavy, groovy, and eminently-listenable, it really got its claws into me—especially during gym sessions shortly after release. It did fall out of my rotation quite substantially, in favor of its rivals above, thus putting it here.
- Primitive Man // Observance – When Observance dropped, and I was listening for the first time, I badly tried to describe Primitive Man to my partner (not a metal fan) over WhatsApp as “being crushed by a big rock really slowly, but in a good way.” Obviously, they didn’t know what I was on about, but Spicie Forrest seems to with his much better analogy of “being imprisoned and forgotten in a lightless pit.” Primitive Man has always made silly-heavy, scary-huge music, but Observance clicked with me like nothing else in their discography prior. I am indeed helplessly crushed and held prisoner.
- Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons – I think if this had dropped just a tiny bit earlier, it could have ended up on my list proper. Blut Aus Nord has always been one of those artists I know I do enjoy, but for some reason has never fully clicked for me. Ethereal Horizons felt immediately more enthralling. It’s more atmospheric, more darkly melodic, more blackened in its heaviness, and through it all, possibly more frightening.
Songs of the Year
- Cave Sermon – “Ancient for Someone”
- Panopticon – “A Letter”
- Panopticon – “The Poppies Bloom For No King”
- Patristic – “A Vinculis Soluta II”
- Qrixkuor – “The Womb of the World”
- Bianca – “Abysmal”
- Deafheaven – “The Garden Route”
- Nephylim – “Amaranth”
- Clouds – “Sorrowbound”
- 1914 – “1918 Pt 3 A.D.E (A Duty to Escape)”
- Der Weg Einer Freiheit – “Marter”
- Primitive Man – “Natural Law”
#1914 #2025 #Aversed #BarrenPath #Bianca #BlogPosts #BlutAusNord #CaveSermon #Changeling #Chiasma #Clouds #Dawnwalker #Deafheaven #DerWegEinerFreiheit #DolphinWhisperSAndThusSpokeSTopTenIshOf2025 #DormantOrdeal #Gorycz #Grayceon #Grima #HelmsDeep #Lists #Lynchgate #MaudTheMoth #Messa #Mothers #Nephylim #Panopticon #ParadiseLost #Patristic #Pissgrave #PrimitiveMan #Qrixkuor #Quadvium #Scardust #Sterveling #SufferingHour #Turian #YellowEyes #夢遊病者 -
CPFF 2026 Review: Thank You for Banking with Us
Year: 2024
Runtime: 92 minutes
Writer/Director: Laila Abbas
Actors: Yasime Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Adam Khattar, Salwa Nakkara
By Guest Reviewer Alexei Holloway
“Thank You For Banking With Us” (2024) is a funny and moving look at sisterhood and challenging the patriarchy.
Noura (Yasime Al Massri) and Maryam (Clara Khoury) are estranged sisters with less than perfect lives. Noura is a beauty clinician who cares for their ailing father while Maryam is stuck in a loveless marriage with children she no longer feels connected to. When their father dies, the two work together to take their father’s money out of the bank before their absent and judgmental brother who lives in America comes along and takes the money and half the house (per Sharia law).
What follows is a funny pseudo-heist as the sisters bounce off of obstacle after obstacle trying to navigate a deeply patriarchal society and arguing with each other. While looking for help from every man they know, they are constantly shut down, told they are sinners and ungrateful daughters, and have no right to ask for that money. Yet, their brother never bothered to care for their father or check in on his sisters. It was Noura and Maryam who cared for their father, feeding him, cleaning up after him, checking in on him. Why should their brother get both the money and half the house when he did nothing? Why do male relatives, husbands, and lovers have the right to tell these women no when they’ve done nothing to help Noura and Maryam survive?
Clara Khoury and Yasmine Al Massri are a powerful and hilarious duo. When they are not cursing and arguing with the unhelpful men in their lives, they are arguing with each other, pulling up old wounds and half-remembered fights from their past like real siblings. Yet, when they see how the other lives and are betrayed by the men they are supposed to be able to rely on, they realize all they have ever had is each other. That will never stop them from fighting, but it helps bring them closer together and, with a little help from Maryam’s youngest son Ali (Adam Khattar) enables them to finally work together to get the money they deserve and to properly lay their father to rest. By the end, one hopes that their newly rekindled friendship can also prevent Maryam’s sons from turning into the very men who did nothing to help the women retrieve their rightful inheritance.
#ChicagoPalestineFilmFestival #Comedy #ElderCare #FemaleCharacter #FemaleCharacters #FemaleDirectors #FemaleFilmmaker #FilmFestival #FilmReview #Heist #Palestine #ShariaLaw #UnderrepresentedInFilm #WomenInFilm -
CPFF 2026 Review: Thank You for Banking with Us
Year: 2024
Runtime: 92 minutes
Writer/Director: Laila Abbas
Actors: Yasime Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Adam Khattar, Salwa Nakkara
By Guest Reviewer Alexei Holloway
“Thank You For Banking With Us” (2024) is a funny and moving look at sisterhood and challenging the patriarchy.
Noura (Yasime Al Massri) and Maryam (Clara Khoury) are estranged sisters with less than perfect lives. Noura is a beauty clinician who cares for their ailing father while Maryam is stuck in a loveless marriage with children she no longer feels connected to. When their father dies, the two work together to take their father’s money out of the bank before their absent and judgmental brother who lives in America comes along and takes the money and half the house (per Sharia law).
What follows is a funny pseudo-heist as the sisters bounce off of obstacle after obstacle trying to navigate a deeply patriarchal society and arguing with each other. While looking for help from every man they know, they are constantly shut down, told they are sinners and ungrateful daughters, and have no right to ask for that money. Yet, their brother never bothered to care for their father or check in on his sisters. It was Noura and Maryam who cared for their father, feeding him, cleaning up after him, checking in on him. Why should their brother get both the money and half the house when he did nothing? Why do male relatives, husbands, and lovers have the right to tell these women no when they’ve done nothing to help Noura and Maryam survive?
Clara Khoury and Yasmine Al Massri are a powerful and hilarious duo. When they are not cursing and arguing with the unhelpful men in their lives, they are arguing with each other, pulling up old wounds and half-remembered fights from their past like real siblings. Yet, when they see how the other lives and are betrayed by the men they are supposed to be able to rely on, they realize all they have ever had is each other. That will never stop them from fighting, but it helps bring them closer together and, with a little help from Maryam’s youngest son Ali (Adam Khattar) enables them to finally work together to get the money they deserve and to properly lay their father to rest. By the end, one hopes that their newly rekindled friendship can also prevent Maryam’s sons from turning into the very men who did nothing to help the women retrieve their rightful inheritance.
#ChicagoPalestineFilmFestival #Comedy #ElderCare #FemaleCharacter #FemaleCharacters #FemaleDirectors #FemaleFilmmaker #FilmFestival #FilmReview #Heist #Palestine #ShariaLaw #UnderrepresentedInFilm #WomenInFilm -
CPFF 2026 Review: Thank You for Banking with Us
Year: 2024
Runtime: 92 minutes
Writer/Director: Laila Abbas
Actors: Yasime Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Adam Khattar, Salwa Nakkara
By Guest Reviewer Alexei Holloway
“Thank You For Banking With Us” (2024) is a funny and moving look at sisterhood and challenging the patriarchy.
Noura (Yasime Al Massri) and Maryam (Clara Khoury) are estranged sisters with less than perfect lives. Noura is a beauty clinician who cares for their ailing father while Maryam is stuck in a loveless marriage with children she no longer feels connected to. When their father dies, the two work together to take their father’s money out of the bank before their absent and judgmental brother who lives in America comes along and takes the money and half the house (per Sharia law).
What follows is a funny pseudo-heist as the sisters bounce off of obstacle after obstacle trying to navigate a deeply patriarchal society and arguing with each other. While looking for help from every man they know, they are constantly shut down, told they are sinners and ungrateful daughters, and have no right to ask for that money. Yet, their brother never bothered to care for their father or check in on his sisters. It was Noura and Maryam who cared for their father, feeding him, cleaning up after him, checking in on him. Why should their brother get both the money and half the house when he did nothing? Why do male relatives, husbands, and lovers have the right to tell these women no when they’ve done nothing to help Noura and Maryam survive?
Clara Khoury and Yasmine Al Massri are a powerful and hilarious duo. When they are not cursing and arguing with the unhelpful men in their lives, they are arguing with each other, pulling up old wounds and half-remembered fights from their past like real siblings. Yet, when they see how the other lives and are betrayed by the men they are supposed to be able to rely on, they realize all they have ever had is each other. That will never stop them from fighting, but it helps bring them closer together and, with a little help from Maryam’s youngest son Ali (Adam Khattar) enables them to finally work together to get the money they deserve and to properly lay their father to rest. By the end, one hopes that their newly rekindled friendship can also prevent Maryam’s sons from turning into the very men who did nothing to help the women retrieve their rightful inheritance.
#ChicagoPalestineFilmFestival #Comedy #ElderCare #FemaleCharacter #FemaleCharacters #FemaleDirectors #FemaleFilmmaker #FilmFestival #FilmReview #Heist #Palestine #ShariaLaw #UnderrepresentedInFilm #WomenInFilm -
CPFF 2026 Review: Thank You for Banking with Us
Year: 2024
Runtime: 92 minutes
Writer/Director: Laila Abbas
Actors: Yasime Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Adam Khattar, Salwa Nakkara
By Guest Reviewer Alexei Holloway
“Thank You For Banking With Us” (2024) is a funny and moving look at sisterhood and challenging the patriarchy.
Noura (Yasime Al Massri) and Maryam (Clara Khoury) are estranged sisters with less than perfect lives. Noura is a beauty clinician who cares for their ailing father while Maryam is stuck in a loveless marriage with children she no longer feels connected to. When their father dies, the two work together to take their father’s money out of the bank before their absent and judgmental brother who lives in America comes along and takes the money and half the house (per Sharia law).
What follows is a funny pseudo-heist as the sisters bounce off of obstacle after obstacle trying to navigate a deeply patriarchal society and arguing with each other. While looking for help from every man they know, they are constantly shut down, told they are sinners and ungrateful daughters, and have no right to ask for that money. Yet, their brother never bothered to care for their father or check in on his sisters. It was Noura and Maryam who cared for their father, feeding him, cleaning up after him, checking in on him. Why should their brother get both the money and half the house when he did nothing? Why do male relatives, husbands, and lovers have the right to tell these women no when they’ve done nothing to help Noura and Maryam survive?
Clara Khoury and Yasmine Al Massri are a powerful and hilarious duo. When they are not cursing and arguing with the unhelpful men in their lives, they are arguing with each other, pulling up old wounds and half-remembered fights from their past like real siblings. Yet, when they see how the other lives and are betrayed by the men they are supposed to be able to rely on, they realize all they have ever had is each other. That will never stop them from fighting, but it helps bring them closer together and, with a little help from Maryam’s youngest son Ali (Adam Khattar) enables them to finally work together to get the money they deserve and to properly lay their father to rest. By the end, one hopes that their newly rekindled friendship can also prevent Maryam’s sons from turning into the very men who did nothing to help the women retrieve their rightful inheritance.
#ChicagoPalestineFilmFestival #Comedy #ElderCare #FemaleCharacter #FemaleCharacters #FemaleDirectors #FemaleFilmmaker #FilmFestival #FilmReview #Heist #Palestine #ShariaLaw #UnderrepresentedInFilm #WomenInFilm -
CPFF 2026 Review: Thank You for Banking with Us
Year: 2024
Runtime: 92 minutes
Writer/Director: Laila Abbas
Actors: Yasime Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Adam Khattar, Salwa Nakkara
By Guest Reviewer Alexei Holloway
“Thank You For Banking With Us” (2024) is a funny and moving look at sisterhood and challenging the patriarchy.
Noura (Yasime Al Massri) and Maryam (Clara Khoury) are estranged sisters with less than perfect lives. Noura is a beauty clinician who cares for their ailing father while Maryam is stuck in a loveless marriage with children she no longer feels connected to. When their father dies, the two work together to take their father’s money out of the bank before their absent and judgmental brother who lives in America comes along and takes the money and half the house (per Sharia law).
What follows is a funny pseudo-heist as the sisters bounce off of obstacle after obstacle trying to navigate a deeply patriarchal society and arguing with each other. While looking for help from every man they know, they are constantly shut down, told they are sinners and ungrateful daughters, and have no right to ask for that money. Yet, their brother never bothered to care for their father or check in on his sisters. It was Noura and Maryam who cared for their father, feeding him, cleaning up after him, checking in on him. Why should their brother get both the money and half the house when he did nothing? Why do male relatives, husbands, and lovers have the right to tell these women no when they’ve done nothing to help Noura and Maryam survive?
Clara Khoury and Yasmine Al Massri are a powerful and hilarious duo. When they are not cursing and arguing with the unhelpful men in their lives, they are arguing with each other, pulling up old wounds and half-remembered fights from their past like real siblings. Yet, when they see how the other lives and are betrayed by the men they are supposed to be able to rely on, they realize all they have ever had is each other. That will never stop them from fighting, but it helps bring them closer together and, with a little help from Maryam’s youngest son Ali (Adam Khattar) enables them to finally work together to get the money they deserve and to properly lay their father to rest. By the end, one hopes that their newly rekindled friendship can also prevent Maryam’s sons from turning into the very men who did nothing to help the women retrieve their rightful inheritance.
#ChicagoPalestineFilmFestival #Comedy #ElderCare #FemaleCharacter #FemaleCharacters #FemaleDirectors #FemaleFilmmaker #FilmFestival #FilmReview #Heist #Palestine #ShariaLaw #UnderrepresentedInFilm #WomenInFilm -
Book of the Month: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
This is a fantastic book by John Green, published in March 2025 and we picked up a signed copy at the Wellcome Museum in London back in October 2025. We finally got round to reading it this week, with its slight 208 pages offering a very moving historical record of one of humanity’s deadliest diseases.
Everything is Tuberculosis explores how the illness has shaped human history, from the arts through to medicine and beyond, with Green arguing the condition is primarily caused by human choices (rather than bacteria). Lets explore its compassionate pages here.
Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
“The world we share is a product of all the worlds we used to share. For me at least, the history and present of tuberculosis reveal the folly and brilliance and cruelty and compassion of humans. My wife, Sarah, often jokes that in my mind everything is about tuberculosis, and tuberculosis is about everything. She’s right.”
We got a TB jab 30+ years ago and tuberculosis hasn’t played on our minds much since. It feels like a disease of “the past”, even though it continues to kill over a million people annually. But there is a cure, unfortunately some people just don’t have access to that cure.
When we were growing up TB kept cropping in things we were interested in. One of our favourite writers, George Orwell, died of it in 1950 aged only 46. And in the cult classic film Ravenous (1999) the character Colqhuon (Robert Carlyle) recovers from the condition by resorting to cannibalism.
There’s an entire chapter in Everything is Tuberculosis dedicated to creative people who died of the condition. As during the 18th century, the illness was associated with creative genius. Stupidly, of course, as a lot of people got TB and some of them were always going to have a creative streak.
Some of the famous names who died due to TB include Emily Brontë, John Keats, Franz Kafka, Anton Chekov, Molière, and Frédéric Chopin. The disease was particularly associated with Romanticism.
There’s also the great Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), a haiku master who was still penning new prose just hours before his death. Although he died aged 34, he wrote over 20,000 stanzas. This was one of his last.
Pain from coughing,
the long night’s lame flame,
small as a pea.Tuberculosis is also a horrible disease. It was called consumption for a long time as it caused patients to waste away under its ordeals, become emaciated and skeletal in the process.
This often lent a pale, red-cheeked look that, in the Victorian era, society viewed as a sign of beauty (so other people, not even with TB, would often try to replicate the gaunt look). Yes, then, the pale and haggard look of people nearing death was viewed as attractive.
But this is not a condition you want to get.
“M. tuberculosis is a near-perfect human predator in par because it moves so slowly. The bacteria has an uncommonly slow growth rate. While E. Coli can double in number about every twenty minutes in a laboratory environment, M. tuberculosis doubles only about once per day. And so infections simply take much, much longer to make an infected person sick, as the number of bacteria remains lower, allowing the immune system lots of time to mount a defense against the pathogen.
But there’s a problem: M. tuberculosis grows so slowly because it takes a long time to build its unusually fatty, thick cell wall, which is a formidable enemy to the immune system. White blood cells struggle to penetrate the cell wall and kill the bacteria from within. In fact, it’s so hard for infection-fighting cells to penetrate the bacteria’s cell what that, instead, white blood cells usually surround it, creating a call of calcifying tissue known as a tubercle.”
And so for many hundreds of years, TB was a bit like leprosy. Something of a feared disease that could get you cast out of society, but also had that strange creative element attached to it.
But this was an era when death was just very common.
“Before vaccination, C-sections, infection control, and antibiotics, the death of children was routine. About half of all humans ever born died before the age of five. Child death was so common that it had to be acknowledged as natural. And so the acceptable times to die in much of the premodern world were 1. Early childhood, or 2. Late in adulthood.
But tuberculosis has long been known for sickening and killing those between twenty and forty-five, during the one period of life when you were supposed to be relatively insulated from illness and death.”
This was a book we bought randomly in October 2025 based on its cover. We like yellow, we love the Wellcome Museum in London, so we picked up a copy as what the hey.
It’s one of those lucky moments as Everything is Tuberculosis is a fine work. It’s tragic, inspired, at times funny, and highlights the precariousness of life on this Earth. It’s only in the last 50 years or so across all of human history that we’ve more or less banished this disease from western society.
Roy Porter’s excellent 2002 work Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine reminded us of that, too. How lucky we’ve been to exist in the last half century, coinciding with some actual proper medical understanding.
As in England, if someone you knew got TB tomorrow that’d be considered really bizarre.
Yet, for a long time it was the norm and, for some people, almost a desirable thing. As within that suffering, people penned poetry and are remembered to this day for it. That romantic concept of a tortured genius again.
And a Bit About the Writer John Green
John Green is a American author and YouTuber most famous for his 2012 book The Fault in Our Stars Adapted into a film in 2014). He’s also hosted the innovative podcast/non-fiction book The Anthropocene Reviewed from 2018-2021.
For over a decade, he’s been a major global health advocate and is a trustee for Partners in Health. Everything is Tuberculosis has a big focus on Sierra Leone and its poverty crisis, with one individual called Henry documented throughout the work.
Green met Henry when he was 17, but the nature of TB meant he looked like a young boy. Happily, Henry was able to get a proper treatment regime and is alive and well.
But the book really did make it clear to us how lucky we’ve been. How diseases like TB that seem to belong in a past age are, in fact, still causing havoc across less fortunate regions of the world. Sierra Leone is so poverty stricken as the British Empire designed a railroad system to get all accumulated wealth out of the country as fast as possible. The pernicious nature of that system is still felt to this day.
Due to Green’s status, Everything is Tuberculosis was a hit and topped the New York Times bestsellers list, remaining in the list for some 23 weeks.
#Bacteria #Books #consumption #Disease #History #Illness #JohnGreen #lifedtyle #Literature #Medicine #Reading #TB #tuberculosis -
Mastering Manifestation: Align Your Mind and Intentions
The art of manifestation is fascinating because it combines several interconnected principles that bridge mindset and action.
Resonance
First, there’s the principle of vibration and resonance—essentially, you attract what you embody. When you genuinely align your thoughts, feelings, and actions with your desire, you naturally start noticing and creating opportunities matching that frequency. It’s less about magical thinking and more about tuning your awareness to possibilities that were always there.
Intention
The second principle is clarity of intention. Vague wishes tend to create vague results. When you can visualize your desire with crystal clarity—down to how it feels, looks, and impacts your life—you’re essentially creating a detailed blueprint for your subconscious mind to work with.
Inspired Action
Then there’s the principle of inspired action. Manifestation isn’t passive; it’s an active partnership with the universe. While you hold your vision, you need to remain alert and responsive to opportunities that arise, even if they come in unexpected packages. Think of it as co-creating rather than just wishing.
Detachment
The principle of detachment is equally crucial. While this might sound contradictory, being too desperately attached to specific outcomes can actually block their arrival. It’s about holding your vision with passionate intention while remaining flexible about the how and when.
Gratitude & Presence
Perhaps most importantly, there’s the principle of gratitude and presence. When you cultivate genuine appreciation for what you already have, you create an abundance mindset that naturally attracts more to be grateful for. Living in constant scarcity consciousness sends a very different message to both your subconscious and the universe.
Alignment
Remember, manifestation isn’t about forcing outcomes—it’s about aligning yourself with what you seek while remaining open to how it unfolds. Sometimes what manifests is even better than what you initially imagined, because your higher self knows what truly serves your growth.
Insightful Living
The beauty of these principles is that they work whether you view them through a spiritual lens or see them as sophisticated psychological tools for programming your reticular activating system—the part of your brain that filters reality and determines what you notice and act upon. This duality allows for a rich exploration of human potential, offering insights that resonate with both the seeker of inner peace and the analytical mind. By understanding how these principles can influence your perceptions and reactions, you can harness their power to create a more intentional and fulfilling life. As you engage with these concepts, consider how they manifest in your daily experiences, guiding you toward opportunities and insights that align with your goals and desires. Embracing this holistic approach can lead to transformative changes, enhancing your ability to manifest the reality you wish to create.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7vxXHVxIkbAF9I5d2Z19ah?si=yeC8fPX7R4mg1ADDm7KB2w
Welcome to a meditation that balances mindful presence with intentional manifestation, guiding you to cultivate a deep awareness of your thoughts and feelings while aligning your aspirations with the universe. This practice invites you to focus on the present moment, allowing you to fully experience the world around you, as you set clear intentions for what you desire to bring into your life. By harmonizing these two powerful aspects, you create a space where mindfulness and manifestation work hand in hand, empowering you to transform your reality and enhance your overall well-being.
#alignment #awareness #balance #detachment #experience #flow #goals #guidedMeditation #healing #howToManifest #howToManifet #insightfulLiving #inspiredAction #intention #intentionalLiving #lawOfAttraction #manifestYourDreams #manifestYourReality #manifestation #manifesting #meditation #mindful #mindfulness #moments #practice #presentMoment #raiseyourvibration #resonance #universeHasYourBack
-
Mastering Manifestation: Align Your Mind and Intentions
The art of manifestation is fascinating because it combines several interconnected principles that bridge mindset and action.
Resonance
First, there’s the principle of vibration and resonance—essentially, you attract what you embody. When you genuinely align your thoughts, feelings, and actions with your desire, you naturally start noticing and creating opportunities matching that frequency. It’s less about magical thinking and more about tuning your awareness to possibilities that were always there.
Intention
The second principle is clarity of intention. Vague wishes tend to create vague results. When you can visualize your desire with crystal clarity—down to how it feels, looks, and impacts your life—you’re essentially creating a detailed blueprint for your subconscious mind to work with.
Inspired Action
Then there’s the principle of inspired action. Manifestation isn’t passive; it’s an active partnership with the universe. While you hold your vision, you need to remain alert and responsive to opportunities that arise, even if they come in unexpected packages. Think of it as co-creating rather than just wishing.
Detachment
The principle of detachment is equally crucial. While this might sound contradictory, being too desperately attached to specific outcomes can actually block their arrival. It’s about holding your vision with passionate intention while remaining flexible about the how and when.
Gratitude & Presence
Perhaps most importantly, there’s the principle of gratitude and presence. When you cultivate genuine appreciation for what you already have, you create an abundance mindset that naturally attracts more to be grateful for. Living in constant scarcity consciousness sends a very different message to both your subconscious and the universe.
Alignment
Remember, manifestation isn’t about forcing outcomes—it’s about aligning yourself with what you seek while remaining open to how it unfolds. Sometimes what manifests is even better than what you initially imagined, because your higher self knows what truly serves your growth.
Insightful Living
The beauty of these principles is that they work whether you view them through a spiritual lens or see them as sophisticated psychological tools for programming your reticular activating system—the part of your brain that filters reality and determines what you notice and act upon. This duality allows for a rich exploration of human potential, offering insights that resonate with both the seeker of inner peace and the analytical mind. By understanding how these principles can influence your perceptions and reactions, you can harness their power to create a more intentional and fulfilling life. As you engage with these concepts, consider how they manifest in your daily experiences, guiding you toward opportunities and insights that align with your goals and desires. Embracing this holistic approach can lead to transformative changes, enhancing your ability to manifest the reality you wish to create.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7vxXHVxIkbAF9I5d2Z19ah?si=yeC8fPX7R4mg1ADDm7KB2w
Welcome to a meditation that balances mindful presence with intentional manifestation, guiding you to cultivate a deep awareness of your thoughts and feelings while aligning your aspirations with the universe. This practice invites you to focus on the present moment, allowing you to fully experience the world around you, as you set clear intentions for what you desire to bring into your life. By harmonizing these two powerful aspects, you create a space where mindfulness and manifestation work hand in hand, empowering you to transform your reality and enhance your overall well-being.
#alignment #awareness #balance #detachment #experience #flow #goals #guidedMeditation #healing #howToManifest #howToManifet #insightfulLiving #inspiredAction #intention #intentionalLiving #lawOfAttraction #manifestYourDreams #manifestYourReality #manifestation #manifesting #meditation #mindful #mindfulness #moments #practice #presentMoment #raiseyourvibration #resonance #universeHasYourBack
-
Shoebill Balaeniceps rex
Shoebill Balaeniceps rex
Vulnerable
Extant (resident)
Central African Republic; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Rwanda; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia
Known for their unnerving and intense stare and imposing, prehistoric appearance – shoebills are magnificent birds. There are less than 8000 individual birds left alive. They are vulnerable from #palmoil, #cocoa and #meat #deforestation, agricultural run-off, #pollution, #mining, #hunting and human persecution. Help them every time you shop and be #vegan, #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
The #Shoebill is a magnificent and gentle big bird 🕊️🦤 with an unnerving stare 👀 There are only 8000 left alive in #DRC, #Uganda #Africa. Vulnerable from #palmoil #deforestation, #hunting and more. Fight for them! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/09/10/shoebill-balaeniceps-rex/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterKnown for their menacing stare 👀😸 gentle #shoebills are iconic in #Uganda 🇺🇬 #Congo 🇨🇩 #Tanzania 🇹🇿 They are vulnerable from #hunting, #palmoil #deforestation. Help them and be #vegan 🥕🍆 and #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔☠️🔥⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/09/10/shoebill-balaeniceps-rex/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterThere are less than 8,000 birds left alive and they are increasingly threatened by agricultural run-off from palm oil and cocoa deforestation across their range.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V7t28Fim34
The shoebill Balaeniceps rex is also known by the common names: the whale-headed stork, shoebill stork and whalehead. Their eponymous feature is their enormous bill They have the third largest bills after pelicans and large storks.
Fast Facts
- When shoebills soar they make around 150 flaps per minute which makes them one of the slowest of any bird, with the exception of the larger stork species.
- They stand stock-still and waiting, all alone giving them an eerie and unnerving appearance. Once they notice fish appearing on the surface of swamps they quickly snap them up into their large bills.
- The shoebill’s chattering large bill makes a sound akin to machine gun fire. This combined with their silent creeping gait can make them seem rather menacing!
- Shoebills are attracted to poorly oxygenated waters, as this means fish must come to the surface to breathe – where they are efficiently captured.
- They are mostly silent except for elaborate bill-clattering communication that happens during their breeding. Chicks make a human-like hiccup sound when signalling hunger.
- Although they have a similar appearance to storks, shoebills are more closely related to pelicans and herons in the order Pelecaniformes.
Appearance & Behaviour
They possess extraordinarily large feet with their middle toe extending up to 18.5 cm in length. This helps them with balance while standing on uneven swamps and on aquatic vegetation while they hunt.
Adults have feathers that range from blue-grey to slate-grey. Juveniles possess similar plumage but in a tawny blue-brown hue.
Shoebills have a modestly sized bill at birth, which grows much larger once chicks reach between 23-43 days old.
Their unusual beauty makes them a must-see for birdwatchers in Africa. Despite their slightly unnerving appearance, these birds are placid and will allow birdwatchers to snap their photo at a range of two metres.
Shoebills are known for staying statue-still and silent in the muddy waters while hunting. These birds stalk their prey in a solitary way, patiently lurking and hunting entirely with their vision. Once prey is spotted they launch a rapid strike. They will sometimes use their big beaks to pry deep into the pond mud and extirpate lung fish with a violent strike.
They are normally silent but will get noisy during nesting season with elaborate bill clattering displays. Adults birds will make a ‘moo’ sound and high pitched whine while clattering their bills in order to communicate with each other. Chicks call out to their mothers with a ‘hiccup’ sound.
Shoebills typically hunt for lungfish and other fish in poorly oxygenated marshlands, bogs, peatland and swamps. Fish frequently break to the surface to breathe – it is then that shoebills rapidly strike. Their large feet enable them to balance on floating vegetation. The movement of hippos can aid the hunting of shoebills, as they rustle up fish from bottom of swamps, pushing them to surface for the shoebills’ easy capture.
Threats
There is estimated to be below 8,000 individual shoebills left and they are classified as vulnerable. Shoebills face a range of anthropogenic threats:
- Palm oil and cocoa deforestation: The mass removal of virgin rainforest for palm oil and cocoa results in mass deaths of shoebills.
- Infrastructure building: roads, dams and powerlines pose a risk to shoebills.
- Meat deforestation: cattle and other animals are known to trample shoebill nests.
- Pollution run-off: from palm oil agrochemicals and mining effluent.
- Hunting: In some cultures shoebills are thought of as a bad omen, in others they are hunted for food.
- Capture for the pet trade: Shoebill eggs and chicks are captured for consumption or sold to zoos.
- Armed human conflict: Armed groups moving through the rainforest has facilitated hunting of shoebills.
- Climate change: Increased extreme weather events like fires and droughts brought on by climate change lowers their numbers.
Habitat
Shoebills are found in central tropical Africa. Including South Sudan, eastern Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, western Tanzania, and northern Zambia. They are non-migratory birds who make limited seasonal movements.
They live in dense freshwater swamps and marshes including undisturbed papyrus and reed beds. They are attracted to areas of mixed vegetation and have been seen on occasion in rice fields and flooded plantations.
Diet
Shoebills mainly consume fish but will also eat a range of wetland vertebrates. Their preferred food is marbled lungfish, tilapia and catfish. When this is not available they are known to consume frogs, nile monitors, baby crocodiles, water snakes, turtles, snails, rodents and other small waterfowl.
Mating and breeding
Shoebills form monogamous pair bonds for the breeding season. They fiercely defend their nests from other birds during their nesting period, which begins either during the monsoon season or after this ends.
Both parents build the nest on a floating and flat platform made up of swamp vegetation and around three metres wide and three metres deep.
Typically the female will lay between one to three eggs, with only one being reared and cared for until maturity. The other eggs are back-ups in case the eldest chick is weak or dies.
In the hot weather, shoebill parents will fill their bills with water to shower their nests to cool their eggs.
Chicks take about 105 days to fledge and juveniles typically fly well by 112 days. Juvenile birds will continue to feed with their mother for another month after this and reach sexual maturity at about three years old.
Support Shoebills by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
Support the conservation of this species
This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
Further Information
BirdLife International. 2018. Balaeniceps rex. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22697583A133840708. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22697583A133840708.en. Accessed on 16 February 2023.
Shoebill on Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoebill
Shoebill on Animalia.bio – https://animalia.bio/shoebill
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Join 3,179 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Read moreMel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Read moreAnthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Read moreHealth Physician Dr Evan Allen
Read moreThe World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
Read moreHow do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
Read more3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support #Africa #animals #Bird #birds #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #CentralAfricanRepublic #cocoa #Congo #deforestation #DemocracticRepublicOfCongo #DRC #hunting #meat #mining #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmoil #poaching #pollution #Rwanda #Shoebill #ShoebillBalaenicepsRex #shoebills #SouthSudan #stork #Tanzania #Uganda #vegan #VulnerableSpecies #Zambia -
Black Brilliance Across Borders: My first Black History Month in Canada
Nikki Adebiyi, Founder, Bounce Black
This February marked my first Black History Month in Canada, and my first Canadian winter!
Aside from the fact that I’ve never seen this much snow in my life, nor have I ever been so cold that my face hurts…it’s been wonderful, I promise.
In the words of one speaker at an event I attended, “I’m all blacked out”.
As a speaker and event producer myself, that is a sentiment that applies everywhere because I typically feel the same during October, which is Black History Month in the UK. It’s busy and exhausting, but all in the best of ways!
This year, Canada celebrated 30 years of Black History Month with the theme: ‘Honouring Black Brilliance Across Generations — From Nation Builders to Tomorrow’s Visionaries’.
There was no shortage of events, to say the least. There were certainly much more than I was able to attend. But the ones that I did go to have left a profound impression on me, and I’d love to tell you about them…
Black people play hockey? On ice!?
I kicked off my February at the A Different Booklist store in the Blackhurst Cultural Centre. In the middle of the historically Black neighbourhood of Bathurst, people of all ethnic backgrounds gathered in a gorgeous Black bookstore for the launch of Black Aces by The Athletic’s NHL staff writer Julian McKenzie.
Black Aces is McKenzie’s debut book, featuring a collection of stories about renowned Black hockey players, which, as you can imagine, is a huge part of winter sporting in Canada.
As curious and as open as I can be, ice hockey is a sport that I have yet to acquaint myself with. Unless you count PE at school, where we sometimes ran around the sports-and-lunch hall, whacking plastic pucks into makeshift goalposts.
Still, different gear, different climate and a different arena makes for a different experience entirely.
After the book launch, and a few conversation primers on the rules of the game, it’s now on my list of essential things to do in Canada.
Side note: I love that people who look like me have ventured into activities that I probably wouldn’t even think to try. Not only do you have to be excellent at hockey, you have to be competent at skating on ice! That’s an impressive level of hand-eye coordination, so kudos to them for doing it well enough to merit recognition. I love that for us!
Further side note: How much Julian knows about Black British culture tickled me, and further confirmed my belief that Black London and Black Toronto are much like identical twins who were separated during childhood, but when later reunited, it’s uncanny how alike they are.
I also later returned to the Blackhurst Cultural Centre for the free headshots they were offering to young Black creatives. Here’s my favourite one:
Word, Sound & Power Showcase
Next, I visited York University for its Word, Sound & Power event which showcased, and paid homage to, an array of Black talent in the arts, including musical composition, singing, dance, poetry and dramatic monologues.
To my great surprise, we were honoured to be joined by Toronto’s poet laureate Lillian Allen (pictured), as well as Canada’s first Black female MP, the Hon. Jean Augustine herself, who is responsible for passing the law that made Black History Month officially recognised across the nation.
Overeall, it was an eventful night of warm reflections, riveting stories and powerful calls to action. I especially enjoyed Ms. Augustine’s reflections on her life, career and social progress in Canada. The question she centred her speech on, “are we there yet?”, remains with me even now.
Living In Colour Symposium
Downtown at the University of Toronto, the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC) held their Black History Month Symposium on ‘Black Life, Law and Belonging in Canada’.
The organisation itself is remarkable, being the only legal clinic in the province of Ontario that is dedicated to tackling anti-Black racism through legal advocacy.
Their additional focus on public education and community engagement resulted in an impactful itinerary of powerful speech after speech interspersed with thoughtful panel discussions.
The sessions covered a range of topics, including:
- Black history in Canada
- The role of legal advocacy in advancing justice and equity for Black comunities
- The complexity of belonging and integration in immigration
- The work required for Black longevity and equity in Canada
- The changing landscape of advocacy in the age of AI
Speakers included MPs, lawyers, other legal professionals, and grassroots activists.
Although, unfortunately, I missed out on most of the talks due to commute time and weather-related delays on public transport, what I did gain during my time there was an insight into how similar the issues of racial justice are across the Black diaspora.
As ever, as always, this is both comforting and infuriating.
That there is a shared language of racialised experiences across borders and cultuers is helpful as I could immediately make sense of the discussion despite not being a Black Canadian.
However, it is not fun learnng that people who look like me struggle in similar ways wherever we are in the world.
Still, I left the event encouraged by the work being done and the shared understanding of the cultural, spiritual and intellectual shift that is going to be necessary for us to move forward collectively.
The Power of Community Symposium
On the penultimate weekend of Black History Month, I returned to the City Hall area for the Black Founders Network Power of Community Symposium. This was a whole-day affair, that I missed a lot of due to commuting issues again, but what I caught of it was powerful.
The theme was ‘The Next Era: Sustaining the Momentum’ as a nod to the last three years of the Symposium’s gathering of Black founders, investors, professionals and other ecosystem partners.
Having attended only once and left with a profound impression of the lesson that I need to bet on myself more, I certainly hope to see more from the BFN team.
Their BeHer Summit on March 6th, too, was spectacular and inspiring. I made sure to be there on time as I could not risk missing out on the wisdom and networking opportunities with powerhouse women from all over the GTA. And sure enough, it did not disappoint!
BFN events embody the message of refusing to play small because they certainly know how to do it big. Both events fed me more than just physically, but the food, too, was wonderful, with Caribbean cuisine at the Symposium, and soul food at the Summit.
It was also wonderful to meet some of the team behind the Black Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Map (BEEM), and learn more about both the background and the future of the project.
Overall, I was inspired to bet on myself and see this entrepreneurial journey through, and not only for my good but for the good of the community I serve. Legacy was a running theme, and I have begun thinking more about what it would look like for my work to outlast me.
Black Talent Initiative’s Ignite Conference
My Canadian Black History Month concluded with the Black Talent Initiative’s Ignite conference, which I had heard about before arriving in Canada, and I was grateful that I won a sponsored ticket to attend.
Between the keynotes, the firesides, the panels and the workshops, gem after gem was shared by the speakers. I took pages and pages of notes, both paper and digital. And weeks later, I am still meditating on the insights and reflections of the sessions.
In particular, Suzannah Kelly’s workshop on intentional leadership and legacy left a profound impression on me. She led a powerful session that inspired much reflection, with questions based on the premise that legacy is built through our daily choices, not by chance.
A good leader’s legacy is less about results and more about the culture, access and opportunities we create for others.
Our legacy shows up in the small moments, such as what we challenge, who we elevate, and how people feel after encountering us.
Every interaction leaves an impact, and the impact that we leave behind is our legacy.
True leadership, she also stressed, is measured by what changes because we were present. That is, who grows, what shifts, and what becomes possible for others. This requires clarity of values, courage to use our voice, and a willingness to be visible. Ultimately, legacy is what remains because we chose not to stay silent.
This, in addition to the other talks, guaranteed that I came away with much to think through, much to hope for and much to be proud of.
I also enjoyed the RBC photo booth, which had one of the best lighting setups for candid photography of Black skin that I have seen in a long time. All the photos came out great!
Lastly, as with most of the events I attended, there were a number of Black-owned businesses on display, from beauty and jewellery brands to authors and coaches.
One particular brand that made an impression on me was Blaque Wellness, whose Matriarch of the family-run business drew me in. A beautiful Black grandmother who showered me with care and compliments, seeking to understand my skincare needs, and offered me a hands-on demonstration of how their products could be embedded in my regimen.
It reminded me of how warm and wonderful it is to be seen and thought of from start to finish, including in product design.
Final Thoughts
The previous sentiments are exactly how I would summarise my experience of my first Canadian Black History Month, namely that it catered for and catered to me. I was the target audience for whom an experience was specifically designed and curated, and I came away from it with abundance. I received so much more than I expected, and I am inspired to implement my learnings, so that other people can benefit from them too.
The first being sharing what I learned with you all here in this blog.
Although it is March, we celebrate Black history all year-round. I hope you found something useful in this post to help you champion Black futures!
#BlackBusinesses #BlackExcellence #BlackFoundersNetwork #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackLegacyActionCentre #BlackLegalCentre #BlackOwned #BlackTalentInitiative #blackHistory #Blackhurst #BlackhurstCulturalCentre #Blaque #BlaqueWellness #bounceBlack #Canada #history #Ignite #JeanAugustine #life #mentalHealth #MonicaRogers #NikkiAdebiyi #RBC #ShahaddahJack #SuzannahKelly #TorontoTempo #travel #writing -
Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Dr. A.N. GrierTo anyone who actually found 2025 to be a solid-to-great year, I envy you. For me, 2025 was one of the absolute worst years of my life. And that counts divorce and suicidal years. With many of you, it began with working my ass off to keep my job in these trying times of financial uncertainty—especially with AI rearing its ugly fucking head. Well, that’s before that bubble bursts and causes more issues than it did before. Then, after returning from a NYC work trip, my 19-year-old black devil, King, collapsed from liver failure, resulting in having to put down a feline friend I’ve raised since a kitten and who I had as my companion for nearly half my life. Jump ahead a few months and, out of the fucking blue, my father collapses in the yard, never to regain consciousness again. With months of heartbreak and stress coming down on my heart like a rain shower of titanium dildos, some professionals were convinced I suffered a literal heart attack. After months of tests and medications, it’s clear that age and stress have crept up on me. The result of all this shit led to one of the worst years of productivity in the sacred halls of Angry Metal Guy. So, I apologize to everyone for the lack of output, especially when 2025 was a solid-to-great year of metal releases. Hopefully, this list will suffice and provide a few killer records that the rest of the crew idiotically withheld.
I’d be lying if I said listening to music and writing reviews came easily to me this year. Hell, writing in general has been difficult to do, and I do it for a living. But the fun, creative elements of AMG have been lost to me for months, which is sad as hell because I know I have way more curse-word combinations flowing through my veins. Thankfully, the support of this group and my family has been fundamental to getting me back on a path to mental and physical health so I can feel somewhat like a normal person. Thankfully, keeping busy with editing/deleting other writers’ lists1 and putting together my elite one has brought back a touch of spark. While I will always be the grumpy Grier that everyone knows and loves hates, I do appreciate the support from the entire gang—being a part of this monster that AMG built, being belittled by Steel, being filthy with Kenny and Grymm, trolling Dolph, hating on Doom, annoying the Shark, and getting provocative gifts from Ferox—because it’s a surprisingly therapeutic experience. Which is kinda fucked up, now that I think about it…2
So, let’s raise a glass to this coming year and let’s hope it’s a 3.5/5.0 compared to this 0.5/5.0 one. And enjoy these awesome picks you ignored because some of these idiots colluded for analytics.
#ish. The Haunted // Songs of Last Resort – This selection surprised even me. Though I fucked up and ran out of time to review The Haunted’s newest opus, Songs of Last Resort, it regularly surfaced on my playlists and, in classic Grier fashion, secured my “ish” selection. If you’re new to a Grier list, I reserve my “ish” pick for those records I can’t put down. Though in most cases, these selections can legitimately be considered my eleventh pick. Regardless, Songs of Last Resort is a welcoming return to form that reminds me a lot of the band’s output during the period of One Kill Wonder and RevolveR. Sure, it helps that One Kill Wonder’s Marco Aro is back in the band, but this album’s flow is similar to those others. The longest track on the record clocks in at four-plus minutes, while the others come and go like a phantom sucker punching each time you arrive at a new landing on a creepy-ass staircase. After being set up perfectly with the addictive opening track, “Warhead,” the short, punchy “Death to the Crown” swings a left hook before the chonky bass-kicking “Bleeding Out” has you belting the chorus at the sky. Then, the whole thing drops into the mid-paced back-to-backers, “Labyrinth of Lies” and “Letters of Last Resort.” Come all The Haunted enthusiasts and let us rejoice.
#10. Sexmag // Sexorcyzm – SEXXXXXXXMAG!!!!! You all knew this was going to happen. But really, it makes perfect sense when you consider the influences these crazy Poles incorporate into their music. Bands like Bathory, Darkthrone, Slayer, and Mercyful Fate, to name a few. After years of demos and EPs, Sexmag finally released their first full-length under the ever-sexy name, Sexorcyzm. Even sexier are track names like “Inkubus,” “Sex z diabłem,” and “Psalm I – Intronizacja Szatana.” I don’t know what any of them mean, but they either have “sex” in the title or just sound sexy. But, in all seriousness, the band’s wild blend of black, death, and thrash influences makes this one of the funnest records of the year. The skill is impressive, the vocals are outlandishly ugly, and the album’s dynamics bring everything to life in the most pleasing and gross way. If you skipped on this album because you thought Grier was doing one of his assinine trolling fests, you are wrong, and you need to correct your sexiness.
#9. Vintersorg // Vattenkrafternas spel – While not the band’s best output in a long line of great albums, Vattenkrafternas spel is still one of the best Viking/folk metal records of 2025. Infusing the Vintersorg of old with the new, Vattenkrafternas spel sets out to capture the hearts of its entire fanbase in this meaty, hour-long journey through the band’s signature Viking, folk, and progressive landscapes. The production does wonders for the album when compared to past offerings that are as compressed as hard tack. Be it the blackened beauty of “Efter dis kommer dimma,” incorporating gorgeous, male and female clean vocals, or the folky “Malströmsbrus” with its Vintersorg yodeling and addictiveness, Vattenkrafternas spel pushes and pulls on those strings of yore to bring you something comfortable yet refreshing. That said, no Vintersorg record is complete without the outrageous key atmospheres so prevalent and unique to their sound. Songs like “Ur älv och å” and “Ödsliga salar” fulfill that urge, ensuring erections for this kind of key play remain hard and girthy.
#8. Bear Mace // Slaves of the Wolf – As many of you know, I am not a big death metal guy. I was at one point, but the predictability of the style, as it became trapped on endless repeat as old masters tried to remain relevant into the 00s, began to turn me off. That’s not uncommon for any other genre that had a heyday at one point in metal’s existence. The acceptance that lovers of the genre might surface and borrow shamelessly from previous groundbreakers has allowed me to enjoy what I once did. Bear Mace is just such a band that, every time I spin one of their releases, I’m transported back in time when Massacre, Bolt Thrower, and the like were fresh to my pubescent self. And this year’s Slaves of the Wolf sees Bear Mace punching it up to a new level and delivering crushing riff after crushing riff. I cannot deny that the nasty, relentless attacks of “Slaves of the Wolf,” “The Iceman Cometh,” and the back-to-back “Prophecy” and “Cancerous Winds” keep me coming back time and again. While all Bear Mace is macy, Slaves of the Wolf stands above the others and delivers big bear slaps. Or something like that.
#7. Gaahls Wyrd // Braiding the Stories – Regardless of whether you interpret “wyrd” as “weird” or “word,” both can be applied to Gaahls Wyrd’s sophomore outing, Braiding the Stories. Whether Gaahl’s words hit you harder than the band’s weird approach to atmospheres and influences is completely up to you. Be it captivating, moody numbers like the title track or the balls-to-the-walls “Time and Timeless Timeline,” Braiding the Stories has all a Gaahl fan could ever want. From low whispers to Gaahl’s terrifying shrieks, the moods captured on this record are stronger and far superior to anything the band has ever put together. It’s an unsettling disc that fucks around with track lengths, moods, and everything in between. At one point, you are cruising through a nearly nine-minute-long, atmoblack piece before being pummeled to death for three new minutes. Then, you’re chilling in two minutes of an ethereal nightmare before the hammering of drums comes down on your head like that of Mephorash. It’s a bewildering, disorienting experience that is so pleasing it should be illegal. Gaahl’s days atop the mighty Gorgoroth might be over, but Gaahl ain’t going anywhere yet.
#6. Mors Principium Est // Darkness Invisible – This one might be a surprise to many because Mors Principium Est’s last record, Liberate the Unborn Inhumanity, was not good. This was probably in part because Andy Gillion, the staple of the band since 2011, and the wizard that brought us the impressive guitar work of …And Death Said Live and Dawn of the 5th Era, left the fold. To make matters worse, Gillion dropped one hell of a killer record last year in the form of Exilium. Regardless of whether anyone agrees that Darkness Invisible is a return to form for MPE, it’s indeed far superior to its predecessor, and a record that has been haunting me since its release. Perhaps it’s the mood I’ve been in for the last few months that dragged Darkness Invisible, scratching and screaming, into my year-end list. Or maybe it’s because no matter what MPE releases, I’ll find something to love. For those who skipped it, check out the gorgeous female vocals of “All Life Is Evil” and the heart-wrenching melodeath of tracks like “Of Death” and “Summoning the Dark.”
#5. In the Woods… // Otra – In the Woods… have been around a long time in a lot of different iterations. Be it the coming and going of founders and bandmates, or the careless attitude of genre and sub-genre fuckery, this Norwegian outfit has worked tirelessly to cement both the lineup and the direction the band wants to be identified as in this new era. While 2022’s Diversum began the exploration of blending styles, this year’s Otra did far more to ensure the concrete begins to settle and cure. Tapping into their wide variation of influences, you can capture everything from Borknagar-esque progressions to the black ‘n’ roll character of Carpathian Forest and the low, doomy patterns of Type O Negative and A Vision Bleak. And, somehow, it all works—each song biting on the ass-end of its successor, forcing the music to flow in a pleasing, yet unlikely recordpede. It’s been a while since I felt that In the Woods… might have something worth getting excited about, but this new direction creates palpitations in my olde, black heart.
#4. Green Carnation // A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia – Green Carnation has been a literal staple in my life for fuck knows how long. And each record has a place, mood, and time that work—regardless if it’s the wild choirs and orchestrations of Journey to the End of the Night, the one-track Light of Day, Day of Darkness, the goth-rock of A Blessing in Disguise, or the acoustic bliss of The Acoustic Verses. This Norwegian outfit has damn-near tried it all, and it works each time. But 2020’s Leaves of Yesteryear was a goddamn epic, and it’s hard to consider anything would be anywhere as strong. Sadly, A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is not as strong. Does that make it a bad album? Fuck no. That’s why it’s on my list. Like its predecessor, it’s engulfed in moods and textures that only Green Carnation can do. And with two more parts in sight for what can clearly be described as the beginning of something new, there’s a good chance these gents will be on even more Grier lists.
#3. Ars Moriendi // Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres – No Grier list is complete without mention of the mighty Ars Moriendi. Though I dropped the ball when it came around for review, that didn’t stop me from spinning this record since its release in June. As with all Ars Moriendi releases, Arsonist continues to push his limits in everything from performances to songwriting and production. And Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres is no different. Be it the engulfing atmospheres of the two-part “L’abbé de Monte-à-Regret,” the impressive bass work of the powerful “Trouver la fontaine,” or the heart-wrenching piano and clean vocals of “Puisqu’elle est éternelle,” this new record is a captivating display of progressive black metal prowess. Sprinkled throughout with electronic effects and hypnotizing sound bytes, Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres is a full experience that cannot be disconnected or Spotified. To truly understand it, you must get lost in it.
#2. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence – I’ve been an Abigail Williams fan for a long time, but never has one of their albums hit me as hard as A Void Within Existence does. Combining elements of second-wave assaults, atmospheric black metal, and crushing sadness, this new record is perhaps the band’s best. While a couple of songs reach the heights of Song o’ the Year, not a single one is out of place. After the black metal pummeling that is “Life, Disconnected” and “Void Within,” “Talk to Your Sleep” stomps your ass straight into the ground, developing a nice interlude from the norm, and a headbangability that is unique to the band’s songwriting. When the album closes with “No Less than Death,” a clean-vocal performance sends me in a depressive spiral that I still haven’t recovered from. Ken Sorceron and co. have done it again, alternating between peaks and valleys of emotion that disrupt basic brain functions and leave me in an absolute pit of despair.
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – I don’t think there’s much more that I can say about Havukruunu that hasn’t been said before. For years, these fantastic Finns have been scratching that itch for old-school Bathory-core that is almost as good as the real fucking thing. And, for years, they’ve nestled gently into my year-end lists but never quite climbed over other incredible albums at the time. This year, things have changed. Tavastland is not only the best album of the year but arguably Havukruunu’s masterpiece. Incorporating every element of their sound into this near-perfect track list, you’ll experience everything from bludgeoning Bathory-meets-Immortal riffs, feel-good Viking plods, melodic passages, and seamless transitions that make repeat listens oh-so soothing. Not to mention, the tight performances and open production will have you gushing over Humö’s fantastic bass work. It’s a monstrous, lively, and energetic album that’s difficult to put down and never disappoints, regardless of whether you’re in the mood for pillaging unsuspecting villages or sitting on the beach with a daquery.
Honorable Mentions
- Lychgate // Precipice – I wish I had given this record more time. Instead, it had to be released in fucking December. Stop doing that! Regardless, this is a weird fucking record with a lot of balls and a lot of aggression that you plebs should listen to.
- Hazzerd // The 3rd Dimension – OK, hear me out. The 3rd Dimension is one of the best thrash records of the year, and you’re a poser if you disagree. With Death Angel-like vocals and Exodus-meets-Slayer riffage, all wrapped up in some impressive technicality, ya can’t go wrong with Hazzerd’s newest outing.
- Cradle of Filth // The Screaming of the Valkyries – I can’t deny it, The Screaming of the Valkyries is fucking good. So good that I can’t stop spinning it. With the help of new female vocal support, a new guitarist, and some killer, punchy tunes, this new record is an embedded thorn in my ass that I can’t locate or remove, no matter how I try.
- Them // Psychedelic Enigma – The story goes on, even when we all thought it was over after the NYC debacle known as Fear City. Looking to milk their characters and lyrical directions to death, Them is back with a new chapter in Psychedelic Enigma. Though it’s not as good as recent releases, it still helps my longing heart continue to beat in hopes of a new King Diamond record.
- Blood Red Throne // Siltskin – This was yet another release I fooked and never wrote up. If you’re a fan, Siltskin is more than worth it, but don’t get your hopes up if it doesn’t meet all your expectations.
Disappointments o’ the Year
- Machine Head – UnatØNed – I dØN’t really knØW what to say abØUt UnatØNed that I haven’t said already. It’s a directiØNless collectiØN ØF “best hits”—that dØN’t hit at all—instead ØF a full-length release. Even if mØSt people have issues with the band’s entire discØG, yØU can’t deny that, at ØNe point, there was passion in Machine Head’s music. NØW, it’s all abØUt thØSe hit pieces that make it ØN year-end lists pulled by iTunes, SpØTify, and yØUr lØCal rØCk radiØ. Which makes me sad because I ØNce held sØMe respect for Flynn, but there are ØNly sØ many disappØIntments ØNe can take befØRe they have nØ chØIce but tØ mØVe ØN.
Songs o’ the Year
- Abigail Williams – “Talk to Your Sleep”
A Void Within Existence by Abigail Williams
Abigail Williams – “No Less than Death”
A Void Within Existence by Abigail Williams
- In the Woods… – “Let Me Sing”
- Gaahls Wyrd – “Time and Timeless Timeline”
Braiding The Stories by Gaahls WYRD
#2025 #AbigailWilliams #ArsMoriendi #BearMace #BlogPosts #BloodRedThrone #CradleOfFilth #DrANGrierSTopTenIshOf2025 #GaahlsWYRD #GreenCarnation #Havukruunu #Hazzerd #InTheWoods #Lists #Lychgate #MachineHead #MorsPrincipiumEst #Sexmag #TheHaunted #Them #Vintersorg -
Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Dr. A.N. GrierTo anyone who actually found 2025 to be a solid-to-great year, I envy you. For me, 2025 was one of the absolute worst years of my life. And that counts divorce and suicidal years. With many of you, it began with working my ass off to keep my job in these trying times of financial uncertainty—especially with AI rearing its ugly fucking head. Well, that’s before that bubble bursts and causes more issues than it did before. Then, after returning from a NYC work trip, my 19-year-old black devil, King, collapsed from liver failure, resulting in having to put down a feline friend I’ve raised since a kitten and who I had as my companion for nearly half my life. Jump ahead a few months and, out of the fucking blue, my father collapses in the yard, never to regain consciousness again. With months of heartbreak and stress coming down on my heart like a rain shower of titanium dildos, some professionals were convinced I suffered a literal heart attack. After months of tests and medications, it’s clear that age and stress have crept up on me. The result of all this shit led to one of the worst years of productivity in the sacred halls of Angry Metal Guy. So, I apologize to everyone for the lack of output, especially when 2025 was a solid-to-great year of metal releases. Hopefully, this list will suffice and provide a few killer records that the rest of the crew idiotically withheld.
I’d be lying if I said listening to music and writing reviews came easily to me this year. Hell, writing in general has been difficult to do, and I do it for a living. But the fun, creative elements of AMG have been lost to me for months, which is sad as hell because I know I have way more curse-word combinations flowing through my veins. Thankfully, the support of this group and my family has been fundamental to getting me back on a path to mental and physical health so I can feel somewhat like a normal person. Thankfully, keeping busy with editing/deleting other writers’ lists1 and putting together my elite one has brought back a touch of spark. While I will always be the grumpy Grier that everyone knows and loves hates, I do appreciate the support from the entire gang—being a part of this monster that AMG built, being belittled by Steel, being filthy with Kenny and Grymm, trolling Dolph, hating on Doom, annoying the Shark, and getting provocative gifts from Ferox—because it’s a surprisingly therapeutic experience. Which is kinda fucked up, now that I think about it…2
So, let’s raise a glass to this coming year and let’s hope it’s a 3.5/5.0 compared to this 0.5/5.0 one. And enjoy these awesome picks you ignored because some of these idiots colluded for analytics.
#ish. The Haunted // Songs of Last Resort – This selection surprised even me. Though I fucked up and ran out of time to review The Haunted’s newest opus, Songs of Last Resort, it regularly surfaced on my playlists and, in classic Grier fashion, secured my “ish” selection. If you’re new to a Grier list, I reserve my “ish” pick for those records I can’t put down. Though in most cases, these selections can legitimately be considered my eleventh pick. Regardless, Songs of Last Resort is a welcoming return to form that reminds me a lot of the band’s output during the period of One Kill Wonder and RevolveR. Sure, it helps that One Kill Wonder’s Marco Aro is back in the band, but this album’s flow is similar to those others. The longest track on the record clocks in at four-plus minutes, while the others come and go like a phantom sucker punching each time you arrive at a new landing on a creepy-ass staircase. After being set up perfectly with the addictive opening track, “Warhead,” the short, punchy “Death to the Crown” swings a left hook before the chonky bass-kicking “Bleeding Out” has you belting the chorus at the sky. Then, the whole thing drops into the mid-paced back-to-backers, “Labyrinth of Lies” and “Letters of Last Resort.” Come all The Haunted enthusiasts and let us rejoice.
#10. Sexmag // Sexorcyzm – SEXXXXXXXMAG!!!!! You all knew this was going to happen. But really, it makes perfect sense when you consider the influences these crazy Poles incorporate into their music. Bands like Bathory, Darkthrone, Slayer, and Mercyful Fate, to name a few. After years of demos and EPs, Sexmag finally released their first full-length under the ever-sexy name, Sexorcyzm. Even sexier are track names like “Inkubus,” “Sex z diabłem,” and “Psalm I – Intronizacja Szatana.” I don’t know what any of them mean, but they either have “sex” in the title or just sound sexy. But, in all seriousness, the band’s wild blend of black, death, and thrash influences makes this one of the funnest records of the year. The skill is impressive, the vocals are outlandishly ugly, and the album’s dynamics bring everything to life in the most pleasing and gross way. If you skipped on this album because you thought Grier was doing one of his assinine trolling fests, you are wrong, and you need to correct your sexiness.
#9. Vintersorg // Vattenkrafternas spel – While not the band’s best output in a long line of great albums, Vattenkrafternas spel is still one of the best Viking/folk metal records of 2025. Infusing the Vintersorg of old with the new, Vattenkrafternas spel sets out to capture the hearts of its entire fanbase in this meaty, hour-long journey through the band’s signature Viking, folk, and progressive landscapes. The production does wonders for the album when compared to past offerings that are as compressed as hard tack. Be it the blackened beauty of “Efter dis kommer dimma,” incorporating gorgeous, male and female clean vocals, or the folky “Malströmsbrus” with its Vintersorg yodeling and addictiveness, Vattenkrafternas spel pushes and pulls on those strings of yore to bring you something comfortable yet refreshing. That said, no Vintersorg record is complete without the outrageous key atmospheres so prevalent and unique to their sound. Songs like “Ur älv och å” and “Ödsliga salar” fulfill that urge, ensuring erections for this kind of key play remain hard and girthy.
#8. Bear Mace // Slaves of the Wolf – As many of you know, I am not a big death metal guy. I was at one point, but the predictability of the style, as it became trapped on endless repeat as old masters tried to remain relevant into the 00s, began to turn me off. That’s not uncommon for any other genre that had a heyday at one point in metal’s existence. The acceptance that lovers of the genre might surface and borrow shamelessly from previous groundbreakers has allowed me to enjoy what I once did. Bear Mace is just such a band that, every time I spin one of their releases, I’m transported back in time when Massacre, Bolt Thrower, and the like were fresh to my pubescent self. And this year’s Slaves of the Wolf sees Bear Mace punching it up to a new level and delivering crushing riff after crushing riff. I cannot deny that the nasty, relentless attacks of “Slaves of the Wolf,” “The Iceman Cometh,” and the back-to-back “Prophecy” and “Cancerous Winds” keep me coming back time and again. While all Bear Mace is macy, Slaves of the Wolf stands above the others and delivers big bear slaps. Or something like that.
#7. Gaahls Wyrd // Braiding the Stories – Regardless of whether you interpret “wyrd” as “weird” or “word,” both can be applied to Gaahls Wyrd’s sophomore outing, Braiding the Stories. Whether Gaahl’s words hit you harder than the band’s weird approach to atmospheres and influences is completely up to you. Be it captivating, moody numbers like the title track or the balls-to-the-walls “Time and Timeless Timeline,” Braiding the Stories has all a Gaahl fan could ever want. From low whispers to Gaahl’s terrifying shrieks, the moods captured on this record are stronger and far superior to anything the band has ever put together. It’s an unsettling disc that fucks around with track lengths, moods, and everything in between. At one point, you are cruising through a nearly nine-minute-long, atmoblack piece before being pummeled to death for three new minutes. Then, you’re chilling in two minutes of an ethereal nightmare before the hammering of drums comes down on your head like that of Mephorash. It’s a bewildering, disorienting experience that is so pleasing it should be illegal. Gaahl’s days atop the mighty Gorgoroth might be over, but Gaahl ain’t going anywhere yet.
#6. Mors Principium Est // Darkness Invisible – This one might be a surprise to many because Mors Principium Est’s last record, Liberate the Unborn Inhumanity, was not good. This was probably in part because Andy Gillion, the staple of the band since 2011, and the wizard that brought us the impressive guitar work of …And Death Said Live and Dawn of the 5th Era, left the fold. To make matters worse, Gillion dropped one hell of a killer record last year in the form of Exilium. Regardless of whether anyone agrees that Darkness Invisible is a return to form for MPE, it’s indeed far superior to its predecessor, and a record that has been haunting me since its release. Perhaps it’s the mood I’ve been in for the last few months that dragged Darkness Invisible, scratching and screaming, into my year-end list. Or maybe it’s because no matter what MPE releases, I’ll find something to love. For those who skipped it, check out the gorgeous female vocals of “All Life Is Evil” and the heart-wrenching melodeath of tracks like “Of Death” and “Summoning the Dark.”
#5. In the Woods… // Otra – In the Woods… have been around a long time in a lot of different iterations. Be it the coming and going of founders and bandmates, or the careless attitude of genre and sub-genre fuckery, this Norwegian outfit has worked tirelessly to cement both the lineup and the direction the band wants to be identified as in this new era. While 2022’s Diversum began the exploration of blending styles, this year’s Otra did far more to ensure the concrete begins to settle and cure. Tapping into their wide variation of influences, you can capture everything from Borknagar-esque progressions to the black ‘n’ roll character of Carpathian Forest and the low, doomy patterns of Type O Negative and A Vision Bleak. And, somehow, it all works—each song biting on the ass-end of its successor, forcing the music to flow in a pleasing, yet unlikely recordpede. It’s been a while since I felt that In the Woods… might have something worth getting excited about, but this new direction creates palpitations in my olde, black heart.
#4. Green Carnation // A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia – Green Carnation has been a literal staple in my life for fuck knows how long. And each record has a place, mood, and time that work—regardless if it’s the wild choirs and orchestrations of Journey to the End of the Night, the one-track Light of Day, Day of Darkness, the goth-rock of A Blessing in Disguise, or the acoustic bliss of The Acoustic Verses. This Norwegian outfit has damn-near tried it all, and it works each time. But 2020’s Leaves of Yesteryear was a goddamn epic, and it’s hard to consider anything would be anywhere as strong. Sadly, A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is not as strong. Does that make it a bad album? Fuck no. That’s why it’s on my list. Like its predecessor, it’s engulfed in moods and textures that only Green Carnation can do. And with two more parts in sight for what can clearly be described as the beginning of something new, there’s a good chance these gents will be on even more Grier lists.
#3. Ars Moriendi // Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres – No Grier list is complete without mention of the mighty Ars Moriendi. Though I dropped the ball when it came around for review, that didn’t stop me from spinning this record since its release in June. As with all Ars Moriendi releases, Arsonist continues to push his limits in everything from performances to songwriting and production. And Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres is no different. Be it the engulfing atmospheres of the two-part “L’abbé de Monte-à-Regret,” the impressive bass work of the powerful “Trouver la fontaine,” or the heart-wrenching piano and clean vocals of “Puisqu’elle est éternelle,” this new record is a captivating display of progressive black metal prowess. Sprinkled throughout with electronic effects and hypnotizing sound bytes, Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres is a full experience that cannot be disconnected or Spotified. To truly understand it, you must get lost in it.
#2. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence – I’ve been an Abigail Williams fan for a long time, but never has one of their albums hit me as hard as A Void Within Existence does. Combining elements of second-wave assaults, atmospheric black metal, and crushing sadness, this new record is perhaps the band’s best. While a couple of songs reach the heights of Song o’ the Year, not a single one is out of place. After the black metal pummeling that is “Life, Disconnected” and “Void Within,” “Talk to Your Sleep” stomps your ass straight into the ground, developing a nice interlude from the norm, and a headbangability that is unique to the band’s songwriting. When the album closes with “No Less than Death,” a clean-vocal performance sends me in a depressive spiral that I still haven’t recovered from. Ken Sorceron and co. have done it again, alternating between peaks and valleys of emotion that disrupt basic brain functions and leave me in an absolute pit of despair.
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – I don’t think there’s much more that I can say about Havukruunu that hasn’t been said before. For years, these fantastic Finns have been scratching that itch for old-school Bathory-core that is almost as good as the real fucking thing. And, for years, they’ve nestled gently into my year-end lists but never quite climbed over other incredible albums at the time. This year, things have changed. Tavastland is not only the best album of the year but arguably Havukruunu’s masterpiece. Incorporating every element of their sound into this near-perfect track list, you’ll experience everything from bludgeoning Bathory-meets-Immortal riffs, feel-good Viking plods, melodic passages, and seamless transitions that make repeat listens oh-so soothing. Not to mention, the tight performances and open production will have you gushing over Humö’s fantastic bass work. It’s a monstrous, lively, and energetic album that’s difficult to put down and never disappoints, regardless of whether you’re in the mood for pillaging unsuspecting villages or sitting on the beach with a daquery.
Honorable Mentions
- Lychgate // Precipice – I wish I had given this record more time. Instead, it had to be released in fucking December. Stop doing that! Regardless, this is a weird fucking record with a lot of balls and a lot of aggression that you plebs should listen to.
- Hazzerd // The 3rd Dimension – OK, hear me out. The 3rd Dimension is one of the best thrash records of the year, and you’re a poser if you disagree. With Death Angel-like vocals and Exodus-meets-Slayer riffage, all wrapped up in some impressive technicality, ya can’t go wrong with Hazzerd’s newest outing.
- Cradle of Filth // The Screaming of the Valkyries – I can’t deny it, The Screaming of the Valkyries is fucking good. So good that I can’t stop spinning it. With the help of new female vocal support, a new guitarist, and some killer, punchy tunes, this new record is an embedded thorn in my ass that I can’t locate or remove, no matter how I try.
- Them // Psychedelic Enigma – The story goes on, even when we all thought it was over after the NYC debacle known as Fear City. Looking to milk their characters and lyrical directions to death, Them is back with a new chapter in Psychedelic Enigma. Though it’s not as good as recent releases, it still helps my longing heart continue to beat in hopes of a new King Diamond record.
- Blood Red Throne // Siltskin – This was yet another release I fooked and never wrote up. If you’re a fan, Siltskin is more than worth it, but don’t get your hopes up if it doesn’t meet all your expectations.
Disappointments o’ the Year
- Machine Head – UnatØNed – I dØN’t really knØW what to say abØUt UnatØNed that I haven’t said already. It’s a directiØNless collectiØN ØF “best hits”—that dØN’t hit at all—instead ØF a full-length release. Even if mØSt people have issues with the band’s entire discØG, yØU can’t deny that, at ØNe point, there was passion in Machine Head’s music. NØW, it’s all abØUt thØSe hit pieces that make it ØN year-end lists pulled by iTunes, SpØTify, and yØUr lØCal rØCk radiØ. Which makes me sad because I ØNce held sØMe respect for Flynn, but there are ØNly sØ many disappØIntments ØNe can take befØRe they have nØ chØIce but tØ mØVe ØN.
Songs o’ the Year
- Abigail Williams – “Talk to Your Sleep”
A Void Within Existence by Abigail Williams
Abigail Williams – “No Less than Death”
A Void Within Existence by Abigail Williams
- In the Woods… – “Let Me Sing”
- Gaahls Wyrd – “Time and Timeless Timeline”
Braiding The Stories by Gaahls WYRD
#2025 #AbigailWilliams #ArsMoriendi #BearMace #BlogPosts #BloodRedThrone #CradleOfFilth #DrANGrierSTopTenIshOf2025 #GaahlsWYRD #GreenCarnation #Havukruunu #Hazzerd #InTheWoods #Lists #Lychgate #MachineHead #MorsPrincipiumEst #Sexmag #TheHaunted #Them #Vintersorg -
Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Dr. A.N. GrierTo anyone who actually found 2025 to be a solid-to-great year, I envy you. For me, 2025 was one of the absolute worst years of my life. And that counts divorce and suicidal years. With many of you, it began with working my ass off to keep my job in these trying times of financial uncertainty—especially with AI rearing its ugly fucking head. Well, that’s before that bubble bursts and causes more issues than it did before. Then, after returning from a NYC work trip, my 19-year-old black devil, King, collapsed from liver failure, resulting in having to put down a feline friend I’ve raised since a kitten and who I had as my companion for nearly half my life. Jump ahead a few months and, out of the fucking blue, my father collapses in the yard, never to regain consciousness again. With months of heartbreak and stress coming down on my heart like a rain shower of titanium dildos, some professionals were convinced I suffered a literal heart attack. After months of tests and medications, it’s clear that age and stress have crept up on me. The result of all this shit led to one of the worst years of productivity in the sacred halls of Angry Metal Guy. So, I apologize to everyone for the lack of output, especially when 2025 was a solid-to-great year of metal releases. Hopefully, this list will suffice and provide a few killer records that the rest of the crew idiotically withheld.
I’d be lying if I said listening to music and writing reviews came easily to me this year. Hell, writing in general has been difficult to do, and I do it for a living. But the fun, creative elements of AMG have been lost to me for months, which is sad as hell because I know I have way more curse-word combinations flowing through my veins. Thankfully, the support of this group and my family has been fundamental to getting me back on a path to mental and physical health so I can feel somewhat like a normal person. Thankfully, keeping busy with editing/deleting other writers’ lists1 and putting together my elite one has brought back a touch of spark. While I will always be the grumpy Grier that everyone knows and loves hates, I do appreciate the support from the entire gang—being a part of this monster that AMG built, being belittled by Steel, being filthy with Kenny and Grymm, trolling Dolph, hating on Doom, annoying the Shark, and getting provocative gifts from Ferox—because it’s a surprisingly therapeutic experience. Which is kinda fucked up, now that I think about it…2
So, let’s raise a glass to this coming year and let’s hope it’s a 3.5/5.0 compared to this 0.5/5.0 one. And enjoy these awesome picks you ignored because some of these idiots colluded for analytics.
#ish. The Haunted // Songs of Last Resort – This selection surprised even me. Though I fucked up and ran out of time to review The Haunted’s newest opus, Songs of Last Resort, it regularly surfaced on my playlists and, in classic Grier fashion, secured my “ish” selection. If you’re new to a Grier list, I reserve my “ish” pick for those records I can’t put down. Though in most cases, these selections can legitimately be considered my eleventh pick. Regardless, Songs of Last Resort is a welcoming return to form that reminds me a lot of the band’s output during the period of One Kill Wonder and RevolveR. Sure, it helps that One Kill Wonder’s Marco Aro is back in the band, but this album’s flow is similar to those others. The longest track on the record clocks in at four-plus minutes, while the others come and go like a phantom sucker punching each time you arrive at a new landing on a creepy-ass staircase. After being set up perfectly with the addictive opening track, “Warhead,” the short, punchy “Death to the Crown” swings a left hook before the chonky bass-kicking “Bleeding Out” has you belting the chorus at the sky. Then, the whole thing drops into the mid-paced back-to-backers, “Labyrinth of Lies” and “Letters of Last Resort.” Come all The Haunted enthusiasts and let us rejoice.
#10. Sexmag // Sexorcyzm – SEXXXXXXXMAG!!!!! You all knew this was going to happen. But really, it makes perfect sense when you consider the influences these crazy Poles incorporate into their music. Bands like Bathory, Darkthrone, Slayer, and Mercyful Fate, to name a few. After years of demos and EPs, Sexmag finally released their first full-length under the ever-sexy name, Sexorcyzm. Even sexier are track names like “Inkubus,” “Sex z diabłem,” and “Psalm I – Intronizacja Szatana.” I don’t know what any of them mean, but they either have “sex” in the title or just sound sexy. But, in all seriousness, the band’s wild blend of black, death, and thrash influences makes this one of the funnest records of the year. The skill is impressive, the vocals are outlandishly ugly, and the album’s dynamics bring everything to life in the most pleasing and gross way. If you skipped on this album because you thought Grier was doing one of his assinine trolling fests, you are wrong, and you need to correct your sexiness.
#9. Vintersorg // Vattenkrafternas spel – While not the band’s best output in a long line of great albums, Vattenkrafternas spel is still one of the best Viking/folk metal records of 2025. Infusing the Vintersorg of old with the new, Vattenkrafternas spel sets out to capture the hearts of its entire fanbase in this meaty, hour-long journey through the band’s signature Viking, folk, and progressive landscapes. The production does wonders for the album when compared to past offerings that are as compressed as hard tack. Be it the blackened beauty of “Efter dis kommer dimma,” incorporating gorgeous, male and female clean vocals, or the folky “Malströmsbrus” with its Vintersorg yodeling and addictiveness, Vattenkrafternas spel pushes and pulls on those strings of yore to bring you something comfortable yet refreshing. That said, no Vintersorg record is complete without the outrageous key atmospheres so prevalent and unique to their sound. Songs like “Ur älv och å” and “Ödsliga salar” fulfill that urge, ensuring erections for this kind of key play remain hard and girthy.
#8. Bear Mace // Slaves of the Wolf – As many of you know, I am not a big death metal guy. I was at one point, but the predictability of the style, as it became trapped on endless repeat as old masters tried to remain relevant into the 00s, began to turn me off. That’s not uncommon for any other genre that had a heyday at one point in metal’s existence. The acceptance that lovers of the genre might surface and borrow shamelessly from previous groundbreakers has allowed me to enjoy what I once did. Bear Mace is just such a band that, every time I spin one of their releases, I’m transported back in time when Massacre, Bolt Thrower, and the like were fresh to my pubescent self. And this year’s Slaves of the Wolf sees Bear Mace punching it up to a new level and delivering crushing riff after crushing riff. I cannot deny that the nasty, relentless attacks of “Slaves of the Wolf,” “The Iceman Cometh,” and the back-to-back “Prophecy” and “Cancerous Winds” keep me coming back time and again. While all Bear Mace is macy, Slaves of the Wolf stands above the others and delivers big bear slaps. Or something like that.
#7. Gaahls Wyrd // Braiding the Stories – Regardless of whether you interpret “wyrd” as “weird” or “word,” both can be applied to Gaahls Wyrd’s sophomore outing, Braiding the Stories. Whether Gaahl’s words hit you harder than the band’s weird approach to atmospheres and influences is completely up to you. Be it captivating, moody numbers like the title track or the balls-to-the-walls “Time and Timeless Timeline,” Braiding the Stories has all a Gaahl fan could ever want. From low whispers to Gaahl’s terrifying shrieks, the moods captured on this record are stronger and far superior to anything the band has ever put together. It’s an unsettling disc that fucks around with track lengths, moods, and everything in between. At one point, you are cruising through a nearly nine-minute-long, atmoblack piece before being pummeled to death for three new minutes. Then, you’re chilling in two minutes of an ethereal nightmare before the hammering of drums comes down on your head like that of Mephorash. It’s a bewildering, disorienting experience that is so pleasing it should be illegal. Gaahl’s days atop the mighty Gorgoroth might be over, but Gaahl ain’t going anywhere yet.
#6. Mors Principium Est // Darkness Invisible – This one might be a surprise to many because Mors Principium Est’s last record, Liberate the Unborn Inhumanity, was not good. This was probably in part because Andy Gillion, the staple of the band since 2011, and the wizard that brought us the impressive guitar work of …And Death Said Live and Dawn of the 5th Era, left the fold. To make matters worse, Gillion dropped one hell of a killer record last year in the form of Exilium. Regardless of whether anyone agrees that Darkness Invisible is a return to form for MPE, it’s indeed far superior to its predecessor, and a record that has been haunting me since its release. Perhaps it’s the mood I’ve been in for the last few months that dragged Darkness Invisible, scratching and screaming, into my year-end list. Or maybe it’s because no matter what MPE releases, I’ll find something to love. For those who skipped it, check out the gorgeous female vocals of “All Life Is Evil” and the heart-wrenching melodeath of tracks like “Of Death” and “Summoning the Dark.”
#5. In the Woods… // Otra – In the Woods… have been around a long time in a lot of different iterations. Be it the coming and going of founders and bandmates, or the careless attitude of genre and sub-genre fuckery, this Norwegian outfit has worked tirelessly to cement both the lineup and the direction the band wants to be identified as in this new era. While 2022’s Diversum began the exploration of blending styles, this year’s Otra did far more to ensure the concrete begins to settle and cure. Tapping into their wide variation of influences, you can capture everything from Borknagar-esque progressions to the black ‘n’ roll character of Carpathian Forest and the low, doomy patterns of Type O Negative and A Vision Bleak. And, somehow, it all works—each song biting on the ass-end of its successor, forcing the music to flow in a pleasing, yet unlikely recordpede. It’s been a while since I felt that In the Woods… might have something worth getting excited about, but this new direction creates palpitations in my olde, black heart.
#4. Green Carnation // A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia – Green Carnation has been a literal staple in my life for fuck knows how long. And each record has a place, mood, and time that work—regardless if it’s the wild choirs and orchestrations of Journey to the End of the Night, the one-track Light of Day, Day of Darkness, the goth-rock of A Blessing in Disguise, or the acoustic bliss of The Acoustic Verses. This Norwegian outfit has damn-near tried it all, and it works each time. But 2020’s Leaves of Yesteryear was a goddamn epic, and it’s hard to consider anything would be anywhere as strong. Sadly, A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is not as strong. Does that make it a bad album? Fuck no. That’s why it’s on my list. Like its predecessor, it’s engulfed in moods and textures that only Green Carnation can do. And with two more parts in sight for what can clearly be described as the beginning of something new, there’s a good chance these gents will be on even more Grier lists.
#3. Ars Moriendi // Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres – No Grier list is complete without mention of the mighty Ars Moriendi. Though I dropped the ball when it came around for review, that didn’t stop me from spinning this record since its release in June. As with all Ars Moriendi releases, Arsonist continues to push his limits in everything from performances to songwriting and production. And Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres is no different. Be it the engulfing atmospheres of the two-part “L’abbé de Monte-à-Regret,” the impressive bass work of the powerful “Trouver la fontaine,” or the heart-wrenching piano and clean vocals of “Puisqu’elle est éternelle,” this new record is a captivating display of progressive black metal prowess. Sprinkled throughout with electronic effects and hypnotizing sound bytes, Leur esprit marche dans les ténèbres is a full experience that cannot be disconnected or Spotified. To truly understand it, you must get lost in it.
#2. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence – I’ve been an Abigail Williams fan for a long time, but never has one of their albums hit me as hard as A Void Within Existence does. Combining elements of second-wave assaults, atmospheric black metal, and crushing sadness, this new record is perhaps the band’s best. While a couple of songs reach the heights of Song o’ the Year, not a single one is out of place. After the black metal pummeling that is “Life, Disconnected” and “Void Within,” “Talk to Your Sleep” stomps your ass straight into the ground, developing a nice interlude from the norm, and a headbangability that is unique to the band’s songwriting. When the album closes with “No Less than Death,” a clean-vocal performance sends me in a depressive spiral that I still haven’t recovered from. Ken Sorceron and co. have done it again, alternating between peaks and valleys of emotion that disrupt basic brain functions and leave me in an absolute pit of despair.
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – I don’t think there’s much more that I can say about Havukruunu that hasn’t been said before. For years, these fantastic Finns have been scratching that itch for old-school Bathory-core that is almost as good as the real fucking thing. And, for years, they’ve nestled gently into my year-end lists but never quite climbed over other incredible albums at the time. This year, things have changed. Tavastland is not only the best album of the year but arguably Havukruunu’s masterpiece. Incorporating every element of their sound into this near-perfect track list, you’ll experience everything from bludgeoning Bathory-meets-Immortal riffs, feel-good Viking plods, melodic passages, and seamless transitions that make repeat listens oh-so soothing. Not to mention, the tight performances and open production will have you gushing over Humö’s fantastic bass work. It’s a monstrous, lively, and energetic album that’s difficult to put down and never disappoints, regardless of whether you’re in the mood for pillaging unsuspecting villages or sitting on the beach with a daquery.
Honorable Mentions
- Lychgate // Precipice – I wish I had given this record more time. Instead, it had to be released in fucking December. Stop doing that! Regardless, this is a weird fucking record with a lot of balls and a lot of aggression that you plebs should listen to.
- Hazzerd // The 3rd Dimension – OK, hear me out. The 3rd Dimension is one of the best thrash records of the year, and you’re a poser if you disagree. With Death Angel-like vocals and Exodus-meets-Slayer riffage, all wrapped up in some impressive technicality, ya can’t go wrong with Hazzerd’s newest outing.
- Cradle of Filth // The Screaming of the Valkyries – I can’t deny it, The Screaming of the Valkyries is fucking good. So good that I can’t stop spinning it. With the help of new female vocal support, a new guitarist, and some killer, punchy tunes, this new record is an embedded thorn in my ass that I can’t locate or remove, no matter how I try.
- Them // Psychedelic Enigma – The story goes on, even when we all thought it was over after the NYC debacle known as Fear City. Looking to milk their characters and lyrical directions to death, Them is back with a new chapter in Psychedelic Enigma. Though it’s not as good as recent releases, it still helps my longing heart continue to beat in hopes of a new King Diamond record.
- Blood Red Throne // Siltskin – This was yet another release I fooked and never wrote up. If you’re a fan, Siltskin is more than worth it, but don’t get your hopes up if it doesn’t meet all your expectations.
Disappointments o’ the Year
- Machine Head – UnatØNed – I dØN’t really knØW what to say abØUt UnatØNed that I haven’t said already. It’s a directiØNless collectiØN ØF “best hits”—that dØN’t hit at all—instead ØF a full-length release. Even if mØSt people have issues with the band’s entire discØG, yØU can’t deny that, at ØNe point, there was passion in Machine Head’s music. NØW, it’s all abØUt thØSe hit pieces that make it ØN year-end lists pulled by iTunes, SpØTify, and yØUr lØCal rØCk radiØ. Which makes me sad because I ØNce held sØMe respect for Flynn, but there are ØNly sØ many disappØIntments ØNe can take befØRe they have nØ chØIce but tØ mØVe ØN.
Songs o’ the Year
- Abigail Williams – “Talk to Your Sleep”
A Void Within Existence by Abigail Williams
Abigail Williams – “No Less than Death”
A Void Within Existence by Abigail Williams
- In the Woods… – “Let Me Sing”
- Gaahls Wyrd – “Time and Timeless Timeline”
Braiding The Stories by Gaahls WYRD
#2025 #AbigailWilliams #ArsMoriendi #BearMace #BlogPosts #BloodRedThrone #CradleOfFilth #DrANGrierSTopTenIshOf2025 #GaahlsWYRD #GreenCarnation #Havukruunu #Hazzerd #InTheWoods #Lists #Lychgate #MachineHead #MorsPrincipiumEst #Sexmag #TheHaunted #Them #Vintersorg -
Panopticon – Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet Review By Thus Spoke
What feelings come with an ending? Grief? Gratitude? Hope? As the Laurentian Trilogy comes to a close with Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet,1 the reflections on things passed which each album casts in a different light are at their most poignant. Panopticon turns from personal catharsis (…And Again into the Light) to metaphorical mirroring of individual crisis with that which devastates the natural world (The Rime of Memory), and now the very fabric of every one of us as people—bound inextricably to our experiences and environment. Mourning the loss of a loved one; memories of a people left behind by industrialisation; vanished caribou who once roamed the forests and the trees that grew old before the saw; a losing battle with time; isolation, love, joy. These fragmented, vivid, impressions of The Haunted Heart masterfully draw together an opus as potent musically as it is emotionally, five years almost to the date since it began.
Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet’s conclusiveness is tangible, its every note suffused with nostalgia and closure—even opener, “Woodland Caribou,” feels like a resolution. Drums boil and crash with anguish, tremolos are effervescent with feeling, and strings are more prominent and more stirring than ever before. But even in its finality of reprising themes and devastating climaxes, Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet reveals that everything does not truly end after all. With a chorus of guest vocalists,2 Austin Lunn tells a story of a life coming to a close in chapters that reflect not only on one person’s experiences, but those of a culture and a wilderness extending beyond them. It’s the most immediate Panopticon has ever been: lacking any preamble, moving faster and with assured ardour through every blackened arc, reaching deeper into your soul with every singing string refrain. Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet sees an infusion of characteristic folk, black metal, and magical atmosphere in a way that’s at once so heart-wrenchingly intimate and viscerally overwhelming it can hardly be described as less than perfection.
From the moment it begins, Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet has hold of you, most strikingly because of how breath-catchingly gorgeous it is. Some of the saddest, most profound melodies of Panopticon’s career (“Woodland Caribou,” “Blood and Fur Upon the Melting Snow,” “Ghost Eyes in the Firelight”) combine with some of the wildest (“The Great Silence, Extinct,” “The White Cedars,” “A Culture of Wilderness”). Even the heaviest moments dazzle in their dissonant devastation with mournful urgency (“The Great Silence…,” “A Culture…”). But what takes this beauty and rage into transcendence is how these tides of emotion are so tightly wound together, referencing one another, the refrains of The Laurentian Trilogy, and even all of Panopticon up until this moment. The soft sigh of a violin refrain (“Woodland Caribou”) sobs in precipitating a mid-album climax (“Blood and Fur…”), and the dancing tremolo-string swoops of “The Great Silence…” are mirrored in “Blood and Fur,…” and “The White Cedars.” The shuddering heaviness of “A Culture…” reawakens the gravity of “Moth-Eaten Soul”3 while untamed exuberance (“A Culture…,” “Blood and Fur…”) revives “An Autumn Storm”4 and the spirit of Roads to the North, and flute—accompanied only by the crackling of a fire—brings the acoustic introspection of the trilogy firmly to the forefront (“Lyset”).
But it’s the final act, “Ghost Eyes in the Firelight,” that pulls these threads—and one’s heartstrings—taut. Gracefully drawing in the elements from throughout the trilogy, it then softly and assuredly builds to a conclusion that hums ever more with familiarity. As the shimmering tremolos rise to a steady beat, you realise it’s the central theme of “…And Again into the Light” lifting upwards on their featherlight wings. All the lyrics on Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet sing with poignancy, but in this ascent that poignancy peaks,
The light from the window fades like the winter recently past.
Free of this mortal coil, free at last.
A slight pain in his chest grew as he laid down upon the melting snow.
Gazing upward into the night sky, he closed his eyes to the dark night,
but behind the blackness of his eyelids,
the stars remained
but behind the blackness of his eyelids,
the stars remained…and again into the light
As cymbals judder and guitars perform a final flourish, the haunting calls of loons signal the completion of this circle, the spilling in of the light to the serenade of violins to a devastating reprise, filling your chest with its warmth and your eyes with tears.5 A more perfect way to end things could not exist. My heart clings longingly to the place evoked by Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet‘s consuming atmosphere and touching humanity. I cry with the empathy of its creator, crying for time gone, for those no longer here, for the lost wilderness, for the empty homes and hearts and the silent forests. But I also cry with a kind of transcendent joy. Because in closing, things begin anew. Just as the final whining strings lead into the beginning of …And Again into the Light, they blur too into that of “Woodland Caribou.” A ring, the renewal of hope. The darkness does not last. The fire will not burn out.
Rating: Iconic
#2026 #50 #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BindruneRecordings #BlackMetal #DetHjemsøkteHjertet #Folk #May26 #NordvisProduktion #Panopticon #RABM #Review #Reviews
DR: ? | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Bindrune Recordings | Nordvis Productions
Websites: Bandcamp | Instagram
Releases Worldwide: May 8th, 2026 -
Steel Druhm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Steel Druhm
First things first: 2025 was not what I consider a lodestar of great metal. I was much more miserly than usual with my high scores, and though there were a lot of albums I liked, there were not many I truly loved. I had fewer issues curating my Top Ten than usual, with a smaller pool of contenders jockeying for slots. That likely means 2026 will be an overwhelming pornocopia of metal goodness, as flat years are usually followed by market booms. Let’s hope the historic trends continue.
On the AMG front, we had a great many seasoned staffers bow out and take time away from the site, which is always a sad event, but we got a healthy infusion of new blood, too. Hopefully, the blend of new and old will provide new perspectives, but it’s sure to result in some awful takes, too. We apologize for that in advance. Fear not, though, for I have it on good authority that a few long-absent writers will be making a shocking return in the new year.
Personally, 2025 was my least productive year in a while as far as the sheer number of reviews churned out. This was mostly due to my taking on the enormous duties of promo sump management, which takes up a significant amount of time weekly. I’ve gotten faster and more efficient at the promo herding over the year, so I hope to push my review production back up to massive aggressive levels in 2026. I love this little blog, and I invest a lot of myself in it each day. It gives me peace and comfort through challenging times, and more importantly, it keeps me off the streets looking for seedy, low-rent metal blogs to write for.
As I do every year, I want to extend a big thank you to all the readers who grace our pages, comment on our reviews, complain about scores, and generally raise a ruckus. We appreciate you, tolerate you, and continue to do our best to entertain you. Behind the scenes, though, we think you are a bunch of overrating, high-maintenance, diva do-nothings. Keep up the good work and tell your friends about us!
I’d also like to thank all the old and new staff members and AMG Himself for their efforts to keep AMG the bastion of high opinions that it has become. It’s easy to suffer burnout here, and there are times when the words all seem to blur together, and it becomes a battle to formulate new ways to describe shitty, lo-fi death metal. There’s something highly satisfying about the work, though, and doing it with a bunch of lovable rejects makes it all the more so. We have a good group of misfits here, and though we bicker and argue, we love one another most of the time. Because of all this goodwill and affection, I hope none of them make me sabbaticalize them this year. The wood chipper is still clogged from last year’s bonanza of retirements, and I’m just too busy to take cadavers apart the old-fashioned way. Onward to new horizons we fly!
#ish: Nite // Cult of the Serpent Sun – Nite is a strange band that challenges me to look past some very one-dimensional vocals to find the beauty in their guitar-driven righteousness. The music they create is so perfectly in my wheelhouse, mixing the classic 80s sound of Mercyful Fate with the burly badassery of Grand Magus, then they slather their compositions with a blackened snarl that rarely shifts or adapts to the epic music. Sometimes it seems this choice holds them back from greatness, but I just kept returning to Cult of the Serpent Sun time and again in 2025. Songs like “Crow (Fear the Night),” “Carry On,” and “The Winds of Sokar” got spun to death this year, and the guitar work across the album is stellar and so metal it hurts. In a nutshell, I’m hooked on this weird little album despite the shortcomings in the vocal department. Give yourself to the Nite.
#10. Disembodiment// Spiral Crypts – One of the death metal albums that really stuck to ribs this year, Spiral Crypts just wouldn’t unstick itself or go away. Disembodiment brings the OSDM hammer down on you with a stinky, putrid sound that rips organs from all the big names to create a shambling monstrosity all their own. It’s Incantation and Autopsy up front, with a vaguely Death-like prog sheen hidden in the back. Yet this won’t impress with techy wanking, because they’re too busy fucking cadavers and eating human flesh. Nasty first wins in the House of Steel, and this shit is gross but so listenable and entertaining. The riffs are slithery, slappy, and powerful, and those vocals are as much like an industrial garbage disposal as you can get without permanent throat disaster. Get yourself some unsanitary napkins and blast this filth really loud. It’s worth the revolting mess.
#9. Helstar // The Devil’s Masquerade – I grew up loving Helstar, and their Burning Star and Remnants of War albums were in constant rotation during my high school years. They’ve had an up-and-down career since 1989’s Nosterfatu, so them hitting their stride again in 2025 on The Devil’s Masquerade was a huge thrill for Yours Steely. Their textbook blend of US power metal and prog burns bright once more, with nods to thrash mixed in liberally for added asskickery as the guitars shred and impress. Vocal legend James Rivera still sounds enormous and powerful, and the songcraft is shockingly good and consistent. Certain moments scream classic Helstar while also hinting at Rivera’s criminally underrated Destiny’s End project, and there are several nods to prime Nevermore as well. The Devil’s Masquerade does the Helstar legacy proud, and it’s easily the best thing they’ve done since Nosferatu. Let this one in for a bite.
#8. Brainstorm // Plague of Rats – Brainstorm have been one of, if not the most reliable metal acts of the last few decades. Album after album brings a muscular, burly blend of classic metal and power, and time after time they kill it with massive anthems and sick hooks you just can’t shake. Plague of Rats follows the great Wall of Skulls and almost equals it in terms of memorable songs and metal magic. Andy B. Franck continues to be one of the best vocalists in all of metal, and when given tremendous songs to work with like “Garuda (Eater Of Snakes),” The Shepherd Girl (Gitavoginda),” and “Beyond Enemy Lines,” you get molten metal gold. The writing is rock solid with several Songs o’ the Year contenders, and the riffs and vocals are a thing of savage beauty. I love these guys more than I love red meat and hobo wine (almost).
#7. Under Ruins // Age of the Void – Formed by members of the highly underappreciated Lansfear and the cheesy King Diamond wannabes, Them,1 Under Ruins bring a polished, super slick form of epic power metal to the party on their Age of the Void debut. What makes their sound so immediate for me is how it ranges from Manowar-esque chest-thumping anthems to massive epic metal like Atlantean Kodex, and on to old-timey prog metal akin to the early days of Fates Warning, with some other interesting stops along the way. It’s enough like Lansfear to hook me in, but Under Ruins operate with a much broader vision and scope. “Whispered Curses, Woe Unleashed” is my Song o’ the Year, full of melancholic emotion but still bringing the thunder in the way vintage Tad Morose and Pryamaze did. The chorus has been ringing through my head all year, and I can’t escape it. Nor should you. Get under these ruins.
#6. Ambush // Evil in All Dimensions – When traditional and power metal are done properly, they can kick your ass and provide a massive jolt of fun at the same time. That’s exactly what Sweden’s Ambush does all over Evil in All Dimensions. Taking equal measurements of trad and power, they craft rip-roaring anthems to thunder, fire, steel, and make sure the hooks are plentiful. I defy you to blast the title track, “Maskirovka,” or “Bending the Steel” and not feel a rush of power in your veins. The riffs are pure 80s magic, and let me just mention Oskar Jacobsson’s vocals, because they are HUGE. This shit is 100% balls-to-the-walls energy; the songs have legs and demand repeat spins. This is one of the most infectious albums of 2025, and I think I may have underrated it a tad. Get your sack to the partition, pronto.
#5. Anchorite // Realm of Ruin – Taking the classic doom template of Candlemass and Solitude Aeternus and injecting it with the burly machismo of trve metal usually works, and in the case of Anchorite’s Realm of Ruin, it works extra hard! Beefy riffs drive the material to epic heights as doomy harmonies decorate the war wagon. Over the top of it all, Leo Stivala delivers strident, commanding vocals to embiggen the spirit. Cuts like the massive “The Lighthouse Chronicles” merge Paradise Lost with Crypt Sermon and deliver emotional doom with a touch of Nevermore’s moody power. Standout “The Apostate’s Prayer” is a top moment of 2025, and Stivala soars to grand heights, carrying the listener along with him, and “Kingdom Undone” brings in a touch of power metal with grand results and a killer chorus. A surprisingly varied and nuanced album, and one of the top doom platters of the year.
#4. Professor Emeritus // A Land Long Gone – Professor Emeritus may have one of the worst names in the metalverse, but their take on trve epic metal and doom more than make up for that oversight. A Land Long Gone is everything a fan of the trve genre could want, with big, bombastic compositions with hooks, bells, and whistles aplenty. This stuff brings the Manowar to the Candlemass recording session, with big loincloth energy adding to the slow-burning doom power. There are hints of Doomsword and Manilla Road along the road to high adventure, and everything is kept sword-friendly and mighty. “A Corpse’s Dream” is one of my favorite songs of the year, and I love the blending of styles they achieve, and “Zosimos” brings in copious Iron Maiden influences to bedazzle the Crypt Sermon-esque doom they deliver with aplomb. This is the kind of Professor I wish I had during my school years, so listen and learn!
#3. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I’ve followed Paradise Lost since 1991s Gothic release, and I stuck with them until they became Depeche Lost circa 2000. I came back when they went metal again, and though none of their third-stage albums floored me, I liked them enough to keep buying what they sold. That pattern changed with Ascension, which is every bit as powerful, heavy, and vibrant as their glory days, while showing a maturity and sophistication even the classics lack. Let me just come out and say it: I underrated this album, and for that, I feel some degree of fault. Ascension plays like a grand tour of the varied Paradise Lost eras, but nothing ends up feeling recycled. “Serpent on the Cross” is a killer opener featuring everything I ever loved about the band, and cuts like “Tyrants Serenade” and “Salvation” are amongst the best songs of their long-running career. Where I originally felt like the back half of the album was less stellar, I’ve come to love the complete package, and I think this is among the best Paradise Lost albums. Olde dogs can still bite!
#2. Fer De Lance // Fires on the Mountainside – Competing with Anchorite and Professor Emeritus for the best trve doom album of 2025, Fer De Lance brought the biggest sword to the warfield. Fires on the Mountainside has it all; massive trveness, battle-ready classic metal, nods to black and Viking metal, it’s all here and ready for action. Take one listen ot the mammoth title track, and you’ll accumulate more back hair in 7 minutes than you did in all of 2025 as the music takes you from Crypt Sermon-esque classic doom on through Hammerheart era Bathory with touches of folk along the way.2 This is music for heroes who laugh in the face of death. When the black metal element comes forward, you get gems like “Ravens Fly (Dreams of Daidalos),” and when they dial down to the epic doom side, you get monsters like “Death Thrives (Where Walls Divide)” where vocal maniac MP Papai goes all in, and channels Lost Horizon’s Daniel Heiman. If you spin this thing and don’t gain 2 inches on your biceps, you have Chronic Untrveness Disorder.
#1. Structure // Heritage – In a year when I was merely whelmed by much of what I heard, Structure came out of nowhere to drop an industrial earth mover of atmospheric doom on my life. The brainchild of Bram Bijlhout (ex-Officium Triste), Heritage finds him delivering a massive treatise on emotionally harrowing sadness and grief, aided by the killer vocals of Pim Blankenstein (Officium Triste, ex-The 11th Hour). Over the 50 minutes of Heritage, the duo drag you to the heart of sadness, loss, and despair as only thoughtful, well-executed doom can. Yet there are faint rays of light and hope in the inky black, mostly in the form of Bram’s beautiful, delicate guitar work, which weaves ethereal magic through the dour, downtrodden material. Heritage is a very dark album, but it’s rife with genuine beauty too, just as life often is. I’ve spun this thing more than any other 2025 release, and it keeps calling me back to its black womb. There’s something truly special here, and you shouldn’t miss out on experiencing it. This is your Heritage now.
Honorable Mentions:
- An Tóramh // Echoes of Eternal Night – Massive, crushing funereary doom with a great sense of atmosphere
- Phobocosm // Gateway – One of the best slabs of oppressive cavern-core death metal you’ll be squished by this year
- Plasmodulated // An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell – One of the oddest and endearing death metal albums of late
- Depravity // Bestial Possession – Brutal, blasting, splatterifying death metal that cannot be contained or reasoned with
- Diabolizer // Murderous Revelations – Fast, brutal, burly death metal that gives no fucks as it activates your dental plan
- Guts // Nightmare Fuel – Groove-heavy death metal with big stoner rock vibes should not work, but it does here
- Black Soul Horde // Symphony of Chaos – Epic heavy/power metal with more hooks than the local meat packery run by I. M. Pinhead
- Starlight Ritual // Rogue Angels – Imagine Lemmy joined Di’Anno era Iron Maiden and wrote some epic shit
- Amorphis // Borderlands – Amorphis return to form in a fan service release full of hooks and classic Amorphy moments
- Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations – Maybe not their best album, but you can’t escape the ear glue of their NWoBHM meets 70s prog rock style
Triumph o’ the Year:
Our little blogworks received a glowing mention in none other than Rolling Stone Magazine, and no one was more surprised than we here at AMG International. It’s nice to see our efforts getting noticed, even in the world of professional music journalism, which we don’t discuss with fans.
Tragedy o’ the Year:
The passing of Ozzy Osbourne. We all knew it was coming, but not this soon. I didn’t expect it to hit me quite as hard as it did, or for the feeling of loss to linger as long as it has. This marks the definitive end of an era and the loss of a Founding Father of metal without peer. At least he went out the way he wanted: with a loud bang and crash. Have a glorious journey into eternity, Ozzman. You will always be missed.
Song(s) o’ the Year:
Under Ruins – “Whispered Curses, Woe Unleashed” – Massive epic goodness with big emotions.
Brainstorm – “The Shepherd Girl (Gitavoginda)” – So damn metal it gives me an iron hangover.
Disappointment o’ the Year:
Dark Angel // Extinction Level Event – What a prophetic album title this was, eh? After 1991s Time Does Not Heal, Dark Angel promised a new album. They promised it while I was in college, then grad school, then law school, during my first marriage, after my divorce, and over the next several decades. When they finally deliver something, and it’s the equivalent of third-rate re-thrash with only vague nods to their original sound, calling it disappointing doesn’t begin to cover it. We received the promo for Extinction Level Event in time to review it, and I was eager to do the job. After one listen, however, I realized the public was going to brutally savage this thing, and I didn’t see the point in adding another head stomp to a band I grew up worshipping. This is now the primary example of why it’s best to leave a legacy safely in the past, where it can live evergreen.
Show 2 footnotes
- Yes, I said that, Grier. ↩
- Yes, there’s a vague hint of Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire” in the chorus, but don’t talk about it! ↩
-
“Don’t give a f#@&”
Note: This post was originally published in a slightly different form on Fritinancy, my Substack newsletter.
*
“DON’T GIVE A F#@&” shouts the headline on a two-page ad in a recent Sunday New York Times. Instead of giving a f#@&, we’re instructed to “give an e.l.f.” — to substitute a three-initial brand name for a four-letter taboo word.
“DON’T GIVE a F#@&.” New York Times, November 2, 2025, page A9. Photo: Nancy Friedman.E.l.f. is a cosmetics brand — the initials stand for eyes, lips, face, and the name is pronounced as an acronym, elf — that calls itself “a different kind of beauty company.” (Where is the entrepreneur bold enough to launch “the same kind of beauty company”?) Founded in 2004 and based in Oakland, California (my hometown!), e.l.f sells its potions online, in U.S. retail chains such as Target, and in brick-and-mortar shops in 17 other countries. The company has partnered with singer-songwriter Alicia Keys on a sub-brand, Keys Soulcare, and recently made headlines for its $1 billion (!) acquisition of Rhode, Hailey Rhode Bieber’s line of “edited, efficacious, and intentional” skincare and makeup products.
How “different” is e.l.f.? Here’s the facing page of that ad:
New York Times, November 2, 2025, page A8. Photo: Nancy Friedman.Translation: Unlike our heartless competitors, e.l.f. cares (“gives a fuck/gives an e.l.f.”) about women in sports, fair trade certification, empowering legendary females (another e.l.f.!), et cetera. It gives so many e.l.f.s about “double-certified cruelty free” that it gives that virtue a double mention.
The campaign took its message to the streets of Manhattan last week, and Breaking and Entering Media was on the scene of the “activation,” to use the jargon-y term:
View this post on Instagram
The corporate website devotes a page — “Impact” — to more details:
GIVE A F#@&. GIVE AN e.l.f..
We give soooo many e.l.f.s — always have, always will.
From changing the board game to amplifying voices —
and donating 2% of annual profits to causes YOU care
about. It’s all in our 4th annual impact report.*
This isn’t the first time e.l.f. has flirted with naughty words. The corporate blog is called “The e.l.f. Word,” which winks at “the F-word.” The “page loading” graphic on the corporate website reads “Let’s Elfing Gooo.” (For more on “let’s fucking go,” see my January 2020 Strong Language post.)
And in 2024, the company launched “So Many Dicks,” a campaign that wasn’t exactly about penises. Its argument was the fact that men named Dick (or Richard, Rick, or Rich) outnumbered women of any name on the corporate boards of publicly traded companies. (Two-thirds of e.l.f’s board members are women.) “We want to normalize diversity — and if it takes some e.l.f.ing in-your-face advertising to do it, we’re happy to put it on some of the biggest screens you can imagine,” the company’s chief marketing officer, Kory Marchisotto, said at the time.
E.l.f. clearly likes to turn its brand name into various parts of speech, which is cheeky and a little risky. (Trademark lawyers will tell you it leads to genericide.) But I want to focus on something else about the current ad campaign, namely: Is it even possible, linguistically, to “give an e.l.f.”? Or a fuck? If it is, how many e.l.f.s (or fucks) can you give? And by the way: How long have we been giving (or not giving) fucks?
*
I’ll take the last question first.
In the fourth edition of his indispensable The F-Word, Jesse Sheidlower traces the original DGAF abbreviation (“don’t give a fuck” = don’t care) to a 1995 Usenet posting. But DILLIGAF — “do I look like I give a fuck?” — is considerably older: Jesse found it in Current Slang, volume 5, number 1, from 1970: “‘D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F.’ or DILLIGAF, n. An irresponsible person. . . . adj. Irresponsible.” The meaning has shifted over the decades to something closer to “indifference” or even “scorn”; The F-Word’s most recent citation, from 2020, concerns a New York City police officer who wore a face mask depicting the Punisher’s skull logo along with DILLIGAF.
As for the other questions, they’re catnip for the contributors (or co-fuckers, as we like to say) here at Strong Language. Linguistic anthropologist Stephen Chrisomalis, for example, tackled the issue of countable fucks back in 2014, under the heading “How many swears can we give?” Stephen’s jumping-off point was a then-popular meme, “Look at all the fucks I give”:
‘Give a damn’, ‘give a shit’, ‘give a fuck’, and other such items are all examples of negative polarity items (NPIs), which are unmarked when they occur in negative contexts. If you’re familiar with the phrase give a fuck, then you don’t need to be told that this is a rephrasing of I don’t give a fuck, because it rarely occurs as a positive polarity item (e.g. I give a fuck about you sounds odd).
(Emphasis added.)
Which would make “Don’t give a F#@&” and “Give an e.l.f.” sound slightly wrong to our ears. In advertising, though, that strangeness can be an asset: It creates just enough friction to be memorable.
Besides, as John Kelly observed less than a year after Stephen published his post, although “I give a fuck” is “not a way we would normally express care,” the expression is increasingly being used for humorous effect. Case in point: “I give zero fucks.” John wrote:
In 2015, giving zero fucks isn’t about not caring per se. Giving zero fucks is about an I’m-over-it ignoring of haters, trolls, and bullies, to draw on some popular vernacular; it’s about leaning in, #beingyourself, having swagger, no more ass-kissing or bullshit-taking. But this is a two-sided fuck, if you will. A zero-fucks approach can have a liberating assertiveness and self-confidence, but it also runs the risk of being heedless, uncompromising, irresponsible, or unfeeling, as Emma Gray smartly warned in her exhortation for us to give more fucks. This is an age-old tension for the individual in society, of course, but one that seems like it’s being more intensely staged in the modern psyche, on Twitter feeds, and American politics.
And in 2019, Ben Zimmer updated the discussion with “New Frontiers in the Giving of Fucks and Shits.” The post includes a spirited music video, “I’ve No More Fucks to Give,” which is the very best sort of earworm.
Probably not, though, for e.l.f., which is very much in the fucks-giving spirit this season. Ho ho ho!
#beingyourself #cosmetics #dgaf #dilligaf #eLF #lfg #mincedOaths
-
Kenstrosity’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Kenstrosity
Well, here we are again! One of the longest, most eventful years in recent memory comes to a close. After all of the hardships my family, friends, and I endured at the end of last year, it was difficult to imagine what life would be like. For quite some time, it took everything in us just to continue our day-to-day existences, to reestablish or refresh our routines, and to build our lives back up. But we had tons of support, and we got through it. In fact, I’d say that we came out of everything with a better understanding of who we are, what we want out of life, and a greater drive to live more fully, more intentionally, and without regrets. Personally, I learned the value of asking more questions, making fewer assumptions, and embracing the mess of being human in today’s world. With practice in these areas, in time, I’ll grow into a better person, a better friend, and a better partner to my loved ones.
Musically, I experienced a bit of a shift. I don’t know exactly when this shift happened, but I could feel my desire for unfamiliar or less-traveled territory build. I desired weird, long, or messy records that called to me on a more personal level above all else. I craved pieces that showcased artists who wrote what they wanted (or needed) to, regardless of what others might think or say. Authenticity, creativity, memorability, imperfection, and artistic integrity became my core values when approaching new music this year.
Aside from all of that, the thing I want to do most is offer my deepest heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s stuck by me and been my support system this year. To Alex, a wonderful and gorgeous man who continually shows me more love, patience, and attention than I ever dared to ask for—and who challenges me to grow with every passing day. To Ally, Thea, Kaja, Ashe, Sophie, Chris (both of them), Sean, Malachi, Brandon, Michelle, and Jeff for being the best meatspace friends a guy could ask for, and who also show me more love than I ever dared to ask for. To new meatspace friends (Jhierry, Adrien, Forest, Logan, Nick, Zach, Brett, Blue, Brian, and Shawn) who further enrich my life with each interaction, I am excited to see how our relationships develop! To my therapist, Clint, who has helped pull me from the brink more times than I can count. To my family, Mom, Dad, and Kathy, I don’t know what I would do if they were not here with me. To Lise and Victoria, who have been and continue to be the best supervisors—and all-around cool, brilliant, creative, and inspiring people—I’ve ever known. To AMG Himself, Steel Druhm, Dr. A. N. Grier, and Sentynel for running the greatest blog on the planet and being an invaluable resource for my continued growth as a writer and contributor. To all of my fellow writers and editors, both active and inactive, who make this blog the wonderland it is and whose contributions and company continually uplift and motivate me. To the readers, our Discord members, and the metal community writ large, we wouldn’t be here without you!
Lastly, I’d like to give a shout to all the bands who released awesome records this year that fought valiantly for a spot on my list/HMs, in alphabetical order: 1914, Ancient Death, …and Oceans, Astronoid, Aversed, Blind Equation, Bodybox, Buried Realm, Cave Sermon, Changeling, Death Whore, Gloombound, The Halo Effect, Havukruunu, Helms Deep, Inoculation, Maud the Moth, Mutagenic Host, Nephylim, Pedestal for Leviathan, Proscription, Rothadás, Sarastus, Serenity in Murder, Structure, Tower, Tribunal, Vittra, Yellow Eyes. Despite these gems losing a place on my list proper for any number of reasons, I know I’ll return to them with great relish.
With all of that said, I invite all of you to bear witness to my absolutely unhinged Top Ten(ish) selections for 2025. May the rabble commence!
#ish. Epica // Aspiral – Epica is my favorite symphonic metal band. It’s no secret. They’ve been at the grindstone churning out quality records for almost 25 years with a remarkably stable lineup, and there’s every reason to expect Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings™ to catch up with them someday. Today is not that day. Aspiral is easily my favorite record since The Quantum Enigma, full of memorable songs and standout performances. It may be hookier and poppier than anything they’ve put out in the past, but accessibility looks great on Epica.
#10. Citadel // Descension – Every time I thought I knew how I felt about this record, I’d go back to it and discover more reasons to love it. Descension follows the same school of melodic death metal with long-form constructions that bands like An Abstract Illusion practice, but there’s a smoky, gothic twist to it that embodies darkness and light as a merged entity. It’s a delicate balance that Citadel treads with grace and athleticism. That feat is what ultimately elevated Descension to my Top 10 proper.
#9. Depravity // Bestial Possession – Depravity really fucked around with my cutoff for list consideration, coming in clutch one week before Turkey Day. But I am the one who found out. Riffs made to break bones and minds alike, Bestial Possession is lean, mean, and bloodthirsty. And yet, it’s smooth, refined, and streamlined. This is the work of a band that understands exactly what they want to write, and knows how to execute that vision with devastating precision. It’s death metal as we know and love it, weaponized for mass destruction.
#8. In Mourning // The Immortal –The Immortal surprised me. I fully expected it to be good. After all, In Mourning haven’t released a bad album to date. But against all odds, they managed to capture lightning in a bottle here, with songs that are impossible to resist and even harder to forget. It represents everything I love about the sadboi side of melodic death without skimping on hooks or on teeth. The Immortal might just be the pinnacle of In Mourning’s career. Who would’ve expected that after 25 years?
#7. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City – In recent years, I often found myself gravitating towards concise, to-the-point records. I wanted hooks. I wanted brevity. I wanted unrelenting intensity. In 2025, that shifted. The long form became my home away from home. Epic yarns and gentle movements brought comfort and warmth to my listening schedule. With The Sleeping City, An Abstract Illusion managed to capture both the intensity I craved before and the sweeping arcs that I look for now. That it is beautiful without compromising either of those traits is nothing short of awe-inspiring. And so, here we are.
#6. Igorrr // Amen – When I look at my Top 10ish, I notice two things. Firstly, a fair number of these selections are, in some shape or form, weird or niche. Secondly, the gaps that separate one album from the other at this point are paper-thin, aside from my AotY. For French wild cards, Igorrr, accessibility ultimately put Amen here with my faves of 2025. Whimsically weird, savagely smart, and wholly unpredictable, Igorrr achieved a buttery smoothness and an unflinching confidence with these 12 absolute bangers that they’ve never shown before. A high-water mark for an act with an established reputation for excellence.
#5. Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria – My relationship with Beyond Obsidian Euphoria followed much the same trajectory as my relationship with its predecessor, Ash in Realms of Stone Icons. I felt confident in my score, then I started doubting its accuracy, then I’d revisit the record and feel vindicated in my original evaluation—rinse and repeat. It’s a vicious cycle, but at the end of the day, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria was always destined for my Top 5. Its epic, sprawling constructs demand so many of my spoons; emotionally, physically, and spiritually. But it gives just as many back, plus just enough extra to compel me to spin it again. It’s one helluva journey, but that’s what makes it excellent!
#4. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World – In the world of symphonic death metal, Qrixkuor is singular. Nobody else sounds like them, and I’m convinced nobody else could. Dramatic, violent, and grotesque, but at the same time possessing a disturbing beauty, The Womb of the World sets a new standard for lushly orchestrated death metal. It’s not for the faint of heart, nor for those looking for a quick fix. But once it’s infected your mind, you belong to it. An album to be feared as much as it is to be adored.
#3. Cam Girl // Flesh & Chrome – Deciding where to slot this was a difficult process for me. The people-pleaser that lives in my brain—who is jacked, devastatingly handsome, and incredibly charismatic—tried to move Cam Girl’s sophomore LP down a couple of notches, purely to protect me from those who would (and likely will) tell me this kind of record is undeserving of such high placement here. But the reality is I don’t fucking want to. Flesh & Chrome is a staggering improvement on Cam Girl’s already winning formula, with an invincible selection of super-sticky and subversive tunes that haven’t left my brain since the first half of 2025. It’s among the most fun records I’ve had the pleasure of covering on this site. Above all, Flesh & Chrome earned its rightful place in my Top 3. So it is, so it shall be.
#2. ByoNoiseGenerator // Subnormal Dives – This was not on my bingo card for 2025. I used to despise everything about ByoNoiseGenerator’s brand of brutal jazzgrind. After spinning Subnormal Dives roughly 10^230049 times in the span of a few short months, with a mind-broken grin plastered permanently on my face, something snapped. It wasn’t a gradual affinity borne of a studious and painstaking process. It was a total, implosive disintegration of everything I held true. The result? BYONG is now one of my favorite bands, and I’ve come to love their previous work, too. Not many albums wield that much power. Subnormal Dives does.
#1. Flummox // Southern Progress – This is easily my biggest surprise of 2025. I never heard of Flummox before seeing this cover art on my Bandcamp feed, and I was thoroughly bamboozled by my first spin. The mix was bizarre, the songwriting highly unorthodox compared to anything I’ve heard this side of Devin Townsend, and Flummox’s refusal to settle into any one style was confounding. Yet, I simply could not stop spinning it. All year long, Southern Progress was my go-to, even on days when I just felt so numb that I didn’t want to listen to anything at all. With that commitment came understanding. Southern Progress is, simply put, a fully realized and inspired work of art, complete with relevant societal commentary. Steeped in messaging that spotlights systematic and social prejudices that plague the queer, and particularly the trans/nonbinary/gender-fluid, community (especially in the American South)—and deftly integrating branched subplots that exhibit the wide-reaching complications that neurodivergence, late-stage capitalism, and religion-based upbringings contribute to that experience—Flummox’s fifth LP greatly affected me on a personal level. More so than any other record released this year, Southern Progress feels important, not just to me, and not just to Flummox. I strongly believe everyone could learn something from this bizarre, wild, and untamable barnstormer and have a blast doing it. For these reasons, and so much more, I gratefully award Southern Progress my 2025 Album o’ the Year. Thank you, Flummox, for this wonderful gift!
Honorable Mentions
- Barren Path // Grieving – Deathgrind never sounded this good, or felt this vicious.
- Bianca // Bianca – The beauty and the beast returns, reimagined and rekindled.
- Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss – Fiercely creative and vividly memorable, this is what happens when artists use neurodivergence and cultural diversity as assets.
- Dagdrøm // Schauder – Passionate melodic black metal for those who are looking for something a bit outside convention.
- Dawn of Ouroboros // Bioluminescence – The best vocal performance of the year meets some of the coolest progressive death songwriting I’ve heard in a minute.
- Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar – The gritty, twisted, sprawling city-dweller with a shady story to tell, and yet it glitters like the purest gold.
- Messa // The Spin – Emotive, sultry, and nuanced doom, compelling enough to seduce even the coldest heart.
- Psychonaut // World Maker – Thoughtful and deeply personal, but still crushingly heavy, post-metal from one of the best acts in the scene.
Songs o’ the Year
- Cam Girl – “Flesh & Chrome” – Simplicity and a curated collection of razor-sharp hooks will win my heart faster than anything else, and few songs this year upheld that virtue better than “Flesh & Chrome.” I haven’t been able to stop singing it to myself literally every single day since I first got my hands on this promo half a year ago, and yet the serotonin production it generates in my burned-out brain almost overwhelms me still. From the white-hot brightness of its lead melodies to the soaring brass of its addictive1 chorus and tight writing, “Flesh & Chrome” just makes me happy. Simple as.
- Citadel – “Sorrow of the Thousandth Death” – I didn’t expect to include this song on my list, but something happened once I started revisiting Descension more often. I found myself completely blown back by the artistry, the expressiveness, and the fluidity exhibited by Citadel’s epic “Sorrow of the Thousandth Death.” This unexpected emotional response completely shifted my perspective on what I was looking for in my Song o’ the Year candidates. Once I contemplated those requirements more deeply, it became clear in short order that “Sorrow of the Thousandth Death” was worthy and then some. Incredible.
- In Mourning – “As Long as the Twilight Stays” – While songs like “Flesh & Chrome” make me happy beyond all reason, others like “As Long as the Twilight Stays” break my bleeding heart. Every time the lyrics “Breathe and open your eyes / When darkness falls, a new dawn will rise / Reveal the secrets you keep / There is still hope as long as twilight stays” pierce through my eardrums, something deep from within my soul surges. That pull, strong enough to rip my heart from its bony cage, and further strengthened by weeping, layered tremolo harmonies, melts me. This is power; it is magic. I am helpless to resist.
- Flummox – “Long Pork” – Southern Progress is swimming in great songs, all of which make a strong claim for inclusion here. Ultimately, “Long Pork” won the blue ribbon for its unhinged songwriting, bizarre vocal acrobatics, harrowing instrumentation, and metamorphic storytelling. The cutting and clever lyrics may seem whimsical at first blush, but the critique they level at humanity’s gross exploitation, not only for the vast overproduction and dysfunctional distribution of food—and the systematic abuse of animals to meet that unsustainable demand—but also to the gluttony of late-stage capitalism and the chasmic wealth divide it perpetuates, sends chills through my nervous system. Sensational!
- Messa – “The Dress” – Of all the great songs 2025 had to offer, “The Dress” was the first one I felt earned a nod here. It is classy beyond all comprehension, sultry and sophisticated without being busy or especially complex. Moreover, it captivates my attention completely. An unqualified success of songwriting prowess, excellence in execution and performance, and spirited delivery, “The Dress” flows between melodies, moods, and modes as mana from otherworldly realms. I would not be surprised if, ten years from now, I still feel its magic as strongly as I do today, immune to the eroding force of time.
Non-Metal Album o’ the Year:
- Lady Gaga // Mayhem – I am absolutely obsessed with this album. I’ve been a fan of Lady Gaga for a long time, but never before did I feel so wholly ensnared by one of her records. This absolute triumph of modern pop explodes with energy, killer hooks, and an unfuckwithable vocal display that makes not singing along to each and every track entirely impossible. Mainstream though it is, Mayhem is a force, and I’ll be listening to it with glee for years to come.
Shakes Fist at Cloud Album of 2025
- Pedestal for Leviathan // Enter: Vampyric Manifestation – There will never be a day when I don’t rue how late I encountered this record, and how lame it felt to realize it had been self-released months before I picked up a December promo for it. It is listworthy, and that I treated it as if it missed my yearly cutoff because of a simple lack of awareness makes me want to shake my fists at the clouds!
-
Paris World Summit of Conscience, International interfaith gathering #3
Not only a political economic or ecological issue but the future of humanity that is at stake.
“Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. It affects us all, but it does not affect us all equally. We have a profound responsibility to protect and assist the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people and to pass on to future generations a planet that is thriving and healthy.”
Continuation of ‘Paris World Summit of Conscience, International interfaith gathering’ #1 & 2
2015, July 21, Paris Why do I care Interreligious meeting
For people who believe in the Divine Creator God and honour and worship Him there is no question that we can keep ourselves at the side and do nothing to change the way the world is behaving at the moment. Jews, Non-trinitarian and trinitarian Christians, Muslims who do know their Holy Scriptures are aware that man has no excuse how he treats the creation of the Most High.
Perhaps people may be a little bit selfish, in a certain way,trying to make a nice living and trying to make a better place for themselves. And it can well be that “Selfishness” does not have to mean being shortsighted and harmful to others, but we all do have to know what ever we do for ourselves may also effect the life of others. Often we find Christians thinking they are the only ones who have an idea about God’s creation and respect it. Some of them, like several atheists may see that man in his position has to play an important role in that universe. They see the dangers of our way of living at the moment. They fear climate change and know we do have something to do against it.
But also people from other religions, like Hindus as Mahamandeshwar Swami Avdeshanand Giri, religious leader of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, India, said they saw climate change both as an existential threat and as an opportunity for renewal.In the afternoon reverend Takayuki Ashizu, Chief priest of Munakata Grand Shrine (Japan) was part of a discussion pannel with Jean-Luc Fauque, President of the Supreme Council of the European Confederation – the Scottish Rite, Rev. Fletcher Harper, Director of GreenFaith (USA), Sister Chan Khong, representative of the Thich Nhat Hanh Community (France), Fr. Dominique Lang, Chaplain of Pax Christi France, Author of the blog “Churches and Ecology”, and Mr Henrik Madsen, CEO DNV-GL, Norway.
Hindu leader Nandita Krishna, who has restored 50 sacred forests, feared that insatiable greed had gripped everyone on earth and this had led to climate change.
“We cannot replicate the environment or create it. Unless we see the divine in creation we will not understand our role and duty as humans,”
she said.
Bishop Nathan Kyamanywa, Bishop of Bunyoro Kitara (Uganda) was in charge of the Keynote addresses of the third plenary.
Bringing the day into its discussion between panelists Dr Vinya Ariyaratne, Director of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement (Sri Lanka), M. Swami Amritasvarupananda, Amma’s representative (India), Sheikh Khaled Bentounes, Spiritual Guide of the Alawiyya Sufi brotherhood (Algeria), M Sailesh Rao, Director of “Climat Healers Initiative for Transformations” (USA), Ms Alina Saba, Environnemental activist (Nepal) and Bishop Frederick Onael Shoo, Founder of the Lutheran Movement for the Environment in Africa (Tanzania).
Guide spirituel de la Tariqa Alâwiyya, Cheikh Khaled Bentounes
Sheikh Bentounes, leader of the Sufi brotherhood Alawiya, urged mankind to carry “a hope of a future”.
Rabbi David Rosen, international director of Inter Religious Affairs “of the American Jewish Committee said:
“Climate change takes place where there is unbridled avarice. It is a symptom of the disease and cry for us to respond. It is the opportunity for humans to rediscover the higher values than materialism and indulgence.”
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians, despaired at humanity’s blindness, but quoted writer Fyodor Dostoevsky saying that
“beauty would save the earth”.
For him as for many others it is clear that scientists and theologians agree that humanity depends on nature. Therefore he made an urgent appeal:
We must accept the moral imperative for action. Religion must also be involved in the crucial question of climate change.”
Mary Robinson, who served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002, as President of the Mary Robinson Foundation- Climate Justice, found it truly inspiring to see leaders at this meeting in Paris from so many faiths and secular traditions, and to hear of their impressive commitment to the simple yet deeply profound message: “why I care”.
She said
Our lived experiences, our religious beliefs and our cultural backgrounds may be diverse – but you are showing that great traditions have a shared sense of morality and fairness, and a collective recognition of the need to act on climate change to protect people and our common home.
For her this is an example of human solidarity at work.
She outlined why she believes that it is this human solidarity that is the key to igniting
global will to act on the climate.The idea of human solidarity is sometimes misunderstood. Some people say that it is a well-meaning moral guideline, but it does not help political leaders to conduct negotiations and reach complicated legal agreements – including those that will be needed to reach a climate agreement in Paris later this year.
and said why she disagreed with this view.
Because if we look past all the complex science, economics, legal arguments and political negotiations which are necessary parts of the process towards a climate agreement, we can see that acting on climate change can be summarised very simply:
we can solve climate change if we care about each other, and if we act to help each other.Passing those two tests is the challenge of our generation, and will decide whether we leave our children and grandchildren a safe world of hope and fairness, or a world where climate change is causing misery and stress.
She spend a lot of time listening to people all around the world, and she thinks that a lot more people care about fairness and our collective future than we sometimes realise.
All across the world, people are witnessing the damage to lives and livelihoods caused by climate change, and are standing up to say that it is time to act.
At the meeting those present have shown the deep level of thinking that underpins why
different people care in different ways about climate action. So she strongly believes that
the first component of igniting climate action is already well underway,and today is a very important milestone in that process.
So perhaps the next challenge is to move from understanding why we must act on climate, to understanding how we collectively overcome the diverse obstacles to action faced by different people in different places around the world.We have to realise that peoples from throughout the developing world have their role to play.
There is no solution to climate change without the developing world. This is because most of the energy supply, buildings and transport infrastructure that has yet to be built will be in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Most of the supply of nutritious food to feed an ever more populous world will come from the same places. And the world’s major forests –
including the Amazon, Congo Basin and the forests of South East Asia – are in exactly the same regions. Energy, transportation, forests, agriculture – these will either be managed in a way that over-uses fossil fuels, locks in greenhouse emissions and damages our world, or in a way that protects people and preserves our natural home.
But energy, transportation and agricultural systems are not abstract concepts.
They are fundamentally about people, and their legitimate desire for development. And despite all the economic models and theoretical blueprints, we still live in a world where
too many people are prevented from making a low carbon development choice. We have to change the reality where poverty means that up to three billion people, mainly women, still cook using dangerous and dirty energy sources – the black carbon that comes from this use of coal, charcoal and wood makes an enormous contribution to climate change
as well as to deaths and ill-health.This is the reason why forest communities must be able to work with others to protect their forests, which was also stated earlier in the afternoon. She also wanted to ad that farmers must be free to find ways to move to more sustainable practices –
together deforestation and agricultural practices are about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions.
Indigenous peoples must be able to continue their traditional practices that help to preserve the innumerable benefits provided by our natural world.
The hundreds of millions of people living in slums across the world need access to affordable, sustainable food and energy – and to be consulted in the world-wide
drive for sustainable cities because they will form the majority of the population that will live in them.For her the whole world needs the people of the developing world to be able to use their innovation and their energy to create a new model of low carbon and equitable development.
Her foundation, which she set up to promote climate justice, summarises this new development model as zero carbon, zero poverty –
and we are certain that we can achieve these dual outcomes with the right kind of international co-operation.
she said.
Though she is also aware that this includes the need for international financing for climate action – not as aid, but rather as part of the collective global recognition that while today’s rich countries built their prosperity from fossil fuels and unsustainable land use, leaders from the developing world are trying to find a way to a more sustainable model of developing without emissions.
The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change provides the platform for advancing this international co-operation – and Minister Fabius and the French Government, as hosts of the Paris climate meeting, have been impressive in their recognition of the need for a mature discussion about the approach to international climate finance.
She ended her speech by reminding us that
we can solve climate change if we care about each other, and if we help each other.
But this possibility will only be realized if concerned citizens, organisations and businesses from across the world build informed, respectful partnerships with those who are willing to lead in the developing world.She is finds it positive that there are many other individuals and organisations who are already thinking deeply about individual pieces of the climate puzzle. Women’s groups. Youth groups. Progressive businesses. Trades Unions. Grass-roots activists. In all countries, rich and poor.
She strongly urged those present to build from this meeting and reach out to all these groups.
If you do, your work today can be the spark that ignites an unprecedented wave of human
solidarity in the cause of climate action. You can gather into a “big tent” those who represent, and understand the lives of, billions of people.
Together, this movement can truly change the world.she said.
On 1st January, 2016, the Sustainable Development Goals become the new development agenda for our world. Many believe we should mark that day with special prayer and
reflection to bring us together as a human family.
Together, we can show the world that human solidarity is not only the domain of religions and human rights activists. Rather it is the golden key that unlocks the collective power of billions of people. Those people can act together to build a more resilient world, stabilise our climate, and create an unprecedented attack on global poverty and inequality.86-year-old Benin writer and politician Albert Teveodjré represented the views of secular thinkers.
“Nature was loaned to us as a place to live. I witness a world of profit at all costs which will ruin the environment and devastate everything. I am very worried. I think I will leave the world with many worries.”
Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, COP21 President, delivered the closing speech at the Summit of Conscience at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council.
Following the informal ministerial conferences on July 20 and 21, which mobilized the international community at the political level, this event will provide an opportunity to address civil society and, beyond that, the public, in order to ensure the success of COP21.The Summit has seen the launch of the “Green Faith in Action” project, a global initiative stemming from a coalition of partners with the objective of rendering pilgrimage destinations of all religious and spiritual persuasions, low-carbon cities resilient to climate disruptions. Three hundred million pilgrims travel to these cities each year.
As I wrote already in an other posting we do have to go “Forward ever, backwards never!” and should not only look for positive constructive dreams, which lead us further to the right path, but should also get more people involved in trying to work and motivate others to work at a balance in our position in creation and to find a good way to live in respect to nature. Let us for some moment think also that “Less… is still enough” and that we can, if we are inventive enough, find ways to still have more than we need, living in Luxury, without damaging nature around us. sometimes it would not be bad to take on ‘A bird’s eye and reflecting from within’. Let us look at what is going on, how we can stop the bad evolution, twist the curve of the negative way and come to a good healthy path for all creatures in the world.
*
The 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place in Paris in December this year. An effective and equitable international agreement will be critical for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature rise to 2 degree Celsius and for supporting adaptation to climate impacts. France, as the host and chair of COP21, is committed to the role of an impartial facilitator for forging an ambitious agreement at COP 21.
ending the day with the speakers handing over the baton to the children
+
Preceding articles:
Paris World Summit of Conscience, International interfaith gathering #1
Paris World Summit of Conscience, International interfaith gathering #2
Climate change guilty of doing too little
Forms of slavery, human trafficking and disrespectful attitude to creation to be changed
Vatican against Opponents of immigration
Mayors from all over the world at the Vatican to talk about climate change
++
Additional reading:
- Stopping emissions will not stop the warming of our planet
- Voice for the plebs
- Temperatures rising
- Science, 2013 word of the year, and Scepticism
- 2014 To remember our Earth
- USA Climate Change Action Plan
- 2015 Summit of Consciences for the Climate
- Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery
- Senator Loren Legarda says climate change not impossible to address
- Burgemeesters in het Vaticaan tegen moderne slavernij en klimaatverandering
- Top van het geweten voor het klimaat in Parijs
- A look at materialism
- Less… is still enough
- Less for more
- Luxury
- Material wealth, Submission and Heaven on earth
- Summermonths and consumerism
- Looking at a conservative review of Shop Class As Soul Craft
- Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world
- Message of Pope Francis I for the 48th World Communications Day
- From Winterdarkness into light of Spring
- Not holding back and getting out of darkness
- Learning that stuff is just stuff
- Why “Selfishness” Doesn’t Properly Mean Being Shortsighted and Harmful to Others
- How to Find the Meaning of Life and Reach a State of Peace
- Forward ever, backwards never!
- A bird’s eye and reflecting from within
+++
Find the main site of this project: Why do I care
+++
Further reading:
- What’s it worth, planet earth, what are you prepared to do?
- Climate change and security: here’s the analysis, when’s the action?
- Latest on Climate Change
- Climate Change; The Burning Question
- Climate Change: New resources for readers
- Phyllis Trible on Genesis 1, Dominion, and Ecology
- Integral Ecology and Respect for Human Life
- Environmental Ethics – Readings in Theory and Application – Fifth Edition
- All is Connected
- Public History Journal Part 5: Human Ecology
- Our Common Responsibility
- Shocking quote from Pope Francis’ new encyclical
- Pope Francis – The earth as our sister
- Pope Francis – He’s not suggesting a return to the Stone Age
- Pope Francis – God calls us to commit to the environment
- Pope Francis – The lack of universal truth has led to environmental and social damage
- Pope Francis – Environmental ethics is social ethics
- Pope Francis – We fool ourselves into thinking nothing will happen
- Pope Francis – Beauty as a politics against consumerism
- Pope Francis – Man thinks he is free as long he is free to consume
- Pope Francis – The current political and economic strategy does not solve the problem
- Pope Francis – When man gives priority to himself everything becomes relative
- Pope Francis – Consumerism level all cultures
- Pope Francis – Consumerism makes the world less rich and beautiful
- Pope Francis – We are one single human family
- If You’re Too Busy to Read Laudato Si, Now You Can Listen to It!
- Laudato Si! and Lifestyle
- On Care for Our Common Home
- Blue Moon and Laudato Si’
- Reflection on Laudato Si by Pope Francis (Part IV)
- Still reading…
- The Pope Hits a Triple!
- Bob Thurman: The Pope Hits a Triple
- Pell hoists himself on his own logic
- The Cut Flower of Creation
- What’s This?
- A Breath of Fresh Air
- Intentional Life
- Little things matter.
- Parishes Respond to Laudato Si’
- So How Cool is Pope Francis?
- Dr. Willie Soon on the Vatican’s repeat of its Galileo debacle
- The Pope Scare: A New McCarthyism Spitting in the Face of Christ
- Thoughts About Elizabeth Johnson’s “Ask the Beasts” after Pope Francis’s Creation-Care Encyclical
- Young climate bloggers lobby their MPs and reflect on Laudato Si’
- The Galilean Shaman and Ecological Conversion
- Sisters & Brothers You Never Knew You Had
- …he would call creatures, no matter how small, by the name of ‘brother’ or ‘sister’
- Earthly Advice from Pope Francis
- Laudato Si
- Hidden Seeds in Laudato Si by Peg Conway
- Papal Encyclical Laudato Si’ and CAFOD’s Petition
- A Special Addu Day for Laudato Si!
- The genius of Laudato Si’ should make us all uncomfortable
- Article by Leonardo Boff on the Popes’s Encyclical
- Catholicism on Economics
- Why Pope Francis’ Criticism of Capitalism Makes Sense
- Of Kings, and Popes, and Abortions, and the Environment
- Boundless Creation
- Quotes, Thoughts, Reflections on Non-dualism, evolution, God, ecology, War and more…
- The Tragedy of The Commodity
- Kingdom of God Stewardship Meet the 50 to 1 Project
- Kingdom Stewardship Meet the 50 to 1 Project
- “Climate Scientism is Made of Green Cheese”.
- Wildflower Wednesday
- Idea for the day on complexity science and a new philosophy for life
- Hope Springs Eternal
- Digital tools for environmental field researchers and citizen scientists.
- Humans
- Human and Biodiversity
- Stanford research finds climate change regulation burden heaviest on poor
- Fantastic George Monbiot quote
- Musicians as activists, and tales from the Clinton White House
- On the Road to Paris
- Climate Change Update: FOCUS 2015 and Preparing for COP-21 in Paris
- COP 21 à Paris en décembre 2015: mobilisations.
- Why CBCP “welcomes” UN Climate Change Conference 2015 [Document]
- My reflections of Rebuilding Justice, London
+++
Related articles
Rate this:
#Africa #AlbertTeveodjré #AlinaSaba #Amazon #Asia #Atheists #CarbonFootprint #CarbonPollution #CarbonEmitters #ChanKhong #Christians #ClimateChange #CongoBasin #DavidRosen #DominiqueLang #EcumenicalPatriarchBartholomew #FletcherHarper #FrederickOnaelShoo #GreenFaithInAction #HenrikMadsen #HumanSolidarity #JeanLucFauque #KhaledBentounes #LatinAmerica #LaurentFabius #MahamandeshwarSwamiAvdeshanandGiri #MaryRobinson #Materialism #Morality #NanditaKrishna #NathanKyamanywa #Poverty #SaileshRao #Selfishness #SheikhBentounes #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #SwamiAmritasvarupananda #TakayukiAshizu #UnitedNationsFrameworkConventionForClimateChange #Universe #VinyaAriyaratne #WorldSummitOfConscienceInternationalInterfaithGathering
-
Bizarrekult – Alt Som Finnes Review By Dr. A.N. Grier
If you know anything about grumpy ole Grier, you know he’s been dry-humping Bizarrekult ever since 2021’s Vi Overlevde. “Dry-humping” might not be the correct term. Maybe passionate lovemaking? Yeah, that’s the stuff. But, in all seriousness, this little band came out of nowhere and has been making waves in such a short time. While the debut had me glued to my seat, the follow-up, Den Tapte Krigen, damn-near bolted me down—to the point that I had to cut myself out of my pants to break free. If that had been the band’s swansong, I would have been just fine for the rest of my life. But Bizarrekult is back to ruin another pair of my pants. Behold! Alt Som Finnes!
Before we begin, let’s explore some of the new additions Bizarre and co. have brought to the table with this new outing. While the general structure of the output remains the same, the approach can vary. Joining the ranks of second-wave Norwegian black metal, Alcestian meloblack, and Enslaved-like intricacies are three guest vocalists: Yusaf “Vicotnik” Parvez (Dødheimsgard), Lina (Cross Bringer, Predatory Void), and Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl, The Arcane Order). I’m not sure whether the songs were created with the guests in mind or whether they evolved during the songwriting process, but each song was made for its guest. Each with a gentle, clean vocal style, you can expect some of the most melodic, gorgeous accompaniment in the Bizarrekult’s repertoire. And besides Sternkopf’s contribution to the closing “Tomhet,” this song is also the first ever to be penned in English. Not that we metalheads have an issue with songs in a country’s native language, unlike the rest of the mainstream poser fucks. But it’s a nice addition.
Alt Som Finnes by Bizarrekult
Alt Som Finnes kicks off with a surprising piece in the form of “Hun.” Mostly surprising in its simplicity and short runtime. Alternating between clean and distorted vocals and ripping blackened riffs, this track only whets the whistle—nothing more and nothing less. Which leaves me wanting more before “Blikket Hennes” slaps the fuck out of me like a cat who hasn’t received its treats. This track has a thick bass, unsettling old-school black metal dissonance, venomous Aldrahn-like growls, and a trudging pace slowed by tar. Then, it collapses into a gorgeous atmosphere as Parvez’s beautiful vocals hit hard and crush the olde ticker like it’s made of parchment.
There are so many reliable tracks that it’s difficult to choose one over the other. That said, “Avmakt” is a beautiful piece with one of the most memorable black metal licks I’ve heard in some time. And not because it’s thrash, death, or any other sort of approach, but because it’s a killer true black metal riff. As the song progresses, the melodies expand like an ever-growing blanket that settles over mountains and valleys, like giants slumbering below the fabric. It’s one of those songs that proves you don’t need the beauty of the clean vocals of “Blikket Hennes” to achieve the same task. While there are others in the same vein as “Avmakt,” “Aversjon” takes it to another level with its influences. Opening with slow-moving melodics and sorrowful sustains, it quickly goes dark, slithering below the Earthly strains like a viper. But, like a miracle at the darkest of times, an uplifting, Alcest-like air breathes over—pushing deep and far, even into Enslaved-esque prog-tivity.
On first spin, Alt Som Finnes is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions that, even though it’s not uncommon for Bizarrekult to instill, leave me completely crippled by the end. Outside of the surprisingly two-pump Chuck that is “Hun,” the rest weave together while many still try to resist the tempting urge to give in and conform to the predictable fabric patterns. Instead, you have a glowing blanket that is also scorched and tattered beyond repair. Though it remains intact, when touched, it feels both gentle and painful at the same time. It’s a conflicting album in its tone but not in its delivery, and the intricacies of this slow burner try hard to topple Den Tapte Krigen from its perch. Who knows where it’ll stand in time, but, regardless, this new outing is a worthy addition to the Bizarrekult family.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
#2026 #40 #Alcest #AltSomFinnes #Bizarrekult #BlackMetal #CrossBringer #Dödheimsgard #Enslaved #Feb26 #Møl #NorwegianMetal #PredatoryVoid #ProgressiveBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMistUndergroundActivists #TheArcaneOrder
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist Underground Activists
Websites: bizarrekult.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/bizarrekult
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026 -
#Day142 of #365HappyDays : #today is #NewCarDay. I picked up my new [to me] little 4x4 this morning. I traded in The Beast - 19yo RAV4 - and bought this Suzuki #Ignis to replace it. It’s a semi-hybrid, weighs about a third as much as the Rav and drinks considerably less fuel.
It tiny compared to the Rav, but oh how I love it so already. I need a 4WD because of where I live and this little beauty is perfect.
-
#Day142 of #365HappyDays : #today is #NewCarDay. I picked up my new [to me] little 4x4 this morning. I traded in The Beast - 19yo RAV4 - and bought this Suzuki #Ignis to replace it. It’s a semi-hybrid, weighs about a third as much as the Rav and drinks considerably less fuel.
It tiny compared to the Rav, but oh how I love it so already. I need a 4WD because of where I live and this little beauty is perfect.
-
Alekhines Gun’s, ClarkKent’s and Owlswald’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Steel Druhm
Alekhines Gun
It’s genuinely surreal to be writing this article. This Gun found his whole life flipped upside down literally on New Year’s Eve, in a new town, a new state, unemployed, and with nothing to do but review. By God’s grace, I’ve managed to find an actual career in my new town, walking into a new industry with nothing on my resume but exuberance and enthusiasm.1 This blog, with its incredible set of writers who inspire me daily, and readership who prove endearing and exasperating in equal measure, has been a rare moment of consistency in a year filled with professional and personal uncertainty. I didn’t get to listen to nearly as many albums as I’d hoped to, thanks to this being such a transitional year for my life, and perhaps in years to come, I’ll look back on this list in annoyance. But for the moment, it stands as a monument of achievement; of personal growth and practical accomplishment, and I’m immensely grateful to every reader and commenter for being along with me on this journey.
My thanks to The Angry One for giving me a second chance in my n00b days when it became clear I didn’t understand the assignment; I hope you don’t regret your choice too much.2 Thanks to the main AMG staff for being so friendly and welcoming, especially Mystikus Hugebeard, Dear Hollow, Twelve, and Kenstrosity. My eternal fealty to Steel for enduring what I imagine was an unbearable amount of stupid questions and formatting issues as I got my sea legs under me, and continue to see how much I have yet to grow as a writer.
And lastly, all my love and an Eternal Hails to my Freezer Freak brethren – Tyme, Killjoy, Owlswald, and Clark Kent. You guys were the best n00b class a guy could ask to come up with, and it has been such a privilege to have been formally writing alongside the four of you this year and call you friends as well as colleagues. Cheers to many more.
#Ish: Phobocosm // Gateway – Late release or no, it only took one listen to know this was something I needed in my life. Unrelenting in its atmosphere and with a tone like being devoured by vampire bats, Gateway doesn’t want for a plethora of oppressive moments and maintains its bleakness with admirable consistency. With interludes that function more like proper instrumentals between the more heavy cuts, Phobocosm rotate between blunt force trauma and existential despair in equal measure, flattening brain marrow with kaiju-sized stomptastic riffs only to throw you haplessly into depressive and gloom-drenched melodies the next. The rare kind of death metal peak for a rainy day, open up the gate and let it take you on a journey you might not come back from.
#10: Ancient Death // Ego Dissolution – Ancient Death is a testimony to why you should always read our foul filter excavations. Boasting a styling of, dare I say, classier old school deathisms with a healthy dollop of melody and chuggathons for days, Ego Dissolution is a mighty slab indeed. Kenstrosity quite correctly heaped praise on this release for its rare tonal fusion of Death and The Chasm, and beyond that, it has excellently implemented clean vocals, subtle synth work to bolster doomier moments, and riffs which transition from bludgeoning to esoteric in a heartbeat. Solos are peak, as all good death requires, atmospheres are coated in muck and mire without being underproduced, and even the instrumental stands out as a solid step in the journey on offer. Ego Dissolution deserves better than being a footnote in the annals of filter history, representing a highbrow slab of quality in mood-setting while still offering up violence at every turn.
#9: Teitanblood // From the Visceral Abyss – These void-worshipers have crafted an album that straddles the line of black, death, and war metal so flawlessly that every trip to their abyss leaves me exhausted and battered, but utterly enthralled. A flawless fusion of riff and atmosphere in equal measure, every ingredient from the militant drumming to the cacophonous vocals is a means to an end, and whether you’re in it more for the former or the latter is entirely irrelevant. Few albums manage to transcend being a collection of tracks into being a completed whole body of work so smoothly, and From the Visceral Abyss does so with blackened bile pouring through pounding through its poisoned veins. Disconcerting in its antagonism yet enthralling in the exactness of its vision, Teitanblood remains an auditory scrying mirror into the deepest pits that we were never meant to gaze upon.
#8: Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar – Goldstar is exactly what I had hoped for after the excessively out-there of their previous release: A more riff-centric album, which only just scales down the weird to let the approachability shine through like bait on the unsuspecting listener. To be sure, the alien Gorguts and Voivodisms remain, but this album takes a flavor similar to Alphaville3 and it builds its progressivism on the bones of licks and riffs which don’t take twenty listens to decipher before their foundation is made clear. Virtuoso musicianship remains at a peak, but as the tagline “Nine Class ‘A’ Songs” suggests, Imperial Triumphant have opted less to overwhelm the listener as much as flex on them, with fantastic results. A great introduction if you’re new to the band, and an enthralling listen for the jazz enthusiast and avant-garde black metal fan alike.
#7: Kalaveraztekah // Nikan Axkan – I underrated this a bit during the initial rodeo. While my complaints about the treble-heavy lack of bottom end remain, this is a masterfully composed record which continues to reveal new moments of wonder with each spin. Riffs designed to evoke thematic atmosphere and crush skulls in equal measure abound (“Nikan Axkan”) while remembering to summon the native beauty of the Aztec backdrop (“Yowaltekuhtli”) with skill. Lurching into Morbid Angel flirtations laced with delightful indigenous beats one minute and having haunting clean vocals drenched with horror and ritualism the next, this album is a whirlwind of a listen, a journey through primal soundscapes and human history meshed with technical prowess and grace. Hopefully someone picks them up soon, as they are well deserving of a bigger spotlight, and if you missed our rodeo on this release (shame on you) then you owe it to yourself to give it a listen.
#6: Labryinthus Stellarum // Rift in Reality – When I was very young, trancecore was one of the first “heavy” sounds I cut my teeth on, and consequently, my earballs feel right at home in these rifts. Impossibly catchy without being so simple as to offend my intelligence, and featuring electronics that have as much diversity and life in them as any guitar tone, Rift in Reality is a testimony that you can make techno and metal work on albums not named The Key. The blackened production stands in sharp contrast to the piercing, cosmic-echo cleanliness of the electronics, which are always spearheading the melodies but never at the cost of the full band’s heft and power. Spreading their songwriting wings a bit from the last release in more intricate melodies, a smattering of breakdowns, and heavier use of cleans has afforded Labryinthus Stellarum more personality than gimmickries, and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
#5: Oskoreien // Hollow Fangs – It’s been a decent year for the more raw elements of black metal, but these fangs poisoned all who stood in their way. Somehow catchy in its simplicity yet not devoid of moving melodies, Hollow Fangs isn’t as much an innovation of the thing as much as the thing done at peak quality and skill. The cold tones reinforce the melancholy on display in the chord progressions, while the occasional leads sound more introspective than meandering despite their lack of raw noodlage. While I agree with the spirit of Owlswald‘s criticisms, I cannot deny that I continue to be drawn to this record despite its warts. Hollow Fangs has managed to set itself apart this year while not doing much out of the ordinary, containing that X factor that finds me reaching out to it over and over again.
#4: Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons – Like all good Blut Aus Nord albums, I had to let this album come to me, but once it did, it shows no signs of letting up. Somehow sidestepping the melodic trappings of the Memoria Vetusta series into something far more hypnotic yet no less deep in scope, Ethereal Horizons places all its stock on triumphant hypnosis. With nods to several chapters towards the band’s era in composition and production alike, the French kings use the building blocks of their dissonant works and claustrophobic atmospheres to construct something liberating and uplifting, with even the momentary bouts of darkness more atmospheric than truly grueling. I suspect we will find Ethereal Horizons to be an important stepping stone for the next chapter of blackened adventure. For now, adjust expectations away from whatever sequel you were hoping for in their litany of journeys and accept the new horizons showing just past the dawn.
#3: Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence – I was an admitted latecomer to the Cryptopsy brand, stumbling upon their excellent Book of Suffering EPs some years ago. Consequently, I’ve been a staunch defender of their modern era even as I dove backward into the classics and peculiarities. An Insatiable Violence smacks with a validation of all my affections, keeping the technical might while continuing to grow in groovy, melodic directions. True, I should have been a tad harder on the production of the drum tones than I was in my initial review, but tough tiddlywinks. From the sky-piercing beauty of the solo in the opening track “The Nimis Adoration” to the bookending body blow of “Malignant Needs,” this album remains a quality offering of the most elite of brutal death. Succinct in length but with twice the riff-to-minute factor, Cryptopsy stands supreme at the top of the more violent end of the musical spectrum this year.
#2: Messa // The Spin – While part of me deeply misses the droning elements and slightly crustier tone of Belfry, there’s no denying the spiritual journey this album takes me on with each listen. The embodiment of a grower, what begins as a somewhat underwhelming (compared to previous efforts) listen slowly unfurls itself to be an excellently realized, meticulously composed release. Look no further than album highlight “The Dress” for riffs that border more on twangy than “crushing” and yet pack the spirit of the doomiest doom in each measure. Vocalist Sara continues to up her harmonization game with double and triple-tracked melodies that reach right into my soul. Though The Spin is relatively light in guitar tone, each listen reveals a weight and power hidden from track to track, and the fantastic album closer “Thicker Blood” instinctively has me reaching out to replay the album as soon as it ends. Truly gorgeous.
#1: Aran Angmar // Ordo Diabolicum – Since plucking this record at random with no prior knowledge or expectations from the pit, Aran Angmar has stuck with me through professional and personal challenges and victories, tragedies and triumphs, in a manner befitting the greatest of Greek black metal. The harmonized leads in “Chariots of Fire” still dwell rent-free in my head, and the wailing clean vocals of the kickoff track “Dungeons of the Damned” still get my blood pumping every time. Excellent for cleaning your impossibly filthy house, working on a long overdue job project, or slaughtering your enemies by the hundreds in equal measure, Ordo Diabolicum is the sound of perseverance rewarded, of effort given and blood shed for a higher purpose, and actually witnessing the payoff with your own eyes. Sidestepping the tropes of evil for something so supremely triumphant is a move that has paid big dividends for this outfit, and while blackened to its core, few soundtracks have encouraged me to keep on keepin’ on like this has. A monstrous record to declare war on whatever oppresses you.
Honorable Mentions:
- Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine – Designed to reduce one’s gluteus maximus into a shape far more concave, this is a youthful release wise beyond its years in bringing the pain and infecting all in its wake.
- Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World – Bringing in an actual symphonic performance has somehow rendered this cavernous sound even more daunting. At once engaging and uncomfortable, this is an album for those who find beauty in the most repulsive of darkened shrines.
ClarkKent
When I first discovered the Angry Metal Guy blog back in 2021,4 it was during a period of transition in my life, as COVID spurred a career transition out of teaching and, eventually, into data analytics. At the time, my metal tastes were limited to more well-known acts like Metallica and Iron Maiden, with forays into Opeth, Enslaved, and Ayreon. Boy, did this blog expand my horizon. Between taking online classes and staying home with my two kids, I devoured AMG reviews and dove into the vast ocean of metal acts that both the writers and commenters introduced me to. And then, when Angry Metal Guy put out the casting call later that year, I was out of a job and always wanted to be a writer, so I thought, Why not? Little did I know this decision would see me stored in a freezer for four long years. Thankfully, when I thawed out last year, it was with four great guys who all kept each other sane during our n00bship: Alekhines Gun, Tyme, Killjoy, and Owlswald. I’m happy to have had their camaraderie and friendship, and I’m stoked that all five of us were demoted to staff writers. I am also grateful to Steel Druhm and Angry Metal Guy for bringing me aboard, despite my horrid taste, and to Dolphin Whisperer and Maddog for their helpful tips and feedback on my drafts. As Steel would say, you guys were gentle, yet brutal, and in the best possible way. With 2025 proving a stressful year, largely due to increasing work demands, listening to promos and writing reviews has proven a helpful outlet. I’m looking forward to an awesome 2026.
#ish. Bloodletter // Leave the Light Behind — While staying true to their melothrash sound, Bloodletter continues to improve in their songwriting year after year. This is easily their best and my favorite thrash record of the year, in a year where not much thrash really stood out to me. The tight songwriting, the energy, and the melodic leads are all top-notch, and this one stands up even after repeated spins.
#10. Wings of Steel // Winds of Time — This was one of my favorite reviews to write in 2025. Not just because the album was big and fun, with big bombastic numbers like the opening song “Winds of Time,” or tight and speedy cuts like “Saints and Sinners,” or ballads like “Crying,” or my song of the year, “Flight of the Eagle.” It gave me the rare opportunity to write fart jokes and the even rarer chance to “steal” a promo from Steel. So many throwback classic metal bands sound like they belong in that older time, but Wings of Steel sound timeless—they could belong in the new and the then all at the same time.
#9. Besna // Krásno — While I’m not typically drawn to post-metal, Besna’s Krásno proves an exception. The harsh guitar tones and vocals provide an alluring contrast with the catchy melodic tremolos. Despite its brief length, this is a surprisingly progressive album. Each song reveals a beauty to Besna’s songwriting and musicianship, and that album art is gorgeous, to boot. I love everything Besna does here, and this proved to be just the beginning of what was a strong start to 2025.
#8. Green Carnation // A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia — I’m glad Doc Grier introduced Green Carnation to me when Leaves of Yesteryear topped his 2020 list. I love this band, and this record is no exception. It has six tracks of pure earworm and ends up being one of the catchiest albums of the year. These guys know how to write songs that make you feel good and want to dance and sing along to. What’s more exciting is that this is the first of a planned trilogy, so hopefully that means we don’t have to wait long for the next one.
#7. Phantom Spell // Heather and Hearth — Heather and Hearth is like a time machine, one taking you back to ’70s era prog. Man, it’s a lot of fun. It’s catchy and bright—a shining beacon amidst a horde of brutal, violent metal. This is packed to the gills with hooks, from spry riffs to feel-good synths to memorable choruses. Metal rarely puts a smile on your face without sounding like cheesy power metal à la Fellowship, but Phantom Spell does it here. Apparently, this kind of bright and cheery metal was just what I needed this year, and it proved a nice summer balm.
#6. Atlantic // Timeworn — When I first listened to this earlier in the year, I just assumed it was the work of an established, well-known band. So it was a surprise to learn Timeworn was actually the debut from a relative newcomer in Callan Hoy. Something about 2025 has drawn me towards these uplifting albums that burst with good feelings and catchy melodies. For the 34 minutes I spend with this, I just get lost in the currents of the tremolos and blast beats and, at least for a moment, live in a world of calm and bliss.
#5. In the Woods… // Otra — This sort of melodic, catchy metal is my kryptonite. In the Woods… plays the kind of songs that get lodged in my brain, and I start whistling them while doing my grocery shopping, drawing funny looks. I’d never heard of these guys until Grier’s review earlier this year, and now I’m thinking maybe I should dive into their back catalog. More worryingly, this is the second album on my list that Grier gave a glowing review for. That means either he actually has good taste, or my taste is just as bad as his.
#4. Oromet // The Sinking Isle — If I had a time machine, I’d go back and rate this one a little higher. This isn’t a “marathon” like some of Bell Witch’s records, nor a piece of crushing funeral doom, nor one that makes extensive use of silence. It is introspective, full of surprises, and melodic. It also came at a period in my life when work was particularly stressful. Playing this helped provide me with some solace and calm as I took in the beautiful compositions. These guys have a bright future ahead of them.
#3. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power — After the misstep that was Infinite Granite, it’s nice to see Deafheaven back to form. I was ready to write them off, but thanks to Doom_et_Al’s impassioned words, I excitedly dove in. I’m glad I did. I now know their form of shoegaze-y black metal is divisive among metal fans (I was clueless about this fact when I first discovered them), but I don’t care, and I still love it. It’s just so easy to get lost in those lush guitar tones and harsh rasps. It’s tough to pick out any one tune as a standout because it’s the experience of the record as a whole that is so rewarding.
#2. In Mourning // The Immortal — This is a remarkable piece of melodic progressive death. I hadn’t heard of In Mourning until Kenstrosity and the other AMG staffers started talking them up ahead of this release. It seems I’ve really missed out and need to fix that. The Immortal is just about perfect. From song craft to musical performances, these guys nail it. From the beautiful guitar tones to the excellent combo of clean and harsh vox to the memorable melodies, The Immortal is an emotional tour de force that grows more majestic with each spin.
#1. Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria — When I first moved away from more mainstream metal acts, it was progressive death bands like Tómarúm that drew me in. Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, Enslaved, and Ayreon opened up my ears to the reward of listening to songs that reveal new layers and depth with repeated listening. Each year, one or two prog death records climb high in my rankings, and this year that mantle belongs to Tómarúm. This record is massive, and the more time I spend with it, the more depths I plumb, and I find that it contains never-ending riches. There are just so many surprises—the technicality, the speed, the melodies—even some flutes! As great as the debut was, these guys have only gotten better and have earned a spot as one of my current favorites in the genre, along with Iotunn and Dvne. This is the kind of album I love to get lost in—it’s pure bliss.
Honorable Mentions
- Empyrean Sanctum // Detachment from Reality — This passion project from Justin Kellerman may not have impressed my Rodeo-mates as much as me, but I strongly connected with it due to dynamic songwriting and inspired performances.
- Skaldr // Samsr — This was initially a lot higher on my list, but it didn’t hold up as well as it did back in January. Still, it’s a remarkable bit of melodic black metal and good enough to rank as among the best of 2025.
- Aephenamer // Utopie — Melodic and symphonic metal with superb songwriting? Sign me up. This latest from Aephenamer is just so dynamic and fun, and it’s another great effort from a reliably high-quality group. The last couple of songs are absolute beauties.
- An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City — This may not be as strong as their older stuff, but it’s still incredibly moving. The introduction of synths charts a new direction for the band, but they make it work with some gorgeous atmospherics.
Songs o’ the Year
1. Wings of Steel — “Flight of the Eagle” 2. Lord of the Lost — “One of Us Will Be Next” 3. In the Woods — “Let Me Sing” 4. Hanging Garden — “Morgan’s Trail” 5. Fer de Lance — “Fires on the Mountainside” 6. Tómarúm — “Shed this Erroneous Skin” 7. Green Carnation — “In Your Paradise” 8. Structure — “Will I Deserve It?” 9. Atlantic — “Voyages” 10. In Mourning — “Staghorn” 11. Dolven — “You’ve Chosen”
Owlswald
I’ve finally made it to the end of my first year on staff, culminating with my inaugural list. This time last year, I was deep in the throes of my n00bdom and watched from the dark confines of the dungeon as many of my Freezer Crew brethren shared their initial staff lists. And as stoked as I was for my mates, I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous that I was still toiling with cleanup detail as an unnamed shadow. But the wheel of ascent turns for us all. After a few more months surviving on table scraps and standing water, our Managing Ape unlocked my cage, releasing me at last into the aviary and the promised start of my pledged service bound labor.
Though my escape from the rookery took longer, that extended time was not without its merits. Reviewing is a skill that must be honed like any other, and although metal—and music generally—has been an essential part of my life since I was young, it has admittedly taken longer for me to truly articulate the “why.” Anyone can declare an album “good” or “bad,” but developing and communicating the rationale is an entirely different discipline. A discipline that I believe I have improved over my first year as a writer here, and one that I look forward to developing further with more time in the seat.
My thanks go out, first and foremost, to Steel and AMG Himself for granting me the opportunity to contribute to this very special, longstanding community and for the monumental trust they have placed in me. Specifically, the trust that I wouldn’t utterly trash the place—a faith I’ve done my best to test (More on one attempt below). I must also thank my fellow writers—both old and new, including those now in the annals of AMG—who I’ve read for years and whose work continues to inspire me. And last, but certainly not least, I thank all of you who read, comment and visit the site regularly. The reality that my thoughts command even a sliver of your precious time remains utterly surreal. For that connection, I am truly honored.
Taking this good energy and running with it, let’s get to the list!
#ish. Harvested // Dysthymia – I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me at the start of the year that my first list would be kicked off by an unsigned band. But here we are, and Harvested’s self-released debut, Dysthymia, deserves the honor because it fucking rules. Operating in the sweet spot between Decapitated and Cattle Decapitation, the album boasts one of the best guitar tones of the year. These Canadians flaunt a songwriting maturity that many veteran groups twice their age still haven’t found—a sound that is as bone-crushingly heavy as it is technically brutal. I have been spinning Dysthymia regularly since its release, and highlight tracks like “Unending Madness” and “Gathered and Deluded” make primo Heavy Moves Heavy additions.
#10. Jade // Mysteries of a Flowery Dream – Some albums demand the right conditions and the listener’s utmost attention to enjoy fully, and Jade’s Mysteries of a Flowery Dream is such a record. Though it took a while for their sophomore effort to envelop me in its dark, murky, and oscillating guise, I’m glad I remained patient because the payoff was huge. This Barcelonian quartet has created a sensory-rich listening experience that is as immersive as it is complex and dynamic, featuring superb songwriting intertwined with recurrent themes and soaring leads that ensure the album’s 43 minutes feel unified and purposeful. Achieving this level of cohesive, complex dynamism is a feat that is incredibly hard to execute well, which makes Mysteries of a Flowery Dream all the more impressive.
#9. Pillars of Cacophony // Paralipomena – Each year, one tech-death record usually carves out a spot on my list. Last year, Apogean’s Cyberstrictive set an incredibly high bar, taking album of the year honors with its near-perfect blend of hook-laden guitar maneuvers and groove-focused rhythms. While tech-death won’t be repeating as champion in 2025, Pillars of Cacophony are nonetheless representing the genre in a major way with Paralipomena. The album showcases multi-instrumentalist Dominik’s talents in crafting unsettling, unpredictable soundscapes filled with propulsive fretwork, dissonant phrases, and kinetic rhythmic patterns. Drawing directly from Dominik’s own research as a bioscientist, Paralipomena coils science with the aural might of death metal to create a record that is as conceptually authentic as it is musically captivating.
#8. King Witch // III – Doom—and more specifically stoner—has always been hit-or-miss to these ears. But on III, Scotland’s King Witch grabbed the best parts of the genre and compressed them into a Seattle-made mold of hard rock and grunge that immediately won me over. The album is the culmination of the group’s artistic evolution, combining the strong songwriting of their debut with the dynamic shifts of their follow-up. Guitarist Jamie Gilchrist and bassist Rory Lee assemble a sophisticated foundation of earthmoving, genre-bending riffs that perfectly augment the star power of vocalist Laura Donnelly, whose Chris Cornell-like range and Janis Joplin grit give the material undeniable power and command. The result is a sound that elevates III far beyond typical doom boundaries into one of the year’s best records.
#7. Agriculture // The Spiritual Sound – I initially missed Agriculture’s self-titled debut and follow-up EP, so The Spiritual Sound was my first introduction to this Californian black metal outfit. But after months of having this record on constant rotation—and seeing their live show—I can confidently conclude they are one of the most innovative and unique black metal groups operating right now. Self-dubbed as “ecstatic black metal,” Agriculture shatters convention by challenging the dark extremity of the genre with a patchwork of math rock, shoegaze, noise, and folk influences. Powered by Leah Levinson’s manic, shifting vocals and inventive guitar work from Dan Meyer and Richard Chowenhill, The Spiritual Sound is a genre-defying record that is both unpredictable and intensely authentic.
#6. Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence – Outside of my admiration for fellow drummer extraordinaire Flo Mounier, I have to admit that I had more or less forgotten about Cryptopsy after 2012’s self-titled album. Thanks to my fellow Freezer Crew brother Alekhines Gun, I gave them another go, and An Insatiable Violence hit me like a ton of bricks, forcing me to quickly figure out how to start begging these Canadians for forgiveness. From Matt McGachy’s unique, manic screams to Mounier’s pummeling gravity blasts and double-bass to Christian Donaldson’s “waltz-rooted chuggathons” and fret noises, every aspect of An Insatiable Violence is crystal clear, full of groove and hits like a fucking tank. Needless to say, I won’t be making the same mistake twice, and these death metal legends now have my full attention again.
#5. …and Oceans // The Regeneration Itinerary – Being a longtime fan of these multifarious Finns, I rejoiced when they returned from an extended hiatus in 2020 with Cosmic World Mother. Yet, as strong as that album—and follow-up As in Gardens, So in Tombs—was, it didn’t have the same symphonic and eclectic oomph as The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts or The Symmetry of I – The Circle of O. Much to my pleasure, The Regeneration Itinerary is a riveting return to form for …and Oceans, returning to their symphonic, frenetic and blackened sound of yore while maintaining the incisiveness of their modern form. This album is peppered with their classic trademarks, and “Prophetical Mercury Implement” is the best song the group has written in decades. After taking a couple of albums to get their groove back, The Regeneration Itinerary is evidence that …and Oceans has found it again.
#4. Messa // The Spin – Messa’s fourth full-length marks the second doom record on my list (and the second led by a badass frontwoman). On The Spin, Messa continues to evolve their progressive identity, imbuing their sound with flavors of 80’s dark post-punk and gothic rock that evoke the haunting architecture of early Killing Joke. While Sara’s vocals may not possess the same boisterous power as Laura Donnelly’s, her spellbinding presence and seductive delivery make The Spin simply irresistible. Guitarist Alberto complements Sara’s bewitching and buttery croons with sparkling arpeggios and overdriven solos steeped heavily in the classic occult groups of the ’70s. It’s clear Messa is operating on a completely different level than their peers, and I can’t get enough of The Spin.
#3. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – You always remember your first. Buried Realm’s The Dormant Darkness was my first full review on staff, a record that I am forever grateful Twelve decided to waive his seniority over and allow my newly-clipped wings to review because it ended up surprising the hell out of me. Josh Dummer’s technical melodeath project came out firing on all cylinders with its third album, upping the virtuosity with a slew of new guests. It is full of highlights, memorable hooks, and technically impressive solos and is a non-stop blast. In fact, I loved The Dormant Darkness so much that I committed the cardinal sin of breaking the score counter immediately—an action that can quickly get one thrown into the woodchipper of despair. Luckily, I am still here to tell the tale, and now I have my love of The Dormant Darkness to show for it.
#2. Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria – If there was ever a year for me to look for a #1A/#1B scenario, this would have been it, as I floundered back and forth between this album and my #1 pick. Chalk it up to indecision or whatever you must, but ultimately, one can’t go wrong with either in this instance. In short, Tómarúm’s Beyond Obsidian Euphoria is long-form progressive death metal greatness. Razor-sharp technicality, sparkling melodicism, and excellent songwriting form a weighty spirit that counterbalances crushing heft with airy refrains that move and flow seamlessly across its rewarding 70-minute runtime. There isn’t much more I can say here that Sponge-fren Ken‘s aptly penned review didn’t capture already, outside of stating that Tómarúm‘s opus is as close to perfect in both structure and execution as one can get. To put it simply, it’s a triumph.
#1. In Mourning // The Immortal – Speaking of perfection, In Mourning have achieved such a standard with their latest melodeath offering, The Immortal. After our Almighty Overlord listened to The Immortal following the flurry of votes the record received for August’s Record O’ the Month, he responded with a few choice words that captured my thoughts about the album succinctly: “Damn…” he said. “They nailed this. Well, that’s easy.” But I think that is even an understatement for how incredibly awesome this album is, and, doing one better, I don’t think many have grasped it yet, either. With their seventh album, these Swedes have found the perfect combination of their patented Opethian death metal chuggery, sadboi melodies, and creative dynamism, resulting in a sound rich in emotional depth with more digestible hooks than one can handle. I’m talking hooks—both riffs and vocal melodies—that dig deep into your psyche and never let go. They connect on a different level—a telltale sign we’re dealing with a classic. A decade from now, when In Mourning has hopefully amassed an even deeper discography, should the question arise—”What is the most essential melodeath album of the last ten years?”—I’m willing to bet The Immortal will be the resounding answer.
Honorable Mentions
- Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine – I miss Edge of Sanity with a passion, but Mutagenic Host’s The Diseased Machine is helping stem my longing—at least temporarily. These newcomers kicked off 2025 with an absolutely filthy dose of death metal that hasn’t stopped invading my playlist.
- Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence – While 2019’s Walk Beyond the Dark was one hell of a record, A Void Within Existence may very well surpass it. Drummer Mike Heller codifies the attack, as Ken Sorceron and company unleash an all-out assault of crushing weight and unrelenting groove.
- Bianca // Bianca – Despite its late arrival hindering its consideration for a higher ranking, these Italians clearly have something special brewing with their self-titled debut. An enchanting mix of ethereality and chilling blackened soundscapes that is worth hearing immediately.
- Ambush // Evil in All Dimensions – Heavy metal group Ambush lived up to their name when they absolutely ambushed my ears and eyes with their nostalgic blend of 80’s Maiden, Priest, and Helloween, replete with their oh-so-tight fashion. Vocalist Oskar Jacobsson is poised to be the genre’s next colossal talent. Remember—you heard it here first.
- Fallujah // Xenotaph – Following the heavily criticized 2019 effort, Undying Light, it took six years for these tech-death masters to regroup and recalibrate. But Fallujah delivered a massive surprise with Xenotaph, easily one of their strongest—and best sounding—records to date. Here’s to hoping this reinvigorated momentum holds true.
Song o’ the Year
Ambush // “Bending the Steel” – This surprise pick eventually knocked …and Oceans’ “Prophetical Mercury Implement” from the top spot. It’s a brilliant piece of songwriting that would have immediately launched this act to superstardom had it only been released four decades earlier. 100% nostalgia and cold, hard steel.
#AndOceans #2025 #AbigailWilliams #Aephenamer #Agriculture #AlekhinesGunS #Ambush #AnAbstractIllusion #AncientDeath #AranAngmar #Atlantic #Besna #Bianca #BlogLists #Bloodletter #BlutAusNord #BuriedRealm #ClarkKentSAndOwlswaldSTopTenIshOf2025 #Cryptopsy #Deafheaven #EmpyreanSanctum #Fallujah #GreenCarnation #Harvested #ImperialTriumphant #InMourning #InTheWoods #Jade #Kalaveraztekah #KingWitch #LabryinthusStellarum #Lists #Messa #MutagenicHost #Oromet #Oskoreien #PhantomSpell #Phobocosm #PillarsOfCacophony #Skaldr #Teitanblood #Tómarúm #WingsOfSteel -
Dvm Spiro – MMXXVI – Grave Review By Thus Spoke
As is perhaps unsurprising for a doom act, Dvm Spiro appear to have a preoccupation with death. The subtitle of their debut, MMXIX – In Frigidum Lectum is Latin for In a Cold Bed—presumably an allusion to one’s grave—and now, sophomore MMXXVI – Grave states that concept explicitly. This legacy in misery actually extends further into the past, as three of Dvm Spiro’s four members also play in longstanding Italian doom outfit Nihili Locus. With this kind of doom pedigree, the promotional references to legendary artists My Dying Bride, Funeral, and Shape of Despair feel promising and are apt insofar as the core vibe goes. But there are far more sides to Grave than these clickbait comparisons can capture, and it’s in these that the record stands or falls.
Grave is funeral doom, broadly categorized. It borrows plenty from a cavernous and malevolent doom-death on the one hand, and an almost post-doom ambience on the other. Rather than any of the actual touchstones mentioned, it is Ahab that Dvm Spiro’s music seems to channel most strongly and frequently, the particular rhythm and tone of warm liquid plucks and an intruding sinister melody—combined with the crushing heaviness either side—reminding me in particular of Call of the Wretched Sea (“Indistinta Morte,” “Insoluto D’Anima”). There are also a few hints of the aforementioned Funeral (“Troppo Lente Scendono Le Tue”) and Endonomos (“Dissentimento”). In general, Dvm Spiro largely eschew that grandiose transcendence of synth-forward funeral doom and tip the melodic scales away from mournful beauty in favor of a more unsettling dissonance or uncomfortable modal shifting. There are still majestic, mellifluous moments, but Grave seems intended to trouble its listener more than anaesthetise or provide catharsis.
It’s this subversion of aesthetic expectations that gives Dvm Spiro and Grave their character. On paper, the vocal dynamic between female cleans and male harsh vox in the context of doom suggests an ethereal Beauty-and-the-Beast dichotomy—à la Shape of Despair or Draconian. But Dvm Spiro don’t play into the trope so neatly, elevating tension with multifaceted performances from both vocalists. Valeria De Benedectis’ singing carries some of the record’s most beautiful moments (“Indistinta Morte,” “Troppo Lente…”), but also some of the most discomfiting as her voice lapses into haughty, ardent repetition (“Indistinta Morte”) or turns sharply into a malevolent tone (“Preludio,” “Dissentimento”). Roberto Ripollino’s growls join her sometimes for an undeniably powerful duet of opposites (“Dissentimento”) but so too do Maurizio DeMichelis’s raspier snarls (“Troppo Lente…,” “Insoluto D’Anima”), creating a blunter, less perfect contrast that jostles the emotions. Pianos, strings, and guitars alike flow, strum, and weep with pathos for a phrase (“Troppo Lente…”), a rare rise above the gloom (“Preludio,” “Dissentimento”), or a dreamlike intro (“Indistinta Morte,” “Insoluto D’Anima”); in these moments, you could almost believe you’re in the more comforting, less real world of another, prettier doom. Grave, however, has other designs, shifting into discordance or another key, dropping a strange tritone and an accompanying guitar chord (“Preludio,” “Indistinta Morte,” “Troppo Lente…”), forcing you to confront the negativity.
Grave is thus striking, but not always in a way that works. I couldn’t and won’t argue that metal of any kind must be an unchallenging listening experience, but Dvm Spiro’s choices sometimes go beyond adding nuance and approach confusion. The modulations can be too jarring (“Preludio,” “Insoluto D’Anima”), songs too long without meaningful builds (“Indistinta Morte”), and prevarication around structures and refrains sometimes frustrating (“Troppo Lente…”). There is both too much and too little happening for the album’s epic 75-minute length to maintain the coherence and magnetism that might be added with more flowing compositions that committed more firmly to a sinister dissonance or uplifting pathos through each successive movement. And so multifaceted passages tend to distract, and extended sections pull back the progression of compositions, rather than drive it onwards.
Let it not be said that Grave is thereby a weak record. Its brilliant moments of both harmony (“Troppo Lente…”) and malevolence (“Indistina Morte”) shine and prove Dvm Spiro capable of magnificence in both aspects. There is a peculiar power in the subtleties and variance of their melodic and compositional approaches that may resonate more with some listeners than others. As a whole, it doesn’t possess the magnitude or the mystique to fully envelop right now. Perhaps its strength is far more insidious.
Rating: Good
#2026 #30 #Ahab #DeathDoom #Doom #DvmSpiro #Endonomos #Funeral #FuneralDoom #ItalianMetal #Jan26 #MMXXVIGrave #MyKingdomMusic #NihiliLocus #Review #Reviews
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps
Label: My Kingdom Music
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: January 16th, 2025 -
Not Quite Kafkaesque – All Atmosphere, No Gravity, All Symbol, No Substance: On Reading Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore
March 25, 2026When Surrealism Forgets the Human Center
There is a peculiar kind of disappointment that arrives not with anger, but with a shrug. That was my experience reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, coming right after Norwegian Wood, which, for all its melancholy excesses, at least held together as a recognizably human story. Here, the seams are not just visible. They are the point. Or perhaps they are meant to dissolve altogether. I am not convinced they do.
The novel disperses itself almost immediately into two narrative streams. One follows Kafka Tamura, fifteen, self-exiled, self-mythologizing, carrying an Oedipal prophecy like a private curse. The other trails Nakata, an old man whose cognitive simplicity masks something like metaphysical permeability. Their paths gesture toward convergence, though not in any way that satisfies the ordinary appetite for causality. This is not negligence. It is design. Still, design does not always translate to engagement. I kept reading, yes. But often out of habit, or perhaps out of a faint hope that coherence would eventually coalesce from the fragments. It rarely did.
Kafka himself, for a protagonist, feels curiously sealed. He speaks with an interiority that seems pre-assembled, as though he has read too many books about alienated boys and decided to become one. That may well be the point. A constructed self, performing its own narrative. Yet even that awareness did not make him more interesting to me. He remains distant, almost airless, even in moments that should carry emotional charge. His flight from home is framed as a coming-of-age, but it is less a transformation than a prolonged suspension. Things happen around him, through him, sometimes to him, but seldom because of him in any psychologically persuasive way.
Nakata, on the other hand, is meant to charm, or at least to disarm. His conversations with cats should have delighted me. I love cats. I wanted to be delighted. Instead, those passages felt oddly inert, as though the whimsy were being insisted upon rather than discovered. And then there is that scene. The grotesque violence inflicted on the cats. It arrives with such lurid intensity that it fractures whatever fragile enchantment the novel had been attempting to build. I did not find it profound. I found it unbearable. Not in a way that deepens the work, but in a way that made me recoil from it. I nearly closed the book. I considered, briefly, not returning to it at all.
And yet I did return. Because Murakami can write. This is the maddening part. The prose is smooth, almost frictionless. Sentences carry you forward with a quiet insistence. Even when the content fails to grip, the texture of the writing persuades you to continue. There is a kind of narrative hypnosis at work. You keep turning the pages, not out of urgency, but out of rhythm. It is like listening to a piece of music that does not move you emotionally, yet is structured so elegantly that you cannot quite stop listening.
Speaking of music, the references scattered throughout the novel were among the few things that genuinely engaged me. Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven. These are not mere ornaments. They function as tonal anchors, moments where the novel briefly aligns with something outside itself, something I could latch onto. There is a certain pleasure in recognizing these names, in recalling the music, in letting it echo against the text. Perhaps that says more about me than about the book. An admission, maybe, that I was searching for footholds wherever I could find them.
Murakami’s narrative logic operates less like a chain and more like a constellation. Events do not follow one another so much as they resonate across distance. A raining of fish, a talking cat, a forest that feels less like a place than a threshold. These are not meant to be explained. They are meant to be accepted. Or, more precisely, they are meant to be lived through as one would live through a dream. The problem, for me, is that dreams are compelling when they carry an emotional truth that persists even after the details dissolve. Here, the details linger, but the emotional truth remains elusive.
Fatalism saturates the novel. Kafka’s prophecy, delivered by his father, hangs over everything with the weight of inevitability. You will kill your father. You will sleep with your mother. You will sleep with your sister. It is an inheritance of doom, a script that Kafka both resists and fulfills. Or believes he fulfills. The ambiguity is deliberate. Did he commit these acts, or did he merely dream them, imagine them, internalize them to the point where the distinction no longer matters? Murakami seems less interested in the factual answer than in the psychological condition of believing oneself bound by fate.
There is also the matter of the title, which invokes Franz Kafka and, with it, a very particular expectation. “Kafkaesque” is not merely a synonym for strange or surreal. It suggests a precise texture of experience: the claustrophobia of opaque systems, the slow suffocation of the individual under incomprehensible authority, a logic that is internally consistent yet fundamentally hostile to human understanding. It is dread sharpened by bureaucracy, anxiety given form through labyrinthine rules that cannot be mastered, only endured. Murakami’s novel, for all its dreamlike qualities, does not quite inhabit that space. Its surrealism is softer, more ambient, less punitive. The world of Kafka on the Shore does not trap its characters in the same merciless machinery; it lets them drift. Even its violence and its omens feel diffused, unmoored from the kind of existential pressure that makes something truly Kafkaesque. The title gestures toward that lineage, but the novel itself never fully delivers on it.
There is something almost Greek about it. Not in structure, but in sensibility. The idea that one cannot escape what has been foretold, that every attempt at avoidance becomes a step toward realization. Yet unlike Greek tragedy, where the machinery of fate is stark and inexorable, here it is diffuse, almost vaporous. Omens appear, but they do not compel. They suggest. They whisper. The characters move as though guided by an unseen current, yet they also drift, hesitate, double back. Fate, in this novel, is not a straight line. It is a fog.
The sexual elements complicate this further. They are not incidental. They are central. Kafka’s encounters with Miss Saeki, with Sakura, are charged not just with desire but with the possibility, or the fear, of incestuous fulfillment. Miss Saeki, in particular, exists in a kind of temporal dislocation. She is both the woman she is and the girl she once was. Kafka’s attraction to her is entangled with memory, with projection, with the spectral presence of a past he never lived. Their relationship resists easy categorization. It is tender, in moments. It is also deeply unsettling.
The age difference cannot be ignored. A fifteen-year-old boy and an older woman. There is a cultural and literary context in which such dynamics are often treated with a certain permissiveness, especially when filtered through a male gaze. But reverse the genders. Imagine Miss Saeki as the minor, Kafka as the adult. The reception would be entirely different. The discomfort would not be aesthetic. It would be immediate, moral, perhaps even outraged. This asymmetry reveals something about how we process narratives of desire, about whose vulnerability is foregrounded and whose is obscured.
Murakami does not sensationalize these scenes. That is to his credit. They are written with a kind of restraint, a quietness that avoids cheapness. But restraint does not neutralize implication. If anything, it intensifies it. The lack of explicit judgment leaves you alone with the material, forced to navigate it without guidance. I did not find clarity there. Only a lingering unease.
And perhaps that is the point. Not clarity, but unease. Not resolution, but suspension. The novel refuses to settle into a single mode. It is part coming-of-age, part metaphysical inquiry, part surrealist exercise. It gestures toward meaning without ever quite delivering it. For some readers, this is precisely its strength. The openness, the interpretive freedom, the invitation to construct one’s own coherence. For me, it felt less like freedom and more like absence. An emptiness where something should have been.
Still, I cannot dismiss it outright. There are passages of real beauty here. Moments where the language, the imagery, the rhythm align in a way that feels almost luminous. A sentence will catch you off guard. A description will linger. Murakami knows how to create atmosphere, how to sustain a mood, how to keep you inside a particular emotional register even when the narrative itself feels diffuse.
So I am left in a peculiar position. Admiring the craft, resisting the content. Turning the pages, yet rarely feeling compelled by what I find on them. It is one of those books where you acknowledge the author’s control, his precision, his ability to orchestrate a complex structure, and yet you remain unmoved by the experience as a whole. A kind of aesthetic respect, divorced from genuine engagement.
Maybe that is enough for some. It was not quite enough for me.
And yet, I read it to the end.
That, perhaps, is its own kind of testament.
#bibliophilia #bookReview #books #fiction #HarukiMurakami #JapaneseLiterature #KafkaOnTheShore #literature #novels #reading