#full-of-hell — Public Fediverse posts

DC deathgrind ensemble No/Más formed almost a decade ago, pumping out a split, two EPs, and a full-length between 2017 and 2022. Four years later, No/Más assails 2026 from the jump, touring with Exhumed and Oxygen Destroyer as well as crackin’ skulls with their sophomore effort, No Peace. Stylistically similar to their debut Consume/Deny/Repent, No Peace offers listeners twenty-two minutes of throat-punching, toe-stomping aural hooliganism that’s as charming as it is confrontational. Does No/Más’ boisterous, acerbic approach leave listeners with a tolerance for their hijinks, or will they leave No Peace thinking, ‘no thanks?’

While No Peace manifests many upgrades from their (admittedly good) debut, the biggest win might be that No/Más firmly institutes their identity. The change isn’t drastic, and No Peace is a natural progression from Consume/Deny/Repent, but the sophisticated onslaught supplied on this sophomore sweep oozes with sneering confidence. Following in the footsteps of Nails, No/Más balances grindcore, death metal, and hardcore/crust tendencies with playful intelligence, weaving together Full of Hell’s caustic bite, Napalm Death’s thuggish simplicity, and Jungle Rot’s warped melodicism into a densely packed third of an hour. And if those touchstones aren’t enough, No/Más unleashes Sepultura-informed grooves and a slow leak of Pro-Pain into their secret sauce. Not to fret, though, because despite all the influences, No Peace presents as a unified vision, and one that will rouse languid listeners into a frothing fancy.

No Peace by NO/MÁS

No/Más’ instrumentation on No Peace sets a high bar with energetic performances, snapping necks with whiplash-inducing riffs and a license to thrill. Joe Vasta’s bass bounces and chugs with in-your-face rumbles throughout No Peace (“Abolition,” “Cycle of Sacrifice”), wielding a thick, surly tone that’ll rabbit punch you into head-banging if you’re standing still. Drummer Henry Everitt wallops the skins hard enough to rattle your ear bones, battering with furious fills (“Abolition”) and dropping to half-time backbeats (“No Peace”) as songs demand. It’s not all about the beatdowns, though, as No/Más injects a welcome helping of melody into No Peace. John Letzkus’ guitar slices through the faff to drench the album in a satisfyingly saturated buzz (“Act of Killing,” “Spineless”), though he also takes the reins and dazzles with efficient, arpeggiated leads (“Leech”) that I wish appeared more. Vocalist Roger Rivadeneira rounds out the quartet, shouting, growling, and screeching in a varied attack that demonstrates a willingness to experiment that was largely absent from Consume/Deny/Repent. In total, No/Más fires on all cylinders throughout No Peace, and never gives you a moment to come up for air.

With only twenty-two minutes on tap, No/Más leaves no room for inessential slop. And besides the half-minute intro flush with wall-of-sound static and indistinct yelling, they wildly succeed. As you’d expect from any decent grindy endeavor, no song pushes past its distilled essence, staying just long enough to rip and bludgeon before getting the fuck out of the way for the next track to exact its toll. No song eclipses the three-minute mark, and each exudes a rabid savagery that seethes with conviction. Additionally, No Peace sounds great—sure, the dynamic range scores low, but it’s exactly how this brand of overstimulating ass-kicking should sound. It’s well-mixed, abrasive, and highlights the rhythm section without sacrificing the sparse six-string fortitude. I wish there were a few more songs like “Leech,” partly because No/Más excels with the tunefulness, but also because I think it would address the biggest opportunity with No Peace—the compact composition allows little room for songs to establish unique flavors, leaving them to sometimes blur together. In the end, though, this is only a minor quibble, and there are many great moments to appreciate.

No/Más hasn’t redefined the DNA of deathgrind with No Peace, but they have contributed a worthy addition to its annals. Corrosive, pummeling bangers streamlined with minimal frills sum up to a blistering platter I’ve quite enjoyed. While I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing No/Más live, this crew boasts the hallmarks of a band that whips a crowd into a frenzy and ends with a broken bone or missing tooth. With twelve tracks running so lean, No Peace is helplessly easy to spin again and again. If they keep pumping out tunes this good, I can’t wait for what comes next. No más? No. Más.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: March 13th, 2026

Primitive Man – Observance [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]

By Spicie Forrest

It’s been a decade since Primitive Man last graced these halls with 2015’s tepidly received Home is Where the Hatred Is, but they haven’t been idle. In the meantime, the Denver trio has released 2 LPs, a full-length EP, a split with Unearthly Trance, and a collab with Full of Hell.1 Those ten years were spent experimenting, learning, and honing their sound into something so incredibly bleak that not even the promo pit could contain such hopeless darkness.2 Released on Halloween, Observance sees Primitive Man both doubling down and branching out to offer their darkest work yet.

To assuage any doubts early, crushing despair is still the foundation of Primitive Man’s sound. Observance feels like being imprisoned and forgotten in a lightless pit. In an inverted format reminiscent of funeral doom, vocalist/guitarist Ethan McCarthy’s axe predominantly serves as a foil for others. He lays a nearly riffless foundation of maddening single chords (“Social Contract”) and maggot-infested buzzing (“Devotion,” “Transactional”) upon which bassist Jonathan Campos and drummer Joe Linden drive these sonic interpretations of the abyss. Campos is patient, waiting for the perfect moment to savage listeners (“Seer”) or waterboard them with molten tar (“Natural Law”). Conversely, Linden actively stokes fear through the hunt. Whether invoking the ritualistic horror of Choir (“Devotion,” “Social Contract”) or closing in to suffocate his victims (“Water”), Linden keeps listeners trapped in a waking nightmare. McCarthy’s inhuman bellows, like tortured screams rent from a caged beast, round out Observance, at once malevolent, feral, and seething with impotent rage.

Primitive Man knew it wouldn’t be enough to just shove listeners into that lightless pit; they filled it with fresh horrors, too. Filtered through their singularly despondent style, “Seer” quickly launches into a punky downbeat rhythm before giving way to the Primitive Man’s iconic dissonant hammering. “Social Contract” concludes in similar fashion, but starts with sinister wooden clapping and an ominous sample of an angry mob slowly losing control. After a blackened opening, “Natural Law” unleashes a furious, grinding salvo that’s all the more terrifying for the vicious howls McCarthy weaves through it. Of everything on Observance, it’s a new element that threatens sanity most: McCarthy’s deranged, utterly fucked lullabies (“Devotion,” “Transactional,” “Natural Law”). As if desperately seeking a reprieve that will never come, his guitar screams to itself the nursery melodies that once brought comfort and safety, now tainted and defiled in madness.

Primitive Man’s refinement of their signature death sludge and warped departures therefrom speak to a greater accomplishment: Observance demands your attention for all 68 minutes. By incorporating new elements, Primitive Man makes the style they’re known for shine all the brighter. By slimming down the ambient interlude (“Iron Sights”)3 and spreading it out among the proper tracks, Observance offers moments to reset and pray for salvation between nightmares. Enthralling from end to end, Observance is a harrowing experience that teases the sweet release of silence before dashing those hopes in evil, sadistic brilliance. If you didn’t like Primitive Man before, I doubt anything about this record will change your mind. This is the most Primitive Man that Primitive Man has ever been. But if you, like me, enjoy begging for light and being denied, Observance is your ticket to decadent, hopeless agony.

Tracks to Check Out: “Devotion,” “Natural Law,” and “Water.”

#2025 #AmericanMetal #Choir #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #FullOfHell #Noise #Observance #PrimitiveMan #RelapseRecords #Sludge #ThingsYouMayHaveMissed2025 #TYMHM #UnearthlyTrance

Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath Review

By Owlswald

This review almost didn’t happen. As the recently demoted were scraping the last bit of slime off the bottom of the skull pit to prepare for the new haul of Fall promo, we inadvertently found Sanguisugabogg’s third full-length, Hideous Aftermath, submerged in the sludgy remains of two ex-n00bs. Mistakes were made for which we do do not apologize. These Ohio-based purveyors of grimy, gore-inspired brutal death may have a name worthy of the national Spelling Bee and a logo that looks like blood-soaked, tangled string, but these chaps know how to dish out the goods. Spawning from Maggot Stomping grounds in 2019, Sanguisugabogg’s tongue-in-cheek brutality has raised them up to the forefront of this fetid genre. After a debut EP built considerable buzz, Diabolus and Felagund found follow-up LPs Tortured Whole and Homicidal Ecstasy to be forthright and fun slabs of brutal death. Hideous Aftermath now signals a shift, honing their caveman chugs to embrace more expansive horizons, but in the end, it’s still big gory, dumb fun.

On Hideous Aftermath, Sanguisugabogg sheds the muddy textures of 90s death for a significantly sharper and more organic sound. This is largely thanks to stellar production by Kurt Ballou (Converge, Nails). After long self-producing, Sanguisugabogg trusted Ballou’s expertise1 to elevate their sound, ditching the split low-end signal of the guitar in favor of real bass (played by guitarists Cedrik Davis and Drew Arnold) to add a clearer, punchier low-end. The result is a loud, full mix that still allows every nuance of the instrumentation to shine through. From Davis and Arnold’s chunky, downtuned guitar grooves, to Devin Swank’s stomach-churning gutturals, to Cody Davidson’s flashy, intricate kit work (including the trademark snare ping), everything hits like a fucking tank. Tracks like “Erotic Beheading,” “Abhorrent Contraception” and “Rotted Entanglement” Vomit Forth a platter of the ‘Bogg’s familiar chugs and slams, while facets of Vile Rites progressiveness (“Sanctified Defilement”), Godflesh-tinged industrial (“Replusive Demise”), sludgy drawls (“Paid in Flesh”) and laser blasts (“Semi Automatic Facial Reconstruction”) show the foursome at their boldest and most creative. Despite this internal split, Hideous Aftermath is a welcome evolution for Sanguisugabogg and a good time to boot.

Let’s curb any potential misconceptions: while Hideous Aftermath finds Sanguisugabogg exploring new sonic territory, it’s first and foremost the same ugly, blood-thirsty, brutal death that existing fans know and love. Across ten songs, the ‘Bogg bludgeons the listener with an unrelenting assault of riffs, blasts, breakdowns and half-time stomps. Moments of respite are few before the artillery fire of Davidson’s brilliant, anchoring rhythms resumes the barrage. Davidson’s drumming remains the top highlight, elevating Sanguisugabogg’s songwriting with technical aggression through flawless double bass runs, Bran Dailor-esque (Mastodon) snare rolls and violence-inducing bell work. Standout front-half tracks like “Abhorrent Contraception,” “Rotted Entanglement” and “Ritual of Autophagia” showcase the group’s strongest material to date. Here, pummeling brutality meets discordant melodies (“Ritual of Autophagia”), swirling arpeggiations (“Rotted Entanglement”) and djenty gallops (“Felony Abuse of a Corpse”). Coupled with the injection of high-caliber guests,2 these new twists and turns give Hideous Aftermath’s material a different, fresh feel and I’m here for it.

While the first half of Hideous Aftermath proves Sanguisugabogg is capable of taking calculated steps forward, the record’s overall impact is weakened by its excessive 47-minute length and hesitant execution in the final stretch. The record feels front-loaded, with later tracks “Erotic Beheading,” “Semi Automatic Facial Reconstruction,” and “Sanctified Defilement” hindered by conventionality, lacking the strength and progressiveness of the album’s stronger material. Accordingly, Hideous Aftermath would have benefited from trimming two or three tracks to distill its best ideas. The ambitious industrial interlude “Repulsive Demise,” for example, feels awkward and out of place, while the sludgy ending to the otherwise solid “Pain of Flesh” drones on unnecessarily for four minutes, further underscoring the pacing issue.

But make no mistake—Hideous Aftermath is the best material Sanguisugabogg has released to date, largely succeeding in balancing evolution with tradition. The album confidently delivers the ‘Bogg’s trademark slams and neck-snapping grooves that longtime fans expect, while integrating new twists and turns that showcase a newfound artistic confidence. Though the final stretch wades too far into the deep end and keeps me from awarding Hideous Aftermath a higher score, the record sets a clear path for future greatness. It’s no longer a question of if Sanguisugabogg will ascend, but when.

Rating: Good!
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Century Media
Websites: sanguisugabogg.bandcamp.com | sanguisugabogg.com | facebook.com/sanguisugabogg
Releases Worldwide: October 10th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #CattleDecapitation #CenturyMedia #Converge #DeathMetal #DefeatedSanity #FullOfHell #Godflesh #HideousAftermath #Mastodon #Nails #Oct25 #PeelingFlesh #Review #Reviews #Sanguisugabogg #VileRites #VomitForth

Defigurement – Endbryo Review

By Grin Reaper

Defigurement’s debut album Endbryo is classified as experimental deathgrind, and though that’s accurate, it doesn’t fully capture what’s on tap. Endbryo is an album in constant flux, never content to lock into one vibe for too long. While experimental, Defigurement still adheres to grindcore’s brutal core tenets: short songs and unfettered aggression. Their sound isn’t limited to just these things, though, as Defigurement adopts crackerjack technicality that contrasts with the blunt drubbing associated with much of the subgenre. Varied paces and some unconventional instrumentation further heighten Endbryo’s unorthodox approach. Dissonant bleats, melodic leads, blast beats, and key-heavy interludes create an engaging atmosphere. Yet it takes more than a wide-ranging assortment of sounds and ideas to fashion an album.

With so many ingredients to unite, you may wonder what Defigurement actually sounds like. Gridlink’s Coronet Juniper, Full of Hell’s Coagulated Bliss, and Beaten to Death’s Sunrise over Rigor Mortis provide apt reference points. These albums imbue deceptively melodic hooks into grindcore’s caustic backdrop, a convention perpetuated on Endbryo. Gridlink’s own Takafumi Matsubara even appears on “Wounded Landscape,” imparting gorgeously malicious riffs. In addition to grindcore influences, Defigurement pays homage to System of a Down via the “Suite Pee”-tinged intro of “Shogun of Sorrow” and the Slayer “Rain in Blood” gallop heard in “Wounded Landscape.” Rather than aping these acts, though, Defigurement forges a stank all their own. Chaos is the name of the game, but not all of it is funneled through uniform, full-tilt abuse. Endbryo’s half-hour pumps blood and rhythm through sixteen tracks, featuring constant shifts in tempos and moods that make the music feel alive and unpredictable. The album is jam-packed with so many morsels that even after dozens of listens, I’m still discovering new details.

Conceiving such a diverse and layered soundscape requires heaps of vitality and musicianship, and Defigurement steps up to answer the challenge. From Mike Heller’s (Changeling, Azure Emote, ex-Fear Factory) atom-blasting drums to Kevin Fetus’s snaking leads and D.M.T.’s gritty bass, Endbryo brims with relentless vigor. Heller’s drum performance in particular elevates Defigurement’s character. Juggling blast beats, disco hi-hat frills (“Open Veins, Visceral Tapestry”), and jazzy phrasing (“We Are the Worst”) shouldn’t be this seamless, yet Heller’s nimble work provides the engine for the album’s mélange of styles. Rounding out the rhythm section, D.M.T.’s meaty bass grumbles and grooves in support, and a couple of intros even throw the spotlight on his throaty purr (“Wounded Landscape,” “Godtopsy”). Guitars attack from every direction, utilizing trem-picked blitzes (“Burnt by the Truth”), plaintive wails (“We Are the Worst”), and glossy shredding (“Godtopsy”). Matthias Joyce’s vocals are capable and versatile, sitting far enough back in the mix that they mesh smoothly with the music rather than overpowering it. Besides Matsubara, several other guests pop in, including Brian Hopp (Cephalic Carnage) and Leon Del Muerte (Impaled, ex-Nails). Endbryo boasts a potpourri of talent, and this bouquet reeks of grind beef.

Endbryo sounds great, even though some moments don’t effortlessly converge. Subgenres like grindcore don’t need much auditory contrast to be effective, but Endbryo boasts a DR7 anyway, benefiting the complex structure of its tracks. The finely-tuned mix allows listeners to appreciate the nuances of the performances within, notably the drumming; a lesser production could have obfuscated Heller’s unhinged sticksmanship. My only complaint is that with such a dense album, Defigurement doesn’t quite achieve the cohesion needed to stitch all of Endbryo’s fragments together. Piano-only interlude “Eternal Dusk” is a beautiful instrumental featured about halfway through. It allows you to take a breath before re-entering the maelstrom, but foreshadowing the melody earlier or including piano elsewhere would have strengthened its inclusion. Similarly, “Left in a Cold Rain” contains slowly swirling synths played under a distorted voice-over. Once again, this skillfully navigates the album’s pacing, but without more tethers to other tracks, it feels isolated from its surroundings. Despite these small shortcomings, Endbryo scores a resounding success.

Defigurement pulls no punches on Endbryo, hewing a slab of great experimental deathgrind. Their ferocity is bruising and their vision unyielding, and it’s rare I encounter music that demands so many repeated spins. This platter is captivating, and each time I think I have Endbryo figured out, the next listen corrects that notion. So many ideas loaded into thirty minutes might seem daunting, but Defigurement expertly balances intrigue and digestibility. Assuming Endbryo is only the beginning, I’ll wait on the edge of my seat to hear how the band’s sound develops.

Rating: Great
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nefarious Industries
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: October 17th, 2025

#2025 #40 #BeatenToDeath #DeathGrind #DeathMetal #Deathgrind #Defigurement #Endbryo #ExperimentalDeathMetal #ExperimentalDeathgrind #FullOfHell #Gridlink #Grind #NefariousIndustries #Oct25 #Review #Reviews #Slayer #SystemOfADown #USMetal

FULL OF HELL (Estats Units) presenta nou EP: "Broken Sword, Rotten Shield" #FullOfHell #Powerviolence #Grindcore #DeathMetal #Noise #Maig2025 #EstatsUnits #NouEp #Metall #Metal #MúsicaMetal #MetalMusic

Gig Review: Napalm Death / Crowbar / Full of Hell / Brat – SWG3, Glasgow (5th March 2025)

Whether you worship at the altar of noise or if the power of the riff compels thee. Tonight is the night. Contrary to the tour title ‘Campaign of Musical Destruction’, tonight has four different flavours, eac

https://www.moshville.co.uk/reviews/gig-review/2025/03/gig-review-napalm-death-crowbar-full-of-hell-brat-swg3-glasgow-5th-march-2025/

#GigReviews #Brat #Crowbar #FullOfHell #NapalmDeath

Neu im Blog: Campaign For Musical Destruction Tour 2025

https://der-wenz.de/blog/2025-02-19-campaign-for-musical-destruction-tour-2025.html

#konzertfotografie #nuernberg #loewensaal #napalmdeath #crowbar #fullofhell #brat

Full of Hell

#FullOfHell

Carcharodon and Cherd’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024

By Carcharodon

Carcharodon

I’ve been writing here since 2018. This has been the hardest year to date. I feel like I say this every year right around this time but, for whatever reason, I’ve really struggled this year to find the motivation and inspiration to write. Indeed, I’ve often felt that I lacked the passion for the music. Rather than exploring the murkier depths of Bandcamp, I was often to be found in the company of old, non-metal friends like Nick Cave, 16 Horsepower and Tom Waits.

Despite my disappointment with the world, most of which is on literal or metaphorical fire, and my disillusionment with people, whose choices have caused most of that, there were bright glimmers. The phenomenal response to our Gondor-esque call for aid, when Kenstrosity‘s life was ripped apart by Hurricane Helene, reassured me there are still a few good people out there, a good number of whom read this blog.

Still, I managed to turn out a few reviews this year, including my first ever 5.0—more of which below—which was worth it for the Steel Ire it evoked alone. And there was the Fifteenalia, a celebration the like of which we will not see again (for obvious reasons), which I had the honour of steering from questionable inception to creaky delivery.

Ironically, despite my struggles on the writing front, This Place has played a significant part in keeping me sane. It’s been tolerable to welcome a few new staffers—some even raised up from the awful Place Below—to our serried ranks, while the older hands feel almost like family at this point, with everything that that entails. As ever, particular thanks go to Steel Druhm for his tireless intimidation, which just about keeps us honest, while Dolph, Dear Hollow, El Cuervo, Grier, Maddog, Sentynel and Thus Spoke, among others, have proved adequate companions for banter and gigs.

And with that, I wish you all the happiest of Listurnalias.

#ish. Pillar of Light // Caldera – A very late entry to this list, Pillar of Light should be a cautionary tale to bands and labels: release your shit earlier! With more time, the stunning Amenra-meets-Cult of Luna post-misery of Caldera could easily have placed in the top half of this list. While I know this is an album I will come to love and fully expect to regret not placing it higher here, the reality is that other entries have had longer to sink their hooks into me. I will just say that, for me, the apparently divisive vocals are a perfect fit for Pillar of Light’s style.

#10. Seth // La France des Maudits – Way back when,1 French black metallers Seth snuck onto my list of Honorable Mentions with La Morsure du Christ, a fantastic return to form after a lengthy absence. After a short gap, they’re back and this year’s La France des Maudits has cracked the list proper. Melodic, bordering on symphonic with the keys and choral arrangements, but also visceral and feral, Seth dropped an absolute banger. It doesn’t hurt that, as Thus Spoke pointed out in her review, it’s “downright impressive how rich and dynamic this sounds.”

#9. The Vision Bleak // Weird Tales – The Vision Bleak is not, to paraphrase Dr Grier, a band that has ever ‘got’ me. Or perhaps, I’ve never got them. But Weird Tales resonated with me enormously. And perhaps that’s because it’s not really like anything The Vision Bleak has done before. Structuring their gothic black metal (or should that be blackened goth metal?) into a single, flowing song (albeit one broken into parts) got my attention. But they held my attention because they actually managed to pull off this very-hard-to-execute vision. Weird Tales’ Type O Negative / Moonspell-inspired blackened sound clicked into place almost instantly for me and now I need to go back to TVB’s discography with newly-opened eyes.

#8. Necrowretch // Swords of Dajjal – The first 4.0 I delivered in an alarmingly high-scoring year, Necrowretch’s black-death fusion is something that I have returned to again. Hiding beneath the vicious, downright nasty surface of Swords of Dajjal, is a surprisingly subtle and well-crafted concept album. As I said in my review, there is zero bloat or filler on this record, which blazes with intensity, driven as much by the scything, razor-sharp riffs as the rasping, sepulchral vocals. The range of influences cited, both by me and by impressed commenters, shows how many different aspects there are to this killer record.

#7. Panzerfaust // The Suns of Perdition – Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion – After Chapter III: The Astral Drain, I was worried that Panzerfaust were running out of steam and inspiration to close out The Suns of Perdition saga. Thankfully, my concerns were misplaced. To Shadow Zion reeks of doom and destiny. Huge, brooding and intense, it is a captivating listen, with the stunning “The Damascene Conversions” sitting at its heart. From the sulfuric vocals to the masterful drumming, this was a worthy final chapter for The Suns of Perdition, which must go down as one of the best executed, most consistent multi-album concept pieces in metal.

#6. Spectral Wound // Songs of Blood and Mire – Spectral Wound just can’t miss. For a band that, superficially at least, plays fairly old school black metal, songwriting chops paired with brilliant execution mean these guys are anything but derivative. My favourite album of theirs to date, Songs of Blood and Mire is just tons of wicked, nasty fun. It’s hard to say exactly why, but I feel like everything Spectral Wound does has a slight knowing wink to it, which suggests that the band doesn’t take itself too seriously. For me, this is a huge positive, as a lot of black metal is so tediously earnest, where this is unflinchingly harsh, surprisingly melodic and drowning in swaggering groove. Great stuff.

#5. Mother of Graves // The Periapt of Absence – I’m a sucker for death doom. And The Periapt of Absence is some fucking great death doom. Mother of Graves were unknown to me before I stumbled across this album but their blending of old school Opeth (think somewhere between Morningrise and Orchid) with early Katatonia and Paradise Lost, plus a sprinkling of Clouds is stunning. All wrapped up in a pleasingly tight package, Mother of Graves smother the listener in unflinching, heartwrenching misery. And I love every minute of it. It’s that Peaceville Three sound we love, but feeling fresh, vibrant and vital.

#4. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – Me and death metal don’t always see eye to eye, and the last Devenial Verdict left only a passing impression. But Thus Spoke‘s tireless tongue-bathing promotion of Blessing of Despair convinced me to give it a chance. While I enjoy the stomping thuggery of Devenial Verdict’s dissonant death well enough, it’s the sudden mood swings into what TS described as “lethally graceful restraint” that really hooked me. Although worlds apart stylistically, on Blessing of Despair DV achieved what Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean did on Obsession Destruction: knowing precisely how far to push the suffocating, claustrophobic heaviness, before taking their foot off your throat for a minute. Then stamping on it again.

#3. Julie Christmas // Ridiculous and Full of Blood – Maddog predicted that I would lambast him as an underrating bastard for the 3.5 he deigned to award Ms Christmas. And he was quite correct. He’s a charlatan of the highest order. However, even I’m surprised by how high Ridiculous and Full of Blood has landed here. But, as someone not given to overly emotional reactions to music, I’m continually stunned by the reactions Julie—Can I call you Julie? No? Ok—extracts from me. I’m often on the edge of tears by the end of “The Lighthouse,” just like that cad Maddog, while the likes of “Not Enough” and “End of the World” (the latter with CoL’s Johannes Persson) have a scary edge to them, with Christmas at her maniacal, crooning, possessed, unpredictable best.

#2. A Swarm of the Sun // An Empire – Speaking of emotional responses, A Swarm of the Sun’s stripped back melancholy is right up there. If I say that An Empire is brighter and more uplifting than previous efforts The Rifts and The Woods, understand that this is a very relative statement. An Empire is drowning in sorrow and misery, and yet there is just a hint of brightness that shimmers and hovers around the edges, like a lunar halo. Slow and deliberate, haunting and cathartic, A Swarm of the Sun’s latest outing is just beautiful. End of. No discussion.2

#1. Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe – Y’all know I dropped a 5.0 on Die Urkatastophe, so it’s no surprise to find it here, sitting pretty, atop my list. There’s not much more praise that I can heap on Kanonenfieber’s sophomore record than I already did in my review. For me, it has everything and is more than I dared hope for as a follow up to my beloved Menschenmühle (my album of the year for 2021). It is brutal and vicious (“Panzerhenker” and “Ausblutingsschlacht”), anthemic (“Der Maulwurf” and “Menschenmühle”) and more. Crafted—and yes, that is the correct word—with huge skill and attention to detail, it is the storytelling, based on original source materials, that elevates this record to the next level for me. And if you don’t speak German, or are simply not into narrative in your metal, just go bang your fucking head to “Gott mit der Kavallerie”!

Honorable mentions In alphabetical order by band:

• 40 Watt Sun // Little Weight – Little Weight actually carries a lot of emotional weight. Melancholic, beautiful post-doom and shoegaze, rife with a rough honesty.
• Anciients // Beyond the Reach of the Sun – Long-form (arguably too-long-form in some respects) progressive death, which is wonderfully ambitious and overblown in its scale and delivery.
• Crypt Sermon // The Stygian Rose – Fantastic trad doom, channeling heavy doses of Candlemass. Early in the year, I thought this was top-5 material but it’s uneven, with the back half much stronger than the front, and I’ve cooled on it a touch.
• Nyktophobia // To the Stars – Just great, stomping melodeath. As I said in my review, it’s not massively original but it’s tight and well written, and easy to just kick back to. Sometimes, I don’t need more.
• Silhouette // Les Dires de l’​Â​me – This fantastic post-black album had a place on the list proper until Pillar of Light bulldozed its way in there very late in the day. Haunting, harrowing and beautiful, Silhouette’s debut is Great!
• Sumac // The Healer – Nothing about The Healer makes it an easy listen but Sumac’s fifth record is curiously beautiful for all its wandering, free-form abrasiveness.
• Vorga // Beyond the Palest Star – While it’s hard to disagree with Kenstrosity‘s criticism of the production on Beyond the Palest Star, what can I say? I still love it. It’s chunky, well written, well paced and powerful.

Surprises o’ the Year Ordered by most astounding first:

• Opeth // The Last Will and Testament – It’s been a long time since I was last genuinely interested in an Opeth album (2005’s Ghost Reveries, in case you were wondering). But, wouldn’t you just know it, Mikael Åkerfeldt and co are back (roars and all). I’m not ready to commit to a score for The Last Will (though I think El Cuervo‘s was possibly a smidge high) as I’ve not been able to spend enough time with it. But the fact I want to spend more time with it is, after 19 years of having no interest in Opeth’s output, a surprise. And a welcome one.
• Grand Magus // Sunraven – Another Swedish favourite of old, which I’d all but given up on, Grand Magus roared back this year with Sunraven. As an equally surprised Steel Druhm said in his review, this was the album he “feverishly hoped to get from Grand Magus … a grand return to prime form with the fire firmly back in the Balrog … the best Magus outing since 2012’s The Hunt”.

Disappointment o’ the Year Limited to a single musical disappointment, to avoid submitting a lengthy thesis:

• Zeal & Ardor // GREIF – I’m not angry, or even very surprised, just disappointed.3 While I accept that this is the album of a band in transition, there’s no getting away from the fact that it was a hugely disappointing album from a band that has abandoned the sound that made it what it was. And for what? They have not transitioned to something new and exciting, but with kinks to be worked out. Rather, on this record, Zeal & Ardor became something so pedestrian that any number of post-rock bands could’ve written it and, probably, done a better job. I may have overrated it.

Songs o’ the Year

1. Julie Christmas – “The Lighthouse”
2. Kanonenfieber – “Der Maulwurf”
3. Selbst – “The Stench of a Dead Spirit”
4. Panzerfaust – “The Damascene Conversions”
5. Kanonenfieber – “Gott mit der Kavallerie”
6. Devenial Verdict – “Garden of Eyes”
7. Spectral Wound – “Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal”
8. Silhouette – “Les Dires de l’​Â​me”
9. Blue Heron – “Everything Fades”
10. Zeal & Ardor – “Hide in Shade”
11. Glare of the Sun – “Rain”

Cherd

Twenty-twenty-four was certainly a year that followed previous years and will precede still others. When I look back, I’ll likely remember it as the year I discovered the wonders of ADHD medication after decades of non-treatment, the difficult transition my poor Cherdlet experienced from kindergarten to first grade, and the incredible bucket list trip my wife and I took to Toronto to watch our favorite TV franchise filming new content courtesy of my very important Hollywood connections. No, not Robert Downey Jr. Much more important and better-looking. Hmm? Margot Robbie? She wishes. I also had the pleasure of meeting several of my fellow writers in person, and they are all much homelier than they let on with the exception of Madam X, who is a goddamned ray of sunshine.

On the musical front, I was able to check two bands off my “need to see live” list in Judas Priest and Archspire, whereby I discovered that Halford does exactly zero audience banter, and Archspire do nothing but. Fun shows, both. I didn’t listen to as much new music by volume this year than I have in previous years when I’d log between 200 and 400 releases, and that was largely due to my kid’s age and the level of interaction he needs. I have a feeling, however, that 2025 will see an uptick thanks to the new Heavys headphones I got for Christmas this year. As always, I want to thank the editors, particularly Steel Druhm and Doc Grier, for not sending me a mailbomb after all the late reviews I turned in (I’ll work on that in 2025), and the man himself, AMG, for building this community and for agreeing that Deep Space Nine is the best Star Trek show.4

(ish) Chat Pile // Cool World – This is what it sounds like when Chat Pile make a “mature” record. As I noted in my October review, some of the most glaring weirdness and black humor the band is known for is missing in Cool World, which is why it’s here on my list instead of matching the lofty heights of my 2022 AOTY God’s Country. That said, this is consistently bleak in a way I like, and it boasts what are in my opinion the two best–if not most memorable–songs the band have written to date in “New World” and “Masc.” I’m a sucker for these Oklahomans and look forward to how their sound evolves from here.

#10. Glacial Tomb // Lightless Expanse – I’ve had an up and down journey with Glacial Tomb’s sophomore record, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still view this as one of the best things I’ve listened to this year. To consider a record this closely means you have to listen to it a lot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I logged more hours with Lightless Expanse than with any other album. I’ve made a big deal about the one-three punch of “Voidwomb/Enshrined in Concrete/Abyssal Host”, but it bears repeating since it’s my favorite consecutive stretch of death metal in 2024.

#9. Replicant // Infinite Mortality – If you peel back the veneer of disso-death and blackened blasts on Infinite Mortality, you’ll find a pounding hardcore heart comprised of equal parts beatdown and Converge. As technical as this music gets, and there is a lot going on here, Replicant never forget their primary duty as a metal band: snapping necks. On their third album, they’ve exquisitely composed a missive to unbridled aggression. I completely missed their previous albums, so I’m glad our Kenfren wouldn’t shut his excitable yap about this one.

#8. Spectral Voice // Sparagmos – “Alright skaters! This is the end of our free skate period. We’d like to once again thank you for spending your Saturday with us here at Family Fun Roller Rink and Arcade. It’s time to slow things down, down, way down, and you know what that means. That’s right, it’s couples’ skate. So, find that special someone you want to be interred on a cold stone slab with, gaze into each other’s empty eye sockets, and make your way around the rink as wave after wave of Spectral Voice’s death/funeral doom forcefully separates you from any light, hope, or happiness this wretched world might have accidentally given you. Remember, those who survive the next 45 minutes of tectonic plates colliding will get the chance to compete in roller limbo!”

#7. Crypt Sermon // The Stygian Rose – Despite being one of the biggest doom apologists on this site, Crypt Sermon failed to grab me with their highly acclaimed debut nearly ten years ago. I chalk this up to my unfamiliarity with the traditional doom style at the time. In recent years, I’ve binged large amounts of Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Cathedral, Solitude Aeturnus et al., so I finally have the frame of reference to see just how well Crypt Sermon’s third LP captures the swagger, majesty, and grit of a style few contemporary bands seem interested in playing. After the growing pains displayed on The Ruins of Fading Light, these Philly natives have worked out the kinks and delivered an air-tight slab of doomy goodness.

#6. Full of Hell // Coagulated Bliss – I regret waiving my seniority claim to Full of Hell releases, thus allowing Dolph to snap up review duties for Coagulated Bliss. It’s not that he did a bad job of reviewing the prolific experimental grind outfit’s latest. He did great, and he awarded it a deserved 4.0. But then he had the cheek, the nerve, the gall, the audacity, and the gumption to incorrectly lower his score. To make matters worse, it appeared nowhere on his year-end list. Not even a goll dern honorable mention. I’ve told him to his cetacean face that he’s wrong and I’m likely to do so again because this is Full of Hell’s best work since Trumpeting Ecstasy. In fact, it might be better.

#5. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – For most of their existence, Ulcerate was a highly acclaimed band that I just couldn’t get into. That changed four years ago with the release of Stare into Death and Be Still. Little changed in their intricate approach to dissonant death metal, but there was something warmer and more human to what I had previously considered a rather detached style. That trend continues with Cutting the Throat of God. I find this record best when taken as a whole, letting the experience unfold over the full runtime, like dream-walking through a hedge maze or being trapped in a velvet sack and discovering it’s much larger on the inside.5

#4. Thou // Umbilical – I waited a long time for a chance to review a new record by Thou, and when it finally came, they did not disappoint. As I said in my June review, “Like their chimerical American metal brethren Inter Arma, it doesn’t matter how many influences the band stuff into one album. They are all unified in sound under Thou’s banner. Bryan Funck’s acid-bit vocals are unmistakable and apparently unchangeable after 20 throat-shredding years. Also unchangeable? Thou’s ability to craft the most metallic-sounding guitar tone out there. As the standard bearer for…hell, as the entire sum of the second generation of Louisiana sludge, the sound they’ve forged isn’t the kind of sloppy muck you may associate with the term. It’s certainly thick, but it has a quality like two enormous steel I-beams violently striking each other.” If that doesn’t sell Umbilical for you, then here is where our paths diverge.

#3. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – I didn’t listen to Blessing of Despair for several weeks after it came out in October despite the fact Devenial Verdict’s previous record, Ash Blind, made my year-end list in 2022. When I finally got around to it earlier in December, it threatened to blow the doors right off my still nebulous list, climbing fast and high until ultimately landing here at number three. There is more immediacy than on Ash Blind, which took me a while to warm up to. That doesn’t mean the band skimps on the kind of thoughtful transitions and atmospherics they’ve come to be known for. It’s just that Blessing of Despair HAZ THE RIFFS, including my favorite death metal riff of the year in “Solus.”

#2. Void Witch // Horripilating Presence – When I revisited Horripilating Presence with the purpose of sorting out this list’s pecking order, I expected death-doomers Void Witch to fall mid-to-late top 10. Obviously, the opposite happened. For the life of me I don’t understand how this album didn’t gain more traction amongst the other writers and you, the unwashed commentariat. As I said back in July, “…the material on Horripilating Presence is Mohamed Ali levels of confident. The editing of ideas in each song and across the album’s taut 39 minutes is masterful, especially for a debut. No song hews too closely to any of the others, but all are of a piece, locking comfortably into place like an intricate puzzle box, and Void Witch have such sights to show you.”

#1. Inter Arma // New Heaven – Inter Arma never miss. Aside from being one of the best live acts in metal, every album they’ve released going back to 2013’s Sky Burial has been one successful evolution after another. As a very wise reviewer once said, “They’re the same shaggy beast as ever, but beneath that matted, coarse coat is a rippling form mid-shape shift, stretching, pulling, and crossing back on itself constantly over the course of New Heaven’s shockingly concise 42 minutes…If being all over the musical map sounds like a negative, you’ve probably never heard an Inter Arma record before. It seems whatever they throw at the wall sticks, and the listening experience across their (usually much longer) records never feels uneven. This is because they play everything with the same smoldering intensity and volatile mean streak.” What a record.

Honorable Mentions:

• Convulsing // Perdurance – I like this quote from Dear Hollow‘s review, so I’ll let him do the talking: “…Convulsing explores every nook and twist of a rhythm and melody until its inevitable conclusion is happened upon in tragic and fatal fashion.”
• Spectral Wound // Songs of Blood and Mire – Pound for pound, Spectral Wound are probably the most consistent no-frills black metal band currently in operation. Songs of Blood and Mire is another rager that’s as melodic as it is acidic.
• Lord Buffalo // Holus Bolus – This record was one redundant instrumental away from landing higher on this list. Looking forward to where these gothic country rockers go next.

Songs o’ the Year:

In alphabetical order by band:

Show 5 footnotes

1. Apparently it was only 2021 but my goodness that feels a lifetime ago. ↩
2. Regrettably, I suspect this may be the perfect way to start a discussion. Sigh. ↩
3. Can you tell I’m a parent? ↩
4. How could anyone disagree? – AMG ↩
5. Like a TARDIS. ↩

#2024 #40WattSun #ASwarmOfTheSun #Anciients #BlogPosts #BlueHeron #CarcharodonAndCherdSTopTenIshOf2024 #ChatPile #Convulsing #CryptSermon #DevenialVerdict #FullOfHell #GlareOfTheSun #GrandMagus #InterArma #JulieChristmas #Kanonenfieber #Listurnalia #LordBuffalo #MotherOfGraves #Necrowretch #Nyktophobia #Opeth #Panzerfaust #PillarOfLight #Replicant #Selbst #Seth #Silhouette #SpectralVoice #SpectralWound #Sumac #TheVisionBleak #Thou #Ulcerate #VoidWitch #Vorga #ZealArdor

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#MetalInjection
COLLAPSED SKULL Recruits FULL OF HELL's DYLAN WALKER For "Throne Of Oppression"

https://metalinjection.net/video/collapsed-skull-recruits-full-of-hells-dylan-walker-for-throne-of-oppression

#CollapsedSkull #FullOfHell #DylanWalker #ThroneOfOppression

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#MetalSucks
Review: Full of Hell Throws Curveballs on Coagulated Bliss
'Coagulated Bliss' gives a lot of bang for its buck. Full of Hell packs an impressive amount of unique experiences in a compact, lethal dose.

https://www.metalsucks.net/2024/04/29/review-full-of-hell-throws-curveballs-on-emcoagulated-bliss-em/

#FullOfHell #CoagulatedBliss #ExtremeMusic #Grindcore #Screamo #MathRock #Hardcore #Punk #NewWave #Sludge #Droning

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#punknews.orgpunknews.org
Videos: Full of Hell: "Fractured Bonds to Mecca"
Full Of Hell have released a video for their song “Fractured Bonds to Mecca”.

https://www.punknews.org/article/82694/videos-full-of-hell-fractured-bonds-to-mecca

#FullOfHell #FracturedBondsToMecca #MusicVideo #PunkNews #SongRelease #MetalMusic

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#MetalInjection
The Weekly Injection: New Releases From DARKTHRONE, DEICIDE & More Out Today 4/26
Plus releases from Full Of Hell, Glassing, Harvestman, Inter Arma, Ou, and Glassing.

https://metalinjection.net/upcoming-releases/heavy-new-releases/the-weekly-injection-new-releases-from-darkthrone-deicide-more-out-today-4-26

#darkthrone #deicide #fullofhell #glassing #harvestman #interarma #ou #stvincent

#streaming service #tidal FINALLY improved their link sharing! Instead of a Tidal-only link, you can now listen to it on a platform of your choice. ✨

Try it yourself: https://tidal.com/browse/album/344412884?u

#spotify #AppleMusic #YoutubeMusic #AmazonMusic #FullOfHell #music #metal #BlackMetal #DeathMetal

#NowPlaying #FullOfHell And if you like grindcore metal, these guys rule! https://fullofhell.bandcamp.com/album/when-no-birds-sang

#NowPlaying Neat-o variety of picks by #FullOfHell dudes for their “What’s in My Bag?” video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VuC4nd-1Wo

This is my first #BandcampFriday purchase today, and it's fecking amazing so you really should check it out.

Suffocating Hallucination from Primitive Man & Full of Hell

https://primitivemandoom.bandcamp.com/album/suffocating-hallucination

#PrimitiveMan #FullOfHell #doommetal #blackmetal #sludgemetal #noise