#hateeternal — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/nl/97221/ Malefic Throne – The Conquering Darkness #2025 #AgoniaRecords #albumreview #Amusement #angelcorpse #DeathMetal #Dutch #Entertainment #HateEternal #MaleficThrone #MorbidAngel #Music #Muziek #Nederland #Nederlanden #Nederlands #Netherlands #NL #origin #recensie #TheConqueringDarkness #ZwareMetalen

https://www.europesays.com/nl/73851/ Imperishable – Revelation in Purity #2025 #albumrecensie #AlexRush #Amusement #BlottedScience #BrianKingsland #DeathMetal #DerekRoddy #Dutch #Entertainment #EverlastingSpewRecords #HateEternal #imperishable #MalevolentCreation #Music #Muziek #Nederland #Nederlanden #Nederlands #Netherlands #nile #NL #olkoth #recensie #RevelationInPurity #usa #ZwareMetalen

After Being Devastated By A Hurricane, Erik Rutan & Metal Blade Are Raising Funds For Mana Recording Studio With New Merch

Metal Blade Records have partnered with musician/producer Erik Rutan to help raise funds for his Mana Recording Studios.…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Music #CannibalCorpse #Entertainment #ErikRutan #HateEternal
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/284525/

Barbarous – Initium Mors Review

Death metal boasts a lush buffet of subgenres. From mind-flaying technicality to chilling dissonance to wanton mirth, there’s…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Music #2025 #3.0 #AmericanDeathMetal #AttheGates #Aug25 #Barbarous #CannibalCorpse #Death #Deicide #Entertainment #FloridaDeathMetal #HateEternal #InitiumMors #MorbidAngel #Necrot #review #reviews #skeletalremains #SlaughteroftheSoul
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/156925/

Barbarous – Initium Mors Review

Death metal boasts a lush buffet of subgenres. From mind-flaying technicality to chilling dissonance to wanton mirth, there’s…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Music #2025 #3.0 #AmericanDeathMetal #AttheGates #Aug25 #Barbarous #CannibalCorpse #Death #Deicide #Entertainment #FloridaDeathMetal #HateEternal #InitiumMors #MorbidAngel #Necrot #review #reviews #skeletalremains #SlaughteroftheSoul
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/156925/

Barbarous – Initium Mors Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_603

Death metal boasts a lush buffet of subgenres. From mind-flaying technicality to chilling dissonance to wanton mirth, there’s something for everyone. Unmoved by how much the genre has evolved, some folks just want the straightforward, grass-fed variety that defined American death metal in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. And what bloodsport that was—Cannibal Corpse hammer-smashed listeners to paste, Deicide seared anti-religious sentiment into their collective hide, and Morbid Angel infected them with tainted melody. Barbarous slides comfortably into the fray, wielding debut Initium Mors, but does it pack enough punch to survive the melee?1

Inspiration plays an immediate role in Barbarous’s sound. Though they hail from Oakland, California, it’s the Tampa Bay scene that casts the longest shadow. Cannibal Corpse’s influence is undeniable, providing the blueprint for punishing grooves and six-string savagery (“The Tomb Spawn,” “Conscious Decomposition”). Vocalist Travis LaBerge retches and roars somewhere between Deicide’s Glen Benton and Hate Eternal’s Eric Rutan,2 while the music also harkens to early Deicide at times (compare “By Lead or Steel” with “Serpents of the Light”). There are additional influences, too, including Necrot and Skeletal Remains, two bands heavily influenced by Death and Morbid Angel, proving all roads lead to Tampa.3 This isn’t to say that Barbarous doesn’t flex their own brand of muscular death metal. The title track does a fabulous job of baking Slaughter of the Soul-esque melody into the chorus while staying true to the Floridian Sound Machine’s jackhammering boogie.4 I see flashes of a distinct identity in Initium Mors, but more refinement would serve Barbarous to forge their own path out from the shadows of giants.

Throughout Initium Mors, Barbarous pounds and pummels with neck-snapping fury and brawny chugs. Any track would effortlessly slot into a respectable workout playlist, with “By Lead or Steel” and “Tools of the Trade” being my choice cuts. Opener “Injection of the Exhumed” storms out the gates with a phlegm-rattling gut punch buoyed by aggressive riffing and blast beats, followed by a Slayer-laced wail. And that’s just the first twenty seconds. Hostile grooves and pulverizing paces drive the momentum across Initium Mors’s fleeting runtime, never surrendering a moment to catch your breath. Barbarous’s unflinching imperative is to carve listeners to the root, evidenced by the album’s razor-sharp guitar-playing (“Tools of the Trade,” “Conscious Decomposition”) courtesy of Zach Weed and Thomas Belfiore. Solos set fire to tracks when they kick in, whether it’s via soulful swagger (“By Lead or Steel”) or finger-blistering fury (“Coup de Grace”). Either way, they’re unfailingly fun. Travis Zupo’s dynamic drumming bludgeons with teeth-rattling thunder (“Conscious Decomposition”) while LaBerge stays the course with calculated, vomitous barks. The only underseasoned component is Zach Jakes’s bass guitar, which is a commentary on audibility rather than skill. Listening for bass in Initium Mors reminds me of Tantalus—the more I crank the volume to hear what that sweet bottom end is doing, the murkier the wall of sound becomes.5 Considering the meaty through-line that bass provides in many a death metal casserole, elevating its heft would push Barbarous’s recipe to gloriously heinous heights.

Production and mastering are a mixed bag, presenting opportunities and highlights. The album is LOUD, and while that’s generally how I like to listen to death metal, a more spacious mix would have improved the overarching balance. For an album brimming with balls-out belligerence, such an oppressive production creates an exhausting listen despite the twenty-nine-minute runtime. Still, there’s plenty to praise. Guitars and drums are front and center, so it’s easy to appreciate their intricacies and chops. LaBerge’s vocals are also conspicuously comprehensible,6 which is refreshing for extreme gutturals. While I initially noted his gurgles as monotonous, over repeated listens, I’ve come to appreciate LaBerge’s nimble work as he juggles spewing growls and coherence.

Initium Mors is a triumphant debut and should appease death metal aficionados without qualification. Barbarous is loud, ugly, and here to melt your face in just under half an hour. There’s a lot to like on Initium Mors, even if it’s not breaking any molds. If Barbarous can give the mix a bit more room and firmly establish an identity that transcends their influences, their next release could be an absolute banger. For now, Initium Mors is a solid addition to the annals of meat ‘n’ taters death metal, leaving Barbarous to unapologetically smash skulls and shatter eardrums while delivering a veritable smörgåsbord of protein and spuds.7 Bon appétit!

Rating: Good!
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Creator-Destructor Records
Website: barbarousband.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 1st, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanDeathMetal #AtTheGates #Aug25 #Barbarous #CannibalCorpse #Death #Deicide #FloridaDeathMetal #HateEternal #InitiumMors #MorbidAngel #Necrot #Review #Reviews #SkeletalRemains #SlaughterOfTheSoul

Barbarous – Initium Mors Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_603

Death metal boasts a lush buffet of subgenres. From mind-flaying technicality to chilling dissonance to wanton mirth, there’s something for everyone. Unmoved by how much the genre has evolved, some folks just want the straightforward, grass-fed variety that defined American death metal in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. And what bloodsport that was—Cannibal Corpse hammer-smashed listeners to paste, Deicide seared anti-religious sentiment into their collective hide, and Morbid Angel infected them with tainted melody. Barbarous slides comfortably into the fray, wielding debut Initium Mors, but does it pack enough punch to survive the melee?1

Inspiration plays an immediate role in Barbarous’s sound. Though they hail from Oakland, California, it’s the Tampa Bay scene that casts the longest shadow. Cannibal Corpse’s influence is undeniable, providing the blueprint for punishing grooves and six-string savagery (“The Tomb Spawn,” “Conscious Decomposition”). Vocalist Travis LaBerge retches and roars somewhere between Deicide’s Glen Benton and Hate Eternal’s Eric Rutan,2 while the music also harkens to early Deicide at times (compare “By Lead or Steel” with “Serpents of the Light”). There are additional influences, too, including Necrot and Skeletal Remains, two bands heavily influenced by Death and Morbid Angel, proving all roads lead to Tampa.3 This isn’t to say that Barbarous doesn’t flex their own brand of muscular death metal. The title track does a fabulous job of baking Slaughter of the Soul-esque melody into the chorus while staying true to the Floridian Sound Machine’s jackhammering boogie.4 I see flashes of a distinct identity in Initium Mors, but more refinement would serve Barbarous to forge their own path out from the shadows of giants.

Throughout Initium Mors, Barbarous pounds and pummels with neck-snapping fury and brawny chugs. Any track would effortlessly slot into a respectable workout playlist, with “By Lead or Steel” and “Tools of the Trade” being my choice cuts. Opener “Injection of the Exhumed” storms out the gates with a phlegm-rattling gut punch buoyed by aggressive riffing and blast beats, followed by a Slayer-laced wail. And that’s just the first twenty seconds. Hostile grooves and pulverizing paces drive the momentum across Initium Mors’s fleeting runtime, never surrendering a moment to catch your breath. Barbarous’s unflinching imperative is to carve listeners to the root, evidenced by the album’s razor-sharp guitar-playing (“Tools of the Trade,” “Conscious Decomposition”) courtesy of Zach Weed and Thomas Belfiore. Solos set fire to tracks when they kick in, whether it’s via soulful swagger (“By Lead or Steel”) or finger-blistering fury (“Coup de Grace”). Either way, they’re unfailingly fun. Travis Zupo’s dynamic drumming bludgeons with teeth-rattling thunder (“Conscious Decomposition”) while LaBerge stays the course with calculated, vomitous barks. The only underseasoned component is Zach Jakes’s bass guitar, which is a commentary on audibility rather than skill. Listening for bass in Initium Mors reminds me of Tantalus—the more I crank the volume to hear what that sweet bottom end is doing, the murkier the wall of sound becomes.5 Considering the meaty through-line that bass provides in many a death metal casserole, elevating its heft would push Barbarous’s recipe to gloriously heinous heights.

Production and mastering are a mixed bag, presenting opportunities and highlights. The album is LOUD, and while that’s generally how I like to listen to death metal, a more spacious mix would have improved the overarching balance. For an album brimming with balls-out belligerence, such an oppressive production creates an exhausting listen despite the twenty-nine-minute runtime. Still, there’s plenty to praise. Guitars and drums are front and center, so it’s easy to appreciate their intricacies and chops. LaBerge’s vocals are also conspicuously comprehensible,6 which is refreshing for extreme gutturals. While I initially noted his gurgles as monotonous, over repeated listens, I’ve come to appreciate LaBerge’s nimble work as he juggles spewing growls and coherence.

Initium Mors is a triumphant debut and should appease death metal aficionados without qualification. Barbarous is loud, ugly, and here to melt your face in just under half an hour. There’s a lot to like on Initium Mors, even if it’s not breaking any molds. If Barbarous can give the mix a bit more room and firmly establish an identity that transcends their influences, their next release could be an absolute banger. For now, Initium Mors is a solid addition to the annals of meat ‘n’ taters death metal, leaving Barbarous to unapologetically smash skulls and shatter eardrums while delivering a veritable smörgåsbord of protein and spuds.7 Bon appétit!

Rating: Good!
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Creator-Destructor Records
Website: barbarousband.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 1st, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanDeathMetal #AtTheGates #Aug25 #Barbarous #CannibalCorpse #Death #Deicide #FloridaDeathMetal #HateEternal #InitiumMors #MorbidAngel #Necrot #Review #Reviews #SkeletalRemains #SlaughterOfTheSoul

Barbarous – Initium Mors Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_603

Death metal boasts a lush buffet of subgenres. From mind-flaying technicality to chilling dissonance to wanton mirth, there’s something for everyone. Unmoved by how much the genre has evolved, some folks just want the straightforward, grass-fed variety that defined American death metal in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. And what bloodsport that was—Cannibal Corpse hammer-smashed listeners to paste, Deicide seared anti-religious sentiment into their collective hide, and Morbid Angel infected them with tainted melody. Barbarous slides comfortably into the fray, wielding debut Initium Mors, but does it pack enough punch to survive the melee?1

Inspiration plays an immediate role in Barbarous’s sound. Though they hail from Oakland, California, it’s the Tampa Bay scene that casts the longest shadow. Cannibal Corpse’s influence is undeniable, providing the blueprint for punishing grooves and six-string savagery (“The Tomb Spawn,” “Conscious Decomposition”). Vocalist Travis LaBerge retches and roars somewhere between Deicide’s Glen Benton and Hate Eternal’s Eric Rutan,2 while the music also harkens to early Deicide at times (compare “By Lead or Steel” with “Serpents of the Light”). There are additional influences, too, including Necrot and Skeletal Remains, two bands heavily influenced by Death and Morbid Angel, proving all roads lead to Tampa.3 This isn’t to say that Barbarous doesn’t flex their own brand of muscular death metal. The title track does a fabulous job of baking Slaughter of the Soul-esque melody into the chorus while staying true to the Floridian Sound Machine’s jackhammering boogie.4 I see flashes of a distinct identity in Initium Mors, but more refinement would serve Barbarous to forge their own path out from the shadows of giants.

Throughout Initium Mors, Barbarous pounds and pummels with neck-snapping fury and brawny chugs. Any track would effortlessly slot into a respectable workout playlist, with “By Lead or Steel” and “Tools of the Trade” being my choice cuts. Opener “Injection of the Exhumed” storms out the gates with a phlegm-rattling gut punch buoyed by aggressive riffing and blast beats, followed by a Slayer-laced wail. And that’s just the first twenty seconds. Hostile grooves and pulverizing paces drive the momentum across Initium Mors’s fleeting runtime, never surrendering a moment to catch your breath. Barbarous’s unflinching imperative is to carve listeners to the root, evidenced by the album’s razor-sharp guitar-playing (“Tools of the Trade,” “Conscious Decomposition”) courtesy of Zach Weed and Thomas Belfiore. Solos set fire to tracks when they kick in, whether it’s via soulful swagger (“By Lead or Steel”) or finger-blistering fury (“Coup de Grace”). Either way, they’re unfailingly fun. Travis Zupo’s dynamic drumming bludgeons with teeth-rattling thunder (“Conscious Decomposition”) while LaBerge stays the course with calculated, vomitous barks. The only underseasoned component is Zach Jakes’s bass guitar, which is a commentary on audibility rather than skill. Listening for bass in Initium Mors reminds me of Tantalus—the more I crank the volume to hear what that sweet bottom end is doing, the murkier the wall of sound becomes.5 Considering the meaty through-line that bass provides in many a death metal casserole, elevating its heft would push Barbarous’s recipe to gloriously heinous heights.

Production and mastering are a mixed bag, presenting opportunities and highlights. The album is LOUD, and while that’s generally how I like to listen to death metal, a more spacious mix would have improved the overarching balance. For an album brimming with balls-out belligerence, such an oppressive production creates an exhausting listen despite the twenty-nine-minute runtime. Still, there’s plenty to praise. Guitars and drums are front and center, so it’s easy to appreciate their intricacies and chops. LaBerge’s vocals are also conspicuously comprehensible,6 which is refreshing for extreme gutturals. While I initially noted his gurgles as monotonous, over repeated listens, I’ve come to appreciate LaBerge’s nimble work as he juggles spewing growls and coherence.

Initium Mors is a triumphant debut and should appease death metal aficionados without qualification. Barbarous is loud, ugly, and here to melt your face in just under half an hour. There’s a lot to like on Initium Mors, even if it’s not breaking any molds. If Barbarous can give the mix a bit more room and firmly establish an identity that transcends their influences, their next release could be an absolute banger. For now, Initium Mors is a solid addition to the annals of meat ‘n’ taters death metal, leaving Barbarous to unapologetically smash skulls and shatter eardrums while delivering a veritable smörgåsbord of protein and spuds.7 Bon appétit!

Rating: Good!
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Creator-Destructor Records
Website: barbarousband.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 1st, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanDeathMetal #AtTheGates #Aug25 #Barbarous #CannibalCorpse #Death #Deicide #FloridaDeathMetal #HateEternal #InitiumMors #MorbidAngel #Necrot #Review #Reviews #SkeletalRemains #SlaughterOfTheSoul

Barbarous – Initium Mors Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_603

Death metal boasts a lush buffet of subgenres. From mind-flaying technicality to chilling dissonance to wanton mirth, there’s something for everyone. Unmoved by how much the genre has evolved, some folks just want the straightforward, grass-fed variety that defined American death metal in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. And what bloodsport that was—Cannibal Corpse hammer-smashed listeners to paste, Deicide seared anti-religious sentiment into their collective hide, and Morbid Angel infected them with tainted melody. Barbarous slides comfortably into the fray, wielding debut Initium Mors, but does it pack enough punch to survive the melee?1

Inspiration plays an immediate role in Barbarous’s sound. Though they hail from Oakland, California, it’s the Tampa Bay scene that casts the longest shadow. Cannibal Corpse’s influence is undeniable, providing the blueprint for punishing grooves and six-string savagery (“The Tomb Spawn,” “Conscious Decomposition”). Vocalist Travis LaBerge retches and roars somewhere between Deicide’s Glen Benton and Hate Eternal’s Eric Rutan,2 while the music also harkens to early Deicide at times (compare “By Lead or Steel” with “Serpents of the Light”). There are additional influences, too, including Necrot and Skeletal Remains, two bands heavily influenced by Death and Morbid Angel, proving all roads lead to Tampa.3 This isn’t to say that Barbarous doesn’t flex their own brand of muscular death metal. The title track does a fabulous job of baking Slaughter of the Soul-esque melody into the chorus while staying true to the Floridian Sound Machine’s jackhammering boogie.4 I see flashes of a distinct identity in Initium Mors, but more refinement would serve Barbarous to forge their own path out from the shadows of giants.

Throughout Initium Mors, Barbarous pounds and pummels with neck-snapping fury and brawny chugs. Any track would effortlessly slot into a respectable workout playlist, with “By Lead or Steel” and “Tools of the Trade” being my choice cuts. Opener “Injection of the Exhumed” storms out the gates with a phlegm-rattling gut punch buoyed by aggressive riffing and blast beats, followed by a Slayer-laced wail. And that’s just the first twenty seconds. Hostile grooves and pulverizing paces drive the momentum across Initium Mors’s fleeting runtime, never surrendering a moment to catch your breath. Barbarous’s unflinching imperative is to carve listeners to the root, evidenced by the album’s razor-sharp guitar-playing (“Tools of the Trade,” “Conscious Decomposition”) courtesy of Zach Weed and Thomas Belfiore. Solos set fire to tracks when they kick in, whether it’s via soulful swagger (“By Lead or Steel”) or finger-blistering fury (“Coup de Grace”). Either way, they’re unfailingly fun. Travis Zupo’s dynamic drumming bludgeons with teeth-rattling thunder (“Conscious Decomposition”) while LaBerge stays the course with calculated, vomitous barks. The only underseasoned component is Zach Jakes’s bass guitar, which is a commentary on audibility rather than skill. Listening for bass in Initium Mors reminds me of Tantalus—the more I crank the volume to hear what that sweet bottom end is doing, the murkier the wall of sound becomes.5 Considering the meaty through-line that bass provides in many a death metal casserole, elevating its heft would push Barbarous’s recipe to gloriously heinous heights.

Production and mastering are a mixed bag, presenting opportunities and highlights. The album is LOUD, and while that’s generally how I like to listen to death metal, a more spacious mix would have improved the overarching balance. For an album brimming with balls-out belligerence, such an oppressive production creates an exhausting listen despite the twenty-nine-minute runtime. Still, there’s plenty to praise. Guitars and drums are front and center, so it’s easy to appreciate their intricacies and chops. LaBerge’s vocals are also conspicuously comprehensible,6 which is refreshing for extreme gutturals. While I initially noted his gurgles as monotonous, over repeated listens, I’ve come to appreciate LaBerge’s nimble work as he juggles spewing growls and coherence.

Initium Mors is a triumphant debut and should appease death metal aficionados without qualification. Barbarous is loud, ugly, and here to melt your face in just under half an hour. There’s a lot to like on Initium Mors, even if it’s not breaking any molds. If Barbarous can give the mix a bit more room and firmly establish an identity that transcends their influences, their next release could be an absolute banger. For now, Initium Mors is a solid addition to the annals of meat ‘n’ taters death metal, leaving Barbarous to unapologetically smash skulls and shatter eardrums while delivering a veritable smörgåsbord of protein and spuds.7 Bon appétit!

Rating: Good!
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Creator-Destructor Records
Website: barbarousband.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 1st, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanDeathMetal #AtTheGates #Aug25 #Barbarous #CannibalCorpse #Death #Deicide #FloridaDeathMetal #HateEternal #InitiumMors #MorbidAngel #Necrot #Review #Reviews #SkeletalRemains #SlaughterOfTheSoul

Stuck in the Filter: March 2025’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Spring is in the air, and with it comes… an insane number of cicadas! Yes, that’s right, Brood XIV spawned this year and is currently overwhelming my staff as they trudge through embuggened ducts to clear out the Filter of semi-precious metal. I bet it’s fucking loud in there…

…. eh I’m sure they are all fine. Just fine. Anyway, enjoy the spoils of our toils!

Kenstrosity’s Gloopy Grubber

Acid Age // Perilous Compulsion [February 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

Belfast’s wacky thrash conglomerate Acid Age came out of absolutely nowhere back in March, unleashing their fourth LP Perilous Compulsion and equipping it with one helluva van-worthy cover. This is some funky, bluesy, quasi-psychedelic thrash metal that pulls no punches. Riffs abound, bonkers songwriting pervades, immense groove agitates. From the onset, “Bikini Island” establishes Perilous Compulsion as a no-nonsense, balls-out affair which reminds me heavily of Voivod and a simplified Flummox informed by Atheist’s progressive proclivities, and expanded by a touch of Pink Floyd’s nebulous jams. Of course, thrash remains Acid Age’s hero flavor, as choice cuts “State Your Business,” “Revenge for Sale,” and closing one-two punch “Rotten Tooth” and “Hamster Wheel” clearly demonstrate. While their fearless exploration of style and structure maintains a sky-high level of interest, it also introduces a couple of challenges. Firstly, this material can feel a bit disjointed at first, but focused spins reward the listener greatly as all of Perilous Compulsion’s moving parts start to mesh and move in unison. Secondly, Acid Age throws a spotlight on a few brilliant inclusions that, over time, I wish were more often utilized—namely, the delightfully bluesy harmonica solos on “Rotten Tooth.” Regardless, Acid Age put themselves on my map with Perilous Compulsion. I recommend you put them on yours, too!

Owlswald’s Desiccated Discoveries

Verbian // Casarder [March 21st, 2025 – Lost Future Records]

It’s unjust that Portuguese rockers Verbian—who have been producing quality post-rock since 2019’s Jaez—haven’t received the attention they deserve. Fusing elements of post-rock with metal, psychedelic, and stoner, Casarder is Verbian’s third full-length and the first with new drummer Guilherme Gonçalves. Taking the sounds and inspirations of 2020’s Irrupção and enriching it with new permutations and modulations, Casarder’s largely instrumental character rides punchy riffs and roiling grooves—à la Russian Circles and Elder—to transmit its thought-provoking legitimacy. Dystopian and surreal séances, via echoing Korg synthscapes (“Pausa Entre Dias,” “Vozes da Ilha”) and celestial harmonies, permeate Casarder’s forty-three-minute runtime, translating Madalena Pinto’s striking Aeon Flux-esque cover art with precision. Ominous horn sections and crusty recurrent vocals (“Marcha do Vulto,” “Depois de Toda a Mudança”) by guitarist Vasco Reis and bassist Alexandre Silva underscore Verbian’s individuality in a crowded post-rock domain. Gonçalves’s drumming—with his intricate and enchanting hard rock and samba rhythms (“Nada Muda,” “Fruta Caída do Mar”)—adds a new dimension to Verbian’s sound, assuring my attention never falters. The group describes Casarder as communicating the “…insecurities of artistic expression and personal exposure when it comes to fearing being judged for something that is somewhat outside of what is done in each artist’s niche.” Indeed, Casarder reveals Verbian is unafraid to forge their own path, and the results are gripping.

Symbiotic Growth // Beyond the Sleepless Aether [March 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

Beyond the Sleepless Aether, the sophomore effort by Ontario, Canada’s Symbiotic Growth, immediately caught my attention with its dreamy-looking cover. Building upon their 2020 self-titled debut, the Canadian trio hones epic and long-form progressive death metal soundscapes, narrating a quest for meaning across alternate realities in mostly lengthy, yet rewarding, tracks that blend technicality, atmosphere, and melody. The group frequently employs dynamic shifts, moving between raging brutality and serene shoegaze beauty (“Arid Trials and Barren Sands,” “The Sleepless Void”). This is achieved through complex and vengeful passages alongside atmospheric synth lines and softer piano interludes (“Sires of Boundless Sunset,” “Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights”), cultivating an air of wonder, mystery, and ethereality that permeates much of Symbiotic Growth’s material. “The Architect of Annihilation” echoes the style of Ne Obliviscaris with its blend of clean harmonies and harsh growls meshed with tremolo-picked arpeggiations and catchy hooks (the guitar solo even features a violin-like quality). “Lost in Fractured Reveries” evokes In Mourning with its parallel synth and guitar lines giving way to devastating grooves that make it impossible not to headbang. Although some fine-tuning remains—the clean vocals could use some more weight and tracks like “Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights” and “The Architect of Annihilation” overstay their welcome at times—Beyond the Sleepless Aether shows Symbiotic Growth’s burgeoning talent and signals the group is one to watch in progressive death metal.

Dear Hollow’s Drudgery Sludgery Hoist

Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea [March 7th, 2025 – Pale Chord Records | Rise Records]

From humble beginnings in a more artsy-fartsy djent post-Iwrestledabearonce world to becoming the darlings of Octane Radio, Spiritbox has seen quite the ascent. While it’s easy to look at their work and scoff at its radio-friendliness, sophomore full-length Tsunami Sea shows Courtney LaPlante and company sticking to their guns. Simultaneously more obscure and more radio-friendly in its selection of tracks, expect its signature blend of colossal riffs and ethereal melodies guided by LaPlante’s siren-then-sea serpent dichotomy of furious roars and haunting cleans. Yes, Spiritbox helms its attack with the radio singles (“Perfect Soul,”1 “Crystal Roses”) in layered soaring choruses and touches of hip-hop undergirded by fierce grooves, but the meat of Tsunami Sea finds the flexibility and patience in the skull-crushing brutality (“Soft Spine,” “No Loss, No Love”) and its more exploratory songwriting that amps layers of the ethereal and the hellish with catchy riffs and vocals alike (“Fata Morgana,” “A Haven of Two Faces”). It’s far from perfect, and its tendency towards radio will be divisive, but it shows Spiritbox firing on all cylinders.

Unfleshing // Violent Reason [March 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

I am always tickled pink by blackened crust. It takes the crusty violence and propensity for filth and adds black metal’s signature sinister nature. Unfleshing is a young, unsigned blackened crust band from St. Louis, and with debut Violent Reason, you can expect a traditional punk-infused beatdown with a battered guitar tone and sinister vocals. However, more than many, the quartet offers a beatdown that feels as atmospheric as it is pummeling. Don’t get me wrong, you get your skull caved in like the poor guy on the cover with minute-long crust beatdowns (“Body Bag,” “From the Gutter”) and full-length smackdowns (“Knife in the Dark,” “Final Breath”), both styles complete with scathing grooves, squalid feedback, climactic solos and punishing blastbeats, atop a blackened roar dripping with hate. But amid the full-throttle assault, Unfleshing utilizes ominous black metal chord progressions and unsettling plucking to add a more dynamic feature to Violent Reason (“Cathedral Rust,” “One With the Mud”). The album never overstays, and while traditional, it’s a hell of a start for Unfleshing.

Ghostsmoker // Inertia Cult [March 21st, 2025 – Art as Catharsis Records]

Ghostsmoker seems like the perfect stoner metal band name, but aside from the swampy guitar tone, there’s something much sinister lurking. Proffering a caustic blackened doom/sludge not unlike Thou, Wormphlegm, and Sea Bastard, the Melbourne group quartet devotes a crisp forty-two minutes to sprawling doom weighted by a crushing guitar tone that rivals Morast‘s latest, and shrieked vocals straight from the latest church burning. Beyond what’s expected from this particular breed of devastation, Ghostsmoker infuses an evocative patience reminiscent of post-metal’s more sludgy offerings like Neurosis or Pelican, lending a certain atmosphere and mood of dread and wilderness depicted on its cover. From the outright chugging attacks of churning aggression (“Elogium,” “Haven”) to the more experimental and thoughtful pieces (“Bodies to Shore,” instrumental closer “The Death of Solitude”), Inertia Cult largely feels like a journey through uncharted forests, with voices whispering from the trees. Ghostsmoker is something special.

GardensTale’s Paralyzed Spine

Spiine // Tetraptych [March 27th, 2025 – Self Released]

Is it still a supergroup release when half the lineup are session musicians? Spiine is made up of Sesca Scaarba (Virgin Black) and Xen (ex-Ne Obliviscaris), but on debut Tetraptych they are joined by guests Waltteri Väyrynen (Opeth) and Lena Abé (My Dying Bride). Usually, so much talent put into the same room does not yield great results. Tetraptych is one hell of an exception. A monstrous slab of crawling heaviness, Spiine lurches with abject despair through the mires of deathly funeral doom. Though I usually eschew this genre, my attention remains rapt through a variety of variations. The songwriting keeps the 4 tracks progressing, slow and steady builds, and the promise of momentary tempo changes working a two-pronged structural plan to buoy the majestic yet miserable riffs. “Oubliiette” is the best example here, going from galloping death-doom to Georgian choirs to a fantastic bridge where all the instrumentation hits only on the roared syllables. Xen’s unholy bellows flatten any objections I may have had, managing both thunder and deepest woe in the same notes. The subtle orchestration and occasional choir arrangements finish the package with regal grandeur, and the lush and warm production is the cherry on top. If you feel like drowning your sorrows with an hour of colossal doom, this is the album for you.

Saunders’ Stenched Staples

Ade // Supplicium [March 14th, 2025 – Time to Kill Records]

Sometimes unjustly pigeonholed as the Roman-inspired version of Nile, the hugely underrated Ade have punched out a solid career of quality death metal releases since emerging roughly fifteen years ago, charting their own path. Albums like 2013’s ripping Spartacus and 2019’s solid Rise of the Empire represent a tidy snapshot of the band’s career. Fifth album Supplicium, their first LP in six years, marks a low-key, welcome return. Exotic instrumentation and attention to history and storytelling are alive and well in the Ade camp, as is their penchant for punishing, unrelenting death, featuring a deftly curated mix of bombast, brutality, technical spark, and epic atmospheres. Edoardo Di Santo (Hideous Divinity) joins a largely refreshed line-up, including a new bassist and second guitarist since their last album. Line-up changes aside, familiar Ade tools of harrowing ancient Roman tales and modern death destruction remain as consistently solid as always. Top-notch riffs, intricate arrangements, fluid tempo shifts, and explosive drumming highlight songs that frequently flex their flair for drama-fueled atmospheres, hellfire blasts, and burly grooves. The immense, multi-faceted “Burnt Before Gods,” exotic melodies and raw savagery of “Ad Beastias!,” spitfire intensity of “Vinum,” and epically charged throes of “From Fault to Disfigurement” highlight more solid returns from Ade.

Masters of Reality // The Archer [March 28th, 2025 – Artone Label Group/Mascot Records]

Underappreciated desert rock pioneers and quirky stalwarts Masters of Reality returned from recording oblivion some fifteen-plus years since they last unleashed an LP. Led by the legendary Chris Goss and his collaborative counterparts across a career that first kicked off in the late ’80s, Masters of Reality return sounding inspired, wisened, and a little more chilled. Re-tinkering their familiar but ever-shifting sound, Masters of Reality incorporate woozy, bluesy laidback vibes featuring their oddball songwriting traits through a sedate, intriguing collection of new songs. The Archer showcases Masters of Reality’s longevity as seasoned, skilled songwriters, regardless of the shifting rock modes they explore. While perhaps lacking some of the energetic spark and earworm hooks of albums like Sunrise on the Sufferbus and Deep in the Hole, The Archer still marks a fine return outing. Goss’ signature voice is in fine form, and the bluesy, psych-drenched guitars, cushy basslines, ’60s and ’70s influences, and spacey vibes create a comforting haze. The delightfully dreamy, trippy “Chicken Little,” laidback hooks and old school charms of “I Had a Dream,” lively, quirky grooves of “Mr Tap n’ Go,” and moody, melancholic balladry of “Powder Man” highlight another diverse, strange brew from the veteran act.

Tyme’s Unheard Annunciations

Doomsday // Never Known Peace [March 28th, 2025 – Creator-Destructor Records]

March’s filter means spring is here, mostly, which is when I start searching for bands to populate my annual edition of Tyme’s Mowing Metal. There’s nothing I enjoy more than cracking a cold beer, sliding my headphones over my ears, and hopping on the mower to complete one of summer’s—at least for me—most enjoyable chores. A band that will feature prominently this summer is Oakland, California’s crossover thrash quintet Doomsday, and their Creator-Destructor Records debut album, Never Known Peace. Doomsday lays down a ton of mindless fun in the vein of other crossover greats like Enforced and Power Trip. There are riffs aplenty on this deliciously executed hardcore-tinged thrashtastic platter full of snarly, spiteful, Jamey Jasta-esque vocals, trademark gang shouts, and, oh, did I mention the riffs? Yeah, cuz there’s a butt-ton of ’em. Leads and solos are melodic (“Death is Here,” “Eternal Tombs”). Within its beefily warm mix, the chug-a-lug breakdowns run rampant across Never Known Peace‘s thirty-one minutes (seriously, there’s one in every track), leaving nary a tune that won’t have you at least bobbing your head and, at most, causing your neck a very nasty case of whipthrash. I’m going to be listening to Never Known Peace ALOT this summer, on and off my mower, and while I don’t care that the lawn lines in my yard will be a little wavier this year than others, I’ll chalk it up to the beer and the head banging Doomsday‘s Never Known Peace instills.

Rancid Cadaver // Mortality Denied [March 21st, 2025 – Self Released]

Another filter, another fetid fragment of foulness; this month, it’s up-and-coming deathstarts Rancid Cadaver and their independently released debut album Mortality Denied. Adam Burke’s excellent cover art caught my eye during a quick dip into the Bandcamp pool and had me pushing play. A thick slab of murderous meat ripe with fatty veins of Coffin Mulch and Morbific running through it, Mortality Denied overflows with tons of bestial vocals, crushing drums, barbaric bass, and squealing solos, all ensorcelled within the majesty of Rancid Cadaver‘s miasmic riff-gurgitations (“Slurping the Cerebral Slime,” “Mass of Gore,” and “Drained of Brains”). Fists will pump, and faces will stank during the Fulci-friendly “Zombified,” a pulverizing slow-death chug fest with an intro that landed me right back on the shores of Dr. Menard’s island of the undead.2 This quartet of Glaswegians has plopped down a death metal debut that ages like wine, getting better and better with consecutive spins. Surprisingly, Rancid Cadaver is unsigned, but I’m confident that status should change before we see a sophomore effort, and you can bet I’ll be there when that happens.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Unsophisticated Slappers

Crossed // Realismo Ausente [March 21st, 2025 – Zegema Beach Records]

Timing means everything in groove. I know that some people say that they have a hard time finding that kind of bob and sway in extreme music. But with an act like Spain’s Crossed, whose every carved word and every skronked guitar noise follows an insatiable punky stride, groove lies in every moment of third full-length Realismo Ausente. Whether it’s on the classic beat of D (“Vaciar Un Corazón,” “Cuerpo Distorsionado”), the twanging drone of a screaming bend (“Monotonía de la lluvia en la Ventana”), or the Celtic Frost-ed hammer of a chord crush (“Catedral”), a calculated, urgent, and intoxicating cadence colors the grayscale attitude throughout. But just because Crossed can find a groove in any twisted mathy rhythm—early Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan come to mind on quick cuts like “Cerrojo” and “Sentirse Solo”—doesn’t mean that their panic chord-loaded crescendos and close-outs can’t rip your head clean off in banging ecstasy. Easy listening and blackened hardcore can’t go hand-in-hand, but Crossed does their very best to make unintelligible, scathing screeches and ceiling-scraping feedback hissing palatable against crunchy punk builds and throbbing, warm bass grumbles. Likewise, Realismo Ausente stabs into a dejected body tales of loathing, fear, self-rejection, and defeated existence—nothing smiles in its urgent and apathetic crevices. But despite the lack of light at the end of the tunnel of Crossed’s horror-touched vision of impassioned hardcore, an analog warmth and human spirit trapped inside a writhing and pleading throat reveal a presence that’s still fighting. It’s the fight that counts. If you didn’t join the fight last time, now’s as good a time as any.

Nothing // The Self Repair Manifesto [March 26th, 2025 – Self Released]

If you noticed a tree zombie heading steaming through its trepanned opening, then you too found the same initial draw I had to The Self Repair Manifesto. Nothing complex often can draw us to the things we desire, yet in Nothing’s particular attack of relentless, groove-based death metal, many nooks of additional interest exist. The Self Repair Manifesto’s tribal rhythm-stirred “Initiation,” in its bouncy play, does little to set up the double-kick pummel and snarling refrains that lurk in this brutal, Australian soundscape. The simple chiming cymbal-fluttering bass call-and-response of “Subterfuge,” the throat singing summoning of “The Shroud,” the immediate onslaught of “Abrogation”—all in under 30 minutes, an infectious and progressive experience unfolds. And never fear, living by the motto “no clean singing,”3 Nothing has no intention of traveling the wandering and crooning path of an Opeth or In Vain. Rather, Nothing finds a hypnotic rhythmic presence both in fanciful kit play that stirs a foot shuffle and high-tempo stick abuse that urges bodies on bodies in the pit (“Subterfuge,” “The Shroud”), much in the same way you might hear in early Decapitated or Hate Eternal works. With flair of their own, though, and a mic near the mouth vessel of each member (yes, even the drummer!) to maintain a layered harsh intensity, Nothing serves a potent blend of death metal that is as jam-able as it is gym-able. Whether you seek gains or progressive enrichment, Nothing is the answer.

Steel Druhm’s Massive Aggressive

Impurity // The Eternal Sleep [ March 7th, 2025 – Hammerheart Records]

Impurity’s lust for all things Left Hand Path is not the least bit Clandestine, and on their full-length debut, The Eternal Sleep, they attempt to craft their own ode to the rabid HM-2 worship of the early 90s Swedeath sound. No new elements are shoehorned in aside from vaguely blackened ones, and there’s not the slightest effort to push the boundaries of the admittedly limited Swedeath sound. The Eternal Sleep sounds like the album that could have come between Entombed’s timeless debut and the Clandestine follow-up, and that’s not a bad place to be. It’s heavy, brutish, buzzing death metal with an OSDM edge, and it hits like a runaway 18-wheeler full of concrete and titanium rebar. One only needs to weather the shitstorm of opener “Denial of Clarity” to realize this is the deep water of the niche genre. It’s extremely heavy, face-melting death with more fuzz and buzz than your brain can process. Other cuts feel like a direct lift from Left Hand Path and/or Clandestine (“Tribute to Creation,”) and fetid Dismember tidbits creep in during “Pilgrimage to Utumno,” and these feel like olde friends showing up unexpectedly at the hometown watering hole. Swedeath is all about those ragged, jagged riffs, and they’re delivered in abundance over The Eternal Sleep, and despite the intrinsic lack of originality, Impurity pump enough steroids and Cialis into the genre archetypes to make the material endearing and engaging. Yes, you’ve heard this shit before. Now hear it again, chumbo!

#AcidAge #Ade #AmericanMetal #ArtAsCatharsisRecords #ArtoneLabelGroup #Atheist #AustralianMetal #BeyondTheSleeplessAether #BlackMetal #BlackenedCrust #BlackenedHardcore #CanadianMetal #Casarder #CelticFrost #CoffinMulch #Converge #CreatorDestructorRecords #Crossed #Crust #DeathMetal #Decapitated #DesertRock #DillingerEscapePlan #DoomMetal #Doomsday #Elder #Enforced #Flummox #Fulci #Ghostsmoker #Hardcore #HateEternal #HideousDivinity #Impurity #InMourning #InVain #InertialCult #InternationalMetal #ItalianMetal #iwrestledabearonce #LostFutureRecords #MascotRecords #MastersOfReality #Mathcore #MelodicMetal #Metalcore #Morast #Morbific #MortalityDenied #MyDyingBride #NeObliviscaris #Neurosis #NeverKnownPeace #Nile #Nothing #Opeth #PaleChordRecords #Pelican #PerilousCompulsion #PinkFloyd #PortugueseMetal #PostRock #PostMetal #PowerTrip #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveThrashMetal #PyschedelicRock #RancidCadaver #RealismoAusente #Review #Reviews #RiseRecords #RussianCircles #ScottishMetal #SeaBastard #SelfReleased #SixpenceNoneTheRicher #SludgeMetal #SpanishMetal #Spiine #Spiritbox #StonerMetal #Supplicium #SymbioticGrowth #TechnicalDeathMetal #Tetraptych #TheArcher #TheEternalSleep #TheSelfRepairManifesto #Thou #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #TsunamiSea #UKMetal #Unfleshing #Verbian #ViolentReason #VirginBlack #Voivod #Wormphlegm #ZegemaBeachRecords

Stuck in the Filter: March 2025’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Spring is in the air, and with it comes… an insane number of cicadas! Yes, that’s right, Brood XIV spawned this year and is currently overwhelming my staff as they trudge through embuggened ducts to clear out the Filter of semi-precious metal. I bet it’s fucking loud in there…

…. eh I’m sure they are all fine. Just fine. Anyway, enjoy the spoils of our toils!

Kenstrosity’s Gloopy Grubber

Acid Age // Perilous Compulsion [February 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

Belfast’s wacky thrash conglomerate Acid Age came out of absolutely nowhere back in March, unleashing their fourth LP Perilous Compulsion and equipping it with one helluva van-worthy cover. This is some funky, bluesy, quasi-psychedelic thrash metal that pulls no punches. Riffs abound, bonkers songwriting pervades, immense groove agitates. From the onset, “Bikini Island” establishes Perilous Compulsion as a no-nonsense, balls-out affair which reminds me heavily of Voivod and a simplified Flummox informed by Atheist’s progressive proclivities, and expanded by a touch of Pink Floyd’s nebulous jams. Of course, thrash remains Acid Age’s hero flavor, as choice cuts “State Your Business,” “Revenge for Sale,” and closing one-two punch “Rotten Tooth” and “Hamster Wheel” clearly demonstrate. While their fearless exploration of style and structure maintains a sky-high level of interest, it also introduces a couple of challenges. Firstly, this material can feel a bit disjointed at first, but focused spins reward the listener greatly as all of Perilous Compulsion’s moving parts start to mesh and move in unison. Secondly, Acid Age throws a spotlight on a few brilliant inclusions that, over time, I wish were more often utilized—namely, the delightfully bluesy harmonica solos on “Rotten Tooth.” Regardless, Acid Age put themselves on my map with Perilous Compulsion. I recommend you put them on yours, too!

Owlswald’s Desiccated Discoveries

Verbian // Casarder [March 21st, 2025 – Lost Future Records]

It’s unjust that Portuguese rockers Verbian—who have been producing quality post-rock since 2019’s Jaez—haven’t received the attention they deserve. Fusing elements of post-rock with metal, psychedelic, and stoner, Casarder is Verbian’s third full-length and the first with new drummer Guilherme Gonçalves. Taking the sounds and inspirations of 2020’s Irrupção and enriching it with new permutations and modulations, Casarder’s largely instrumental character rides punchy riffs and roiling grooves—à la Russian Circles and Elder—to transmit its thought-provoking legitimacy. Dystopian and surreal séances, via echoing Korg synthscapes (“Pausa Entre Dias,” “Vozes da Ilha”) and celestial harmonies, permeate Casarder’s forty-three-minute runtime, translating Madalena Pinto’s striking Aeon Flux-esque cover art with precision. Ominous horn sections and crusty recurrent vocals (“Marcha do Vulto,” “Depois de Toda a Mudança”) by guitarist Vasco Reis and bassist Alexandre Silva underscore Verbian’s individuality in a crowded post-rock domain. Gonçalves’s drumming—with his intricate and enchanting hard rock and samba rhythms (“Nada Muda,” “Fruta Caída do Mar”)—adds a new dimension to Verbian’s sound, assuring my attention never falters. The group describes Casarder as communicating the “…insecurities of artistic expression and personal exposure when it comes to fearing being judged for something that is somewhat outside of what is done in each artist’s niche.” Indeed, Casarder reveals Verbian is unafraid to forge their own path, and the results are gripping.

Symbiotic Growth // Beyond the Sleepless Aether [March 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

Beyond the Sleepless Aether, the sophomore effort by Ontario, Canada’s Symbiotic Growth, immediately caught my attention with its dreamy-looking cover. Building upon their 2020 self-titled debut, the Canadian trio hones epic and long-form progressive death metal soundscapes, narrating a quest for meaning across alternate realities in mostly lengthy, yet rewarding, tracks that blend technicality, atmosphere, and melody. The group frequently employs dynamic shifts, moving between raging brutality and serene shoegaze beauty (“Arid Trials and Barren Sands,” “The Sleepless Void”). This is achieved through complex and vengeful passages alongside atmospheric synth lines and softer piano interludes (“Sires of Boundless Sunset,” “Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights”), cultivating an air of wonder, mystery, and ethereality that permeates much of Symbiotic Growth’s material. “The Architect of Annihilation” echoes the style of Ne Obliviscaris with its blend of clean harmonies and harsh growls meshed with tremolo-picked arpeggiations and catchy hooks (the guitar solo even features a violin-like quality). “Lost in Fractured Reveries” evokes In Mourning with its parallel synth and guitar lines giving way to devastating grooves that make it impossible not to headbang. Although some fine-tuning remains—the clean vocals could use some more weight and tracks like “Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights” and “The Architect of Annihilation” overstay their welcome at times—Beyond the Sleepless Aether shows Symbiotic Growth’s burgeoning talent and signals the group is one to watch in progressive death metal.

Dear Hollow’s Drudgery Sludgery Hoist

Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea [March 7th, 2025 – Pale Chord Records | Rise Records]

From humble beginnings in a more artsy-fartsy djent post-Iwrestledabearonce world to becoming the darlings of Octane Radio, Spiritbox has seen quite the ascent. While it’s easy to look at their work and scoff at its radio-friendliness, sophomore full-length Tsunami Sea shows Courtney LaPlante and company sticking to their guns. Simultaneously more obscure and more radio-friendly in its selection of tracks, expect its signature blend of colossal riffs and ethereal melodies guided by LaPlante’s siren-then-sea serpent dichotomy of furious roars and haunting cleans. Yes, Spiritbox helms its attack with the radio singles (“Perfect Soul,”1 “Crystal Roses”) in layered soaring choruses and touches of hip-hop undergirded by fierce grooves, but the meat of Tsunami Sea finds the flexibility and patience in the skull-crushing brutality (“Soft Spine,” “No Loss, No Love”) and its more exploratory songwriting that amps layers of the ethereal and the hellish with catchy riffs and vocals alike (“Fata Morgana,” “A Haven of Two Faces”). It’s far from perfect, and its tendency towards radio will be divisive, but it shows Spiritbox firing on all cylinders.

Unfleshing // Violent Reason [March 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

I am always tickled pink by blackened crust. It takes the crusty violence and propensity for filth and adds black metal’s signature sinister nature. Unfleshing is a young, unsigned blackened crust band from St. Louis, and with debut Violent Reason, you can expect a traditional punk-infused beatdown with a battered guitar tone and sinister vocals. However, more than many, the quartet offers a beatdown that feels as atmospheric as it is pummeling. Don’t get me wrong, you get your skull caved in like the poor guy on the cover with minute-long crust beatdowns (“Body Bag,” “From the Gutter”) and full-length smackdowns (“Knife in the Dark,” “Final Breath”), both styles complete with scathing grooves, squalid feedback, climactic solos and punishing blastbeats, atop a blackened roar dripping with hate. But amid the full-throttle assault, Unfleshing utilizes ominous black metal chord progressions and unsettling plucking to add a more dynamic feature to Violent Reason (“Cathedral Rust,” “One With the Mud”). The album never overstays, and while traditional, it’s a hell of a start for Unfleshing.

Ghostsmoker // Inertia Cult [March 21st, 2025 – Art as Catharsis Records]

Ghostsmoker seems like the perfect stoner metal band name, but aside from the swampy guitar tone, there’s something much sinister lurking. Proffering a caustic blackened doom/sludge not unlike Thou, Wormphlegm, and Sea Bastard, the Melbourne group quartet devotes a crisp forty-two minutes to sprawling doom weighted by a crushing guitar tone that rivals Morast‘s latest, and shrieked vocals straight from the latest church burning. Beyond what’s expected from this particular breed of devastation, Ghostsmoker infuses an evocative patience reminiscent of post-metal’s more sludgy offerings like Neurosis or Pelican, lending a certain atmosphere and mood of dread and wilderness depicted on its cover. From the outright chugging attacks of churning aggression (“Elogium,” “Haven”) to the more experimental and thoughtful pieces (“Bodies to Shore,” instrumental closer “The Death of Solitude”), Inertia Cult largely feels like a journey through uncharted forests, with voices whispering from the trees. Ghostsmoker is something special.

GardensTale’s Paralyzed Spine

Spiine // Tetraptych [March 27th, 2025 – Self Released]

Is it still a supergroup release when half the lineup are session musicians? Spiine is made up of Sesca Scaarba (Virgin Black) and Xen (ex-Ne Obliviscaris), but on debut Tetraptych they are joined by guests Waltteri Väyrynen (Opeth) and Lena Abé (My Dying Bride). Usually, so much talent put into the same room does not yield great results. Tetraptych is one hell of an exception. A monstrous slab of crawling heaviness, Spiine lurches with abject despair through the mires of deathly funeral doom. Though I usually eschew this genre, my attention remains rapt through a variety of variations. The songwriting keeps the 4 tracks progressing, slow and steady builds, and the promise of momentary tempo changes working a two-pronged structural plan to buoy the majestic yet miserable riffs. “Oubliiette” is the best example here, going from galloping death-doom to Georgian choirs to a fantastic bridge where all the instrumentation hits only on the roared syllables. Xen’s unholy bellows flatten any objections I may have had, managing both thunder and deepest woe in the same notes. The subtle orchestration and occasional choir arrangements finish the package with regal grandeur, and the lush and warm production is the cherry on top. If you feel like drowning your sorrows with an hour of colossal doom, this is the album for you.

Saunders’ Stenched Staples

Ade // Supplicium [March 14th, 2025 – Time to Kill Records]

Sometimes unjustly pigeonholed as the Roman-inspired version of Nile, the hugely underrated Ade have punched out a solid career of quality death metal releases since emerging roughly fifteen years ago, charting their own path. Albums like 2013’s ripping Spartacus and 2019’s solid Rise of the Empire represent a tidy snapshot of the band’s career. Fifth album Supplicium, their first LP in six years, marks a low-key, welcome return. Exotic instrumentation and attention to history and storytelling are alive and well in the Ade camp, as is their penchant for punishing, unrelenting death, featuring a deftly curated mix of bombast, brutality, technical spark, and epic atmospheres. Edoardo Di Santo (Hideous Divinity) joins a largely refreshed line-up, including a new bassist and second guitarist since their last album. Line-up changes aside, familiar Ade tools of harrowing ancient Roman tales and modern death destruction remain as consistently solid as always. Top-notch riffs, intricate arrangements, fluid tempo shifts, and explosive drumming highlight songs that frequently flex their flair for drama-fueled atmospheres, hellfire blasts, and burly grooves. The immense, multi-faceted “Burnt Before Gods,” exotic melodies and raw savagery of “Ad Beastias!,” spitfire intensity of “Vinum,” and epically charged throes of “From Fault to Disfigurement” highlight more solid returns from Ade.

Masters of Reality // The Archer [March 28th, 2025 – Artone Label Group/Mascot Records]

Underappreciated desert rock pioneers and quirky stalwarts Masters of Reality returned from recording oblivion some fifteen-plus years since they last unleashed an LP. Led by the legendary Chris Goss and his collaborative counterparts across a career that first kicked off in the late ’80s, Masters of Reality return sounding inspired, wisened, and a little more chilled. Re-tinkering their familiar but ever-shifting sound, Masters of Reality incorporate woozy, bluesy laidback vibes featuring their oddball songwriting traits through a sedate, intriguing collection of new songs. The Archer showcases Masters of Reality’s longevity as seasoned, skilled songwriters, regardless of the shifting rock modes they explore. While perhaps lacking some of the energetic spark and earworm hooks of albums like Sunrise on the Sufferbus and Deep in the Hole, The Archer still marks a fine return outing. Goss’ signature voice is in fine form, and the bluesy, psych-drenched guitars, cushy basslines, ’60s and ’70s influences, and spacey vibes create a comforting haze. The delightfully dreamy, trippy “Chicken Little,” laidback hooks and old school charms of “I Had a Dream,” lively, quirky grooves of “Mr Tap n’ Go,” and moody, melancholic balladry of “Powder Man” highlight another diverse, strange brew from the veteran act.

Tyme’s Unheard Annunciations

Doomsday // Never Known Peace [March 28th, 2025 – Creator-Destructor Records]

March’s filter means spring is here, mostly, which is when I start searching for bands to populate my annual edition of Tyme’s Mowing Metal. There’s nothing I enjoy more than cracking a cold beer, sliding my headphones over my ears, and hopping on the mower to complete one of summer’s—at least for me—most enjoyable chores. A band that will feature prominently this summer is Oakland, California’s crossover thrash quintet Doomsday, and their Creator-Destructor Records debut album, Never Known Peace. Doomsday lays down a ton of mindless fun in the vein of other crossover greats like Enforced and Power Trip. There are riffs aplenty on this deliciously executed hardcore-tinged thrashtastic platter full of snarly, spiteful, Jamey Jasta-esque vocals, trademark gang shouts, and, oh, did I mention the riffs? Yeah, cuz there’s a butt-ton of ’em. Leads and solos are melodic (“Death is Here,” “Eternal Tombs”). Within its beefily warm mix, the chug-a-lug breakdowns run rampant across Never Known Peace‘s thirty-one minutes (seriously, there’s one in every track), leaving nary a tune that won’t have you at least bobbing your head and, at most, causing your neck a very nasty case of whipthrash. I’m going to be listening to Never Known Peace ALOT this summer, on and off my mower, and while I don’t care that the lawn lines in my yard will be a little wavier this year than others, I’ll chalk it up to the beer and the head banging Doomsday‘s Never Known Peace instills.

Rancid Cadaver // Mortality Denied [March 21st, 2025 – Self Released]

Another filter, another fetid fragment of foulness; this month, it’s up-and-coming deathstarts Rancid Cadaver and their independently released debut album Mortality Denied. Adam Burke’s excellent cover art caught my eye during a quick dip into the Bandcamp pool and had me pushing play. A thick slab of murderous meat ripe with fatty veins of Coffin Mulch and Morbific running through it, Mortality Denied overflows with tons of bestial vocals, crushing drums, barbaric bass, and squealing solos, all ensorcelled within the majesty of Rancid Cadaver‘s miasmic riff-gurgitations (“Slurping the Cerebral Slime,” “Mass of Gore,” and “Drained of Brains”). Fists will pump, and faces will stank during the Fulci-friendly “Zombified,” a pulverizing slow-death chug fest with an intro that landed me right back on the shores of Dr. Menard’s island of the undead.2 This quartet of Glaswegians has plopped down a death metal debut that ages like wine, getting better and better with consecutive spins. Surprisingly, Rancid Cadaver is unsigned, but I’m confident that status should change before we see a sophomore effort, and you can bet I’ll be there when that happens.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Unsophisticated Slappers

Crossed // Realismo Ausente [March 21st, 2025 – Zegema Beach Records]

Timing means everything in groove. I know that some people say that they have a hard time finding that kind of bob and sway in extreme music. But with an act like Spain’s Crossed, whose every carved word and every skronked guitar noise follows an insatiable punky stride, groove lies in every moment of third full-length Realismo Ausente. Whether it’s on the classic beat of D (“Vaciar Un Corazón,” “Cuerpo Distorsionado”), the twanging drone of a screaming bend (“Monotonía de la lluvia en la Ventana”), or the Celtic Frost-ed hammer of a chord crush (“Catedral”), a calculated, urgent, and intoxicating cadence colors the grayscale attitude throughout. But just because Crossed can find a groove in any twisted mathy rhythm—early Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan come to mind on quick cuts like “Cerrojo” and “Sentirse Solo”—doesn’t mean that their panic chord-loaded crescendos and close-outs can’t rip your head clean off in banging ecstasy. Easy listening and blackened hardcore can’t go hand-in-hand, but Crossed does their very best to make unintelligible, scathing screeches and ceiling-scraping feedback hissing palatable against crunchy punk builds and throbbing, warm bass grumbles. Likewise, Realismo Ausente stabs into a dejected body tales of loathing, fear, self-rejection, and defeated existence—nothing smiles in its urgent and apathetic crevices. But despite the lack of light at the end of the tunnel of Crossed’s horror-touched vision of impassioned hardcore, an analog warmth and human spirit trapped inside a writhing and pleading throat reveal a presence that’s still fighting. It’s the fight that counts. If you didn’t join the fight last time, now’s as good a time as any.

Nothing // The Self Repair Manifesto [March 26th, 2025 – Self Released]

If you noticed a tree zombie heading steaming through its trepanned opening, then you too found the same initial draw I had to The Self Repair Manifesto. Nothing complex often can draw us to the things we desire, yet in Nothing’s particular attack of relentless, groove-based death metal, many nooks of additional interest exist. The Self Repair Manifesto’s tribal rhythm-stirred “Initiation,” in its bouncy play, does little to set up the double-kick pummel and snarling refrains that lurk in this brutal, Australian soundscape. The simple chiming cymbal-fluttering bass call-and-response of “Subterfuge,” the throat singing summoning of “The Shroud,” the immediate onslaught of “Abrogation”—all in under 30 minutes, an infectious and progressive experience unfolds. And never fear, living by the motto “no clean singing,”3 Nothing has no intention of traveling the wandering and crooning path of an Opeth or In Vain. Rather, Nothing finds a hypnotic rhythmic presence both in fanciful kit play that stirs a foot shuffle and high-tempo stick abuse that urges bodies on bodies in the pit (“Subterfuge,” “The Shroud”), much in the same way you might hear in early Decapitated or Hate Eternal works. With flair of their own, though, and a mic near the mouth vessel of each member (yes, even the drummer!) to maintain a layered harsh intensity, Nothing serves a potent blend of death metal that is as jam-able as it is gym-able. Whether you seek gains or progressive enrichment, Nothing is the answer.

Steel Druhm’s Massive Aggressive

Impurity // The Eternal Sleep [ March 7th, 2025 – Hammerheart Records]

Impurity’s lust for all things Left Hand Path is not the least bit Clandestine, and on their full-length debut, The Eternal Sleep, they attempt to craft their own ode to the rabid HM-2 worship of the early 90s Swedeath sound. No new elements are shoehorned in aside from vaguely blackened ones, and there’s not the slightest effort to push the boundaries of the admittedly limited Swedeath sound. The Eternal Sleep sounds like the album that could have come between Entombed’s timeless debut and the Clandestine follow-up, and that’s not a bad place to be. It’s heavy, brutish, buzzing death metal with an OSDM edge, and it hits like a runaway 18-wheeler full of concrete and titanium rebar. One only needs to weather the shitstorm of opener “Denial of Clarity” to realize this is the deep water of the niche genre. It’s extremely heavy, face-melting death with more fuzz and buzz than your brain can process. Other cuts feel like a direct lift from Left Hand Path and/or Clandestine (“Tribute to Creation,”) and fetid Dismember tidbits creep in during “Pilgrimage to Utumno,” and these feel like olde friends showing up unexpectedly at the hometown watering hole. Swedeath is all about those ragged, jagged riffs, and they’re delivered in abundance over The Eternal Sleep, and despite the intrinsic lack of originality, Impurity pump enough steroids and Cialis into the genre archetypes to make the material endearing and engaging. Yes, you’ve heard this shit before. Now hear it again, chumbo!

#AcidAge #Ade #AmericanMetal #ArtAsCatharsisRecords #ArtoneLabelGroup #Atheist #AustralianMetal #BeyondTheSleeplessAether #BlackMetal #BlackenedCrust #BlackenedHardcore #CanadianMetal #Casarder #CelticFrost #CoffinMulch #Converge #CreatorDestructorRecords #Crossed #Crust #DeathMetal #Decapitated #DesertRock #DillingerEscapePlan #DoomMetal #Doomsday #Elder #Enforced #Flummox #Fulci #Ghostsmoker #Hardcore #HateEternal #HideousDivinity #Impurity #InMourning #InVain #InertialCult #InternationalMetal #ItalianMetal #iwrestledabearonce #LostFutureRecords #MascotRecords #MastersOfReality #Mathcore #MelodicMetal #Metalcore #Morast #Morbific #MortalityDenied #MyDyingBride #NeObliviscaris #Neurosis #NeverKnownPeace #Nile #Nothing #Opeth #PaleChordRecords #Pelican #PerilousCompulsion #PinkFloyd #PortugueseMetal #PostRock #PostMetal #PowerTrip #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveThrashMetal #PyschedelicRock #RancidCadaver #RealismoAusente #Review #Reviews #RiseRecords #RussianCircles #ScottishMetal #SeaBastard #SelfReleased #SixpenceNoneTheRicher #SludgeMetal #SpanishMetal #Spiine #Spiritbox #StonerMetal #Supplicium #SymbioticGrowth #TechnicalDeathMetal #Tetraptych #TheArcher #TheEternalSleep #TheSelfRepairManifesto #Thou #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #TsunamiSea #UKMetal #Unfleshing #Verbian #ViolentReason #VirginBlack #Voivod #Wormphlegm #ZegemaBeachRecords

Stuck in the Filter: March 2025’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Spring is in the air, and with it comes… an insane number of cicadas! Yes, that’s right, Brood XIV spawned this year and is currently overwhelming my staff as they trudge through embuggened ducts to clear out the Filter of semi-precious metal. I bet it’s fucking loud in there…

…. eh I’m sure they are all fine. Just fine. Anyway, enjoy the spoils of our toils!

Kenstrosity’s Gloopy Grubber

Acid Age // Perilous Compulsion [February 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

Belfast’s wacky thrash conglomerate Acid Age came out of absolutely nowhere back in March, unleashing their fourth LP Perilous Compulsion and equipping it with one helluva van-worthy cover. This is some funky, bluesy, quasi-psychedelic thrash metal that pulls no punches. Riffs abound, bonkers songwriting pervades, immense groove agitates. From the onset, “Bikini Island” establishes Perilous Compulsion as a no-nonsense, balls-out affair which reminds me heavily of Voivod and a simplified Flummox informed by Atheist’s progressive proclivities, and expanded by a touch of Pink Floyd’s nebulous jams. Of course, thrash remains Acid Age’s hero flavor, as choice cuts “State Your Business,” “Revenge for Sale,” and closing one-two punch “Rotten Tooth” and “Hamster Wheel” clearly demonstrate. While their fearless exploration of style and structure maintains a sky-high level of interest, it also introduces a couple of challenges. Firstly, this material can feel a bit disjointed at first, but focused spins reward the listener greatly as all of Perilous Compulsion’s moving parts start to mesh and move in unison. Secondly, Acid Age throws a spotlight on a few brilliant inclusions that, over time, I wish were more often utilized—namely, the delightfully bluesy harmonica solos on “Rotten Tooth.” Regardless, Acid Age put themselves on my map with Perilous Compulsion. I recommend you put them on yours, too!

Owlswald’s Desiccated Discoveries

Verbian // Casarder [March 21st, 2025 – Lost Future Records]

It’s unjust that Portuguese rockers Verbian—who have been producing quality post-rock since 2019’s Jaez—haven’t received the attention they deserve. Fusing elements of post-rock with metal, psychedelic, and stoner, Casarder is Verbian’s third full-length and the first with new drummer Guilherme Gonçalves. Taking the sounds and inspirations of 2020’s Irrupção and enriching it with new permutations and modulations, Casarder’s largely instrumental character rides punchy riffs and roiling grooves—à la Russian Circles and Elder—to transmit its thought-provoking legitimacy. Dystopian and surreal séances, via echoing Korg synthscapes (“Pausa Entre Dias,” “Vozes da Ilha”) and celestial harmonies, permeate Casarder’s forty-three-minute runtime, translating Madalena Pinto’s striking Aeon Flux-esque cover art with precision. Ominous horn sections and crusty recurrent vocals (“Marcha do Vulto,” “Depois de Toda a Mudança”) by guitarist Vasco Reis and bassist Alexandre Silva underscore Verbian’s individuality in a crowded post-rock domain. Gonçalves’s drumming—with his intricate and enchanting hard rock and samba rhythms (“Nada Muda,” “Fruta Caída do Mar”)—adds a new dimension to Verbian’s sound, assuring my attention never falters. The group describes Casarder as communicating the “…insecurities of artistic expression and personal exposure when it comes to fearing being judged for something that is somewhat outside of what is done in each artist’s niche.” Indeed, Casarder reveals Verbian is unafraid to forge their own path, and the results are gripping.

Symbiotic Growth // Beyond the Sleepless Aether [March 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

Beyond the Sleepless Aether, the sophomore effort by Ontario, Canada’s Symbiotic Growth, immediately caught my attention with its dreamy-looking cover. Building upon their 2020 self-titled debut, the Canadian trio hones epic and long-form progressive death metal soundscapes, narrating a quest for meaning across alternate realities in mostly lengthy, yet rewarding, tracks that blend technicality, atmosphere, and melody. The group frequently employs dynamic shifts, moving between raging brutality and serene shoegaze beauty (“Arid Trials and Barren Sands,” “The Sleepless Void”). This is achieved through complex and vengeful passages alongside atmospheric synth lines and softer piano interludes (“Sires of Boundless Sunset,” “Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights”), cultivating an air of wonder, mystery, and ethereality that permeates much of Symbiotic Growth’s material. “The Architect of Annihilation” echoes the style of Ne Obliviscaris with its blend of clean harmonies and harsh growls meshed with tremolo-picked arpeggiations and catchy hooks (the guitar solo even features a violin-like quality). “Lost in Fractured Reveries” evokes In Mourning with its parallel synth and guitar lines giving way to devastating grooves that make it impossible not to headbang. Although some fine-tuning remains—the clean vocals could use some more weight and tracks like “Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights” and “The Architect of Annihilation” overstay their welcome at times—Beyond the Sleepless Aether shows Symbiotic Growth’s burgeoning talent and signals the group is one to watch in progressive death metal.

Dear Hollow’s Drudgery Sludgery Hoist

Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea [March 7th, 2025 – Pale Chord Records | Rise Records]

From humble beginnings in a more artsy-fartsy djent post-Iwrestledabearonce world to becoming the darlings of Octane Radio, Spiritbox has seen quite the ascent. While it’s easy to look at their work and scoff at its radio-friendliness, sophomore full-length Tsunami Sea shows Courtney LaPlante and company sticking to their guns. Simultaneously more obscure and more radio-friendly in its selection of tracks, expect its signature blend of colossal riffs and ethereal melodies guided by LaPlante’s siren-then-sea serpent dichotomy of furious roars and haunting cleans. Yes, Spiritbox helms its attack with the radio singles (“Perfect Soul,”1 “Crystal Roses”) in layered soaring choruses and touches of hip-hop undergirded by fierce grooves, but the meat of Tsunami Sea finds the flexibility and patience in the skull-crushing brutality (“Soft Spine,” “No Loss, No Love”) and its more exploratory songwriting that amps layers of the ethereal and the hellish with catchy riffs and vocals alike (“Fata Morgana,” “A Haven of Two Faces”). It’s far from perfect, and its tendency towards radio will be divisive, but it shows Spiritbox firing on all cylinders.

Unfleshing // Violent Reason [March 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

I am always tickled pink by blackened crust. It takes the crusty violence and propensity for filth and adds black metal’s signature sinister nature. Unfleshing is a young, unsigned blackened crust band from St. Louis, and with debut Violent Reason, you can expect a traditional punk-infused beatdown with a battered guitar tone and sinister vocals. However, more than many, the quartet offers a beatdown that feels as atmospheric as it is pummeling. Don’t get me wrong, you get your skull caved in like the poor guy on the cover with minute-long crust beatdowns (“Body Bag,” “From the Gutter”) and full-length smackdowns (“Knife in the Dark,” “Final Breath”), both styles complete with scathing grooves, squalid feedback, climactic solos and punishing blastbeats, atop a blackened roar dripping with hate. But amid the full-throttle assault, Unfleshing utilizes ominous black metal chord progressions and unsettling plucking to add a more dynamic feature to Violent Reason (“Cathedral Rust,” “One With the Mud”). The album never overstays, and while traditional, it’s a hell of a start for Unfleshing.

Ghostsmoker // Inertia Cult [March 21st, 2025 – Art as Catharsis Records]

Ghostsmoker seems like the perfect stoner metal band name, but aside from the swampy guitar tone, there’s something much sinister lurking. Proffering a caustic blackened doom/sludge not unlike Thou, Wormphlegm, and Sea Bastard, the Melbourne group quartet devotes a crisp forty-two minutes to sprawling doom weighted by a crushing guitar tone that rivals Morast‘s latest, and shrieked vocals straight from the latest church burning. Beyond what’s expected from this particular breed of devastation, Ghostsmoker infuses an evocative patience reminiscent of post-metal’s more sludgy offerings like Neurosis or Pelican, lending a certain atmosphere and mood of dread and wilderness depicted on its cover. From the outright chugging attacks of churning aggression (“Elogium,” “Haven”) to the more experimental and thoughtful pieces (“Bodies to Shore,” instrumental closer “The Death of Solitude”), Inertia Cult largely feels like a journey through uncharted forests, with voices whispering from the trees. Ghostsmoker is something special.

GardensTale’s Paralyzed Spine

Spiine // Tetraptych [March 27th, 2025 – Self Released]

Is it still a supergroup release when half the lineup are session musicians? Spiine is made up of Sesca Scaarba (Virgin Black) and Xen (ex-Ne Obliviscaris), but on debut Tetraptych they are joined by guests Waltteri Väyrynen (Opeth) and Lena Abé (My Dying Bride). Usually, so much talent put into the same room does not yield great results. Tetraptych is one hell of an exception. A monstrous slab of crawling heaviness, Spiine lurches with abject despair through the mires of deathly funeral doom. Though I usually eschew this genre, my attention remains rapt through a variety of variations. The songwriting keeps the 4 tracks progressing, slow and steady builds, and the promise of momentary tempo changes working a two-pronged structural plan to buoy the majestic yet miserable riffs. “Oubliiette” is the best example here, going from galloping death-doom to Georgian choirs to a fantastic bridge where all the instrumentation hits only on the roared syllables. Xen’s unholy bellows flatten any objections I may have had, managing both thunder and deepest woe in the same notes. The subtle orchestration and occasional choir arrangements finish the package with regal grandeur, and the lush and warm production is the cherry on top. If you feel like drowning your sorrows with an hour of colossal doom, this is the album for you.

Saunders’ Stenched Staples

Ade // Supplicium [March 14th, 2025 – Time to Kill Records]

Sometimes unjustly pigeonholed as the Roman-inspired version of Nile, the hugely underrated Ade have punched out a solid career of quality death metal releases since emerging roughly fifteen years ago, charting their own path. Albums like 2013’s ripping Spartacus and 2019’s solid Rise of the Empire represent a tidy snapshot of the band’s career. Fifth album Supplicium, their first LP in six years, marks a low-key, welcome return. Exotic instrumentation and attention to history and storytelling are alive and well in the Ade camp, as is their penchant for punishing, unrelenting death, featuring a deftly curated mix of bombast, brutality, technical spark, and epic atmospheres. Edoardo Di Santo (Hideous Divinity) joins a largely refreshed line-up, including a new bassist and second guitarist since their last album. Line-up changes aside, familiar Ade tools of harrowing ancient Roman tales and modern death destruction remain as consistently solid as always. Top-notch riffs, intricate arrangements, fluid tempo shifts, and explosive drumming highlight songs that frequently flex their flair for drama-fueled atmospheres, hellfire blasts, and burly grooves. The immense, multi-faceted “Burnt Before Gods,” exotic melodies and raw savagery of “Ad Beastias!,” spitfire intensity of “Vinum,” and epically charged throes of “From Fault to Disfigurement” highlight more solid returns from Ade.

Masters of Reality // The Archer [March 28th, 2025 – Artone Label Group/Mascot Records]

Underappreciated desert rock pioneers and quirky stalwarts Masters of Reality returned from recording oblivion some fifteen-plus years since they last unleashed an LP. Led by the legendary Chris Goss and his collaborative counterparts across a career that first kicked off in the late ’80s, Masters of Reality return sounding inspired, wisened, and a little more chilled. Re-tinkering their familiar but ever-shifting sound, Masters of Reality incorporate woozy, bluesy laidback vibes featuring their oddball songwriting traits through a sedate, intriguing collection of new songs. The Archer showcases Masters of Reality’s longevity as seasoned, skilled songwriters, regardless of the shifting rock modes they explore. While perhaps lacking some of the energetic spark and earworm hooks of albums like Sunrise on the Sufferbus and Deep in the Hole, The Archer still marks a fine return outing. Goss’ signature voice is in fine form, and the bluesy, psych-drenched guitars, cushy basslines, ’60s and ’70s influences, and spacey vibes create a comforting haze. The delightfully dreamy, trippy “Chicken Little,” laidback hooks and old school charms of “I Had a Dream,” lively, quirky grooves of “Mr Tap n’ Go,” and moody, melancholic balladry of “Powder Man” highlight another diverse, strange brew from the veteran act.

Tyme’s Unheard Annunciations

Doomsday // Never Known Peace [March 28th, 2025 – Creator-Destructor Records]

March’s filter means spring is here, mostly, which is when I start searching for bands to populate my annual edition of Tyme’s Mowing Metal. There’s nothing I enjoy more than cracking a cold beer, sliding my headphones over my ears, and hopping on the mower to complete one of summer’s—at least for me—most enjoyable chores. A band that will feature prominently this summer is Oakland, California’s crossover thrash quintet Doomsday, and their Creator-Destructor Records debut album, Never Known Peace. Doomsday lays down a ton of mindless fun in the vein of other crossover greats like Enforced and Power Trip. There are riffs aplenty on this deliciously executed hardcore-tinged thrashtastic platter full of snarly, spiteful, Jamey Jasta-esque vocals, trademark gang shouts, and, oh, did I mention the riffs? Yeah, cuz there’s a butt-ton of ’em. Leads and solos are melodic (“Death is Here,” “Eternal Tombs”). Within its beefily warm mix, the chug-a-lug breakdowns run rampant across Never Known Peace‘s thirty-one minutes (seriously, there’s one in every track), leaving nary a tune that won’t have you at least bobbing your head and, at most, causing your neck a very nasty case of whipthrash. I’m going to be listening to Never Known Peace ALOT this summer, on and off my mower, and while I don’t care that the lawn lines in my yard will be a little wavier this year than others, I’ll chalk it up to the beer and the head banging Doomsday‘s Never Known Peace instills.

Rancid Cadaver // Mortality Denied [March 21st, 2025 – Self Released]

Another filter, another fetid fragment of foulness; this month, it’s up-and-coming deathstarts Rancid Cadaver and their independently released debut album Mortality Denied. Adam Burke’s excellent cover art caught my eye during a quick dip into the Bandcamp pool and had me pushing play. A thick slab of murderous meat ripe with fatty veins of Coffin Mulch and Morbific running through it, Mortality Denied overflows with tons of bestial vocals, crushing drums, barbaric bass, and squealing solos, all ensorcelled within the majesty of Rancid Cadaver‘s miasmic riff-gurgitations (“Slurping the Cerebral Slime,” “Mass of Gore,” and “Drained of Brains”). Fists will pump, and faces will stank during the Fulci-friendly “Zombified,” a pulverizing slow-death chug fest with an intro that landed me right back on the shores of Dr. Menard’s island of the undead.2 This quartet of Glaswegians has plopped down a death metal debut that ages like wine, getting better and better with consecutive spins. Surprisingly, Rancid Cadaver is unsigned, but I’m confident that status should change before we see a sophomore effort, and you can bet I’ll be there when that happens.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Unsophisticated Slappers

Crossed // Realismo Ausente [March 21st, 2025 – Zegema Beach Records]

Timing means everything in groove. I know that some people say that they have a hard time finding that kind of bob and sway in extreme music. But with an act like Spain’s Crossed, whose every carved word and every skronked guitar noise follows an insatiable punky stride, groove lies in every moment of third full-length Realismo Ausente. Whether it’s on the classic beat of D (“Vaciar Un Corazón,” “Cuerpo Distorsionado”), the twanging drone of a screaming bend (“Monotonía de la lluvia en la Ventana”), or the Celtic Frost-ed hammer of a chord crush (“Catedral”), a calculated, urgent, and intoxicating cadence colors the grayscale attitude throughout. But just because Crossed can find a groove in any twisted mathy rhythm—early Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan come to mind on quick cuts like “Cerrojo” and “Sentirse Solo”—doesn’t mean that their panic chord-loaded crescendos and close-outs can’t rip your head clean off in banging ecstasy. Easy listening and blackened hardcore can’t go hand-in-hand, but Crossed does their very best to make unintelligible, scathing screeches and ceiling-scraping feedback hissing palatable against crunchy punk builds and throbbing, warm bass grumbles. Likewise, Realismo Ausente stabs into a dejected body tales of loathing, fear, self-rejection, and defeated existence—nothing smiles in its urgent and apathetic crevices. But despite the lack of light at the end of the tunnel of Crossed’s horror-touched vision of impassioned hardcore, an analog warmth and human spirit trapped inside a writhing and pleading throat reveal a presence that’s still fighting. It’s the fight that counts. If you didn’t join the fight last time, now’s as good a time as any.

Nothing // The Self Repair Manifesto [March 26th, 2025 – Self Released]

If you noticed a tree zombie heading steaming through its trepanned opening, then you too found the same initial draw I had to The Self Repair Manifesto. Nothing complex often can draw us to the things we desire, yet in Nothing’s particular attack of relentless, groove-based death metal, many nooks of additional interest exist. The Self Repair Manifesto’s tribal rhythm-stirred “Initiation,” in its bouncy play, does little to set up the double-kick pummel and snarling refrains that lurk in this brutal, Australian soundscape. The simple chiming cymbal-fluttering bass call-and-response of “Subterfuge,” the throat singing summoning of “The Shroud,” the immediate onslaught of “Abrogation”—all in under 30 minutes, an infectious and progressive experience unfolds. And never fear, living by the motto “no clean singing,”3 Nothing has no intention of traveling the wandering and crooning path of an Opeth or In Vain. Rather, Nothing finds a hypnotic rhythmic presence both in fanciful kit play that stirs a foot shuffle and high-tempo stick abuse that urges bodies on bodies in the pit (“Subterfuge,” “The Shroud”), much in the same way you might hear in early Decapitated or Hate Eternal works. With flair of their own, though, and a mic near the mouth vessel of each member (yes, even the drummer!) to maintain a layered harsh intensity, Nothing serves a potent blend of death metal that is as jam-able as it is gym-able. Whether you seek gains or progressive enrichment, Nothing is the answer.

Steel Druhm’s Massive Aggressive

Impurity // The Eternal Sleep [ March 7th, 2025 – Hammerheart Records]

Impurity’s lust for all things Left Hand Path is not the least bit Clandestine, and on their full-length debut, The Eternal Sleep, they attempt to craft their own ode to the rabid HM-2 worship of the early 90s Swedeath sound. No new elements are shoehorned in aside from vaguely blackened ones, and there’s not the slightest effort to push the boundaries of the admittedly limited Swedeath sound. The Eternal Sleep sounds like the album that could have come between Entombed’s timeless debut and the Clandestine follow-up, and that’s not a bad place to be. It’s heavy, brutish, buzzing death metal with an OSDM edge, and it hits like a runaway 18-wheeler full of concrete and titanium rebar. One only needs to weather the shitstorm of opener “Denial of Clarity” to realize this is the deep water of the niche genre. It’s extremely heavy, face-melting death with more fuzz and buzz than your brain can process. Other cuts feel like a direct lift from Left Hand Path and/or Clandestine (“Tribute to Creation,”) and fetid Dismember tidbits creep in during “Pilgrimage to Utumno,” and these feel like olde friends showing up unexpectedly at the hometown watering hole. Swedeath is all about those ragged, jagged riffs, and they’re delivered in abundance over The Eternal Sleep, and despite the intrinsic lack of originality, Impurity pump enough steroids and Cialis into the genre archetypes to make the material endearing and engaging. Yes, you’ve heard this shit before. Now hear it again, chumbo!

#AcidAge #Ade #AmericanMetal #ArtAsCatharsisRecords #ArtoneLabelGroup #Atheist #AustralianMetal #BeyondTheSleeplessAether #BlackMetal #BlackenedCrust #BlackenedHardcore #CanadianMetal #Casarder #CelticFrost #CoffinMulch #Converge #CreatorDestructorRecords #Crossed #Crust #DeathMetal #Decapitated #DesertRock #DillingerEscapePlan #DoomMetal #Doomsday #Elder #Enforced #Flummox #Fulci #Ghostsmoker #Hardcore #HateEternal #HideousDivinity #Impurity #InMourning #InVain #InertialCult #InternationalMetal #ItalianMetal #iwrestledabearonce #LostFutureRecords #MascotRecords #MastersOfReality #Mathcore #MelodicMetal #Metalcore #Morast #Morbific #MortalityDenied #MyDyingBride #NeObliviscaris #Neurosis #NeverKnownPeace #Nile #Nothing #Opeth #PaleChordRecords #Pelican #PerilousCompulsion #PinkFloyd #PortugueseMetal #PostRock #PostMetal #PowerTrip #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveThrashMetal #PyschedelicRock #RancidCadaver #RealismoAusente #Review #Reviews #RiseRecords #RussianCircles #ScottishMetal #SeaBastard #SelfReleased #SixpenceNoneTheRicher #SludgeMetal #SpanishMetal #Spiine #Spiritbox #StonerMetal #Supplicium #SymbioticGrowth #TechnicalDeathMetal #Tetraptych #TheArcher #TheEternalSleep #TheSelfRepairManifesto #Thou #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #TsunamiSea #UKMetal #Unfleshing #Verbian #ViolentReason #VirginBlack #Voivod #Wormphlegm #ZegemaBeachRecords

Stuck in the Filter: March 2025’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Spring is in the air, and with it comes… an insane number of cicadas! Yes, that’s right, Brood XIV spawned this year and is currently overwhelming my staff as they trudge through embuggened ducts to clear out the Filter of semi-precious metal. I bet it’s fucking loud in there…

…. eh I’m sure they are all fine. Just fine. Anyway, enjoy the spoils of our toils!

Kenstrosity’s Gloopy Grubber

Acid Age // Perilous Compulsion [February 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

Belfast’s wacky thrash conglomerate Acid Age came out of absolutely nowhere back in March, unleashing their fourth LP Perilous Compulsion and equipping it with one helluva van-worthy cover. This is some funky, bluesy, quasi-psychedelic thrash metal that pulls no punches. Riffs abound, bonkers songwriting pervades, immense groove agitates. From the onset, “Bikini Island” establishes Perilous Compulsion as a no-nonsense, balls-out affair which reminds me heavily of Voivod and a simplified Flummox informed by Atheist’s progressive proclivities, and expanded by a touch of Pink Floyd’s nebulous jams. Of course, thrash remains Acid Age’s hero flavor, as choice cuts “State Your Business,” “Revenge for Sale,” and closing one-two punch “Rotten Tooth” and “Hamster Wheel” clearly demonstrate. While their fearless exploration of style and structure maintains a sky-high level of interest, it also introduces a couple of challenges. Firstly, this material can feel a bit disjointed at first, but focused spins reward the listener greatly as all of Perilous Compulsion’s moving parts start to mesh and move in unison. Secondly, Acid Age throws a spotlight on a few brilliant inclusions that, over time, I wish were more often utilized—namely, the delightfully bluesy harmonica solos on “Rotten Tooth.” Regardless, Acid Age put themselves on my map with Perilous Compulsion. I recommend you put them on yours, too!

Owlswald’s Desiccated Discoveries

Verbian // Casarder [March 21st, 2025 – Lost Future Records]

It’s unjust that Portuguese rockers Verbian—who have been producing quality post-rock since 2019’s Jaez—haven’t received the attention they deserve. Fusing elements of post-rock with metal, psychedelic, and stoner, Casarder is Verbian’s third full-length and the first with new drummer Guilherme Gonçalves. Taking the sounds and inspirations of 2020’s Irrupção and enriching it with new permutations and modulations, Casarder’s largely instrumental character rides punchy riffs and roiling grooves—à la Russian Circles and Elder—to transmit its thought-provoking legitimacy. Dystopian and surreal séances, via echoing Korg synthscapes (“Pausa Entre Dias,” “Vozes da Ilha”) and celestial harmonies, permeate Casarder’s forty-three-minute runtime, translating Madalena Pinto’s striking Aeon Flux-esque cover art with precision. Ominous horn sections and crusty recurrent vocals (“Marcha do Vulto,” “Depois de Toda a Mudança”) by guitarist Vasco Reis and bassist Alexandre Silva underscore Verbian’s individuality in a crowded post-rock domain. Gonçalves’s drumming—with his intricate and enchanting hard rock and samba rhythms (“Nada Muda,” “Fruta Caída do Mar”)—adds a new dimension to Verbian’s sound, assuring my attention never falters. The group describes Casarder as communicating the “…insecurities of artistic expression and personal exposure when it comes to fearing being judged for something that is somewhat outside of what is done in each artist’s niche.” Indeed, Casarder reveals Verbian is unafraid to forge their own path, and the results are gripping.

Symbiotic Growth // Beyond the Sleepless Aether [March 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

Beyond the Sleepless Aether, the sophomore effort by Ontario, Canada’s Symbiotic Growth, immediately caught my attention with its dreamy-looking cover. Building upon their 2020 self-titled debut, the Canadian trio hones epic and long-form progressive death metal soundscapes, narrating a quest for meaning across alternate realities in mostly lengthy, yet rewarding, tracks that blend technicality, atmosphere, and melody. The group frequently employs dynamic shifts, moving between raging brutality and serene shoegaze beauty (“Arid Trials and Barren Sands,” “The Sleepless Void”). This is achieved through complex and vengeful passages alongside atmospheric synth lines and softer piano interludes (“Sires of Boundless Sunset,” “Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights”), cultivating an air of wonder, mystery, and ethereality that permeates much of Symbiotic Growth’s material. “The Architect of Annihilation” echoes the style of Ne Obliviscaris with its blend of clean harmonies and harsh growls meshed with tremolo-picked arpeggiations and catchy hooks (the guitar solo even features a violin-like quality). “Lost in Fractured Reveries” evokes In Mourning with its parallel synth and guitar lines giving way to devastating grooves that make it impossible not to headbang. Although some fine-tuning remains—the clean vocals could use some more weight and tracks like “Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights” and “The Architect of Annihilation” overstay their welcome at times—Beyond the Sleepless Aether shows Symbiotic Growth’s burgeoning talent and signals the group is one to watch in progressive death metal.

Dear Hollow’s Drudgery Sludgery Hoist

Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea [March 7th, 2025 – Pale Chord Records | Rise Records]

From humble beginnings in a more artsy-fartsy djent post-Iwrestledabearonce world to becoming the darlings of Octane Radio, Spiritbox has seen quite the ascent. While it’s easy to look at their work and scoff at its radio-friendliness, sophomore full-length Tsunami Sea shows Courtney LaPlante and company sticking to their guns. Simultaneously more obscure and more radio-friendly in its selection of tracks, expect its signature blend of colossal riffs and ethereal melodies guided by LaPlante’s siren-then-sea serpent dichotomy of furious roars and haunting cleans. Yes, Spiritbox helms its attack with the radio singles (“Perfect Soul,”1 “Crystal Roses”) in layered soaring choruses and touches of hip-hop undergirded by fierce grooves, but the meat of Tsunami Sea finds the flexibility and patience in the skull-crushing brutality (“Soft Spine,” “No Loss, No Love”) and its more exploratory songwriting that amps layers of the ethereal and the hellish with catchy riffs and vocals alike (“Fata Morgana,” “A Haven of Two Faces”). It’s far from perfect, and its tendency towards radio will be divisive, but it shows Spiritbox firing on all cylinders.

Unfleshing // Violent Reason [March 28th, 2025 – Self Released]

I am always tickled pink by blackened crust. It takes the crusty violence and propensity for filth and adds black metal’s signature sinister nature. Unfleshing is a young, unsigned blackened crust band from St. Louis, and with debut Violent Reason, you can expect a traditional punk-infused beatdown with a battered guitar tone and sinister vocals. However, more than many, the quartet offers a beatdown that feels as atmospheric as it is pummeling. Don’t get me wrong, you get your skull caved in like the poor guy on the cover with minute-long crust beatdowns (“Body Bag,” “From the Gutter”) and full-length smackdowns (“Knife in the Dark,” “Final Breath”), both styles complete with scathing grooves, squalid feedback, climactic solos and punishing blastbeats, atop a blackened roar dripping with hate. But amid the full-throttle assault, Unfleshing utilizes ominous black metal chord progressions and unsettling plucking to add a more dynamic feature to Violent Reason (“Cathedral Rust,” “One With the Mud”). The album never overstays, and while traditional, it’s a hell of a start for Unfleshing.

Ghostsmoker // Inertia Cult [March 21st, 2025 – Art as Catharsis Records]

Ghostsmoker seems like the perfect stoner metal band name, but aside from the swampy guitar tone, there’s something much sinister lurking. Proffering a caustic blackened doom/sludge not unlike Thou, Wormphlegm, and Sea Bastard, the Melbourne group quartet devotes a crisp forty-two minutes to sprawling doom weighted by a crushing guitar tone that rivals Morast‘s latest, and shrieked vocals straight from the latest church burning. Beyond what’s expected from this particular breed of devastation, Ghostsmoker infuses an evocative patience reminiscent of post-metal’s more sludgy offerings like Neurosis or Pelican, lending a certain atmosphere and mood of dread and wilderness depicted on its cover. From the outright chugging attacks of churning aggression (“Elogium,” “Haven”) to the more experimental and thoughtful pieces (“Bodies to Shore,” instrumental closer “The Death of Solitude”), Inertia Cult largely feels like a journey through uncharted forests, with voices whispering from the trees. Ghostsmoker is something special.

GardensTale’s Paralyzed Spine

Spiine // Tetraptych [March 27th, 2025 – Self Released]

Is it still a supergroup release when half the lineup are session musicians? Spiine is made up of Sesca Scaarba (Virgin Black) and Xen (ex-Ne Obliviscaris), but on debut Tetraptych they are joined by guests Waltteri Väyrynen (Opeth) and Lena Abé (My Dying Bride). Usually, so much talent put into the same room does not yield great results. Tetraptych is one hell of an exception. A monstrous slab of crawling heaviness, Spiine lurches with abject despair through the mires of deathly funeral doom. Though I usually eschew this genre, my attention remains rapt through a variety of variations. The songwriting keeps the 4 tracks progressing, slow and steady builds, and the promise of momentary tempo changes working a two-pronged structural plan to buoy the majestic yet miserable riffs. “Oubliiette” is the best example here, going from galloping death-doom to Georgian choirs to a fantastic bridge where all the instrumentation hits only on the roared syllables. Xen’s unholy bellows flatten any objections I may have had, managing both thunder and deepest woe in the same notes. The subtle orchestration and occasional choir arrangements finish the package with regal grandeur, and the lush and warm production is the cherry on top. If you feel like drowning your sorrows with an hour of colossal doom, this is the album for you.

Saunders’ Stenched Staples

Ade // Supplicium [March 14th, 2025 – Time to Kill Records]

Sometimes unjustly pigeonholed as the Roman-inspired version of Nile, the hugely underrated Ade have punched out a solid career of quality death metal releases since emerging roughly fifteen years ago, charting their own path. Albums like 2013’s ripping Spartacus and 2019’s solid Rise of the Empire represent a tidy snapshot of the band’s career. Fifth album Supplicium, their first LP in six years, marks a low-key, welcome return. Exotic instrumentation and attention to history and storytelling are alive and well in the Ade camp, as is their penchant for punishing, unrelenting death, featuring a deftly curated mix of bombast, brutality, technical spark, and epic atmospheres. Edoardo Di Santo (Hideous Divinity) joins a largely refreshed line-up, including a new bassist and second guitarist since their last album. Line-up changes aside, familiar Ade tools of harrowing ancient Roman tales and modern death destruction remain as consistently solid as always. Top-notch riffs, intricate arrangements, fluid tempo shifts, and explosive drumming highlight songs that frequently flex their flair for drama-fueled atmospheres, hellfire blasts, and burly grooves. The immense, multi-faceted “Burnt Before Gods,” exotic melodies and raw savagery of “Ad Beastias!,” spitfire intensity of “Vinum,” and epically charged throes of “From Fault to Disfigurement” highlight more solid returns from Ade.

Masters of Reality // The Archer [March 28th, 2025 – Artone Label Group/Mascot Records]

Underappreciated desert rock pioneers and quirky stalwarts Masters of Reality returned from recording oblivion some fifteen-plus years since they last unleashed an LP. Led by the legendary Chris Goss and his collaborative counterparts across a career that first kicked off in the late ’80s, Masters of Reality return sounding inspired, wisened, and a little more chilled. Re-tinkering their familiar but ever-shifting sound, Masters of Reality incorporate woozy, bluesy laidback vibes featuring their oddball songwriting traits through a sedate, intriguing collection of new songs. The Archer showcases Masters of Reality’s longevity as seasoned, skilled songwriters, regardless of the shifting rock modes they explore. While perhaps lacking some of the energetic spark and earworm hooks of albums like Sunrise on the Sufferbus and Deep in the Hole, The Archer still marks a fine return outing. Goss’ signature voice is in fine form, and the bluesy, psych-drenched guitars, cushy basslines, ’60s and ’70s influences, and spacey vibes create a comforting haze. The delightfully dreamy, trippy “Chicken Little,” laidback hooks and old school charms of “I Had a Dream,” lively, quirky grooves of “Mr Tap n’ Go,” and moody, melancholic balladry of “Powder Man” highlight another diverse, strange brew from the veteran act.

Tyme’s Unheard Annunciations

Doomsday // Never Known Peace [March 28th, 2025 – Creator-Destructor Records]

March’s filter means spring is here, mostly, which is when I start searching for bands to populate my annual edition of Tyme’s Mowing Metal. There’s nothing I enjoy more than cracking a cold beer, sliding my headphones over my ears, and hopping on the mower to complete one of summer’s—at least for me—most enjoyable chores. A band that will feature prominently this summer is Oakland, California’s crossover thrash quintet Doomsday, and their Creator-Destructor Records debut album, Never Known Peace. Doomsday lays down a ton of mindless fun in the vein of other crossover greats like Enforced and Power Trip. There are riffs aplenty on this deliciously executed hardcore-tinged thrashtastic platter full of snarly, spiteful, Jamey Jasta-esque vocals, trademark gang shouts, and, oh, did I mention the riffs? Yeah, cuz there’s a butt-ton of ’em. Leads and solos are melodic (“Death is Here,” “Eternal Tombs”). Within its beefily warm mix, the chug-a-lug breakdowns run rampant across Never Known Peace‘s thirty-one minutes (seriously, there’s one in every track), leaving nary a tune that won’t have you at least bobbing your head and, at most, causing your neck a very nasty case of whipthrash. I’m going to be listening to Never Known Peace ALOT this summer, on and off my mower, and while I don’t care that the lawn lines in my yard will be a little wavier this year than others, I’ll chalk it up to the beer and the head banging Doomsday‘s Never Known Peace instills.

Rancid Cadaver // Mortality Denied [March 21st, 2025 – Self Released]

Another filter, another fetid fragment of foulness; this month, it’s up-and-coming deathstarts Rancid Cadaver and their independently released debut album Mortality Denied. Adam Burke’s excellent cover art caught my eye during a quick dip into the Bandcamp pool and had me pushing play. A thick slab of murderous meat ripe with fatty veins of Coffin Mulch and Morbific running through it, Mortality Denied overflows with tons of bestial vocals, crushing drums, barbaric bass, and squealing solos, all ensorcelled within the majesty of Rancid Cadaver‘s miasmic riff-gurgitations (“Slurping the Cerebral Slime,” “Mass of Gore,” and “Drained of Brains”). Fists will pump, and faces will stank during the Fulci-friendly “Zombified,” a pulverizing slow-death chug fest with an intro that landed me right back on the shores of Dr. Menard’s island of the undead.2 This quartet of Glaswegians has plopped down a death metal debut that ages like wine, getting better and better with consecutive spins. Surprisingly, Rancid Cadaver is unsigned, but I’m confident that status should change before we see a sophomore effort, and you can bet I’ll be there when that happens.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Unsophisticated Slappers

Crossed // Realismo Ausente [March 21st, 2025 – Zegema Beach Records]

Timing means everything in groove. I know that some people say that they have a hard time finding that kind of bob and sway in extreme music. But with an act like Spain’s Crossed, whose every carved word and every skronked guitar noise follows an insatiable punky stride, groove lies in every moment of third full-length Realismo Ausente. Whether it’s on the classic beat of D (“Vaciar Un Corazón,” “Cuerpo Distorsionado”), the twanging drone of a screaming bend (“Monotonía de la lluvia en la Ventana”), or the Celtic Frost-ed hammer of a chord crush (“Catedral”), a calculated, urgent, and intoxicating cadence colors the grayscale attitude throughout. But just because Crossed can find a groove in any twisted mathy rhythm—early Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan come to mind on quick cuts like “Cerrojo” and “Sentirse Solo”—doesn’t mean that their panic chord-loaded crescendos and close-outs can’t rip your head clean off in banging ecstasy. Easy listening and blackened hardcore can’t go hand-in-hand, but Crossed does their very best to make unintelligible, scathing screeches and ceiling-scraping feedback hissing palatable against crunchy punk builds and throbbing, warm bass grumbles. Likewise, Realismo Ausente stabs into a dejected body tales of loathing, fear, self-rejection, and defeated existence—nothing smiles in its urgent and apathetic crevices. But despite the lack of light at the end of the tunnel of Crossed’s horror-touched vision of impassioned hardcore, an analog warmth and human spirit trapped inside a writhing and pleading throat reveal a presence that’s still fighting. It’s the fight that counts. If you didn’t join the fight last time, now’s as good a time as any.

Nothing // The Self Repair Manifesto [March 26th, 2025 – Self Released]

If you noticed a tree zombie heading steaming through its trepanned opening, then you too found the same initial draw I had to The Self Repair Manifesto. Nothing complex often can draw us to the things we desire, yet in Nothing’s particular attack of relentless, groove-based death metal, many nooks of additional interest exist. The Self Repair Manifesto’s tribal rhythm-stirred “Initiation,” in its bouncy play, does little to set up the double-kick pummel and snarling refrains that lurk in this brutal, Australian soundscape. The simple chiming cymbal-fluttering bass call-and-response of “Subterfuge,” the throat singing summoning of “The Shroud,” the immediate onslaught of “Abrogation”—all in under 30 minutes, an infectious and progressive experience unfolds. And never fear, living by the motto “no clean singing,”3 Nothing has no intention of traveling the wandering and crooning path of an Opeth or In Vain. Rather, Nothing finds a hypnotic rhythmic presence both in fanciful kit play that stirs a foot shuffle and high-tempo stick abuse that urges bodies on bodies in the pit (“Subterfuge,” “The Shroud”), much in the same way you might hear in early Decapitated or Hate Eternal works. With flair of their own, though, and a mic near the mouth vessel of each member (yes, even the drummer!) to maintain a layered harsh intensity, Nothing serves a potent blend of death metal that is as jam-able as it is gym-able. Whether you seek gains or progressive enrichment, Nothing is the answer.

Steel Druhm’s Massive Aggressive

Impurity // The Eternal Sleep [ March 7th, 2025 – Hammerheart Records]

Impurity’s lust for all things Left Hand Path is not the least bit Clandestine, and on their full-length debut, The Eternal Sleep, they attempt to craft their own ode to the rabid HM-2 worship of the early 90s Swedeath sound. No new elements are shoehorned in aside from vaguely blackened ones, and there’s not the slightest effort to push the boundaries of the admittedly limited Swedeath sound. The Eternal Sleep sounds like the album that could have come between Entombed’s timeless debut and the Clandestine follow-up, and that’s not a bad place to be. It’s heavy, brutish, buzzing death metal with an OSDM edge, and it hits like a runaway 18-wheeler full of concrete and titanium rebar. One only needs to weather the shitstorm of opener “Denial of Clarity” to realize this is the deep water of the niche genre. It’s extremely heavy, face-melting death with more fuzz and buzz than your brain can process. Other cuts feel like a direct lift from Left Hand Path and/or Clandestine (“Tribute to Creation,”) and fetid Dismember tidbits creep in during “Pilgrimage to Utumno,” and these feel like olde friends showing up unexpectedly at the hometown watering hole. Swedeath is all about those ragged, jagged riffs, and they’re delivered in abundance over The Eternal Sleep, and despite the intrinsic lack of originality, Impurity pump enough steroids and Cialis into the genre archetypes to make the material endearing and engaging. Yes, you’ve heard this shit before. Now hear it again, chumbo!

#AcidAge #Ade #AmericanMetal #ArtAsCatharsisRecords #ArtoneLabelGroup #Atheist #AustralianMetal #BeyondTheSleeplessAether #BlackMetal #BlackenedCrust #BlackenedHardcore #CanadianMetal #Casarder #CelticFrost #CoffinMulch #Converge #CreatorDestructorRecords #Crossed #Crust #DeathMetal #Decapitated #DesertRock #DillingerEscapePlan #DoomMetal #Doomsday #Elder #Enforced #Flummox #Fulci #Ghostsmoker #Hardcore #HateEternal #HideousDivinity #Impurity #InMourning #InVain #InertialCult #InternationalMetal #ItalianMetal #iwrestledabearonce #LostFutureRecords #MascotRecords #MastersOfReality #Mathcore #MelodicMetal #Metalcore #Morast #Morbific #MortalityDenied #MyDyingBride #NeObliviscaris #Neurosis #NeverKnownPeace #Nile #Nothing #Opeth #PaleChordRecords #Pelican #PerilousCompulsion #PinkFloyd #PortugueseMetal #PostRock #PostMetal #PowerTrip #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveThrashMetal #PyschedelicRock #RancidCadaver #RealismoAusente #Review #Reviews #RiseRecords #RussianCircles #ScottishMetal #SeaBastard #SelfReleased #SixpenceNoneTheRicher #SludgeMetal #SpanishMetal #Spiine #Spiritbox #StonerMetal #Supplicium #SymbioticGrowth #TechnicalDeathMetal #Tetraptych #TheArcher #TheEternalSleep #TheSelfRepairManifesto #Thou #ThrashMetal #TimeToKillRecords #TsunamiSea #UKMetal #Unfleshing #Verbian #ViolentReason #VirginBlack #Voivod #Wormphlegm #ZegemaBeachRecords

Unmerciful – Devouring Darkness Review

By Steel Druhm

I’ve said it before. I’m not the biggest fan of tech-death. Sure, some of it can be fun, inspired lunacy, but I prefer my death dumb, ugly, and violent. I don’t need someone twanging away on a fretless bass or shredding a 30-string axe while I get my graveyard gorilla on. Thusly, Kansas-based tech-death luminaries, Origin, always left me somewhat nonplussed. Enter Unmerciful, the brutal death metal project featuring former Origin members, Clinton Appelhanz and Jeremy Turner. Though very talented musicians, these fiends prefer smashing skulls over parading a cosmic fuckton of notes past you while toying with quirky and off-kilter tempos. What you get on their fourth album, Devouring Darkness is a large steel-toed boot up your arse courtesy of a truckload of vicious death giving nods to Suffocation, Hate Eternal, Cannibal Corpse and other beastly friends best kept in crawlspaces. I don’t know what’s in the water in Kansas, but it’s not FDA-approved. Are you ready to get pulpified?

Talk about a proper album opener! Lead track “Miracle in Fire” is a steel pipe with a grenade duct-taped to it, and the beatings commence with lusty gusto. This is blasting, pummeling insanity with a vile OSDM charm served up with the frenzy that only comes from the Monkey Rage Virus. It’s like Cannibal Corpse violently copulating with primo Suffocation and Deicide, with James Murphy ripping off arresting solos between rubs and tugs. The riffs are insane and chaotic, the drumming is oppressive and relentless, and the vocals are disgusting as fook. It’s hell in a handbasket, and I love it to pieces. “Unnatural Feocity” is brainless cavemen ooga booga death played at time-warping velocities, and the Suffocation influence is impossible to miss. The title track introduces a harsh black edge to the death maelstrom. Scathing, twisting riffs swarm in abundance as a strong Morbid Angel stench burns through the oppressive atmosphere, and vocals wander into reverb-drenched Rotpit territory. It runs a bit too long, but delivers a lot of grotesque goods along the way.

“Infernal Conquering” is another highlight, with blasting speed alternating with 6-ton grooves and beef-brained mega-chugs. At their best, Unmerciful offer high-octane insanity fuel for the dangerously deranged. Their unhealthy commitment to speed leads them into a Krisiun-type conundrum where everything bleeds together into a turbo-charged mush. This can make it challenging to discern one song from another at a certain point, though it sure keeps the blood pumping. Another issue is the cover of Origin’s “Vomit You Out.” It arrives mid-album and feels unnecessary, with its grindier approach enough of a departure from the rest of Devouring Darkness to make it stick out and disrupt. Lastly, closer “Vengeance Transcending” is a step down after an album’s worth of quality death metal shenanigans, feeling more generic than its album-mates. At 41 minutes, Devouring Darkness is about as much of this kind of death as you can process before your grey matter begins to break down into pond paste. As it stands, I’m barely hanging on by my ape nails by the time the album wraps. The production is good for the style, with drums forward enough to pulverize kidney stones without drowning out the riffs and vocals. It’s abusive, sure, but why else did you come here?

Talent abounds across the board here, as every member of Unmerciful is accomplished and impressive at what they do. Clinton Appelhanz loads the material down with approximately 500 million riffs, and they twist and corkscrew all over the songs in bizarre and unholy ways. He’s a one-man apocalypse of fretboard abuse and the main reason the songs work as well as they do. He’s got little bits of Trey Azagthoth, James Murphy, and Terrance Hobbs in his style, and he goes for the throat 100% of the time. Trynt Kelly’s kit-work is stupifyingly fast, savage, and convoluted, and it’s hard to miss all the chaos he causes in the backline. Through all the commotion, Josh Riley roars and croaks with reliably inhuman vocal cords, sounding like an unstoppable monstrosity from the primordial ooze. That’s a good thing.

Devouring Darkness is an unceasing beatdown of a death metal album where technicality takes a backseat to brutality. The chops are put in service of the songs and not the other way around, and that results in some entertaining ear fuckery. Unmerciful aren’t reinventing the steel here, but they are melting it down with their unrestrained savagery. There’s always a place for that kind of animalistic behavior in the Zoo House ov Steel. If you like your death fast, ugly, and brutish, you should make room for it, too. It will keep the missionaries and bill collectors away (along with everyone else). No mercy!

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip
Websites: unmerciful.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/officialunmerciful | instagram.com/official_unmerciful
Releases Worldwide: May 23rd, 2025

#30 #AmericanMetal #CannibalCorpse #DeathMetal #Deicide #DevouringDarkness #HateEternal #Krisiun #May25 #MorbidAngel #Origin #Review #Reviews #Suffocation #Unmerciful #WillowtipRecords

Unmerciful – Devouring Darkness Review

By Steel Druhm

I’ve said it before. I’m not the biggest fan of tech-death. Sure, some of it can be fun, inspired lunacy, but I prefer my death dumb, ugly, and violent. I don’t need someone twanging away on a fretless bass or shredding a 30-string axe while I get my graveyard gorilla on. Thusly, Kansas-based tech-death luminaries, Origin, always left me somewhat nonplussed. Enter Unmerciful, the brutal death metal project featuring former Origin members, Clinton Appelhanz and Jeremy Turner. Though very talented musicians, these fiends prefer smashing skulls over parading a cosmic fuckton of notes past you while toying with quirky and off-kilter tempos. What you get on their fourth album, Devouring Darkness is a large steel-toed boot up your arse courtesy of a truckload of vicious death giving nods to Suffocation, Hate Eternal, Cannibal Corpse and other beastly friends best kept in crawlspaces. I don’t know what’s in the water in Kansas, but it’s not FDA-approved. Are you ready to get pulpified?

Talk about a proper album opener! Lead track “Miracle in Fire” is a steel pipe with a grenade duct-taped to it, and the beatings commence with lusty gusto. This is blasting, pummeling insanity with a vile OSDM charm served up with the frenzy that only comes from the Monkey Rage Virus. It’s like Cannibal Corpse violently copulating with primo Suffocation and Deicide, with James Murphy ripping off arresting solos between rubs and tugs. The riffs are insane and chaotic, the drumming is oppressive and relentless, and the vocals are disgusting as fook. It’s hell in a handbasket, and I love it to pieces. “Unnatural Feocity” is brainless cavemen ooga booga death played at time-warping velocities, and the Suffocation influence is impossible to miss. The title track introduces a harsh black edge to the death maelstrom. Scathing, twisting riffs swarm in abundance as a strong Morbid Angel stench burns through the oppressive atmosphere, and vocals wander into reverb-drenched Rotpit territory. It runs a bit too long, but delivers a lot of grotesque goods along the way.

“Infernal Conquering” is another highlight, with blasting speed alternating with 6-ton grooves and beef-brained mega-chugs. At their best, Unmerciful offer high-octane insanity fuel for the dangerously deranged. Their unhealthy commitment to speed leads them into a Krisiun-type conundrum where everything bleeds together into a turbo-charged mush. This can make it challenging to discern one song from another at a certain point, though it sure keeps the blood pumping. Another issue is the cover of Origin’s “Vomit You Out.” It arrives mid-album and feels unnecessary, with its grindier approach enough of a departure from the rest of Devouring Darkness to make it stick out and disrupt. Lastly, closer “Vengeance Transcending” is a step down after an album’s worth of quality death metal shenanigans, feeling more generic than its album-mates. At 41 minutes, Devouring Darkness is about as much of this kind of death as you can process before your grey matter begins to break down into pond paste. As it stands, I’m barely hanging on by my ape nails by the time the album wraps. The production is good for the style, with drums forward enough to pulverize kidney stones without drowning out the riffs and vocals. It’s abusive, sure, but why else did you come here?

Talent abounds across the board here, as every member of Unmerciful is accomplished and impressive at what they do. Clinton Appelhanz loads the material down with approximately 500 million riffs, and they twist and corkscrew all over the songs in bizarre and unholy ways. He’s a one-man apocalypse of fretboard abuse and the main reason the songs work as well as they do. He’s got little bits of Trey Azagthoth, James Murphy, and Terrance Hobbs in his style, and he goes for the throat 100% of the time. Trynt Kelly’s kit-work is stupifyingly fast, savage, and convoluted, and it’s hard to miss all the chaos he causes in the backline. Through all the commotion, Josh Riley roars and croaks with reliably inhuman vocal cords, sounding like an unstoppable monstrosity from the primordial ooze. That’s a good thing.

Devouring Darkness is an unceasing beatdown of a death metal album where technicality takes a backseat to brutality. The chops are put in service of the songs and not the other way around, and that results in some entertaining ear fuckery. Unmerciful aren’t reinventing the steel here, but they are melting it down with their unrestrained savagery. There’s always a place for that kind of animalistic behavior in the Zoo House ov Steel. If you like your death fast, ugly, and brutish, you should make room for it, too. It will keep the missionaries and bill collectors away (along with everyone else). No mercy!

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip
Websites: unmerciful.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/officialunmerciful | instagram.com/official_unmerciful
Releases Worldwide: May 23rd, 2025

#30 #AmericanMetal #CannibalCorpse #DeathMetal #Deicide #DevouringDarkness #HateEternal #Krisiun #May25 #MorbidAngel #Origin #Review #Reviews #Suffocation #Unmerciful #WillowtipRecords

Unmerciful – Devouring Darkness Review

By Steel Druhm

I’ve said it before. I’m not the biggest fan of tech-death. Sure, some of it can be fun, inspired lunacy, but I prefer my death dumb, ugly, and violent. I don’t need someone twanging away on a fretless bass or shredding a 30-string axe while I get my graveyard gorilla on. Thusly, Kansas-based tech-death luminaries, Origin, always left me somewhat nonplussed. Enter Unmerciful, the brutal death metal project featuring former Origin members, Clinton Appelhanz and Jeremy Turner. Though very talented musicians, these fiends prefer smashing skulls over parading a cosmic fuckton of notes past you while toying with quirky and off-kilter tempos. What you get on their fourth album, Devouring Darkness is a large steel-toed boot up your arse courtesy of a truckload of vicious death giving nods to Suffocation, Hate Eternal, Cannibal Corpse and other beastly friends best kept in crawlspaces. I don’t know what’s in the water in Kansas, but it’s not FDA-approved. Are you ready to get pulpified?

Talk about a proper album opener! Lead track “Miracle in Fire” is a steel pipe with a grenade duct-taped to it, and the beatings commence with lusty gusto. This is blasting, pummeling insanity with a vile OSDM charm served up with the frenzy that only comes from the Monkey Rage Virus. It’s like Cannibal Corpse violently copulating with primo Suffocation and Deicide, with James Murphy ripping off arresting solos between rubs and tugs. The riffs are insane and chaotic, the drumming is oppressive and relentless, and the vocals are disgusting as fook. It’s hell in a handbasket, and I love it to pieces. “Unnatural Feocity” is brainless cavemen ooga booga death played at time-warping velocities, and the Suffocation influence is impossible to miss. The title track introduces a harsh black edge to the death maelstrom. Scathing, twisting riffs swarm in abundance as a strong Morbid Angel stench burns through the oppressive atmosphere, and vocals wander into reverb-drenched Rotpit territory. It runs a bit too long, but delivers a lot of grotesque goods along the way.

“Infernal Conquering” is another highlight, with blasting speed alternating with 6-ton grooves and beef-brained mega-chugs. At their best, Unmerciful offer high-octane insanity fuel for the dangerously deranged. Their unhealthy commitment to speed leads them into a Krisiun-type conundrum where everything bleeds together into a turbo-charged mush. This can make it challenging to discern one song from another at a certain point, though it sure keeps the blood pumping. Another issue is the cover of Origin’s “Vomit You Out.” It arrives mid-album and feels unnecessary, with its grindier approach enough of a departure from the rest of Devouring Darkness to make it stick out and disrupt. Lastly, closer “Vengeance Transcending” is a step down after an album’s worth of quality death metal shenanigans, feeling more generic than its album-mates. At 41 minutes, Devouring Darkness is about as much of this kind of death as you can process before your grey matter begins to break down into pond paste. As it stands, I’m barely hanging on by my ape nails by the time the album wraps. The production is good for the style, with drums forward enough to pulverize kidney stones without drowning out the riffs and vocals. It’s abusive, sure, but why else did you come here?

Talent abounds across the board here, as every member of Unmerciful is accomplished and impressive at what they do. Clinton Appelhanz loads the material down with approximately 500 million riffs, and they twist and corkscrew all over the songs in bizarre and unholy ways. He’s a one-man apocalypse of fretboard abuse and the main reason the songs work as well as they do. He’s got little bits of Trey Azagthoth, James Murphy, and Terrance Hobbs in his style, and he goes for the throat 100% of the time. Trynt Kelly’s kit-work is stupifyingly fast, savage, and convoluted, and it’s hard to miss all the chaos he causes in the backline. Through all the commotion, Josh Riley roars and croaks with reliably inhuman vocal cords, sounding like an unstoppable monstrosity from the primordial ooze. That’s a good thing.

Devouring Darkness is an unceasing beatdown of a death metal album where technicality takes a backseat to brutality. The chops are put in service of the songs and not the other way around, and that results in some entertaining ear fuckery. Unmerciful aren’t reinventing the steel here, but they are melting it down with their unrestrained savagery. There’s always a place for that kind of animalistic behavior in the Zoo House ov Steel. If you like your death fast, ugly, and brutish, you should make room for it, too. It will keep the missionaries and bill collectors away (along with everyone else). No mercy!

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip
Websites: unmerciful.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/officialunmerciful | instagram.com/official_unmerciful
Releases Worldwide: May 23rd, 2025

#30 #AmericanMetal #CannibalCorpse #DeathMetal #Deicide #DevouringDarkness #HateEternal #Krisiun #May25 #MorbidAngel #Origin #Review #Reviews #Suffocation #Unmerciful #WillowtipRecords

Unmerciful – Devouring Darkness Review

By Steel Druhm

I’ve said it before. I’m not the biggest fan of tech-death. Sure, some of it can be fun, inspired lunacy, but I prefer my death dumb, ugly, and violent. I don’t need someone twanging away on a fretless bass or shredding a 30-string axe while I get my graveyard gorilla on. Thusly, Kansas-based tech-death luminaries, Origin, always left me somewhat nonplussed. Enter Unmerciful, the brutal death metal project featuring former Origin members, Clinton Appelhanz and Jeremy Turner. Though very talented musicians, these fiends prefer smashing skulls over parading a cosmic fuckton of notes past you while toying with quirky and off-kilter tempos. What you get on their fourth album, Devouring Darkness is a large steel-toed boot up your arse courtesy of a truckload of vicious death giving nods to Suffocation, Hate Eternal, Cannibal Corpse and other beastly friends best kept in crawlspaces. I don’t know what’s in the water in Kansas, but it’s not FDA-approved. Are you ready to get pulpified?

Talk about a proper album opener! Lead track “Miracle in Fire” is a steel pipe with a grenade duct-taped to it, and the beatings commence with lusty gusto. This is blasting, pummeling insanity with a vile OSDM charm served up with the frenzy that only comes from the Monkey Rage Virus. It’s like Cannibal Corpse violently copulating with primo Suffocation and Deicide, with James Murphy ripping off arresting solos between rubs and tugs. The riffs are insane and chaotic, the drumming is oppressive and relentless, and the vocals are disgusting as fook. It’s hell in a handbasket, and I love it to pieces. “Unnatural Feocity” is brainless cavemen ooga booga death played at time-warping velocities, and the Suffocation influence is impossible to miss. The title track introduces a harsh black edge to the death maelstrom. Scathing, twisting riffs swarm in abundance as a strong Morbid Angel stench burns through the oppressive atmosphere, and vocals wander into reverb-drenched Rotpit territory. It runs a bit too long, but delivers a lot of grotesque goods along the way.

“Infernal Conquering” is another highlight, with blasting speed alternating with 6-ton grooves and beef-brained mega-chugs. At their best, Unmerciful offer high-octane insanity fuel for the dangerously deranged. Their unhealthy commitment to speed leads them into a Krisiun-type conundrum where everything bleeds together into a turbo-charged mush. This can make it challenging to discern one song from another at a certain point, though it sure keeps the blood pumping. Another issue is the cover of Origin’s “Vomit You Out.” It arrives mid-album and feels unnecessary, with its grindier approach enough of a departure from the rest of Devouring Darkness to make it stick out and disrupt. Lastly, closer “Vengeance Transcending” is a step down after an album’s worth of quality death metal shenanigans, feeling more generic than its album-mates. At 41 minutes, Devouring Darkness is about as much of this kind of death as you can process before your grey matter begins to break down into pond paste. As it stands, I’m barely hanging on by my ape nails by the time the album wraps. The production is good for the style, with drums forward enough to pulverize kidney stones without drowning out the riffs and vocals. It’s abusive, sure, but why else did you come here?

Talent abounds across the board here, as every member of Unmerciful is accomplished and impressive at what they do. Clinton Appelhanz loads the material down with approximately 500 million riffs, and they twist and corkscrew all over the songs in bizarre and unholy ways. He’s a one-man apocalypse of fretboard abuse and the main reason the songs work as well as they do. He’s got little bits of Trey Azagthoth, James Murphy, and Terrance Hobbs in his style, and he goes for the throat 100% of the time. Trynt Kelly’s kit-work is stupifyingly fast, savage, and convoluted, and it’s hard to miss all the chaos he causes in the backline. Through all the commotion, Josh Riley roars and croaks with reliably inhuman vocal cords, sounding like an unstoppable monstrosity from the primordial ooze. That’s a good thing.

Devouring Darkness is an unceasing beatdown of a death metal album where technicality takes a backseat to brutality. The chops are put in service of the songs and not the other way around, and that results in some entertaining ear fuckery. Unmerciful aren’t reinventing the steel here, but they are melting it down with their unrestrained savagery. There’s always a place for that kind of animalistic behavior in the Zoo House ov Steel. If you like your death fast, ugly, and brutish, you should make room for it, too. It will keep the missionaries and bill collectors away (along with everyone else). No mercy!

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip
Websites: unmerciful.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/officialunmerciful | instagram.com/official_unmerciful
Releases Worldwide: May 23rd, 2025

#30 #AmericanMetal #CannibalCorpse #DeathMetal #Deicide #DevouringDarkness #HateEternal #Krisiun #May25 #MorbidAngel #Origin #Review #Reviews #Suffocation #Unmerciful #WillowtipRecords

Lowen – Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]

By Kenstrosity

My biggest regret of 2024 when it comes to my metallic ingestions is missing Lowen’s incredible sophomore effort, Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran. You may ask why I went so long without giving it a go, but if you look at its early October release date and the general state of life in my region at that time, you’ll understand. In another timeline, I would have spun Demons until it fell to dust in my hands, handily securing it a Top Five slot on my Top Ten(ish) of the year. It’s just that good.

This is my first time with Lowen, so I can’t speak to how Demons compares to their debut. But I can say one thing for certain: doom rarely feels as massive as this. Boasting a nasty guitar tone that I’d sooner expect from bands like Temple of Void or Hate Eternal, swaggering rhythms, mystical storytelling, and the omnipotent power pipes of lead vocalist Nina Saeidi, Lowen’s second tome commands my undivided attention. Supplemented by multilingual passages, tasteful strings supplied by guest cellist Arianna Mahsayeh, and a cavalcade of ten-ton riffs courtesy of lead guitarist Shem Lucas, Demons shines as an unqualified triumph the likes of which I’ve not heard since Fvneral Fvkk’s Carnal Confessions.

With Demons, Lowen’s singular songwriting and unique voice becomes the focus of their mission, and therein lies their greatest strength. Razor sharp hooks and multitudinous forking paths weave intricately between each and every one of Demons’ six acts, forming a richly detailed and deeply fascinating tapestry which evokes in equal measure an awestruck reverence and a debilitating sense of dread. In turn, listening to Demons equates to witnessing a cataclysmic armageddon so blinding in its terrible beauty as to hypnotize every synapse, siphoning my spirit and betrothing it unconditionally to Lowen. Devastating.

Lowen’s inspired performances imbue that otherworldly magic which propels Demons’ ascension to godhood. Nina plays no small part in this. Piercing through all defenses from the first note of “Corruption on Earth” and razing all before her with the brassy clarity of her siren call, Nina proves her absolute mastery of the vocal instrument (“Waging War Against God,” “The Seed that Dreamed of its Own Creation”). Shem’s ever-shifting, jagged riffs routinely challenge the boundary between doom metal and death metal, providing a palpable sense of danger to the affair (“Corruption on Earth,” “May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”). Session drummer Cal Constantine grounds and pounds in concert with Shem’s destructive guitars, relentlessly pummeling the pocket at every opportunity and maximizing impact with every passing minute (“Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran,” “Ghazal for the Embrace of Fire”). Arianna’s delicate cello may not feature often, but when it does you take notice of its unique beauty, proffering a lulling contrast to the sheer heft of Demons’ core sound (“May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”).

By all accounts, I should not have missed Lowen’s Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran. It feels criminal to have left it out of rotation for so long.1 Shame floods my heart and regret saturates my mind. For now that I’ve experienced Demons in all its glory, I can only wonder with great incredulity how Lowen follow this up. One thing’s for sure, I’ll be waiting for it with bated breath.

Tracks to Check Out: “Corruption on Earth,” “Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran” “Waging War Against God,” “May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”

#2024 #DoNotGoToWarWithTheDemonsOfMazandaran #DoomMetal #FvneralFvkk #HateEternal #Lowen #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #TempleOfVoid #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024 #UKMetal

Lowen – Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]

By Kenstrosity

My biggest regret of 2024 when it comes to my metallic ingestions is missing Lowen’s incredible sophomore effort, Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran. You may ask why I went so long without giving it a go, but if you look at its early October release date and the general state of life in my region at that time, you’ll understand. In another timeline, I would have spun Demons until it fell to dust in my hands, handily securing it a Top Five slot on my Top Ten(ish) of the year. It’s just that good.

This is my first time with Lowen, so I can’t speak to how Demons compares to their debut. But I can say one thing for certain: doom rarely feels as massive as this. Boasting a nasty guitar tone that I’d sooner expect from bands like Temple of Void or Hate Eternal, swaggering rhythms, mystical storytelling, and the omnipotent power pipes of lead vocalist Nina Saeidi, Lowen’s second tome commands my undivided attention. Supplemented by multilingual passages, tasteful strings supplied by guest cellist Arianna Mahsayeh, and a cavalcade of ten-ton riffs courtesy of lead guitarist Shem Lucas, Demons shines as an unqualified triumph the likes of which I’ve not heard since Fvneral Fvkk’s Carnal Confessions.

With Demons, Lowen’s singular songwriting and unique voice becomes the focus of their mission, and therein lies their greatest strength. Razor sharp hooks and multitudinous forking paths weave intricately between each and every one of Demons’ six acts, forming a richly detailed and deeply fascinating tapestry which evokes in equal measure an awestruck reverence and a debilitating sense of dread. In turn, listening to Demons equates to witnessing a cataclysmic armageddon so blinding in its terrible beauty as to hypnotize every synapse, siphoning my spirit and betrothing it unconditionally to Lowen. Devastating.

Lowen’s inspired performances imbue that otherworldly magic which propels Demons’ ascension to godhood. Nina plays no small part in this. Piercing through all defenses from the first note of “Corruption on Earth” and razing all before her with the brassy clarity of her siren call, Nina proves her absolute mastery of the vocal instrument (“Waging War Against God,” “The Seed that Dreamed of its Own Creation”). Shem’s ever-shifting, jagged riffs routinely challenge the boundary between doom metal and death metal, providing a palpable sense of danger to the affair (“Corruption on Earth,” “May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”). Session drummer Cal Constantine grounds and pounds in concert with Shem’s destructive guitars, relentlessly pummeling the pocket at every opportunity and maximizing impact with every passing minute (“Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran,” “Ghazal for the Embrace of Fire”). Arianna’s delicate cello may not feature often, but when it does you take notice of its unique beauty, proffering a lulling contrast to the sheer heft of Demons’ core sound (“May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”).

By all accounts, I should not have missed Lowen’s Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran. It feels criminal to have left it out of rotation for so long.1 Shame floods my heart and regret saturates my mind. For now that I’ve experienced Demons in all its glory, I can only wonder with great incredulity how Lowen follow this up. One thing’s for sure, I’ll be waiting for it with bated breath.

Tracks to Check Out: “Corruption on Earth,” “Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran” “Waging War Against God,” “May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”

#2024 #DoNotGoToWarWithTheDemonsOfMazandaran #DoomMetal #FvneralFvkk #HateEternal #Lowen #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #TempleOfVoid #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024 #UKMetal

Lowen – Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]

By Kenstrosity

My biggest regret of 2024 when it comes to my metallic ingestions is missing Lowen’s incredible sophomore effort, Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran. You may ask why I went so long without giving it a go, but if you look at its early October release date and the general state of life in my region at that time, you’ll understand. In another timeline, I would have spun Demons until it fell to dust in my hands, handily securing it a Top Five slot on my Top Ten(ish) of the year. It’s just that good.

This is my first time with Lowen, so I can’t speak to how Demons compares to their debut. But I can say one thing for certain: doom rarely feels as massive as this. Boasting a nasty guitar tone that I’d sooner expect from bands like Temple of Void or Hate Eternal, swaggering rhythms, mystical storytelling, and the omnipotent power pipes of lead vocalist Nina Saeidi, Lowen’s second tome commands my undivided attention. Supplemented by multilingual passages, tasteful strings supplied by guest cellist Arianna Mahsayeh, and a cavalcade of ten-ton riffs courtesy of lead guitarist Shem Lucas, Demons shines as an unqualified triumph the likes of which I’ve not heard since Fvneral Fvkk’s Carnal Confessions.

With Demons, Lowen’s singular songwriting and unique voice becomes the focus of their mission, and therein lies their greatest strength. Razor sharp hooks and multitudinous forking paths weave intricately between each and every one of Demons’ six acts, forming a richly detailed and deeply fascinating tapestry which evokes in equal measure an awestruck reverence and a debilitating sense of dread. In turn, listening to Demons equates to witnessing a cataclysmic armageddon so blinding in its terrible beauty as to hypnotize every synapse, siphoning my spirit and betrothing it unconditionally to Lowen. Devastating.

Lowen’s inspired performances imbue that otherworldly magic which propels Demons’ ascension to godhood. Nina plays no small part in this. Piercing through all defenses from the first note of “Corruption on Earth” and razing all before her with the brassy clarity of her siren call, Nina proves her absolute mastery of the vocal instrument (“Waging War Against God,” “The Seed that Dreamed of its Own Creation”). Shem’s ever-shifting, jagged riffs routinely challenge the boundary between doom metal and death metal, providing a palpable sense of danger to the affair (“Corruption on Earth,” “May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”). Session drummer Cal Constantine grounds and pounds in concert with Shem’s destructive guitars, relentlessly pummeling the pocket at every opportunity and maximizing impact with every passing minute (“Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran,” “Ghazal for the Embrace of Fire”). Arianna’s delicate cello may not feature often, but when it does you take notice of its unique beauty, proffering a lulling contrast to the sheer heft of Demons’ core sound (“May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”).

By all accounts, I should not have missed Lowen’s Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran. It feels criminal to have left it out of rotation for so long.1 Shame floods my heart and regret saturates my mind. For now that I’ve experienced Demons in all its glory, I can only wonder with great incredulity how Lowen follow this up. One thing’s for sure, I’ll be waiting for it with bated breath.

Tracks to Check Out: “Corruption on Earth,” “Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran” “Waging War Against God,” “May Your Ghost Drink Pure Water”

#2024 #DoNotGoToWarWithTheDemonsOfMazandaran #DoomMetal #FvneralFvkk #HateEternal #Lowen #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #TempleOfVoid #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024 #UKMetal

Mercyless – Those Who Reign Below Review

By Steel Druhm

The tale of France’s Mercyless has been told before on these pages so I don’t want to recount the saga of their rise, fall from grace, and eventual redemption. I will however endlessly blather on about how great their early releases are. 1992s Abject Offerings was a top-notch example of furious thrashing death metal with chops to spare. However, it was 93s Coloured Funeral that cemented their legacy, taking their brutish bashing and smartly seasoning it with the progressive energy of mid-period Death. It’s technical and intelligent, full of twists and turns, but the war hammer is ever-present. It’s a deeply underappreciated classic that deserves far more attention. Since reforming in 2011, Mercyless have released 3 albums of good to very good old school death, no longer pushing boundaries and content to rehash the glories of the early 90s. 2020’s The Mother of All Plagues was an entirely solid if not exceptional blast of familiar deathery, harkening back to the stuff I harassed dormmates with in my drunken college years. 2024 sees them return with 8th full-length Those Who Reign Below, and Mercyless remain locked in their late-career comfort zone, delivering 90s-centric thrashing death in the vein of old Pestilence and Morbid Angel. Can these olde dawgs still bring the war to your front door?

At this point in their resurgence, Mercyless are a known quantity. You get meat n’ taters death with heaping helpings of thrashing fury and enough technical know-how to make things interesting. There’s nothing new to what Mercyless are doing here, but they know how to clobber and cudgel nonetheless. Opener “Extreme Unction” is the nastiest filth on offer and it hits like a concrete truck flying down a steep hill. The riff phrasing bears the stench of vintage Morbid Angel and original vocalist/guitarist Max Otero has a death croak rather similar to that of David Vincent. The speed and savagery are spot on and the guitar work is very good. This is Merycless at their best and they can still kill it. While the quality of songcraft doesn’t remain at this elevated level, you still get crop-dusted by burly thrashers like “I Am Hell” where bits of Vader slam into Behemoth and Angel Corpse. Both “Thy Resplendent Inferno” and “Prelude to Eternal Darkness” check all the 90s death thrash boxes, being invigorating if not gobsmacking nuggets of fugly noise.

There are a few cuts that underperform too. “Phantoms of Cain” is generic in structure and leaves me unfulfilled despite reminding me of a basket of death deplorables I loved back in the day. The inclusion of a 2-minute instrumental and a dull outro pads out the runtime without enhancing the listening experience, and closer “Sanctus Deus Mortis” weaves early days Death influences throughout, but it doesn’t have much of a payoff. At a trim 42-plus minute with most songs in the 3-4 minute window, Those Who Reign Below moves at a brisk pace and rarely drags. It just doesn’t soar often enough.

Max Otero and Gautier Merklen are very skilled six-string assassins and the riffage is consistently solid throughout. The solos are varied and slick and the duo borrows from all the best legendary acts as they burn and loot the countryside. I especially like it when they venture into Azagthothian slitherscapes, which is common here. I’ve been a fan of Otero’s vocals since the beginning and they’re still good and grisly today. Johann Voirin (Mortuary) tags in to man the kit and does a great job skinning the skins and scraping the brain wax from your ears with a thunderous performance. I often found myself more focused on what he was doing than everything else, which is unusual for me.

Mercyless will never recapture the elusive magic heard on Coloured Funeral but I’m more than happy to see them churning out albums of the caliber. Those Who Reign Below won’t top many best-of lists this year but it’s a competent, effective death metal biscuit with enough frills and chills in the meat gravy to hold its place in the rotation for a while. Well worth a brutal spin.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Osmose Productions | Bandcamp1
Websites: mercyless.bandcamp.com2 | facebook.com/mercylesscult | instagram.com/mercylessofficial
Releases Worldwide: October 25th, 2024

Dolphyless

Mercyless is far from a household name, as are many from the short-lived French death/thrash scene.3 But the olde and wise like legendary AMG alum Al Kikuras heard their fabled Coloured Funeral back in the days of wound magnetic tape and FM radio as a major discovery tool. Yes, it’s true the 90s weren’t kind to acts of all varieties, with Mercyless too succumbing to the pressures of groove and hiatus. Yet with their revitalization in the modern age, the French underground stalwart has managed to both impress and remain solid in their golden years. In a back-to-basics move, Those Who Reign Below serves as both an ode to the lords of the underworld and an outing of classic death metal from a time when genre lines were but a suggestion.

Sharing fresh blood with Mortuary—another aged French act revitalized in this modern era—this current version of Mercyless continues to tackle death metal with a thrash-rooted flair alongside ears who grew up with Mercyless’ contemporaries. More so than their original run (really their first two albums), Mercyless has picked up some of the low-end grooves you’d hear in late 90s Morbid Angel (“Crown of Blasphemy,” “Sanctus Deus Mortis”) along with a jagged melodicism that fed into increased aggression of early Hate Eternal works (“Phantoms of Cain”). But as a band born of a certain time, it’s hard to escape that early Celtic Frost influenced death/thrash that powered primal Florida bruisers Master or Obituary, with heavy skanks and ragged vocals leading the charge (“I Am Hell,” “Prelude to Eternal Darkness”). And still, that same gritty sense of harmony that composed Mercyless’ career highlights presents itself through founder Max Otero’s chunky guitar charms (“Thy Resplendent Inferno,” “Chaos Requiem”).

While a falling out of interest with deathly happenings drove Mercyless into hibernation all those years ago, Otero and co. have no lost love, at this stage, for ugly tones that carve monster riffs. With dialed incision whammy dives, tracks that rip from the start (“I Am Hell”), or find a fluttering catch in wild solo land (“Evil Shall…,” “Crown of Blasphemy”), have no problem rolling back eyes and flaring nostrils for a fully-torqued pit frenzy. A fuzzy twang provides weight to each riff embarkment, allowing techier expeditions (“Extreme Unction,” “Phantoms…”) to land with a precision that plays off the force of drummer Johann Voirin’s textbook accelerating kicks and pounding snare drive. On the low-end bassist Yann Tligui doesn’t provide the same depth of performance that popped about in the distant past, but his gravely throb provides a grit necessary to ensure that Mercyless wrecks bodies in a circular, tumbling fashion.

However, Mercyless’ increased theater around anti-Christian themes hinders Those Who Reign Below’s more direct offerings. Though Mercyless has never shied away from elements that spit at Christianity, their renaissance from 2013’s Unholy Black Splendor has increased its upfront presence. And, likewise, Those Who Reign Below finds itself the holder of both a built in liturgical intro (the first section of “Extreme Unction”) and an unannounced—but still present—closing modulated sermon (“Zecheriah 31”) to reinforce its ham-fisted camp. This book-ending also creates an awkward framing around the true closer, “Sanctus Deus Mortis,” which runs preceded by a low-in-tension instrumental (“Absurd Theater”). These blunders, though, don’t tack much time onto the total run of forty-two minutes, so they are forgivable. But those looking for a steady blaze from snout to tail may encounter more of an ending fizzle than desired.

Regardless, Mercyless harbors too high a quality of hammering riff, slobbering shout death metal in its unlikely second-coming—a length of time that now spans as many albums and almost as many years as the first. In many ways, this new path of old sounds represents a more fitting distillation of Mercyless’ evil worshipping ambitions than its detour into weird 90s industrial death land.4 For those easily moistened by the call of a sweat-stewed pit, Those Who Reign Below offers a practiced and visceral window into an aged like fine jerky take on rippin’ death/thrash. So give it a listen and be sure to hit the classics too—Abject Offerings and Coloured Funeral—if you’re new to Mercyless’ ancient callings.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

#2024 #30 #CelticFrost #ColouredFuneral #DeathMetal #DeathThrash #FrenchMetal #HateEternal #Loudblast #Massacra #Master #Mercyless #MorbidAngel #Mortuary #Obituary #Oct24 #OsmoseProductions #Pestilence #Review #Reviews #TheMotherOfAllPlagues #ThoseWhoReignBelow

Mercyless – Those Who Reign Below Review

By Steel Druhm

The tale of France’s Mercyless has been told before on these pages so I don’t want to recount the saga of their rise, fall from grace, and eventual redemption. I will however endlessly blather on about how great their early releases are. 1992s Abject Offerings was a top-notch example of furious thrashing death metal with chops to spare. However, it was 93s Coloured Funeral that cemented their legacy, taking their brutish bashing and smartly seasoning it with the progressive energy of mid-period Death. It’s technical and intelligent, full of twists and turns, but the war hammer is ever-present. It’s a deeply underappreciated classic that deserves far more attention. Since reforming in 2011, Mercyless have released 3 albums of good to very good old school death, no longer pushing boundaries and content to rehash the glories of the early 90s. 2020’s The Mother of All Plagues was an entirely solid if not exceptional blast of familiar deathery, harkening back to the stuff I harassed dormmates with in my drunken college years. 2024 sees them return with 8th full-length Those Who Reign Below, and Mercyless remain locked in their late-career comfort zone, delivering 90s-centric thrashing death in the vein of old Pestilence and Morbid Angel. Can these olde dawgs still bring the war to your front door?

At this point in their resurgence, Mercyless are a known quantity. You get meat n’ taters death with heaping helpings of thrashing fury and enough technical know-how to make things interesting. There’s nothing new to what Mercyless are doing here, but they know how to clobber and cudgel nonetheless. Opener “Extreme Unction” is the nastiest filth on offer and it hits like a concrete truck flying down a steep hill. The riff phrasing bears the stench of vintage Morbid Angel and original vocalist/guitarist Max Otero has a death croak rather similar to that of David Vincent. The speed and savagery are spot on and the guitar work is very good. This is Merycless at their best and they can still kill it. While the quality of songcraft doesn’t remain at this elevated level, you still get crop-dusted by burly thrashers like “I Am Hell” where bits of Vader slam into Behemoth and Angel Corpse. Both “Thy Resplendent Inferno” and “Prelude to Eternal Darkness” check all the 90s death thrash boxes, being invigorating if not gobsmacking nuggets of fugly noise.

There are a few cuts that underperform too. “Phantoms of Cain” is generic in structure and leaves me unfulfilled despite reminding me of a basket of death deplorables I loved back in the day. The inclusion of a 2-minute instrumental and a dull outro pads out the runtime without enhancing the listening experience, and closer “Sanctus Deus Mortis” weaves early days Death influences throughout, but it doesn’t have much of a payoff. At a trim 42-plus minute with most songs in the 3-4 minute window, Those Who Reign Below moves at a brisk pace and rarely drags. It just doesn’t soar often enough.

Max Otero and Gautier Merklen are very skilled six-string assassins and the riffage is consistently solid throughout. The solos are varied and slick and the duo borrows from all the best legendary acts as they burn and loot the countryside. I especially like it when they venture into Azagthothian slitherscapes, which is common here. I’ve been a fan of Otero’s vocals since the beginning and they’re still good and grisly today. Johann Voirin (Mortuary) tags in to man the kit and does a great job skinning the skins and scraping the brain wax from your ears with a thunderous performance. I often found myself more focused on what he was doing than everything else, which is unusual for me.

Mercyless will never recapture the elusive magic heard on Coloured Funeral but I’m more than happy to see them churning out albums of the caliber. Those Who Reign Below won’t top many best-of lists this year but it’s a competent, effective death metal biscuit with enough frills and chills in the meat gravy to hold its place in the rotation for a while. Well worth a brutal spin.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Osmose Productions | Bandcamp1
Websites: mercyless.bandcamp.com2 | facebook.com/mercylesscult | instagram.com/mercylessofficial
Releases Worldwide: October 25th, 2024

Dolphyless

Mercyless is far from a household name, as are many from the short-lived French death/thrash scene.3 But the olde and wise like legendary AMG alum Al Kikuras heard their fabled Coloured Funeral back in the days of wound magnetic tape and FM radio as a major discovery tool. Yes, it’s true the 90s weren’t kind to acts of all varieties, with Mercyless too succumbing to the pressures of groove and hiatus. Yet with their revitalization in the modern age, the French underground stalwart has managed to both impress and remain solid in their golden years. In a back-to-basics move, Those Who Reign Below serves as both an ode to the lords of the underworld and an outing of classic death metal from a time when genre lines were but a suggestion.

Sharing fresh blood with Mortuary—another aged French act revitalized in this modern era—this current version of Mercyless continues to tackle death metal with a thrash-rooted flair alongside ears who grew up with Mercyless’ contemporaries. More so than their original run (really their first two albums), Mercyless has picked up some of the low-end grooves you’d hear in late 90s Morbid Angel (“Crown of Blasphemy,” “Sanctus Deus Mortis”) along with a jagged melodicism that fed into increased aggression of early Hate Eternal works (“Phantoms of Cain”). But as a band born of a certain time, it’s hard to escape that early Celtic Frost influenced death/thrash that powered primal Florida bruisers Master or Obituary, with heavy skanks and ragged vocals leading the charge (“I Am Hell,” “Prelude to Eternal Darkness”). And still, that same gritty sense of harmony that composed Mercyless’ career highlights presents itself through founder Max Otero’s chunky guitar charms (“Thy Resplendent Inferno,” “Chaos Requiem”).

While a falling out of interest with deathly happenings drove Mercyless into hibernation all those years ago, Otero and co. have no lost love, at this stage, for ugly tones that carve monster riffs. With dialed incision whammy dives, tracks that rip from the start (“I Am Hell”), or find a fluttering catch in wild solo land (“Evil Shall…,” “Crown of Blasphemy”), have no problem rolling back eyes and flaring nostrils for a fully-torqued pit frenzy. A fuzzy twang provides weight to each riff embarkment, allowing techier expeditions (“Extreme Unction,” “Phantoms…”) to land with a precision that plays off the force of drummer Johann Voirin’s textbook accelerating kicks and pounding snare drive. On the low-end bassist Yann Tligui doesn’t provide the same depth of performance that popped about in the distant past, but his gravely throb provides a grit necessary to ensure that Mercyless wrecks bodies in a circular, tumbling fashion.

However, Mercyless’ increased theater around anti-Christian themes hinders Those Who Reign Below’s more direct offerings. Though Mercyless has never shied away from elements that spit at Christianity, their renaissance from 2013’s Unholy Black Splendor has increased its upfront presence. And, likewise, Those Who Reign Below finds itself the holder of both a built in liturgical intro (the first section of “Extreme Unction”) and an unannounced—but still present—closing modulated sermon (“Zecheriah 31”) to reinforce its ham-fisted camp. This book-ending also creates an awkward framing around the true closer, “Sanctus Deus Mortis,” which runs preceded by a low-in-tension instrumental (“Absurd Theater”). These blunders, though, don’t tack much time onto the total run of forty-two minutes, so they are forgivable. But those looking for a steady blaze from snout to tail may encounter more of an ending fizzle than desired.

Regardless, Mercyless harbors too high a quality of hammering riff, slobbering shout death metal in its unlikely second-coming—a length of time that now spans as many albums and almost as many years as the first. In many ways, this new path of old sounds represents a more fitting distillation of Mercyless’ evil worshipping ambitions than its detour into weird 90s industrial death land.4 For those easily moistened by the call of a sweat-stewed pit, Those Who Reign Below offers a practiced and visceral window into an aged like fine jerky take on rippin’ death/thrash. So give it a listen and be sure to hit the classics too—Abject Offerings and Coloured Funeral—if you’re new to Mercyless’ ancient callings.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

#2024 #30 #CelticFrost #ColouredFuneral #DeathMetal #DeathThrash #FrenchMetal #HateEternal #Loudblast #Massacra #Master #Mercyless #MorbidAngel #Mortuary #Obituary #Oct24 #OsmoseProductions #Pestilence #Review #Reviews #TheMotherOfAllPlagues #ThoseWhoReignBelow

Mercyless – Those Who Reign Below Review

By Steel Druhm

The tale of France’s Mercyless has been told before on these pages so I don’t want to recount the saga of their rise, fall from grace, and eventual redemption. I will however endlessly blather on about how great their early releases are. 1992s Abject Offerings was a top-notch example of furious thrashing death metal with chops to spare. However, it was 93s Coloured Funeral that cemented their legacy, taking their brutish bashing and smartly seasoning it with the progressive energy of mid-period Death. It’s technical and intelligent, full of twists and turns, but the war hammer is ever-present. It’s a deeply underappreciated classic that deserves far more attention. Since reforming in 2011, Mercyless have released 3 albums of good to very good old school death, no longer pushing boundaries and content to rehash the glories of the early 90s. 2020’s The Mother of All Plagues was an entirely solid if not exceptional blast of familiar deathery, harkening back to the stuff I harassed dormmates with in my drunken college years. 2024 sees them return with 8th full-length Those Who Reign Below, and Mercyless remain locked in their late-career comfort zone, delivering 90s-centric thrashing death in the vein of old Pestilence and Morbid Angel. Can these olde dawgs still bring the war to your front door?

At this point in their resurgence, Mercyless are a known quantity. You get meat n’ taters death with heaping helpings of thrashing fury and enough technical know-how to make things interesting. There’s nothing new to what Mercyless are doing here, but they know how to clobber and cudgel nonetheless. Opener “Extreme Unction” is the nastiest filth on offer and it hits like a concrete truck flying down a steep hill. The riff phrasing bears the stench of vintage Morbid Angel and original vocalist/guitarist Max Otero has a death croak rather similar to that of David Vincent. The speed and savagery are spot on and the guitar work is very good. This is Merycless at their best and they can still kill it. While the quality of songcraft doesn’t remain at this elevated level, you still get crop-dusted by burly thrashers like “I Am Hell” where bits of Vader slam into Behemoth and Angel Corpse. Both “Thy Resplendent Inferno” and “Prelude to Eternal Darkness” check all the 90s death thrash boxes, being invigorating if not gobsmacking nuggets of fugly noise.

There are a few cuts that underperform too. “Phantoms of Cain” is generic in structure and leaves me unfulfilled despite reminding me of a basket of death deplorables I loved back in the day. The inclusion of a 2-minute instrumental and a dull outro pads out the runtime without enhancing the listening experience, and closer “Sanctus Deus Mortis” weaves early days Death influences throughout, but it doesn’t have much of a payoff. At a trim 42-plus minute with most songs in the 3-4 minute window, Those Who Reign Below moves at a brisk pace and rarely drags. It just doesn’t soar often enough.

Max Otero and Gautier Merklen are very skilled six-string assassins and the riffage is consistently solid throughout. The solos are varied and slick and the duo borrows from all the best legendary acts as they burn and loot the countryside. I especially like it when they venture into Azagthothian slitherscapes, which is common here. I’ve been a fan of Otero’s vocals since the beginning and they’re still good and grisly today. Johann Voirin (Mortuary) tags in to man the kit and does a great job skinning the skins and scraping the brain wax from your ears with a thunderous performance. I often found myself more focused on what he was doing than everything else, which is unusual for me.

Mercyless will never recapture the elusive magic heard on Coloured Funeral but I’m more than happy to see them churning out albums of the caliber. Those Who Reign Below won’t top many best-of lists this year but it’s a competent, effective death metal biscuit with enough frills and chills in the meat gravy to hold its place in the rotation for a while. Well worth a brutal spin.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Osmose Productions | Bandcamp1
Websites: mercyless.bandcamp.com2 | facebook.com/mercylesscult | instagram.com/mercylessofficial
Releases Worldwide: October 25th, 2024

Dolphyless

Mercyless is far from a household name, as are many from the short-lived French death/thrash scene.3 But the olde and wise like legendary AMG alum Al Kikuras heard their fabled Coloured Funeral back in the days of wound magnetic tape and FM radio as a major discovery tool. Yes, it’s true the 90s weren’t kind to acts of all varieties, with Mercyless too succumbing to the pressures of groove and hiatus. Yet with their revitalization in the modern age, the French underground stalwart has managed to both impress and remain solid in their golden years. In a back-to-basics move, Those Who Reign Below serves as both an ode to the lords of the underworld and an outing of classic death metal from a time when genre lines were but a suggestion.

Sharing fresh blood with Mortuary—another aged French act revitalized in this modern era—this current version of Mercyless continues to tackle death metal with a thrash-rooted flair alongside ears who grew up with Mercyless’ contemporaries. More so than their original run (really their first two albums), Mercyless has picked up some of the low-end grooves you’d hear in late 90s Morbid Angel (“Crown of Blasphemy,” “Sanctus Deus Mortis”) along with a jagged melodicism that fed into increased aggression of early Hate Eternal works (“Phantoms of Cain”). But as a band born of a certain time, it’s hard to escape that early Celtic Frost influenced death/thrash that powered primal Florida bruisers Master or Obituary, with heavy skanks and ragged vocals leading the charge (“I Am Hell,” “Prelude to Eternal Darkness”). And still, that same gritty sense of harmony that composed Mercyless’ career highlights presents itself through founder Max Otero’s chunky guitar charms (“Thy Resplendent Inferno,” “Chaos Requiem”).

While a falling out of interest with deathly happenings drove Mercyless into hibernation all those years ago, Otero and co. have no lost love, at this stage, for ugly tones that carve monster riffs. With dialed incision whammy dives, tracks that rip from the start (“I Am Hell”), or find a fluttering catch in wild solo land (“Evil Shall…,” “Crown of Blasphemy”), have no problem rolling back eyes and flaring nostrils for a fully-torqued pit frenzy. A fuzzy twang provides weight to each riff embarkment, allowing techier expeditions (“Extreme Unction,” “Phantoms…”) to land with a precision that plays off the force of drummer Johann Voirin’s textbook accelerating kicks and pounding snare drive. On the low-end bassist Yann Tligui doesn’t provide the same depth of performance that popped about in the distant past, but his gravely throb provides a grit necessary to ensure that Mercyless wrecks bodies in a circular, tumbling fashion.

However, Mercyless’ increased theater around anti-Christian themes hinders Those Who Reign Below’s more direct offerings. Though Mercyless has never shied away from elements that spit at Christianity, their renaissance from 2013’s Unholy Black Splendor has increased its upfront presence. And, likewise, Those Who Reign Below finds itself the holder of both a built in liturgical intro (the first section of “Extreme Unction”) and an unannounced—but still present—closing modulated sermon (“Zecheriah 31”) to reinforce its ham-fisted camp. This book-ending also creates an awkward framing around the true closer, “Sanctus Deus Mortis,” which runs preceded by a low-in-tension instrumental (“Absurd Theater”). These blunders, though, don’t tack much time onto the total run of forty-two minutes, so they are forgivable. But those looking for a steady blaze from snout to tail may encounter more of an ending fizzle than desired.

Regardless, Mercyless harbors too high a quality of hammering riff, slobbering shout death metal in its unlikely second-coming—a length of time that now spans as many albums and almost as many years as the first. In many ways, this new path of old sounds represents a more fitting distillation of Mercyless’ evil worshipping ambitions than its detour into weird 90s industrial death land.4 For those easily moistened by the call of a sweat-stewed pit, Those Who Reign Below offers a practiced and visceral window into an aged like fine jerky take on rippin’ death/thrash. So give it a listen and be sure to hit the classics too—Abject Offerings and Coloured Funeral—if you’re new to Mercyless’ ancient callings.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

#2024 #30 #CelticFrost #ColouredFuneral #DeathMetal #DeathThrash #FrenchMetal #HateEternal #Loudblast #Massacra #Master #Mercyless #MorbidAngel #Mortuary #Obituary #Oct24 #OsmoseProductions #Pestilence #Review #Reviews #TheMotherOfAllPlagues #ThoseWhoReignBelow

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalInjection
Eight Old-School Death Metal Bands That Need To Release A New Record
Demilich? Dismember? Grave? We need 'em.

https://metalinjection.net/lists/eight-old-school-death-metal-bands-that-need-to-release-a-new-record

#Demilich #Dismember #Grave #HateEternal #Martyr #DeadCongregation #Gorguts #Atheist

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalInjection
Eight Old-School Death Metal Bands That Need To Release A New Record
Demilich? Dismember? Grave? We need 'em.

https://metalinjection.net/lists/eight-old-school-death-metal-bands-that-need-to-release-a-new-record

#Demilich #Dismember #Grave #HateEternal #Martyr #DeadCongregation #Gorguts #Atheist

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalInjection
Eight Old-School Death Metal Bands That Need To Release A New Record
Demilich? Dismember? Grave? We need 'em.

https://metalinjection.net/lists/eight-old-school-death-metal-bands-that-need-to-release-a-new-record

#Demilich #Dismember #Grave #HateEternal #Martyr #DeadCongregation #Gorguts #Atheist

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalInjection
Eight Old-School Death Metal Bands That Need To Release A New Record
Demilich? Dismember? Grave? We need 'em.

https://metalinjection.net/lists/eight-old-school-death-metal-bands-that-need-to-release-a-new-record

#Demilich #Dismember #Grave #HateEternal #Martyr #DeadCongregation #Gorguts #Atheist

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalInjection
Eight Old-School Death Metal Bands That Need To Release A New Record
Demilich? Dismember? Grave? We need 'em.

https://metalinjection.net/lists/eight-old-school-death-metal-bands-that-need-to-release-a-new-record

#Demilich #Dismember #Grave #HateEternal #Martyr #DeadCongregation #Gorguts #Atheist

Construct of Lethe – A Kindness Dealt in Venom Review

By Dear Hollow

Construct of Lethe embodies a constant limbo of underrating, often in cahoots with acts like Desolate Shrine or Lantern in that they lay delicate fingers upon dissonance and grime without diving headlong into them, oft sporting a blackened edge. Instead of buying into mimicry, Tony Petrocelly’s quartet Construct of Lethe has embodied a darkness all of their own, beginning with 2016’s Corpsegod, a raw and angular take on death metal, and perfected in 2018’s more triumphant Exiler, which was given the TYMHM treatment by the gone-but-unforgotten Kronos. First album in six years, A Kindness Dealt in Venom attempts to break their silence with an ambitious album designed as one continuous track with twelve distinct movements.

Construct of Lethe merely dabbles in dissonance and grime, but that doesn’t mean A Kindness Dealt in Venom is an easy or pleasant listen. Rather, there is a veil draped across its entire visage, ghostly and punishing in equal measure. Uncompromisingly bleak and haunting, it is an album you get lost in, and one you can be proud to blare at maximum volume, a challenger for fans of classic Morbid Angel, Immolation, or Hate Eternal, and for diehards of the more dissonant stylings of Noctambulist or Heaving Earth alike. Divisively more experimental and far more contemplative and divisive than its predecessors in a more pronounced doom presence and instrumental saturation, A Kindness Dealt in Venom nonetheless offers no reprieve.

Construct of Lethe first and foremost attacks their third full-length with a sense of menacing organicity and miasmic fluidity – with complete shredding in mind. You have your more predictable death metal affairs, touched upon by blastbeats and chunky riffs a la Morbid Angel or Bolt Thrower, in tracks like opening movement “Artifice” or “Denial in Abstraction,” but the true highlights are feats of songwriting that revel in a more slow-moving and ominous pace, as the dissonant jangling saturating “Contempt” and the pulsing tribal elements of “I Am the Lionkiller” inject palpable dread. Longest track “Bete Noir” is an easy climax, its nine-minute breath oozing through pulsing death/doom beatdowns of raucous percussion, thick bass, and a dynamic with disintegration in mind. Eating at the ears like a more insidious but deadlier pyroclastic flow, the percussion acts like the hammering of the anvil while the sliding interchange between Morbid Angel riffs and Immolation blasphemy in the soundtrack of madness. “Labyrinthine Terror” and closer “Tension – There is Nothing for You Here” exemplify this lethal fusion likewise, recalling more high-minded assaults like Labyrinth of Stars or Sulphur Aeon. Construct of Lethe expertly balances a dissonant death template with old school death shredding in an album that mightily succeeds in both.

Truthfully, there are no blatantly bad tracks aboard A Kindness Dealt in Venom, but the implications of its pacing and flow are questionable at best. Construct of Lethe’s first act up until “Denial in Abstraction” will have you believe that this is a pure death metal foray (like Corpsegod or Exiler) but when the second act begins you are unwittingly met with a series of build-ups with little capitalization. Tracks “Flickering,” “I Am the Lionkiller,” “Paroxysm as Pratmatism,” “Raw Nerve, Iron Will,” “Sacrosanct,” and “Tension – There is Nothing For You Here” are all instrumentals stacked in the latter half,1 and are likewise all incredibly brief affairs, the shortest “Sacrosanct” clocking in at less than a minute. I understand that Construct of Lethe composed this album as a single track with twelve movements, but this whiplash from instrumental to instrumental, with incredible dynamic builds leading to musical dead-ends, is a head-scratcher. It’s as if they included new vocalist Kishor Haulenbeek in the first half of the album then abruptly fired him before the second – even though the guy’s still employed. The flow is therefore problematic, as the first half of the album constitutes thirty minutes of the album’s forty-five. As “Bete Noir” stands as a potential SOTY, it puts all following tracks in its shadow – which sucks, because there are ten.

Construct of Lethe proves they are masters of their craft with A Kindness Dealt in Venom, but it’s almost entirely derailed by its odd tracklist. Especially when Petrocelly and company have never included an instrumental in Exiler or Corpsegod, it’s confusing why suddenly A Kindness Dealt in Venom features six of them – primarily in the second half. Don’t get me wrong, each track is fantastic, blending purist death metal with dissonant and avant-garde tendencies that never derail it due to organic production and songwriting. However, for an album that professes a cohesive whole, Construct of Lethe has never felt more disjointed. Bang your head while scratching it.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Websites: constructoflethe.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/constructoflethe
Releases Worldwide: June 21st, 2024

#2024 #30 #AKindnessDealtInVenom #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BoltThrower #ConstructOfLethe #DeathMetal #DesolateShrine #DissonantDeathMetal #HateEternal #HeavingEarth #Immolation #Jun24 #LabyrinthOfStars #Lantern #MorbidAngel #Noctambulist #OldSchoolDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #SulphurAeon #TranscendingObscurityRecords

Construct of Lethe – A Kindness Dealt in Venom Review

By Dear Hollow

Construct of Lethe embodies a constant limbo of underrating, often in cahoots with acts like Desolate Shrine or Lantern in that they lay delicate fingers upon dissonance and grime without diving headlong into them, oft sporting a blackened edge. Instead of buying into mimicry, Tony Petrocelly’s quartet Construct of Lethe has embodied a darkness all of their own, beginning with 2016’s Corpsegod, a raw and angular take on death metal, and perfected in 2018’s more triumphant Exiler, which was given the TYMHM treatment by the gone-but-unforgotten Kronos. First album in six years, A Kindness Dealt in Venom attempts to break their silence with an ambitious album designed as one continuous track with twelve distinct movements.

Construct of Lethe merely dabbles in dissonance and grime, but that doesn’t mean A Kindness Dealt in Venom is an easy or pleasant listen. Rather, there is a veil draped across its entire visage, ghostly and punishing in equal measure. Uncompromisingly bleak and haunting, it is an album you get lost in, and one you can be proud to blare at maximum volume, a challenger for fans of classic Morbid Angel, Immolation, or Hate Eternal, and for diehards of the more dissonant stylings of Noctambulist or Heaving Earth alike. Divisively more experimental and far more contemplative and divisive than its predecessors in a more pronounced doom presence and instrumental saturation, A Kindness Dealt in Venom nonetheless offers no reprieve.

Construct of Lethe first and foremost attacks their third full-length with a sense of menacing organicity and miasmic fluidity – with complete shredding in mind. You have your more predictable death metal affairs, touched upon by blastbeats and chunky riffs a la Morbid Angel or Bolt Thrower, in tracks like opening movement “Artifice” or “Denial in Abstraction,” but the true highlights are feats of songwriting that revel in a more slow-moving and ominous pace, as the dissonant jangling saturating “Contempt” and the pulsing tribal elements of “I Am the Lionkiller” inject palpable dread. Longest track “Bete Noir” is an easy climax, its nine-minute breath oozing through pulsing death/doom beatdowns of raucous percussion, thick bass, and a dynamic with disintegration in mind. Eating at the ears like a more insidious but deadlier pyroclastic flow, the percussion acts like the hammering of the anvil while the sliding interchange between Morbid Angel riffs and Immolation blasphemy in the soundtrack of madness. “Labyrinthine Terror” and closer “Tension – There is Nothing for You Here” exemplify this lethal fusion likewise, recalling more high-minded assaults like Labyrinth of Stars or Sulphur Aeon. Construct of Lethe expertly balances a dissonant death template with old school death shredding in an album that mightily succeeds in both.

Truthfully, there are no blatantly bad tracks aboard A Kindness Dealt in Venom, but the implications of its pacing and flow are questionable at best. Construct of Lethe’s first act up until “Denial in Abstraction” will have you believe that this is a pure death metal foray (like Corpsegod or Exiler) but when the second act begins you are unwittingly met with a series of build-ups with little capitalization. Tracks “Flickering,” “I Am the Lionkiller,” “Paroxysm as Pratmatism,” “Raw Nerve, Iron Will,” “Sacrosanct,” and “Tension – There is Nothing For You Here” are all instrumentals stacked in the latter half,1 and are likewise all incredibly brief affairs, the shortest “Sacrosanct” clocking in at less than a minute. I understand that Construct of Lethe composed this album as a single track with twelve movements, but this whiplash from instrumental to instrumental, with incredible dynamic builds leading to musical dead-ends, is a head-scratcher. It’s as if they included new vocalist Kishor Haulenbeek in the first half of the album then abruptly fired him before the second – even though the guy’s still employed. The flow is therefore problematic, as the first half of the album constitutes thirty minutes of the album’s forty-five. As “Bete Noir” stands as a potential SOTY, it puts all following tracks in its shadow – which sucks, because there are ten.

Construct of Lethe proves they are masters of their craft with A Kindness Dealt in Venom, but it’s almost entirely derailed by its odd tracklist. Especially when Petrocelly and company have never included an instrumental in Exiler or Corpsegod, it’s confusing why suddenly A Kindness Dealt in Venom features six of them – primarily in the second half. Don’t get me wrong, each track is fantastic, blending purist death metal with dissonant and avant-garde tendencies that never derail it due to organic production and songwriting. However, for an album that professes a cohesive whole, Construct of Lethe has never felt more disjointed. Bang your head while scratching it.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Websites: constructoflethe.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/constructoflethe
Releases Worldwide: June 21st, 2024

#2024 #30 #AKindnessDealtInVenom #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BoltThrower #ConstructOfLethe #DeathMetal #DesolateShrine #DissonantDeathMetal #HateEternal #HeavingEarth #Immolation #Jun24 #LabyrinthOfStars #Lantern #MorbidAngel #Noctambulist #OldSchoolDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #SulphurAeon #TranscendingObscurityRecords

Drowned – Procul His Review

By Dear Hollow

Whether they like it or not, Sulphur Aeon left its mark on the death metal world. While it’s easy to focus on their lyrical themes and reverence for the Great Old Ones as a lyrical monument, their straightforward approach tinged with blackened precision and colossal atmosphere extends to more than the Cthulhu worshipers out there. Take their fellow Germans, the longstanding death metal act Drowned. While the lyrics of Procul His revolve around things like the occult, darkness, and abstract themes, you’ll find that the sound feels straight outta the Antisphere. Death metal’s barbarity is channeled through the discreet and sinister palette of darkness, and the atmosphere is front and center.

Contrary to the epic overwhelm of Devenial Verdict or the smoke-filled opaqueness of Desolate Shrine, Berlin trio Drowned dwells in minimalist compositions. While vocalist and bassist Greg Circum offers a weighty roar that drips in blackened menace and drummer Tobias Engl’s technique is rock-solid, the crawling subdued riffs and patient plucking of former Necros Christos guitarist Tlmnn are the real star of the show. The trio’s second full-length is undeniably evocative, a mysterious and ominous sermon tinged with malice, although the brutality remains absent and replay value is sparse. It’s worth a spin for the fans of the more contemplative side of death metal but offers little else.

What Drowned does well is concoct its tracks with patience, and even the more vicious cuts are steeped in mystery. Openers “Star Tower” and “Phantom Stairs” are squirming dirges of semi-dissonant leads and simple drumming, while brutal death growls dominate the palette. “Corpse God” features a pendulum swing of a 6/8 timing, which injects a distinct madness to the proceedings, while the synth adds a dark twist to “Seed of Bones.” More energetic cuts abound in the second act, as “Malachite Mirror,” “Man in Devil in Man,” and “Blue Moth Vault” offer influences of blackened death and blastbeats, respectively, with blazing tremolo lighting the way through dark and gloomy soundscapes. Minimalism nevertheless remains a stalwart in these heavier interpretations even so, as bass remains nearly inaudible underneath the guitar-centric approach and Circum’s vicious vocals. Drowned toes the line between blackened death and old-school philosophies, most effectively culminating in the riffiest cut “Chryseos Vas,” which effectively exchanges deathy chugs for blackened intensity and back again, with a charisma found in doom’s mammoth halls while its more patient crescendos are achieved in climactic crusty passages.

The primary issue with Procul His is that Drowned fails to claim any sense of memorability throughout the album’s protracted 44-minute length. It’s a gloomy affair, mastery of dark melody on full display in ways that recall Sulphur Aeon’s latest, but lacking the colossal quality and fully immersive experience that makes the Lovecraftian songstresses so effective. Thus, no riff sticks in the brain, with potentially unhinged brutality a la Vitriol or Hate Eternal tidily confined to the safety of its atmospheric compositions. Opener “Star Tower,” while creepy-crawly, is remarkably limp in its painfully sparse melodies and simple lack of things going on. Drowned’s energetic back-half blurs together due to jarring passage shifts between riffs and plucking and punky passages with little apt transition between it all, with “Man in Devil in Man,” “Blue Moth Vault,” and “Seed of Bones” being just a kinda pleasant blur from start to end. That’s the problem with Procul His: there’s very little explicitly bad about it, but there’s nothing that stands out either.

The first half, despite the limp opener, had me hoping to hang my antlers once again upon the Three Tree with Drowned’s effectiveness in conjuring a dread-inducing and nightmarishly vivid atmosphere through minimalist tools. While I initially thought “Man in Devil in Man” was a welcome jolt of energy, it instead signaled a wave of uninspired death metal from an act that could do so much better. While it ends on a good note that balances its effective assets, it does not conclude an effective album. The balance between menacing atmosphere and devastating death metal is an admirable attempt, but too often it becomes a balance of too little and too much across its two halves. Drowned features an enticing aura of madness and mystery, but in a way that “We have Sulphur Aeon at home” does.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Sepulchral Voice Records
Websites: drowned.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/drowned.death.metal
Releases Worldwide: January 26th, 2024

#20 #2024 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #DeathMetal #DesolateShrine #DevenialVerdict #Drowned #GermanMetal #HateEternal #Jan24 #ProculHis #Review #Reviews #SepulchralVoiceRecords #SulphurAeon #Vitriol

Drowned – Procul His Review

By Dear Hollow

Whether they like it or not, Sulphur Aeon left its mark on the death metal world. While it’s easy to focus on their lyrical themes and reverence for the Great Old Ones as a lyrical monument, their straightforward approach tinged with blackened precision and colossal atmosphere extends to more than the Cthulhu worshipers out there. Take their fellow Germans, the longstanding death metal act Drowned. While the lyrics of Procul His revolve around things like the occult, darkness, and abstract themes, you’ll find that the sound feels straight outta the Antisphere. Death metal’s barbarity is channeled through the discreet and sinister palette of darkness, and the atmosphere is front and center.

Contrary to the epic overwhelm of Devenial Verdict or the smoke-filled opaqueness of Desolate Shrine, Berlin trio Drowned dwells in minimalist compositions. While vocalist and bassist Greg Circum offers a weighty roar that drips in blackened menace and drummer Tobias Engl’s technique is rock-solid, the crawling subdued riffs and patient plucking of former Necros Christos guitarist Tlmnn are the real star of the show. The trio’s second full-length is undeniably evocative, a mysterious and ominous sermon tinged with malice, although the brutality remains absent and replay value is sparse. It’s worth a spin for the fans of the more contemplative side of death metal but offers little else.

What Drowned does well is concoct its tracks with patience, and even the more vicious cuts are steeped in mystery. Openers “Star Tower” and “Phantom Stairs” are squirming dirges of semi-dissonant leads and simple drumming, while brutal death growls dominate the palette. “Corpse God” features a pendulum swing of a 6/8 timing, which injects a distinct madness to the proceedings, while the synth adds a dark twist to “Seed of Bones.” More energetic cuts abound in the second act, as “Malachite Mirror,” “Man in Devil in Man,” and “Blue Moth Vault” offer influences of blackened death and blastbeats, respectively, with blazing tremolo lighting the way through dark and gloomy soundscapes. Minimalism nevertheless remains a stalwart in these heavier interpretations even so, as bass remains nearly inaudible underneath the guitar-centric approach and Circum’s vicious vocals. Drowned toes the line between blackened death and old-school philosophies, most effectively culminating in the riffiest cut “Chryseos Vas,” which effectively exchanges deathy chugs for blackened intensity and back again, with a charisma found in doom’s mammoth halls while its more patient crescendos are achieved in climactic crusty passages.

The primary issue with Procul His is that Drowned fails to claim any sense of memorability throughout the album’s protracted 44-minute length. It’s a gloomy affair, mastery of dark melody on full display in ways that recall Sulphur Aeon’s latest, but lacking the colossal quality and fully immersive experience that makes the Lovecraftian songstresses so effective. Thus, no riff sticks in the brain, with potentially unhinged brutality a la Vitriol or Hate Eternal tidily confined to the safety of its atmospheric compositions. Opener “Star Tower,” while creepy-crawly, is remarkably limp in its painfully sparse melodies and simple lack of things going on. Drowned’s energetic back-half blurs together due to jarring passage shifts between riffs and plucking and punky passages with little apt transition between it all, with “Man in Devil in Man,” “Blue Moth Vault,” and “Seed of Bones” being just a kinda pleasant blur from start to end. That’s the problem with Procul His: there’s very little explicitly bad about it, but there’s nothing that stands out either.

The first half, despite the limp opener, had me hoping to hang my antlers once again upon the Three Tree with Drowned’s effectiveness in conjuring a dread-inducing and nightmarishly vivid atmosphere through minimalist tools. While I initially thought “Man in Devil in Man” was a welcome jolt of energy, it instead signaled a wave of uninspired death metal from an act that could do so much better. While it ends on a good note that balances its effective assets, it does not conclude an effective album. The balance between menacing atmosphere and devastating death metal is an admirable attempt, but too often it becomes a balance of too little and too much across its two halves. Drowned features an enticing aura of madness and mystery, but in a way that “We have Sulphur Aeon at home” does.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Sepulchral Voice Records
Websites: drowned.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/drowned.death.metal
Releases Worldwide: January 26th, 2024

#20 #2024 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #DeathMetal #DesolateShrine #DevenialVerdict #Drowned #GermanMetal #HateEternal #Jan24 #ProculHis #Review #Reviews #SepulchralVoiceRecords #SulphurAeon #Vitriol

Vitriol – Suffer & Become Review

By Holdeneye

When our resident death metal professor, Ferrous Beuller, covered To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice, the debut full-length from Portland’s Vitriol, he was struck by the sheer heaviness that dominated the record. And while he noted the enormous potential displayed by the band, he bemoaned the lack of balancing contrast, a lack that prevented the monstrous material from making the intended impact. Now, I like To Bathe… a lot more than Ferrous did, but as a fellow contrast-lover, I have to agree with his general assessment. And so, apparently, does the band. In the promo materials for follow-up Suffer & Become, vocalist and guitarist Kyle Rasmussen states ‘I wanted to have an album that had a stark duality to it. Very high highs and very low lows. I wanted the album to convey a sense of optimism that probably gets lost in the black maelstrom that is the first album.’ With this in mind, I pressed play on Suffer & Become, wondering if this new approach would still live up to the band’s name.

Boy, does it ever. Suffer & Become takes just about everything about To Bathe… and improves upon it ten-fold. Vitriol still carries a base sound defined by the Floridian über-heaviness of Hate Eternal, with bits of the bombastic blackened brutality of Behemoth, the crippling clinicality of Cryptopsy, and the acidic, anguished absurdity of Anaal Nathrakh, but this time around, the compositions (and production) allow for a bit more breathing room—and the album benefits greatly because of it. Embedded single “Weaponized Loss” is perhaps the best example of what Vitriol is offering this time around, with all of the aforementioned influences swirling together in the event horizon of the band’s immense heaviness.

From the opening notes of first track “Shame and Its Afterbirth,” it’s clear that Vitriol have embraced the need for a more varied approach for their auditory assault. A creepy, downcast intro paves the way, allowing the following onslaught to hit that much harder. Most of the rest of the track is relentlessly fast, but it contains a surprising amount of melody with some incredible guitar work. Next comes “The Flowers of Sadism,” a tune that begins with a much slower, groovier approach by employing some touches of the band’s deathcore roots. But the mid-track instrumental “Survival’s Careening Inertia” provides the most exquisite use of contrast on the record. The song begins beautiful and clean, and even when it ups the pace, there’s a triumphant tone to the music. But all of that changes around the two-minute mark when things take a turn for the darker, ending in a symphonic bludgeoning that would make Fleshgod Apocalypse jealous. New drummer Matt Kilner (Nithing) puts on an absolute clinic on the track, and it highlights just how much he brings to the table.

Suffer & Become is one of those rare records that works just as well when taken in as a surface-level cacophony as it does when judiciously consumed with attention to detail. Vitriol’s sound is overwhelming in the best way imaginable, and it’s incredibly satisfying to just lay back and absorb the beatdown. But if you want to put your headphones on and mine the nooks and crannies of these songs, you could probably listen to the album once a day for the next several months and still walk away with appreciation for some newly discovered lick, fill, vocal, or songwriting element. Co-vocalists Rasmussen and Adam Roethlisberger (who also gives an incredible performance on bass) are absolute monsters, and the virtuosity displayed by the band, not to mention the sonic palette, reminds me of another technically proficient Pacific Northwest band that I know and love: Aethereus. I’d list standout tracks for you, but quite honestly, each and every track here has something that makes it a highlight, and the whole package will yield far greater enjoyment when taken in as whole.

Rasmussen describes Suffer & Become as a ‘Jungian Dante’s Inferno,’ the product of a period of intense personal introspection for him—and the integration that occurred as a result. As such, the record shows that Vitriol, the band, has undergone the same transformation; the pure rage, born of suffering, expressed on the band’s debut has been metabolized, emerging with a healthy dose of perspective and nuance. And thanks to this contrast, Vitriol’s sound has become something altogether more powerful—and heavy—in the process.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 128 kbps mp3
Label: Century Media Records
Websites: vitriolwarfare.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/vitriolwarfare
Releases Worldwide: January 26th, 2024

#2024 #40 #Aethereus #AmericanMetal #AnaalNathrakh #Behemoth #BlackenedDeathMetal #CenturyMediaRecords #Cryptopsy #DeathMetal #FleshgodApocalypse #HateEternal #Jan24 #Nithing #Review #Reviews #SufferBecome #TechnicalDeathMetal #Vitriol

Vitriol – Suffer & Become Review

By Holdeneye

When our resident death metal professor, Ferrous Beuller, covered To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice, the debut full-length from Portland’s Vitriol, he was struck by the sheer heaviness that dominated the record. And while he noted the enormous potential displayed by the band, he bemoaned the lack of balancing contrast, a lack that prevented the monstrous material from making the intended impact. Now, I like To Bathe… a lot more than Ferrous did, but as a fellow contrast-lover, I have to agree with his general assessment. And so, apparently, does the band. In the promo materials for follow-up Suffer & Become, vocalist and guitarist Kyle Rasmussen states ‘I wanted to have an album that had a stark duality to it. Very high highs and very low lows. I wanted the album to convey a sense of optimism that probably gets lost in the black maelstrom that is the first album.’ With this in mind, I pressed play on Suffer & Become, wondering if this new approach would still live up to the band’s name.

Boy, does it ever. Suffer & Become takes just about everything about To Bathe… and improves upon it ten-fold. Vitriol still carries a base sound defined by the Floridian über-heaviness of Hate Eternal, with bits of the bombastic blackened brutality of Behemoth, the crippling clinicality of Cryptopsy, and the acidic, anguished absurdity of Anaal Nathrakh, but this time around, the compositions (and production) allow for a bit more breathing room—and the album benefits greatly because of it. Embedded single “Weaponized Loss” is perhaps the best example of what Vitriol is offering this time around, with all of the aforementioned influences swirling together in the event horizon of the band’s immense heaviness.

From the opening notes of first track “Shame and Its Afterbirth,” it’s clear that Vitriol have embraced the need for a more varied approach for their auditory assault. A creepy, downcast intro paves the way, allowing the following onslaught to hit that much harder. Most of the rest of the track is relentlessly fast, but it contains a surprising amount of melody with some incredible guitar work. Next comes “The Flowers of Sadism,” a tune that begins with a much slower, groovier approach by employing some touches of the band’s deathcore roots. But the mid-track instrumental “Survival’s Careening Inertia” provides the most exquisite use of contrast on the record. The song begins beautiful and clean, and even when it ups the pace, there’s a triumphant tone to the music. But all of that changes around the two-minute mark when things take a turn for the darker, ending in a symphonic bludgeoning that would make Fleshgod Apocalypse jealous. New drummer Matt Kilner (Nithing) puts on an absolute clinic on the track, and it highlights just how much he brings to the table.

Suffer & Become is one of those rare records that works just as well when taken in as a surface-level cacophony as it does when judiciously consumed with attention to detail. Vitriol’s sound is overwhelming in the best way imaginable, and it’s incredibly satisfying to just lay back and absorb the beatdown. But if you want to put your headphones on and mine the nooks and crannies of these songs, you could probably listen to the album once a day for the next several months and still walk away with appreciation for some newly discovered lick, fill, vocal, or songwriting element. Co-vocalists Rasmussen and Adam Roethlisberger (who also gives an incredible performance on bass) are absolute monsters, and the virtuosity displayed by the band, not to mention the sonic palette, reminds me of another technically proficient Pacific Northwest band that I know and love: Aethereus. I’d list standout tracks for you, but quite honestly, each and every track here has something that makes it a highlight, and the whole package will yield far greater enjoyment when taken in as whole.

Rasmussen describes Suffer & Become as a ‘Jungian Dante’s Inferno,’ the product of a period of intense personal introspection for him—and the integration that occurred as a result. As such, the record shows that Vitriol, the band, has undergone the same transformation; the pure rage, born of suffering, expressed on the band’s debut has been metabolized, emerging with a healthy dose of perspective and nuance. And thanks to this contrast, Vitriol’s sound has become something altogether more powerful—and heavy—in the process.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 128 kbps mp3
Label: Century Media Records
Websites: vitriolwarfare.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/vitriolwarfare
Releases Worldwide: January 26th, 2024

#2024 #40 #Aethereus #AmericanMetal #AnaalNathrakh #Behemoth #BlackenedDeathMetal #CenturyMediaRecords #Cryptopsy #DeathMetal #FleshgodApocalypse #HateEternal #Jan24 #Nithing #Review #Reviews #SufferBecome #TechnicalDeathMetal #Vitriol