Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne!Out 20th February on Terratur Possessions Dark, fluid, minimalist black metal creates a sense of grandeur by bolstering the near constant tremolo riffing with keyboard accompaniment. That, and the thick reverb covering the mix gives the music a degree of inertia, forcing it into rather simplistic themes that gain greater currency from the... Continue Reading →
Three Faced Trinity for a Two-Faced WorldOut 13th February on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions The obscurantist curveball that is Moonchapel continue their output apace. Following their harrowing debut ‘Chasms of Ash and Inequity’ in 2025, they have since put out two more albums, ‘Famine Weaponized’ released the same year, and now we have this... Continue Reading →
Psy-War: From Deep Depressions to the Borders of SuicideOut 27th November on La Caverna Records (originally released in 1992) Unsettling grindcore notable for shifting the traits of the genre – the micro tracks, the frantic speed, bricks and mortar power chord riffing, and hardcore sensibilities – to a bleaker, almost defeatist place. Basic, three or... Continue Reading →
Goat at SunsetOut 1st February, self-released Croatia’s Petrale add to their significant run of releases with another subtle shift in direction. Where 2024’s ‘The World Down There’ was technically dense but experientially a stripped back, nocturnal journey of dissonant surrealism, ‘Goat at Sunset’ wrests this project in a more playful and melodically typical direction. Typical,... Continue Reading →
Unfazed by DeathOut 26th January on Memento Mori (originally released in 2016) It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Rotheads. There 2022 effort ‘Slither in Slime’ was one of the best of that year, and easily outstrips the majority of contemporary death metal for its ability to weave tapestries of drab, gothic grace into... Continue Reading →
Hybris DivinaOut 9th January on Invictus Productions Dark, imposing death metal reaches for a sharp juxtaposition between the superhuman and the horrendously surreal. The bludgeoning simplicity of early Bolt Thrower, siren wailing, toneless guitar leads and all, is elevated to a place of epical grimness via a sharp melodic flair that, although hardly complex or... Continue Reading →
2025 audit of the year Well, that was a year. Got sued for a book review. Got divorced. And I think underground metal had one of its best years in quite a while. It’s fair to say I’ve been on a journey in my attitude toward album of the year posts. From revulsion to begrudgingly... Continue Reading →
Una Lama D’ArgentoOut 12th December on Time to Kill Records Bracing, fluid death metal achieves a sense of power through ambient riffing that weaponizes repetition as a tool of malevolence. The album is defined by a wall of guitar noise that monolithically frames the parameters through which riffs can work, limiting them to basic, dry... Continue Reading →
This World we Live in…Out 12th December on Dolorem Records Mechanical death metal combines elements of clinical industrialism and prog informalities paced out in oddly pulsing sequences. Cryoxyd leverage repetition as an important compositional tool, creating a meditative, almost hyper fixated flow, only to lurch into soaring waves of melodic euphoria. This creates a sense... Continue Reading →
Benediction, Part IIOut 5th December on NoEvDia The second instalment of the Benediction series sees this Polish entity expand on their torturous, laboured brand of black metal ritualism, pitching a mood somewhere between depressive black metal and second wave Norwegian trademarks. Mayhem stands as an obvious influence through clever manipulation of ringing, open strings to... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 