With a lineup that features former and current folks from the likes of Nightrage, Night Crowned, Avsmak, Dark Funeral, and Torchbearer, it’s no surprise that this is high-quality stuff, and these guys can shit this type of music out in their sleep. The nine songs all deliver razor-sharp, tightly wound, fierce, yet melodic black/death metal, featuring some keyboards, gruffer vocals, and a crystal-clear production.

From opener “As Humanity Falls” to closer “Luciferian”, there isn’t a weak song on the album, in particular “Regnum in Tenebris” and “Människan till kol”. And like its predecessor, some female vocals pop up here and there to make tracks like “All Shall Become None” and  “Ascend into Ruin” even better.

A fine follow-up to the debut and a veteran act that should truly take off when they release album number 3.

Much has transpired since the last album. Guitarist Mikkel Sørensen hired a whole new band. Jimmy Christensen on bass, Jon Arent – guitars, Lasse Kristensen – drums, and Alexander Kristensen on vox. This is the perfect release to reintroduce this band to the masses.

“Psychosomatic Desynchronization” opens with a slight intro, transitioning into a double-pounding speed. The groove erupts with pig filthy clogged sewer-pipe stylized vocals. The groove is excellent and the double pounding returns with pig squeals and some spliced in shouted sound byte. The varying tempo shifts are great, especially the groove at the 2.44 section with another clever sound bite, signaling the listener about this slam. This is about as heavy as a slam can get. Brutal.

“Suspended from a Single Strand of Sanity” has too many S’s in the title, but starts off with killer and pig squeal vocals all over, blast beats, and then this mid-paced groove, which is ass-kicking. Another shouted part, these moments remind me of their label mates, PeelingFlesh. I could actually see Guttural Slug bringing in that gangsta style hip/hop flair, to a greater degree, on the next release. A variety of wonderful burps and growls all over the place, and the slam at the 2.54 timestamp is how you end a song. This is a huge pit moment. You know, in a live setting, I would play this song and immediately play this title track right after it.

The title track directly opens with a pit-heaving slam. I think it would be nifty to have a song end with the brutal slam and then the start of the next song with a brutal slam, in a live environment, just as the songs are tracked on this EP. It works to the benefit of the band and is super killer. There are plenty of pig snorts, squeals, and fart like vocals on this. “Mind to the Millstone” is just shy of three minutes, but no less brutal than the rest of the songs. Lots of guttural vocals and super heavy riffs. I mean, you get the point at this juncture of what to expect.

Guttural Slug is not reinventing the brutal slam genre, and Ulcers in the Flesh of Thought EP is not unlike anything you have heard, thus far, in this genre. Originality?!, I mean, there is none, and when I listen to this style of death metal, I already know that going in. It’s like when I read reviews for Godzilla movies, and there is so much negativity about how it’s not real, or that was impossible in the movie??? I am like ‘hey dummies, it’s a movie about made-up monsters obliterating everything, so you leave your brain at the door, and enjoy the movie and effects’.

It’s the same with this style of death metal. I leave my brain at the door. I want to be bludgeoned into submission and just want knuckle-dragging slams so I can curl heavier weights at the gym. Pretty simple. Nice slamming brutality on this ep!

Now, I have not heard 2021’s Last Contact, but it appears co-founder Christophor Grimes’ time in fellow Chicagoan war metalers Blood Of the Wolf since 2018 has rubbed off, as Withering Soul is much more abrasive and intense than I recall.

Still largely black metal and certainly strains of symphonic black metal are there, with keyboards still scattered generously around the material, but this is less Dimmu Borgir-ish than the first two albums, and leans a little harder into the black/death Blood of the Wolf  (i.e. “The Monolith Embodied”, “Gallery of the End”) sound mixed with Grime’s early Veneficum (one of the USA’s early entries into symphonic black metal) days.

It results in an excellent album from the tail end of 2025, with more than a few highlights or standouts, especially when the band gets a little more aggressive as heard on “Attrition Horizon”, searingly melodic personal favorites “Grievance Eludes the Light” and “Gallery of the End”, or the 7-minute “Trajectory”.

The album ends on a nice, beefier, more militant number in “Burden of the Valiant”, and the album has been a nice reminder of a band I had forgotten about, but is certainly back on my radar again now.

I picked Havamal with the hope that I would get a Falkenbach type of thing, because Falkenbach has a song called “Hávamál” and boy, I was wrong as hell. It doesn’t matter, Havamal Age of the Gods is still a powerhouse performance, so even though it wasn’t Falkenbach, it’s still Swedish, melodic viking-themed death metal perfection. Excuse me while I go swing a sword around in the backyard…

Age of the Gods is Havamal’s third full-length album, and it’s incredible. There you go, review over.

No, not really. If I didn’t mention the depths of badassery that these guys dive into with this crushing release in detail… well, what kind of reviewing person would I be?

“The Pagan Path” is the thunderous opener, and holy fucking shit, they knock heads out of the park. There is a galloping beat that does kind of remind me of Falkenbach, but that’s where the comparison ends. It’s quiet at first, like fog on the battlefield, and then boom! It erupts into that galloping Power Metal groove, and let me tell you a story; when Havamal lock into a groove, they fucking LOCK. My ears are literally in tatters after listening to Age of the Gods, and brothers and sisters, that is fucking grand.

The assault keeps going with “Wolfraiders,” and they pepper it with beautiful blasting where it is called for, and that’s one thing I love about this album is that it’s not all a blast fest. Just when the moment calls for it. The same goes for “The Day of Reckoning”; it’s a huge song with some Iron Maiden meets Amon Amarth, and naturally, with a name like that, it has to be monumental. It cuts through your ears and brain like a broadsword.

“Sigmund Fafnirsbane” dips its nose into Iron Maiden territory big time with a galloping rhythm section that feels like you’re being sucked up into some sort of insane combat. The solo in the middle is just chef’s kiss, it’s a huge presence on this motherfucker. But, it’s the death by a thousand cuts delivery of “The Shaman” that makes me giddy as fuck. Starting with a flurry of deadly blast beats it goes back and forth between savage blasts and Speed Metal fury, a bludgeoning track indeed.

“Hymns of the Fallen” is another mid-paced crusher, heralding the memories of the ones who have gone before. The midsection is beautiful and reflective before the big finale and melds perfectly into “Loki’s Damnation” a violent whirlwind of raging blasts and battle axe sharp riffs. This is an incredibly brutal track, as anything Loki-related should be.

I could have gone the easy route and just compared Havamal to Amon Amarth. I mean, you saw how quickly I could have ended it, right? Anyway, these guys don’t sound like Amon Amarth, not completely. I hear some Einherjer and Enslaved in the barrage of Age of the Gods, and that’s where the final track “Ashwalker” blasts out of the speakers like a blizzard. It’s a brutal closer to this utterly fantastic album.

Age of the Gods is a powerhouse album; it melds Black Metal, Power Metal, and Melodic Death Metal together to make a stew of tasty riffs and bludgeoning drums. If you like any of the bands I mentioned, hell, maybe you’ll hear something different than what I did; that’s the magic of music. Go ride your horse to the local mom and pop store and violently demand Age of the Gods.

A few years ago, I blindly grabbed Haimad’s EP 2017 The Return at a random sale at a distro somewhere. I really enjoyed it, and researched the band to find that this Swedish act has actually been around since 1995, with a demo and three EPs in the 90s, before an extended break where then sole member, Azradan (ex-Impious), reformed the band, adding keyboardist Szhethil.

So, despite the 30-year existence, this is the band’s debut album, and it follows the 90s melodic /symphonic black metal hues to a ‘T’, as if the material was stuck in a time capsule since 1995-1998 and is just now being unearthed.

The Scandinavian influence of the early mid-’90s scene is deeply imprinted here; Dissection, early Arturus, Emperor, early Dimmu, Abigor, Limbonic Art, Old Man’s Child, the list goes on.

The keyboards of Szhethil have that starry, cosmic, yet slightly classical and majestic feel, and the overall sound has that cold, slightly tinny, shrill, almost bassless tone that recalls the genre’s early days to a ‘T’- think In The Nightside Eclipse.

That’s all you really need to know, really. Though the album takes a couple of songs to really warm up, as it’s not until ” Where Serpents Wait in Withering Ruins” that my ears really perk up, but then, tracks like the moodier “Naur”, the fiercely frosty “Voice of the Dread Abomination”, or the epic almost 8-minute standout, “Of Smokeless Fire and Smouldering Ash”, just scratch that 90s melodic/symphonic black metal itch perfectly.

I would say these guys are similar to other recent nostalgic bands that pay homage to the style, like Northwind Wolves, Winter Eternal, Warmoon lord, etc, but these guys were actually around for the genre’s birth, and it certainly shows on this long, looooong-awaited debut album.

ERIK T

I did my list a little differently this year, as ranking 25-40 albums individually just got tedious and changed with my mood. So I went with my clear-cut album of the year, then a genre breakdown, as there were so many good albums that I just could not rank by number outside my top 3 to 5.

Symphonic/Blackened deathcore was my jam in 2025, without question. I know, fucking poser, right? The genre seriously exploded, with not just the releases listed below, but other killer albums and EPs from the likes of (* takes deep breath)…Hate Within, Kneel Before the Death, XII Thorns, Sielkanker, Immortal Disfigurement, Decayer, Grimnis, Inhuman Architects, When Plagues Collide, Sold Soul, Disembodied Tyrant, Face Yourself, Lightbearer, Spire of Lazarus, Sunscourge, Drown in Sulphur, Vile Sycophant, and Whispers of Oblivion (*exhales).

And of course it was all spearheaded by…

Overall Album of the Year :

Lorna Shore – I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me (Century Media Records). No surprise, right? After the bar setting Pain Remains, how would they follow it up? Would they go more commercial? Would they sell out? Fuck no, they somehow got even more emotional and personal, yet still heavy as hell. An improved mix, let everything breathe a little more, and even more epic keyboards from guitarist Andrew O’Connor, made songs like “In Darkness”, “Glenwood”, and my favorite song of the year, “Forevermore”, sonic gut punches that I played over and over again, as I did with the Pain Remains trilogy in 2022.

The Best of the Rest by Genre:

Deathcore:

Shadow of Intent – Imperium Delerium (Self-Released). Album number 5 from one of the symphonic deathcore’s elder statesmen would have been my album of the year any other year.

Sin Deliverance – Universe of Nightmares (Lacerated Enemy). One of my most anticipated releases after a 4-year wait. These Russians delivered a more intense, blacker album of Symphonic Deathcore.

Whitechapel – Hymns of Dissonance (Metal Blade). The year’s best return to form as they went back into far more brutal, straight-up deathcore of their early years.

Despised Icon – Shadow Work (Nuclear Blast). A model of grinding deathcore/hardcore consistency, even adding a slight black metal flair.

Ov Ruin – Eternal Lament (Self-Released). The fourth best symphonic deathcore album of the year, but the best orchestration of the year from Harry Tadayon (Hate Within, ex Immortal Disfigurement)

Denying God – Falling of the Pale Mist. (Self-Released). A Slovakian duo delivering absolutely top-notch symphonic deathcore. If you like the genre, you need to hear this.

Netherwalker – Odyssey of Respair (Self-Released). The new darlings of Symphonic deathcore added video game lore and fantasy nerdery to some absolutely bludgeoning symphonic deathcore. Now, if we could get some merch?

Death Metal:

Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence ( Season of Mist). Arguably the most pummelling,  Whisper Supremacy-sounding of their recent releases, despite the complaints that they are ‘deathcore’ now. I don’t hear it.

Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath (Century Media). A heftier, improved follow-up to the debut. I think we are witnessing this generation’s Suffocation.

Dormant Ordeal – Tooth and Nail (Willowtip). Willowtip’s best release of 2025 and one of the best Polish death metal albums of the last few years.

Impureza – Alcázares (Season of Mist).Third brilliant album of silky smooth, Flamenco/Spanish spoken tech death, but from France.

Ominous Ruin – Requiem (Willowtip). No nonsense, brutal tech death, and one of the most ferocious female frontwoman performances of the year from Crystal Rose.

Ade –  Supplicium (Time To Kill Records). These Romanic death metal centurions keep getting better and better.

Deliquesce – Saviour/Enslaver (Lacerated Enemy).A skronky, brutal tech death, ‘Suffocation on LSD’ of an album. 

Open Kasket – Trials of Failure (Self-Released). A sheer hardcore-tinged death metal beatdown that made the likes of Gatecreeper, etc, look soft.

Progressive/Technical/Melodic Death Metal:

Brain Blast – Colussus Suprema (Rebel Pyro Musick). An obscure, late-year gem that is the Colombian love child of early Obscura’s twangy tech death and the orchestral bombast of Fleshgod Apocalypse. One of my top 5 albums of the year.

The Project Hate – Undivine Dethroning (Mouth of Belial/Self Released). Like a fine wine, Lord K and co. just keep better better…..and more melodic?

Allegaeon – The Ossuary Lense (Metal Blade). These guys are so locked into their progressive, technical melodic death metal sound, it’s scary.

Kardashev – Alunea (Metal Blade). Another top 5 release for me, in part due to Mark Garrett’s absolutely stellar array of vocals.

Changeling – Changeling (Season of Mist). What Obscura should have sounded like in 2025. Additional orchestration made it even better.

Aephanemer – Utopie (Napalm Records). Such a gorgeous album and some of my favorite keyboards of the year (along with Eldercall’s Closure) from this now elite French, melodic death metal act. So a bonus instrumental CD was just a lagniappe.

Black Metal:

A Flock Named Murder – Incendiary Sanctum (Hypaethral Records). My second favorite album of the year overall. I love, love, love this album of perfectly introspective, atmospheric black metal.

Havukruunu – Tavastland (Svart Records). Another top 5 album of the year from this expertly crafted Bathory/Moonsorrow worshiping Black metal act.

Scour – Gold (Nuclear Blast Records). Who would have thought Phil from Pantera, and some current and former dudes from Misery Index, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and Pig Destroyer would have delivered one of the year’s very best and most vicious black metal albums?

Labyrinthus Stellarum – Rift In Reality (Northern Silence). A weird, trippy, ambient, at times even metalcore-ish take on atmospheric black metal from these ambitious Ukrainians. 

Argesk – Moonlight Pyromancy (Matriarch Records). The new Hecate Enthroned album might now even sound as much like this fast-rising UK symphonic Black metal act, which features a Hecate Enthroned member.

Saor – Amidst the Ruins (Season of Mist). These Scots have perfected their soaring, epic, Braveheart meets black metal style.

Best EPs of the year:

Synestia – Premonitions (Self-Released). Adding Ryan Vail from Larcenia Roe elevated this top-notch Symphonic deathcore act into truly devastating, elite levels. I’m pumped for a full-length with this lineup. The next Lorna Shore?

Crown Magnetar – Punishment (Unique Leader). Along with Whitechapel’s album, the most brutal, straight-up deathcore of the year.

Burial Gift – MMXXV (Eihwaz Recordings). A gorgeous late-year discovery from these elegant Louisiana-ians.

To Obey A Tyrant  – Frigorie Inferi (Seek and Strike). These guys could surpass A Night In The Abyss as the UKs best symphonic deathcore act (though Vile Sycophant could easily join the conversation) if they build on this killer EP to continue their rise.

Blinded By Hate  – Desolación de la Existencia (Self-Released). Just like Eden Adversary or Enemies Everywhere in 2024, these Mexican guys (after being a pretty forgetful metalcore/deathcore band on their debut album) said, ‘fuck it, let’s sound like Lorna Shore’s Immortal‘ and just be really, really good at it.

Biggest Surprises:

Soulfly – Chama (Nuclear Blast). I hadn’t listened to Soulfly in years, but Chama was a damn good time, especially with some sneaky Swedish death metal tones here and there.

Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner). I had written these guys off and fully expected the new album to just be a Depeche Mode/darkwave pop record. It was not, and while not quite a Sunbather return to form, it was close.

Bleeding Through – Nine (Sharptone Records). It’s been 23 years since I first heard Portrait of a Goddess and discovered orchestration in metalcore/deathcore. You can blame these guys for me being a poser. I have not been impressed with much since The Truth, but Christ, did Nine surprise me with a vicious return to form.

Folk Metal was good in 2025: Albums from Dalriada,  Mandragora Titania, Trold (two albums, a regular and a live one), and Svartsot’s swansong all hit the mark, in a genre I had all but forgotten.

Best Artwork:

Clamfight – Clamfight (Self-Released). Dehumanizing Reign – Dawn of a Malefic Dominion (FDA Records).

Biggest Disappointments:

Vildhjarta – Där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar . (Century Media).  With no original members left, it was clear something was amiss here. Nearly an hour of the same boring riff and pace. A real shame, as these guys have made my year list before, just not on the ‘disappointments’ part.

Everything in streaming /digital only: A lot of the releases and bands above had no physical releases, just Bandcamp/Spotify etc. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guilty Pleasure:

Mausoleum Gate – Space, Rituals and Magick (Cruz Del Sur). Absolutely outside of my normal listening wheelhouse, but this wispy, The Doors-influenced take of psychedelic, dreamy heavy metal was a perfect complement to a gummy and headphones.

Briar Creed – Bitter Moth (Self-Released).  An alluring mix of country, grunge, and metal with a touch of orchestration, plus the guy is an Opeth fan. Perfect fire pit music for you and your normal friends. 

It was a very well done style of Summoning-ish styled atmospheric black metal, focusing on more doomy, and moody pacing, complete with programmed drums and tinny guitars, just like Summoning, but layered with the gorgeous keys of vocalist Karola Gere.

And with Öröklét, we get more of the same, but maybe with some improved songwriting and haunting melodies. The influence is still clearly a much sadder version of Summoning, but now the riffs that sort of play second fiddle to Gere’s keyboards are vastly improved, making for a much better overall album.

I mean, in the first two songs alone deliver much more memorable, if repetitive riffs than the last album. Opener “Örökség” has a just gorgeous, steady melody line that is almost triumphant, and could easily be culled from a Summoning album.

Then the second track, “Szélhozó”, adds some light blast beats and female vocals to an already alluring march and mood, which starts and ends with a piano line to die for.

Gere’s piano work again starts the third track “Röghöz kötött” and its beautifully depressing sway, and then for the title track, there are some utterly gorgeous female vocals bridges that elevate the track from being slightly repetitive and similar to the prior three tracks.

As with Lélekharang, which, after 4 rangy songs, ended on a cover of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”, this album, after 4 rangy songs, ends on Schubert’s “Piano Trio No. 2 – Andante con moto”, highlighting Gere’s skill, and ends the album perfectly.

That’s silly. Ever since Pestilence did their AI album cover, people have been crying foul about the death of real artists and this and that. It’s gotten a bit ridiculous for me anyway. So I looked really close at both, and they have one thing in common: a fucking casket in the center. That’s it. Otherwise, it’s totally different designs, and I can’t believe I spent two paragraphs on that shit. What the fuck am I doing with my life?

Well, how is the album? You know, the musical part of this thing. I like it! Yes, a debut, so there’s still footing to be found, but it’s a ripper. This is a follow-up to 2024’s split with Kill the Lord entitled Decrowned II: Trinity Ablaze / Pilgrims of Morbidity, so if you know you’re one ahead of me.

“Pointless Anguish” kicks things off with the tone that made Austria in the 90s a hotbed of Death Metal goodness. Grimy and frigid but sort of French in a way that has to be heard to understand. These aren’t short songs; there are no pretty little silly ones. “Asphyxiate in Exile” follows with a sick as fuck riff that rings and rattles inside your skull, and it doesn’t let up for its 4:18 minute length.

These guys fuck heavily with the vibes that Pungent Stench, Disharmonic Orchestra, and Disastrous Murmur birthed many years ago. Subcutaneous Tomb is fucking ugly and repulsive in the adorable way that a mutated baby would be. It’s got an unrelenting production that keeps the feeling of OSDM while adding a bit of the new school, as well. It’s not magnificent, but it is fun and has tons of hear,t which goes a long way.

“Cries from the Ether” is the longest track, coming in at a respectable 7:1,4, and since there’s room to play around with it, they do exactly that. Piling riffs like bodies in a massive grave, and as the song rolls merrily along, it gathers intensity. Followed hotly by being dragged into “The Depths of Lividity”, where your soul is beaten to a quivering mass of pulp.

The absolutely ripping “Yizkor” and “Living Funeral” round out this brain-drilling full-length, and buddy, I’m here for it. The former track strides like a knuckle-dragging primate across an Incantation Onwards to Golgatha wasteland, scattered blasting, and that cavernous Death Metal machine that keeps hitting like a battering ram. Fessus keep things balanced throughout Subcutaneous Tomb. The final track has that Disastrous Murmur feeling that made them huge as fuck. It’s a bit strange when it gets mid-track, but it’s absolutely fine because that was Austrian Death Metal in the 90s: obscene and explicit.

As previously stated, I can’t help liking Subcutaneous Tomb. I might get hate about the album art, but honestly, I don’t fucking care. It doesn’t look anything like Gorguts’ debut any more than Barney looked like an actual fucking dinosaur. I didn’t draw it; if you don’t like it, that’s a problem, table for one. However musically this is a suitably brutal album for your listening enjoyment. So what are you waiting for? Close your eyes and rock out!

Well, slap me in the face and say stop all that cryin’, because Terror Corpse contains former Malignant Altar members. That’s right, folks. Hailing from Houston, Texas, Terror Corpse came to fruition earlier this year, and Ash Eclipses Flesh, honestly sounds like the follow-up to that Malignant Altar album. Everyone sings in this band, a group effort. Christian is on bass, Dobber is on drums and Mat plays guitar. 10 songs in 36 minutes, with an absolutely phenomenal album cover to boot.

“Pyre of Ash and Bone” starts things off with terrifically heavy distorted bass guitar then right into the galloping madness, then BOOM, into the blasting. The 1.30 slow, doomy section is atmospheric and just evil-sounding. Really going for that Incantation vibe. I am feeling that big time. Some black metal-ish harmonies erupt over the blast, then into the double pounding madness with absolutely filthy vocals. They are fantastic.

As the song closes out, “Gate Zero” erupts instantly with a monstrous blast beat. This will catch you off guard and bodyslam you through the various levels of magma. Just as abrupt as that blast explodes, so does the slow, doomy crawl after it. Heavy, organic, and executed perfectly with that isolated, distorted bass right after. I am thrilled when this style of death metal pays attention to the bass guitar and, rather than have it follow the guitar sound, the bass guitar has its own flair, in this case, fuzzy distortion. There is so much fuzz on the isolated bass guitar moments, it calls to mind vintage Carcass. Think Symphonies of Sickness, for reference points. This song owns!!

“Nuclear Winter” is not a cover from Sodom, but rather a very short song at 1.15. Galloping out of the gates, the song goes right into the doom death, then squealing guitars take us on a blast. The song returns to galloping headbanging madness before ending. I appreciate this brief song as the band crams a lot into it, as well as showing us they can streamline songs to fit in an extra song in a live setting, perhaps?

“The Hollow That Devours” is the longest song at 4.48 and has excellent opening double bass drums all over this sucker. The song settles into a slow, hoppy number, with guitar riffage, right out of the vintage Autopsy playbook. We are treated to a nice drum roll, which transitions into a faster-paced gallop. More throaty vocals and galloping madness, and I like how the guitar soloing helps end this song.

The band does the “Into the Crypts of Rays” (Celtic Frost cover) pretty well. The ultra-low gutturals make the lyrics indecipherable, except for the chorus. They pay homage to one of the greatest extreme metal songs ever recorded, in a respectful manner, by keeping the pace the same as the original.

So this new Malign…I mean Terror Corpse debut album, Ash Eclipses Flesh, is fantastic and has been in constant rotation for me. Memorable, organic, heavy, evil, and dark. Truly capturing the essence of the origins of what death metal is supposed to be about. This is one of the best albums from Dark Descent Records in the last several years, and I am looking forward to hearing future recordings from Terror Corpse!

Egregious Defilement is their brand spanking first EP, and let me tell you what: IT’S FUCKING GREAT! I probably didn’t need the all caps, but goddammit, this album sticks to your eardrums like an angry barnacle and refuses to let go. Humble, constant reader, you need this album in your life.

First track is deadly, and Decrepit Altar rip into “The Festering Depths” like a starving animal. This ungodly 8:21-minute beast crawls on all fours. This song is a slow and precise beating, bone-breaking riffs, and earthshaking bass rhythms come together to slowly drown you in the mire. There are 3 China cymbal tings and then boom! They hit full speed midway through before they slow it down for the remainder of the song.

Decrepit Altar might as well be playing severed limbs instead of instruments because Egregious Defilement harkens back to those early Incantation albums; Onwards to Golgatha and Mortal Throne of Nazarene quickly come to mind. The oppressive feeling of foreboding menace is palpable as they go into “Beckoning of the Moss Ridden Tombs”. It’s a short track with a 5:06-minute runtime. It is not just a splash of grease on bare skin, the song lets that fucking grease sizzle and burn until the flesh falls from the bone.

“Fields of Flayed Skin” pours on the filth even more. I don’t know where this album was recorded, but it resonates into the gore-soaked walls of oblivion. The way Egregious Defilement hits those Death/ Doom bullet points is amazing, and I can picture a live setting bathed in green light with twenty-eight fog machines suffocating the gathered masses.

This is one of those albums that commanded me to write about it toot-sweet, and so that’s what I have done. Decrepit Altar is for the fans of Incantation, Winter, Sedimentu,m and Tribunal. Pick this one up with fireproof gloves, folks. It is burning hot and will melt your fingers.

The band consists of: Count LaFey – Guitars, Wicked Ischanius – Keyboards, Oskari Räsänen – Drums, Jarno Koskell- Bass, Jari Kourunen – Guitars , and Jarno Saarinen Vocals. The band’s second album, Into a Dark Divinity, was released in 2017, so since then the newcomers are the singer, bassist and second guitarist Jari. They all add their own flair, and their sound remains intact with new singer Jarno Saarinen, having one helluva set of pipes.

“Vision Divine” starts the album with those keys, and it’s so incredibly catchy. Jarno’s vocals have a strong Ozzy vibe, which is A OK with this guy. He has a very similar tone. The chorus: “I see you – demon of the dark night. I see you – sister of the moonglide. I see you – demon of the dark night sister of the moonglide. I see a vision divine”, is truly wonderful and shows the banner of heavy metal is strong among these smaller acts. They know how to write memorable and catchy moments, just like all the legendary acts. There is quite a neat drum solo towards the end of this song, and the main guitar riff, throughout this song, makes this one of the best song openers I have heard in some years.

“Lucifer Shrine” is a great song title and continues the catchiness from the previous tune. There is a grandiosity to this song, calling to mind Ghost, who are a pretty big influence on Mausoleum Gate, but think older Ghost, the first three albums. Picture the way the chorus would hit, catchy riffs, and then the keys hit with the vocals. When Ghost does this live, the lights light up in a big spectacle. That’s what we have going on here, and it’s terrific. Around the four-minute mark, get ready for the keyboard solo. It’s awesome. That’s where The Doors’ influence comes in, since this act has the keys mimicking an organ. The chorus is catchy, and this song is just amazing.

The album is six songs in like 38 minutes. It’s how all their albums are, with not a lot of songs, but they pack in the punch. “Witches Circle” is eight minutes and closes the album out. This ending song has a doomy opening, which is very catchy, and then it becomes softer. The isolated vocals are depressive as he sings the song title a few times, along with the other lyrics. The tone is catchy during this softer moment, which lasts several minutes. As the music gets louder, we are greeted with an instrumental reprise that takes us to the end. The instrumentation is super catchy and has a lounge music vibe, as the vocals return, in more of a whispered fashion, and the song trails off.

Mausoleum Gate is an incredible band, and Space, Rituals and Magick, in many ways, for me, is a magical heavy metal album. The album has the hooks, catchiness, production value,s and everything you want in a heavy metal album. All their album covers have similar designs and colors, and have a psychedelic vibe. This band rocks!!!

At 31 minutes, Indomitable does not fuck about, so neither will I with this review. The formula remains the same as prior efforts and is equally effective. The sound is still reminiscent of bands like Angelcorpse, Forest of Impaled, the UK’s Spearhead, with some beefier, mid-era Behemoth, and Hate thrown in. That’s to say, burly, blistering, militant black/death metal that delivers plenty of blood-rousing riffs and blood-pumping, stomping marches from start to finish.

No intros, no outros, no atmospherics, no keyboards (those are reserved for the band members’ other project, Withering Soul). Just face fucking savagery from start to finish.

From the immediate throttling of the opener ” Tempest of Purifying Fire” to the closing title track, the 31 minutes blaze by with ample heft and brimstone, all armed with Mike Koniglio’s perfectly vicious roar

Standouts are hard to pick, as all 8 songs deliver the goods (though nothing still matches “With Fire and a Thousand Flashing Blades” from part II), but certainly, I did keep coming back to “Oath of Supremacy” with its lurching mid section, and utterly icious “Flesh for the Warfather”, a more blistering, blacker track.

Another winner for Blood of the Wolf, who are clearly now a consistent standout on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions as well as the Midwest metal scene.

The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy is their 4^th full-length after a slew of demos from 2019-2020, and the release of their first full-length Ecliptical Romanticism in 2020. I’m not going into this completely blind since I saw them live prior to getting the promo. Still, I’ve become an Insta-fan (just add blood), and I love The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy.

“The Fires of Seduction” serves as the introduction before the trippy as fuck “Forest of Hallucinations”. It’s unrelenting delivery hits from the get-go with some Dissection feels circa The Somberlain. It’s not a short song either, clocking in at 9:12. But it doesn’t feel like forever because Lamp of Murmuur keep shit interesting throughout, not just this track, the whole album is full of surprises.

“Hategate (The Dream-Master’s Realm)” is a blistering 2^nd wave Black Metal attack. A bit Watain-ish and that’s al-fucking-right with me. Lamp of Murmuur fuck with tempos from deathly gloom to howling at the blackened moon. These riffs are cold as graveyard dirt, cold and heavy.

“Reincarnation of a Witch” pulses with the heartbeat of the night. This is a crushing and straightforward blasterpiece. No frills Black Metal, and that’s really what we’re talking about here. There’s this cool Diabolical Masquerade centerpiece with swirling guitars and keyboards, and then boom, those remorseless riffs come pounding back over the thrashing drums. It segues into “Angelic Vortex”, a quiet respite from the unholy beating you just received… but it’s not over yet.

I love mid-paced Black Metal as much as the next guy, and “The Dreaming Prince in Ectasy Part I – Moondance” delivers that right off the bat, but then it speeds up before the main riff comes rushing back in and they go full on Fields of the Nephilim for the solo bit, but then at the 5:42 point it mellows for like, one minute and it’s back to the blasts till tracks end.

“The Dreaming Prince In Ectasy Part II – Twilight Orgasm” begins in truly epic fashion, big assed riffs against the backdrop of haunting keyboards. It sits like a coiled serpent from 2:43-3:21 when it comes on with this swaggering, mid-paced burner, it’s one of my favorite tracks on The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy. “The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy Part III – The Fall” is the end of that little trilogy, I guess that’s what you’d call it. It’s unrelenting, like being stabbed to death by a million tiny knives as the staccato riffing and artillery shell drums take over. At the 4:49 point, there’s some massive gang vocals and some killer blasting.

“A Brute Angel’s Sorrow” sees them slow down considerably; it’s another Dark Wave track with some gorgeous tapestries hung in the keyboard’s notes. This is such a somber pace, and it closes the album beautifully.

As I said earlier, seeing Lamp of Murmuur live made me an insta-fan. The energy that they have on stage translates to the album perfectly and makes for an attention-grabber from start to finish. The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy is a fucking powerhouse Black Metal album. It has a massive production that makes everything crisp and concise.

At the end of the day, I wholeheartedly recommend this album. If you like Watain, Dissection, and the 2^nd wave of Black Metal, you’ll eat this one up. Getting it will increase your blood flow and get your heart racing.

All of their releases have been on Matt Calvert’s awesome Dark Descent Records. Gateway is the band’s fourth studio album, and we get seven songs in 35 minutes. Sometimes the dark cavernous sorta death metal Phobocosm plays, is best served with an album of this length.

“Deathless” starts things off with some guitars in the distance. The thunderous drums slowly build up, and this beginning has me thinking of some Finnish death metal bands such as Desolate Shrine. Dark and heavy, as well as dissonant. The instrumental portion of this opening goes on for over two minutes, until the 2.30 moment comes in. E.B.’s vocals are incredible and he’s always had a killer voice and for reference thing of Craig Pillard – Disma/Incantation. Super deep, throaty, yet enunciated brilliantly. This tune plods along in a doomy fashion, so damn heavy and it just pounds and pounds the listener into dust. R.M. and S.D. have some heavy AF guitar tones happening here, folks. A well-executed opening song.

J.S.G. showcases his faster drum skills on the next song – “Unbound”. It starts faster than it gets back into a mid-paced heavy groove, before the double pounding speed returns so you can headbang your head off those pathetic shoulders of yours. This song moves, and grooves, and the vocals are just fantastic. Truly evil, heavy, and some of the best death metal vocals on any 2025 release! It’s important to point out that the guitar riffs are actually discernible. They do not sound muddy, however they do bite much deeper, when the slower sections erupt or when the mid-paced moments are used. Much of what the band has going on here could be considered doom death metal to a degree, you can say.

Not everything is peaches and cream, though. There are 3 instrumentals woven within the release. They are cool, but that amounts to only 4 songs with vocals. I would have rather had maybe only one instrumental. 3 interlude instrumentals, on a 7 song album, is a bit much.

“Beyond the Threshold of Flesh” is over eight minutes and starts things off fast and the tempo shifts go from fast to then slower and back and forth. This is a pretty awesome beginning, which stays that way for the better part of the first two minutes. The song then slogs into this slow dense quicksand inspired doom. It takes hold of you and pulls you under; that is how densely heavy this moment is. The song then speeds up some more and all these moments are pretty much how the rest of the song is structured. Excellent song, and the vocals are terrific.

Gateway is a damn fine album from Phobocosm. My favorite from the band is still their second album, Bringer of Drought, from 2016. The band has remained consistent with their sound, although maybe a tad more doom death metal is on this latest album. While the band definitely has a penchant for playing a style from the late 80’s/early 90’s, make no mistake Phobocosm sounds fresh and brutal. Heavy and dark death metal – get this now!

Add the third album from the Netherlands’ one-man (J.M.K.P) act, The Gloomy Radiance of the Sun. This Dutch act is new to me, but I’m intrigued by their more chaotic, yet still old school take on Symphonic Black metal that culls a little from Obtained Enslavement and early Emperor, but also from slightly more out there, chaotic, discordant bands in the genre like Ebonylake, Caedeous, or Order of Riven Cathedrals.

Now, admittedly, the album’s 35-ish minute run time is essentially the same feral, but spacy, cosmic pace and gait from start to finish, and the drums are programmed. But there is something about the keyboards that comes across like the titular character from The Phantom of the Opera playing two church organs at once while on bath salts that is clicking with me, even if they are also mostly the same gait and pace throughout.

From opener “Where Serpents Slither Through Endless Night” to closer “To Surrender to the Eternal”, the album just goes pretty full throttle. And while none of the tracks really jump out or change the momentum, and also many of the tracks end suddenly like J., M.K.P. couldn’t figure out where to take the song, it all sort of somehow hits too. Especially on headphones, where the synths sort of overwhelm you.

But still, I did enjoy late album tracks like “The Fallen Light”, “Ruins of a Thousand Sunless Aeons” (which adds some dramatic choirs), and “To Surrender to the Eternal”, as they do inject just a smidgeon of pacing amid the cacophony, that make this a rather unique entry into the years standout releases in the genre.

So how do I describe Orm? Well, it’s sort of a mix of the sprawling mid-era Enslaved style, before they went full on progressive, mixed with more modern ‘post’ or ‘Cascadian’ style black metal like Deafheaven, Downfall of Gaia, WITTR, Saor, A Flock Named Murder, and more recently Terzij de Horde. And I admit, I’m rather enjoying it, at times blissfully so.

Listen, I’ll get right to it. There are some absolutely fucking stunning, gorgeous riffs on Guld. I mean, really breathtaking stuff- for example, the 3:30 mark of opener “Af Magt”, about 2 minutes into the second track “Undfangen”, or 2:30 ish into the third track “Rigdom”, the start and back half of the album’s most atmospheric, rangy cut,  “Undskammet”, and halfway point of “Martet”.

But that said, there are some lulls and pretty standard black metal in between, and since the band cut back on some of the lusher, rangy atmospherics and builds, they stand out more. But it’s still crisp, sharp, atmospheric black metal, that’s still solid. But I wish they delivered just a few more of the outstanding, and I mean out-fucking-standing moments mentioned above. Case and point, the closer “Martet” is 9 minutes long and literally does nothing of note until 4 minutes in.

There are still long songs, with 13 minutes being the longest, so it’s less of a slog than Inlet+Altet‘s 90-minute journey and 25-minute songs. So it’s a more direct album, and at times a magnificent album that is, unfortunately, possibly the band’s swansong. But certainly at times, a real high note to go out on.

Just like Dan, both are in a ton of bands. Unsure if the band is going to be a touring act, but if you have been itching for some viking metal, Garde will wet your whistle. Viking metal has never been my go-to to and I am certainly not well-versed in this sub-genre of metal. The gods, Bathory, started to develop the Viking metal sound on their scorching 1988 album, Blood Fire Death. They realized this sound on their 1990 Hammerheart album. Both of their Nordland albums were not only phenomenal but truly captured the spirit of Viking metal. One could say Bathory were not only the originators, alongside Venom, of developing the black metal sound, but Bathory were also the purveyors of viking metal. Once Hammerheart hit, the genre started to open up.

If you are unsure of what Viking metal sounds like, here are some descriptions. It can be grandiose with chorus moments, there will be epic build-ups with sometimes the layering of vocals for the oooooohhhhh, aaaaaaahhhhhh chorus parts, the music is going to be mid-paced and thumping heaviness with how the drums/drum machines are played/programmed, and most of all, you need memorable riffs and the speed is repetitive. At times, Viking metal will be part of the black metal genre as well. That’s pretty much it…ohhh, and songs will be fairly long. This debut album is 5 songs in 37 minutes, so that will clue you into what you’re about to embark on.

“A Gathering of Blood” opens things up with acoustic guitars, atmosphere with synths. After a minute of this opening instrumentation piece, the guitars come in, with the drums then get right into the mid-paced, Bathory-inspired viking metal speed. Dan’s vocals are pure Quorthon worship during the Bathory Viking metal releases. There is a scream, early on, that Dan cracks all over the place. I am unsure if this was deliberate to mimic some of Quorthon’s screams, where he cracked, or if Dan is really cracking. Regardless, this moment, rather than capturing Quorthon’s uniqueness, sounds pretty cringy to these ears. The music stays in this neutral pace with all the Viking metal bombastic moments, one would come to expect, as I stated above. Decent opener, but with some shoddy sub-par Quorthon-styled vocals.

“The Cross of Donar” jumps right out of the starting gates with the smashing drums and really good guitar riffing. The vocal oohhhs and ahhhs are present where Dan takes on a more somber vocal tone, which is what I imagine his regular vocals for Solstice (UK) will be. Very European doom metal oriented, and these are when his vocals shine. Hearing these vocals makes me chomp at the bit even more for the upcoming Solstice (UK) release. Doomy, depressive, and memorable. Yes, this song is repetitive, but it works and showcases Dan’s vocal talents, and he can hit those doomy highs excellently when using his natural vocal tone.

“Fallen Heroes” is over 9 minutes and closes the album out, being the longest song. Acoustic elements with Dan’s vocals. Somber, depressive, yet still grandiose, with this style of music. The metal hits about 2 minutes in, and you’re transported to this album cover. The Viking ships, ready to land and pillage, some faraway area, while swilling pints of Mead. The song has a little bit more of an upbeat tempo element, with some cool piped-in vocals, and you feel a battle about to take place. Not as speedy as the previous song, “Berserkgangr”, which incorporates some swifter galloping moments. This ending song is a lot of fun, but still fairly repetitive, as much as it is chest-thumping and anthemic.

Harbinger of Revenge and War is a decent and fun debut album from Garde. Viking metal fans, in search of more tempo changes, may be a tad disappointed. These songs are all mid-paced with some slower moments. The splashes of galloping moments are there, but not enough for me. I think the band has the foundation on this debut album, but some improvements in the tempos and having the songs a bit more individualized would help in the memorable factor.

For those unfamiliar, the band began as a more metalcore/progressive metal instrumental act before adding vocals and evolving into a melodic death metal project with very clear ties to the likes of Arsis and, in our opinion, the 00s metalcore act The Human Abstract. And all of those influences are still in play for the all-important follow-up album, maybe even more so.

The shredding, neoclassical backbone is still incredibly present, and very well done as two new guitarists (Steve Bacakos and Mike Hisson) from the debut. appear to have upped the shreddage even more from the debut. Add in some very strong songwriting, especially in the album’s second half, and even a couple of flamenco-inspired and orchestral flourishes (“Procession”, “Gallows Hymn”), and the recipe is here for a killer album avoiding the sophomore slump.

Admittedly, the album takes a few tracks to warm up and really grab me, but when it does, around “Wage of Exile”, where the sweep arpeggios are hot and heavy reminding me (as they did on thier debut) heavily of tracks like“Mea Culpa” and “Vela, Together We Await the Storms” from The Human Abstract‘s Nocturne album, t really locks in. The same can be said of “The Racking”, the moodier, groovier “Crown Crusher”, and “Citadel”, which closes this fine sophomore album on a surprisingly uplifting note.

“Battle Beast and Noora Louhimo Part Ways After 13 Years

Consume Violent Atrocities is the band’s only release and rarely lets up on the gas pedal. When I listen to this form of music, I never want it to let up, and the band actually writes some catchy riffs, as bludgeoning as they are.

“Killing Instinct” opens with sounds of cutting flesh before the monster blast beat comes in with a filthy guttural growl, so putrid. The Midwest brutal death metal is all over this sucker – hey, Decaying Human- 1999 called and wants you to give them credit! The snare drum has a nice pop and expect triggered drums. The double bass sound has that Origin-typewriter mix, so be prepared. It’s fast and furious. This song goes from blast beat to mid-pace, back to blasting, and this is ferocious. This is how a brutal death metal album should open.

“Endless Torture” continues the trend, as pinch harmonics, which end the previous song, erupt outta the starting gates with this bad boy, immediately. Nice mid-paced double bass, then double pounding snare to snap your dreadful head right off your shoulders. Some well-placed isolated guitar riffs, then right into the blasting, equipped with pinch harmonics. The one-minute marker provides a breather as the song slows, then gets right into more blasting. This song is heavy AF.

By the way, the CD is well designed with brutal art, and yes, there are lyrics in the panels. This could be a fun game for you and your friends. Try deciphering the lyrics to the vocals. Whoever guesses the least amount has to chug some shots. The outcome will be that you all pass the F because none of you will pick out the lyrics being growled. 0.0 correct.

The lyrics showcase the brutal nature of the songs, which coincide well with the music. But fugghetaboutit, if you think you’re going to pick out any verb, syllable, or adjective. That’s fine by me with this type of music. The vocals are just another instrument, in this respect, and Bayu Setiawan does brutal death metal vocals well. I’ll give a shout-out to the rest of the band, who have all remained intact. Eko Wahyudi – bass, Faizin – guitars, and Mohammad Roby provide the maniacal drumming.

“Residual Blood Residue” ends this sucker as it creates atomic explosions from the opening blast. So be careful out there – wear your Hazmat suits, if need be. Monster gutturals and the song slows briefly, and the heavy guitar riffing is sharp, on point, and like a razor slicing cleanly through glass. There are some monster double bass mid-paced moments where a circle pit would fit in nicely. The song slows even further, and the guitar riff is terrific. Like all the other tunes, this one is brief, at under 3 minutes, and ends brutally and on a dime.

Consume Violent Atrocities is one helluva debut album. It’s brief, over-the-top brutality and the perfect music to listen to at the gym, too. The production is crisp, and everything is heard clearly. Decaying Human has it going on, truly they do. Go in knowing the band is not recreating the brutal wheel; however, they are effective in their approach to body slam you again and again and again and again with their music. Head on over to Ossuary Industries and, along with the CD, pick yourself up a 2-sided full color shirt of this album. Support the scene and support the underground. Killer new band!!

Well, I got super excited this last time because guess what I got? The promo from the Czechian legends, Master’s Hammer, entitled Maldorör Disco… YEAH, BOY!

I’m about to admit that I thought they had broken up… I was wrong as I could be, though. They are still active. Fascinator was their last release back in 2018, and fuck me running; where was I when all that was being released? Doesn’t matter, I am now about to tell you my opinion on Maldorör Disco and then go listen to the stuff I’ve missed.

There are going to be people complaining that this isn’t a Black Metal album from the get-go. The same was said for Samael when they started going Techno on the fantastic Passages album, and then they perfected the sound on Eternal (especially the hard-hitting “I”).

But I’m reviewing Master’s Hammer and the ‘is it/isn’t it, Black Metal’? Maldorör Disco and I can’t help loving the fuck out of it. My first exposure to these crazy Prague natives was Jilemnický okultista (1992), the follow-up to Ritual (1991). Yeah, it’s been a minute, but fortunately, the internet exists, and it’s decidedly easier to find shit than it was in 1992.

“Andel Slizu” is the banging first track, it’s phenomenal European Techno that sounds more like The Electric Hellfire Club and their offshoot My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. It’s bright and energetic, but there’s a darkness emanating from the center that screams Black Metal. It’s so much fun, and maybe I shouldn’t be saying that about a Black Metal album, but fuck it.

“Genesis P. Oridge” is a tribute to the former Current 93 member, who is a legend in their own right and it’s another banger. I can almost guarantee that if a DJ took this album to a club and played it that people would go ape shit over it. There’s Metal riffing, pounding drums that merge Black Metal and Techno on the fly, and it is fucking great.

The dismal fun continues with “Take It or Leave It” and since they don’t sing in English, I don’t have any idea what they are saying. But this song kind of sets the tone for the next few tracks, and it is more of a shift to Wumpscut and KMFDM. “Maldoror Disco”, “Bochnatky” and “Beast Within” pulse with the brutal heartbeat of Black Metal, all while pounding out some killer Dark Wave in the process.

“Bicycle Day” is my favorite name for a track on a Black Metal album… ever. This one is a bit brighter, like someone gave it a flower, the flower died, and that’s where this song lives, depressed as fuck but wearing a smile, of course, it’s a banger, as well. But they all are, and that’s the magic carpet ride that Master’s Hammer takes us on for Maldorör Disco, and it’s 41:51 runtime.

Final three tracks “Doppelganger” with its feeling of coiled menace, “El Teide” that bangs along with reckless abandon, and finally “Slatina”, the trippy as fuck finale. Not only is there that prevailing wind of in-your-face Hardcore Techno laced with some killer riffing, and this a background melody that echoes Korpiklaani at times.

I love Maldorö Disco. You might not, which is fine. If you like Master’s Hammer, you should know by now to expect weird, challenging music. This is a mind-bending trip, and if you like those bands that I mentioned earlier, then you will feel the way I do. So go get this, drop some acid, and let the music take you.

Heteropsy is the side project of Japan’s Frostvore, who released one of the better Swedish/HM2 death metal homages in 2020s, Drowned In Blood. They have released 4 EPs and a split since 2020, but Embalming is their debut album. and is my first exposure to them.

But whereas Frostvore is firmly rooted in the classic Dismember/ Emtombed sound of yore, Heteropsy, while still having a fucking disgusting HM2 buzz, is much more of a lumbering, crawling doom death act, as if classic Hooded Menace or country mates Coffins had much more of a Swedish death metal backbone.

And while there are a few Swe-death gallops and blasts here and there (i.e., parts of  “Pandemonium Alter”, “The Sodomizer”), the focus is on huge, filthy lopes and huge filthy vocals. Just listen to the opening lopes of “Pandemonium Alter” and “Asphyxia”, or the somber strains of doom that start “Memento Mori” and “Methodone”.

10 minute closer “Old Friends”, is an absolute monster of a track with a little of everything in the doom/death realm to satisfy fans of the genre as well as a more sickly form of Swedish death metal.

“Transference” opens the album as a brief instrumental, and honestly, this slam instrumental is all about the groove, but there are some blasting and awesome pinch harmonics. Because of the Holy Shit moment right from the beginning, with the isolated guitar riff, they need to open their live shows with this. The groove erupting after the riff is so catchy and memorable. Thankfully, it repeats a few more times during the tune. This is the perfect primer for the crowd.

“Enslavement for the Obedient, Agony for the Wayward” is right after, and Scott’s vocals are as putrid and filthy as ever. At least we can hear a bunch of words as he does enunciate well. The guitar tone is excellent, and the massive pinch harmonics bring this sucker right into 1995 east coast NY/NJ east coast territory brutal slam death metal. One of the many things I enjoy about Dysentery is the catchy song structures and slams. There are so many bands playing slam, now, whether it’s deathcore or brutal slam death metal bands, from across the globe. However, while I love many of the bands, not many can write catchy slam after catchy slam. The riffs on this album are the driving force that will get your blood pumping.

“Exhausted Bliss of Self Loathing” is an awesome song title. The music backs it up with the gutturals, massive blasting, and pinch harmonics right out of the starting gates. If you are not two-stepping at the 50-second timestamp slam, then I will make you write “I am parking the car at Harvard Yard” 550 times. This slam is a monster. It gets into deadlier territory at the 2.11 mark, as it slightly slows down with a gruff growl from Scott. The song trails off like this, and this is another new song in need of being played live. The slams, on this song, will have the pits causing sinkholes all over.

“Ascend This Harrowing Dream”, ends the album and is the longest song at a lengthy 4.24. All joking aside, after the brutal blasts, the song gets right into a beefy slam, with terrific gutturals and growls. There is a nice mid-paced headbanging sesh, after the groove, then back into the killer groove, then getting slower with vomitrocious deep vocals. This is another example of an excellent new song, screaming to be played live. The beatdown moments continue with pinch harmonics, slower slams, deep vocals, and then trailing off. The end of a most excellent album.

The only thing, negligible, you would say, is the album cover. It’s kind of tough to make out with the colors and the band logo, also in the same colors as the album art. Maybe it’s a Monet-inspired death metal album cover? Honestly, I don’t know what the hell is going on with the album cover. Now the music and songs on Dejection Chrysalis are crushing. Brutal, slams are excellently crafted, and above all else, ultra-catchy. That opening riff, on the album, I hum all the time, and then find myself punching holes in walls. Dysentery – you have been away far too long. This album is a bruiser!!

But 7 years after Phobiate and apparently riddled with a 3 years of recording/production issues, the UK duo is back with their third album, Ónkos (tumor or lump?), and they have leaned even further into the murkier, doomier side of their sound that has been present on prior efforts but fully dialed in here as the 43 minute album is only 2, 20+ minute songs, “Mount Morphine” and “The Ever Aftermath”.

There is still a massive HM2 buzz in the guitar tone, but it mostly sounds like a 45rpm single being played at 33rpm. At times, it’s truly devastating, especially when the band delivers the slower, doomier riffs, which are littered in both tracks as well as standard Swe-death canters, short-lived blasts, and even some subtle keyboards and discordant black-ish metal moments.

But it’s the slower, lumbering moments within the two tracks that get my attention. I mean, the last third of “Mount Morphine” (minus the atmospheric final few moments) is simply crushing, and the middle of “The Ever Aftermath” is the same. That all said, everything else is just ‘there’, the canters, blasts, and atmospherics don’t really stick with me or make the 2 songs particularly impactful or memorable. And there are several minutes of wasted music that’s just ‘atmosphere’, which are fine if they work to make the entire song better, not just to end the song with a couple of minutes of mood.

Ultimately, I came away a bit let down by Ónkos, bored at times, even, especially considering the 7-year wait, and all we got were 2 songs and maybe about 30 minutes of real music. But it does have some moments buried away in there. That said, I’m giving the debut from Japan’s Heteropsy, a lot more attention, and it’s a very similar style and sound.

13 songs in an hour, and the label changed up the song order on the comp. This is a reissue, and there was no remastering done. Everything sounds great, but I will say a remastering would have evenly leveled out the sound, since the songs on the album are lower than the Limb Splitter comp. Demoniacal Genuflection was not your typical brutal slam TXDM-sounding band you would expect. They played more of a 90s era dark death metal style, calling to mind Incantation, Deicide, and even Immolation with some of the dissonance.

Opening with a song from the comp, “False Dawn”, there is a killer crunchy riff, with Immolation-style pinch harmonics. While from NY, Immolation’s pinch harmonics were always different than other NY brutal bands, like Suffocation for example. Regardless, the song gets into a gallop, then back into the mid-paced heaviness, which even calls to mind Rottrevore. The song gets more atmospheric with a guitar solo right outta the James Murphy stylized technical prowness handbook. Deep and powerful vocals and excellent drum rolls, in between these slow and atmospheric moments. This was an interesting song to place first on here, as I would have gone more for the jugular and opened with the “Lay Down on Your Cross”, the next song, another one from the comp. This tune immediately starts with a blast beat, and it’s ferocious AF. The slower atmospheric part erupts, before some doomy elements knock us out. The speed jumps out of the starting gates again, with some dissonance to the guitars – very Immolation inspired.

I’ll skip around a bit, since that is how this comp was put together. There are two covers on here. One is “Baphomet’s Throne” (Samael cover). This sounds evil and a great homage to the original. Even better is the Scattered Remnants cover of “Amidst the Afterbirth”, a song off the 1995 EP Inherent Perversion. One of my favorite EPs ever from one of the best underground death metal bands. The love this song is given, I swear, the beginning of the song, I actually thought it was the original. Jason Hendershaw and Ron Miles, if you have not heard this cover, you will appreciate the respect they gave one of the best songs you fellas wrote. The pinch harmonics are there, the speedy dissonant moments, the bludgeoning heaviness. Killer cover!!

“Ordained in Repugnance” is a great song from the debut album. There are keyboards on the full length, which I failed to mention earlier. They create ambience and at points, the songs come across as a séance. Weird to describe, but once you hear, you will understand. This song is slow, meanders into doom death metal, and plods and plods. This is true organic heaviness. Nothing is overproduced, and this is death metal played in the ‘old-fashioned and pure way. “Hail the Serpents of Eden” is an excellent display of that Incantation/Immolation mix. There’s even some Deicide dual-layered vocals happening. So mixing in these top-tier death metal bands, yes, this is a winner. There are some stop-and-start blasting going on, then abruptly slowing down. This will rattle your brain from here to kingdom come. The title track, from The Ministers of Lamentation album, is another doom death song, which is excruciatingly heavy.

Darker Lamentation is an excellent release, and I am happy Brian, at Ossuary Industries, was able to bring Demoniacal Genuflection to the masses out there. True organic and most of all evil heaviness. My proclivity with comp releases is when there is more of an order to the songs, as related to the releases. I would have put the songs in their original track order from the debut album first. Then the songs, in original track order from the comp, afterwards, especially with the sound discrepancies previously mentioned. Overall, the original album was never actually truly made available years ago, and all 13 songs on this release are my kind of evil death metal. This is a must-have!!