The UK’s Ingested was the latest in a concerning, long, and consistent run of deathcore vocalists being douche-y, with Josh Davies, who replaced original vocalist and co-founder Jason Evans in 2024, being promptly removed from the band after barely 2 years for the allegations of …now stop me if you’ve heard this before….being a shitty human being. I hope I’m not denigrating him with that statement.

Unfortunately, the new album Denigration had been recorded, but the band decided to redo the vocals and replace Davies with new guitarist Andrew Viruetta, and OG guitarist Sean Hynes co-handling the vocal duties for the re-recording. Honestly though – I mean, it’s deathcore vocals; they have all the deep growls bellows and screams that are now required for the genre, and they both do pretty well. I doubt anyone can really tell.

Musically, Ingested seems to have mirrored Whitechapel’s more introspective forays (The Valley, Kin) with the last couple of albums, especially 2022’s Ashes Lie Still. But as with Whitechapel’s last opus, Hymns in Dissonance, Ingested has returned with arguably one of the more brutal and direct albums of their career, imbuing the likes of Level Above Human and Where Only Gods May Tread with simple, bludgeoning, breakdown-heavy deathcore.

The focus on Denigration is massive, almost down-tempo lopes and lurches, and boy, do they deliver. The Nicolo Beninato (Worm Shepherd, Art of Attrition, Hate Within, Immortal Disfigurement) production is absolutely devastating from opener “Dragged Apart” to closer “Cold Sun”.

Every single song here punches you in the fucking face. And while there are blast beats scattered around (i.e., “Beaten Beyond the Veil”, “Dredge The Dark”, “Cold Sun”). But like say, the last Signs of the Swarm album, they are just transitions until the next lumbering, grooving breakdown as heard on the huge opener “Dragged Apart”, “Watch You Fold”, standouts “Stitch by Stitch” and “Steel Toe Truth”, stammering “We Are All Inherently Evil”, and lumbering “Oaths Betrayed”. Don’t get me wrong, the pummeling gait is pretty similar throughout, but it’s oh so satisfying. And there are no ‘personal’ or introspective moments that Evans introduced on the last two albums, which were fine by me. This is just bruising, hateful, shoulder bobbing heft.

As is the norm nowadays, there is a host of guest vocalists from Skyler Conder of Cell, John Gallagher of Dying Fetus, Kyle Medina of Brand of Sacrifice, and PeelingFlesh‘s Damonteal Harris. But picking them out or the bits they do, don’t really jump out or add much to the burly, bludgeoning material.

In a slow year for killer, big-name deathcore, Denigration is going to be one of the top deathcore releases of the year, and kudos to the band for doing the right thing.

Well, with the jump from Unique Leader Records to Metal Blade, I wondered if the band would retain the darker, more intensely moody sound with a shiny new, bigger label, or if they would rein things in.

Other than Tyler Beam occasionally breaking from his menacing below into a semi-shouted/sung vocal style, they have not reined things in.

This is still very dark, moody, lumbering deathcore that, along with the Bound In Fear comparison, or Whitechapel’s more restrained efforts, sometimes comes across like a much heftier, heavier, and slower A Life Once Lost with its lurching, semi-djenty riffs.

First off, the production is just disgusting.  Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland at Atrium Audio (ERRA, Sign of the Swarm, August Burns Red) have rendered a downtuned, monster of an album. According to the promo, some of it was achieved by “a six-string baritone Viper from ESP-LTD tuned to Drop F, the same tuning used on the band’s 2012 Warpath EP. To elevate the intensity, the band also used an Earthquaker Devices Sunn O))) and Keeley Octa Psi drop tune pedal on certain sections”. I’ll let you musician types decode that in your own time….. the rest of you, trust me- it’s HEAVY.

I mean, the likes of “Stiletto”, with its subtle orchestration (which also appears on “1-800 Do You Want to Die), “Stereo”, “Dollar to a Dime”, “Corruption Concerto”, and “XXXXXXXXXX” make the album’s back half utterly devastating. The front end has a couple of bangers too in “Sewer Rat” and creepy “Freak Reflection”.

Admittedly, there’s little variation in the head bobbing, lumbering throes, as the album barely breaks its loping pace for its entirety. And the guest vocal spots from David Simonich of Signs Of The Swarm, on “Make it to Heaven”,  Nate Johnson (ex-Fit For An Autopsy) on “Rat Trap, Alan Grnja of Distant on “Dollar to A Dime”, and “XXXXXXXXXX” which features original TLTSOL vocalist Storm Strope don’t really register or stand out.

Which is why musically, sometimes, I just need something super simple – something that really requires little to no analyzation so I can stare into the middle distance and disassociate for a lil bit, or just bang my head without having to think too much about it. If I can tune out while still passively letting out some of the aggression or frustration built up from just generally being alive in the world? Hell yeah, brother. Sign me up.

Enter the UK’s Cage Fight – and sure, you may be thinking to yourself, “I dunno man, I’m not really sure saying a band requires little thought is actually, like, a compliment?” But I promise you, I mean this with the utmost respect and admiration. Cage Fight is one of those band that, when asked, you can genuinely just categorize them as “Metal,” and you really don’t have to elaborate any further. It’s really all you need to know, and I honestly think that’s a beautiful thing.

If you NEED to break it down, Exuvia has a little dash of everything here to please just about everyone. The first proper track, “Oxygen,” begins life sounding like it was lifted straight out of Arch Enemy‘s Wages of Sin album, with militant, thrashy guitars straight out of the Amott playbook. But instead of playing out like a straight-up mimic, the band blends in some bombastic, catchy-as-all-hell UK Metalcore elements throughout the track ala Bleed from Within or Malevolence to add a little spice to the bag, making for an aggressive, if not pleasingly melodic start that gets the blood pumping in short order. Vocalist Rachel Aspe throws everything she’s got into the mix, with a nice range of raspy, venomous harsh vocals – and a nice balance of airy cleans that come together nicely to deliver an effective and engaging listen. Throw in a good n’ burly breakdown to close out the track, and we’ve got the makings of something super fun here.

And make no mistake, Cage Fight can bring the punishment. “Pig” is a groovy, Metallic Hardcore anthem that bounces along at the kind of pace that easily inspires all sorts of pit antics – from swingy two-stepping, to more punishing crowd killing, to a good ol’ crowd-pleasing pogo. There’s even some appropriate pig squeals! Lending the track a sort of Despised Icon-esque Death/Hardcore vibe that tickles my brain aplenty – a feeling that only gets amplified on the super fun, wholly unserious “Pick Your Fighter,” featuring the squealy talents of Benighted‘s Julien Truchan on guest vocal duty. It’s a quick-hitter that minces no words about it’s intent of dealing out as much punishment in as little amount of time as possible. If you can believe it, “The Hammer Crush” pulls a similar stunt, taking less than three minutes of your time to just be fun, heavy and bouncy, featuring perhaps the album’s most fun and raucous breakdown just to really hammer the point home (see what I did there? Again, I should stress that this is not highbrow shit here. It’s just fun).

There’s also a few tracks where I stop and go “Devildriver… dat you?” only lending further to the stance that Cage Fight is just simply a Metal band (I’d even argue at this point they’re Devildriver-ing better than Devildriver themselves?). “Deathstalker,” title track “Exuvia” and the super fun and excellent “IHYG (I Hate Your Guts)” really fit the bill – a little thrashy, a little groovy, a little metalcore-y (if you squint), but honestly just quality, no frills Metal that satisfies you on a base level. The kinds of tracks that really just tap into your most basic metal needs in the best way. Aspe’s cleans on the title track are great, bringing to mind a little bit of Kittie‘s Morgan Lander (COMPLETE side note, Lander ‘s new gothy darkwave project Winterlvst with Blackguard’s Justine Ethier and Jonathan L Leduc just recently released a fuckin EXCELLENT album called Awkakening that I HIGHLY recommend. Anywayyyyyyy) and adds some really impressive and enjoyable depth to her performance.

I genuinely have nothing bad to say about Exuvia – it’s a super solid release that, honestly, wasn’t really even on my radar, but I’m really glad I had a go! It’s no bullshit, no pretense, just straight in-your-face heat that should put a smile on anyone’s face. Don’t think too hard about it, just give ‘er a rip and enjoy the ride.

No blackened or symphonic elements here, no super demonic vocals, none of those super heavy now required, breakdowns that get slower and heavier. Just classic deathcore. Though there are 2 atmospheric bookends to start and end the devastation. The vocals of Abe Kirkpatrick are mainly in a higher register/pitch, and the breakdowns are classic breakdowns from that era.

As if to hammer home the influence, Emmure’s Frankie Palmeri appears on the true opener after an intro, “Mouthful Of Glass”, and it hits hard with classic deathcore structures. The next proper track is “TheLastThingYouSee”, which opens with a massive breakdown, straight from the All Shall Perish playbook, but its gang chorus has a little Angelmaker as well. So modern non-symphonic deathcore fans should dig this as well.

After the short stab of “Unidentifiable Autopsy”, the last proper track, “Drop Dead Gorgeous” features JP Kaine of Surfaced, (and a classic ‘eeh-yeaoh’ grunt), and is a moodier, more menacing number before the atmospheric closer “For Me… It’s Always Like This”, shows the band’s softer side, but feels tacked on.

A pretty promising EP from a young band I’ll be watching out for, for future releases.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but original vocalist Duane Duarte was let go after some alleged questionable behavior (though they still released Hunger with him on it), leaving guitarist Tre Purdue as the lone remaining member. In comes Ian Smith from The Archaic Epidemic to replace Duarte, Thomas O’Malley from Ingested on guitars, and original drummer Leo Mclain (Psycho-Frame, ex Immortal Disfigurement) comes back in the fold. But most importantly, Purdue went out and got Harry Tadayon to help out with guitars (he helped out on Hunger) and orchestration.

Now, Tadayon has quickly become a hot, Francesco Ferrini-like commodity in the scene, doing orchestration for the likes of Ov Ruin, Synestia, and Heir of Fire. He also has his own bands, Vile Sycophant and Hate Within, as well as served some time in Immortal Disfigurement. Dude does absolutely stunning compositions and orchestration, so I was excited to see what he brought to Worm Shepherd. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Worm Shepherd were one of the genre’s top bands before this new lineup, and as you’d expect, Tadayon and co deliver. The 5 songs to introduce the new lineup, delve a little more into the more controlled atmospheric side of The Sleeping Sun EP from 2023, but also do plenty of the genre’s Lorna Shore-heavy tropes, as they have done since 2020’s In The Wake Ov Sol.

All 5 songs are, of course, heavily, heavily orchestral, with Tadayon in top form, delivering a massive layer of dramatic symphonic and choral bombast to the now well-copied template of massive Lorna Shore breakdowns and blackened blast beats.

From the dramatic opener “The Omen”, through the shorter, moody “Feast”, and waltz-y lurch of “Sanctified Rot” to the EP’s centerpiece, the killer,  7+ minute closer “Whispers of a Buried Land”, this lineup is locked in and delivers top-notch examples of the genre. The album’s endcap will certainly stand as one of the best songs in the genre for the year, even having some Lorna Shore-ish moments of melody and emotion built in, as well as the now requisite, huge breakdown that gets slower and heavier.

That said, with sooooooo many bands doing this style now (and well), I have to be honest, with the genre’s saturation going on for a while, they all are starting to sound a bit too similar, especially ones with Tadayon. Frankly, if a song by Synestia, Vile Sycophant, Ov Ruin, Heir of Fire, or Worm Shepherd (or countless other non-Tadayon bands) came on my playlist, I have to look to see which project/band it is.

It still doesn’t stop me from really enjoying all of it; I’m just curious as to who will be the band that tries something just a little different, rather than follow the Lorna Shore template so rigidly.

She should have stayed, though, because this new album scratches a lot of specific itches. No disrespect, but if you were only “whelmed” by TBDM’s Servitude in 2024, this might cause you to sit up straight and listen. The first track I’ll mention, “1912,” is far from worship with its clean vocals to begin and the background symphonics, but once they end, the song truly gets going with the mix of high and low vocal approaches we’ve all come to expect. Those symphonics continue through most of the song, and there’s even a bass drop around the 3:00 mark. A couple of tasty solos later, and we’re moving along.

Carrion Vael continues to employ the symphonics well, which means restraint, such as on “Black Chariot,” the final song. Their usage gives each chorus a grandiloquent feel but certainly doesn’t take away from the bludgeoning. I won’t lie and tell you their approach has a lot of tricks other bands of the same sub-genre don’t also use, but there’s far more confidence and bombast.

Along these same lines is “40 Echoes Upon the Parlor.” It begins with a breakneck-speed main riff, which transitions into grandiose clean vocals in the chorus. These vocals almost veer into what I’ve called “goblin cleans.” You’ll know what I mean immediately. It’s the best hook on the album with the symphonics in the background and double bass accompaniment.

At this point of the review and perhaps impressions from the cover art, you might be asking yourself, “Well, where’s all the barbarian cock, forehead-slapping heaviness?” It’s in “19(fucking)78.” Oh, but there’s singing here as well, with an epic chorus to open the album. There’s even a spoken word section, so we’re still not lacking in variety. This is a mission statement if I’ve ever heard one, with the blazing fast riffs, kicks, and all the other elements creating a synergy that tells you exactly what you’re about to receive for the next 42 minutes.

I have only two complaints, and they are incredibly minor. One has nothing to do with the music. My first is that even within the variety displayed, it’s the same variety in each song. If that isn’t making sense, it means the band has a lot of great tricks, but they use almost all of them in the same way, song-by-song. Once again, however, those tricks are brilliant, so they are minor.

The final complaint is more of an observation. You guys had to get that barbarian cock on the cover, didn’t you? Considering the accompanying weaponry, an intelligent barbarian would do himself well to keep that particular sword in its sheath. Regardless, Slay Utterly is a certified, stamped, sealed, and delivered banger to start 2026, and will be repeated because of it for the rest of the year.

In 2021, they released their Oblivion EP, and it showcased the band being unafraid to toss in clean vocals, amongst the brutality. All of the brutality, cleans and bludgeoning breakdowns were furthered on their 2023 debut album The Burden ov Faith. A scorching debut album, but look no further, their sophomore effort, Endless, takes things further.

The band just had a pretty killer tour with Ingested and Distant, just to name a few of the bands, and Josh from Ingested and Alan from Distant do some guest spots here, as well as Johnny from Carcosa. What we see on this new album is, of course, the leanings toward the newest and most popular sub-genre of deathcore, and that is blackened symphonic deathcore. I actually like the clean vocals, for the most part, but on a song like “Evermore”, some of those moments come across as way toooo forced.

So while I just skipped around with songs, let’s go to “Dread”, the song with the new Ingested singer, Josh Davies. The opening beatdown slam is earth-shattering, then off to the races with the blasts, then the super clean vocal smatterings. Josh does some great lower register vocals along with the cleans. They actually work quite well. The blackened symphonic moments are all over this song. The beatdown slam at the 3.25 timestamp is how you do slams for 2026 folks. Tremendously heavy and brutal. As brutal as this moment is, it immediately shifts to an atmospheric symphonic moment. Don’t look now, but then some technical death metal guitar soloing takes us all the way until the end of the tune. So much is going on; however, it is cohesive.

Let’s rewind to the opener “Endless//Godless”. A deathcore opening instrumental, which is common for this genre. It’s one long breakdown with putrid, filthy growls, snorts, and pig squeals all over the place. I love it. This is the tune to open their live sets with. It sets the stage and tone. The opening slam has some of that newer Distant style slam djent tone. Suffocating, slow, massive, and will body slam you and your in-laws into oblivion.

“Seed” is next and has quite the epic buildup. Again, this should follow the opening instrumental to be the first two songs played live. The slam speeds up to a death metal pace, no blasting, but heavy AF. Symphonic and atmospheric elements erupt, and soon thereafter, the clean vocals rear their head,  which are most definitely emo, but I do not mind them. I truly love the abrupt vocal tone shifts, and the same goes for the tempo shifts. Excellent song. The moments of the clean vocals and arrangement have metalcore written all over it.

“Bleak” features the Carcosa singer and the symphonic elements, mixed with some of the blackish metal slams, works well. The symphonic elements are really taking things center stage. The slam at the 2.43 moment is vicious, as are some of the breee styled vocals, which will breee you to death! Really fun song.

Endless is the best release by Ov Sulfur. The band has upped their game with respect to the symphonics, blackened deathcore, as well as the slams. The slams hit hard on this album and are better crafted than previous efforts.

As previously stated, the band mixes up the vocal tones and tempo shifts quite a lot. It never becomes too much, and the band knows how to stay with a riff. The production is great, and the album cover is perfect for the evil and depressive atmosphere the band creates. A great way to kick off 2026!!!

I blame my fellow scribes for my newfound love for Deathcore. They all listen to it… a lot… and share songs… a lot. So it’s only natural that it would start rubbing off on me, plus attending recent Deathcore shows by Distant, Ingested, and Carnifex has made me appreciate the sub-genre more.

Dead and Dripping is the lovechild of one Evan Daniele from New Jersey. This is actually his fourth full-length album, following Blackened Cerebral Rifts (I reviewed that album here if you care to read it) and I don’t know what happened between that album and Nefarious Scintillations, but holy fucking shit this is a banger. I mean that sincerely, I like it better than the previous album, and I’m about to talk about it.

Straight away, I need to get the length of the song titles out of the way… they’re still ridiculously long. I reviewed a Black Metal album by Esoctrilihum, and the song titles on that were a full paragraph. It’s still a bit annoying, but it is what it is, and my griping about it isn’t going to change it.

“Nefariously Scintillating Through Vacant Galactic Reservoirs” starts off with some killer riffing and blasting drums, and the first thing I notice is a better production than Blackened Cerebral Rifts had. This shit is crisp as a fucking Dorito, the drums sound great and so do the other instruments, hell even Evan’s vocals got better. There’s pig squeals galore, and while it’s not Gutalax they’re still entertaining as fuck.

Another thing about Nefarious Scintillations is that the songs are slower, not by much; there’s still blasting, but it is reigned in and more precise, not everywhere and nowhere. “Horrifying Glimpses of Inconceivably Demented Cityscapes”, “Pestilent Hints of Darkened Malodorous Vibrations” pummel you with sledgehammer beats and huge pinched harmonies that hang in the air like blood spray. The latter has vocals so deep that they sound like they came from the dude’s bowels, and there’s a killer sparring between the guitars and drums around the 5:15 mark.

“Swollen Torsos Adorned with Pustulating Hexagonal Crania” pulses with a Carcass vibe, sort of Symphonies of Sickness, melded with Last Days of Humanity’s… anything really. This is the longest track on the album, and it uses every second of those nine minutes to have your ears torn off and the holes fucked raw.

Next up is “Sickeningly Vague Anatomical Silhouettes”, and it’s a knuckle dragger of a track with this brain-drilling riff that swirls and feeds back on itself. The drums are all over the place on this one, scattered blasting, mixed with enough rolls and fills to give you sea sickness. “Spontaneous Recollections of Unwitnessable Atrocity” is a more “traditional” Death Metal song. The structure is there to put you in traction.

“Seeping Through Ancient Transdimensional Corridors” has some Morbid Angel feeling guitars, sort of Formulas Fatal to the Flesh skronkiness near the end. Album closer “An Utterly Tenantless World of Aeons-Long Death” shreds its way across a soundscape of dirty riffs scattered above the crashing drums and bass.

I can feel confident in saying that Nefarious Scintillations is a solid Deathcore album. Everything sounds phenomenal, and this is a way better album than Blackened Cerebral Rifts in so many ways. If you like the bands I’ve mentioned, in addition to Pig Destroyer, Putrid Pile, and the mighty Internal Bleeding. Then you should grab this badass motherfucker. Blow your fucking speakers with this one!

Their earlier efforts had more hardcore shouting vocals, mixed with the death metal brutality. I feel it was on their fifth album, Annihilation of Mankind, in 2018, that they really hit their stride. This would also mark the time they debuted their new band logo on an album. The 5-piece has remained intact for these last few albums with: Lukas Swiaczny – Vocals, Martin Grupe – Drums, Lukas Kaminski – Bass, Leonard Willi – Guitars (lead), and Szymon Skiba -Guitars. The band always has super colorful album cover designs, and their style of post-apocalyptic brutality, science fiction etc.. continues on this album.

Survival Protocol is 9 songs in 35 minutes, which is the perfect amount of time for this over-the-top brutality. “Existence Erased” begins with some science fiction sounds before the music gets going. The beginning style sounds like the deathcore band Distant. Crushing groove, with stop and start djent style death metal. The blast beat erupts after, before getting back into that djent death metal style, stop and start groove. Vocals are putrid and filthy. Then we get this break in the music, with flamenco guitars, and I was like, ‘am I now listening to Impureza?’ This moment really caught me off guard, before the bludgeoning heaviness returns. We are treated to a fairly decent technical guitar solo, that slides into an isolated bass guitar section before the pit-inducing groove opens. Hey, some pig squeal vocals and pinch harmonics carry this sucker all the way to the song ending. This is the perfect opener for a live concert, as well as showcasing all the styles the band is bringing together. Deathcore, brutal death metal, djent, technical death metal, and some flamenco style. Stillbirth is a weird, brutal band that combines these styles seamlessly.

“Trapped in Darkness” is a perfect example of brutal technical death metal with a few nods to Decrepit Birth with fast technical riffing. The blasting on this song is tight AF, with some solid drum rolls and double pounding drums that will shatter your chest cavity. The 3.20 timestamp is a slow and melodic moment that adds a pinch harmonic or two, before the mid-paced moment comes in, then blast to end the song. This song has the Stillbirth sound to it, but is very different than the album opener.

“Throne of Bones” is next and is also more varied. Opening up with some Soulfly-inspired tribal drumming with some heavy start and stop slamming, before the blast beat gets things underway. Pinch harmonics are sharply played and are well placed. There is a nice Holy Shit moment with the isolated guitar riff at the 2.35 marker. Then music comes in, with the Soulfly drums, a well-placed growl, and then right into a deathcore beatdown. This may be my favorite section on the album. This part I enjoy repeating several times, especially since those Soulfly drums repeat throughout this section.

The title track is all over the place with technical and progressive madness, with the bass guitar really up in the mix. Sounding like moments Sadus would do on their first three albums. The bass plucking sounds great, and double pounding madness, then blasts, pig squeals and technical guitar riffing. Pinch harmonics rear their heads over the blast beats, then a monster slow down, with pit heaving heaviness, erupts.

Survival Protocol is a most excellent album and showcases the various musical styles from Stillbirth. The band can craft memorable songs, even with all these various styles thrown at us. The production is loud, crisp, and heavy. When certain moments need to be piped in louder, such as bass plucking, guitar solos, or growls, they are there to enhance and never overpower the rest of the mix. Stillbirth are the perfect band to listen to at the gym. Heavy, brutal, and keeps the adrenaline pumping. Excellent album!

If you’re not already familiar, I suggest you do yourself a service and track down, at minimum, the last full-length from 2023, Rejecting Obliteration. Unbeknownst to me, they also have 3 prior albums listed as “deathcore.” While they have certainly branched out from that genre branding, it’s a good way to start describing their sound.

However, they have transcended the deathcore subgenre by taking a progressive death metal turn. As their previous genre has grown stale, it wouldn’t surprise me to see others do the same. Take, for instance, the title track, “The Hardest Thing About Being God is That No One Believes Me.” Believe it or not, the title is mentioned several times. It’s awkward at first, but then it gets stuck in my head. Before that refrain is a bombastic, heavy, yet skronky beginning. Furious drumming, along with a down-tuned riff, brings us to the three-minute mark, which is where the song title is repeated. Once you’ve heard it several times, it may become a moment where one pumps their fist.

If you’re looking for something on the progressive side, “Coalescence” has you covered. This is also a track with many deathcore elements. The down-tuned main riff chugs home that point. Halfway through, it’s still a deathcore tune, but far more focus is placed on the “death” part. Vocalist Stace Fifield’s hardcore shout is mostly the “hardcore” part. With around two minutes remaining, the song brings in a woman vocalist, Hera, to perform clean vocals for the remainder. It may be slightly anti-climactic given this is the end of the album, but not this review.

I’m going to go back to the beginning with “Arrows of Golden Light” for that honor. After a 30-second intro, clean guitars come in, but the background foreshadows where it’s going with the opening growl. The entire track, all eight-plus minutes, feels like a massive build. The blast beats and lead at nearly the halfway point mitigates the chaos only slightly. A deathcore bludgeoning begins with a few minutes left, but it quickly clears with clean guitars and some symphonics/keyboards in the background, which have a subtle presence. Double bass drums then accompany it all until it crashes and ends.

In the beginning, I must admit not being impressed. However, since I held the band’s previous album in such high regard, I continued to give this a shot. It rewards the listener with repetition. I started to remember bits and pieces with each listen until I realized there were parts from nearly every track stuck in my head at certain points throughout my normal days. That’s when my perception changed from it being a good listen to an engaging, enthralling one. Admittedly, it’s not as good as its immediate predecessor, but to do anything other than mark The Hardest Thing About Being God is That No One Believes Me” as a complete triumph would be a travesty.

Yay! I finally used my college degree.

So what is Despised Icon trying to unravel here? Why are they trying to dissociate from the Deathcore genre? A genre they arguably helped propagate, unintentionally or otherwise. Why don’t you lie down on the couch, mon amis, and let’s dig in?

Shadow Work is the iconic (pun fully intended) band’s third album after a brief hiatus from 2009 to 2016, the band’s last two efforts, 2016’s Beast and 2019’s Purgatory, both delivered what you’d expect from these influential canucks- a blistering mix of typically technical Canadian death metal/grindcore, hardcore rooted in breakdowns and squealing blasts.

But there is something different on Shadow Work; an underlying theme of going deeper, psychologically and mentally, and even of death and rebirth. Song titles like “Over My Dead Body”. “Death of an Artist”, (with the lines ‘This is the death of an artist, End of an ego, Out of the limelight, unspoken hero, I am reborn, Ruin and redemption, I am reborn, I am reborn’), and “Im Memoriam”. Despised Icon appears to be in somewhat of a transmorphic, cathartic,  but inward-looking state of mind.

But whatever it is, holy fuck do they still fucking ‘slap’, as the kids would say. And while still certainly inabashedly Despised Icon, musically there are some subtle shifts, as the band appears to be experimenting with slightly more black metal-ish structures. Listen to the 30-second mark of the opening title track (which has a surprisingly melodic lead solo as well), or “The Apparition” and “Death of an Artist”. Yeah, those are tremolo-picked riffs.

And listen, they are not leaning into the blackened symphonic deathcore trend at all (though noted deathcore metalcore keyboard maestro/influencer Misstiq does deliver some keyboards on “In Memoriam”), far from it, this is a more pure, sometimes melodic, 90s second wave style of riffs and even solos that litter the album.

But they still do what they do best with aplomb; fucking hefty grooves with reeeeeee filled dual vocals and shrill blasts and tracks like “Over My Dead Body” (feat. Matt Honeycutt of Kublai Khan TX), “Corpse Pose”,  and the albums beefiest cuts, “Reaper” (feat. Carnifex’s Scott Lewis and Chelsea Grin‘s Tom Barber)  and “Omen Of Misfortune” delivering classic, face punching, DI motifs and moments.

Other moments that caught my ear were the almost Swedish death metal gallop that surfaces in the otherwise Hatebreed-ish “Obsessive Compulsive Disaster”, the aforementioned synths in “In Memoriam”, the blackened punky grind burst of “ContreCoeur”, and the slow lope of “Fallen Ones”, which ends the album with some moody acoustics.

Ultimately, Shadow Work is arguably the best album of the band’s career – certainly the post-reunion ones. And shows a band as sharply-honed yet subtly developmental as I’ve heard recently.

But if you have read my reviews before, you know I am one: A huge fan of the blackened/symphonic deathcore genre, and two: an even bigger fan of Lorna Shore, arguably the alpha leader in said genre. So it goes without saying, this review will not be very objective. You have been warned.

So, after absolutely blowing up with 2021’s EP, ...And I Return to Nothingness, which introduced the world to the yellow lab of deathcore vocalists, Will Ramos, 2022’s Pain Remains virtually broke the internet. Especially after the “Pain Remains pt1: Dancing Like Flames” song and video dropped, showing the genre could have some emotion and make grown men cry (guilty).

So here we are 3 years later, and here is the long-awaited follow-up, the wordily titled I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me, and its super dark cover, a stark contrast to the bright white cover of Pain Remains. And as with Pain Remains, a trio of singles were released, giving the world a taste of about a third of the album before release. And if I’m being honest, those released songs, “Oblivion”, “Unbreakable”, and “Prison Of Flesh”, didn’t truly excite me as they seemed a bit formulaic and reminiscent of many of the songs from Pain Remains and To The Hellfire.

Listen, the knock on Lorna Shore has been the formulaic songs since even Immortal, but bands locking into a core previous sound has never been an issue for me, or many other bands for that matter (i.e, Bolt Thrower, Deicide, Dismember, and countless others). And that trio of singles certainly follows the Lorna Shore formula: a little choral intro, jackhammer blasts, some swelling synths, Ramos snarling and whispering, a crescendo, and then a crumbling breakdown. They are basically the ‘Welcome Back, O Sleeping Dreamer”, “Cursed to Die”, and “Suneater” of this album.

And after those three singles, it appeared Lorna Shore was simply treading in place for the new album. Which, admittedly, I would have been OK with, but there was no “Pt 1: Dancing Like Flames” single to get me truly hyped.

And then the album came out, and I skipped to the first ‘fresh’ unreleased song, “In Darkness”, the third song amid the first released singles. And my lord, I audibly reacted as the massive orchestral intro (up until this point the most epic thing they have done- until another track later on), and then I got goosebumps as the song progressed. It still fits the Lorna Shore formula, but leans more in the “Pain Remains” trilogy of songs, just with some extra ‘epicness’, and brings that hefty, emotional gravitas to the chorus, which is layered with utterly gorgeous choirs and a key change to die for.

After “Unbreakable”, a more anthemic, dare I say, positive ode to fans, we get “Glenwood”. And listen, if you teared up at “Pain Remains pt 1: Dancing Like Flames” due to the loss of a loved one, strap in if you have an estranged father or are a child of divorce, as this one will hit you right in the fucking gut. Again leaning into the more melodic and emotional hues of the “Pain Remains” trilogy, it’s up there with “Pt 1: Dancing Like Flames”, as far as the most heartfelt and personal material the band has penned. And the choirs, key change, and lead solo at the end gave me goosebumps yet again. It also has some very subtle female vocals, which the band scatters throughout the album to amazing effect.

The soaring “Lionheart” is up next and sits somewhere between the more repetitive/familiar nature of Lorna Shore and the more melodic, emotional side, but has a killer chorus, and I’m pretty sure Ramos snarls the iconic William Wallace line from the Braveheart movie.

“Death Can Take Me” is yet another ‘typical’ Lorna Shore song that seems familiar, even with a more ‘swaying’ breakdown and an ending breakdown that might be the album’s most destructive moment. But Andrew O’Connor’s keyboards (which are more ethereal and choir-heavy), as they do throughout the album, seem just a little ‘bigger’, if still a little mired in Josh Schroeder’s production. It’s not up there with say Sin Deliverance or Ov Ruin levels of orchestral bombast, but definitely a little more than Pain Remains at times. “War Machine”, which is my least favorite song on the album, is a straight-up bruiser going all in on sheer velocity and heft, which some older Lorna fans might appreciate.

Penultimate track, “A Nameless Hymn”, a really solid number, that like “Lionheart” blends the band’s more predictable formula with more grandiosity, and a breakdown that matches “Death Can Take Me” in sheer fucking disgustingness.

Then the 10-minute closer “Forevermore” is the song that broke me, as “Pt 2; After All I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear” did on Pain Remains. Dedicated to Will Ramos’s recently deceased brother, Corey, its lengthy orchestral opening is the most epic thing they have done with ethereal female vocals and Hans Zimmer levels of sheer majesty. The riffs are vicious yet melodic and brilliantly emotive, and Adam De Micco has absolutely mastered heartfelt, heartstring-pulling leads. And the violins, cellos, orchestration, and female vocals that grace the songs pre-chrous and close out? Just fucking ridiculous and the best thing the band has done in my opinion. It rivals the “Pain Remains” trilogy of songs, if not supersedes it.

Listen. I love this album. It’s not quite the game-changer and bar setter that Pain Remains was, but it is a worthwhile follow-up and has some of the band’s very best moments on it. Still, certainly, the band could self-edit some of their songs to be a bit shorter. And like Pain Remains, there are some overly repetitive moments, but it’s largely carried by its more emotional, personal songs, which the band now seems to be leaning a little harder into, since “Pt 1: Dancing Like Flames” broke the internet, and the band realized this is their difference maker. Also, I had a sneaking suspicion Ramos might throw in some clean vocals, considering his love of bands like Sleep Token, but he has not fallen into that trap… yet.

Some bands have come really, really close to taking the genre’s throne; Sin Deliverance, Metal Cruelty, Worm Shepherd, Synestia, Ov Ruin, Shadow of Intent, etc. But Lorna Shore has responded and fought them off for now with IFTEFWM. Now all I have to do is wait three more years for this album’s follow-up.

But on 2023’s Amongst the Low and the Empty, along with a jump from Unique Leader to Century Media, came a slight development. While certainly very high caliber deathcore, and still armed with David Simonich, arguably one of the top 5-10 vocalists in the genre, there was a little shift into slightly more djenty, restrained brutality. Not quite Whitechapel’s The Valley or Kin, but certainly a more subtle lean.

And now with album number 6, that development is fully in place as SOTS, while still very much a brutal deathcore band, has separated from peers like say Crown Magnetar and such, and developed a more controlled, lurching, and stuttering take on deathcore that’s still very much deathcore, but a little more……evolved.

Sure, the band still can beat you senseless with blasts and, of course, oodles of disgusting breakdowns, but everything seems more menacingly complex. But rather than the serial killer that simply maims, skins, and kills, SOTS stalks, tortures, and slices with a more civilized semblance of measured, precise savagery.

The opening title track sums this subtle shift perfectly and sets the tone for much of the album. As does more blasting second track “Hell Must Fear Me”, which is a twisty turny number that mixes the band’s blast beats with a stuttering, lethal heft, and both “Natural Selection”,  and “Chariot” might be the band’s most technical, djenty offering yet, actually remind of bands like Born of Osiris or After the Burial. Just heavier.

Simonich gets some help on the album’s back half with Will Ramos (Lorna Shore) helping out for the creepily hefty “Clouded Retinas” and Phil Bozeman (Whitechapel) appears on the blistering “Iron Sacrament”. And speaking of Whitechapel, “Forcing to Forget”  and  “Sarkazein” do actually introduce some cleanish croons /shouts/whispers, and more moodiness akin to The Valley/Kin, and sort of brings the album down a bit.

And in fact as”Fear & Judgement” (featuring 156/Silence), another moody track continuing the album’s late, more commercial (respectively speaking) choopy, stuttering sound, and “Creator” end the album I can’t help feel, while more adventurous and breaking from standard deathcore paradigms, the album isn’t as good as its two predecessors.

But I applaud the band for trying to break away from the genre/scene a bit. And still, the album sounds massive and certainly delivers some serious moments of stammering heft that should still keep fans happy.

The UK’s Existentialist has been around for a couple of years with a self-released album under their belt from 2023, The Heretic (which actually has one of my favorite songs in the genre, “The Abyssal Embrace”). And while some of the marketing (and certainly some of the band’s imagery and costumes) label them as ‘black metal’, that is a bit of a misnomer, as Existentialist falls squarely in the Blackened deathcore genre, though like very similar sounding label and country mates To Obey A Tyrant, they do have much more of a Black Metal lean, especially the symphonic elements.

This introductory EP for the label is 4 songs and 30 minutes, but the last song is a 12-minute orchestral-only number called “Garden of Bones” and while I typically enjoy bands like Assemble the Chariots or Hate Within dropping an orchestral-only version of albums, a single song that takes up almost half an EPs runtime, is a bit wasteful.

That said, the first three songs follow what The Heretic delivered. A far more blackened take on the genre, that, as I mentioned earlier, sounds like To Obey A Tyrant, who I heard first, so I’m not sure which band was ‘first’ to deliver this sound in the UK scene. They could, however, be the same band, with the exception that Existentialist has a slightly weaker drum sound and orchestration, though still both elements are solid.

Still, the three tracks “Death Before Dawn”, “Wretchedness ov Existence”, and the very good, 7+ minute EP centerpiece “Wraithchild” do everything well and fit in this year’s bumper crop of the style pretty solidly, though not as elite as some of their peers, and I give the nod in this bout of UK bands to To Obey a Tyrant (though I think the recent Vile Sycophant EP might be the best of the three).

Luckily, the first released video/song, “Labyrinth of Stone” alleviated those concerns. Not only is the song a tech death banger with an excellent clean chorus, but the video itself has enough ironic self-awareness that it made me giggle the first time. The production is also clean and punchy, so crisis averted. I’m confident these dudes had a blast making it, and it’s one of the best tracks the band has ever released.

The very next track, “The Crystalline Veil,” hits just as hard, though. Making great, memorable tech death songs is difficult. It’s easy to draw some comparisons to Cynic, especially in the vocals. Kyle Schaeffer took over that role on their last album, Empyrean, and the signs of the band finally clicking were eminent. This isn’t to say that the heavy tech death parts are gone because that certainly isn’t the case. The songs, such as this one, just seem more complete.

Do these catchy hooks take away from some of the brutality? Yes, they do. Let’s be fair about it. The production, while excellent, highlights the guitars, but sacrifices heft in many places. “Kaleidoscopic Waves,” one of the earlier tracks, still provides guitar heroics, but Kyle’s silky croons would make Paul Masvidal perk up. Two minutes into the track, Scott and Sam have some excellent solos and harmonies with a chugging riff. That riff is one of those sections where some more heft to the production would be beneficial, but it’s a minor complaint.

Of course, I can’t leave out the title track at the end with its seven-plus minute runtime. Once everything takes off at around a minute, the harsh vocals are on display with some deeper growls. The furious guitars spin everything into a frenzy, and then a solo that reminds me of Within the Ruins takes over. Slightly over the halfway mark, it gets heavier, making the listener think that’s going to be the direction for the rest of the song, but there’s a slowdown into atmospheric territory with a slow-picked riff. That doesn’t last long because it does switch back into more brutal territory. While that section fades out, ethereal vocals take over and end the album.

I never thought I’d be really into a new Fallujah album again, but here we are. I haven’t enjoyed anything they’ve recorded since their first album, but I have listened to all of it. Some were marred by mixing and mastering issues. Some just didn’t have the songs to grab me. Xenotaph is different as there’s not even a middling, lower-quality track among them. In other words, this is a home run and I’m glad they could put it together. If you’re like me and haven’t felt the last few, this is likely to change your mind. I can’t recommend it enough.

Imperium Delirium is the band’s 5th self-released effort, their third after dropping the Halo video game-inspired themes from their first two efforts, Reclaimer and Primordial. 2019s superb Melancholy really put the band on the map outside Halo-themed music, tackling mental health and depression. However, its follow-up Elegy, despite a few killer tracks, was a bit of a step back, following Whitechapel’s The Valley and Kin into more brooding territory, including vocalist Ben Duerr trying his hand at some semi sung parts. And it didn’t quite work for me.

Well, akin to Whitechapel and thier latest fucking blistering return to form, Hymns in Dissonance earlier this year, Shadow of Intent have stormed back with a return to the far more brutal, techincal and symphonic releases that came earlier, and the end result is arguably the best of thier career, and one that will for sure be at or near the top of the genres best albums. Also, Duerr appears to have given up on the clean vocals singing (other than a couple of narrations and more shouted vocals later on in the album).

Much like “Farewell” opener Elegy with an absolute scorcher of a track, “Prepare to Die”, comes out of the gate hard, with epic choirs and synths, and although Fleshgod Apocalypse‘s Francesco Ferinni no longer helps out, guitarist Chris Wiseman certainly learned something, as his orchestral compositions, as many in the style this year are downright epic. And like “Farewell”, it is one of the best tracks the band has penned.

And Imperium Delirium contains several of those, and the band is absolutely locked in. Now, the singles the band released are all fucking great- not a single weak one, such as “Infinity of Horrors”, “Flying the Black Flag”, “Mechanical Chaos”, and “Feeding the Meatgrinder” (with George ‘Corpsegrinder” Fisher helping out). But they smartly saved the album’s best cuts until the album’s release. As well as the opener, the bludgeoning “They Murdered Sleep” and personal favorite “Vehement Draconian Vengeance” are rife with more simply elite orchestration, savage blackened riffs, and breakdowns. It’s truly say ‘wow’ out loud, jaw-dropping stuff.

Then, the sweeping Middle Eastern start of “The Facets of Propaganda” as well as “No Matter the Cost” and the 7 1/2 minute closing title track show the more restrained, moody side of Elegy, but pull it off a little more successfully (i.e., no singing). Especially the sprawling title track with a perfect blend of blistering blackened orchestration, burly breakdowns, and a perfect closeout. It’s the most varied, lengthy, complete, and involved track the band has penned since the likes of “The Tartarus Impalement” from Reclaimer or “The Diadact’s Will” from Primordial..  The only track I don’t see myself revisiting is the 5-minute instrumental “Apocalypse Canvas”, but the band has always dabbled with instrumentals- at least it’s not 10 minutes like “The Dreaded Mystic Abyss” from Melancholy.

That all said, I’d love the band to revisit their sci-fi video game roots. Could you imagine if they tackled something like Gears of War, Destiny or Mass Effect?????

A lot of challengers to the genre’s throne have surfaced this year and last year; Assemble the Chariots, Worm Shepherd, A Wake in Providence, Kneel Before the Death and mainly Ov Ruin and Sin Deliverance (whose Eternal Lament and Universe of Nightmares were my favorite albums in the style respectively, so far), etc, but Shadow of Intent have firmly shown they are one of the top dogs, and if Lorna Shore even misstep a little on thier upcoming effort, Shadow of Intent will supplant them as the true kings of the style.

But some other lesser-known but really good bands have dropped or are dropping albums in 2025; To Obey A Tyrant, When Plagues Collide, Blinded by Hate, and Existentialist have all dropped killer EPs. Hate Within, Kneel Before the Death, Seilkanker, Sunscourge, and Sold Soul have also already released stellar efforts. And we finally have the long-awaited second album from Russia’s Sin Deliverance, arguably my second most anticipated album of the year, and hopefully an album from Australia’s Complexant.

Enter Nashville’s Ov Ruin, who formed in 2022, and have been on my radar since. They have dropped a few fine singles since forming, and recently, 4 tracks from this album over the last few months.  And boy is thier debut a scorcher of an effort that should instantly elevate the band well into that second tier of bands playing the style with the bands mentioned above as we well as Sin Deliverance, Eden Adversary, Bonecarver, Winters Gate, Worm Shepherd, Enemies Everywhere, Dismebodied Tyrant, Dethrone the Corrupted, Assemble the Chariots and such. (The big 4 still remain Lorna, Shadow, Mental Cruelty, and A Wake in Providence IMHO).

And what makes Ov Ruin sooooo good is the orchestral compositions, especially the choirs, rendered here by guitarist Devin Wade and Drummer Jake Thompson with some help from Hate Within‘s Harry Tayadon (which tracks now as Hate Within‘s recent Tomb of the Tormentor is fucking epic too). Seriously, these guys and guys like Hate Within, Winters Gate, Complexant, Sin Deliverance, and Assemble the Chariots are simply composing stunning, cinematically epic pieces to go with the blistering deathcore, which in this case leans heavily into the ‘blackened’ side, akin to Existentialist and To Obey A Tyrant.  And of course, clear, unabashed nods to the big 4 I mentioned – notably Immortal and ..AIRTN era Lorna Shore and the last Mental Cruelty album. And when armed with a Blake Mullens (Disembodied Tyrant) production, it all sounds simply fucking epic.

Right from the get go, with the fucking epic choirs that start “Infernal Flame” to standout closer “Suffer In Silence”, the album is a perfectly timed 38 minutes of genre perfection. Songs that I hadn’t heard before, like the utterly blistering favorite “Distant Memory”, “Cursed” all fit right in with the other killer tracks I had already heard, like “Flesh and Bone”, “Forsaken Soul”, and the stellar title track. The only track I was kind of lukewarm on was “Winter’s Night”, as it’s simply too repetitive and never goes anywhere, even with the dramatic choirs and keys.

As is the norm, there a a few guests that help out from the Brojob chaps, Casey Neeedler (Abbadonia) and Isiah Drisscoll (Befouled Tongue). But let’s be honest, everyone is trying to out-snarl and snort Will Ramos over an ever-slowing breakdown (i.e, “Distant Memory”, “Cursed”, “Eternal Lament”, and “Suffer in Silence”- all have them), so there’s little to differentiate. And I’m good with it, especially with orchestration and music this fucking good.

And finally, on a side note, good for Ov Ruin teaming up with Crestfallen Records (who are building a nice little niche in the genre) for making physical copies, something quite a few bands I mentioned above do not have.

Well, Im right there with you- that era was my mutha-fucking jam. But Maryland’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra has got you boi.

From the “eeee-yough”  and first notes of the opening track “GGO”, goofy samples, and classic 00s song titles like “The Difference Between You and Me Is I Never Got Caught”, “Gage Lanza 2: Return of the Red Hammer” and “I Never Believed in Magic ‘Til My Dog Turned into a Snake”,  the early deathcore influence is hot and heavy and ninja kicks you right in the face, and keeps kicking until the short 30 minute or so affair is over.

Album is self produced, with a final touch and master from Mychal Soto (Peeling Flesh), and it sounds nostalgic as fuck, adding to the retro vibe that’s already hammered home with the galloping, slicing melodic riffs and leads and three pronged guitar work of course, old school breakdowns (and pre-breakdowns!).

Tracks like ” I Can’t Save You” (with Matt McDougal from Boundaries), “Gage Lanza 2: Return of the Red Hammer”, “All I Feel Is Cold” and “Mithrandir” have the throwback vocals, shreddy structures, and gait that will make fans of the style grin from ear to ear. No orchestration, no demonic pig squeals or snarls  (there are some ‘reeeeeee’s though).

And the album never outstays its welcome, being over before you know it, but not before delivering a solid album for those that were front and center for those early Summer Slaughter and Sounds of the Underground tours back in the early and mid 00s.

However, Larcenia Roe‘s sound is much more of a grimier, beat down, and at times even an industrial take on deathcore with lots of samples/programming and more discordant elements than symphonic or orchestral hues. Like Dead/Awake or Black Tongue, but with tetanus.

Unique leader, subsequently signed them and re-released the EP in 2024, and now we have the duo’s full-length debut, which continues the band’s more abrasive, squealing, gnarly take on deathcore.

It’s only 30 minutes or so, but that’s perfect for this sort of self-punishing, loathsome, hateful discordance. Of course, it leans heavily into massive, menacing breakdowns like “Eggy Mess”, “Fleshy Brine”, “Lip Split”, “Cary Aint no Raliegh”, “Creepy Closer “Lullaby (Special)”, and…… well, let’s be honest, all 10 numbers. And the guitar tone is just disgusting, so when listening to the album, you kind of feel like the guy on the album’s cover.

The only sort of outlier is the 5-minute penultimate track “Happy Fingers”, which has some blackened influences and even some melody lines and acoustic bridge about halfway through, which shows these guys are capable of things to then ripping for teeth out with pliers (don’t get me wrong,  it still has disgusting breakdowns and vocals for its second half).

That all said, the show stopper is Ryan Vail (who is now the new vocalist for killer orchestral deathcore project Synestia), who simply sounds inhuman are every turn. I’m not sure what, if any, effects are used, but all of his burps, bleghs, hacks, growls, and screeches are just fucking nasty. He does get a little help on some tracks from Dustin Mitchell of Filth, Lwandile Prusent of Vulvodynia, and Alex Koehler, formerly of Chelsea Grin, but Extraction is his show, and I’m super excited to see what he brings to Synestia.

They really caused a stir with that debut s/t EP and the last song “Grosse Bagarre”, which they made a video for.  This short but sweet song is a cool ass video close to 400,000 views on YouTube now.  That is impressive. Singer Yasmin Liverneaux Belkhodja shows no sign of letting up on her various vocal tones, and this 5-song EP is a brief 14 minutes, but enough to kick your teeth down your gullet.

“Primal” starts things off, and at under two minutes, it packs a punch, far greater than if this song were three minutes long.  With the industrial sounds/news spoken word beginning, that goes right into a blast beat, rather than a slam.  But at the 47-second mark, it’s an excruciatingly slow and heavy slam equipped with some industrial sounds.  This slam reminds me of something off The Acacia Strain’s earlier works, where it’s so slow, yet heavy AF.  Creative opening song.

“Predatory” is up next, and those industrial sounds open the tune and are interwoven into the song.  Yasmin’s gross gutturals, lay waste then BOOM!! Right into a breakdown, then those industrial sounds are churning throughout the song, giving this track a dance vibe feel.  I think that is the intention.  The breakdown at the 1.27 section will have all fist fighting going on and on and on.  Very heavy and the beatdown slam at the 2.15 section is quite killer, and yes, the electronica vibe continues, altering the vocals to make her sound computerized as well.

“Saboteur” starts immediately with a slamtastic brutal groove that gets into some double pounding fast moments, then brings it back to the breakdown.  That Acacia Strain-like slow breakdown gets heavier and is excellent, then right into a blast beat. Yasmin is utilizing her plethora of vocal tones this time, going for the screechy highs, then right back into the gutturals.  She is one of the best extreme female metal vocalists out there, and I would say in terms of sheer brutality, it’s her and Bridget Lynch, of Stabbing, as the most brutal female vocalists, and each of these ladies actually shreds many of their male counterparts.  The tones they both can do is mind-boggling.

The EP ends with the single, which was released ahead of this ep dropping, “Sideration”.  There are plenty of computerized sound effects that then take the song to some atmospheric and almost epic moments.  The vocals are gut-wrenchingly filthy and most of all angry.  The electronica moments are throughout the song, and these effects are used as if they are another instrument.  The breakdown at the end has an epic feel and quality to it, and then the song ends.

Face Yourself is a very creative deathcore band, and Martyr is very creative and well done.  I am curious to see what their fanbase is going to say about this release, given the fact that there is a heavy emphasis on electronica, industrial, and rave dance-like beats.  This could potentially open up doors for the band and create a new deathcore subgenre or this could potentially backfire.  I have heard from at least one listener that they are not pleased with these new additions to the Face Yourself sound.  I enjoy these additions; they make the music a little more interesting, but I will say, during some moments, they are so heavily integrated that they overtake the song a bit.  Overall, still a very good EP.

After delivering their debut in 2021’s The Codex of Flesh, Crown Magnetar has grown into a monster in the scene with 3 EPs and 2023 sophomore crusher, Everything Bleeds. And there is no time for mercy as the 4 songs here continue with what Everything Bleeds built upon. Pure fucking devastation.

There’s no doubt in my mind that these 18 minutes, along with Whitechapel’s new album, will comprise some of 2025’s most brutal music (at least as far as Deathcore). It’s absolutely relentless, largely due to Dan Tucker’s monstrous bellows but also due to the sheer heft delivered on the likes of all four tracks. Notably the last two songs, “Bringer of Dead Light” and “Decapitation Ritual”, with a closeout/breakdown that will bring you to your knees.

It’s not all breakdowns as openers “Barbed Wire Noose” and “Nailed the Fuck Down”  could go toe to toe with the likes of Benighted or Aborted at times, but ultimately, every song leaves a path of destruction in its wakes as Crown Magnetar continues to stomp on the throat of the deathcore genre.

Yep, I’m in.

How these Brits haven’t been on my radar before this EP is a mystery to me. They play my favorite genre of music right now and reside on one of the better independent labels doing said genre. But trust me after hearing Frigore Inferni (“Freezing Hell”), I have checked out the band’s debut EP, Conjuring Damnation,  and full-length debut from 2022, Omnimalevolent.

And while those releases are damn good, Frigore Inferni sees the band take the expected leap and bound in improvement, especially, as with many of their peers, improved and more epic orchestration/symphonic elements, think Mental Cruelty‘s jump from Inferis, to A Hill to Die Upon and then Zwielicht. Or Bonecarver’s Evil to Carnage Funeral.

While the band had plenty of orchestration on Omnimalevolent (courtesy of drummer Bruno Clay), they were not a constant element, but on Frigore Inferni they have made the material much ‘blacker’ and the orchestration reflects it with constant bombast and dramatic keys that at times imbue fellow Brits Cradle of Filth.

Listen, if you are one of the folks who hate any of the above bands’ styles, don’t even bother here. But if you enjoy them, this is a prime example of the style. But whereas Omnimalevolent was a little more about more direct deathcore with some orchestral injections, it takes one listen to the opening salvo of the EPs first track “I, Apollyon”, to hear that the band has taken more of a blacker lean, especially with more dramatic symphonics and choirs and the riffs between the breakdowns, much like Mental Cruelty‘s Zwielicht.

The killer second track, “Obsidian Sol” follows suit with more impressive black metal riffage, orchestration, breakdowns, and uber-demonic vocals (which are the norm now), and the next four songs do it as well, six songs, 30 minutes, not bad for an EP. Notably, the fucking epic title track, and “Prince Ov Death”  and closer, “Winter’s Rite” which both have sneaky good black metal melodies in the riffs that really stand out and show these guys really know what they are doing. They could be a bright star on the scene if they keep it up.

Like excellent releases from Eden Adversary and Enemies Everywhere in 2024, this makes no bones about its Lorna Shore (Immortal era) influence and wears them brazenly on its sleeve and its album art (which is a blue version of Immortal’s cover, complete with sigil and crescent moon in the logo). But as Oscar Wilde said, Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, and Mental Cruelty and Lorna Shore should be flattered to death.

However, with 2019s The Valley, vocalist Phil Bozeman, bared his soul with a concept album of drug and physical abuse growing up in rural Tennessee. And the album reflected this change with a deeply personal, developed sound that showed a much more introspective but cathartic Whitechapel, complete with clean vocals, though still managing to retain their extremity, and the album was widely lauded. Follow up Kin, was again conceptual, (though more supernatural in scope), but even more restrained.

So when the band dropped their first single from Hymns in Dissonance, “A Visceral Retch”, it shook the deathcore fanbase to its core as it was arguably one of the heaviest things the band has ever done. And people wondered were Whitechapel going back to their heavier roots?

The answer is a resounding, teeth rattling, bowel shaking YES.

“A Visceral Retch” isn’t even the heaviest song on Hymns in Dissonance, a concept album about a religious, murderous cult. And it is the heaviest album of their career, and yes, that includes This is Exile. After 5 albums with producers Mark Lewis, guitarist Zach Householder has taken over production duties, and good Christ is this a beefy album. You can actually feel the three guitarists finally (one of my complaints about the band’s since their inception). Also, Bozeman has dropped the clean vocals, and of course delivers a simply feral performance, with his low bellows being some of the best in the genre, that is still being mimicked to death.

Musically, the album is fucking relentless, with “A Visceral Retch” certainly being the measuring stick for the album’s sheer, bludgeoning intensity that blasts and breakdowns with total abandon. Tracks like the opener “Prisoner 666”,  the title track,  “The Abysmal Gospel” (with a devastating opening riff that feels like an HM2 homage that could have come from an Entrails album), “Hate God Ritual” (which will have you chantng, “we hunt, we kill, we feast, we conquer” – something the lady sitting me next to me on a recent flight, didn’t appreciate I’m sure), “Mammoth God”,  and “Nothing Is Coming for Any of Us” match or even top “A Visceral Retch” in sheer brutality. 

But seeing you are reading a Whitechapel review, you are here for the breakdowns aren’t you? Fear not, Whitechapel still deliver utterly devastating grooves and breakdowns in spades. While certainly all the songs will shake your being, the opener “Prisoner 666”, “A Visceral Retch”, “Diabolic Slumber” (which gives “A Visceral Retch” a run for the album’s heaviest track), and monstrously groovy “Bedlam”, all made made me exclaim “OOF that’s heavy” out loud.

And while the album certainly is nowhere near as restrained and introspective as the last two efforts, lead guitarist Ben Savage adds some really nice leads, notably towards the album end with “Mammoth God”, and closer “Nothing Is Coming For Any of  Us”, which comes closest to the last two albums more moody, atmospheric vibe. 

Hymns In Dissonance, like This Is Exile all those years ago, has set the bar for modern deathcore and shows that Whitechapel didn’t go soft after all and returned with the heaviest album of their career.

After hearing the beginning of “Horizon of Spikes,” the opener, you might call me an idiot. While that’s true, stick with me. It’s visceral and straightforward. You may notice hardcore influence in the vocals of Christoffer Kofoed. His delivery is confident, forceful, and intelligible. Maybe the breakdown at the end will bring home my point.

What gives me metalcore vibes is the production. It’s not bad by any means, but I could certainly use more CHONK and heft. Tracks such as “Shackled to a Corpse” aren’t too far from being massive. Luckily, this minor gripe doesn’t take too much away from the overall impact. When there’s a massive breakdown such as the one with twenty seconds left, the song is still worth every single moment.

As far as the rest of the album, 46 minutes go by quickly and smoothly. “SILO,” the second to last track, is furious and unrelenting. At nearly 3 minutes, there’s what briefly sounds like a thrash breakdown, which leads into an instrumental section. Stops and starts coupled with pinch harmonics permeate it. A brief vocal passage momentarily breaks it up, but the last 3 minutes are essentially vocal-free.

Up next, there’s no room for lengthy experimentation on the final track, “Face Splitting Madness.” It’s straight for the throat, just as expected. Around 3 minutes, some deeper vocals come in, there’s a bit of a pause, and one can feel the breakdown coming. It doesn’t. There’s a tease of some atmospherics, then back to the pummeling. The last minute brings some but keeps it simple.

Dear reader, have you ever enjoyed an album to such a great deal that you feel like you’ve had it forever? In this case, I have had the album for over a month, yet it feels longer. Long enough that I forgot I had a review of it to knock out. Since it was released at the end of the year, its presence on lists may not be a foregone conclusion. That’s a shame, because it’s quite an album, and I feel it will be on some of 2024’s “what I missed” rankings.

Their 2022 debut, Dawn of An Eyeless Realm, got the band on my radar, but with this year’s Alien Romulus film being released and reinvigorating my interest in the franchise, they aren’t just on my radar, they are..wait for it…..bursting from my goddamn chest.

The band’s Xeno universe-based (books, comics, and film), mid-paced downtempo slamming brutality is absolutely pummeling, and add the Alien-verse-based lyrics (some obscure, some not) and samples, and it’s a perfect mix, the only thing that would get me harder is a Gladiator-themed symphonic/blackened deathcore band.

Xenotheory is heavy. Fucking heavy. The main focus of the music is more downtempo, controlled slopes and lurches that are more in the Distant, The Last Ten Seconds of Life, Impuritan and Black Tongue realm, though there are blast beats here and there (i.e. “The Fortieth Night”, “Le Dixième Cercle pt 1”). Like the debut, many of the songs also contain some samples (it used some from the 1979 Alien film), though I can’t place many of them (other than “Ozymandias”, influenced by Alien Covenant), the as well as subtle FX, and slight use of synths that whine and hum menacingly like the engines of the Nostromo in the background of many of the songs.

The album’s 11 (literally) monstrous songs are all head-splitting, chest-bursting songs of steady but sheer, lurching menace. From the openers “Resurrection” and “The Chasm” through “Ozymandias”, “Eclipse”, “The Call” (ft. Crown Magnetar‘s Dan Tucker), “Son of Man” (ft. Jason Gerhard from Kanine and Danny Louzon from Hurakan) to the closing two-part duo of “Le Dixième Cercle”, the album is just a goddamn nonstop beatdown of the highest order.

I’m not sure how these guys are not on Lacerated Enemy, Reality Fade, or Unique Leader Records yet, as this is my clear slam record of the year  ( though Peeling Flesh, Infectious Jelking and an Analepsy reissue are in the mix), but I guess… ….In Space, no one can hear you slam.