However, this is a return to form in a way. I hold every Byzantine album in high regard, so it’s not to be taken the wrong way. The band never lost the edge, but I hear some elements I missed from The Fundamental Component back in 2004, which means an adult of legal drinking age was born between that time and now, and I am almost double that. I’ll point to the first example being “Riddance.” The harsh vocals and that rumble transported me to those times when I first started college and had hope. The clean vocals take over in the chorus, which leads to the vocals being placed firmly in the background, then a fantastic solo. The rumbling comes back with over a minute remaining, and it’s over. “Riddance” is good. So, one could say… Nevermind again.

The title track, “Harbingers,” is next, and it continues the early vibes, which I’m sure will be lower in the mix live since OJ said he’s self-conscious regarding his vocals. The sludgy riffs combined with the harsh vocals pave the way for the cleans to be even more impactful. If you haven’t listened to the band before, it should be mentioned the vocals in Byzantine are unique. I love them, but know it’s a point of contention with some who do not enjoy them. As with every track on Harbingers, it seems like it’s only about two minutes because of the urgency displayed, but it clocks in at well over four.

Only a few tracks later is the final track, “Irene.” The intro with its clean guitars lasts about a minute, which is then followed by another dirty riff and clean vocals. It doesn’t get particularly heavy until about three minutes in, but is almost immediately overtaken by some clean guitars, then back into the chorus with its bending, filthy riff. Eventually, there is a tuneful solo beginning with about thirty seconds left, and unfortunately, the album ends.

I know some friends on this writing staff who never paid attention to or liked Byzantine, but I’ve always thought they were missing out. Perhaps it’s because a great friend of mine was working in a studio in (I believe) Point Pleasant, WV when OJ came in after the first video from “… and They Shall Take Up Serpents” was released. Perhaps it’s because of their proximity to where I used to live. Perhaps it’s because the first time I saw them was in 2018, I asked OJ when they were going on, and he said “Midnight,” I scoffed and said I’m too old for that, and he retorted, “I have a gray beard.” It could be any of that, but ultimately, it’s because they’re a great band, they always deliver killer albums, and deserve the recognition. Harbingers is a true album of the year candidate, which means you should listen to it, buy it, and while you’re at it, scoop the rest of their discography, although I’m sure a few of the albums aren’t easy to come by these days.

But I was looking for an early 2025 release to review, and the promotional description of ‘progressive death metal’ caught my eye. so I grabbed the band’s third album, which has been released after a 5 year wait.

This is solid stuff. And while Progressive Death Metal is sort of in the right wheelhouse, this has all sorts of influences going on, noticeably New Jersey’s Cognitive. So there’s some sort of technical death metal/deathcore crossover here. Also, I get some skronky The Red Chord hues as well as some djent-y goodness that reminds me of a heavier, more death metal Periphery and After the Burial or the first Veil of Maya album. There are some very light keyboards, but there are almost no clean vocals. (YAY!) Yeah, a lot is going on here, but it’s all very good.

First, the band-managed production and master here is absolutely stellar; heavy, and crystal clear. This means the angular, lurching polyrhythms hit super hard as heard at the end of “Exiled From the Abyss” or the thunderous lope of “Fragments” (the lone song with clean vocals) and the heaving, stammering title track.

Every song delivers the goods and gets the old shoulders bobbing, notably massive numbers like “Mass Grave Memory” and “Drag Your Crosses”, one of the more death metal-y tracks on the album. And the ‘progressive element is by way of those few keyboards or progressive elements like the start of the 8-minute, more controlled standout closer “Silicone Regime”, there isn’t a ballad or interlude here to drag things own into more commercial territory.

I’m digging this album a lot, and certainly a kick-ass start to 2025, and certainly fans of Cognitive recent album should 100% check this out.

To displace any doubts, An End to Everything is awesome. In these stupid fucking times, I can’t count the times I’ve rooted for an end to everything, but I digress. In the opening and title track’s few minutes, I feel as though it covers a ton of ground. Sure, there is a chugging riff, a smooth chorus, and Chaney’s excellent highs during a short breakdown, but it feels like the track is longer. Somehow, I don’t mean that negatively.

More than anyone else in the scene, Chaney’s vocals seem as if two different people are performing. Perhaps 4, if one listens to “Life in Slow Motion.” Highs, lows, singing, pig squeals? Shit, that breakdown with a little less than a minute in crushes. This isn’t just because of her, either. The rest of the band feels like trekking through a swamp. What I’m saying is it’s heavy.

Unfortunately, before long, the EP is finished. I know it’s a lot to expect for a band to release full-lengths in back-to-back years, but I feel like I just didn’t get enough. The final track, “Return to Me,” encapsulates not only the EP but the band. No clean vocals, but epic guitar melodies, beatdown verses, and a dynamic vocal performance. It’s a bummer that it’s all over too soon.

Look, Entheos is a great band. As my ear is mostly to the underground these days, it feels like they have had a meteoric rise. However, I have no clue what the “kids” think. They have been better and have had more of a commanding stage presence each time I have seen them. I’m all about and thoroughly enjoy women having a larger presence in the metal scene, and I feel like Chaney is an idol in wait for young women everywhere. I highly recommend checking this out, but their discography overall is nearly flawless.

10 songs in 46 minutes “The Truth” erupts in those Sepultura/ Soulfly beats, mentioned above.  Gruff vocals, mixed with melodic spoken word moments, and immediately the catchiness is on high display.  The polyrhythms are exceptional as are the use of bongos, alongside the drum moments.  This mid-paced groove heavy song is scorching.  The atmospheric moments towards the end, are excellent before the song kicks back into that groove heavy beat.

“Not Getting in Line” starts with a fast thrash beat, before slowing into a groove moment, then quick little blast beats, then slow down and back and forth until the thrash beat comes back in.  Some excellent guitar work and the isolated vocal lines at the 1.15 part before the harsher vocals come in with the song title yelled out, is a thing of beauty.  This song has pinch harmonics and a super cool guitar solo, towards the end.  The band has a variety of tempo changes, however they return to the main riffs/vocal lines multiple times during the song and throughout the album making this a very memorable album.

“Walk With Us” has a very old-school Fear Factory sound to it, think the Obsolete album.  Extraordinary catchy vocal tones and choruses run throughout this song, from the gruff to the actual singing and spoken word moments erupting in a 360 degree experience.  The 2.40 moment with the excellent spoken vocal moments, then right into the heavy groove with the multitude of sounds and tribal instrumentation is breathtaking, as it is heavy.

“Home” really brings in the West African influence, and this has a strong Sepultura Roots flair to it.  Heavy groove with beatdown riffs and pinch harmonics.  About halfway through the song, the tribal moments take center stage with the beautiful vocals.  This moment is excellent and of course the band gets back into the heavy moments with all the band chipping in with the vocals.

“Asrafo” is a relentless display of Meshuggah djent style polyrhythms and thrash moments ready to split your head open.  This song is chaotic and never loses its catchiness.  The song even takes pauses to bring in those tribal musical and vocal moments.  Excellent drum work and nods to early Soulfly are highly evident in this song, with a ton of originality to boot.

Dzikkuh is a highly ambitious and forward-thinking metal album from Arka’n Asrafokor.  I am mesmerized by how catchy this album is, as it is brutal and beautiful at the same time.  The variety of vocals, tones, instruments, tribal sounds/beats, and atmospheric moments all gel perfectly together.  This will definitely make my year-end list.  If you are looking for something pretty darn original, heavy and tribal, that is beyond catchy, you must check out Arka’n Asrafokor immediately.  Brilliant album!!

I’ve taken several of those opportunities to listen to Tegmentum’s Evolvement. While not a new band, it’s new in this form with original, founding, and for a time only member Michael Ball recruiting Dawn of Ouroboros vocalist Chelsea Murphy, Fallujah’s Andrew Baird on drums, and Kenji Tsunami of Narcotic Wasteland on bass. Supergroup? Maybe in a sense. Super talented? Absolutely.

One of the shorter tracks starts after a brief intro. While “Moments Ago” is not as expansive as the rest of the album, it does set the stage appropriately for what’s to come. What’s coming is a combination of many different metal styles, sitting somewhere between Humanity’s Last Breath and Fallujah.

“Accolades” is the very next one. It’s nearly 7 minutes and starts with a minute of a jazz-influenced guitar lead, making way for Chelsea’s formidable vocals. If you were expecting prog, you’ll get it, but the leads, the djenty grooves, and vocals all paint a ‘Fallujah if they wrote better songs’ vibe. No disrespect to them because I do like the band, I just don’t seem to “get it” as much as others. There are certainly some deathcore elements in the section about 3 minutes in, but the song is immediately flipped into a clean vocals section.

“Genetic Assimilation,” track 6, starts with a scream that sounds like Chelsea hit her foot on the end of a coffee table. I know that scream. We’ve all been there. Otherwise, around 2 minutes in, there’s a hammering breakdown with an effective “BLEGH.” Shit, I hope I don’t upset that Architects guy who invented those. This track also nears 7 minutes, with an extended guitar solo section. I get it, dawg. I should just give up on the guitar. There’s another breakdown near the end of the track. I think both in this can be described perfectly as “space breakdowns.”

Well, god damn it if the last track isn’t the longest. “Gospel of Sand” is nearly 10 minutes. I’m not sure the last 3 count, though. Only a couple minutes in, there’s a brief clean section (not the vocals, just instruments), which leads into some deathcore moments/riffs. A little bit further, there’s an expectedly excellent solo section. Then, more rumbling deathcore. Some horrifying atmospherics end the track.

I am not meaning this to come off as salty or negative as it may, but this album is what I always thought Fallujah could be, yet they were always weighed down by production… choices. Luckily, I’ve seen them a few times live and they’re better than on record. I’m sure Tegmentum, if it ever happens will be great live as well, but until then, be satisfied with another, and say it with me; sleeper AOTY pick.

-Devin Townsend

I mention this quote because, despite my opinion of them (I do not much like them, kind sir), their influence and impact on modern heavy metal cannot be overstated. This is not to say Entheos has or ever will be rip-offs because that’s simply not the case, but the band’s influence is clear on older material and their new scorcher Time Will Take Us All.

I’ve been a follower of Entheos for a while since seeing them in Pittsburgh in the before times, then on their very next tour when they visited again last year. I was not prepared. Their game stepped up immensely in the live environment and vocalist Chaney Crabb put on one of the best live performances I have seen, only rivaled by Katerina Economou from Escuela Grind. I want to point out the fact that I did not use the pejorative “for a woman” disclaimer because, first of all, that’s bullshit. Secondly, I meant THE BEST. Not “for a woman,” but overall, so dudes, step it the fuck up if you even want to be considered in the same league.

With that being said, this is one of my most anticipated albums of the year, and it wastes no time breaking into a djenty groove on the opener “Absolute Zero.” Live, Chaney was jumping and bouncing around, which is quite difficult not to do. Her growls and highs are the stars here, with both of them being top notch, and some of the best in the business. I might argue her highs ARE the best. Of course, there’s a killer guitar solo around 2 minutes in, and the tech break around 3 minutes reminds you who they are. With around one minute left, there’s a monstrous breakdown, followed by another fantastic solo to end it.

If the first track was any indication of what’s to come, hold firmly onto your butts. The leads and solos of Navene Koperweis are outstanding throughout, as well as the bass from Evan Brewer. Throughout the first few tracks, the grooves come fast and rarely slow. However, on track 4, “Oblivion,” the clean guitars, clean vocals, and of course Evan’s fretless bass give way to a djenty groove about 2 minutes in. The lyrics might make you think this is the title track, but that’s later. While this is quite possibly the slowest track, it’s no less impactful, and includes one of the best solo sections, which just means it’s tied for first with all the others.

The next track, “I Am the Void,” needs to be mentioned. It’s slow at first, but Chaney’s clean vocals trading off with her highs and lows stand out and make it that much heavier. There’s been a lot of talk about her exploring and pushing her range. If you come out of this song a non-believer in that statement, maybe just, like, don’t. This is a definite highlight of the album.

After a couple shorter tracks, “The Sinking Sun,” which is over 7 minutes, comes at you with a solo within the first 30 seconds. The breakdown at around 1:30, is sufficiently teased and perfectly executed. A little over 4 minutes in, there’s a finger tapping lead, which segues into a breakdown where you will hear Chaney’s vicious highs sounding even nastier. Oh, then another solo! A small clean vocal and guitar break ends the track, making way for the closer.

As you probably figured, the closer is also the title track. It’s just over 3 minutes, starts out slow, but then it’s just Chaney’s brutal growls, and overbearing heaviness making your dick hit the dirt. Fuck.

I know I’ve gone a little long here, but I have a lot to say about this album. It’s clear Entheos have pushed themselves and the fruits of their labor show. This is the crowning achievement of their career so far, and an album you should have in your collection. It’s guaranteed to get your head moving, and maybe you’ll even surprise yourself with some fist-pumping white girl dance moves. I’ve listened to a lot of great music this here, mostly reviewed on the site, and Time Will Take Us All is very high on the list.

Their last album The Violent Sleep of Reason was a pretty killer album with a monster of an opening song-“Clockworks”. On Immutable the band returns with another killer opening song, “Broken Cog”, to kick off this 13 song, hour-plus-long album. “Broken Cog” has quite the pounding drum and guitar intro. Listen on your earphones of your choice-the listening experience is rather expansive on this. The ethereal guitars come in then whispered vocals and really the song is sounding nothing like you would expect from Meshuggah, as the song tempers itself until the 3-minute mark, and then it kicks into a polyrhythm cyclone avalanche of a number and hot damn this is heavy. A good opening song, but not up to par as “Clockworks” from their previous album, but “The Abysmal Eye” is next and JFC on a popsicle stick the bludgeoning machine, tank-tread heaviness that is Meshuggah erupts in all its glory. This song is ferocious. Stop and start stylized djent with rolling drums Tomas Haake showing off his skills as a masterful drummer-one of the best in all of extreme metal. This song ripped my head off, after mashing it in a pile of meatballs before throwing me over a cliff. The song is cold in its machine-like heaviness and calls to mind the Chaosphere album.

“Light The Shortening Fuse” is up next with more poly-rhythmic madness, ethereal second guitar coming and then right into a monstrous groove, and vocalist Jens, berating us because we forgot to finish our vegetables on our dinner plate. It’s a really good tune, that slows down a bit and goes all atmospheric towards the end of the song. “Phantoms” is rolling heaviness and I notice some TOOL influence erupting on the main song pattern this track stays in for much of the album. Around the 2.10 minute mark, just sit back and listen to those drum patterns and smile-complicated, yet precise, off-kilter, yet perfect, Meshuggah is the master in this area. The isolated bass guitar moment at the 2.58 part is the Holy Shit part. Christ almighty I started picking up houses and launching them across town. This groove-laden heavy as balls moment is one of the heaviest pieces of rhythm you will hear! “Ligature Marks” is up next and with the string sliding guitar and bass lines, this song has a hoppy be-bop feel to it. I can imagine a wave of bodies floating from left to right in a monster metronome pattern. Excellent groove and some killer drum rolls on this bad boy.

“God He Sees in Mirrors” is up next with a very poly-rhythmic pattern and then a drum pattern and guitar riffing that erupt into monstrous heaviness. I love the stop and start moment with Jens singing briefly isolated and then the bludgeoning music comes in to rip your soul out and take your spine and throttle it from side to side to wake you up. Some of the guitar soloing coming in will remind one of their classic and my favorite Meshuggah album, Destroy Erase Improve. This is one of the best songs on the album.

It’s rare to have 6 songs in a row on an album that are all pretty much monstrous and that is what Meshuggah hits out of the park with a grand slam so well on this…now if you thought this was going to be an ass-kissing review for its entirety you are mistaken. My circle of friends, my friends on the writing site Teeth of the Divine as well as people who have followed me doing reviews for over 10 years now know I fucking hate instrumentals on albums. Now I am ok with an intro here and there and I do rather enjoy deathcore bands opening albums up with a downbeat instrumental, I really do. But when I think of the classic instrumentals my mind always goes to Maiden, Sabbath, Rush and Metallica. These are the masters of metal instrumentals-leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces. Meshuggah not only puts an instrumental on this album, they put 3! count that 3!!! So after track 6, the 7th track “They Move Below” is up and at over 9 minutes [8 minutes too long] is by far the longest song on the album. Starting like a classical piece, it’s drenched in musical atmospherics. Then the song meanders into a drift less, djent stylized heavy number, with more atmospherics. There are pieces of this song that let’s say the band made into a 4-5 minute number and added vocals it would have most definitely worked. I’m not in Meshuggah, I don’t call the shots, so I just sit back and scratch my head on this. There is some cool Godflesh moments on this, but really this instrumental does very little for me.

“Black Cathedral” is another instrumental at 2 minutes, this is just some mindless riffing and noises-pointless…yawn…..and the album ends with a 5+ minute instrumental called “Past Tense”. I would have called this last song “Hey We did 17 minutes of pointless instrumentals on this album”. Additionally, this song ends the album on a whimper, not a bang. It’s soft and soothing, but the album should have ended with the prior song, “Armies of the Preposterous”. The fact Meshuggah used the word Preposterous on an album gets high marks from me. This track is steeped in double bass madness. Monstrously heavy and unforgiving this is another standout track. Truly a brutal number and as I mentioned the double bass drums are beyond preposterously heavy. The other regular songs are all very good with “The Faultless” being another standout and bludgeoning song.

I love Immutable, but it’s far from perfect. 17 minutes of instrumentals on an album is really beating a dead horse into submission. I would have much rather had either one regular song, or just nix those instrumentals because the band already had 10 killer songs for the album. The instrumentals I guess maybe show the band branching off a bit, incorporating some different influences, but for this guy, it sounds like filler. I’d rather have quality over quantity any day of the week. This decision boggles my mind. Outside the mulligan of multiple instrumentals, Immutable is pure Meshuggah-cold, calculating, precise, heavy, complex and if I had to pick a favorite song it would be “The Abysmal Eye”, since the song is relentless and punishing from start to finish. If you’re a long-time Meshuggah fan like myself then you will love this album, but will no doubt scratch your head at the instrumental decisions the band made with this album. Regardless, get Immutable, and crank it up to piss your neighbors off.

If my memory correctly serves, I recall Oni being hyped as in the same vein as Black Crown Initiate. Progressive, djent-style death metal seemed to be the name of the game. When I went back and listened to Ironshore, I realized how much I liked it, and it had fallen off my radar. Will Alone be more of the same, or will we see some progression.

The first selection from the latest offering of Oni, is the title track, “Alone.” I was not expecting clean vocals to start almost immediately. At first, I was wondering if this is the same vocalist from the previous record, which research tells me it is. While Jake Oni is still listed as the vocalist, I found his cleans on the opening track to sound a little like All That Remains. The chorus on “Alone” is fantastic, and it carries the song, as a good hook should. This is an excellent start to the proceedings.

The second song on the album, “Rift” sounds to me like what I expected, based on their previous effort. Track #3, “Dead Inside” follows along this route as well, with a solid trade off between clean vocals and growls. The finger tapping lead through the chorus is a nice touch, and I particularly enjoy the end of the song.

To wrap up this EP, we have “Breathe Again” and “Faceless Portrait.” I enjoyed both of those tracks and they fit in well with the rest of the album. Of course, when it’s been 4 years, one would like to see a full-length album, but if this were grindcore or tech death, 25 minutes could be considered such. Overall, I enjoyed this little taste of where it seems like Oni will be going, look forward to the next full length, and hope I am not Alone in that assessment.

The formula is the same, if safe: tightly wound and produced djenty Meshuggah meets metalcore stomp and lope without Born of Osiris‘s heavy keyboards and experimentation Periphery’s clean injections and shredding, and without The Faceless‘s cocaine addiction (I keed). There is enough staggering heft to keep things heavy and just enough other things to keep it interesting.

Interestingly enough the album’s lead single and opening track “Behold the Crown”, despite its brilliant video, is one of the album safer, less dynamic tracks (and while no foghorn from “Laurentian Ghosts”, there is an air raid siren….). “Exit, Exist” delivers the album’s first neck bobbing breakdown, before “11:26” delivers a more emotive numbers that hearkens back to moments of  Dig Deep (as does “Respire”), and ends with a really nice lead.

The album’s longest the 6 minute “In Flux”, sees the band really embrace the Meshuggah stagger with good effect before the aforementioned “Respire” delves again into more introspective and melodic territory. “Quicksand” slows things down a tad with a controlled lope, even if it seems to end without really peaking. “The Great Repeat” seems like the album’s only real throwaway track before the frenetic “To Challenge Existence” and surprisingly direct thrashing number closer “A Pulse Exchanged” rounds things out.

Another solid if less cathartic entry from a solid band who know their sound and their audience and don’t feel the need to change things up too much. They have lasted the genre’s saturation, rise and fall to deliver a fifth album when many of their peers are broken up or jumping the shark.

And by quirky I don’t mean annoying Arsonists Get all the Girls synth injections or dance beats, but a love of classic movies and jazz mixing with the expected stuttering, jagged grooves and squeals. The 13 songs cover a lot of ground and will certainly be an acquired taste, especially with the vocals which array of screams growls, and plenty of eclectic clean croons. Look no further than chunky opener and first single/video “Eight Milligrams”, and if that isn’t your cup of tea, don’t bother with the rest of the album.

From there, there’s plenty more djenty lope and lurch as hear on “Lawnmower Man”, “Monolith”,  punishing electronics of “The Hateful Half Dozen”, “Slip Along Jack Mctravis” and “Cromulon”, but  things just get more experimental with a full orchestral bridge in “Nefarious Seeds”,  two weird attempts at a sort of djent ballads in “Once Upon a Lie”, and “Timesick,” a couple of instrumentals in “East of Eden” and “Flak”, which without the vocal eccentricities, do allow the talent and music to shine. The weirdest moment has to be “Holler”, a sort of ode to O, Brother where art thou’s haunting Appalachian siren lullaby “Go to Sleep, Little baby”.  But at 13 songs, things test my patience at little bit around “E.V.A”.

The production from  Joshua Wickman (Oceans Ate Alaska, Within the Ruins, King 810) is familiar for the genre, but has lots of heft and chunk amid the more experimental elements like the synths and other oddities making for a modern djent album that has a little difference to it but retains the stammering stying so of the genre.

Seven years ago, I reviewed their debut, The Sea of See-Through Skins, and called out the band’s obvious similarities to Meshuggah, while also praising the injection of melody throughout. Over the years, the band has clearly changed and grown. The songs on Harmonic Confusion are more adventurous overall, lurching and cruising from hard-edged, strutting djent passages to nimble, proggy interludes, and sometimes downshifting to simple but effective sludgy groove. Think Textures as well as Meshuggah. I hear a lot of Mastodon at times too, particularly their psychedelic-Appalachian opus Blood Mountain, in the raucous and squiggly intro to “The Electric Sun” and “Savior Complex.”

However, by and large these songs just don’t hold my interest. Most, like “Fire Red Glass Heart” or “Concentric Waves,” start strong and interesting, with plenty of energy and poly-rhythmic aggression, but then abruptly switch up into something slower and droning just when a good groove was starting to settle in. I’m a big fan of post-metal sludge bands like Iron Thrones, Burst, and Cult of Luna, who use dynamics to grab you by the throat, rattle you senseless, and then soothe you back into submission, but the impatient compositions here leave me feeling restless, and not in a good way. More in the itchy skip-finger way.

The vocals are also more effective when they play it safe – they’re a good, throaty bellow to match the djenty lurch. There’s also a clean vocal that has a more Southern drawl and twang, kinda like Baroness, to match the sludge components of the sound, but those are less successful. They’re fine in the verses, when they need to simmer and drone, but when used in the choruses, they just sound flat and mire the songs down just when they need to be big and cathartic.

Three songs do work really well for me on Harmonic Confusion, though. “Self-Destructive Haze” lurches along with stuttery djent and post-metal with a relatively straightforward structure and pace. It eventually switches up into vocoder-assisted drone, and it comes in at an appropriate place. I also like that the mellow, languid bridge is an echo of the harsher, earlier passages of the song. The other two tracks are “Insertion” and “Chronicity,” two instrumental and mostly post-metal tracks that climb up slowly and effectively as they naturally pull in some more strident sounds and rhythms. They are also the intro and outro though, so that’s not exactly an endorsement.

Still, there are lots of promising elements here, and an obvious drive to do something challenging and interesting. That frown could yet be turned upside-down.