Some parts Pain, some parts Aborym and a Blackened version of Skinny Puppy. This is a mechanized assault on the senses. Like the best Sci-fi horror game you’ve ever played (you know, if you’re into that sort of thing). The way the song titles are done is called Transmissions. I think that’s cool as fuck, and each one has its own identity that makes it an incredibly enjoyable sequence.

“First Transmission” gets the ball rolling with some huge Pain vibes; the vocals are otherworldly and unsettling. I love the autonomous nature of the effects on the display. The guitars are compressed to the point of being squashed under the cyber hellscape.

“Second Transmission” is like hearing the demise of a planet. It implodes, reconstructing itself with the noxious vocals supplied by members 040118180514 and 102119200914. No, I don’t know who is doing what because the male vocal is distorted to the point where it’s nothing but crackles and pops, and it’s countered by the harsh, female vocals that seem to howl from the outer world.

The “Third Transmission” and the “Fourth Transmission” are like bursts of kinetic energy, contained to a small, private place. The “Third Transmission” is a slow, crawling miasmatic space slug, while “Fourth Transmission” is a striding nightmare with some insane vocal antics.

“Fifth Transmission “ goes heavy duty on the Darkwave tip. It goes almost full-blown Hard Techno in the midsection of the song, sounding like a computer locked in its death throes. But it’s “Sixth Transmission” that is my favorite song on First Contact. It has a swirling, Dead Space video game tone to it, like right before the Necromorphs attack and rip you apart. The second half of the song is furious blasting, and I wish the drums were more pronounced; it is what it is, though.

“Seventh Transmission” is more of a classic Black Metal with some grinding electronic elements added for good measure. Endspace plays with tempos like a cat with a dead mouse. Therefore, “Seventh Transmission” has some lunatic vocals that sound like a robot on acid.

“Eighth Transmission” starts with some slow, plodding drums with the haunting keys in the background. It erupts into a supernova of violence with this cool as fuck riff that propels the track forward with galactic menace. This is unlike anything I’ve heard recently, and I fucking love that! Totally original take on the genre, unapologetically fantastical. Finally, the “Ninth Transmission” comes crackling through the speakers. Soaring vocals match the blasting drums hit for hit, and then it shifts tone completely and does some Space Jazz before the relentless blasts kick in. This is such a powerful album that I want to exist in the world it creates.

So yeah, I love First Contact. Endspace has created a Black Metal experience that isn’t afraid to experiment with mind-crushing brutality and subliminal Darkwave with Hardcore Techno sensibilities. If you like Thorns, Skinny Puppy, Suicide Commando and Aborym… you need to get this motherfucker now.

If you are familiar with Switzerland’s Stortregn, then you know they started as a melodic black metal band on albums like Emptiness Fill the Void, but transitioned to a more technical death metal sound on later albums like Finitude.

Well, apparently Negro missed the band’s earlier style, as he has gone back to the more melodic black/death metal stylings of early Stortregn with No Plenitude Without Suffering.

He’s helped out by Merlin Bogado (Dyssebeia) on guitars & bass and Nicolas Muller (Akiavel) on drums to bring his vision to life. It’s a fine album of polished melodic black/death metal with a little nod to the likes of Dissection, Naglfar, etc., and of course Stortregn’s early works, but with a super clean, modern delivery.

There are some really good, enjoyable riffs here and there,  such as early highlights like the start of “Testimony of an Obsolescent World” and “Shining Amidst the Lights”, with its light keyboards.  As well as a mid-album acoustic break with ” Smells Like Dead Autumn Fire”.

“Black Flame Reviver” begins the album’s back end with a brief saxophone intro, before another fine riff kicks in, and a nice solo ends the track. And closer “Peregrination Towards Childhood Memories” sounds like a classic, more somber 90s melodeath number you might hear on a Gates of Ishtar album, rounding things out on a solid high note.

The first song starts with some growls, beatdown deathcore, then right into a terrific blast beat. The above explanation of the various genres the band is influenced by is pretty spot on, especially in the gruff vocal delivery and various deathcore grooves. After the blast, the song settles into a monstrous slam with some definite Phil Bozeman (Whitechapel) inspired vocals. The blast, erupting after the lengthy groove, has some pinch harmonics and is just ferocious. The technical prowess is there in the guitar riffing, then pinch harmonics, which continue with a nice guitar solo, once the song slows down, and the feedback takes us to the end of the song. This is an intense album opener.

The third song begins with a monolithically heavy beatdown, which calls to mind the band Distant. Dense, heavy, and abruptly the song shifts into a barely audible atmosphere. I swear I thought my Bluetooth disconnected, but nope. The song erupts with a monster blast that then hits a groove with pinch harmonics and terrific gutturals. As I usually do with certain reviews, I am giving you a heads up, out of courtesy. When that atmospheric soft spot hits, do not crank up the volume on whatever device you are listening to. Because you will go deaf, once that blast comes out of nowhere. I was like, you rat bastids, you took me off guard. There are some ethereal guitar solos at the end of the song with some excellent drum rolls and fills. This song is a scorcher.

Track 4 starts with this pained groove. Heavy and thumping, before the blast beat comes in. The sound, during the blast, is a bit noisy. To me, it sounds like he’s riding the Hi-hat…it’s a bit chaotic. Unsure what is going on with this speedy part, the mix is not my favorite. The song gets into a crucial groove with polyrhythms. It’s a very busy groove section. It’s well done; however, I am curious to see how the crowd would get into this moment in a live setting.

The last song has tremendous blasting, and then I remember why the band is a bit off-kilter in their blasting approach with the rhythms. They follow a non-linear style, which has Ulcerate all over it. Nowhere near as good as Ulcerate, but nonetheless it is pretty cool. That weird mix with the blasting does return. It’s just not pleasant to these young ears.

Purgatory is a fine album from Phasma. Incorporating all sorts of brutal genres into their sound. It’s a lot. Again, less is more at times. Sometimes you will find bands throwing in all sorts of genre influences in order to appeal to a larger audience. I get that approach. At times, this can backfire because it can come across as very busy. Phasma is a good band, and this is a good effort. I would pull back on so many of the crossover genres, because I think it would hit harder. In the words of Larry David…this is pretty, pretty, pretty, good.

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!

“Worldwide Grave” opens immediately and is ferocious before the blast gets going, with vocalist Stefano Borciani having a strong Frank Mullen style. Think Suffo’s Despise the Sun ep. Therefore, I am a huge fan of this dude’s vocal style. The tech proficiency really comes through around the 1.50 mark. Listen to those guitars. Then we are greeted with vintage pinch harmonics as this mid-paced monstrous moment bludgeons us. This song has a multitude of tempo shifts and is not just blast, blast, blast, unlike many of their countrymen playing brutal death metal. Demiurgon is way more interesting to listen to.

I must point out that Umberto Poncina – bass, Riccardo Valenti – drums, and Emanuele Ottani/ Dani Benincasa – guitars have been slogging together on all the releases; therefore, this band is a well-oiled machine when crafting their albums. “The Era of Defiance” erupts out of the starting gates with a vicious blast, and hot damn, those drum rolls were going so fast my circadian rhythm was thrown off. The mid-paced part at the 1.10 section is ruthless, as is the blast section right after this. The production is so on point. The drums do not drown out the music, as is the case with many Italian brutal death metal bands, where the drums get more love in the mix than the instruments. So when Demiurgon is blasting away, those guitars are just as prevalent and biting with how sharp and heavy they sound. This song kills, especially with the strong Suffo influence. However, towards the end, check out some of that Origin blasting. Gets into the gravity blasting range – this is lightning blasting.

“Flashforward to the End” is a fun song title. Would it not have been better suited to actually be the last song on the album? The opening rhythm section is massive with the riffing and bass. The drums are spectacular, and this instrumental moment is terrific. Then it’s off to the races, as they say, with the blasting that will ruin your pants in 0.0 seconds. The drum work is so damn impressive on this song and the entire album. The fills and rolls are creative, as are his beats. One of the more tasty blast-beating drummers out there. The tempo shifts are relentless, and the mid-paced moments break up the chaos a lot.

The rest of Miasmatic Deathless Chamber goes along, similar to what I mentioned above. Album closer “Apoptosi” is slower, with more mid-paced and crunchy slow moments, and as an album closer, it works. The song crushes, as does this album. In terms of sheer brutality, out of the active bands in the Italian death metal scene, Demiurgon are the best, imo. They possess the skills to craft memorable songs, which are not just a million BPM’s, as well as ensuring the production on their albums is not muddied. I really love their last album, The Oblivious Lure, released in 2019, however, Miasmatic Deathless Chamber erupts as their finest album. New label, best album…hmm, is there a connection, perhaps? This album is fire!!

And this sounds nothing like typical cavernous Finnish death metal. This is a very European-meets-American-sounding death metal that covers all the genres’ good stuff in spades. Think Aborted, Benighted, or Blood Red Throne meets Dying Fetus or Cannibal Corpse. It’s groovy, it’s blasty, it’s technical, it’s grindy, it’s catchy, it’s slammy. It’s top-notch.

Armed with a stellar production to match the near-perfect death metal and a perfectly powerful blend of growls and screams, Extinguish All Existence hits all the spots, scratches all the itches that death metal fans want. The 10 songs all deliver an ample mix of hefty fucking grooves and shrill blasts such as “Parasitic Ingress”, “Pathogenesis”, “Abyssal Hellscapes”, and “Harbingers of Degradation “, and that’s just in the album’s first half. And every song hits pretty fucking hard, making the whole album enjoyable from start to finish.

Of course, personally, as I prefer in most of my death metal, the slower, groovier, lumbering moments catch my ear more, but Enragement does a really good job of making sure all the tracks cover all the bases. There isn’t really a purely slow song or a simple all-blasting song.

And the album’s back end is as good as the front end (other than maybe “Vesuvius”) with “Hypercarnivorous”, “Insectiferous Abomination “, and the closing title track. Another winner from Transcending Obscurity, who seem to be kicking out quality albums on 2025 at a ridiculous clip.

“Ooze Maelstrom” starts this seven-song 37 37-minute onslaught with a blast beat. I was not expecting the opening to be so fast. The song slows to a crawl around the 45-second mark, and the guitars are pretty damn heavy. The song picks up the pace with a nice gallop, which you will no doubt headbang to. Brennen Westermeyer, as always, is the man behind Thorn, and his powerful roars are excellent. The highlight is the 2.30 slow down with the stop and start riffing and off-kilter drum beats. This section shines!

“Entombed in Chrysalis” is just what the doctor of doom/death metal ordered. This is the longest song at over eight minutes; the tune immediately gets into filth. This is pure filth, at its finest. Slow, lumbering, heavy, and the sledgehammer of doom crushes you into tiny bits. The bass guitar is magnificent, as it has a killer distorted heaviness. The double pounding section picks up the pace for a bit, until more of that start and stop riffing and drum pattern erupts, as it did with the album opener. These sections are terrific, and there are some hellaciously monstrous growls on this sucker. The dreamlike moments of ethereal doom, with the melodies, are hypnotic. The song really ends at the 4.30 time stamp because the rest of the song is some atmospheric noises, which honestly go on for wayyyy too long, imo.

“Gloaming Corporeal Form” is like three minutes of atmospherics, which for me, once again, is filler. It’s used as more of an intro to the ending song, which is the title track. Ryan Fairfield, from Hallowed Butchery and Toxic Cross, lends his vox to this song. This track is pure doom/death filth. This song actually has a striking resemblance to dISEMBOWELMENT. The strong guitar riffs, with those ethereal harmonies, is evident of that. This song is going nowhere fast, as it lumbers and takes notice of the riffing at the 1.50 section. This is excruciatingly heavy, and we also get nods to funeral doom with this track. This slow pacing will call to mind the gods of yore, Winter, with the plodding and hypnotic pacing, all wrapped up in a bow of heaviness. There is a depressive dense fog hanging over this song, folks. Great way to end the album.

Nebulous Womb of Eternity is a really good doom/death album. The production is improved upon, and I appreciate this album’s artwork. Some of the long atmospheric interlude parts, to me, are a time waster, and I wish they were much shorter. Overall, Thorn delivers another heavy album.

Digressing in progress because ByoNoiseGenerator is one of those bands that just grabs you by the booboo you know, this album makes me wish I had some good LSD because it would make for great trip music. According to the presser, this is their first album in seven years, so I don’t know why that is… What I do know is that Subnormal Dives is a deadly Jazzgrind album that needs your attention.

These crazy Russians take little pieces of Gorod, Decrepit Birth, and Obscura and put them in a blender with a badass, dedicated Saxophone player (Sh3la) and some off-the-wall drumming (NOx). Byonoisegenerator is phenomenal.

“Eb(D#)” is the first track, and right off the bat, you’re hit with the full force of their Death Star. Battering ram drums competing for dominance over the insane bass lines (M1t) that are being wrung from the instrument. The riffs (Hal°) are blood spatter from the relentless beating you’ll be receiving over the next 20:57 minutes.

The tracks sort of run into each other, so it’s not clear where one ends and the next begins, but I’m not bothered at all by that. Some may be, but I dig the hell out of this. There’s not a song that isn’t touched by that wonderful Saxophone, it’s everywhere on Subnormal Dives. “IQ69Exaltations” and “NULL.state = PERMANENT; return VOID;” battle for what track is going to be heavier, but at the same time, these lush as a tropical garden saxophone notes just glide along on some hypnotic highway.

I could be annoyed with the song titles, but I’m not bothered at all, surprisingly. I mean, when the music is this bat shit insane, it’s up to the live setting to make the song titles come alive, because they have to pronounce it all. More power to them.

“NoSuccessToday!” has these funky as hell sections scattered through it, while “UVB-76” is one of my favorite tracks because it not only references a creepy as fuck ‘Number Station’ (Google it) from the Cold War era, but it has so many pinch harmonies and skronkiness that it commands to be experienced.

Excellent production means that every snare hit (and those snare hits are NASTY.) Let me tell you a story, it’s punctuated by the whirlwind of aggressive and jazzy moments that seem to pop up like extreme gophers.

“LoveChargedDiveBombs”, “I’mNot20Anymore (21Ne)” and “4-HO-DMTNzambiKult” are my favorites on Subnormal Dives, it’s so much contained madness that it makes my head bob like one of those birds that “drinks” water. Jazzgrind is a thing, and I’m fucking here for it.

Final two tracks “deBroglieNeverExisted”  “5mgInspiredVibes” round it out, and there’s that saxophone break just wailing away to one of the coolest moments in Tech-Death. It’s just a brutal beating from Hell the saxophone being up front and furious, the slap bass… someone get me a towel!

Anyhoo, I think you’re getting the idea. These guys are off the fucking rails, I’m not talking bullshit here; if you like Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Sarmat, or Fractal Universe in addition to the aforementioned bands at the beginning, you’ll eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And they certainly have not missed on Cult of Uzura, as it hits with big, burly blackened death metal that will please fans of Zos Kia Kultus, Demigod, and Evangelion (complete with similar imagery and costumes) as well as Hate’s Auric Gates of Veles and Rugia.

The 13 songs here all deliver a blistering, but beefy take on blackened death metal with commanding, deep vocals and some subtle black metal atmospheres and structures. And each song hits, there isn’t a weak song here from the opening title track to the closer “All Shall Be Now Itself the Sea”.

Of course, in between, there are some standout moments such as the savage “One Eyed Terror”, “Abyssal Tower”, at the front end. The intensity is broken up at the halfway point by the acoustic number “Of Shores and Dripping Souls”. Then the second half’s standouts are the slower, groovier ‘The Alchemist”, “Diluvian Sentence”, and the aforementioned closer, arguably the entire album’s best track.

My only minor gripe is there are a few chanted/wailed/screeched vocals here and there (i.e, the  “Echoes of the Drowned”, “Hypoxia”, “The Servant”, “The Alchemist”, “The Offering”) that bring down otherwise killer tracks a little bit. But none of that stops me from enjoying those tracks and the entirety of Cult of Uzura, as it’s one of Transcending Obscurity’s best signings and releases of 2025.

So I was super happy for the band when they signed with Transcending Obscurity, a perfect label for them. And the duo (Sunshine Schneider—guitar, Bass, Vocals and Connor Gordon—drums) has not changed their delivery of churning Ulcerate—death metal mixed with a little introspection. Of course, with the jump to a big label comes better, tighter production, and of course, Transcending Obscurity’s trademark cool art, packaging, and merch- well deserved indeed.

So how are the new 10 tracks contained within Memories Fragmented? It is a continuation of the material on The Elemental Binding EP; blissfully dissonant, yet elegant murky, atonal death metal that’s heavily inspired by Ulcerate, Gorguts, Artificial Brain, Altarage, Ulsect, Dodecahedron,  Nightmarer, and such. But where those bands mostly leave you nauseous and spiraling into insanity, Crown of Madness is a little more measured and paced, with a well-crafted sense of mood and more tempered, despondent hues.

Don’t get me wrong, tracks like “Burdened”, “Deafening”, “Sea of Fangs”, “Dreamless Nights No Longer” and such still bring the discordant, chaotic lurch a stammer of their peers, but it is when the band reigns things in a bit and glosses the chaos with a little more contemplative where they really shine.

Tracks like “Sovereign”, “When I Dont Remember You”, “Ashes of Mine”, “Hollow Thresher”  and closer “The Grand Design”, while still monstrously dissonant, have palpable emotional, almost morose layers, not just pure discordant fury. and it makes the tracks just that little bit more engaging and fulfilling, instead of just pure dread, as many of their peers deliver.

However, as I stated in past reviews, I miss the delicate piano use that was in the debut EP that made the duo even more engaging, but I’m super happy for these guys and hope for continued success on future albums.  Another winner for transcending Obscurity as they continue their red-hot 2025.

10 songs in 39 minutes, things get going with the album opener – “Devour My Wicked Soul”.  Slowly building up with the atmosphere, and soft instrumentation, and at a little past the minute marker, the death metal hits, and I am initially feeling Autopsy vibes.  The song gallops to an old-school beat and Gabri, has a very Chris Reifert type of tone, so there you go Autopsy reference complete.  The song has a late 80s or early 90s feel to it with an excellent organic production, which resonates with me.  There are some nice guitar harmonies around the middle marker of this song and the combo of guitarists Valentina and Giorgio do quite a nice job, especially at the doomy death crawl towards the end and Giorgio letting loose with some very cool guitar solos.

Nino’s bass can be heard and David knows how to keep a steady beat, especially when “Abstract Hallucinating” erupts just as the album opener ends.  I love the beginning gallops and the guitar solos, before the vintage Autopsy-styled doom-death crawl approaches.When I refer to Autopsy I am strictly referring to their first 4 albums and ep’s during that time period.  This song lumbers and cascades into depressive oblivion.  The shrieking vocals…well go along quite nicely with the band name!

“Nefarious, Scorned Deities I Am Devoted To” get a gold star from me because I love using the word, nefarious!!  The song starts with some faster-paced music with a nice little blast beat, and then the song gets into the comfortable death metal old-school gallop the band enjoys playing.  There are some nice weird guitar solos, as well, which screech along the way, and if you love death metal from let’s say 1988-1991, like Autopsy, Death.. etc.. you will truly enjoy this album, fun is the name of the game!!

“Perennial Dirge”  starts with an amazing beat, a tad slower than the other gallops, and this is so headbang worthy of your time.  This song must be played live since I can envision a monster circle pit erupting all over the place and demons shrieking, so that the pit continues forever and people collapse, from pitting onto eternity.  The slow mid-paced moment brings forth some vintage Celtic Frost guitar tones, especially how Tom Warrior would bend those guitar chords and notes to get a very distinct tone, all Celtic Frost!!  Definitely feel a Morbid Tales vibe on this one.

The Festering Dwellers is a damn fine debut album by Shrieking Demons.  It’s organic, with a natural-sounding production, and an excellent and eye-catching album cover.  Now is this the most original death metal album you will hear? – of course not.  The band draws from a variety of influences, however, has managed to write, play, and release a fun death metal album.  Check ‘em out.

Allow me to introduce Fleshbore. These four crazy lads from Indianapolis have crafted a solid, beat down that will have your fucking brain leaking from your ears; and you’ll be happier than maggots on a cow’s carcass. Michael McGinley – Guitar, Michael O’Hara – Vocals, Cole Chavez – Guitar, Cole Daniels (Demon King) – Bass and Robin Stone (Evilyn, Norse) – Session Drums. The head-splitting production is courtesy of Jackson Ward – Mixing and Mastering. Then there’s that absolutely sublime album cover from Mark Erskine.

Painted Paradise is their second album and goddamn it’s a bruiser. The vocals are like nothing I’ve ever heard, Michael O’Hara sounds like he ate some bad Sushi and is regurgitating it while singing about the misery of it all.

“Setting Sun” sets the tone quickly with super tasty blast beats falling like bloody rain. The guitar has a massive tone and this track is just magnificent. There’s an actual bass guitar too, and if it’s not a fretless bass I’ll eat my own liver.

It’s a small gripe with the genre but not having a bassist is slightly annoying. I mean, you do you, but I’d rather hear a good bass guitar instead of two dudes with down-tuned guitars. But here is a real guy playing some killer bass lines.

“The World” is reminiscent of Infant Annihilator, with this amazing solo mid-track while being followed up by my absolute favorite track “Target Fixation” which has snorting pig squeals right out of the gate and the guitar work is phenomenal, with the bass leading the furious undertone.

“Wandering Twilight” is a super beefy track with this amazing riffing that is like musical DNA strands. Holy fucking shit this is fantastic, constant reader you will definitely love this album. “Inadequate” is slower, sort of. The slow down is crushing at the 4:52 mark where it’s completely submerged in sludgy goodness.

The title track is mostly mid-paced with these spastic bursts of speed coupled with the savage riffs delivered by Mr. Chavez. Painted Paradise has made me an insta-fan of Fleshbore. Final track  “Laplace’s Game” has that staccato riffing that I love, a monumental interlude around the 1:30 mark that’s incredibly brutal as the song erupts with mind twisting riffs and earthshaking double bass. Once it ends, just start the album over and get pulverized again.

With Painted Paradise Fleshbore have created a Tech-Death masterpiece. Period. This is highly recommended for you fans of Zenith Passage, Ingested, Xoth and Replacire. Get this and get beaten down!

Following a split EP and the release of the single Visions of Blasphemy; both in 2022, they bring their version of cavernous Death Metal to an unsuspecting world. It all starts with “Misticism” and ethereal keyboards pour on the ambience creeping from your speakers. It’s a serene set up for the intentional brutality of “Desolate Chasm” a beautifully crafted piece of Incantation style brutality, it’s a rolling Death Metal beast; nasty reverb that’s heavy as fuck.

Ian Younkin – Vocals / Guitar, Andrew Hobday – Drums, Spencer Martin – Guitar and Jon Clark – Bass have given birth to this utterly nasty slab of desolate Death Metal. “Slimeblade” is one of my favorite tracks, it has this Death Thrash thing down to a science. But Merely Flesh definitely has a Morgoth feeling on “Nocturnal Suffering” with it’s murky atmosphere and the tasty blast beat that quickly sneaks in before the track goes full on Benediction mode, think around The Grand Leveler, they sneak in another flurry of blasting and a thrashing midsection to die for.

“Demented Procession”  has some of the sickest riffing I’ve heard this year, it strides and the track bursts into a killer mosh bit; oh and those tasty pinch harmonies, it’s a sludgy ride through the swamps of human emotions.

But then, another one of the best Death Metal tracks of the year comes bursting like a vile infant “Fog Sermon” is an immense Doom laden bone crusher and they continue the beat down on “Carnal Pain” “I’m in Hell let me die!” it’s amazingly heavy, the dive bomb at the beginning, the funky groove that they get into before punching your fucking lights out. Jesus fucking Christ this album is possessed with the spirit of the 90s on “Sentient Chamber” and the massive riffing that is just magnificent on closing track “But Merely Flesh” it’s mercilessly heavy, the guitar tone is so compressed it’s unbelievable, and relentless throughout like a row of buzz saws.

When I saw: “For fans of – Morgoth, Asphyx, Skeletal Remains, Laceration, Malevolent Creation, Death, Leper Colony”… Holy fucking shit yes! Leper Colony put out their self titled album last year and it was fucking DEATH METAL! I am not disappointed with Ritual Fog and am naturally looking forward to a tour that probably won’t come here but whatever. Get this bottom dwelling crustacean with claws of pure 100% pressure, a powerful album that you need.

“Life of Decay” immediately starts with a fast paced, not quite blast beat pace with Rogga’s throaty vox all over this song.  The production is in your face.  The guitar tone sounds terrific and the galloping moments are classic.  The doomy slow down about 90 seconds in is excellent as the guitar solos and harmonies erupt all around us.  Strong opening number.

The title track has a lot of doomy metal moments and the section at the 1.19 part is excellent.  Rogga lets out a vintage Celtic Frost, “Ugghhh” and the song gets right into a tasty galloping moment.  This song pounds and Matthias Fiebig’s double bass drums at the 2.40 mid-paced section is vicious as Rogga lets out some anguished vocals.  Martin Klasén provides the bass guitar and you can hear the bass underneath all the heaviness.  This song has that swede melo-death sound perfectly with nods to Desultory and In Flames.  Think early 90’s inspired for reference.  There is a lot of melody and some intricate guitar work going on.  I really enjoy bands putting forth an effort to make their title track a strong number.  This is no exception.

“Viking Supremacy” right out of the starting gates begins with that hyper-fast death thrash beat before the galloping moments take over.  The song then goes back and forth between these two speeds with Rogga’s enunciated vocals sounding really good.  You do not need a lyric sheet – bonus!!  Some other tempo shifts take us to some slower groovier moments and the isolated drumming at the 2-minute mark is a thing of beauty.  Just as the guitars fade out the drums start with that galloping speed, before the rest of the instruments join in.  This is my favorite part of the album.  It’s frickin’ awesome and classic all over it.

The rest of the album is more of the same.  If you have enjoyed Paganizer’s previous efforts, especially their last several, you will enjoy Flesh Requiem.  Rogga knows death metal, knows how to write catchy music and knows how to surround himself, with all of his various bands, with quality musicians.  Flesh Requiem has a nice production.  Organic, not processed and it sports a nice mix to boot.  The album cover is well done and all the nods to the old school of yore has my fist in the air on these songs.  Keeping each of the songs to about 3 ½ minutes is a smart choice, as they have more of a punch to them.  Some of the songs get a bit samey, however that’s to be expected from the band at this juncture.  This is a real fun and catchy album!

This is 8 songs in 33 minutes of no-frills brutal death metal in the vein of the likes of Dying Fetus, Gorgasm..You get the point.  The band wastes no time with intros, just laying waste to us all with the album opener, “In My Bones”.  This track immediately opens with a monstrous blast than slows down a bit and Oral Akyol’s vocals are brutishly gruff, yet fairly understandable. He has a powerful delivery and some cool ass growls.  This song is beefy to the max.  Very heavy guitar tone courtesy of Mert Kaya and Serhat Kaya.  Bengi Öztürk’s bass guitar has a nice undercurrent of heaviness when those slower moments happen.  Those rhythm parts are super heavy.  Onur Özçelik is a machine behind the drum kit.  Ferocious.  Great album opener.

“Until the Darkness Kills the Light” is up next and is more brutality, however with some of the growls Oral’s vocals appear to be strained, thus around the minute or so mark where he lets out a growl, it cracks.  This happens a few times and I feel the band should have looked into these moments a little more and had the vocalist do another take.  This song has some great riffing and those blast beats are pummeling AF.  The blasting towards the end with the higher register, think Jason Netherton, from Misery Index, style, is quite good.  The ending growl though, cracks while he vocalist strains to hold out the growl length.

The title track begins quite heavy and this mid-paced heaviness is the highlight of what Carnophage does so well.  The song gets into a mid-paced gallop with some breathtaking double bass moments.  I love how the song gets into this jumpy groove section and I can imagine a sea of bodies crashing into one another.  Some terrific blasting erupts and double-pounding drum moments’ drive this sucker into you heart  fairly quickly.  More mid-paced pummeling heaviness and blasts.  I feel this song could have benefitted a bit more if the speed was scaled back.  Let those slower grinding heavier moments resonate a little longer fellas, before blasting 1,000 BPM’S.

“From Possibility to Actuality” ends the album in brutal fashion – like you were expecting something different?  Monstrous blast beat to open the song and double pounding drum moments.  The song slows into the mid-paced heaviness, before erupting into more blast beats.  The slow down at the 1.45 section is a highlight, especially with the guitar and drum work.  There is even a melodic guitar solo, towards the end of the song, as well.  The vocals over this part are nicely done, with the effects they toss in.

Matter of a Darker Nature by Carnophage certainly has brutality stamped all over the album.  I would have liked for the band to stay with some of those slower moments a bit more, since they pack a huge wallop to the gulliver.

Additionally; there should have been a little more time spent with the vocal parts, to allow the singer maybe to hit another take or two so the growls cracking were not so apparent.  The engineer should have caught those.  Regardless, this is some hefty beefy no frills brutal death metal, that has a bunch of cool moments sprinkled throughout the album.

If you enjoy mid-tempo trundling death with sprinkles of doom like Temple of Void, Grave, Malignant Altar, Vore, Hooded Menace, Frozen Soul and such, then you need to check this out as it delivers the same sort of hefty, groove-laden hammering death metal with slower tempos and doomy lumbers. And does it with confidence, skill, and a killer production. Notably the drums of youngster Juuso Hämäläinen (Azatoth, Disguised Malignance), which will absolutely cave your skull in.

Those drums (and massive, crunchy guitars) are on display early on, as about 20 seconds into the encapsulating opening track “Primordial Possession”, the double bass rumble kicks things off followed by some massive grooves, dense lurches, deep roars, a little blasting, and then the next 5 tracks follow suit with a commanding, imposing presence.

While the focus is mainly on hefty, rumbling riffs, and doomy segues there are some faster moments or blast beats scattered throughout almost all the songs (i.e. the album’s shortest cut “Hand of Sin”), but it’s the longer, girthier tracks that are the standouts.

The likes of “Infernal Atonement” with its opening Bolt Thrower-ish trundle and “Incinerated Evil” hit hard with huge, loping riffs. And in particular the album’s two nine-minute standouts “At the Dawn of Damnation” and “Bound to the Funeral Pyres” which even with some sparse blasts, at times, border on full-on doom numbers, and even feature some light synths, choirs, and acoustics here and there.

“Swallowed by Fires Beneath” ends the album with a bit of a wasted 4-minute ambient number. In my humble opinion, such a kick-ass monolithic album needed a more kick-ass monolithic, closing climax.

If there’s a negative, perhaps it’s that the songs can blend. If it weren’t for the interlude directly after, “Reciprocal Abandonment” may get a little lost. I do want to clarify, that while there is a common thread, it seems as if it’s because of the goal to pummel you. It’s not as if any track on the album could in any way be labeled “middling.”  I love the elephants marching stomp happening slightly before 2 minutes in, with the vocals following the downbeat. In some parts, the vocals even venture into DSBM territory. There is a reprieve from the chaos, too, which happens with about 1 ½ minutes remaining. It lasts briefly if only to properly rub your face in the dirt again.

If one sits down and listens to the album, track by track, dissecting it, you won’t have the experience I believe is needed. You must take “Dwelling on the Threshold” as it’s meant to be within the context of the album. Its whispered vocals in multiple sections bring a sense of calm and perhaps quiet, while the song itself does not.

The final track, “Planet of Skin,” is the longest at over 9 minutes. Stomp your foot and fart if you’re surprised. I don’t recommend this approach in ALL situations. The first 2 minutes are instrumental (in two ways), but when that chug comes, you know it’s about to get heavy. There’s even a slightly bouncy section mixed in. The vocals seemingly continue to get deeper around the 5-minute mark. It’s as if you’re following the band into the abyss. When listening for the first time, I was truly wondering how it would end.

When all is said and done, I presume Infinite Mortality, despite being sometimes difficult to digest (much like that entire pizza I ate last night), will end up on many year-end lists. At this point, I believe it has a place in mine. It’s complicated without being overlong or pretentious but has hummable riffs for days. Transcending Obscurity is off to a hot start this year. It’s into April, so can we still consider this a start? Anyway, the CD and artwork work shirt will be in my hands somewhat soon, and I can’t wait to represent them.

Firstly, Resin Tomb play skronky, dissonant, technical death metal along the lines of bands such as Gorguts, Ulcerate, and Gigan. Resin Tomb’s brand is perhaps less dizzying and more immediate. Take for instance the opener, “Dysphoria,” which isn’t quite 3 minutes, but has a sort of breakdown nearly 2 minutes in, which also in effect ends the track.

Further on, the title track, “Cerebral Purgatory,” begins with an isolated guitar track, blossoming into a full-on instrumental using a version of that same guitar riff. It feels like this could simply be an instrumental, which would be an odd statement of a title track, but vocals come in with about 2 minutes left. What must be said at this point is that the vocals are reminiscent of Jason Peppiatt from Psycroptic. I only mention this because his vocals don’t do it for certain members of the staff, so perhaps there are a few of you who concur. You’re wrong, though, so go scoop some ass.

It’s also worth mentioning now that this album is 8 songs and 29 minutes, so you’re not getting into a suffocating, hour-long ordeal as you likely would with a new Ulcerate album (although they rule, it’s just a different experience). I’m a big fan of the last two tracks, number 7 being “Concrete Crypt.” That’ll stop the vampires. Despite their overall dissonant sound, there’s also a clarity to the rumble of the guitars throughout, with a heavy low end carrying some of that weight. There’s no shortage of groovy riffs here, which can be said about the entire album.

That also includes the final track “Putrescence.” Slightly over a minute in, the groove is neck snapping, and will induce the “stank face.” My endorsement here is essentially a guarantee. I know stank (insert mother joke here). Just as with the rest of the album, it may be over a touch too soon.

I know I mentioned this is more immediate, and dare I say “catchy” as opposed to some of the other genre heavyweights, but that’s not to say this is an easy listen. There are still layers to traverse, and it will take several listens to grow a true appreciation, but I heavily recommend it. After all, it’s only 29 minutes each time. What is that, a third of a Bell Witch EP? You have the time and the patience. If you stick with it past the immediate “oh, this is good,” you may reach the level I have which says “oh, this is great!” Happy 2024, you nerds.

If you’re unfamiliar with the death/sludge group, this is full-length number 4 in their decade-plus existence. I’ve seen a lot of talk about this being their best, and I am just going to come with it; I may agree.

There’s some goodness sprinkled throughout and you don’t have to look too far. Take for instance the unrelenting heaviness in “Titan of War.” Every section, even the slower ones, are short and seem intent on existing simply so the next one is even heavier. It’s almost like war sludge. The nearly perfect production for the style certainly enhances the experience. There’s a hook and it’s brutal. After that second chorus, there’s a stop, then a dick in the dirt dirge. It gets fast after that, only to get even heavier. Even the solo section has behind it a nasty groove.

If you’re into bass solos and rumbles, may I recommend the next track, “Black Serpent Coils?” No? Too bad. That rumble stays consistent in the mix through most of the runtime. This son of a bitch has “heavy” tattooed on its lower back, especially the section beginning after 3 minutes in, which leads into an epic solo. If this solo gets played in public, it is sure to wet some underwear. I mean, it’ll be that of sweaty metalhead dudes, but beggars can’t be choosers sometimes.

There’s a fucking 9-minute track, so let’s talk about it next. It’s what one could refer to as plodding. It starts slowly and that’s where it stays. Even the solo about halfway through is slow. One might refer to it as… No, I’m not doing it. Sure, the pace does pick up relatively in the second half, but certainly not to what I would call “fast.” However, after the last solo, which is quick, the riff coming back slower, which also equals “heavier” in this case, has more of an impact.

There’s also one that’s nearly 11 minutes, and it’s the closer. Damn it. Nobody listens to me about exhausting, gargantuan finales and I’m sick of it. It’s like no one even recognizes my place on the Board of Directors for Heavy Metal. This song has a stomp that could make those hardcore kids pick up ALL of the change but is still identifiable with trying to wade through a swamp in sandals. I will say the pace does change in this one. It does get slightly faster before the halfway point, leading into a solo. Then of course it gets quiet. Then it gets doomy.

So, the question is should you pick this up? Yeah, bitch. Do it. Warcrab has continued its upward trajectory and got heavier, which is not something typical after a few albums. I’ve only not purchased it yet because I’m waffling. I’ve been thinking about that sick, sexy baseball shirt to go along with it from their label, Transcending Obscurity, which predictably knocks it out of the park again. Of course, their merch game remains the strongest in metal by far, and I highly recommend picking this up.

I digress however and move to the matter of why I’m here today and that is to tell you about Dead and Dripping and their family-friendly album Blackened Cerebral Rifts, a nine-track banger, literally. It is… before I go further, I should confess that I have a passing love for Deathcore, at best. My fellow writers love it, Lorna Shore is an altar we here at Teeth of the Divine worship at, I love some Putrid Pile, Whitechapel and Thy Art is Murder and that’s kind of it. But I’m always looking for new ways to damage my hearing so I picked this one to see what I’m missing out on.

Well, it isn’t really fun to listen to I’ll get that out of the way. I like to think that I’ve heard it all, but apparently not because Dead and Dripping are the aural equivalent of being ripped apart by a chimpanzee; I’ve never experienced it for myself, but I saw pictures of the lady that did get attacked by one and GODDAMN! Anyway, you may or may not see where I’m going with this but I’m struggling to be nice and not having much luck with it.

“Tragic Ascent of Absurdity’s Pale Moon” starts off fun enough, a bit of blasting a bit of thrashing and then something happens that I wasn’t expecting… it gets annoying. Fast. I think this might be the first album where I looked to see if the song was over, that happens with the unnecessarily long “Infinitely Plummeting into Violet Portals of Delusion”, when the songs on the album just sort of flounder like fish out of water it doesn’t help things to have a song that long. I’m not saying that Dead and Dripping aren’t good musicians, they have two other full-length albums that you could check out if you wanted to. I don’t have a favorite song on Blackened Cerebral Riffs, well I guess “Hopeless Desire for Reprieve” but only because it’s 2.31 minutes short and it’s an instrumental.

So, I’m sorry, not sorry; I just don’t like this. Like I said before, maybe it’s because I’m getting older; whatever the case it just isn’t my bag of rice. It’s not that Dead and Dripping are horrible musicians, they know how to play their instruments, but this album makes me want to punch babies. For those who like this sort of thing, according to the promo blurb, you’ll eat this up if you like: Wormed, Demilich, Suffocation(?) and Defeated Sanity. Buy it if you like it.

NekroFuneral is by far the nastier, meatier, more rotten of the two, with a filthier HM2 tone and more forays into d-beat, and doomier, heftier crustier realms. So there are two distinct poisons to pick from, but both are certainly going to kill you somehow.

With Left Hand Path and the Nihilist demos as a clear base point, NekroFuneral is full of those classic “Revel in Flesh” canters and grooves that the genre is known for with the likes of opener “Strangled in Entrails”, halfway point of “Symbiotic Putrefaction”, ” Gut Asphyxiation”, and short galloping “NekroFuneral”.

But also, in direct contrast to Come, Sweet Death’s razor-sharp assault, or Angerot’s beef, this has a glistening, visceral stench throughout that permeates each blast beat, lumbering groove, or shambling slower riff, that adds a bit of Autopsy foulness to the sounds like the start of “Epidemic Disembowelment”, “Morbid Decomposition” (which has a passing resemblance to “Disembowel”), “Putrefaktor” or rollicking “Tormenting Fungal Infestation” .To hammer it home there is a song called “Chapel of Abhorrent Reek and Festering Slime”, though it is a brief instrumental track.

The 12-minute closer “Carnivorous Cult”, does a little of everything with a mix of blasts, canters, and a final few minutes that repeats the shambling, grimy riff, which while fun, overstays it’s welcome a little but doesn’t really change the fact that Vomitheist is going to be a major player in the genre moving forward.

It’s an album that seems daunting at first, the songs are quite long; thirteen to almost fifteen-minute epics that I was admittedly thinking, it’s going to suck. The songs are going to drag; etc. It turned out that I didn’t know what the fuck I was thinking, in fact, I’m enjoying the hell out of this release because there’s so much going on, and the good thing with that is that there’s no stagnation and the album breathes with menace.

“Trenches” opens the album with the sounds of battle, a quick flurry of riffs later and the track has you by the throat, doing this bad as fuck call and response that reminded me, lovingly, of Ancient Rites and their Fatherland album and the song “Templar.” The music wanders and weaves its way, at times racing through the imagined trenches of some desolate, French battlefield. For all the bombast and balls out savagery of “Trenches”, “Spanish Flu” left me wanting… something; a missing ingredient that would’ve made it epic because standing next to the melancholy beauty of “Dead Silence” it sounds like a filler that could’ve stood tall. At one moment “Dead Silence” is a depressing commentary on the aftermath, when it’s not only about the numbers: but about the faces.

The Tet Offensive was a deadly ambush that took place across US bases during the Vietnam War, nobody knew it was coming until the last minute. “Tet” handles this in the best way possible, with a crushingly savage riff that goes off like a mortar round. This quick little fucker is just a warmup for the end game of “Massacre at My Lai”. Possibly the most savage act that our Military enacted upon the people of Vietnam, they went into the village of My Lai and killed everyone. Men, women and children were exterminated in horrible fashion, so it’s no wonder that this song hits harder, given the subject matter involved. There’s this point mid-song where the music is speeding along and the keys are doing this utterly crushing melody that, picks the song up and carries it toward its sorrowful end.

Sarcoptes had recently put out a full-length in 2016 called Songs and Dances of Death that I intend to check out in the near future (ok, probably after I finish this…). Anyway, this time the for fans of the likes of Ancient Rites, Keep of Kalessian, especially the “Armada” album. I’d even mention Slayer, simply for the intro to “Tet”. Overall, I recommend this. It stands among the ranks of 1914, Kommandant, and Panzerchrist, as well as Destroyer 666; to prove that war is a never-ending trough of horror stories full of saints and sinners.

With their new one on the incomparable Transcending Obscurity Records, they (and by “they” I mean Trevor Portz) have enlisted Stevie Boiser of tech juggernauts Inferi. His vicious snarl is a welcome fit, which is apparent on the first track that isn’t an intro, “The Throes of Tragedy.” If you’re unfamiliar with the band, and you shouldn’t be, they’re sort of like a modern Emperor if they had continued their trajectory. I mean that in the feel and whisps of grandiose, bombastic moments, if not always in execution. This first one is more of a bruiser with excellent guitar shredding moments.

That continues into “The Consort,” the next track, except some excellent clean vocals appear very quickly. I originally thought this was a short track, but it’s almost 6 minutes, so for the second time in my life, I am wrong (sorry I prodded Uncle Bob so much… I didn’t really think he was stupid enough to storm the Capitol) Those clean vocals also continue into the next track, which is called “The Barrister.”

It’s after the next one when I feel like maybe I’ve heard all the tricks this beast has to turn… or something like that.

However, on tracks such as “The Courtesan,” I get a feeling from something I can’t quite identify. It’s kind of doomy and the clean vocals remind me of Cave In, while the guitars maintain that Emperor tone. During the solo section near the end of the track, the thrash bass in the background definitely helps differentiate this one from the pack.

The closer (minus the, let’s say interesting choice of a cover song to end the album) is called “Animus Nocendi,” with is the first song without “the” in the title, so it already stands out. It’s also over 7 minutes, so it’s the longest as well. The guitar soloing and overall wizardry is one of the best qualities of this track, but that can be said about every other one as well. Each track almost feels like Oprah is doing something worthwhile for a change and giving away free solos.

At the end of the album, every time, I am conflicted. This is in fact everything I wanted from a new Ashen Horde… before I knew I wanted more. This is well written, well executed, energizing, fun, and even exhilarating at times melodic black metal. Sometimes it just feels as if something is missing, but even I don’t know what it could be. Maybe more experimentation and stepping outside the bounds of the genre? That’s nit picking and the boys in this band deserve better because an absolute banger has been constructed here. If you’ve liked their previous output, don’t wait. Buy it! If you haven’t, you’ve been missing out and this is a great place to start.

“The Human Paradox” burns with the spirit of Leprosy era Death from the opening scream, and with a mid-paced baseball bat to the face hits a Death/Thrash pace in the middle of the track with the first of many mammoth riffs and solos, which is really the meat and potatoes of the entire album. Riffs, riffs and more riffs… after the initial bruising, it starts kicking you in the genitalia with “Perdition’s End” and “The Surgical Undeadvors” two blistering tracks that are reminiscent of Grewe’s Morgoth and their Cursed album.

“Tar and Feathers” has a sweet breakdown at the three-minute mark right before it ends thrashing away. But it’s the title track that steals the entire show, a severe ripper that encompasses the melody and grim beauty I was talking about, with a solo that is amazing to hear. “Flesh Crawl Demise” is what Slayer would sound like if they played Death Metal, it’s a blistering attack before the final headshot “Gruesome End”. This isn’t a long album; the songs live in the neighborhood of three to four and a half minutes and the stellar production means that the guitars have a razor-sharp delivery, and everything falls into place from there. All killer, no filler!

Like I’ve said before, this year just keeps pumping out quality slime-encrusted Death Metal. Writhing, Sedimentum, and others have made this year a very brutal one, indeed. Thusly, for fans of the picks section of this review are easy ones; Morgoth, Dismember and Death, those three bands should give you an indication of the caliber of musicianship on display here. Recommended for sure!

Once I was able to slow down and catch my bearings so to speak in a little shop whose name I don’t recall, the duo in question came out from the shadows, gave me a glossy, beautiful digipak version of their new album, as well as some shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Cool. What murder?

Of course, that brings us to the new Veilburner album VLBRNR, which is the name of the band minus vowels. There’s probably something to that, but I don’t know what it is. Disregard my nonsense and let’s focus on the very first track, which is called “VI (Vulgar Incantations).” I had thoughts this might just be an intro, then saw the 6-minute runtime. There are many things Veilburner does well and one of them is writing excellent, repetitive riffs and leads. I believe I mentioned in my review of their previous album that these riffs can sometimes be annoying, but then they get stuck in your head well after listening.

On the second track, “Envexomous Hex,” the vicious vocals are on display as well as some old school sci-fi sounding synth work, which appears a little over 2 minutes in. It just makes me think that I could really use getting abducted by aliens right now. On top of that, the excellent production shines on this one as the riffing is excellent and clear.

Moving much further ahead in the album is track 7, “Repulsed by the Light,” which is a feeling I understand well. It begins with an isolated bass (it coooouuuulllld be a guitar), then as the main riff kicks in, it has that same melody. That riff only lets up while the guitar solo is happening slightly over 2 minutes in. Then again with more soloing before the 4-minute mark. The end of this track is brilliant as it includes more soloing and an almost post-metal finish.

The last track is called “Ruin” and it has an industrial stomp with trademark skronky riffing on top. Of course, that doesn’t last because the band rarely stands still. Halfway in, the vocals take on more of what I would call an evil orator approach and marching, military esque drumbeat, followed by creepy synths end the album.

Veilburner make complicated, beautiful music for complicated, beautiful people. Am I including myself in this? Yes. It is, however, a lot to take in at 12 tracks and 56 minutes. It doesn’t seem like it, though. I may get assaulted by the boys themselves, but I put this is up there with Sires… as their best album. The songs are no less heavy or weird than what has been done before, but there’s a certain memorability to them and in some instances, dare I say “catchiness?” I did, so this is probably the last time you’ll hear from me, but please take my recommendation to listen to this album as an honor to my memory.