Reviews: Unto Others, Hostilia, Bloody Hammers, Devastrosity (Rich Piva & Spike)

Unto Others - I Believe In Halloween: II (Century Media Records) [Rich Piva]

Unto Others is a pretty spooky band, so it makes sense they have a follow up to their two track EP from a couple years ago, the aptly titled I Believe In Halloween. The second volume of creepy tracks include two (very) obvious covers and three new tracks in the spirit of, you know, Halloween.

The new tracks are unmistakably Unto Other songs musically, but lyrically they go more toward B-movie Si-Fi, which really fits perfectly for their sound. You get the UO trademarked goth metal sound, with the unmistakable vocals, and the grunts you come to expect from the band. On this EP, however, you get that plus an alien invasion in the form of They Came From Space. Fun. Great dual solo on this one. 

What I Did…has a Misfits vibe to it and is a funny little horror punk track with some dark spoken word vocals, while Robots is pure Unto Others but just about Robots. The covers are a bit too on the nose but still pretty cool. The Misfits classic Halloween, while done well here, may not need to be covered again. Their cover of Ramones classic Pet Sematary is included here, as well as being an extra track on their last full length. It is a great version that takes the catchiness of the original and adds all sorts of gothy spookiness to it.

I Believe In Halloween: II is a fun little EP from Unto Others. I like how they added originals with the covers, making this a much more interesting release than if it was a bunch of already done before songs from old punk bands. Worth a listen, especially on, you know, Halloween. 7/10

Hostilia – Face The Fire (Hammerheart Records) [Spike]

If you needed any evidence that the new wave of Thrash is capable of kicking the door in and stealing your wallet, meet Hostilia. This is Gothenburg thrash metal distilled down to its meanest, most potent essence. There’s no fat, no ballads, and absolutely no time wasted on apologies. This album is a full-throttle assault that respects the classics while sounding viciously, aggressively now.

The album throws its first fist immediately. The title track, Face The Fire, is the perfect opening statement. It’s built on frantic, razor-sharp riffing that sounds like a circular saw blade skipping across concrete, backed by drumming that is pure, high-velocity precision. This is the sound of total, focused commitment.

But the real magic here isn’t just speed; it’s the structural smarts. P.T.D. stands out as a pure, pit-ready anthem, combining a head-snapping groove with vocal venom that lands every syllable like a punch. It manages to feel both immediate and incredibly tight. The band’s biggest statement, however, might be the veteran track Eternal Death. As the band itself confirms, this track has been a live favourite for a reason: it’s built around a massive, satisfying breakdown in the middle that never fails to whip a crowd into total chaos. It’s a track designed to close a set and leave you breathless.

Hostilia understands the essential equation of modern Thrash: aggression plus groove equals damage. Tracks like Shadow People and Bone Collector cement that formula, proving that brothers William and Albert Lindeblad and the rest of the unit are operating at a terrifying level of synchronicity for a debut. It’s hard to remember this band is made up of guys barely out of their teens. The veteran co-signs from the likes of The Halo Effect and Dark Tranquillity aren’t misplaced hype. this band is the real deal.

Face the Fire is the new gold standard for Swedish Thrash. It’s high energy, highly skilled, and shows zero weakness. This is one hell of a debut. 9/10

Bloody Hammers - The Acoustic Halloween Special (Sacrificial Records) [Rich Piva]

I have been a big fan of the spooky husband and wife duo Bloody Hammers for a while now. Their horror punk/doom/goth rock is perfect for this time of year, as you could put on pretty much any of their back catalog for your All Hallow’s Eve party and no one would bat an eye. For this year, we finally get a Halloween specific release, The Acoustic Halloween Special, a title that describes the seven tracks on this EP perfectly.

On the band’s Bandcamp page, the EP is described as “…collection of acoustic songs [that] was inspired by life here in the Appalachian Mountains. Dark folk, gothic blues, whatever you call it.” Yes, yes, it is. These new original songs and one cover are no Halloween gimmick, however. These songs are excellent additions to an already killer catalog, not a fun, holiday inspired throw away. Graveyard Waits is an acoustic stomp that could not be more of a perfect opener for this set of seven tracks. The cover is an “old mountain standard”, O Death, redone Bloody Hammers style and wow is it great. Think Murder By Death as a reference point. 

Who Dares Down Wretched Road is the slowest and lyrically the scariest track on the EP, just a man and his guitar telling a terrifying story to start, and done so well. When the drums and piano kick in you know this one is special. Anders Manga’s voice is in top form on this one and the whole EP. Hounds Of Hades has more of the acoustic stomp, now with handclaps, which really make everything better. There is this second Days Of The New record thing going on musically here, which is a huge complement coming from me. Love the keys from Devallia on this one too. 

Hang The Lantern Low sounds like something Lanagan would have recorded on one of his early solo records and has more of Devallia’s killer bass piano work to make it even cooler. Hang The Lantern Low has more stomping and more handclaps, and you can picture the duo singing this around the fire while the spirits dance. The closer, How Far?, is a traditional bluesy folk sounding ode to a terrible world full of pain, which is the perfect way to end this EP.

This is how you do a Halloween release. No gimmicky covers that have been done before, just killer, mostly new and original acoustic tracks that have a vibe only Bloody Hammers can bring. A worthy addition to whatever your plans are on Oct. 31. 8/10

Devastrosity – Eviscerating Desolation (Comatose Music) [Spike]

This is not an album that eases you in. Devastrosity is an Indonesian brutal death metal project that exists purely to flatten things, and Eviscerating Desolation feels like standing too close to a controlled demolition. It is relentless, chaotic, and utterly committed to maximum punishment.

But what truly sells the dread is the calculated opening. That first half-minute is a stroke of genius: the odd, almost piano-like chords and chime are the sound of the countdown clock ticking in an empty room, a moment of unsettling calm where you know the bomb is about to go off. It’s gothic horror spliced with extreme violence. Once that chime rings out, the album delivers on its title, unleashing a gravity-blasted, slam-infused assault that doesn't just hit hard, it actively tries to peel the paint off your ceiling.

Devastrosity’s sound is built on two pillars: speed and texture. The drumming is a constant, inhuman barrage of blast beats and constant tempo shifting, perfectly complementing the grinding, chainsaw-thick riffs. Tracks like Human Depravation and Cadaveric Feast are surgical in their brutality. There is no fat here, only dense, crushing technicality that sounds like watching a perfectly synchronized machine break down a fortress.

What sets this band apart from the endless stream of brutal death metal copycats is that unsettling undercurrent, that hint of something cosmic and demented beneath the surface gore. The pinch harmonics and complex rhythmic shifts keep the music from collapsing into a monotone of speed, providing enough structural intrigue to hook the listener. You don't get many guitar solos here, and honestly, who needs them? As the band themselves have said, why bother with a solo when you have these insane riffs?

The vocal work is pure, guttural savagery. It's less singing and more the sound of a beast dragged from a deep pit, spewing venom and absolute despair. This isn't just about gore; it’s about the sheer, unbridled fury of existential rot. Eviscerating Desolation is a high-speed lesson in chaos, delivered with the technical skill and aggression required to keep its momentum for the entire runtime. It's uncompromising brutality and that makes me happy. 8/10

Reviews: Barren Path, Aquilla, Bastard Cröss, Outlaw (GC, Simon Black Spike & Mark Young)

Barren Path - Grieving (Willowtip Records) [GC]

When a band is classed as grindcore, I will always be interested to hear what they are like because there are many forms of grind and some is good and some is awful as is the same with every genre, I prefer the short, sharp under 1 minute type grindcore and it looks like Grieving by Barren Path is just that so its time to buckle up and prepare for the ride!

Whimpering Echo is exactly what I want its got scuzzy and furious guitar work with drums that sound like they have been recorded in an old dustbin in an back alley and throat shredding vocals that sound like someone is being tortured, it’s a blistering way to start, Subversion Record harks back to the glory days and has a real Insect Warfare feel to it, the no nonsense fashion that it just blast into existence and then it’s all over within 40 seconds is exactly how grind should be.

Primordial Black has a bit more death metal incorporated into the song and it’s another beautifully messy but precise song that will please all those old enough to remember the 90’s in a beautiful throwback way, No Geneva is our first epic track at 1:13 but again there is no fluffing or wasted time it’s just full throttle foot to the floor savageness and there’s really no way of padding out the review because you miss most of the song if you don’t pay attention! 

Isolation Wound is another song with a slightly more death metal feel but the way the rawness of the grind shines over everything is really something to behold and it really is that raw and painful sounding music but that is usually the best sort I almost choke when I see that The Insufferable Weight is almost 2 minutes long! I needn’t really have been worried because more time just means more violence in music form, they really just manage to create such a disgusting noise that takes all the best parts of grindcore and mixes them with the savage rawness of punk and death metal in such an expert way. 

Relinquish is never going to stray to far from what we have heard so far, and you know, if it aint broke, don’t fix it! This is another blink, and you will miss it track, it starts, it blasts, it grinds, then it finishes! Perfection! The Unreliable Narrator is probably the most ‘’welcome to the 90’s’’ track you will hear in 2025 and that’s not to disparage the song in anyway, it’s a compliment of the highest order believe me, it’s so unrelenting, savage and brutal in all the right ways! 

Slight complaint at Celestial Bleeding as it’s just a weird 43 seconds of echoey noise that really offers nothing and could have and should have been left off completely, stupid choice, anyway moving on to Lunar Tear they more than make up for it and is another mix of wonderfully sludgy death metal and psychotic noise that just has to be heard to be believed.

Horizonless is a wonderful and bruising beast that actually almost threatens to break into some sort of melody at one point but swiftly fucks that off and just continues with the wonderfully bleak brutality we have been treated to so far In The End, The Gift Is Death is the final kick to the teeth on this wonderfully batshit album that has delivered some much and then some in what was a totally unexpected but wonderful surprise!!

Apart from 43 seconds, I loved absolutely everything about this record and cannot recommend it highly enough! It is everything you could want in a grindcore record and then some, a wonderfully executed and thoroughly enjoyable 20 minutes! If you’re looking for something mind-expanding that will take your soul on a journey or something like that avoid this but if you want to know what the sound of being kicked in the testicles 11 times sounds like this is for you!!! 10/10

Aquilla - Sentinels Of New Dawn (High Roller Records) [Simon Black]

Oh dear. A concept album…

Concept albums can go very well or very badly in my experience, and there’s an awful lot of them about. You can’t move in the Power Metal world without tripping over a dozen new ones in the Musipedia slush pile on an almost weekly basis, and separating the gems from the brown stuff is not for the faint of heart, which is probably why there’s only a couple of us who ever choose to tackle them on a regular basis. 

However, of late I have stopped sifting the pile for myself and asked our esteemed editor to just load me up with a bunch of new releases sound unheard each month, because my time is limited (amazingly none of us earn a crust from all this work) and it stops me just playing safe all the time. So, I come to this band with no knowledge or expectations, which to be fair is how it should be if you are going to be truly objective in this reviewing lark.

The band hail from Warsaw in Poland, and have been knocking around since 2015, with a couple of EP’s and a debut album already under their belt, but by their own account they were not happy with that debut album, so I am curious to hear what this record delivers given that there have been fundamental line-up changes since then. In many ways this is a new start for the band, and definitely feels like the kind of energetic debut that young acts across the globe are delivering as they dip into the early 80’s and pick fusions of NWOBHM, Speed and Thrash metal like their parents and grandparents had not been doing that for the past forty years already…

Aquilla are definitely worshipping at that particular altar, with a well delivered cover depicting some epic SF battle scene, and which in the musicians’ case would appear to extend to diving into the 1980’s dressing up box for studded wristbands, leather trousers and waistcoats, with shirts optional (maybe they sold them off of their backs at their merch stall) judging from the accompanying photo. I have this sight in front of me when the spoken word intro of The Chronicles hits my ears. It’s so cheesy I start to think I might need to bail on this one, but the moment the music starts in earnest I’m in a whole new place. The look and the intro may be cheesy, but the music has a much more authentic and impactful edge.

Production wise they are following the trend of trying to sound like the music was cut on equipment hailing from that distant time, and musically this is straight ahead NWOBHM circa 1982, with just a hint of the arrangements of speed metal, with the likes of early Maiden, Saxon and Riot standing loudest to my ears. Lyrically these boys clearly have a deep love of the kind of Sci-Fi epics movies that have also been around since the 80’s, and that epic feel is distilled into the music as well, with the kind of arrangements and use of anthemic singalong chorus lines, power chord structures and riffage designed to raise the roof on any decent size venue you could name. Like the Power Metal movement, this ability to take an audience with you at a festival even if they don’t know your material is crucial, yet elusive for many acts.

To be honest I’m not that impacted by the concept and it only gets obviously intrusive when they cheesy spoken word bits intrude, but this is clearly intended, along with their stage gear, to be all part of the fun. And fun is what comes across loud and clear here. With a line up with names like Captain Paradox on vocals, Jaspar De Phaser on rhythm guitar, Kris Invader on lead guitar, Pete Slammer on the drums and the frankly epically monikered Hippie Banzai winning the best name for a bassist since Nasty Suicide, this is tongue in someone else’s cheek par excellence.

As for the songs themselves, they deliver the goods, with Paradox’s strong and well-ranged delivery wrapped in a charismatic phrasing and delivery, fronting a band that is musically very tight, fluid and cohesive. Even when taking on a ten-minute epic with The Prophet, they’ve taken care to not self-parody whilst crafting a strong and epic finish to their story. More importantly, the songs all stand up on their own independent of any concept and time passes swiftly, with the band clearly understanding that if you want an audience to listen to an album end to end for forty-nine minutes, you need to work hard and craft well. And that they do.

Original? No.

Derivative? Yes.

Reverential and bang on the head? Abso-frickin-lutely. 9/10

Bastard Cröss– Crossripper (Morbid and Miserable Records) [Spike]

Philadelphia’s Bastard Cröss isn't here to make friends or to push the boundaries of technicality. They are here to give you Blackened Thrash in the proud, filthy tradition of bands who think Motörhead was too slow and Dissection needed more street-level violence. Crossripper is their full-length debut and it is exactly the kind of unholy racket the title promises.

This record is a nine-track barrage built for pure, high-velocity blasphemy. The sound is drenched in the grime of a low-budget horror flick, which makes sense, as the lyrical themes skip seamlessly between Lycan Knights and the documented brutality of religious history. The constant, frenzied speed is the engine here. Drummer Infernal Bastard and bassist Beheader Of Priests ensure the foundation is a relentless, punishing groove that rarely lets up.

The vocal attack is what gives Crossripper its signature snarl. Guitarists Blasphemous Axe and Heathen Chevalier share vocal duties, trading off between razor-acid shrieks and deeper, guttural pronouncements. This dual venom keeps tracks like the title track Crossripper and the blistering opener Parasitic feeling chaotic and unpredictable, like being jumped by two different maniacs in an alley. There is melody here, but it's the kind of sinister, catchy melody that seduces your soul right before the chaos resumes.

While some might argue that the album locks into one gear a bit too often, that is missing the point. The intention is immersion, not innovation. The thrash riffs on Satanic Pandemonium are designed for one thing: getting the pit moving like a cement mixer. They even briefly detour for the 80s cheese on Demons At Midnight, but it retains enough venom and crunch that it still works like a charm.

The album closes with Behead The Priest, a track that opens with an unsettling soundbite about "Evil, pure uncorrupted, ancient" before dissolving into a stomping, galloping drive. It is five minutes of pure savagery that finally, shockingly, drops into a moment of haunting, clean reflection at the end. It’s a sombre pause before the next wave of blasphemy. 8/10

Outlaw - Opus Mortis (AOP Records) [Mark Young]

And to properly round the week off comes Outlaw, with their latest platter Opus Mortus. Forming in 2015, their intent is to continue to bring (in their words) raw, visionary and unbound metal. It certainly starts on the front foot with Blaze Of Dissolution, a rapid jaunt through discord and double bass drumming. Almost immediately that promise of raw material is delivered straightaway, but this isn’t just a one-dimensional speed-fest. They bring in a touch of melody to proceedings which is good in its own right but starts to meander a little before they sort their direction of travel and get back to bashing heads. As openers go, it’s a decent start with all the key ingredients in place. 

When Through The Infinite Darkness starts it was case of it almost being a carbon copy of the one before, such was the similarity in the melody line to Blaze. The speedy guitar gives way to a more harmonious guitar line that changes as the song progresses. Its an attempt in a way to inject a level of atmosphere to proceedings that wasn’t really necessary and sees the song run through the same lines in an attempt to stretch it to suit the run time. I was expecting more of the raw, gritty attack rather than a reliance on that repeated measure. Had this been half its length it would have achieved a greater effect, and I’m hoping that its not something that becomes the calling card of the album. 

The Crimson Rose is next up, and that feeling of familiarity kicks in. It shares the same approach, the same methods of attack that on their own are fine to listen to but as the third of three it becomes a little samey. The day is saved on this one with the inclusion of a well-presented lead break and then them picking the speed back up. It cried out for more sledgehammer and less toffee hammer, delivered in what feels like a safe manner. The early raw promise seemingly disappearing.

A Million Midnights starts like the others, a repeated melody line before they kick it in properly. The concentration of using melodic measures when they should be dropping super hard riffs is frustrating to me. You appreciate it that they are trying something different with it but sometimes you need it to be brutal. Throw some bottom end in there, make it sound like the apocalypse is coming but above all don’t rely on one trick. 

In saying that they then go and drop Those Who Breathe Fire which is more like it. Of course it has a fast melodic line, but the main body of the song is some rapido riffing, which has been sorely missing. It’s a great example of a song that instead of following a certain formula the band go with it and as a result sounds fantastic. It’s a cracker where all of the little things come together in a superb manner. 

It doesn’t last, as A Subtle Intimation returns to a safer black metal arrangement, bringing that style back into play. Its ok, it really is but it can’t compete with Those Who Breathe Fire. By the time Ruins Of Existence rolls around, I’ve lost the appetite to continue. Like the others, there is nothing wrong with it other than it doesn’t grab me as metal should. It continues to mine a particular stylistic seam without wanting to go too far from it. It’s likely that another set of ears will really dig this but not me.

Ultimately, its an album where the songs needed a ruthless touch applying to them. As I’ve mentioned, in isolation the songs are good, its when you put them together, they achieve a steady state or level that they rarely exceed. In their defence, they don’t dip below it either but for me it was missing an element of excitement, of wondering what was coming next. Some of these songs needed to be trimmed, be more aggressive and direct. Again, personal opinion being the wonderful thing that it is, somebody else will be more than enthused with what is being served here. 6/10

Reviews: Despised Icon, Unprocessed, Archaic Thorn, Alpha Destoyer (GC, Spike, Mark Young & Simon Black)

Despised Icon - Shadow Work (Nuclear Blast) [GC]

The word deathcore is sometimes enough to make you shudder as I would say the vast majority of it now is, how do I put it politely? SHITE, Not very good! But every now and again there is that one name that makes you remember that once upon a time this scene really had something, one of those names is Despised Icon, one of the founding fathers of the scene and one of the greatest heavy bands to ever exist. Their back catalogue has exactly 0 dud records and The Ills Of Modern Man is probably THE record to try if you wanted to discover deathcore, now in 2025 they are about to remind us again just how important they are with their new record Shadow Work.

As expected, it starts with about as much subtlety as a sledgehammer to the gonads with title track Shadow Work which is a brutal onslaught of thundering blastbeats form Alex Pelletier showing exactly what he is capable of and some unbelievable guitar work from Eric Jarrin and Ben Landerville all cloaked with the feral vocals we have come to love and expect and you instantly hear that even all these years into their career there is no slowing down or mellowing the trademark breakdowns are there and as disgustingly heavy as always and put all the modern bands to shame.

Over My Dead Body dials back the pace slightly but is once again chock full of massive distorted riffs and a more subdued but still potent drum track and we also get the pig squeals introduced and they sound as epic as ever, and the thunderous guitars just keep coming and the way Steve Marois and Alex Erian bounce off each other vocally is just a pleasure to hear, it does also have the Kublai Khan vocalist on there for some reason as he is not needed really but it’s a minor gripe.

Death Of An Artist is just relentless and punishing from second one right through till the very last note rings out and in these 3 tracks so far Despised Icon have sounded better than almost every deathcore album I have heard put together so far this year, why can’t all bands of this genre just sound like this because if they did deathcore would rule the world. 

Corpse Pose starts off as chaotic and brutal as you would want and then manages to unleash some of the most groove filled heavy riffs you are likely to hear for a very long time and also manages to still retain all the unrelenting savagery you could ever want and the breakdowns at the end of this song will leave you destroyed. The Apparition actually manages to throw is some harmony, with a melo-death-esque intro before that is swiftly kicked to the curb and in its place is another full blown attack, no pleasantness, no soppy parts midway to allow you to gather your thoughts just a non-stop assault and that’s exactly why I like it so much! 

Onto the next track and on Reaper we also get more guest appearances from Scott Ian Lewis of Carnifex and Tom Barber of Chelsea Grin which is a nice touch to include some of the better vocalists from the genre in a sort of past meets present type of homage, my only gripe is that it might be the most meat and potatoes track on the album which is a shame, don’t get me wrong it is still a good track but just not as breath-taking as the rest! 

In Memoriam does the melodic intro again and actually carries it on slightly longer then before and the way the song flows feels slightly different also, its full of chunky beatdowns and the riffs flow freely and there is some atmospherics running through bits of it but there are some cleanish vocals that I’m not a massive fan of, not sure about most of this track but the last minute sort of pulls it back musically. Omen Of Misfortune gets us back on course and takes me back to what I want, savage brutality! After a couple of tracks that haven’t completely hit the mark here, I get everything I want again! It’s always a pleasure to be able to review something by a band that has been doing their thing for ages and genuinely not be disappointed or bored by their output.

With Obsessive Compulsive Disaster we finally get to hear the bass of Sebastien Piché shine through and he gets to really drive forward the song and create something that has such a body to it and when the guitars follow the rhythm you just get lost in it, we get gang chants to bring in the hardcore element of the sound the swagger is there in abundance and of course the death metal influence drip royally from every note an absolutely unbelievable track so far into an album! 

ContreCour is an 1:32 riot starter that is pure hardcore but with the unmistakable death grind sound also thrown in for good measure, God only knows what the vocals are going on about as they are all in French, but it does sound pretty cool to be honest! So just like that we are onto last track Fallen Ones and as expected it has a slightly more epic feel to is musically with open ended riffs that collide with a gang vocal heavy approach but the way they mix in the groove with everything else is just wonderfully executed and is honestly a perfect way to end this wonderful album.

This was one of those that I already really knew the score before I pressed play, I have heard the songs that were released before the album and I loved them all, Despised Icon were one of the first deathcore bands that really made me interested in the genre before it became a bit over populated by bands that are nowhere near as good as Despised Icon and never will be. This band are icons (yes, I said it) of this scene and with Shadow Work they have delivered another masterful showing of what they can do and how deathcore should sound. 

An absolutely phenomenal album that you really need to make it your business to hear. 10/10

Unprocessed – Angel (Self-Released) [Spike]

Let's be clear: listening to Unprocessed is not a recreational activity. It’s an evaluation. This German quartet operates with a surgical, almost clinical precision that makes other progressive metal acts sound like they’re still tuning their guitars. Their fifth album, Angel, is less a collection of songs and more a hyper-futuristic blueprint for sonic dominance. This is the sound of a flawless cyborg assassination.

The production here is so clean it’s unsettling. Every note snaps into place, every rhythm guitar groove cuts with the sterile precision of a laser scalpel. This sound demands perfection. Opener Angel sets the tone immediately. It doesn't build; it activates, dropping a flawless, stuttering rhythm straight into your cranium. The drumming is a marvel of calculated aggression, complex without ever descending into mere technical overindulgence. This is what happens when you substitute human error for code.

The core of their sound is the way the guitars function. They aren’t just generating riffs; they’re executing elaborate technical manoeuvres that defy physics. On tracks like Vertigo and Die Young, the lead guitar work is fast and fluid, but the underlying structures, all polyrhythms and razor-sharp syncopation are relentless. It’s a rhythmic attack that feels simultaneously alien and organic. While the vocals occasionally drift into a cleaner, almost ethereal space, the band always pulls back to that central, crushing groove. This ensures the aggression never dissipates, it just gets refracted through complex patterns.

Unprocessed shines when they lean into the technical chaos. Abyss is a track built on calculated dissonance, showing that even when they’re striving for atmosphere, they’re still using a calculator to figure out the exact point of emotional collapse. It’s a demanding listen that requires multiple passes just to understand the entry and exit points of the rhythm, but that’s the point. It rewards scrutiny. Angel is a study in precision engineered metal. It’s cold, it’s flawless, and it serves as a powerful reminder that sometimes, the future of metal is built not on filth, but on terrifying, inhuman dexterity. 8/10

Archaic Thorn - Malicious Spears (High Roller Records) [Mark Young]

Back on track as we head into the spookiest week of the year, Archaic Thorn enters the fray with Malicious Spears, with their second full length offering via High Roller Records. 

From the off its death metal with a decidedly European twist, in so much that you recognise that particular flavour in the same way you would recognise metal from the Scandinavian countries. With this in mind, your appreciation of Malicious Spears will depend on how you find metal from the EU. What you will find is an old school, heavy vibe that isn’t as polished as other bands and is also a little bit stodgy.

Lord Of Tombs is an example of something that should have started like it was on fire, announcing the band as something to behold. Instead, there is a ponderous opening before it starts to properly move its feet. Remember I mentioned about that distinct style, well it comes flying in with blasts and speedy guitars and vocals that feel that they are on the verge of tripping over themselves. It feels crammed in some sections, sparse in others and runs a little too long. If anything, it reminds me of 80’s goth in the way it plays out.

Coming in at a different angle is A Blessed Ground Remains, which starts off with more zip to it and develops nicely into one of those tracks that has a slow measure but has a feel of movement to it. It still feels as though they have shoehorned a little too much into it again instead of being a little more efficient with it. To be honest it is a minor complaint, because the material here isn’t bad or poorly realised.

Take the frenzied introduction to Conquering Spirits, it sprints along before it drops off into a more traditional composition that sees the blasts come in. Its like there is a slight timing issue between the vocals and the music behind it, and it returns that feel of trying to put too much into one space. It harks back to a simpler time for both death and black metal when the eye was drawn more to the intent than the playing.

Where they do land is on Advancing Without Mercy, which has a more concise and focused attack. It still shares that common goal that the others have but works better because of its slightly reduced run time. I suppose how you will take this is purely dependent upon how you take your metal. If its uber polished, shined to an inch of its life and possessing that ‘modern’ sound then you could be forgiven for thinking this is slightly old hat. But if you dig into this and give it chance you might find this engaging.

As they move into the later stages, the upward swing displayed on Advancing... is manifested on the others. They really start to motor, moving beyond the now leaden opening track with Massgrave Transformation blasting along in a classic death metal way. Its surprising because after tracks 1 and 2 I’d settled for maybe having to give this a lower score. Massgrave picks up that baton and starts to put its feet down and is soon giving way to Angel Of Havaz.

Yes, its not saying anything new but it’s done with a vigour which is half the battle. It sees a return to the longer track length but its done better than before. This time the build avoids that cramming, instead letting it develop more naturally and as a result works so much better. You actually get a handle on the riffs they are dropping and there are some belters in here.

We wrap with the title track; Malicious Spears and it lives up to the maxim of leaving the best until last. For me it is like the companion piece to Angel Of Havaz, two sides of the same coin and it follows the great work displayed on the former. It still keeps in with that frantic approach but now its focused on where it needs to be. A great example of this is the lead break that comes in towards the end. It is purpose built to do that job and it does it very well.

So, what do we have? Well, it’s an album that manages to shake off that stodgy start and blossom into a decent set of songs. Again, how you like your metal will decide how you like this but its worth you giving it a chance because you might just like it. 7/10

Alpha Destroyer - Fast Lane (Necromantic Press Records) [Simon Black]

Side projects and Supergroups can be funny things…

The reasons they come into being varies enormously – from the need for something to do whilst the more established acts that spawned them are taking a break (Avantasia), or rising from the ashes of bands that have bitten the dust and not got around to the inevitable reunion (Velvet Revolver), or from members of such bands wanting to do something stylistically different (The Night Flight Orchestra) or even, as in this instance.

From the passing of time on the road (or sea) and the recognition that there was something here worth sharing with a wider audience. Sometimes these things are just a flash in the pan studio project, sometimes they tour in between other commitments and sometimes they become more successful than the acts that spawned them (which is definitely the case with Avantasia).

But it’s early days for Alpha Destroyer, an act that was spawned when Martin Sweet from Crashdïet, Buckcherry‘s Kelly LeMieux and Eric Sexton-Dorsett and Kevin Hahn of Sleepless who over the course of four years of jamming and shenanigans abord the Monsters of Rock Cruise decided to take things a step further. Musically this project is an odd mix. 

Given the amount of sleazy rock ‘n’ roll in the bloodstreams of the core contributors, there is predictably a lot of this in the mix, particularly with guitar sound and vocal delivery. There’s also a lot of traditional Metal welly to all this, and some nice technical and progressive twists that stop this being a run of the mill sleazy piece, and in mood and tone I’m reminded in places of Alice In Chains, as there’s some vocal melody lines in there that could have fallen straight off of Dirt.

Somehow, they manage to take all these disparate elements and roll them up into some anthemic fist punchers (Manic Messiah being the strongest example). Add in a down and dirty production that still manages to be almost Doom heavy in places (Conspiracy), and we have a very interesting project indeed. Time will tell if this goes as far as touring, but maybe at the very least the Monsters of Rock Cruise that spawned them can allow a set or two next time round, and who knows what may happen next. 7/10

Reviews: Liminal Erosion, Miasmic Serum, Aleister Cowboy, Życie (Matt Bladen)

Liminal Erosion - In The Time Vulture’s Talons (Iron Fortress Records)

From the voids of Gainesville Florida comes Liminal Erosion, the new project from Myk Colby who plays everything on this album, creating expansive, introspective and claustrophobic soundscapes. Colby has always been a fan of death doom but here takes it to its most astral and funereal, waves of synths shimmer and carry you into the stratosphere on Spectral Thrum (Echoing Endlessly).

Vocally it's all about the gutturals, marble gargling grunts that speaks of existentialism and watching the world from the outside. While the guitars are glacial and sludgy, shuffling slowly, very slowly towards the climax with down-tuned, cavernous riffs and moments of melodic clean guitar that brings more influences than just death/doom on Liminal Erosion (In The Atrophied Transition).

Be it the New World ambience and Pink Floyd lead guitars of Aeon Monolith (In The Shadow), or the dreamy shoegaze of Time Vulture (In The Talons), there's a lot more than just death doom on In The Time Vulture’s Talons, it's a record that sprawls through the extreme. 7/10

Miasmic Serum - Better Left Dead (Iron Fortress Records)

A new four tracker from Italian terror loving death metal troop Miasmic Serum, who are inspired by both H.P Lovecraft's 'Herbert West–Reanimator’ and the 1985 film ‘Re-Animator’ that is based on it. The EP tells the tale of the book/film, bringing the dead back to life and the dead extracting their revenge on this twisted creator.

Musically they are inspired by the blood soaked likes of Obituary and Morbid Angel, blast beats, growls and guitars that blast, shred and divebomb. It's OSDM done with flair, a subject matter that has been well visited but music that never really stops being fun to listen too.

The first trio of songs are all from the book/film but the fourth, Witches, a collaboration with Tenebro, is a tribute to Dario Argento and his Suspiria masterpiece and tears the flesh from bone with it's grindcore-like ferocity. This Italian mob embrace the sounds of the originators death metal and the legends of horror as well. 7/10

Aleister Cowboy - Neolithic Blood Rites (Iron Fortress Records)

15 minutes of brutality from Colorado death groove act Aleister Cowboy who unleash hell on their new EP Neolithic Blood Rites, it's a feral foursome that switches between punishing groove metal and occult death metal like Soulfly playing with Knocked Loose, there's a mix of modern and old school on this EP.

Driven by the intense, drumming that's full of biting snare hits and a guitar which hastily unleash tremolo riffs one minute then slam into stalking breakdowns the next. It a violent listen but the band claim it's an evolution of the 'caveman' style of death metal, perhaps making this Homo Erectus death metal? You can make your own decision if you give Aleister Cowboy a blast. 7/10

Życie - Eternal Hold (Frog Wizard Record)

Życie is the Polish word for life but there's a lot leaning towards death on this new EP from Bristol sludge/doom band of the same name.

Formed by members of a black metal/hardcore band, their debut EP Eternal Hold is a gurgling, bubbling, black oil coated release which reminds me of the ear bleeding heaviness of Electric Wizard. The fuzzing bass of Aaron Busby ignites Whitey and Unto Thunder, letting it rumble against the drums of Lawrence Bacon as they shift into the more classic doom tones of The Behemoth Sleeps.

With this tough bottom end, the guitar riffs shared between Alex Radzio and Lewis Temby, are free to be highly distorted on a massive sludge track such as Sacred Grounds while also turning into some melodic leads. Disquieting and ear bleeding, Eternal Hold is a loud debut for Życie. 7/10

Reviews: Dayseeker, Dirkschneider And The Old Gang, Them, Fatal Portrait (Spike & Matt Bladen)

Dayseeker – Creature In The Black Night (Spinefarm Records) [Spike]

Let’s get the obvious critique out of the way: Dayseeker isn't shy about embracing the melodic. If you need your core music to be ugly all the time, turn the knob back to the last review. If you appreciate the calculated precision required to blend electronic atmosphere, soaring pop structure, and unexpected savagery, stay put. Creature In The Black Night is their tightest trick yet: a goth-tinged, horror-inspired exercise in weaponizing emotional trauma.

This isn't just an album; it’s a cinematic soundscape threaded with vampiric imagery and a dark, seductive energy. The production is glossy as a freshly lacquered coffin, but that only makes the brutal moments hit harder. Tracks like Pale Moonlight open with deceptive beauty, luring you in with clean, mournful vocals before the riffs drop in like a guillotine.

The structural tension is what drives this record. The band constantly juggles the sweet and the savage. Crawl Back To My Coffin uses a delicate piano and electronic backdrop to frame a narrative of betrayal and rebirth, then abruptly shifts its body weight into genuine, metallic aggression. Vocalist Rory Rodriguez is the secret weapon here. He moves seamlessly from aching, vulnerable melody to guttural, full-throated screams, ensuring that even the most commercially palatable hooks have a necessary vein of venom beneath them.

The album fully commits to its aesthetic, with tracks like the seductive Bloodlust and the mood-setting Nocturnal Remedy. Even when the tempo drops on songs like The Living Dead, the emotional weight remains crushing. This band understands that sadness doesn't have to be slow, and heaviness doesn't always need a breakdown.

While some metal purists might moan about the accessibility, there is no denying the skill or the emotional honesty poured into this album. Dayseeker hasn't gone soft. They just figured out how to make their anger sound dangerous and magnetic at the same time. This record is a sharp, confident statement from a band that knows exactly how to manipulate feeling. 8/10

Dirkschneider And The Old Gang - Babylon (Reigning Phoenix Music) [Matt Bladen]

Launched in 2020 as one off charity project, Dirkschnieder And The Old Gang, is a sort of supergroup featuring snarling veteran vocalist Udo Dirkschnieder collaborating with former members of Accept, U.D.O and Dirkschneider, they are bassist/vocalist Peter Baltes, guitarists Stefan Kaufmann and Mathias “Don” Dieth and drummer Sven Dirkschneider with Manuela “Ella” Bibert adding additional vocals.

This is their second album and further explores the what sort of heavy metal these veterans can create, using all of their expertise and trio of voices (Udo/Baltes/Manuela), with It Takes Two To Tango it's pretty much what you'd expect, classic Teutonic heavy metal, basically classic Udo which comes back a few times on Time To Listen, The Law Of A Madman, the bouncy Batter The Power and of course Metal Sons.

However it's not all German heavy metal firepower there's a few more influences that seep in. Dead Man's Head is full of organ drenched rocking, Babylon brings some Middle Eastern soundscapes on a elongated, if a little boring epic. While Strangers In Paradise and Blindfold are the ballads which thankfully see Manuela take the lead over the other two gritty shouters.

Babylon then is another set of throwback tunes from this gang of buddies cranking out heavy metal music. 7/10

Them - Psychedelic Enigma (Steamhammer/SPV) [Spike]

Them get more aggressive with Psychedelic Enigma but don't make any wholesale changes on album number five. They never really stray from the King Diamond beginnings (Troubled Minds), sprinting along with some thrashy conceptual metal that also take influence from Megadeth too on couple of songs.

The influence of legendary sound engineer Randy Burns brings his experience with Megadeth and Suicidal Tendencies, to give the record a rawness. It's an album with a storyline and theme, one that takes the shape of a psychological thriller but whether you get into the band for the theatrical elements or not, you can't deny the music.

A track like Reverie showcases this heavier side with it's darker approach and frantic double kicks, though Remember To Die is faster taking Them into their crossover thrash era, although with keyboards. So Psychedelic Enigma is the heaviest Them have sounded but it's also their most progressive record to with riffs jarring against riffs to tell this twisted tale. 7/10

Fatal Portrait– An Elusive Instinct For Lascivia: Redvx (Black Lion Records) [Spike]

Fatal Portrait delivers an absolute masterwork in controlled darkness. This is An Elusive Instinct For Lascivia - Redvx, a complete deconstruction and reconstruction of their 2001 debut. This is not a fresh coat of paint. it’s the original blueprint rendered in steel and shadow, preserving the old darkness while making it sharper, deeper, and far more demanding.

Forget cheap gimmicks. this is pure gothic theatre and black-edged doom.

The Spanish outfit has always had a knack for the dramatic, and this Redvx version leans into it with absolute commitment. The record begins with the dramatic instrumental Invocatio, a necessary piece of scene-setting that opens the curtains on the sonic drama. But the real show starts with Five Dimmensions Of Pleasure. This track is a masterclass in slow, measured escalation. It establishes a sense of dread that doesn't rely on speed or pure volume, but on the careful layering of atmosphere. The riffs are thick and suffocating, locking into an inexorable doom pace that suggests endless twilight.

The entire record works on the tension between the physical and the cerebral. Tracks like Drowned In Your Eyes and the monumental closer Angus Dei show the band operating with a surgical precision that enhances the emotional weight. The guitars are less about furious tremolo picking (though it's there) and more about carving out vast, melancholic space. When they decide to move, the speed is earned, bursting through the atmosphere like a wound opening up.

The vocal work is key here. It’s a caustic rasp that contrasts brilliantly with the sombre, almost operatic feel of the melody lines, a sound like a ruined priest screaming an unholy gospel inside an abandoned cathedral. Even the relatively brief track Where My Eagerness Dies feels essential. it acts less like an interlude and more like a necessary moment of chilling stillness before the nine-minute odyssey of Cantabria Under Siege drags you back into the philosophical mire.

This Redvx project proves that sometimes, the best way to move forward is to look back with a darker, more critical eye. By sharpening the production and deepening the dynamics, Fatal Portrait has delivered a work that is both an homage to their raw roots and a definitive statement on the enduring power of gothic black/doom. It is elegant, crushing, and demands multiple listens to fully appreciate the depths of its misery. This album feels like sinking into a cold, welcome grave. 8/10

Reviews: Lunatic Soul, Leprous, Psychonaut, Tuesday The Sky (Matt Bladen)

Lunatic Soul - The World Under Unsun (InsideOut Music)

In his first release for InsideOut Music, Mariusz Duda releases a 90 minute double album under his Lunatic Soul guise. The Riverside frontman has been creating music under the Lunatic Soul banner since 2008, playing music that perhaps doesn't fit within the Riverside banner, inspired by Peter Gabriel or Depeche Mode on tracks like the propulsive Monsters, Mike Oldfield on the title track and also Dead Can Dance (The Prophecy/Game Called Life).

Lunatic Soul blends aching introspective folk with art pop and bristling electronics all under the banner of prog rock. Though Duda is not too keen on the progressive rock tag as he says "Lunatic Soul gives me more room for musical originality than Riverside” so he considers it ot be just as important of a document for his musical output as Riverside. So not a aside project and also not prog rock, despite being very progressive in its compositions especially the Mind Obscured, Heart Eclipsed and Self In Distorted Glass.

Mariusz plays all the instruments on these albums, there are selected guests previously but in this eighth record it's very much a solitary journey, The World Under Unsun marking the final chapter in the eight album story entitled The Circle of Life And Death. So it carries a sense of closure but also comes as an epic final movement for the previous Lunatic Soul cycle, with the beautiful The New End a perfect last track.

Where Mariusz Duda goes from here is anyone's guess but I'm sure that you won't want to miss it, until then though embrace this wonderful record with open ears. 9/10

Leprous - An Evening Of Atonement (InsideOut Music)

While touring their 2024 record Melodies Of Atonement, Leprous made a stop at Poppodium 013 in Tilburg, The Netherlands decided that it was here they were going to record their latest live record. It's a venue a lot of bands have done the same at in the past but for Leprous it holds added significance as it was 15 years since they were and opening band on that stage and now as full fledged headliners in their own right it was time to showcase themselves with the biggest and most impressive live show to date.

Obviously this is just the musical part and not the videos section directed by Paul M Green, however you can still hear the crowd respond to everyone single one of these career spanning tracks. 21 in total which opens with Silently Walking Alone which builds an atmosphere before it leads into the propulsive The Price and the twitching electronics of Illuminate. Einar Solberg is on fine vocal form throughout again reinforcing himself as probably the best vocalists out there, he also still plays keys live though he's augmented by Harrison White for the moments when he needs to just be a singer.

Behind him the band are at 110%, guitarists Tor Oddmund Suhrke and Robin Ognedal dance between the fluid, atmospheric melodies and chunky riffs, which are more present on the earlier material such as Forced Entry from Bilateral, Simen Børven bass to plays a big part too on a track such as I Hear The Sirens or the grooving Like A Sunken Ship, where the meat of the song so to speak is him. While drummer extraordinaire Baard Kolstad is just consistently mind blowing.

There's a focus on Melodies Of Atonement of course but it is great for a long term fans like me to hear them play anything earlier than The Congregation, so hearing tracks such as Foe, Forced Entry and Passing did get me quite excited, however as this an 'evening with' scenario, new or passing fans may be thrown by it's two hour run time. However I would definitely that this a perfect examples of the band Leprous are today. Packed with their most recent material but with flashes of the past. An Evening Of Atonement, captures Leprous at the height of their powers as one of the most important prog bands of the 21st Century. 9/10

Psychonaut - World Maker (Pelagic Records)

While writing World Maker, guitarist/vocalist Stefan De Graef welcomed his first child while he and bassist/vocalist Thomas Michiels both had to contend with their father's being given cancer diagnoses. If anything was to alter your viewpoint then these two things happening almost simultaneously would. It means that World Maker took on a different role than just being another album from this Belgian trio, rounded out by drummer Harm Peters, the record became about legacy.

Saying a farewell to the past through the catharsis of music but also celebrating rebirth and the future, how one thing can lead to another De Graef especially wanting to use this album for good, filling it with love, warmth and compassion, perhaps lacking from this post metal bands previous releases, which often dwell in introspection as so many bands such as Cult Of Luna, Tool, Leprous and Riverside do, all bands that carry an influence with Psychonaut.

From the opening strains of the title track which builds on Rhodes organ with a haunting ambience before moving into the percussive heavy grooves of Endless Currents which is the definitive lead single for this record as it keeps the thrilling post-metal drive, with widdly guitars, thick grooves and flashes of growling when needed that has been a part of Psychonaut's style since their multi-time represses 202 debut. This and their 2022 follow up has seen them take to the stage at Alcatraz, Boomtown, Roadburn Redux and taken them on tour with Pelagic labelmates.

As I've said through the band do more with World Maker, introducing guest musician Dutch multi-instrumentalist Anthe Huybrechts (Anthe/Helion Creek) on the crushing You Are The Sky along with the the haunting And Everything Else Is Just The Weather, the title and the guitar tone of a lost track on Pink Floyd's Division Bell, this new warmth feeding through into the gorgeous beginning, and proggy middle of And You Came With Searing Light that reminds me of Leprous, like a lot, this was supposed to be the first song on the record but it sits perfectly on the middle as bod to what has come before.

I'd not heard previous records by Psychonaut before listening to this one but I went back and discovered that they are good, but the personal take of this one makes it better, you can hear that the events around the writing has shifted their approach, from the use of Tabla on Origins, and the tribal percussion on the euphoric Stargazer, to the electronics that pulse swell on All Was Quiet which leads into the closing brilliance of Endless Erosion where strings are added for more musical dexterity.

World Maker is a brilliant album from Psychonaut, redefining who they are as band in one record. I'd say it's pretty much essential. 10/10

Tuesday The Sky - Indoor Enthusiast (Metal Blade Records)

One that's a great title for an album, as I get older I too am an Indoor Enthusiast, which probably explains why I review so many albums, but it seems that Jim Matheos is also an Indoor Enthusiast on his third instrumental solo project Tuesday The Sky.

Known as the guitarist for progressive metal originators Fates Warning, Matheos has a unique playing style that relies on feel and nuance rather than virtuoso shredding and widdling, owing more to Pink Floyd than contemporaries Dream Theater. This probably explains why this album has a song called Does It Need To Be So Loud which was a question asked of Pink Floyd early in their career and this song has the same kind of pulsating build and dynamic guitar prowess of Floyd.

Formed in 2016, there have been two previous albums from this project, each one more influenced by post-rock, electronics and ambient music, the goal is not to play straight forward songs, verse/chorus etc but to create atmospheres that engulf you in emotion, be that drama, sadness or euphoria, Jim himself says that the music begins with an "interesting sound that catches my attention", this makes for music that never sticks to a formulaic route.

Jim plays everything you hear with the exception of drums from Dennis Leeflang, crafting these songs from the ground up for another set of instrumental wonders that showcase another side of his songwriting. 8/10

Reviews: Doro, Mastiff, Secret Rule, Ars Onirica (Cherie Curtis & Matt Bladen)

Doro – Warriors Of The Sea (Nuclear Blast Records) [Cherie Curtis]

Doro Pesch is back at it again with Warriors Of The Sea. This album includes live tracks as well as two new releases and an outstanding rendition of Touch Too Much by AC/DC.

This one is action-packed, pure rock and roll with cinematic theatrics thrown in just in case that weren’t enough. Warriors Of The Sea feels like a hidden gem I found buried in a record shop instead of a 2025 new release. It’s timeless yet classic and a crowd pleaser for all.

Doro’s 30 years of experience is obvious with this one, everything feels authentic and raw. Doro’s showmanship is constantly engaging and really makes this one feel special. Doro doesn’t have the notoriety she deserves!

What stands out to me is the attention to detail that went into the creative decision making. The choral elements which turns a rock and roll ballad into an almost sea shanty, as well as Doro’s perfectly timed vocal inflections which pairs nicely with her natural rasp, turns what could be a sleazy rock bar single into a passionate rock hit.

Seelied is a gorgeously gentle song sang in German which is Doro’s mother tongue.

Overall, it’s pure rock and roll fun. Warriors Of The Sea is a catchy, head banging, sing as loud as you can album. The instrumentals are gritty and rumbling gloriously messy and they compliment the vocals perfectly while uplifting the complexity of the overall dynamic. It’s clear here who the star is and we are here to listen.

It’s worth noting that the vocals are just as good in the live tracks as they are in the pre recorded. The audio is a bit rough in quality but that could very well be my own copy . 9/10

Mastiff - For All The Dead Dreams (Church Road Records) [Matt Bladen]

To coincide with an upcoming run of dates, these Hull-raisers return with 15 minutes of brand new battery. 

Bitter, misanthropic and brutal as anything Mastiff have been beating down audiences with their black edged sludgecore for a decade and with two albums and countless shows and festivals under their belt. As well as appearances in both the Cyberpunk Videogame and Anime. They have joined forces with Church Road Records, a label that loves heavy, and this new EP is their first release.

If you don't know what to expect from Mastiff then be prepared as it's hyper aggressive downbeat hardcore that blasts out of the speakers with venom, throat shredding vocals and breakneck riffs that shift into lumbering slabs of sludge. The dream team of Joe Clayton and Brad Boatright mixed and mastered the record, making everything sound deliciously raw, metallic and as abrasive as 24-Grit sandpaper.

Soliloquy is not the beautiful set of words it pertains to be, instead it's a beatdown driven beginning to this visceral EP where angular hardcore joins on Rotting Blossoms the snarls of "fear lives longer than any f*cking love" staying with you as they shift into the grunting OSDM infused Decimated Graves. Mastiff's music isn't made for escapism or joy, it's there's to show you how collectively screwed we all are, nihilistic metal for the end times, For All The Dead Dreams is a 15 minute eulogy for the planet. 8/10

Secret Rule – X (Rockshots Records) [Cherie Curtis]

With their 10th anniversary tour around the corner, Secret Rule has given us 11 tracks of melodic, easy to listen too and intimate anthems. The guitars are clean cut and rhythmic accompanied with some really resonating lyrics. 

Angela Di Vincenzo is a talented singer, her vocals are poignant and are able to carry through each track amongst stronger instrumentals. The music itself is alive with bass with some orchestral elements. It goes in heavy with texture and layering without being distractingly heavy in the sense that we all know well.

X, seesaws in and out of genres throughout. Tracks like Collapse for example, feature stylistically interesting vocals which would have been far more exciting if it was explored further in the rest of the album. 

The same with Echoes Of The Earth, it feels like 2000s industrial. The much harsher vocals veering on spoken word was such a great change of pace but only lasts for a few verses. I feel like we could have had it all if they had pushed this style a bit more and I found myself waiting for something similar to come along and it didn’t.

Overall It didn’t take me to where I wanted to go, I felt like it was pulling me in different directions. X is good and technically very well done but it pedals the middle line when the potential for something truly great was there all along. 6/10

 
Ars Onirica - 2.5 Nighttime EP (Ardua Music) [Matt Bladen]

Alessandro Sforza reformed Ars Onirica as a solo project in 2018 after being a full band in the early 2000's. With just Alessandro as the only member he's been a bit more prolific with two albums behind him already and now he's gearing up to continue the journey with this little pit stop called 2.5 Nighttime EP.

Recorded, mixed and mastered again with Alessandro Sforza in partnership with Lorenzo Carlini, both of whom were involved with the two previous albums. Sitting as an interlude between album two and the upcoming album three, this is a five track exploration of the themes that have been touched upon on the previous records while moving forward towards where they will be going.

Built around a thrilling, multi-layered three part title track, things start off with the atmospheric Dusk (An Ode To The Stars) which features clean vocals and ambient Floydian guitars, evoking the dreamscapes that come in the central part of the album.

As we shift into Nighttime Part I the sounds of Anathema permeate here but it's not long before the death/doom side comes in for Nighttime Part II (Your Silence Around Me) as he channels that Peaceville three sound with dual harsh/clean vocals and melodic but slow moving doom. The speed is injected on the blistering Part III where black metal seeps in against some clean leads guitars as Dawn adds the ambience of Steven Wilson (RTRTS) as a form of closure to this interlude between full-lengths.

Alessandro Sforza puts everything into his music even when it's an EP he makes it cinematic and expansive. If this hints at what's to come on album three then expect something wonderful. 8/10

Reviews: Wino, Werewolves, Grailknights, Octotanker (Rich Piva, Mark Young, Spike & Matt Bladen)

Wino - Create Or Die (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]

I think everyone has certain expectations when Wino is involved in a project with one of his many bands, especially when it is a Wino solo record, which have mostly been acoustic, man with only his guitar type records, similar to the killer Forever Gone from Ripple Music’s Blood and Strings collection. However, with the very aptly titled Create Or Die, Wino brings his most diverse solo record yet, including all sorts of instrumentation and even plugging in for this one, with a renewed spark in his songwriting and creativity on full display over the ten tracks offered here.

Right off the bat, you know that Create Or Die is going to be a different Wino solo record, especially when the riff hits you on Anhedonia, which is vintage, plugged in Wino and one of my favourite tracks he has done in years, on any project. New Terms is next, and more along what you expect from solo Wino, except how about some Irish bodhrán drum and banjo with those deeply personal lyrics? Killer stuff. 

Carolina Fox could probably have worked as an Obsessed track with some slide guitar to go along with it, but it fits nicely on Create Or Die as another riff filled, plugged in, Wino classic. Killer solo too. Wino can certainly jerk a tear to your eye with a song like Never Said Goodbye. Hopeful Defiance is punk rock Wino that rips and might be my favourite track on here. Us Or Them keeps Wino plugged in, and the mid-tempo rocker is vintage stuff from a guy who has been doing this for decades. 

I love how this record shifts from electric to acoustic so seamlessly, with Cold Or Wrong being the most stripped-down man and his guitar track on the record…of course it is excellent. Lost Souls Fly is an amazing slow burn, like if The Obsessed was doing Skynyrd or Neil Young. So deep, so emotional, and so very cool. Speaking of deep and Neil Young, the countryfied Bury Me In Texas is the perfect solo Wino song for 2025. There could not be a better closer for Create Or Die than Noble Man, which sums this whole thing up perfectly.

Given it is Wino we are talking about, maybe we shouldn’t just assume what direction a solo album from him in 2025 will go. What is for sure though is that it will be heartfelt, heavy in its own way, pure Wino awesomeness that we are all so spoiled to be able to experience. Create Or Die, indeed. 9/10

Werewolves - The Ugliest Of All (Back On Black) [Mark Young]

The second of the ‘slipped through the cracks’ reviews of the week is Werewolves, and their 6th album The Ugliest Of All. Now, a question. With the bands you follow, do you like to see them grow and develop as artists, even to the point where they no longer resemble the band they were? They could still be releasing heavy music but the actual execution of it is completely different from their debut. 

Or do you prefer it when a band stays true to their beginnings and only carrying out minor refinements album to album? I think we can agree that when a band talks about their latest release being their heaviest or has recaptured the ‘fire’ displayed in a certain period then you must take it with a pinch of salt. This is a roundabout way of saying that change is not necessarily a good thing.

In this instance Werewolves do what they have always done over the course of their career. Deliver extreme metal. That’s it, no abrupt changes, no surprises, no dallying with orchestral arrangements or heartfelt acoustic moments, just abrasive heavy metal. So, there are two ways of looking at this, which kind of loops back to my opening statement. 

There is no denying that this is a strong album that stays true to what heavy metal is all about – fast, aggressive, nasty but laced with antipodean humour. It also sounds remarkably similar to their other albums and with that there is a sense of having heard this from them before. Putting that to one side though, are the songs any good? From a death metal perspective, they are because Werewolves understand what is required of them which each new release.

1. They.Must.Not.Slow.Down.

2. They must bring the most visceral metal possible.

3. And they must not—absolutely must not—go soft.

Take it from me, they haven’t.

If you didn’t know (and I didn’t) they have set themselves the target of releasing new music every year. Which is insane (and they say it themselves) and when consider this then of course there is going to be feeling of slight repetition but this is soon forgotten as the album stomps over you in the best caveman fashion. It does what it has to do, wrapping up before it wears its welcome out. If you have heard them before then this will hold no surprises for you. You know what you are letting yourself in for and this is a guilt free experience where you can just enjoy the primal energy and forget everything else. If you haven’t, and love death metal, why not? Get in there and give them a bash! 8/10

Grailknights – Forever (Perception/RPM) [Spike]

Let's start with the hard truth: Grailknights is a band that exists entirely to make me feel old and cynical. Their aesthetic is a glorious, neon-coloured nightmare straight out of 1980s television, featuring superhero armour, a constant battle against arch-villain Dr. Skull, and calling their fans the "Battlechoir." This isn't music; it's a Power Rangers audition tape that somehow grew into a full-fledged Power Metal institution. And honestly, I hate that I kind of respect it.

Forever is their seventh album, and that experience means they know exactly how to execute this particular brand of muscular, high-kicking fantasy metal. This record is pure, unadulterated, disco-infused power metal. You get 11 tracks designed not for headbanging angst, but for synchronized jumping and the kind of group sing-alongs that make you check your reflection for a cape.

The first punch is Yes Sire, which immediately sets the tone with the expected double-bass gallop and highly orchestrated choral sections. It’s a clean, polished sound, built with the intention of being a live spectacle. Then you hit Grail Gym. If there is a single song on this planet designed to be played while bench-pressing a horse, this is it. It’s lyrically ridiculous and musically infectious, marrying a heavy, anthemic riff with a bouncy rhythm that is undeniably catchy. This is the calculated, corporate-approved version of rebellion.

They have zero intention of easing off the accelerator. Tracks like Necronomicon and Grailforce One maintain that fast, precise energy, delivering exactly what the Battlechoir wants: layered, harmonized guitars and huge, soaring choruses. The vocal trade-offs, oscillating between clean, booming choir parts and quick bursts of harsh death metal growls, keep the formula from flatlining. They even manage to rope in Chiara Tricarico on In The Eyes Of The Enemy, a track that delivers maximum dramatic flair. It’s the closest they get to traditional metal elegance, but it still smells faintly of theatrical smoke machines.

What saves Forever from being a total skip is its complete lack of self-doubt. The band knows the gimmick is the point. They are taking the most dorky elements of the genre and playing them with the conviction of an invading army. If you need a soundtrack for escaping reality into a world where all problems can be solved with a catchy chorus and a well-choreographed fight scene, this album works. It’s an infectious, well-executed piece of pop-metal theatre that manages to make even an ABBA cover of Super Trouper feel like a battle hymn.

If you like your metal to tell you everything is fine, pump your fist, and remind you to do your squats, then I guess Forever is the answer. It does however make me feel old and cynical and for that. 6/10

Octotanker - Voidhopper (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

Formerly known as Prąd, this Wrocław, Poland based psychedelic stoners are now known as Octotanker and they bring us their new record Voidhopper. Setting out their approach early with the doomy title track, they're a band that have slow slung, down-tuned riffs but they aren't a band with just the one trick as below the slow moving doom there's a tingle of goth.

This gets stronger on Starships where there's some shuffling post-punk that adds echoed vocals, a throbbing bass line and jangling/fuzzy guitars. This addition to their sound makes them a bit more interesting if you're feeling doom/stoner fatigue. The 80's post-punk, brings the early days of U2 on All Suffer, as Aghori dials up the goth.

While what they do is not too innovative, there are bands that put doom with post punk and psych, they do it pretty well and this album does have some enjoyable tracks on it. 7/10

Reviews: Bone Church, Brainwave, Remina, Deteriorot (Rich Piva, Mark Young, Matt Bladen & GC)

Bone Church - Deliverance (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]

Ripple Music’s Bone Church have been bringing us some killer bluesy stoner doom for almost ten years now, but never has the Connecticut band more sound like they were from Texas, or maybe North Florida, then they do on their new record, Deliverance. 

While the first records leaned way more into the doom side of things, especially vibe wise, the seven songs on Deliverance are as party album as Bone Church can possibly get; more ZZ Top than Sabbath, with other Southern Rock and rocking blues bands thrown into their already killer mix of heavy.

There is always a gallop to Bone Church and this record is no different, but there is some next level ripping it up on Deliverance. Electric Execution sounds like if Grand Funk and Diamond Head collaborated on a song, and boy does it work. Lucifer Rising keeps up the proto/NWOBHM vibes and is the most Sabbath song on the record, but still with this kind of Texas groove to it. The Sin Of 1000 Heathens is the most Bone Church song on Deliverance, so this one should be right in a BC fan’s wheelhouse. 

The very on the nose title Goin’ To Texas is pure doomy ZZ Top, and it is killer. Love the organ work on it too. There is a kind of Alice Cooper thing going on as well, and it all works great. You know how ZZ Top lyrically can leave out the subtly of things? How the lyrics can be the right level of cringe and cheese but also wonderful? 

Bone Church nails the vibe perfectly on Muchachos Muchachin, with not just the words but the ZZ Top worship musically as well. The gallop returns on Bone Boys Ride Out, doubling down on Deliverance being your outlaw biker friend’s new favourite record. The closing title track is a grandiose (for Bone Church) 70’s stadium rock anthem that channels all of the heavier radio friendly great bands of that era. It is very different for the band, but it is also the perfect way to end the record for what Deliverance is.

I don’t think that Deliverance is a massive shift in sound for Bone Church, but I think it is just enough of a change to take the Connecticut boys to the next level, even if they are thousands of miles from Texas. Great stuff for new and old BC fans, and fans of filthy ZZ Top covered heavy ass blues metal. 8/10

Brainwave - Ill Intent (Elimination Records) [Mark Young]

Unexpected treat of the week goes to the Wellington crossover outfit Brainwave, whose name initially gave me alt-rock/shoegaze vibes until pressing play and album opener No Mercy came out stomping. You can safely say that within 5 seconds of the drums coming in, followed by what the young kids would describe as a guitar line from the stone age suddenly dropping in, you know that you are nowhere near shoegaze territory. 

Ill Intent is a 10-song repeated mantra, where the ability to throw out triplets, down pick and carry out whammy bar abuse are the order of the day. So, where it could be dull for some, used to technical wizardry, then this will heaven for others. 

Imagine an album that channels the vibe and approach from the mid to late 80’s thrash, then bolts an extreme vocal style to it. This is what Brainwave have done here, and if its not for you, never mind. You should go and pick something from the technical section and then bore the pants off someone about it.

Before we go too far, Ill Intent is their debut release and is a confident, well-built one at that. Each of the tracks ploughs its way through that thrash heavy field, always keeping one eye on where they can bring a touch of hardcore into it but always ensuring that they keep the riffs rolling and that old school vibe is maintained but in doing so it paints them into a corner in how each track is built. 

For them to try and keep each song fresh is a tall order but for the most part they achieve a measure of success. Ill Intent is built with those who love aggressive, to the point metal. That is their core audience, and your enjoyment of this will depend on how you feel about thrash metal. Love it then this is right up your street. Hate it, then go elsewhere.

I make no apologies about this being a relatively short review because it would be largely redundant in me trying to give you an in-depth precis of each song, which would miss the point. Rather than zero in on one stand-out track, instead give all ten a go because each one does its job in striking hard and then moving onto the next one.

So, to recap: Love thrash? Buy this. Hate thrash? Don’t bother. 7/10

Remina - The Silver Sea (Avantgarde Music) [Matt Bladen]

Mike Lamb and Heike Langhans, both of international atmospheric black metal act Sojourner return with a second album of brooding, introspective gothic doom. Featuring the musical craftsmanship of Lamb and the haunting vocals of Langhans.

The Silver Sea also features some brilliant guest vocals from the dulcet tones of Mick Moss of Antimatter on Algol while Vanta Rey features Tony Dunn of Sgàile. It's an album that deals with turmoil, the theme of isolation runs through the album as during the recording of the album Lamb and Langhans had to move away from their life in Italy and move across the world to New Zealand for family reasons.

It's this sense of the unknown and the fear that brings which comes through on the claustrophobic tracks of this record, the guitars and bass riffs, helped immeasurably by the drum tracking of Shayne Roos. While the undercurrent of electronics means that synthwave pulses on Io while it also adds some beauty to final track Silence and The Silver Sea.

Album two reflects big personal change for Remina but musically they stay on track with some gorgeous gothic doom. 8/10

Deteriorot - Awakening (Xtreem Music) [GC]

Having been around since 1988, you may expect Deteriorot to have a hefty back catalogue but after a quick check, it looks like Awakening is ‘only’ their seventh album, they came from a time when death metal was fresh and new and have persevered and carried the torch for nearly 4 decades, time to find out if they still have what it takes after all these years.

We get title track Awakening to start off and it’s just an unnecessary intro which seems like a weird choice for the title track? It actually begins properly with The Flame which is full of the scuzzy sounding riffs that one minute are all guns blazing but then it’s a slow, brooding vibe but do we get enough blasty, chaotic bits to appease anyone who has a short attention span, no not really and it’s a bit of an underwhelming start in all honesty.

In Battle To Survive carries on with the low and slow pace and it’s a bit of a struggle to make much out over the vocals here as they have been mixed as the main part and just drown everything out for the most part Horrors In An Everlasting Nightmare doesn’t do anything to change the dynamic or sound, which would be fine if the sound was interesting or did something to really reel you in but it doesn’t do that at all, its all so slow and tedious and so far the songs all just feel so long and drawn out, I can’t imagine watching this live would be very entertaining! 

I’m already struggling to be positive and I’m only halfway through and unfortunately A Ghost In The Mirror does nothing to change my view on how things are going, there is just nothing interesting happening it’s all just slow, crawling and very dull, cut, paste, repeat and there are 12 tracks on this album, with only one having anything half decent happening so far! 

Deliver Us From Fiction then does sort of shut me up and has that something that has been missing so far, it has pace and energy with a riff that will burrow into your brain and stay there for a while (because it’s the first one you have heard on the album so far probably) the main verses have an unpredictability about them and sound rough and ready which is a welcome change but they never stray too far from what they have done all album and about midway just totally stop any momentum and its back to the slow, tedious pace and I just roll my eyes and wait for the song to finally finish. 

I was expecting Haunting Images From A Past Life to be a blasty, short number at 2:32 but of course it’s nothing of the sort it is, just a drawn-out boring dirge of a track and I honestly don’t know how much more I can be bothered with on this album before I just completely lose that will to live! Programmed By Fear is where I do actually tune out as its just more of the same, we then get Winter Moon and In Silence which are you guessed it, carbon copies of any other track you may care to mention on the record.

The Spirit veers off track and does finally have some energy and, well spirit, it just annoying that its in there but they use it so rarely because more of this would have made this album a lot more listenable, To Sleep isn’t what I have finally done, its an instrumental outro and just sums everything up in one last shot of boringness.

It’s been 37 years Deteriort has been around for and on this showing, I am not really sure how? There may be different sounds to their previous albums, but Awakening does not make me want to find out! Death Metal can polarize opinions as there are so many different forms of it, I’m not sure how to pinpoint this because boring death metal doesn’t really have decent ring to it but, I am sorry this is exactly what this album was, boring. 3/10

Reviews: Brave Rival, Malota, Birdwitch, Amnesiak (Matt Bladen)

Brave Rival - 5 To 4 EP (Self Released)

Portsmouth rockers Brave Rival come roaring back with their new EP of swaggering, sultry rock n roll that gives some Heart on Poison with the killer vocals of Lindsey Bonnick backed by some shouted background "heys", while they phase into the bluesy balladry of Zep on Try Again, the opener Let Me Rock 'n' Roll has the fuzzy riffage of The Black Keys with a gutsy heavy rock style.

The EP comes from the fact that the band are now a foursome, so they have gone from five to four. With Lindsey on vocals joined but drummer Donna Peters, guitarists Ed ‘The Shred’ Clarke and bassist Billy Dedman, but without an extra member they lose none of their potency. If anything this EP shows that they are a leaner, meaner act. 

Adding a modern rock sheen of a band such as Halestorm on Control while Wild Child definitely gets the groove going again. It's a whole new era for Brave Rival, shorn of a member but fired up with some top quality new music, and three acoustic versions as well.

If this is precursor to a new full length album as a fierce four piece then I for one will be expecting big things! 8/10

Malota - Scapegoat (Go Down Records)

The second record from Italy's Malota comes on Italian label Go Down Records opens with some Rob Zombie like roaring at the beginning of Clemency the only song where drummer Roberto 'Mariuz' Mariuzzo takes lead vocals and the band instil their sense of dread and isolation from the opening moments.

Scapegoat brings a darker more visceral sound with this album forgoing the rock style of their previous releases for a much heavier, metallic sound, the rougher edge of Max D'Ospina's vocals coming from the stoner style while he thunders on bass, he's also got piano, didgeridoo to add to his repertoire and the broad sound of album two.

Things take a heavier turn again on But Deliver Us From Pain, where Fabio Favaretto brings some visceral growls against a sprawling haunting atmosphere, the idea of suffering is preeminent on Scapegoat, the complexity of human relationships, and the uncertain and violent times we live in, but tracks such as In A Common Have are driven by the riffy guitars of Alberto Montagner and Massimo Battistella.

I'd not heard anything by Malota before but this is a dark stoner record that shifts Malota into a different realm. 7/10

Birdwitch - Bless The Spark That Found Its Home (Self Released)

Self-Described as a band that plays 'dream violence' band, I wasn't to sure what to expect when the band approached us about reviewing this record but yeah it's very much a bit of me.

They come from Norwich and blend doom, shoegaze, post-metal, prog and black metal, drawing them comparisons to bands such as Oathbreaker, Converge, Emma Ruth Rundle and Faetooth. The band channelling all their anger, hurt and frustration through Raya-Mhari Iglesias Beattie, part ethereal wanderer, part possessed demon, the vocals used as catharsis for the heavy lyrical content of these four tracks.

With the duality of Raya-Mhari's vocals upfront the music is just as dynamic, from the dreamy beginnings of Stumbled, where the synths of Grant Mackay weave through the swirling rhythm section of bassist Tim Burden and Kieron Larcombe. Mackay and Jade Kelly switch on the distortion for their guitars, and the vicious vocals come in. Going through Starling, the heavy remains with post-metal blasts, while on Disingenuous, they begin with the ambient elements they bring through all of their music.

Then the heavy comes back in again at the end of this track and with the extreme prog metal brutality of Section 21 which closes this emotional and deeply personal ritual. Bless The Spark That Found Its Home is an excellent EP from Birdwitch and deserves your attention. 8/10

Amnesiak - Arkfiend (Self Released)

Gothic doom duo Amnesiak deliver their debut album called Arkfiend. The London band consist of composer/multi-instrumentalist/producer Francesco Fonte and composer/lyricist Grace Wilson, both take vocals and while the performances are decent from both of them across these seven doomy tracks.

One of which is a cover of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, but the songs all carry a similar tone that makes it all sort of a blur or goth and doom, never really changing too much other than the way the vocals are delivered. As much as I wanted to like this record but I found it just a little samey for my taste. 6/10

Reviews: Deez Nuts, Wretched, Old Year, Perishing (Spike & Sasa)

Deez Nuts – Saudade (Century Media Records) [Spike]

Let's start with the obvious problem: How can a band named after a juvenile punchline release an album titled Saudade? That’s Portuguese for a deep, melancholic yearning for something absent, for that sweet sorrow of missing something that might never come back. This is Deez Nuts, the band that basically defined Party Hardcore for a generation. It’s like watching your grizzled, perpetually drunk uncle suddenly start reciting Romantic poetry.

And yet, it works.

Saudade is the sound of frontman JJ Peters and the crew looking back over two decades of absolute chaos and realizing that even the most hedonistic party eventually stops. This album is leaner, punchier, and far more focused than their earlier work, ditching some of the previous filler for ten tracks of pure, concentrated fury that rarely break the three-minute mark. It's the sound of maturity delivered via a baseball bat to the face.

The Australian/International line-up is tight as hell, laying down a foundation of propulsive, two-step rhythms laced with their signature hip-hop cadence. ICU explodes out of the gate with relentless energy, serving as a brutal reminder that speed and aggression are still the priority. But the darkness immediately creeps in with Kill This Shit, a self-aware, venomous track that balances Peters' signature spitfire vocals against chunky, pit-ready breakdowns.

The thematic shift is what holds the attention. Tracks like Russian Roulette and Uncut Gems tap directly into that Saudade concept, they aren't just angry, they're reflective, dealing with past relationships, personal loss, and the mental toll of life on the road. The swagger hasn't evaporated, it's just been weaponized with emotional depth. When you hit Hang The Hangman, featuring Andrew Neufeld of Comeback Kid, you get that perfect fusion of melodic hardcore urgency mixed with that metallic street grit. It’s impossible not to throw a chair.

If you thought Deez Nuts were just a gag, Saudade is the album that demands you pay attention, even as they throw the party. It's heavy, it's honest, and it’s a brilliant realization that being sentimental doesn't mean you can't still burn the house down. It’s Hardcore, refined and slightly heartbroken. You need this. 8/10

Wretched - Decay (Metal Blade Records) [Sasa]

If you like bands like Infant Annihilator or Dying Fetus then you will love wretched, they are a band formed in 2005 and have worked on tour along side bands like Trivium and Job For A Cowboy. This new album is definitely something. 

Decay is a great album; it gives us diversity within the album which is 12 songs and over an hour in length. It has you head banging to dancing to the beautiful riffs that feel like it is calling for you. My favourite song is Radiance, and it has a slow melodic riff and heavy deathly vocals, the drums do not overpower but synchronise with the guitar and it is honestly just beautiful, this song is slightly more instrumentally focus than the other songs and it is just so well done. 

Another song I quite liked is Clairvoyance it gives off a country/game soundtrack, vastly different from the earlier tracks on the album. It just seems like the band did whatever they wanted, and I am here for it; I love when bands do not set on a genre, explore many others, and incorporate it. They definitely experimented and they achieved all the remarkable results that were possible. The instrumentals are amazing on every track, especially in the song the Golden Tide, I loved how much bass there was it added that oomph it was definitely the star of the show, the drums were fast paced, and the guitar was so melodic, you just cannot hate it or find anything wrong with it.  

I genuinely can not find any faults with this album whatsoever, I love it every song was excellent from the vocals to riffs, it is definitely one of my favourite new albums. 8/10

Old Year – No Dissent (Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings) [Spike]

If the Doom/Death scene ever decides to name its official sound, it should just point a microphone at whatever Old Year is doing. This four-track, thirty-six minute slab of pure Idaho misery is exactly what you need when you realize existential dread is actually quite a comfortable blanket. This isn't just heavy; this is tectonic pressure applied directly to your eardrums. It’s the kind of album that makes you feel the weight of the entire planet pressing down.

The key to this entire record, the thing that immediately draws you in and then pins you down, is the distortion. It’s not simply fuzz or crunch. the guitars on No Dissent sound less like instruments being played and more like heavy objects being dragged across rusted concrete. It’s a pure, grating friction that gives the entire production a sepulchral weight. Every chord shift feels less like a progression and more like a decaying building collapsing in slow motion, yet somehow, it all holds together with a sickening, rigid structure.

The tracks themselves are massive, atmospheric environments. Death Frequency sets the tone with a deliberate, agonizing pace. It establishes the central rhythm, a slow, relentless beat that functions like a death knell before gradually introducing layers of melody buried so deep beneath the distortion that they feel like distant, forgotten memories. It’s an eight-minute masterclass in how to build tension without ever speeding up.

Then you have Rotting Illusion, which takes the core atmosphere and injects a subtle but palpable malevolence. It’s here that the composition truly shines, moving beyond simple genre adherence into something far more psychological. The vocals are precisely what they need to be: a hollow, guttural growl that sounds perpetually buried, like the earth itself trying to spit out a secret it promised to keep. This track, and indeed the entire EP, refuses the typical Doom/Death pitfall of meandering aimlessly. These aren’t songs you put on in the background. they are environments that envelop you completely.

The genius of Old Year is how they manage to sound both subterranean and vast. That colossal guitar texture creates immense walls of sound, yet the minimal production keeps everything raw and personal. This isn’t a clean, clinical statement. this is raw emotional decay delivered with crushing force. This album refuses to let you relax. there is No Dissent allowed, not in the music, and certainly not from the listener. They just wrap you in sonic cement and leave you to contemplate the ceiling for half an hour. Fantastic. 9/10

Perishing - Malicious Acropolis Unveiled (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Sasa]

A band form Costa Rica that makes doom death metal have released 6 songs totalling up to 44 minutes in length. The bands new album titled malicious acropolis unveiled. This is their first album, and it is honestly exceptionally good. This album is slow yet somehow still dark and heavy and honestly it is a really unique album. To find something so slow but heavy is rare but to find bands who can combine the two and do it well is even more rare. 

Autolysis is the first song of the album and already tells you the vibe straight off the bat, it sounds like so, etching you’d hear if you were to go to a haunted castle, it has a medium pace at the start but slow downs but the vocals remain the same. It is very gloomy which matches the instrumentals so well. My favourite song on the album, Las Ruinas Del Palacio, starts off faster than the other songs but not a brutal death fast, it feels like the guitar and drums are the main focus compared to the vocals, it is dark and deep, it’s easy to keep up with but it’s not slow enough to get tired or bored of. 

The album is definitely a great starting point for the band it’s already highlighted what they are and made it so that you know it’s them as it’s got that unique element to it which I love. The cover art as well is definitely what you’d see for a death album but it actually does align with the theme and vibe of this album the gloomy dark and haunted music. My only con to the album is that the songs followed the same formula I wished there were more difference between them. I can not wait to see what Perishing have for us next and what new music they will bring into the doom/death scene. 7/10

Reviews: Soulfly, Human Fortress, Jet Jaguar, Solar Sons (Matt Bladen)

Soulfly - Chama (Nuclear Blast)

The Tribal drumming, the disorientating build of Indigenous Inquisition and then an "ugh" and quicker than you can say "Um, dois, três, quatro" we're back into the maelstrom of Max Cavalera's Soulfly. Storm The Gates and Nihilist both bludgeon, bringing an intensity that is scary even for a Soulfly record. 

Perhaps it's the addition of Max's son Zyon on drums or the fact that Cavalera is once again exploring his Brazilian heritage and embracing tribal percussion of the other band he founded, but that's not the half of it as Chama is one of the heaviest albums I've heard this year, an absolute monolith of noise and aggression. Every song feels like getting hit by a truck, this isn't just groove metal it's an audio demolition that begins on Storm The Gates and ends with the title track, never letting up for more than a few seconds from creating a claustrophobic, intense atmosphere. Well unless you count the moments of psychedelia on Soulfly XIII. 

Max has brought in a host of percussion players for this album, one that is packed with guests, showing the respect his name commands. Along with lead guitarist Mike DeLeon, producer/engineer Arthur Rizk and Michael Amott (Arch Enemy) take extra lead guitars. Max's other son Igor Amadeus plays some bass and Fear Factory's Dino Cazares makes his mark on the industrial crush of No Pain = No Power, where Ben Cook (No Warning) and Gabe Franco (Unto Others) take the Burton C Bell role on vocals.

There are few albums that can be called punishing and that's Chama in a nutshell, not just the heaviest albums Soulfly have released in a while, but one of the heaviest this year. 9/10

Human Fortress - Stronghold (Massacre Records)

Human Fortress play melodic metal, well they actually play epic battle metal according to them on Stronghold but this is pretty melodic heavy metal. It's their eighth album and their first without keyboardist Dirk Liehm, so it has led to an album that is largely more guitar driven than they've had before.

This takes them into both both heavier and sometimes sleazier realms, from the chest beating Stronghold, through the Teutonic swagger of The End Of The World, while there's a lot of melody on Mesh Of Lies. The Abyss Of Our Souls and Under The Gun both have some synths but very much live in the 80's sleaze metal style of Skid Row.

Now because they've lost a keyboardist but that doesn't mean they've got rid of some of the piano/synths, as the ballad Pain, is driven by piano, They also use them audibly on the dramatic Death Calls My Name and at the beginning chunky of the Road To Nowhere. It's the guitars that do most of the heavy lifting here adapting them into a heavier riffier sound than perhaps fans would be used to.

Human Fortress now do have another keyboard player but Stronghold is a guitar album, taking from both the German and American scenes of the 80's, they've packed it with riffs ready for the banging of the head. 7/10

Jet Jaguar - Severance (Steamhammer / SPV)

Mexican heavy metal now with newcomers Jet Jaguar, after surviving a difficult lockdown in their country and a serious traffic collision while on tour with Anvil, this foursome are a band who thrive in adversity. Their second album is brimming with talent, passion and resilience as they want to rock and rock hard, as their debut came in 2020 they perhaps felt that it was perhaps overshadowed with the pandemic as by the time they came to tour it, it would have been a few years old.

So with Severance they have composed a selection of tracks that have been built for touring, from the defiant Eternal Light they kick off with all the speed/classic metal sounds you could want, then it's into the blistering NWOTHM territory on Mach 10 where their guitarist and composer Ariyuki Saddler duels with himself for some sick solo sections. Raiden Lozenthall and Jorge ”Bori” Ramirez find themselves in the high speed grooves as rhythm guitarist and bassist respectively.

Raiden is a new addition to the band on rhythm guitar but also on vocals and he's got a sprawling style that skyscrapes but also adds grit and growls to track such as the apocalyptic Anthropocene which has some progressive drumming from Jimmy Lozano, the rabid title track and the political Fool's Paradise which takes aim at the USA's Orange Overlord.

This trad heavy metal band add some new wrinkles to their sound with album two, bringing prog as I've mentioned and some thrash/groove on Evil Within as well. The change on vocals has been a massive tick for these Mexican metallers as Severance, packs in plenty of heavy metal and insane guitar prowess (check out the EVH-style guitar heroics on Call Of The Fight). Highly recommend for heavy metal shred heads. 8/10

Solar Sons - Altitude (Argonauta Records)

Six albums in and Dundee trio Solar Sons still crank out the riffs with the enthusiasm of album one but the experience of album six. Over the years they've been manipulating their style to what it is today as classic heavy metal fuses with stoner/doom.

Does this make them the UK's answer to Grand Magus? Well you'd think so when you play Shooting Star, as Rory Lee's voice is quite similar to JB's as they add influences from both Soundgarden and Iron Maiden on Head First. His bass playing is just as powerful as his voice, leading the gallops and grooves, locking in with drummer Pete Garrow as Danny Lee breaks out the riffage and scorching solos.

Altitude has an urgency to it, even on the two longer numbers towards the end of the album, there's an intense delivery that doesn't hang about as they celebrate music on this album. No big political notions, no existential explorations, just the joy of jumping into the studio or going out on the road to play music. For those minutes, hours, days (this record was tracked in just 8), you're lost in music and nothing else's matters.

Thankfully the music here is great, if you like Grand Magus, Green Lung, Orange Goblin (tribute paid on O.G.) and obviously Sabbath too then Solar Sons should be next on your playlist. 8/10