Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire (Profound Lore Records)
Raw ferocity is an attribute of black metal that other genres don't always quite reach to the same sort of exuberance. Not in the same visceral way, at least. Stripped down varieties of black...
Within the Ruins – Layers of Phenomena
Massachusetts act Within the Ruins have become quickly identified for their notable guitar playing and easter egg level depth in their musicianship. Ten years ago, they released the comic book villain inspired Phenomena, which...
Future Palace – Distortion (Arising Empire)
Future Palace caught many people's ear with their fantastic sophomore effort, Run, back in 2022. It sounded like modern metal, but it didn't shy away from pushing boundaries with dabblings into more electronic areas,...
Deceased – Children of the Morgue (Hells Headbangers Records)
The dead arise again, as corpse dwellers Deceased return to obliterate all senses through another studio record for Children of the Morgue. These musicians continually deliver metal from the heart – the infusion of...
Wolfheart – Pushing the Contrasts
Steadily establishing themselves as reliable purveyors of winter metal (their term), Wolfheart over the course of eleven years continually delivers high quality aggressive music that has appeal to most of the underground. On their...
Deliver the Galaxy – Bury Your Gods (Massacre Records)
With a name like Deliver the Galaxy, you can expect that this German melodic death metal group isn’t going to feed you typical horror/gore themes at least on the lyrical front. Which is certainly...
Togenashi Togeari – Togenashi (Universal)
After releasing their first album back in April, Togenashi Togeari (トゲナシトゲアリ) have quickly returned with a full-album follow-up. While it's not quite as shocking if you are cognizant of the fact that Togeari was...
God Dethroned – Breaking the Bloodlines
When it comes to extreme metal, especially of the blackened death variety, there’s no one that’s been as reliable for 35 years as Dutch outfit God Dethroned. After spending the last 25 years with...
Liminal Shroud – Visions of Collapse (Willowtip Records)
In their six years of existence, Vancouver’s Liminal Shroud have quickly become a bastion of intelligent, bombastic black metal. Their sophomore record All Virtues Ablaze was a solid progression forward - though admittedly, the...
Nighthawk – Vampire Blues (Pride & Joy Music)
Another musical outlet put together due to prolonged pandemic downtime, Nighthawk contains seasoned musicians with ties to Thundermother, 220 Volt, Treat, Houston, and the Hellacopters – started by Metalite bassist Robert Majd. Choosing to...