2025

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    Austere - The Stillness of Dissolution (2025)

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    This Aussie two-man band went away for over ten years and returned recently in 2021 and has dropped an album a year since 2023, making it one of the most productive in the scene. For the uninitiated, Austere was one of the originators of the Depressing Black Metal style back in the 2000’s and they continue to spew their bleakness with “The Stillness of Dissolution”. Evolving more into Atmospheric Black Metal territories, this release is engaging, catchy and yet very desolate in punishing, just what the doctor ordered for a cloudy and rainy day.

    Opening with “Dissolved Exile”, the band showcases their technical chops with a very melodic and crafty piece filled with engaging guitar leads, melodic passages, and crafty drumming alongside a good dose of harsh vocals. One of the signature styles from all of Tim Yatras’ bands is the dramatic clean vocals, that gracefully add that extra level of bleakness to the very well composed and expertly layered core music. Immediately inciting the listening to headbang alongside the catchiness of the guitar work, “Rusted Veins” is one of the album’s stand-out tracks, just completely intoxicating.

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    …And Oceans - The Regeneration Itinerary (2025)

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    As one of the main bands that got us into Symphonic Black Metal back in the late 90’s, …And Oceans has been around for a while, and even after their hiatus they continue to push the genre and deliver high-octane music. Featuring ten tracks and over 46 minutes of music, the band brings back some of their Industrial/Electronic elements into the fold, while keeping the intensity level at 11.

    Opening with “Inertiae”, here we get some of the Havoc Unit side of the band with some cybergoth passages, amongst the usual fare of dramatic symphonic elements and hefty harshness. Coming back down to relentless melody and engaging atmospherics, “Förnyelse i Tre Akter”, “Chromium Lungs, Bronze Optics”, and “The Form and the Formless”, showcase the band in its most polished and vicious way. It is quite impressive that while keeping their core sound from their old days intact, the band still sounds fresh and exciting.

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    Novelists - Coda (2025)

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    Creating a very unique and engaging style of Metalcore, today we have France’s Novelists and their latest opus “Coda”. Mixing elements from Progressive Metal, Post-Rock, Djent, alongside some electronic/Industrial elements, the band manages to unleash a very engaging and diverse ten tracks and over 40 minutes of music. Fronted now by Camille Contreras, the band’s sound is quite lush and crafty, providing tons of unique soundscapes along the way. Be prepared from Metalcore unlike you have never heard before.

    Opening with the complete banger “Say My Name”, the band oozes melancholy alongside playful melodies. Camille’s vocals are dreamy and the perfect addition to the band’s dynamic sound, giving them a different edge. Continuing with the Djenty/Industrial antics of the album title track, the band quickly shows versatility and tons of new ideas, as well as some powerful growls. However, what hooked us is the soaring chorus sections and crafty instrumentation, creating a very hectic and yet magical pace.

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    Drouth - The Teeth of Time (2025)

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    Unleashing a cavernous and quite engaging Doomy Black Metal release, today we have Portland’s Drouth and their third full-length release “The Teeth of Time”. Featuring a fierce mixture of crafty melodic interludes and blistering aural onslaught, this album delivers five tracks and over 40 minutes of intense music. With a very piercing and yet balanced sound, the band’s songwriting is quite polished and intense.

    Opening with the piercing “Hurl Your Thunderbolt Even Unto Death”, we get a twin guitar onslaught that unleashes harsh screams and deep growls. The song is both crafty and heavy, setting a very hectic pace for the release. This sinister atmosphere continues in the commanding “False Grail” with Doom and Crust elements thrown into the mix as the song progresses. Far from linear, the band also oozes melancholy when needed with the album title track providing crafty duality, and sustained intensity through this piece.

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    Ghost Bath - Rose Thorn Necklace (2025)

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    Fully going back to their roots, Ghost Bath unleashes another masterclass in melancholy and devastation. The band’s Depressive/Post Black Metal sound made a more prominent comeback in their previous release, “Self Loather”, and now they elevate it with the highly melancholic “Rose Thorn Necklace”. Featuring nine tracks and around 36 minutes of music, this album is very engaging, crushing, and yet walks a very fine line between sorrowful and intense.

    Opening with the dreamy atmospheric opener, “Grotesque Display”, the band sets a bleak mood that is masterfully continued with the piercing album title track. The harrowing screams perfectly flank intense tremolo picking alongside a very lively modern Post-Black Metal vibe, similar to Harakiri For The Sky and such bands. In “Well, I Tried Drowning”, the melancholy starts to ooze as the tempo slowly increases, flanked by crafty guitar leads and harsh growls. The atmospherics in this track give “Moonlover” vibes and we are all for it.

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    Behemoth - The Shit Ov God (2025)

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    Arriving like a freight train without any breaks, today we have Behemoth and their latest opus “The Shit Ov God”. Nergal and company never shy from controversy and unleash the most powerful music they can, and with this release, the band unleashes nearly 40 minutes of their most potent and yet highly polished songs. For a band that has been around for 34 years, these guys sound like no one else, without any signs of slowing down or just doing more of the same.

    Opening with the fierce “The Shadow Elite”, the band unleashes mystery and chaos at the same time with hellish atmospherics that lead to pummeling riffing onslaughts by Nergal and Seth. The drumming is massive, as it is always expected from Inferno, ripping through tracks like “Sowing Salt”, and the eerily atmospheric album title track. With a more ravaging Black Metal edge, “Lvciferaeon” is a crafty track that changes the tempo of the release a bit, while still unleashing the aggression and magick that the band always delivers.

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    Lux Interna - New Wilderness Gospel (2025)

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    Creating a truly haunting and intoxicating dark folk release with tons of influences from post-punk to gothic americana, Lux Interna is finally back with the immersive “New Wilderness Gospel”, full length release. Featuring nine tracks of fully immersive music, this release is full of crafty instrumentation and captivating compositions that need more than a few spins to fully unravel themselves to the listener. If you liked any of the band’s previous releases and/or outfits like Rome, Amber Asylum, King Dude, etc. you can’t miss out on this album.

    Opening with the somberness of “Dark Fire Revelator”, the band comes back after ten years in full force, unleashing a very lush onslaught. The richness of the band’s instrumentation creates very unique and engaging soundscapes that are fun to digest and very powerful, as tracks like “Over the Timberlines”, “Brittle”, and one of our favorites “Like Wolves”. There early vibe in this release is a mixture of King Dude with Tenhi, Nest, and even some non-Metal Empyrium hints, We love how Kris T. Force infuses melancholy to “Like Wolves”, creating a very mellow and yet sublime atmosphere alongside Joshua Levi Ian’s vocals and guitars.

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    Kardashev - Alunea (2025)

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    Showing their breakthrough release “Liminal Rite”, was not a fluke, North American outfit Kardashev returns with the brilliant “Alunea”. Perfectly blending genres and creating totally unique aural experiences, this outfit delivers eight tracks of crushing melancholy. Taking their “Deathgaze” genre to new heights, the band showcases extra maturity and polish in one of our early candidates for album of the year.

    Opening with the dreamy “A Precipice. A Door.”, the band embarks on a very ethereal journey that is perfectly flanked by completely crushing Deathcore onslaughts. Mark Garrett’s vocals are some of the most exhilarating in Metal music, as they go from dreamy cleans to insane growls and harsh shrieks, creating an extremely contrasting and yet satisfying experience, through tracks like “Reunion”, “Seed of the Night” and “Speak Silence”.

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