February 2026 Feature Release - The Infinite Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month's feature release for The Infinite, nominated by me (Shadowdoom9 (Andi)), is last year's debut album by Berkshire-based post-metal band Dimscûa, Dust Eater. It has been a long time since a post-metal album has ended up as an Infinite feature release, and what better way to end that drought than with what's basically the rebirth of the post-sludge many of us know! It's time to give this Dimscûa album more discussion...

https://metal.academy/releases/61143

Here's my review summary:

Of all the genres I enjoy in my metal journey, there's one I somehow seem to neglect in favor of everything else, post-sludge. I don't think I've discovered much from that genre beyond its Big 4 (Neurosis, Isis, Cult of Luna, The Ocean) and Rosetta. Many of its songs guide you through transcending realms, showing that metal doesn't always have to be about chaos and speed. Dust Eater is the start of a promising career for this UK post-sludge band Dimscua. We haven't heard anything new from Cult of Luna for a while, but this offering feels like a solid continuation to that band's sound. Dimscua has only just formed this year, and they already have a lot of emotion and grief in their music. Pretty much every track sounds huge and emotional. The riff storm strikes down as the screams haunt you like tortured souls. The chords and vocals drift through a dimension of catatonia. By the time it's all over, you become one with the astral plane. The end result for this offering is the amazing return of the post-sludge sound we know. Here's to another entry from the genre's new chosen ones!

4.5/5

Recommended tracks: "Elder Bairn", "On Being and Nothingness"

For fans of: Neurosis, Rosetta, Cult of Luna

Loved this release from last year, here's my review:

Thundering out of Berkshire, England to truly throw a spanner in my ‘EoY Fallen Album List’ come atmo-sludge quintet, Dimscûa. I would say that 2025 has been the year that I started to explore atmospheric-sludge metal for the first time, its calmer post-metal tendencies offset nicely by the harsher vocal attacks and smothering heaviness of the riffs that are my usual (and still preferred) listening fodder. Listening to Dust Eater sort of feels like I am in familiar territory nowadays which has most certainly helped me warm to it quickly. Hidden behind the straight delivery and more subtle sections, there is a sense of the epic going on also though which adds extra interest into proceedings.

This may just be clever use of guitar tone in all honesty, with some well-placed chiming effect adding some positive volume to the already doughty performance. Dust Eater is delivered with an attack that brings to my mind that each of the band members are grinning with each blow they make in their flannel shirts and jeans – another image I have in my head for some reason. Whilst I cannot describe the EP as uplifting, it does possess a pragmatic approach that gives the music a sense of being constructive without being restrictive. There’s no question that the band have gears they can get through, but they are always in full control, not just when ticking over in first or second gear.

The poignancy in the strings that open the final track, ‘On Being and Nothingness’, set against that haunting ambience that drifts through the background of the track, shows a band who can play with real emotion in their performances. Whilst the subject matter may explore darker tropes, the five-piece are unafraid to display the inherent beauty that can still be found in the themes of grief or loss. Of the content of this sub-genre that I have heard this year, Dimscûa chart pretty highly to my ears.

4/5