Let's be honest, if it wasn't for bands like Lorna Shore popularizing blackened deathcore, I wouldn't have boosted my courage to explore a lot more deathcore along with bands that added black metal elements to some of my favorite metal genres. As much as I enjoy blackened deathcore, how does blackened METALcore stand out for me? Maybe even blackened metalcore mixed with a different genre? Here's a great release to start with...

Ara Kra (Estonian for "Don't Cry", according to Google Translate) is a short-lived obscure German band who attempted to experiment with different extreme genres, more or less the way of bands like Portal. Their sole album Ferne Tage (Distant Days) has a unique sound that sadly didn't catch on, post-black metalcore.

"September" is a brutal start, with blackened melodeath blasts, riffs, tremolos, and screams. It's like a blend of Abigail Williams' EP Legend and Darkest Hour. But if you're expecting any deathcore breakdowns, they aren't any. "Odem" maintains that storm with some ambient sections. Right from the title of "Verschlafene Tage" (Sleepy Days), there's already some profuse emotion to feel. It's almost like if a deathly melodic metalcore band made their own cover of Cult of Luna's 2001 debut.

Continuing the band's uniqueness, "Neuschnee" (New Snow) alternates between soft synths and heavy guitars, both of which never sound out of line in this post-black metalcore sound. "Eos & Eis" might just be what happens in Agalloch went metalcore. And I have no problem with it!

"Licht" (Light) has a bit of For the Fallen Dreams injected into 2000s Solstafir within their sound. Then finally, the 6-minute "Flieder" (Lilac), which is a true post-metal epic, despite not being as long as most other post-metal bands' tracks that generally each twice that length. I can also hear both the ambience and melodic riff-wrath of From Autumn to Ashes. As of this review, I hadn't heard some of my favorite post-metal bands in a couple years, so it's a pleasant surprise.

Post-black metalcore is a satisfying emotional blend, and this 35-minute album can make as much of an adventure as a different post-metal band's 35-minute epic. If you're looking for a mix of Agalloch and Darkest Hour, look no further. Something with so much emotion shall not be taken for granted....

Favorites: "September", "Verschlafene Tage", "Eos & Eis", "Flieder"

If you look in my Spotify playlists, you’ll find one titled “Workouts”. Fittingly I use this for my kettlebell and free weight exercise sessions, and I would say approx. 80% of the content is deathcore or metalcore. This is something of a revelation for someone who up until around three years ago had heard virtually zero of such music, in fact I had intentionally looked to avoid it for most of the two sub-genre’s existence. Whilst this by no means makes me an expert on such styles of metal, I figure that I am at a reasonable enough level of maturity with this music to pass the occasional comment on The Revolution clan feature release.

As Blood Runs Back have a sound that I instantly find jarring as they deploy that djenty style of riffing that reverberates throughout the track and then there’s the big bloopy and mathy leads that run riot over proceedings. ‘Hesper Prynne’ has the makings of great Meshuggah worship but blows it by just piling more things on top of one another. This track is then followed by instrumental track ‘Pouring Reign’ which just feels like pointless musings really. By this point I am missing some of the big, rhythmic riffs that I use to fuel my workouts. What constitutes as breakdowns here (and I genuinely like a good breakdown) feels just more like a fake slowing of the pace where something else happens. There are moments like on ‘The Brighter Side of Suffering’ when the album sounds a little more on point than on other occasions, but this is still a bit too tame for me.

For me, As Blood Runs Black lack cohesion, bobbing around a little too much on the waves of their own farts in the bath water. I am aware as I type this that I am commenting on a scene that I do not entirely understand and so I am trying not to sound disingenuous to what I am listening to. To put it in grown up terms, the record is too melodic and lacks consistent punch. Tracks such as ‘Beneath the Surface’ start off with such promise but soon end up sounding more or less like every other track on the record and after a while (a short while), this just grates on me.

Well, Sadistic Intent like their splits and EPs, don’t they? I count no fewer than four EPs and three splits in their discography that goes all the way back to 1988 (if you include the demos). Spurious in their output, these Californians play a death thrash style of death metal that recalls Possessed (whom both Cortez brothers played with 2007-2010, alongside guitarist Ernesto) at times but equally they are just at home playing Morbid Angel-esque out and out death metal. With such a healthy background of putrid death thrash in their veins, Sadistic Intent are clearly well-versed in their satanic and occult tendencies.

Their EP from 1994, Resurrection finds them in fine form. The opening riff on ‘Dark Predictions’ has an almost Swedish death metal crunch to it. That marauding lead only adds to the tension the track invokes. Taking a big old run up to get to the vocals, this track is the standout on the release for me. Full of dark energy and blistering intensity and really brings out the Morbid Angel comparison with all the swirling lead chaos.

This sophomore EP was their first major release in four years, but Sadistic Intent do not sound like a band who had been stood around leaning on their instruments since 1990. Although the production leaves a lot to be desired, the instrumentation possesses a primitive yet still cultivated edge to it. It is not that anyone is trying to be showy, but the band can play well and with a lot of heart. They sounded like a determined death metal band on this record, and I personally hear that fortitude in droves on the release and top marks to them for the effort alone. It might only be twenty-four minutes long but Resurrection is entertaining from start to finish and a really exciting feature releases for this month.

I am coming straight off the back of reviewing the new Sodom record and having referenced Destruction in that write up I thought it prudent to look at the other major Teutonic thrash release this year from Schmier and company. Could we have two decent releases in one year from two of the longest serving thrashers around nowadays? If there is one immediate similarity to highlight it is the album artwork on both records is great, and I would go as far as to say that Destruction pip Sodom to the post in that department overall. I feel it only fair to also say that the effort is also just as high from Destruction on Birth of Malice as it is from Tom and company on The Arsonist. Whilst the intensity levels might not quite be comparable, the work ethic is most certainly still there.

After only a couple of tracks though, it is clear to me that I prefer Destruction less overall. That’s not just a comment on this record; it is also a general statement about the bands over the many years I have under my belt from listening to thrash metal. It is not necessarily that Destruction are doing anything wrong. The current line-up is strong enough to carry off some blistering leads, furious drumming and cutting riffs. If anything, I have always had a problem with Schmier’s vocal style, and he retains those high-end shrieks here. Simply put I prefer my thrash metal vocals to be gruffer. Musically speaking though there are things to get on with here. The riffing on ‘No Kings - No Masters’ carries an otherwise clunky sounding track well, especially when the furious leads attack the track also.

Randy Black certainly puts a shift in on the drum kit without dominating the record and a healthy production job keeps the instruments all sounding coherent. The bass even makes a rare appearance in the middle section of ‘God of Gore’ but the track itself is one of the more muddled sounding ones on the album. What Birth of Malice needs is more direct an approach to proceedings, despite there being lots of leads flying around the place, we need more of the chopping thrash riffing intensity that underpins tracks like ‘AN.G.S.T.’ or ‘No Kings – No Masters’ instead of pseudo heavy metal numbers like ‘Dealer of Death’ or ‘Evil Never Sleeps’. The sad fact is that the second half of the record is utterly skippable with the cover of Accept’s ‘Fast as a Shark’ being the only pick from the final five tracks on offer. Here lies the final comparison with The Arsonist. Just like its Teutonic cousin, Birth of Malice is too long and could do a lot better coming in at the thirty-five-minute mark, culling most of the second half of the record in the process.

These Teutonic thrashers just don’t want to quit, do they? As we push into the middle of the 2020’s Sodom, Tankard, Kreator and Destruction continue to work on new material long into their careers, all of which now span beyond forty years. Whilst I am sure we could very easily dig out many turkeys from the backlog of records over the past four decades, it is hard not to admire the tenacity and resilience of any band that still sounds as committed to their artform as Sodom still do. Look, it would be remiss of me to suggest that The Arsonist is another Agent Orange. It is not of the same calibre and peak albums in a bands career are usually moments in time, specific to circumstance, influences and a good old lavishing of fate too.

The Arsonist is however probably the best Sodom record I have heard since Decision Day in 2016. It possesses a vigour that most other releases in the thrash world have lacked, based on my limited and often quickly tired listening experiences in 2025 anyways. There is a sense of great fortitude to this record, sounding like a record made by a band from their sheer dogged determination to just keep pushing on regardless of what the clock or calendar may say. Whilst it may lack any truly remarkable moments, The Arsonist burns with an intensity that belies the age of the participants. Scathing thrash attacks like ‘Trigger Discipline’ are what Sodom have based their career on, and it is good to see that fire in their bellies still. Tom sounds as pissed off as ever and the rest of the band miss no beat whatsoever.

At nearly fifty-minutes, it is a bit on the long side. When I am sat listening to some of the less well-arranged tracks like ‘Gun Without Groom’ this lengthiness seems to grate a little more during those minutes that so easily could have been left in the studio for a future compilation of B-sides and rarities. As I said earlier on in the review, my interest in thrash metal has been limited to but a few records this year and so The Arsonist is hardly jostling for position in a packed field of quality participants. However, it stands out for just being true to the style we know and love from Sodom and it further cements an already solid legacy. Whilst it may not be flawless, the same roots are showing in 2025 that were visible in 1982.