Sonny's Forum Replies
The 20+ votes chart now has 105 entries, a 36% increase since June.
The Top 20 at the beginning of 2026 is:
1. [1] Judas Priest - "Painkiller"
2. [3] Candlemass - "Nightfall"
3. [2] Candlemass - "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus"
4. [-] Immolation - "Close to a World Below"
5. [4]Metallica - "Master of Puppets"
6. [6] Metallica - "Ride the Lightning"
7. [7] Slayer - "Reign in Blood"
8. [8] Black Sabbath - "Master of Reality"
9. [-] Blind Guardian - "Imaginations From the Other Side"
10. [5] Iron Maiden - "Powerslave"
11. [9] Death - "Symbolic"
12. [10] Neurosis - "Through Silver in Blood"
13. [11] Darkthrone - "A Blaze in the Northern Sky"
14. [12] Iron Maiden - "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"
15. [18] Acid Bath - "When the Kite String Pops"
16. [14] Black Sabbath - "Paranoid"
17. [16] Cryptopsy - "None So Vile"
18. [17] Bathory - "Hammerheart"
19. [19] Slayer - "Seasons in the Abyss"
20. [-] Rainbow - "Rising"
Leaving the top 20 were:
Bathory - "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" [from #13 to #22]
Burzum - "Filosofem" [from #15 to #21]
Alice in Chains - "Dirt" [from #20 to #23]
Hi Ben, I am sure you would soon anyway, but can you add the latest album from Fuath, please.
My only remaining question is - is Vecna Groot's evil twin and if so could he be regrown from a sapling?
Andy Marshall of Saor fame has released the third album under his Fuath alter-ego today. Just ordered a vinyl copy from Bandcamp and am checking it out as I type. Fuath are less focussed on the epic paeons to Andy's homeland Scotland than Saor and play in a more Pagan / Melodic black metal style than Saor's atmospheric black metal, whilst still retaining some of the latter's grandeur. It's all good so far anyway.
Edit: Just as a point of interest, I have listened to it back-to-back on Spotify and Bandcamp and the BC version sounds much better.
An initial listen reveals this to be very much an early-80's release where the fist-pumping heavy metal of the NWOBHM is being mutated in a couple of directions, ie the US version of power metal which retains some of the NWOBHM's melodicism and the more direct and energetic speed metal that played out as a precursor to the thrash behemoth, this sitting somewhere between the two. Not the best production, but not especially awful for underground acts of the time either and a bit patchy, but I am enjoying it so far.
I don't think the band as such are overrated, but I don't think I would place their debut "Stormcrowfleet" on as high a pedestal as most other Skepticism fans, with this rather being my go-to album as far as they are concerned. Anyway, here is my long-standing review which I still stand by:
Skepticism were formed in 1991, releasing a death metal 7" in 1992, before a change in sound resulted in them, along with fellow Finns Thergothon, being credited with the development of funeral doom metal. In 1995 they released their debut, the seminal and oft-praised Stormcrowfleet album.
This, their follow-up to that genre-defining release, consists of half a dozen tracks of exceedingly slow and oppressive-feeling doom metal. The tracks range in length from six to ten minutes, but the all-enveloping, smothering nature of the music makes them seem longer (in a good way). The sound is seriously downtuned, with slow, deep, drum beats, as if some unnamed titan's heart can be heard beating in the bowels of the earth. The vocals are barely distinguishable as such, sounding like the grating of a huge block of stone as it seals the entrance to a subterranean tomb, blocking out all light with it's bulk. The keyboards and guitar are more subdued than is usual but I don't feel that this album is particularly melancholy or depressing, rather it projects more of an ancient martial atmosphere that may feasibly have accomanied the passing of a company of war elephants as they leave on a march to conquest.
There are quite a number of similarities between this and the aforementioned Thergothon's Stream From the Heavens and both albums can justifiably be held up as the standard against which all other funeral doom releases are judged, epitomising all that this style of extreme doom is about. They both are able to project epicness and true heft with, what is essentially, a stripped-down style of metal.
As an interesting aside, the band released an EP, Ethere, around the same time that has alternate versions of a couple of the tracks from Lead and Aether, The March and the Stream and Aether which seem starker and less oppressive than their album counterparts. Both versions are great in different ways and make the EP a very worthy companion piece to the full-length.
5/5
After my mainly positive experience with "In Waves" a while ago I will try to give this short EP a fair shake this month and hopefully work up a comment or two.
I have never made any secret of my aversion to European Power Metal, but BG are one of the better exponents of the genre and I remember being fairly well-disposed to this upon its release, so I will endeavour to fit it in this month and hopefully provide a review at some point.
Thanks Vinny, I really appreciate the feedback. I feel obliged (as with all the playlists that I compile) to include some sub-genres that I am not the biggest fan of. With the North this is often the symphonic, black 'n' roll and folk metal entries, although I have found stuff to enjoy in each of those too. I also think it adds some variety and acts as a nice illustration of the breadth of material within the North.
I will also try to supply more commentary on each playlist going forward.
Yeah we watched it last night and I know exactly the bit you are referring to. The ending was definitely over extended though, a bit like the end of The Return of the King where you are thinking "Just get it over with now".
When I listen to Bolt Thrower I tend to stick with what I own, so "Realm of Chaos" and "War Master" mostly, but I really like the band and don't think they have made a bad album, so I will definitely try to get to this one sometime this month.
I'm across Abduction's last couple of albums & quite liked them too. Anyone know if their earlier material is worth exploring?
I bought their second album, "A Crown of Curses" on cassette when it came out and found it to be surprisingly good for a low-key UK black metal act.
As I alluded to in the January playlist thread, I am going to start issuing the North playlist on a monthly basis once more. Unless you tell me otherwise, Vinny, I will use your additionals from last month for the February playlist. Karl, if you wish to nominate anything please post it by the 15th of January.
I don't think I know this record, Vinny, so I am looking forward to acquainting myself with it.
Happy new year by the way.
January 2026
1. Archgoat - "Rats Pray God" (from "Worship the Eternal Darkness", 2021) [submitted by Sonny]
2. Watain - "Ecstasies in Night Infinite" (from "The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain", 2022) [submitted by Vinny]
3. Thou Art Lord - "The Era of Satan Rising" (from "Eosforos", 1994) [submitted by Karl]
4. Stworz - "U Śmierci na komornem" (from "U Śmierci na komornem", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
5. Mayhem - "Despair" (from "Liturgy of Death", 2026) [submitted by Sonny]
6. Lord Belial - "Ipse Venit" (from "Unholy Trinity", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
7. Odium - "The Brightness of the Weeping Kingdom" (from "The Sad Realm of the Stars", 1998)
8. Martwa Aura - "Lament Drugi" (from "Lament", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
9. Atomic Goatcrime - "Cycle of Wrath" (from "Thermonuclear Humanicide", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
10. Blasphamagoatachrist - "Cyanide Sacrament" (from "Bestial Abominator", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
11. Nexion - "Gandra" (from "Sundrung", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
12. Enslaved - "Lightening" (from "Axioma Ethica Odini", 2010) [submitted by Sonny]
13. Apati - "Sömnlösa nätter" (from "Eufori", 2009)
14. Menhir - "Die Kelten" (from "Thuringia", 1999) [submitted by Karl]
15. Malakhim - "Solar Crucifixion" (from "And in Our Hearts the Devil Sings", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
16. Vreid - "Fangegard" (from "I krig", 2007)
17. Naked Whipper - "Bloodstained White Icon" (from "Chapel Defilement", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
18. Imperial Crystalline Entombment - "White Behemoths of Woe" (from "Abominable Astral Summoning", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
19. Finsterforst - "Urquell" (from "...zum Tode hin", 2009)
20. Blut aus Nord - "Seclusion" (from "Ethereal Horizons", 2025) [submitted by Sonny]
21. Soulless - "As If Our Time Runs No Longer" (from "The Supreme Resurgence", 2023)
January 2026
1. My Dying Bride – “Your River” (from “Turn Loose the Swans”, 1993) [submitted by dk]
2. Khemmis - "Bloodletting" (from "Desolation", 2018)
3. Sleep - "Marijuanaut's" (from "The Sciences", 2018) [submitted by Vinny]
4. Wren - "Scorched Hinds" (from "Black Rain Falls", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
5. Chrch - "Portals" (from "Light Will Consume Us All", 2018) [submitted by Sonny]
6. Primitve Man - "Devotion" (from "Observance", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
7. Paul Chain Violet Theatre - "17 Day" (from "Detaching From Satan", 1984) [submitted by Sonny]
8. Black Sheep Wall – “Ren” (from “Songs for the Enamel Queen”, 2021) [submitted by dk]
9. Heteropsy - "Memento Mori" (from "Embalming", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
10. Age of Taurus – “Sinking City” (from “Desperate Souls of Tortured Times”, 2013) [submitted by dk]
11. The Answer Lies in the Black Void - "Sine Morbo" (from "Transcendental", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
12. Salome - "White Tides" (from "Salome", 2008) [submitted by dk]
13. BlackLab - "Monochrome Rainbow" (from "In a Bizarre Dream", 2022)
14. Atavist - "Loss" (from "III: Absolution", 2020) [submitted by Sonny]
Another feature whose subject is an act I have no previous knowledge of is this latest album from Icelandic black metallers Nexion. This is only their second full-length despite their decade of existence so, hopefully, they are a band who favour quality over quantity. Now I am a big fan of Icelandic black metal bands who deliver sweeping epics that conjure up images of the mountains, hot springs and ice-fields of their native land, such as Auðn and Árstíðir lífsins, but the initial impression I got from "Sundrung" was of a less epic and more violent record that incorporates significant influence from death metal, especially production-wise. This isn't necessarily the case though, as I think the band still deliver an album of epic black metal, although it is delivered in a different way to the aforementioned acts.
The death metal influence is evident and does beef up the bands sound significantly, yet the twin guitar tremolo riffing and frequent use of harmonised, viking metal-like backing vocals does imbue it with a sense of the epic. This saga-like feeling to the tracks is futher accentuated by the use of a significant layer of atmospheric dissonance, similar in tone to that utilised by the superb Ulcerate, which makes the album feel like an Árstíðir lífsins album recorded by Deathspell Omega (this is a good thing, by the way). So, despite the violence on display, in no small part due to the savagery deployed by vocalist Jósúa Rood, there is still a sense of a striking and epic scope to the instrumentation.
For me at least, this was an album that didn't instantly grab my attention and whose inherent viciousness just sort of washed over me at first, but it is a multi-layered beast and ultimately rewards the listener the more they are willing to invest in it as it is a fairly complex entity hiding in the skin of a visceral and savage beast. While I am a metal fan of fairly simple tastes, it is great to sometimes be presented with an album that challenges initial perceptions and which makes me want to keep returning to it to dig deeper into its labyrinthine depths and "Sundrung" is definitely one such album. The only real downside for me was the drums which felt quite one-dimensional and dulled in delivery, but that is a minor issue in the scheme of things here.
An excellent feature pick, Vinny, and a 4.5/5 from me.
Like you, I think that "Requiem" and "Octagon" are overly hated by fans who obviously preferred the more epic viking metal of the preceding few albums, but I actually prefer "Requiem" of the two. The antipathy for these two albums is obviously based on expectations versus reality..
I keep persisting with the Revolution features despite the fact that, as a general rule, they are evidently not my cup of tea. There has been the occasional gem, however, that is why I keep returning. Unfortunately Poison the Well's debut full-length is not one such nugget and is much more the angsty-teenager background noise that makes zero impact on me either emotionally or intellectually. Whilst I do admire the energy, the earnestness of the screeching vocals sounds inordinately preachy, like I am being chastised for not understanding the songs' protagonists' struggles and hardships in an unfair world (man!) Occasionally out of this seething pit of venomous vipers a nice, hard-hitting riff does emerge and makes my ears pick up, but it is soon swallowed up by the tornado of raging impotence and it falls back into ravening background noise.
Believe me, though, I am self-aware enough to know that a 60-odd year old, former stoner is definitely not the target audience for this stuff and I appreciate that there are legions of younger metalheads who lap this shit up - and good luck to em - but it isn't for me. Best track by a country mile is "Slice Paper Wrists". Oh well, there's always next month!
2.5/5
No one gonna mention the likes of Dissection, Dismember, Edge of Sanity, Entombed, Cult of Luna, At the Gates or Tiamat then?
In all honesty, would not place them in my list. I only like Left Hand Path, Like an Everflowing Stream by the true Swede death bands in that list and I have never gotten with anything other than Crimson by EoS. Dissection are another one-album wonder in my book and I cannot attribute anything other than cultural significance to AtG. Tiamat aren't for me and I am yet to fully explore CoL.
I am kind of with Vinny on this one. The only ones of the above I would back as having a sustained quality, a requirement surely for a best band vote, is Cult of Luna.
A while ago I developed a simple algorithm to allow me to compare the overall quality of bands' discographies and consulting my list of bands whose entire studio discography I have rated the Swedish winner is Grand Magus with a QR (Quality Rating) of 57.0. I also have Craft with 55.0, Candlemass with 53.5, Opeth with 52.0 and excellent space rockers Yuri Gagarin on 53.3
Based purely on how much I enjoy them, my pick would be Candlemass with an honourable mention for Grand Magus. Opeth's outstanding metal output would also secure them a spot among my top 3. Bathory, Marduk and Shining all deserve mentions too.
No Darkthrone in your top ten is also where we would deviate in our opinion as I would definitely have at least two in there and Transilvanian Hunger has now become my #1 black metal album.
I do have Darkthrone at 11 and 13 though, so still obviously a big fan. My ratings spreadsheet calculates my average percentage for all the subgenres, which has really emphasized my passion for atmospheric black metal and death doom / funeral doom. It has also very clearly highlighted my dislike (bordering on complete bewilderment) of stoner metal. My further attempts to get into Electric Wizard and Sleep have failed dismally. Maybe some other stoner bands will tickle my fancy, but I don't think I'm ever going to enjoy these much-loved entities. I tried!
In all honesty, Ben, I am very quickly wearying of stoner metal and rock myself. I still enjoy a lot of the doomier stoner stuff such as EW and Sleep, but the more rock-oriented iterations of stonerdom have begun to leave me cold. This is probably inevitable as I become more enamoured of extreme metal genres. Another possible reason is that as I have long since moved away from the stoner life style I once enjoyed, it feels less relevant to me as a person and isn't anything I really identify with any more as I have little contact with that world now.
An interesting list Ben. There are a few I haven't listened to, but I may have a crack at it myself in the coming days. We won't ever see eye-to-eye on the best Burzum album I suspect as the 25-minute ambient piece ruins Filosofem for me and I guess a tolerance for ambient music is a requirement for that to be a top-tier album. To be honest, much to the scorn of most people I suppose, I am even favouring the debut S/T over everything else Burzum-related nowadays. No Darkthrone in your top ten is also where we would deviate in our opinion as I would definitely have at least two in there and Transilvanian Hunger has now become my #1 black metal album. Then again, they are my favourite band, not just black metal or even metal, but of all music.
I don't know why, possibly your championing of Summoning, but I always thought you were better disposed towards folk metal than you evidently are.
Fuck batsmen, fast bowlers are where its at.
As an opening bowler that learnt his craft while bowling endlessly at his annoyingly talented batsman brother (don't tell him I said that) in the backyard, I wholeheartedly agree!
Yeah, batsmen are just target practice!
What did we ever do to you?!!
Well, the English management & ex-players said that we are the worst Australian team in the last fifteen years & that you have the best English team of that period & that you were gonna dominate us with your "Bazball" philosophy on our home turf, totally disregarding the fact that (outside of one uncharacteristic loss to South Africa in the World Test Championship final) Australian is still clearly the best Test side in the world . That's enough to motivate anyone, let alone an Australian team who has developed a culture of winning at all costs over many decades. The English media have made it so much easier for us as usual though, pouncing on the first sign of weakness to ensure that any self-belief that England may have had coming into the series is totally eviscerated.
My Detroit Pistons & Sydney Kings had huge wins over the weekend too so I'm feeling particularly good going into the final two work days of the calendar year.
Yeah fuck em then, they deserve it for being disrespectful. I always liked watching the Aussies back in the day. As an aspiring (but completely talentless) fast bowler myself back then, I loved watching Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson, even if they were smashing through the England top order, which they almost invariably did. Alongside the West Indies' Michael Holding and Andy Roberts they were probably my favourite cricketers. Fuck batsmen, fast bowlers are where its at.
Watched a very good Danish movie on Netflix last night called The Bombardment. A true story about a British bombing raid on the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen. A real indictment of the fog of war and its impact on ordinary citizens, particularly the young. It is even more pertinent now that scenes like those depicted in the movie have returned to European cities and sabre-rattling is rising in intensity across the continent.
What did we ever do to you?!!
That's great news Daniel. Good to hear she is feeling much better.
@David - the Moloch track, which was certainly available last week has now been removed from Spotify in the UK. Do you want to post an alternative?
Thanks Vinny.
@Karl, don't forget to post your picks by the 15th if you want them included on the January playlist.
I have a couple more as backup if required Sonny.
By all means post them Vinny and if Karl doesn't submit any I will definitely use them.
I haven't listened to Finland's Hexvessel before, but a quick bit of background digging tells me that they began life as a psychedelic rock act and feature the UK's Kvohst on guitar and vocals. They have travelled a fair way from those beginnings because this, their seventh full-length, is undoubtedly a metal album, but one that isn't easy to pigeonhole and which weaves together a number of disparate influences into a very modern-sounding record. There are certainly doom metal elements present, particularly of the more -gazey, post-metally type, but that is a long way from the full story here.
Beginning with a short, wistful piano intro which segues seamlessly into a very nice melody and the opener proper, "Sapphire Zephyrs", it becomes apparent that we are dealing with a crew who know a little bit about decent songwriting. That initial wistfulness is soon usurped by black metal-derived blasting, but it retains the clean vocals and maintains its overriding mournful atmosphere. During its eight minutes the track takes a number of turns with changes in tempo and delivery, yet still sounds exceedingly coherent and consistent, surely the hallmark of good songwriting. This approach is the band's modus operandi for the album as a whole which makes it feel quite progressive, especially on the longer tracks, whilst the post-metally, -gazey elements infuse it with it's doomy and melancholy atmosphere. The production is very clean and allows all the band members contributions to be heard perfectly well, with drums, bass and keys all clearly represented.
All-in-all I enjoyed this, it features some really nice melodies which resonated with me quite deeply and, as I said earlier, the songwriting is top-knotch. It isn't the heaviest album you will hear this year, but it isn't trying to be. It succeeds in it's atmosphere-building, which feels consistent throughout and it's skillful pulling together of its various component influences into a coherent whole is impressive, be it doom, black metal, post-punk or whatever else they throw into this witch's magical brew.
4/5
Nerd Alert:
Currently reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion as I haven't done so since the 1980's. It isn't anything like as difficult a read as I remember it being and I am really enjoying it.
I still need to read that for this years book challenge.
As for myself, I'm on the fourth Discworld, Mort. Decent series so far, but apparently I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet.
I love Discworld. True, the very best ones are still to come. I would be very interested to know how Pratchett's humour lands with readers from outside Britain.
Nerd Alert:
Currently reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion as I haven't done so since the 1980's. It isn't anything like as difficult a read as I remember it being and I am really enjoying it.
Too much news for my own sanity. Watching the world slide into fascism in slow motion is mentally exhausting.
@Karl, don't forget to post your picks by the 15th if you want them included on the January playlist.
I used to watch cricket when I was a teenager when England could actually give you Aussies a game, but it is a sport that I think is much more fun to play than watch and I haven't bothered with it for years.
Also, there's quite a contrast in your sporting passions there Daniel. Test cricket which (usually) is a patient and lengthy affair seems heavily at odds with the point-a-second, attention-deficit-friendly NBA. Basketball is one sport I just don't get at all.
Sorry to hear that, Daniel. Wishing her all the very best and a speedy recovery.
Thanks David. I love that Age of Taurus album so nice pick.
Dead Kennedys - "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" (1980)
I came across Dead Kennedys' debut full-length at around the same time I was introduced to Slayer back in my early high school days & it was through the same school mate too. I can't say that Dead Kennedys ever resonated with me like they did for a couple of my metal mates & they still don't to tell you the truth, although I do quite like this record nonetheless. Unfortunately, it's noticeably devoid of any tracks that I genuinely love so it doesn't tend to be a release that I go out of my way to seek out when I'm looking for an early hardcore punk fix.
For fans of Black Flag, Minutemen & The Vandals.
3.5/5
Fresh Fruit is definitely one of my top 3 punk albums. I was turned on to it shortly after its release by a friend at work who was sadly killed in a car crash just a couple of years later. That may have some personal bearing on why I value it so highly, but I do really enjoy most of the tracks. If they had swapped "Police Truck" for "Drug Me" it would be even better though.
I love Icelandic BM as a rule, but I have never heard of these guys before. Gave it a listen this afternoon and enjoyed it. It possesses many of the hallmarks of classic Icelandic BM, but also has a certain meaty brutality derived from death metal I would suggest. Will give it a few more listens before trying to work up a review.
Interesting picks Vinny. Three of these bands I haven't even heard of. Thanks.
While I've always kept up to date with most of the Bulldozer back-catalogue over the years, I have to admit that I've struggled to get into some of their more seminal records. Their first two full-lengths are a prime example of that as neither have ever done a lot for me. I do get a little bit more out of the thrashier "The Final Separation" than I do the speed metal of "The Day of Wrath" but I don't think I'll ever understand the underground appeal of either if I'm being honest. The claims that they're an early example of genuine black metal are misguided too in my opinion, despite with Fenriz may say. 3/5
I agree, Black Metal - No.
December 2025
1. Sadistic Intent - "Dark Predictions" (from "Resurrection", 1994) [submitted by Vinny]
2. Ritualhammer — "Devoid of Grace and God" (from "Grand Pestilential Flame", 2024) [submitted by Karl]
3. Proscription - "Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn" (from "Desolate Divine", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
4. Atavisma - "Sacrifice unto Babalon" (from "The Chthonic Rituals", 2018) [submitted by Sonny]
5. Immolation — "God Made Filth" (from "Failures for Gods", 1999) [submitted by Karl]
6. Revocation - "Confines of Infinity" (from "New Gods, New Masters", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
7. Abraded - "Menticide" (from "Ethereal Emanations From Chthonic Caries", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
8. Inanna - "Mind Surgery" (from "Void of Unending Depths", 2022) [submitted by Sonny]
9. Disgorge — "Manipulation of Faith" (from "Consume the Forsaken", 2002) [submitted by Karl]
10. Carcinoid - "Morbid Curse" (from "Encomium to Extinction", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
11. Brutal Truth — "Walking Corpse" (from "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses", 1992) [submitted by Karl]
12. Mercyless — "Abject Offerings" (from "Abject Offerings", 1992) [submitted by Karl]
13. Baphomet - "Valley of the Dead" (from "The Dead Shall Inherit", 1992) [submitted by Sonny]
14. Imperishable — "Bells" (from "Swallowing the World", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
15. Kontusion - "Endless Horror" (from "Insatiable Lust for Death", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
16. Magrudergrind - "Martyrs of the Shoah" (from "Magrudergrind", 2009)
17. Meth Leppard - "Idiocracy" (from "Gatekeepers", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
18. Anata — "Released When You Are Dead" (from "The Infernal Depths of Hatred", 1998) [submitted by Karl]
19. Night in Gales — "Towards a Twilight Kiss" (from "Towards the Twilight", 1997) [submitted by Karl]
20. Ataudes - "La Desgracia" (from "Tempus edax rerum", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
21. Gigan - "Square Wave Subversion" (from "Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus", 2024)
22. Diphenylchloroarsine - "Asphyxiating on Hazardous Pollution" (from "Post Apocalyptic Human Annihilation", 2017)
23. Imprecation — "Daemonium" (from "Vomitum Tempestas", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
24. Benediction - "Eternal Eclipse" (from "Subconscious Terror", 1990) [submitted by Sonny]
25. Deteriorot — "Horrors in an Everlasting Nightmare" (from "Awakening", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
26. Décryptal - "Flétrissement" (from "Simulacre", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
27. Grenadier — "The Swine of Mount Cashel" (from "Wolves of the Trench", 2025) [submitted by Karl]
28. Iniquitous Deeds - "Abstract Vibrations Compressed" (from "Incessant Hallucinations", 2015)
29. Disma - "Of A Pasat Forlorn" (from "Towards the Megalith", 2011) [submitted by Sonny]
December 2025
1. Count Raven - "The Poltergeist" (from "Mammon's War", 2015)
2. Gates of Slumber - "Iron Hammer" (from "Hymns of Blood and Thunder", 2009)
3. Evoken – “Lauds” (from “Mendacium”, 2025) [submitted by dk]
4. Hexvessel - "Nights Tender Reckoning" (from "Nocturne", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
5. Lo-Pan - "God's Favourite Victim" (from "Get Well Soon", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
6. Apocalypse Orchestra - "Virago" (from "A Plague Upon Thee", 2025) [submitted by Sonny]
7. Tombs - "Granite Sky" (from "Feral Darkness", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
8. Primitive Man – “Water” (from “Observance”, 2025) [submitted by dk]
9. Secrets of the Moon - "Black House" (from "Black House", 2020)
10. Stygian Crown - "Where the Candle Always Burns" (from "Funeral for a King", 2024)
11. Gloombound - "An Eternity of Complete Acquiescence" (from "Dreaming Delusion", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
12. desolat - "Central European Nihilist Arrogance" (from "Get Sick and Let me Watch You Die", 2024) [submitted by dk]
13. Pale Divine - "Cemetery Earth" (from "Cemetery Earth", 2007) [submitted by Sonny]
14. Wolvennest - "Burial" (from "Procession", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
15. Doomsday Profit - "Spirits" (from "Doomsday Profit", 2025)
16. Sunn 0))) – “Raise the Chalice” (from “Eternity Pillars EP”, 2025) [submitted by dk]
17. Electric Wizard - "Supercoven" (from "Supercoven EP", 1998) [submitted by Sonny]
A brand new Blut Aus Nord album is always a cause for rejoicing. Only a single listen as yet, but it contains all the the usual psych-tinged hynotism we have come to expect from the french black metallers in recent times. It may be fanciful on my part as I haven't studied the lyrics as yet, but atmospherically it seems to tap into the feeling of the environmental zeitgeist for me, in a similar way to Caio Lemos' Kaatayra project. I'm enjoying it.
A relatively new name on the death metal scene, Mortual hail from Costa Rica and hold true to the legacy of the death metal of the Americas. Being a completely new name to me I went back to their earlier EP to get a feel for the band and found it to be a little bit messy with a poor production that saw the tracks descending into a bit of a quagmire of identical-sounding noisiness. Thankfully on this, their debut full-length, the production issues have been addressed and that has revealed a much more accomplished band than was originally projected. The title alone should be an indicator that, despite hailing from elsewhere in the Americas, we are definitely on Floridian territory here with Morbid Angel obviously being a touchstone. Their sound also incorporates the abyssal, thunderous quality of the likes of Autopsy and, probably more pertinently, Incantation which feels like it actually intensifies the brutality the band serve up.
Opening up with an absolute brute of a track in "Mortuary Rites" Mortual set out their stall in no uncertain terms with the track veering from an almost black metal-ish, lightning fast tempo to an ominously brooding crawl and back again all in the space of five minutes of thunderous riffs and battering drum patterns. I appreciate the variations in pacing and am always up for a drop into a doomy tempo as a respite from the blitzkrieg riffs and machine gun blasts. Guitarist Justin Sánchez Barrantes, aka Justin Corpse, doubles-up as vocalist and possesses an excellent guttural growl that is one of the real highlights of the album for me, his sulphurous belchings drenched in foetid filth.
The riffs are fine but, in truth, there weren't really that many that hit me hard and stuck for long and I would like to hear a few more that rolled around for a while in my head later. The guitar soloing is pretty intense and mercurial and is certainly a strong point, providing a manic energy to what is already a pretty stoked atmosphere. In all honesty though, there isn't anything here we haven't heard many times before, so what you think of the album depends on whether you are happy to hear a band playing a well-established style of metal very well or if you place more emphasis on the search for growth and experimentation in your metal. Me, I am quite at ease listening to a technically adept band with a deep understanding of the genre in which they ply their trade and an album that enhances the legacy of the giants who influenced them.
4/5
I agree with all that. What a combination of internet, Covid and corporate marketing has done is consign the concept of definable sub-cultures to the dustbin of history, the Baggies of the 90s being the last really definitive movement (in the UK that is). That said, anyone who thinks these subcultures were primarily about what you wore, understandably, has no idea what they were about. To those inhabiting those spaces it was more than a fashion choice, it was a way of life that informed everything you did, who you hung around with and provided a sense of community, belonging and especially freedom, particularly within poorer communities.
It still makes me laugh to see middle-class twats paying £100 for a pair of ripped jeans. I regularly wore ripped jeans back in the day, but only because I couldn't afford new ones. This was back when you used band patches to actually cover holes in denim jackets and jeans eaten away by battery acid, not merely to profess your fandom. What we would have given for a new pair of Levis back then!I
Today the cult of the individual is king, which is weird because it seems to me like everybody looks the same!
Could it be that metal fans don't only listen to metal anymore? With a lot of metal music itself playing around with outside genres, and a few popular genres being more accessible in general, perhaps the average metal fan isn't as "metal or nothing" as they used to be?
I know that I listen to quite a lot of stuff that wouldn't be found on this site. My passion will always be metal, but I have much broader tastes than I once did. This could explain why you don't see as many obvious "metalheads" anymore. We're all just a little bit more cultured.
I also think that podcasts have likely taken over much of the space that used to be reserved for music. I would spend as much time listening to podcases as I do music. Not sure about the rest of you?
I know I am an old man now and as such am becoming less and less relevant in the world (just how it is kids - it will happen to you too), but, speaking for myself, I have been listening to less non-metal music than I used to. With the sheer variety in metal nowadays it is possible to get most of the music fixes I need within the metal world. I also still buy physical media, so not all my listening is tracked by Spotify and, to be honest, if it wasn't for the Academy playlists I probably wouldn't even have an account there - certainly not a subscription.
I never listen to podcasts because most of them are by people whose views are uninformed, sacrifice complexity and nuance and prioritise clicks over objectivity.
To get back to the original point, though, I don't think the visibility of metalheads was ever cited as the issue, it was based on listening habits. I haven't looked like a metalhead for years - shaved my hair off when hair loss started to make long hair look ridiculous, don't have tattoos (in fact I hate them) and rarely wear band shirts (only gifts), or any logos for that matter, any more - I'm not payiing for the privelege of being someone's fucking billboard! Yet I see many people who look like old-school metalheads with long hair and beards who have never heard a metal album in their lives and listen to shit like the aforementioned Coldplay and go to Glastonbury every year. Certainly here in the UK, I don't think there are really any clearly identifiable music-based "cultures" any more. I grew up a "rocker" and that set you apart from the mods, punks, skins, disco-heads and northern soul fans. But those distinctive and instantly recognisable sub-cultures no longer exist and popular culture feels like it has become very bland, homogenous and corporate.
Sorry - old man shouting at the clouds rant over... (at least until next time).