Album Reviews

Copenhagen-based death metal group Phrenelith has been one of the top-tier bands in the underground metal scene. Their third installment “Ashen Womb” sets an approach to a cadaverous and rotting death metal sound that creates a captivating musicianship. Emerging from the ancient crypts; Phrenelith molds their sound into domains closer to Finnish death metal. Denmark has become a hotbed for many acts like Undergang, Hyperdontia, Sulphurous, Chaotian and many more.
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Formed in 2005 as Tuomas Saukkonen's creative outlet, Dawn Of Solace quickly established itself with their debut album, "The Darkness" (2006). Despite a hiatus due to legal complications the band's loyal fan base remained keeping the flame alive. 2019 marked a new beginning when finally all obstacles to continue the band were overcome followed by a new release "Waves" (2020) and "Flames Of Perdition" (2022) and now to be released their new album called "Affliction Vortex".
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London’s Mutagenic Host delivered its debut full-length album “The Diseased Machine” via Memento Mori on January 3rd, 2025. As newcomers to the death metal arena, they meet the current new wave death metal bands in the U.K. Mutagenic Host’s album is a welcoming start to the year; their sound is a brutal affair of buzz-saw riffs, and the songs are intense and aggressive.
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Hesperia is a one-man black metal band that was forged back in 1997 and was founded by the Italian sole member Hesperus (vocals, all instruments). “Fra Li Monti Sibillini” which translates to "Black Medieval Winter over the Sibylline Mounts" begins a new chapter that provides a sense of medieval grandeur, thus blending several themes of pagan folk with elements of the 90s black metal.
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I've been a fan of Marko Hietala for a while, as I absolutely adore his voice and the range of emotions it can convey. And while I wasn't so sure when I first heard the first single of the record, 'Left on Mars', I just had to check out Marko's newest work.
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Highly anticipated by fans and public: 'Dirty & Divine', the new album from THUNDERMOTHER after the turning point in 2023 following the split of the band, where only founder and THUNDERMOTHER mastermind Filippa Nässil remained, new members joined with the return of Majsan Lindberg (bass), Linnéa Vikström (vocals), and Joan Massing (drums). Initially, the band continued touring with their previous material in this new lineup, but the new material for the album 'Dirty & Divine' came to fruition with the updated lineup.
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When I reviewed the fourth self-titled album by the Scottish based black metal act Barshasketh I knew they would progress beyond the boundaries. Their newest record “Antinomian Asceticism” proves they can perfectly craft a grandiose sense of mystical black metal that is purely inspired by the 90s cult bands. Unsurprisingly, Barshasketh has developed fast from its predecessor by achieving great results; the songwriting burrows hellish elements of classic black metal.
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Urfeind is a German black metal band led by vocalist and guitarist Skadwaz, who formed the band in 2015, and now the band
returned with their third studio album “Dauþalaikaz” out via Nine to Zero Productions on January 10th, 2025. Urfeind’s approach to songwriting infuses elements from the Norwegian second wave of black metal and modern Finnish black metal bands. Urfeind is an anti-cosmic Black Metal project with a strong devotion to the Thursian path.
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Russia’s Pyre has risen to embrace its old-school death metal roots in its newest album, “Where Obscurity Sways” out via Osmose Productions on January 31st, 2025. The third full-length album is noteworthy for its visceral songwriting and the consolidation of different genres like death and thrash metal. Given this raw attitude of songwriting, there is a slow and brutal fast fusion of grim atmospheres similar to classic Asphyx.
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Distant is an deathcore band from The Netherlands. It's 2025 already, but these guys released another of their brutal creations in November 2024, and it was such a blast that I had to write about it. 'Tsukuyomi' is an EP that has been released back in 2017, but back then they didn't have the financial resources like they have today. So they couldn't let those songs get lost in history like they were. But they didn't only re-record the songs, they optimized the songs to how they would sound today and added 7 more songs, really fleshing this release out. So let's dive in and enjoy.
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