Week 2 of THE SLUDGELORD’s Essential Albums brings
six uncompromising releases from across the underground, each one demanding
attention in its own distinct and punishing way.
The Album of the Week goes to Redivider with “Sounds of Malice”, a debut full‑length that channels the ferocity of 90s Florida death metal while delivering it with modern precision and a striking sense of narrative weight. The promo accompanying the release states that “from the first note to the last, Redivider seeks to overwhelm the listener with stories of death, decay, addiction, ritual, and myth,” and that intent bleeds through every suffocating moment. The result is an album rooted in death metal tradition yet sharpened for the present—tightly constructed, immersive, and impossible to ignore.
Force Carrier follow with “Intranuclear”, a dense, irradiated surge of technical and progressive death metal. The band navigate spiralling structures and high‑pressure riffing with precision, creating a record that feels both cerebral and crushing. It’s a release built for deep immersion, revealing new layers each time you return to it.
B e s o t deliver “Beneath Creation”, an uncompromising slab of dissonant sludge that moves with the force of something ancient and unyielding. The album unfolds with tectonic heaviness—gnarled riffs, oppressive atmosphere, and a sense of looming dread that never loosens its grip. It’s a record built on tension and abrasion, ritualistic in pacing and utterly consuming in tone, the kind of release that drags you under rather than inviting you in.
With “The Nomad”, Pict offer a bleak and wandering vision of extremity. The band describe their sound as blending Black, Death, Doom, and Sludge into a uniquely miserable strain, and that ethos saturates every moment of the record. Raw aggression collides with bleak atmosphere and a sense of restless movement, pulling the listener through desolate, wind‑scoured terrain. It’s harsh, mythic, and steeped in a gloom that feels both ancient and immediate.
Voidhammer unleash “Noxious Emissions”, a filthy collision of OSDM grit and suffocating doom. The record lurches between cavernous, old‑school death metal weight and slower, crushing passages that feel designed to smother the listener. It’s raw, hostile, and steeped in decay—an album that revels in heaviness without sacrificing momentum, delivering a sound that’s both primitive and punishing.
Closing out the week, Lionheart return with “Valley of Death II”, a bruising sequel steeped in metallic hardcore swagger. The band double down on their signature blend of anthemic aggression and thick, street‑level crunch, delivering a record built for impact and immediacy. Confident, punishing, and unmistakably Lionheart.
Alongside these new releases, I’ve also been revisiting the back catalogue of Will Haven—a reminder of just how enduring, atmospheric, and emotionally volatile their body of work remains.
This is THE SLUDGELORD’s Essential Albums of the Week #2. Plug in and black out. The ‘Lord has spoken.
⚔️ 🩸 Album of the week:
#15
⚔️ Artist: Redivider
🩸 Title: “Sounds of Malice”
#15
⚔️ Artist: Redivider
🩸 Title: “Sounds of Malice”
🩸 Genre/tags: atmospheric death metal
🩸 Essential Release (s)
#9
⚔️ Artist: Force Carrier
🩸 Title: ““Intranuclear”
⚔️ Release
date: January 2nd, 2026
🩸 Genre/tags: progressive metal, sci fi,
instrumental
#10
⚔️ Artist: B e s o t
🩸 Title: “beneath
creation”
⚔️ Release
date: January 1st, 2026
🩸 Genre/tags: sludge, dissonant
#13
⚔️ Artist: Pict
🩸 Title: “The
Nomad”
⚔️ Release
date: January 5th, 2026
🩸 Genre/tags: black metal, post metal, sludge,
progressive metal
#16
⚔️ Artist: Voidhammer
🩸 Title: “Noxious
Emissions”
⚔️ Release
date: January 9th, 2026
🩸 Genre/tags: osdm , doom
#18
⚔️ Artist: Lionheart
🩸 Title: “Valley
of Death II”
⚔️ Release
date: January 9th, 2026
🩸 Genre/tags: hardcore, metalcore
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