Thursday, 11 December 2025

ESSENTIAL METAL ALBUM(S) #48 Monday, November 24th, to Sunday, November 30th, 2025


After a fraught and very busy few weeks, I find myself playing catch up again, so apologies, but were back and today I present week 48 of THE SLUDGELORD’s weekly selection of Essential Albums, bringing you five crushing releases from the underground. Whilst each record is uniquely heavy in their own right, they will certainly shake foundations and melt speakers.
 
Kicking things off was an easy pick for my album of the week and that record is Oromet – “The Sinking Isle” (Funeral Doom / Atmospheric Doom). This record is a masterclass in bleak, immersive doom— suffocating and utterly devastating. Oromet conjure a soundscape that feels like drowning in slow motion, and it’s nothing short of hypnotic. It also feel weirdly emotive too, so please check it out.  ORM – “Guld” (Atmospheric Black Metal / Progressive Black Metal) follows with a sweeping, atmospheric black metal opus that feels totally unique. Honestly, they have a unique ability to weave melody into a progressive storm of riffs and thunderous percussion, making this album a towering achievement in modern black metal and for me, it is arguably one of the best black metal albums of the year.
 
Next up, Primitive Man – “Observance” (Sludge / Doom / Noise). As expected, this is pure sonic annihilation. Primitive Man continue to redefine heaviness with suffocating walls of distortion and nihilistic despair. Few bands can make you feel the weight of existence like they do. Pupil Slicer Fleshwork” (Mathcore / Progressive Metal / Experimental Metal). Rather than the pure chaos of previous records, “Fleshwork leans into a more expansive and progressive approach. It’s intricate and dynamic, blending mathcore precision with atmospheric passages and layered textures. The result is a record that feels ambitious and emotionally resonant—balancing technicality with moments of clarity and depth.
 
Finally, Qrixkuor “The Womb of the World” (Death Metal / Cavernous Death / Blackened Death) a harrowing cavernous colossal death metal record, this album is a suffocating, meticulously crafted descent into cosmic horror—ambitious, overwhelming, and utterly consuming.
 
This is THE SLUDGELORD’s Essential Albums of the Week, WK48. Plug in and black out. The ‘Lord has spoken.
 
⚔️ ðŸ©¸ Album of the week:
 

 
#325
 
⚔️ Artist: Oromet 
🩸 Title: “The Sinking Isle”
⚔️ Release date: November 7th, 2025 


🩸 Genre/tags: atmospheric doom, funeral doom



🩸 Essential Release (s)
 
#323 
 
⚔️ Artist:  ORM
🩸  Title: “Guld”
⚔️ Release date: October 31st, 2025

 



🩸 Genre/tags: progressive black metal



#324 
 
⚔️ Artist: Primitive Man
🩸  Title: “Observance”
⚔️ Release date: October 31st, 2025 



🩸 Genre/tags: black metal, dissonant, noise, sludge, doom



#326
 
⚔️ Artist: Pupil Slicer
🩸 Title: “Fleshwork”
⚔️ Release date: November 7th, 2025



🩸 Genre/tags: grindcore, hardcore, mathcore



 

#327

⚔️ Artist: Qrixkuor 
🩸 Title: “Ritual of Split Tongues”
⚔️ Release date: November 7th, 2025



🩸 Genre/tags:  death metal, doom, black metal


PLAYLIST: THE SLUDGELORD’s Weekly Hitlist #49 November 28th, 2025 to December 4th, 2025


 

⚔️🩸 My biggest tracks from November 28th, 2025 to December 4th, 2025
 
 
⚔️ Total streams: 241 ↑ 168% vs. last week
🩸  Total Artists streamed: 17 ↑ 55%
⚔️ Total Albums streamed: 19 ↑ 59%
🩸  New Tracks streamed: 82 ↑ 91%
⚔️ Total Listening Time: 1 days 11 hours ↑ 120%
🩸  Average Streams: 34 per day ↑ 162%
⚔️ Most Active Streaming Day: 58 on December 3rd4%

⚔️ Top Artist: 1914 (56 streams)



🩸 Top Album: 1914 – “Viribus Unitis” (56 streams)



⚔️ Top Track: 1914 – “1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)” (9 streams)



🩸 Top 30 tracks of the week


Sunday, 7 December 2025

MONTHLY RECAP: THE SLUGELORD's monthly metal picks #11, November 2025


 

⚔️🩸 My favourite track (s) & artist (s) from November 2025 
 
 
⚔️ Total streams: 800 ↓ 47% vs. last month
🩸  Total Artists streamed: 35 ↓ 50%
⚔️ Total Albums streamed: 39 ↓ 56%
🩸  New Tracks streamed: 227 ↓ 55%
⚔️ Total Listening Time: 2 days, 19 hours ↓ 49%
🩸  Average Streams: 27 per day ↓ 44%
⚔️ Most Active Streaming Day: 83 on 14th Nov ↓ 30%


 Top Artist: The Acacia Strain (143 streams)


🩸  Top Album: The Acacia Strain – “You Are Safe From God Here” (130 streams)



⚔️ Top Track: The Acacia Strain – “A Call Beyond” (12 streams)



🩸  Top 30 tracks of the month


Thursday, 4 December 2025

MONTHLY RECAP: THE SLUGELORD's monthly metal picks #10, October 2025


 

⚔️🩸 My favourite track(s) & artist(s) from October 2025
 
⚔️ Total streams: 1,499 ↑ 38% vs. last month
🩸  Total Artists streamed: 70 ↑ 75%
⚔️ Total Albums streamed: 87 ↑ 53%
🩸  New Tracks streamed: 497 ↑ 42%
⚔️ Total Listening Time: 5 days, 11 hours ↑ 52%
🩸  Average Streams: 48 per day ↑ 34%
⚔️ Most Active Streaming Day: 113 on 17th Oct ↓ 8%

⚔️ Top Artist: Altarage (140 streams)



🩸 Top Album: Nine Inch Nails – “TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” (121 streams)



⚔️ Top Track: Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – “The Hardest Thing About Being God Is That No One Believes Me” (10 streams)




🩸 Top 30 tracks of the month


PLAYLIST: THE SLUDGELORD’s Weekly Hitlist #48 November 21st, 2025 to November 27th, 2025


 

⚔️🩸 My biggest tracks from November 21st, 2025 to November 27th, 2025
 
⚔️ Total streams: 90 ↓ 50% vs. last week
🩸  Total Artists streamed: 11 ↑21%
⚔️ Total Albums streamed: 12 ↑10%
🩸  New Tracks streamed: 43 ↓ 24%
⚔️ Total Listening Time: 11 hours
🩸  Average Streams: 13 per day
⚔️ Most Active Streaming Day: 54 on 27th Nov

⚔️ Top Artist: Primitive Man (39 streams)


🩸  Top Album: Primitive Man – “Observance” (39 streams)



⚔️ Top Track: Primitive Man – “Devotion” (9 streams)



🩸  Top 30 tracks of the week


Thursday, 27 November 2025

ESSENTIAL METAL ALBUM(S) WK46 Monday, November 10th to Sunday, November 16th, 2025


 
Week 46 is here, and THE SLUDGELORD’s weekly selection of Essential Albums brings you a stacked lineup of crushing releases from the underground. First, apologies for the lateness of this article—sickness kept me down and away from new music for the past couple of weeks. But the wait was worth it. Each record offers its own unique vision of heaviness—ready to shake foundations and melt speakers.
 
Kicking thing off is Onsetter, who deliver a sonic battering ram of downtuned riffs bled with vitriolic fury on “Smother / Obituary”, a two‑track assault that marks their second release this year following up the incredible “Malice”. Enragement are absolutely unrelenting on “Extinguish All Existence”, a death metal war machine that grinds forward with annihilating precision and merciless ferocity.
 
Suffering Hour spiral into madness on “Impelling Rebirth”, a vertigo‑inducing plunge through dissonant riffs and cosmic chaos that feels like staring into the abyss. The Munsens drag listeners into “Degradation in the Hyperreal”, a doom‑laden descent where reality buckles under the weight of colossal riffs and suffocating atmosphere. Dawn Fades unveil “III”, weaving haunting melodies and blackened fury into a post‑metal tapestry that shifts between melancholy and obliteration.
 
Sunburster erupt from the filth‑ridden trenches with a bombastic, full‑throttle slab of nasty sludge dripping with venom and grit on “No Semblance of Peaceful Existence”. And finally, Leylines conjure “Sepulchral”, a mathcore monument that feels both volatile and precise, forever on the brink of collapsing into beautiful disorder. For fans of Ion Dissonance, Car Bomb, Frontierer, Humanity’s Last Breath, and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, Leylines deliver a vision of technical extremity where chaos and beauty collide.
 
This is THE SLUDGELORD’s Essential Albums of the Week, WK46. Plug in and black out. The ‘Lord has spoken.

⚔️ ðŸ©¸ Album of the week:
 
 
#315 
 
⚔️ Artist: Leylines 
🩸  Title: “Sepulchral”
⚔️ Release date: October 24th, 2025


🩸 Genre/tags: mathcore, deathcore, technical metal 


🩸 Essential Release (s)
 
#316 
 
⚔️ Artist: Sunburster 
🩸  Title: “No Semblance of Peaceful Existence”
⚔️ Release date: October 24th, 2025 




 
🩸 Genre/tags: sludge



#317
 
⚔️ Artist: Dawn Fades 
🩸  Title: “III”
⚔️ Release date: October 24th, 2025

 



🩸 Genre/tags: post metal, screamo, blackened doom, sludge 



#318
 
⚔️ Artist: The Munsens
🩸  Title: "Degradation in the Hyperreal” 
⚔️ Release date: October 24th, 2025 




🩸 Genre/tags: black metal, death metal, hardcore, doom 



#319 


⚔️ Artist: Suffering Hour 
🩸  Title: “Impelling Rebirth”
⚔️ Release date: October 24th, 2025



🩸 Genre/tags:  black metal, death metal



#320 
 
⚔️ Artist: Enragement 
🩸 Title: “Extinguish All Existence” 
⚔️ Release date: October 3rd, 2025


🩸 Genre/tags: brutal death metal, deathgrind



#321 
 
⚔️ Artist: Onsetter 
🩸  Title: “Smother / Obituary” 
⚔️ Release date: October 28tth, 2025



🩸 Genre/tags: hardcore, noise, sludge 


PLAYLIST: THE SLUDGELORD’s Weekly Hitlist #47 November 14th, 2025 to November 20th, 2025



⚔️🩸 My biggest tracks from November 14th, 2025 to November 20th, 2025
 
⚔️ Total streams: 179 ↓ 38% vs. last week
🩸  Total Artists streamed: 9 ↓ 31%
⚔️ Total Albums streamed: 11 ↓ 22%
🩸  New Tracks streamed: 64 ↓ 24%

⚔️ Top Artist: Enragement (50 streams)



🩸  Top Album: Enragement “Extinguish All Existence” (50 streams)



⚔️ Top Track: Rolo Tomassi “Dead Language” (9 streams)



⚔️🩸 Top 30 tracks of the week