DISCOG DISSECTION: Nott - "The Wretched Sounds" to "As All Is Undone"

 

🎤 Artist: Nott
📍 Location: Seattle, Washington
🎼 Genre: Death metal / metalcore / doom
💿 Studio albums ranked: 3
 
 
For this next instalment of Discog Dissection, the focus today is on Seattle, Washington duo Nott. Ostensibly, the act seem to begin as the creative endeavour of founder, principal songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tyler Campbell.
 
Now on their third full-length, they developed into a fully-fledged live act and, judging by the clips I have seen online, the addition of drummer Julia Geaman was an absolute masterstroke. Released on 4 September 2026 via our friends at Silent Pendulum Records, As All Is Undone is easily their strongest album to date, at least from my perspective. Following multiple listens, I decided to dive into their back catalogue to get a sense of their beginnings, how their sound may have changed over time, and how they developed into the juggernaut they have become today.
 
According to their bio, Nott occupy a brutal space where dissonant death metal, doom and sludge collide. That description feels particularly appropriate given the sheer weight of their music. There is an oppressive quality to their sound, but also enough variation in dynamics and atmosphere to make the experience feel like far more than simply an exercise in heaviness.
 
What I particularly enjoyed about this deep dive was hearing that sound develop across three successive records. The foundations are there on The Wretched Sounds, they become increasingly established on Hiraeth, and then, for me, everything comes together on As All Is Undone.
 
Going backwards through the catalogue also gave me a better appreciation of where Nott started and the progression that followed. Whilst all three albums clearly belong to the same creative vision, As All Is Undone feels like the most complete representation of what Nott have developed into.
 
Ultimately, that is exactly why I enjoy doing these Discog Dissection features. The ranking is obviously part of it, but it is equally about exploring the journey between records and hearing how an artist's identity develops over time. In Nott's case, As All Is Undone initially caught my attention, but exploring the records that preceded it gave me a much greater appreciation of the project as a whole.
 
Honestly, Nott have made a considerable impression on me during this deep dive. As All Is Undone remains comfortably my favourite of the three, but each record contributes something to the story of how they arrived at this point. If you haven't already heard them, I would absolutely recommend checking them out. 

🏆 Ranking
 
🥇 1 — As All Is Undone (2026)
🥈 2 — Hiraeth (2023)
🥉 3 — The Wretched Sounds (2018)
 
📈 Share of total plays
 
📀 As All Is Undone — 59.1%
📀 Hiraeth — 20.9%
📀 The Wretched Sounds — 20.0%
 
 
📊 Nott listening stats during this deep dive:
 
🎧 Total plays: 220
 ↳ Equivalent to approximately 30.6 complete album listens
 
 
💿 As All Is Undone — 130 plays
 ↳ 18.6 album-equivalent listens
💿 Hiraeth — 46 plays
 ↳ 6.6 album-equivalent listens
💿 The Wretched Sounds — 44 plays
 ↳ 5.5 album-equivalent listens
 
 
🎵 Top tracks:
 
🔥 "Under the Weight" (As All Is Undone) — 21 plays
🔥 "Stare" (Hiraeth) — 8 plays
🔥 "The Carbon Lens" (The Wretched Sounds) — 7 plays
 
 
🏆 Most-played album: As All Is Undone — 130 plays
🔥 Most-played track: "Under the Weight" — 21 plays
 
 
💬 Discussion
 
❓ Are you a fan of Nott?
❓ How would you rank these albums?
❓ What's your favourite?

DISCOG DISSECTION: Februus, "Surveillance Orgy" to "Construction of Conflict"

🎤 Artist: Februus
🎼 Genre: Progressive/technical death metal
💿 Studio albums ranked: 2
 
This is my personal deep dive into the discography of Februus, following the release of their second album, Construction of Conflict, through Transcending Obscurity on 4 September 2026.
 
Februus is the one-man project of Swedish musician Andreas Karlsson. My introduction to the band came through Surveillance Orgy when it was still an independent release, prior to its subsequent reissue through Transcending Obscurity.  Even then, it was obvious that Karlsson possessed a unique creative vision. Surveillance Orgy was ambitious, unpredictable and packed with ideas, but at the same time it was not an easy listen.
 
When Construction of Conflict arrived, I expected a similar reaction. In reality, I found it even more challenging, at least initially. From a purely subjective standpoint, the album did not immediately grab me and there were several occasions where I considered moving on entirely.
 
What initially felt difficult to absorb, gradually became easier to engage with  repeated listens, and the ideas underpinning the album began to make more sense.
 
Overall, Februus are unlikely to become one of my favourite bands. However, this is unquestionably a unique and ambitious project, and I would strongly recommend checking them out.

🏆 Ranking
 
🥈 2 — Surveillance Orgy (2024)
🥇 1 — The Construction of Conflict (2026)
 

📈 Share of total plays
 
📀 Construction of Conflict — 71.4%
📀 Surveillance Orgy — 28.6%
 

📊 Februus listening stats during this deep dive:

 🎧 Total plays: 175

💿 Construction of Conflict — 125 plays
↳ 15.6 album-equivalent listens
💿 Surveillance Orgy — 50 plays
↳ 10.0 album-equivalent listens

 

🎵 Top tracks:
 
🔥 "Genocide by Default" (The Construction of Conflict) — 18 plays
🔥 "Gentrification of the Soul" (Surveillance Orgy) — 12 plays
 

💬 Discussion
 
❓ Are you a fan of this band?
❓ How would you rank these albums?
❓ What's your favourite?

DISCOG DISSECTION: Chat Pile: From “God’s Country” to “Who Loves the Sun”

🔱 Artist: Chat Pile (USA)
⚙️ Genre: Noise rock/sludge metal
💿 Studio albums covered: 3
 
📝 This is a personal deep dive into Chat Pile’s catalogue following the release of “Who Loves the Sun”, their third full-length album, issued on 4 September 2026 through The Flenser.
 
For the purposes of this feature, I have focused exclusively on their three principal studio albums. Their collaborative album with Hayden Pedigo, “In the Earth Again”, and the “Tenkiller Motion Picture Soundtrack” have not been included in either the listening statistics or the final ranking.
 
For the uninitiated, Chat Pile are an Oklahoma-based noise rock and sludge metal band known for their abrasive sound, unsettling intensity and difficult-to-categorise approach.
 
Much like my recent experience with Warforged, I was not particularly taken with “Who Loves the Sun” on first listen. However, something encouraged me to persevere and give it another chance. I am very glad that I did because, as a result, I can honestly say that Chat Pile have become a new favourite of mine.
 
Since the release of “Who Loves the Sun”, Chat Pile have dominated my listening. I have played each of their three albums numerous times and, at one stage, thought that I had finally settled on a ranking. However, whenever I returned to another album, I found myself drawn into that record just as strongly.
 
I appreciate that placing all three albums equally may be viewed as something of a cop-out in a feature built around ranking discographies. However, their music is so consistently strong that I genuinely found it impossible to place any one album ahead of the others. Rather than forcing an order for the sake of it, I have therefore ranked all three equally. For me, the difficulty in separating them exemplifies what great and remarkably consistent songwriters they are.
 
The listening statistics provide some additional context, although there is an obvious recency bias towards “Who Loves the Sun”. Its significantly higher play count reflects how much time I have spent exploring it since its release, rather than suggesting that I consider it superior to either “Cool World” or “God’s Country”.

🎧 Chat Pile listening statistics during this deep dive
 
Total plays: 323
 
Albums covered: 3
 
“Who Loves the Sun” (2026) — 198 plays
“Cool World” (2024) — 72 plays
“God’s Country” (2022) — 53 plays
 
📈 Share of total plays
 
“Who Loves the Sun” — 61.3%
“Cool World” — 22.3%
“God’s Country” — 16.4%
 
🔥 Top track from each album
 
“Creature” from “Who Loves the Sun” — 23 plays
“Camcorder” from “Cool World” — 8 plays
“Pamela” from “God’s Country” — 7 plays
 
🏆 Most-played album: “Who Loves the Sun” — 198 plays
🔥 Most-played track: “Creature” — 23 plays
 
📊 Ranking
 
💿 =1 — “Who Loves the Sun” (2026)
💿 =1 — “Cool World” (2024)
💿 =1 — “God’s Country” (2022)
 
 
❓ Can you separate Chat Pile’s three albums?
💬 If you had to choose just one, which would take the top spot?

DISCOG DISSECTION: Miscreance, "From Convergence to Reminiscence"

🔱 Artist: Miscreance (Italy) 🇮
⚙️ Genre: Technical/progressive thrash-death metal
💿 Studio albums ranked: 2
 
📝 This is a personal deep dive into Miscreance's catalogue following the release of “Reminiscence”, their second full-length album on the 28^{th of} August 2026 via Season of Mist.

 

For the uninitiated, Miscreance occupy the space between technical thrash metal and death metal, drawing heavily from classic acts such as Death while incorporating progressive songwriting and unusual rhythmic ideas that give their music a distinctive identity.
 
The one thing I remembered from first hearing Miscreance was a drive home from Newcastle to Sheffield a few years ago. At the time, the music struck me as off-kilter and somewhat incongruent. For me, the riffing and vocals didn't quite seem to fit together naturally and, while I found it interesting, it never fully clicked. I eventually moved on and largely forgot about the band.
 
Given that experience, I was somewhat sceptical about spending time with “Reminiscence”. Thankfully, I did.  My immediate reaction was that it sounded like classic-era Death filtered through Miscreance's own technical and progressive approach. The more I listened, the more hooked I became.
 
Admittedly, I only really got into Death last years, so revisiting Miscreance's catalogue after spending more time with that style of metal made me hear the band very differently. A lot of the influences and ideas that had previously passed me by suddenly became obvious. What once sounded awkward or unusual now felt purposeful and incredibly well-crafted.  As a result, I found myself appreciating both albums far more than I expected.
 
The listening statistics below provide some additional context, although the extra time spent exploring newer releases will inevitably be reflected in the play counts. Honestly though, Miscreance are an incredible band, and “Reminiscence” is firmly in contention for one of the best metal albums of the year. I'd strongly recommend checking them out, and I enjoyed the record so much, I even bought a cd.

 

📊 Ranking

 
 
💿 2 — “Convergence” (2022)
💿 1 — “Reminiscence” (2026)

🎧 Miscreance listening stats during this deep dive (since the release of "Reminiscence":

 

• Total plays: 168
 
• “Reminiscence” (2026) — 107 plays
• “Convergence” (2022) — 61 plays
 
🔥 Top tracks:
 
• Oracle's Rift (“Reminiscence”) — 12 plays
• Alchemy (“Convergence”) — 8 plays

 

 
❓ Are you a fan of this band?
💬 How would you rank these?
👇 What's your favourite?

DISCOG DISSECTION: Warforged, From “I: Voice” to “The Grove | Almanac"

🔱 Artist: Warforged (USA)
⚙️ Genre: Progressive/blackened death metal
💿 Studio albums ranked: 3

📝 This is a personal deep dive into Warforged’s catalogue following the release of “The Grove | Almanac”, their third full-length album, issued on 14 August 2026 through The Artisan Era.

For the uninitiated, Warforged broadly inhabit the progressive and blackened death metal sphere, although their atmospheric, experimental and increasingly deathcore-influenced music is not always easy to categorise neatly.

Full disclosure: I had no prior knowledge of the band before this record or, if I did, I cannot recall hearing them. Nevertheless, I was enthusiastic about checking it out, given the quality of releases associated with the label. This includes the brilliant new record by Inferi, which I previously lauded in another article.

Admittedly, I was not particularly enamoured with “The Grove | Almanac” on first listen. I did not even make it through the entire album, quickly writing it off before moving on to the next new release. What drew me back was the positive response the record received. I began to wonder whether I had simply heard it at the wrong time or had not been in the right mood for it.

I therefore decided to give the album another chance, and I am glad that I did because it really is fantastic. That second listen prompted me to explore the rest of Warforged’s catalogue.

I would certainly recommend checking them out if you are a fan of Inferi or progressive and blackened death metal more generally, particularly music that balances technical extremity with a more atmospheric approach. However, I will leave you to be the judge.

The listening statistics provide some additional context, although the extra time spent exploring newer releases will inevitably be reflected in the play counts. Despite the final ranking order, I genuinely enjoy every album included.

 

📊 Ranking
 
💿 3 — “The Grove | Sundial” (2022)
💿 2 — “The Grove | Almanac” (2026)
💿 1 — “I: Voice” (2019)

🎧 Warforged listening stats during this deep dive (since the release of “The Grove | Almanac”):
 
• Total plays: 197
 
• “The Grove | Almanac” (2026) — 95 plays
• “The Grove | Sundial” (2022) — 52 plays
• “I: Voice” (2019) — 50 plays

 
🔥 Top tracks:

• A Bustle in Your Hedgerow (“The Grove | Almanac”) — 12 plays
• Bliss Joined to the Bane (“The Grove | Sundial”) — 6 plays
• Beneath the Forest Floor (“I: Voice”) — 6 plays

❓ Are you a fan of this band?
💬 How would you rank these?
👇 What's your favourite?

DISCOG DISSECTION: Mastodon, "From Remission to Marrow Deep"

 

🔱 Artist: Mastodon (USA)

📝 This is a personal deep dive into Mastodon's catalogue following the release of “Marrow Deep”. While I'd always known the band, I'd never spent much time with their albums and pretty much written them off. It was only after hearing “Marrow Deep” that the band's catalogue really started to click for me. Listening stats provide some additional context, but familiarity with certain albums, as well as spending more time with newer releases, may be reflected in the play counts. Despite the ranking order, I genuinely enjoy every album here.
 
 
📊 Ranking
 
💿 9 — “The Hunter” (2011)
💿 8 — “Once More 'Round the Sun” (2014)
💿 7 — “Hushed and Grim” (2021)
💿 6 — “Emperor of Sand” (2017)
💿 5 — “Leviathan” (2004)
💿 4 — “Remission” (2002)
💿 3 — “Marrow Deep” (2026)
💿 2 — “Crack the Skye” (2009)
💿 1 — “Blood Mountain” (2006)

 

🎧 Mastodon listening stats during this deep dive (since the release of “Marrow Deep”):
 
• Total plays: 508
 
• “Marrow Deep” (2026) — 111 plays
• “Blood Mountain” (2006) — 78 plays
• “Leviathan” (2004) — 69 plays
• “Remission” (2002) — 55 plays
• “Hushed and Grim” (2021) — 53 plays
• “The Hunter” (2011) — 46 plays
• “Emperor of Sand” (2017) — 44 plays
• “Crack the Skye” (2009) — 27 plays
• “Once More 'Round the Sun” (2014) — 25 plays
 
🔥 Top tracks:

• Barbarian's Blood (“Marrow Deep”) — 11 plays
• The Wolf Is Loose (“Blood Mountain”) — 8 plays
• Naked Burn (“Leviathan”) — 8 plays
• Pain with an Anchor (“Hushed and Grim”) — 6 plays
• Burning Man (“Remission”) — 5 plays
• Ancient Kingdom (“Emperor of Sand”) — 4 plays
• Crack the Skye (“Crack the Skye”) — 4 plays
• High Road (“Once More 'Round the Sun”) — 4 plays
• All the Heavy Lifting (“The Hunter”) — 4 plays
 
 
❓ Are you a fan of this band?
💬 How would you rank these?
👇 What's your favourite?

DISCOG DISSECTION: Altarage - "Apocalyptic Dissonance as Doctrine"

 

Few bands embody sonic hostility like Altarage. Emerging from Bilbao’s shadowed depths, they’ve built a discography that doesn’t just challenge listeners — it punishes them. Their music is faceless, formless, and fiercely uncompromising, a testament to death metal’s most experimental fringes.

Their journey began with “MMXV”, a demo that snarled with intent, followed by the suffocating debut “Nihl”, where dissonance and decay reigned supreme. “Endinghent” pushed further into the abyss, layering industrial dread over tectonic riffwork. With “The Approaching Roar”, Altarage refined their assault — sharper, more immediate, yet no less punishing.

Then came “Succumb”, a descent into ritualistic noise and mechanical rhythm, followed by “Sol Corrupto”, which blurred the line between death metal and sonic architecture. “Worst Case Scenario” and the EP “Cataract" continued the evolution — chaotic, abstract, and hostile to convention.

Altarage don’t perform music. They construct sonic monoliths and let them collapse on top of you. No names. No faces. Just pure, unrelenting extremity.

THE SLUDGELORD: Cast your mind back, when did Altarage first become conceptualized because now that you’re no longer anonymous, people may not know this, but you were the founder, principal songwriter, singer and guitarist for HOTR. While you might not view your writing as markedly different, there is an obvious and dramatic shift in tone from that band to Altarage.
 
I started this as a personal project at the same time I was writing the final HOTR album, in early 2014 but the seeds were planted about 2010, I think. I was revisiting the two demos I did with my band Burial back in 1992 and approached my two old bandmates to get those songs recorded for the album that never was recorded,  but they were not into it so I kind of dismissed that option and started to write a more brutal album for HOTR, being “Grengus”.  A friend told me that I should start a Death Metal band again but I was comfortable doing this mix of things in HOTR. And so “Grengus” came as a very heavy record and Summoning Deliverance was even heavier and the next batch of songs was too much for HOTR so that´s when I decided to put them aside and create a proper environment for them in Altarage. There was no plan at all beyond recording an album but, slowly, the project became what it is today.
 
THE SLUGELORD: You mention you just write music and perhaps see yourself as having more in common with bands outside the sphere of extreme metal, maybe even more of a rock band. However, you must listen to a lot of dissonant rock bands, because your debut album 'NIHL' is certainly not as accessible as say Boston—or perhaps it is, if you’re a fan of dissonant music, haha. Can you say a few words about the conception of that record? Did you finish HOTR and go straight into that record? Also, forgive me for saying so, it sounds a little rough around the edges (was that by design) compared to 'Succumb', which seems more polished?
 
Well, I see ourselves having more in common with bands like The Melvins, High on Fire, Confessor or Soundgarden than with black metal bands out there, because I think we do things our way and try to not stay in one place all the time. Of course, Death Metal is our root but there´s so much going on. The “NIHL” album was recorded in early 2015 and HOTR was still functioning until the break up in December of that year, so I was doing both for a couple of years or so. Xanpe worked on the last three HOTR albums and did “NIHL” too but I needed to direct him on this new approach, doing an over the top production, totally on purpose, yes. I remember him trying to understand the sounds in the first Impetuous Ritual album was like a mindfuck!
I love Boston, by the way.
 
THE SLUDGELORD: You’re five albums deep now and it has been nearly ten years since your debut. Did your approach to each album change from one to the next? I’m guilty of failing to read liner notes, so it may be there in black and white—but did you change producers, mixers, studios, guitars, amps, and perhaps aim for something different album to album?
 
6 albums, since “Sol Corrupto” is a full length. Every time the songs are different and no matter what you do, the sound will be different too. We always try to do the best albums for us but the approach is always the same: we record live in the studio seeking the best performances and sounds. Sometimes we work with different engineers and studios just to try new things.
 

THE SLUDGELORD: You may not want to nor be able to answer this, but what would be your personal rating for each album? Can you say a few words about each album and what do you think AI would say about them?
 
Actually, I don´t give a flying fuck about AI.
I cannot rank the albums but I can tell you this:

“NIHL”
I don’t know where it came from but the riffs started to flow nonstop, although there was a huge work and changes in the actual songs until we hit the studio in spring 2015. The production was over the top, just getting away from cleaner sounds

“ENDINGHENT”
We down tuned the key to make it weirder and heavier, but the mix was something that differed from the actual sound in the studio,  hat was monstrous. The overall production is something we despised in the beginning, but the songs were huge. We are at peace with its clarity now.

“THE APPROACHING ROAR”
Here, although the majority of the songs are fast, with blasts and all, there is a sense of something breathing underneath, roaring, with a pulse of doom, and the first hints of drone.  A good way to forget the bit of deception we had with the previous album.

“SUCCUMB”
This was planned as a shorter album than it was. I kept writing songs, at first destined for the next record but, in the end, decided to include it here, because they were ripping. It was recorded and mixed by Xanpe, who did “NIHL” too and it can be noted for the over the top nature of it, culminating with the huge drone piece at the end.

“SOL CORRUPTO”
This was a long time coming. Since 2017 we were talking about doing something doomier and different. The drone tentacles were everywhere. One of my favorites LPs.

“WORST CASE SCENARIO”
I remember hearing in my head a lot of Confessor and Atheist at the time of writing this collection of songs. The production was cleaner than it was intented at first but, in the end, it was perfect for what it was.
 

THE SLUDGELORD: Recently you decided to play two shows as a regular band. Did you find the anonymity and being in a box present a challenge, hence the decision to become unmasked? To the eagle-eyed, many of us have speculated that current Wormed drummer Gabriel 'V-Kazar' Valcázar is in the band?
 
In recent times there has been like a flood of hooded or masked bands, as it was a genre in itself. At first we did it to get the focus on the music only, not saying where we came from regarding bands, but you know what? Nobody cared because they see a masked band picture and they get to the conclusion that you play the same music as this hooded or that masked band! Blackened whatever…  A lot of people listen to music with their eyes.

You almost hit the jackpot but no. Our drummer is the vocalist of Wormed, Phlegeton.
 

THE SLUDGELORD: Finally, now that you’re unmasked, what can we expect from Altarage 2.0—a new album, tour?
 
2.0? Haha, all stays the same. We have a new album about to be released that will speak for itself, and some live activity for 2026, it seems.
 

Check out my favourite Atarage albums below, let me know your thoughts, do you agree and how would you rate them? (I didn’t include “Sol Corrupto” because I thought  it was an EP)

5).
 
⚔️ “Worst Case Scenario” issued September 15th, 2023

 
🩸Stand out track(s) “Enigma Signals”, “Case Full of Putrid Stars”, “Cataract”, “Gift of Awakening”, “Verdict”, “The Rigid Subject”

4).
 
⚔️ “NIHL” issued February 26th, 2016

🩸 Stand out track(s) “Devicet”, “Womborus”, “Graehence”, “Baptism Nihil”, “Vortex Pyramid”, “Batherus”, “Altars”, Cultus”,

3).
 
⚔️ “Endinghent” issued October 13th, 2017

 
🩸 Stand out track(s) “Incessant Magma”, “Spearheaderon”, “Cataclysmic Triada”, “Rift”, “Orb Terrax”, “Weighteer”, “Barrier”

2).
 
⚔️ “Succumb” April 23rd, 2021

🩸Stand out track(s) “Negative Arrival”, “Magno Evento”, “Maneuvre”, “Foregone”, “Drainage Mechanism”, “Watcher Witness”, “Lavath”, “Forja”, “Inwards”,

1).
 
⚔️ “The Approaching Roar” issued January 29th, 2019

 
🩸 Stand out track(s) “Sighting”, “Knowledge”, “Hieroglyphic Certainty”, “Cyclopean Clash”, “Inhabitant”, “Chaworos Sephelln”, “Werbuild”, “Engineer”,