SONIC SELECTIONS (((o))): 🩸 August Top Picks 2026

 

August delivered no shortage of heavy hitters, and over the course of the month, I played 1667 tracks from 31 artists, across a total of 49 different records, for a total listening time of 5 days 17 hours. Overall, these are the releases that stood out most and the ones I'd most strongly recommend checking out from the new releases

📊 1667 plays (‑17%)
📆 54 avg plays/day (‑17%)
⚔️ 31 artists (+11%)
💿 49 albums (0%)
🎧 314 tracks (+7%)
⏱ 5 days, 17 hrs (‑20%)
🔥 Peak: Aug 25 — 178 plays (‑22%)

🔱 Miscreance – Reminiscence

🔱 Mastodon – Marrow Deep

🔱 Living Weapon – Death in the Family

🔱 Teeth Kids – Fake Hell

🔱 HISS – A Cheapened Crown

⚔️ Honourable Mentions

🔱 Cancer Bats – Give Me Dirt

🔱 Celophys – Neanderthal

💬 What were your standout releases from August?

THE NEW FLESH INDEX: 🩸 Artists That Defined My Week #36 Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2026

 

🎧 This week listening felt far more exploratory than #35. While Cancer Bats dominated my overall listening, on the back of their new album “Give Me Dirt”, the most-played records came from a wider range of artists, with Mastodon's “Marrow Deep” and Miscreance's “Reminiscence” competing for attention alongside a return to Cancer Bats 2012 release, “Dead Set on Living” as part of my discography deep dive . The result was a week packed with variety, even if one band still managed to tower over the rest.

🎧 Listening stats

📊 473 plays (-19.1%)
🔱 15 artists (+114.3%)
💿 24 albums (+60.0%) (not full run-throughs)
🎧 159 tracks (+42.0%)
⏱ 33 hrs (-15.4%)
📈 68 plays/day (-19.0%)
🔥 Peak: Sep 2 — 179 plays (+0.6%)

🔱 Top Artists

🔱 Cancer Bats — 257 plays
🔱 Mastodon — 74 plays
🔱 Miscreance — 53 plays

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💿 Top Albums

💿 Mastodon — “Marrow Deep” (2026) (74 plays)
💿 Miscreance — “Reminiscence” (2025) (53 plays)
💿 Cancer Bats — “Dead Set on Living” (2012) (46 plays)

---

🎧 Top Tracks

🎧 Mastodon — “Barbarian's Blood” (8 plays)
🎧 Mastodon — “In the Ruins” (7 plays)
🎧 Mastodon — “Snakes for Dinner” (7 plays)

🎵 Top 30 Tracks Playlist

🎧 What do think of this playlist and what has taken over your listening this week?

REVIEW: Shinji Kazama, "Shinji Kazama"

By: Peter Morsellino

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 04/01/2020

Label: Independent

“Shinji Kazama” DD track listing:

1). Wot I Like

2). I’m Enough

3). Blackfoot

4). Future99Corridor

5). Whorls of Hydrilla

The Review:

There are few places I have travelled to that I dislike more than Western NY. Granted, these experiences are mainly based on personal strife’s, sports team preference, and anecdotes about weather that I have graciously never been subjected to; but I am a grown man and as such am entitled to hold irrational grudges at my own discretion.

But in the interest of fairness, despite personal grievances, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the good city of Rochester seems to breed some of the best doom and stoner rock in the state. From the bluesy acid jams of King Buffalo, to the earth rattling gloom of Orodruin, there just must be something in the water. Today, I am very glad to add to that list: Shinji Kazama.

The self titled release from these spaced out fuzzheads is stoner rock at its absolute finest. The jams are smooth enough to make you move but complex enough to keep you thinking. We're not looking at potheads with displaced aggression here, folks. This is a finely tuned psych-metal machine. This is Orange Goblin goes to art school, in the best possible way. The jams are fresh and keep the listener engaged, without once approaching the realm of overstaying their welcome. Honestly, I was two tracks into this album before I realized this was an instrumental band.

With guitars evoking violin like sustain, seismic shifting bass lines and drums expertly straddling the line between jazzy technicality and just plain heavy as hell, this band has it all.  Reminiscent of Pink Floyd just as much as Mastodon and perfectly blended at that. Stand out track "I'm Enough" opens with riffage that could wake the dead before gliding seamlessly into a middle section that would fit perfectly in with the best of the summer festival jam rockers.

This is a band to keep an eye on, and if you are anywhere near the area, Rochester is worth the visit if only for a taste of what the finest in Stoner Metal has to offer. I'll be sparking up to these guys tonight, and I highly recommend doing the same.

“Shinji Kazama” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Lord Dying, "Mysterium Tremendum”

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 26/04/2019

Label: eOne Heavy

Not many bands would attempt something so daring and varied. Of course, not many bands are anywhere near as good as Lord Dying, so try this one out and expand your taste. Excellent.

“Mysterium Tremendum” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Envy The End
2. Tearing At The Fabric Of Consciousness
3. Nearing The End Of The Curling Worm
4. The End Of Experience
5. Exploring Inward
6. Severed Forever
7. Even The Darkness Went Away
8. Freed From The Pressures Of Time
9. Lacerated Psyche
10. Split From A World Within/Devoid Of Dreams/Death The Final Loneliness
11. Saying Goodbye To Physical Form

The Review:

Lord Dying are back and Portland's finest have not run out of riffs and hunger just yet! The first thing that hit me when I pressed play was the sound- thick, muscular, meaty and absolutely spot on for this sludge/metal mash up. Sitting somewhere between Mastodon, High On Fire, Death Angel and Jethro Tull (!?) this record has a surprising amount of variation, not to mention light and shade. “Envy The End” will get your head banging at any volume, mind, and after that opening the album has more twists and turns than a sidewinder.

The Doors-esque “Tearing at the Fabric of Consciousness” is just one of the curve-balls here; it's dark and quiet and pretty different to what you might find on the average sludge release. As the record progresses, the band runs the gamut from quieter almost folky moments to thrash riffage and the heaviest of sludge metal. The vocals are just as changeable- clean singing, more metal type singing and screams/growls.

The eleven tracks on offer clip by, being as the song lengths are pretty varied- no formulaic writing here, so instead there is a real mixture of light and heavy. The quiet loud dynamic has worked for the greatest metal bands you can name, so Lord Dying are onto something here. The life/death concept is a good one for the band to explore and gives them latitude with the arrangements; lots of instrumental sections and some pretty psychedelic sections throughout the album are welcome additions to the Lord Dying's approach here.

As a concept album, a track by track is a little pointless and would perhaps spoil the experience for the listener as this is an album to be experienced as a whole or at the very least in track list order. Suffice it to say that most heavy music fans will find something they like here; it covers a lot of ground and approaches (often even in one song) and ranges from the very pretty (“Freed From The Pressures of Time”) to the whimsical to the more extreme metal you might have expected.

“Mysterium Tremendum” is a vast work and is not what I really expected at all- and is all the better for it. Not many bands would attempt something so daring and varied. Of course, not many bands are anywhere near as good as Lord Dying, so try this one out and expand your taste. Excellent.

“Mysterium Tremendum” is available HERE

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Great Falls, "A Sense Of Rest"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 21/12/2018

Label: Corpse Flower Records |

Throatruiner Records |

Init Records

 

…the band have expanded their sonic horizons to cover new levels of punishing heaviness.  Jagged shards of damaged post-hardcore now give way to crushing low-end riffs like a collision between KEN Mode and “Remission” era Mastodon

 

“A Sense Of Rest” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Accelerationist
2. Not-For-Sale Bodies
3. Kettle Logic
4. We Speak In Lowercase
5. Thousands Every Hour
6. Baldessari Height
7. I Go To Glory
8. Scratched Off The Canvas

The Review:

Great Falls decided to throw Album of 2018 lists into disarray with the late December release of the monstrous “A Sense Of Rest”. The Seattle trios last LP “The Fever Shed” was a taut thirty minutes of barbed noise rock fury. In the three years since its release, the band have taken their furious back catalogue as a foundation and crafted an expansive beast of an album.

“The Accelerationist” wastes no time introducing the listener to Great Falls in full flow with an onslaught of razor sharp guitar, pounding drums and churning bass. It soon becomes apparent that the band have expanded their sonic horizons to cover new levels of punishing heaviness.  Jagged shards of damaged post-hardcore now give way to crushing low-end riffs like a collision between KEN Mode and “Remission” era Mastodon. “Not-For-Sale Bodies” continues the barrage, culminating in a lumbering finale that demonstrates how much weightier “A Sense Of Rest” is compared to previous offerings. 

The highlight here is the monumental fifteen minute centrepiece, “We Speak In Lowercase”. It feels simultaneously like Great Falls unleashing all they have achieved to this point in one slow-burning epic and a huge leap into the unknown. The opening sections are unexpectedly melodic, delivered with a restraint and vulnerability that bring to mind Kowloon Walled City's amazing “Grievances” LP. Demian Johnston's vocals are at their most affecting here, from an exposed despairing howl at the beginning of the track building to an imploring scream at its climax. As the band dynamics move between quiet and loud, the tempos shift accordingly leading to a stirring slow-motion coda of shimmering reverb-heavy distortion.

It's as if Great Falls anticipated the state of awe the mind-expanding “We Speak In Lowercase” would leave the listener in by following it with “Thousands Every Hour”. The opening minute or so of screeching feedback followed by a skipped groove, one chord riff brings you back down to earth with a dose of punk rock urgency.

“A Sense Of Rest” is an incredible release from Great Falls. A perfect blend of ragged noise rock, devastating riffs, dark melody and ambitious songwriting, this LP should earn them some well-deserved attention.  

“A Sense Of Rest” is available (LP USA) HERE, (LP Europe) HERE and CD HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

VIDEO PREMIERE: Southern Ohio progressive grunge band Static Tension debut "Bury My Body"

As a follow up to their 2017 EP "Out Of Reach", Static Tension will re-emerged with their first full-length album "Ashes To Animation", which is set for release in January of 2019.  The Southern Ohio based quartet delves into new musical territories with this new release, offering a full pallet of sounds ranging from soft acoustics to intricate, progressive metal riffs. 

Drawing upon influences from classic rock, grunge, and progressive metal, Static Tension creates a sound unique to their own, self described as "Progressive Grunge".  The band's influences are vast and diverse, at times resembling classic sounds of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, while also channelling a grungy, sombre atmosphere similar to Alice In Chains and Soundgarden with hints of modern, heavy tones of Mastodon and Gojira. 

“Bury My Body” is a song that touches on the final breaking point in a person - the moment that makes their end seem appealing to them. Nobody really wants to die unless their life is more painful than they can imagine their death being. The song also has undertones of wanting to disappear completely - to be buried alone and not remembered at all, just erased from all memory. Life is not always butterflies and roses, and this song is a reflection of those aspects. 

Despite the tracks heavy subject matter, mental health is something that everyone needs to talk about, because conversation can be therapy in itself.  So what better way to deal with dark feelings of one’s own thought that to channel that into music, which can act as catharsis for the composes but as also be used a therapy for the listener.  “Bury My Body” is streaming in full below, so crank it up and allow this music to be your catharsis

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

FOR THOSE ABOOT TO ROCK: Riffs of Canada with Tunguska Mammoth (Montreal, Québec)

By: Mark Tremblay

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 11/05/2018

Label: Deathbound Records

If you dig riff-centric music interspersed with triumphant vocal harmonies, this record is for you.

“Breathless” CD//DD track listing:

1. Breathless

2. Kings And Queens

3. Phénix

4. The Yellow Sign

5. New Sun

6. Le Vent

7. Lily (feat. Jared Collins)

8. We are the Night

The Review:

Tunguska Mammoth return with their new full length “Breathless”. The album is a riff-heavy nod to bands such as Beastwars and Mastodon. If you dig riff-centric metal music interspersed with triumphant vocal harmonies, this record is for you. 

The album opens with a trio of bangers in “Breathless”, “Kings and Queens” and “Phénix”. All the songs are riff-focused, but not over the top to the point of self-indulgent.  The amount of restraint witnessed showcases the band’s collective ability of performing as a unit, and serving what is best for the song.  It is nice to see the band’s French Canadian roots showcased on the record.  Songs like “Le Vent” that are sung in both French and add subtle nuance that few Canadian bands are able to utilize.

The album’s apex comes on “New Sun”. The song is a demolition of riffs and incorporates a melody that would feel right at home on a Torche record.  Overall, if you’re looking for a record that is tasteful and well-balanced, Tunguska Mammoth’s new record “Breathless” is ground zero.

“Breathless” is available here

Band info: Facebook | Bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Rivers of Nihil, “Where Owls Know My Name”

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 16/03/2018

Label: Metal Blade Records

“…devastating, melodic, labyrinthine and jam packed with ideas. “Where Owls Know My Name” will go down as a classic genre expanding album and one giant leap forward in  extreme metal

“Where Owls Know My Name” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Cancer/Moonspeak
2. The Silent Life
3. A Home
4. Old Nothing
5. Subtle Change
6. Terrestria III
7. Hollow
8. Death is Real
9. Where Owls Know My Name
10. Capricorn/Agoratopia

The Review:

Following 2015's “Monarchy” was always going to be a mammoth undertaking- as Rivers of Nihil's last record really was superb. They have managed it by taking not only a massive leap forward but also a sidestep of sorts. Think of the difference between “Master of Puppets” and “...And Justice For All” and you have an idea of the differences.

Indeed, this record can perhaps be accurately described as avant garde- in the same way that Celtic Frost's “Into The Pandemonium” was. After the atmospheric scene setting intro of “Cancer/Moonspeak” we are straight into “The Silent Life” which is devastating, melodic, labyrinthine and jam packed with ideas. To be fair, that track description could sum up the whole record. This is not really like anything else I have heard in the extreme metal genre. If “Monarchy” was largely identifiable as tech-death, this is something else entirely.

To be absolutely clear, the textures and sounds on this album are not to be found on many records at this end of the musical spectrum. Saxophone, clean guitars, synths, jazzy drums and noodling bass all combine to make this a fascinating listen. If Cannibal Corpse and Obituary represent two sides of the same death metal coin, then perhaps Rivers of Nihil are akin to something like Bitcoin.

As the record progresses, things get even more progressive; the breadth of sounds and arrangements here are quite dazzling and highly unusual. Picking tracks as highlights is almost impossible being as the record exists as a total piece. It is uniformly consistent in that it is experimental and progressive, it is not in any way samey or boring. The likes of “A Home and Old Nothing” are all of the epithets used so far. There are pulverising bass drums, there are blasting sections of ferocious speed. There are also jazz fusion type breakdowns and an otherworldly atmosphere throughout.

The sounds and approach of “Subtle Change (Including The Forest of Transition)” is a crazily good example of technical performance and forward thinking arrangements coupled with a state of the art production. I guess Mastodon (at their best) could be used as a reference point along with black metal like atmosphere and a harnessing of technology (both in production and instrumentation) that has not always been seen as a good thing in the world of metal.

“Terrestria III: Wither” could soundtrack a 2000AD/Judge Dredd film and contains not a trace of death metal in its sound or scope. The second half of the album pushes forward just as much as the first with “Hollow” or “Death Is Real” being great examples of the record's depth and overall approach (fantastic bass work on the latter) and the title track being an Opeth-like example of prog rock by a band who are absolutely expanding the boundaries of their own playing and also the genre(s) they are operating in.

By the time of “Capricorn/Agoratopia!, I was left wondering (on first listen) what to make of it all. It's hard to take it all in. There is so much going on that the record is very hard to assess on the first couple of listens. I have no idea how much I will listen to this album going forward- it may be all the time, it may be every once in a while. However, one thing is for sure: it will go down as a classic genre expanding album. It's like nothing else I have heard and will deserve the plaudits heaped upon it. One giant leap forward for extreme metal has occurred.

“Where Owls Know My Name” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

REVIEW: Empress, "Reminiscence" [EP]

By: Jay Hampshire

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 12/02/2018

Label: Independent

Empress have taken a tried and tested formula of sludge metal and shot it through with enough outside influences to revitalise, and executed it with both obvious competency and righteous flair. If you’re interested in a change of pace, ‘Reminiscence’ is definitely it.

“Reminiscence” CD/DD track listing

1. The Offering (03:54)     

2. Immer (08:06)

3. Baptizer (02:50)

4. They Speak Like Trees (09:27)

5. Dawn (03:30)

The Review:

In a genre as swollen as the current sludge metal scene, it’s getting increasingly difficult for bands to stand out from the heaving crowd. Sure, your riffs are peppered with groovy blues shifts and groaning under the weight of distortion, but whose aren’t? The last word you’d expect to use when describing a new sludge release is ‘surprised’, but Vancouver based trio Empress take the framework and contort it into something still recognisable, but near wholly original.

‘The Offering’ kicks things off with enough familiarity; burbling sci-fi synths are crushed under the weight of jarring chords, striding into a typically sludge riff with Peter Sacco’s blistering roars arcing atop. Slowing down and teasing with rumbling, fuzzed-out bass, it stalks into a brooding main riff with an undercurrent of atonal tremolo, ending on a strong feedback drenched chord. So far, so sludge.

But you’ve been lulled into a false sense of security, only to have the rug pulled out from under you.

‘Immer’ positively bounces with an incredibly energetic, movement heavy riff, with all the pop sensibility of a good Torche track. It’s punchy, a ‘good time’ vibe that Sacco’s vocals don’t really match until the trio shift gear and move into a muscular riff straight out of Mastodon’s early era playbook. Rattling snares usher us upwards into a soaring, sweeping post-rock ascension that is infectiously uplifting and a world away from the hard riffing of ‘The Offering’.

‘Baptizer’s moody, Nirvana-esque bass line is swallowed by the sudden impact of a dense layer of heavy riffs, punctuated by Chris Doyle’s constantly shifting drum work. Weighing in at under three minutes, it’s shorter and sharper than the two tracks it’s sandwiched between. ‘They Speak Like Trees’, the album’s zenith, ambles slowly and ponderously, backed by pounding toms and lances of feedback. Steadily building to a locked in chugging riff, it continues to climb through passages of unexpectedly stripped down hard-rock and wandering, clean contemplation, driving home to an energising finish.

Closer ‘Dawn’ is a shimmering dreamscape of guitar noodling and rushing synths, a gentle comedown from the album’s lofty peaks, a touch messy but pleasing nonetheless. Empress have taken a tried and tested formula and shot it through with enough outside influences to revitalise, and executed it with both obvious competency and righteous flair. If you’re interested in a change of pace, ‘Reminiscence’ is definitely it.

‘Reminiscence’ is available here

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Centuries - "The Lights of This Earth Are Blinding"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 26/01/2018

Label: Southern Lord Recordings

“The Lights Of This Earth Are Blinding” is a compelling release with a split personality,  like a cross betweeb Cursed with subtle hints of black metal and the crushing sound of “Remission” era Mastodon with a more direct punk aggression.

  

“The Lights of This Earth Are Blinding” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Lights of This Earth Are Blinding
2. Wooden Hands
3. Bygones
4. Soil
5. A Bow Across A String
6. The Climb
7. The Endless Descent
8. May Love Be With You Always
9. Fury
10. Nul Orietur

The Review:

Originally from Florida, the members of Centuries are now scattered far and wide between Pittsburgh, Nashville and even Manchester in the UK. Fortunately geography hasn’t got in the way of them making a great second LP in the form of “The Lights of This Earth Are Blinding”.

The record rips into life with the raging title track, a two and a half minute blast of crusty hardcore riddled with hard sludge riffing. This sets the tone for the first half of the LP which comes across like Cursed with subtle hints of black metal. The breakneck rush of “Bygones” is especially furious, bolstered by some pummelling blastbeats.

“The Climb” opens the second half of the album with a marked drop in tempo but maintains the same level of venom and bile. This track marks a shift in tone as the likes of “May Love Be With You Always” and “Nul Orietur” see Centuries metal leanings coming to the fore. This results in a crushing sound reminiscent of “Remission” era Mastodon but with a more direct punk aggression.

The biggest surprise here is “Fury” which begins as a dark acoustic lament that erupts into a grand finale. The sparse opening section of the song makes sense of the acoustic instrumental “Wooden Hands” which appears earlier in the album. On first listen this piece feels jarring after the explosive title track despite its moody restrained menace but further listening marks it out as a premonition of the heaviness to come.

“The Lights of This Earth Are Blinding” is a compelling release with a split personality. It will be interesting to see what path Centuries tread from here but whatever happens it is sure to be a heavy ride.

“The Lights of This Earth Are Blinding” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook