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?

SONIC SELECTIONS (((o))): The Records That Defined March (2026)

 

Welcome to Sonic Selections (((o))): March Edition — my monthly recap of the records that shaped my listening throughout March, defined the mood of the weeks gone by, and carved out their own space in the noise. This curated list is drawn from my listening habits, based on the key releases that became my ultimate earworm.

 Across this rotation, I clocked 2,100 plays, up from 1,562 in February. I pulled from 99 new artists (up from 87), 111 new albums (up from 88), and 493 new tracks (up from 347). Altogether, that amounted to six days and nine hours of total listening time — a full day more than February. Average plays per day rose 22% to 68, with a weekly peak of 150 plays on March 29th, a 29% jump.

 March was, even by my listening habits, a massive month for new music. What follows is the collection of albums that held my attention the most — the ones that shaped my sonic landscape and defined the emotional and aesthetic contours of the month. (Note: albums are rated based on individual track streams alone.)

---

1) Rob Zombie – “The Great Satan” (107)

For me, the return of classic Zombie and his best record since “Hellbilly Deluxe 2”, and whilst I accept not everyone is a fan, (fuck the haters) “The Great Satan” is a super addictive chrome‑plated inferno of industrial sleaze, Zombie drags you through a carnival of rust, gasoline, and bad intentions. Every riff stomps like a steel‑capped boot to the ribs, every synth flickers like a dying neon sign, and his voice — that gravel‑throated snarl — feels like a sermon delivered from the wrong side of the grave. It’s grotesque, swaggering, and gloriously unhinged.

---

2) Pipe Bomb – “Hell Hole” (102)

“Hell Hole” is a self‑recorded, self‑released burst of volatility, a release whose foundation is built from concise, zero bullshit tracks that snap with jagged riffs and sudden rhythmic collapse. The raw production gives the guitars a savage metal edge and the vocals, a  raw live immediacy, keeping everything sharp, punchy and abrasive. Despite the chaos within, there’s also a surprising structural clarity and addictive quality to the record, each song (at times) shifting direction but keeping the listeners interest piqued at all times and without falling into the genre trappings of unlistenable  harsh excess. “Hell Hole” a compact, hostile record that channels the essence of hardcore’s aggression into something sharp, intentional, and relentlessly compelling.

---

3) Chamber – “This Is Goodbye..”(98)

Admittedly, mathcore can be hit or miss, but the new record from Chamber delivers the right amount of chaos without descending into an unlistenable mess. “This Is Goodbye..” continues their weaponised, incendiary hardcore — a pressure cooker of jagged rhythms, panic‑attack pacing, and riffs that feel like they’re collapsing in on themselves, yet somehow remains wholly accessible and addictive.  Yes, every track can disorientate, with lurching guitars, drums detonating beneath you, and vocals clawing their way into your psyche. And yet, beneath all that violence is a frightening level of control. After revisiting their full discography, “This Is Goodbye..” is unequivocally their most focused, volatile, and emotionally engaging work to date.

---

4) Neurosis – “Un Undying Love for a Dying World”(98)

Neurosis return a decade after "Fires Within Fires" with a new lineup and, arguably, another genre‑shaping opus. Reshaped and retooled around the talents of Aaron Turner, the record carries that sense of obvious upheaval, yet none of the band’s core DNA is lost. "An Undying Love for a Burning World" keeps their slow, tectonic pacing but adds new layers — drones, synths, and keys widening the space around some of their most monolithic riffs. Themes of isolation, ecological collapse, and psychological strain run through the album, giving their first release in an age a heavy, lived‑in weight. It’s a monumental return, the sound of a band rebuilding from the ground up. The title mirrors a world collapsing around us, and it’s hard not to feel an undying pull toward a record with this kind of emotional gravity.

---

5) Varials – “Where The Light Leaves”(97)

This is the sound of a soul cracking under its own weight. Varials weaponise despair, turning breakdowns into blunt‑force trauma and vocals into open wounds. The record feels like being trapped in a collapsing room — walls closing in, air thinning, every moment a fight to stay conscious. It’s metalcore stripped of pretense and left bleeding on the floor.

---

6) Lamb of God – “Into Oblivion”(79)

Lamb of God sound sharp and assured, leaning into the mechanics that have always driven their best work. The riffs snap with purpose, the rhythms stay locked, and the pacing never drifts from its forward pull. It’s not a reinvention, but a tightening of the screws. A confident, momentum‑driven statement from a band that knows its footing.

---

7) Moloch – “Bend.Break.Kneel.Crawl”(79)

Moloch’s new record moves with the slow certainty of something collapsing under its own weight, every track grinding forward with deadened resolve. There’s no lift or shift in momentum, just pressure tightening until it becomes the whole experience. The album feels like being pinned beneath the same thought until it loses shape. Bleak, disciplined, and completely unwilling to offer relief.

---

8) Great Falls – “Conscription”(78)

First of all, I fucking love Great Falls — so when news dropped of a new release in the form of Conscription, my excitement spiked immediately. These purveyors of abrasion are among the best in the business. It’s not a traditional record so much as a collection of splits, EPs, and singles, yet as expected the tracks grind, gallop, and disorientate. Conscription is a short, punishing lesson in suffocating density, with riffs that psychologically erode your aural synapses.

---

9) Bound in Fear – “A Mind Too Sick To Heal” (73)

Bound in Fear deliver a series of controlled, violent impacts, each track built around blunt repetition and suffocating weight. The band strip everything down to pure force, letting the heaviness speak without theatrics or buildup. It’s hostile in a way that feels intentional rather than chaotic. A record designed to bruise more than impress.

---

10) Crouch – “Breaking The Catatonic State” (71)

Crouch’s debut full‑length marks a decisive shift from their earlier sludge roots, embracing angular rhythms, sharp pivots, and a more confrontational vocal presence. The trio’s background in Wiegedood, Oathbreaker, and Ventilateur shows in the precision of the playing and the confidence of the arrangements. The production is stark and unembellished, letting every jagged shift and sudden rupture land with full force. It’s a volatile, inventive record that captures a band in the middle of a deliberate transformation

---

🩸 Top 10 Artists (minutes played): 
 
1). Neurosis (725)
2). GROWTH (424)
3). Chained To The Bottom of the Ocean (404)
4). Chamber (345)
5). Lamb of God (309)
6). Crouch (300)
7). Cryptic Shift (297)
8). Phasma (205)
9). Dwellnought (268)
10). Rob Zombie (267)
 
⚔️ Top Tracks (most played)

 
1). Portrayal of Guilt – “Human Terror” (20)
2). Portrayal of Guilt – “Ecstasy” (18)
3). Chained To The Bottom of the Ocean – “Execution” (16)
4). Chained To The Bottom of the Ocean – “An Abundancy of Mercy” (15)
5). Neurosis – “Blind” (15)
6). Chained To The Bottom of the Ocean – “An Adornment of Light” (14)
7). Chained To The Bottom of the Ocean – “Upheaval” (14)
8). Neurosis – “First Red Rays” (13)
9). Neurosis – “Seething and Scattered” (12)
10). Neurosis – “Mirror Deep” (12)

---

⚔️🩸 Sonic Selections (((o))): March Edition (50 biggest tracks of the month)

Sonic Selections (((o))): 10 Essential Metal Albums released in February, 2025

 

Welcome to “Sonic Selections (((o)))” — a monthly descent through the records that have shaped my listening, defined the mood of the weeks gone by, and carved out their own space in the noise.  This is a curated reflection (based on my listening habits) on the releases that lingered, pressed themselves forward, and refused to fade into the backdrop. These are the albums that carried weight, that revealed themselves across repeated listens, and that left a tangible imprint on me throughout February.
 
Across this rotation, I clocked 1,562 streams, drawing from 87 artists, 88 new albums, and 347 new tracks, amounting to five full days of listening. The numbers may have dipped — an average of 56 streams per day, down 18%, with the weekly peak landing at 108 streams on February 11th, itself a 13% drop — yet the decline didn’t dull the impact. If anything, the quieter pace sharpened the focus, allowing certain records to rise with clarity and insistence
 
What follows is a collection of works that held my attention through atmosphere, intent, and sheer sonic presence — releases that demonstrated resilience under scrutiny, that demanded immersion, and that ultimately became the pulse of this month’s listening.
 
Here are the recordings that shaped the week’s sonic landscape.
 

---

1) Converge – “Love Is Not Enough”
 
What Converge present here is the sound of a band decades into their craft, yet still utterly unwilling to become a monument to past glories. Love Is Not Enough feels like the culmination of years spent refining emotional violence into something startlingly measured. There is an unmistakable sense of purpose woven through these songs — a clarity in the way they rise and collapse, as though the band have learned to channel turmoil rather than be consumed by it. Converge have long reshaped the boundaries of heavy music, and here they do so again, not through shock or abrasion, but through the quiet confidence of artists who know the weight their music carries.

---

2) Eximperitus – “Meritoriousness of Equanimity”
 
This album feels like an excavation — a slow, deliberate unearthing of something ancient and unfathomably dense. Eximperitus construct their world with a steady hand, each riff carved with ritualistic focus, each passage unfolding like a text written long before modern ears learned how to listen. Beneath the suffocating weight lies a remarkable sense of order; the chaos is controlled, the momentum purposeful. It is music that demands immersion, rewarding those who surrender to its gravity with hidden intricacies and quiet revelations. A towering, enigmatic work.

---

3) MØL – “DREAMCRUSH”
 
With “DREAMCRUSH”, MØL continue to blur the lines between beauty and abrasion, crafting a record that seems to breathe in colour before exhaling cold shadow. There is an emotional immediacy at play — melodies that shimmer with longing, vocals that tear through the haze with raw intensity. These songs feel like fragments of memory: radiant, fleeting, and occasionally devastating. MØL guide the listener through a landscape that is both bruised and luminous, and the journey leaves its mark long after the final notes fade.

---

4) Shine – “Wrathcult”
 
“Wrathcult” strikes with an immediacy that borders on confrontational. Shine waste no movement, no breath, no unnecessary flourish; every moment is honed to impact. Yet beneath the bluntness lies a sense of conviction — the sound of a band who trust the power of simplicity, who understand that aggression need not be clouded by excess. These tracks barrel forward with unwavering resolve, leaving behind a trail of grit and purpose. It is a record built from discipline, momentum, and unfiltered intent.

---

5) Ritual Arcana – “Ritual Arcana”
 
Ritual Arcana craft music that seems suspended in a perpetual twilight, where each note lingers like incense drifting through a dimly lit chamber. Their self‑titled record unfolds slowly, shaped by a patience that draws the listener inward. It is spacious yet heavy with atmosphere, each track carrying the quiet pulse of something unseen but deeply felt. There is a sense of ritual — a deliberate cleansing of emotion through sound and silence. This is not music that demands attention; it quietly earns it, inviting you to sit within its shadows and listen.

---

6) Poppy – “Empty Hands”
 
With “Empty Hands”, Poppy steps forward as an artist unafraid to reshape her skin once again. What emerges is a record of clarity and re‑definition — a distillation rather than an expansion. These songs move with purpose, their edges still sharp but their centre more grounded, revealing a maturity in both tone and intent. There is a quiet confidence throughout, as though she has stripped away the noise to reveal something more vulnerable and sincere. A graceful, compelling reinvention.

---

7) Embittered – “Archatron”
 
“Archatron” feels like a descent — a slow, oppressive drift into a world sculpted from shadow and ritual. Embittered’s debut moves with an almost ceremonial patience, each riff rising like smoke from a long‑forgotten altar. The two‑part “Archatron” suite anchors the journey, a pair of sprawling movements that radiate cold purpose and atmospheric weight. This is blackened death metal that sees no need to rush; instead it smothers, surrounds, and eventually consumes. A stark, commanding first offering.

---

8) Shields – “Death Connection”
 
Shields deliver a record that feels polished yet heartfelt, a modern metalcore release shaped by hooks that soar and rhythms that strike with precision. “Death Connection” is driven by clarity — of production, of songwriting, of emotional direction. There is a sincerity beneath the sheen, a sense that the band have distilled their strengths into a series of tracks that move with both accessibility and earnest impact. It is an album that understands its purpose and fulfils it with confidence.

---

9) Gros Enfant Mort – “Les Sang Des Pierres”
 
This album moves like shifting earth — slow, deliberate, and charged with an underlying tension that never quite resolves. Gros Enfant Mort lean away from convention, embracing mood and atmosphere over traditional structure, and the result is music that feels both meditative and unsettling. Each track expands and contracts like breath, pulling the listener deeper into its textured emotional terrain. “Les Sang Des Pierres” is a quiet revelation: immersive, expressive, and haunting in the most understated way.

---

10) Fossilization – “Advent of Wounds”
 
“Advent of Wounds” is an immense and suffocating experience, the kind of death‑doom release that moves with the inevitability of encroaching night. Fossilization construct their songs from towering riffs and cavernous resonance, creating an atmosphere so dense it feels almost tactile. Yet within that heaviness lies a profound sense of mood — a slow‑burn emotional gravity that pulls the listener into its depths. It is a record built on scale, texture, and unrelenting weight, and one that lingers long after its final rumble subsides.
 

---

🩸 Top 10 Artists (minutes streamed): 
 
1). Converge (388 minutes)
2). Shine (344 minutes)
3). Eximperitus (339 minutes)
4). Syberia (325 Minutes)
5). Mol (295 minutes)
6). Embittered (283 minutes)
7). Fossilization (276 minutes)
8). Worm (205 minutes)
9). Urne (263 minutes)
10). Gorrch (263 minutes)
 
⚔️ Top Tracks (most streamed)
 

1). Armed for Apocalypse – “Fist Like Feathers” (17 times)
2). Converge – “Make Me Forget You” (14 times)
3). Converge – “Bad Faith” (14 times)
4). Nightmarer – “Crawl of Time” (13 times)
5). Nightmarer – “Hell Interface” (13 times)
6). Converge – “Gilded Cage” (13 times”
7). Converge – “We Were Never the Same”” (13 times)
8). Converge – “Amon Amok” (13 times)
9). Converge – “Beyond Repair” (13 times)
10). Pilori – “Lese-Majeste” (13 times)

---

⚔️🩸 Sonic Selections (((o)))  - February 2026  (30 biggest tracks of the month)

Sonic Selections (((o))): 10 Essential Metal Albums released in October/November, 2025

 

Another couple of months are behind us, and as we close the book on October and November, it’s time for my latest recap of the incredible music that landed during this stretch — my Top 10 Records from the past two months, otherwise known as our essential Sonic Selections (((o))).
 
In October, I clocked up 7360 minutes of listening — over 122 hours — spanning 69 artists and 487 individual tracks.  November was a much quieter month, but still full of quality: I listened to 3487 minutes of music, explored 36 artists, and played through 212 tracks.
 
Across the two months combined, I dug into 126 albums — 87 in October and 39 in November — before narrowing the field down to the 10 new releases that made the final cut for this feature. The standard was so consistently high that choosing just ten felt almost cruel.
 
From a personal standpoint, October and November delivered a phenomenal run of new music. I hope you’ll dive into my favourite albums below and discover something that hits you just as hard. When the releases are this good, who even needs words to review them?
 
See you next month — and don’t forget to check out my weekly playlists and essential records of the week, which I share regularly.

10).
 
⚔️ Artist: Cthvn
🩸  Title: “Hymn”
⚔️ Release date: October 10th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: post metal, sludge, doom, black metal

9).
 
⚔️ Artist: An Abstract Illusion
🩸  Title: “Sleeping City”
⚔️ Release date: October 17th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: atmospheric progressive death metal

8).

⚔️ Artist: Old Year
🩸  Title: “No Dissent”
⚔️ Release date: October 24th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: doom, sludge, death doom

 

7).

⚔️ Artist: Terzij de Horde
🩸  Title: “Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone”
⚔️ Release date: October 10th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: black metal, blackened hardcore, screamo

6).

⚔️ Artist: 1914
🩸  Title: “Viribus Unitus”
⚔️ Release date: November 14th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: black metal, sludge, death metal

 
5).

⚔️ Artist: Veilburner
🩸  Title: “Longing For Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy”
⚔️ Release date: November 19th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: avant garde death metal, dissonant death metal, experimental death metal, progressive death metal

4).

⚔️ Artist: Conjurer
🩸  Title: “Unself”
⚔️ Release date: October 24th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: post metal, doom, sludge, hardcore

3).

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

🩸 genre/tags: atmospheric doom, funeral doom

 
2). 🥈

⚔️ Artist: Blindfolded and Led to the Woods
🩸  Title:“The Hardest Thing About Being a God is that No One Believes Me”
⚔️ Release date: October 10th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: progressive death metal, technical death metal

1). 🏆

⚔️ Artist: The Acacia Strain
🩸  Title: “You Are Safe From God Here”
⚔️ Release date: October 24th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: metalcore, deathcore, post metal, sludge, doom

          

SONIC SELECTIONS (((o))): 10 Essential Metal Albums released in September, 2025

 

Well another month is behind us and although we say goodbye to September, it’s time for my monthly recap of the amazing music released in September and share with you my top 10 records of September 2025, otherwise known as our 10 essential Sonic Selections (((o)))

Over the course of September, I listened to an astonishing amount music and that equated to 6575 minutes (or roughly 109 hours) from 88 artists and over 478 individual tracks. In terms of this feature, our sole purpose is to focus on new music released in September and so over the course of last month, I listened to 20 new albums, and the quality of music was such that whittling it down to just ten albums was extremely difficult.

From a personal standpoint, September was a fantastic month for new music, so please do check out my favourite album(s) and I hope you can enjoy some if not all the music below.  Who needs words to review the music, when the releases are this good.  See you next month and don’t forget to check out my weekly playlists and essential records of the week which I share regularly. 

10).

⚔️ Artist: Leaker
🩸 Title: “HAPPYHOUR”
⚔️ Release date: September 12th, 2025

🩸 genre/tags: noise rock, post hardcore, sludge

9).

⚔️ Artist: viile
🩸  Title: “A Bottomless Curse, A Bottomless Sea”
⚔️ Release date: September 19th, 2025

🩸  genre/tags: progressive death metal, technical death metal, metalcore, deathcore

8).

⚔️ Artist: Motherless
🩸  Title: “Do you Feel Safe”
⚔️ Release date: September 11th, 2025

🩸  genre/tags: black metal, experimental metal, doom, sludge

7).

⚔️ Artist: Cult Burial
🩸 Title: “Collapse of Pattern, Reverence of Dust”
⚔️ Release date: September 5, 2025

🩸  genre/tags: blackened death metal, dissonant death metal, experimental death metal

6).

⚔️ Artist: Paradise Lost
🩸  Title: “Ascension”
⚔️ Release date: September 19th, 2025

 
🩸  genre/tags: goth doom, melodic death doom

5).

⚔️ Artist: Novembers Doom
🩸  Title: “Mercy”
⚔️ Release date: September 19th, 2025

🩸  genre/tags: doom

4).

⚔️ Artist: Intercourse
🩸  Title: “How I Fell in Love with the Void”
⚔️ Release date: September 12th, 2025

🩸  genre/tags: noise rock, hardcore, sludge

3).

⚔️ Artist: Crippling Alcoholism
🩸 Title: “Camgirl”
⚔️ Release date: September 12th, 2025

🩸 genre: noise rock, goth rock, synth rock, new wave

2). 🥈

⚔️ Artist: Lorna Shore
🩸  Title: “I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me”
⚔️ Release date: September 12th, 2025

🩸  genre/tags: symphonic blackened deathcore

1). 🏆

⚔️ Artist: Revocation
🩸  Title: “No Gods, No Masters”
⚔️ Release September 25th, 2025

🩸  genre/tags: technical death metal, death metal, thrash metal