⚔️ Sonic Selections (((o))): Artists/albums that defined October 2026

 

A snapshot of what I’ve been listening to this month — and the records that have been on repeat.
 
My listening cooled off in October after September’s surge, with fewer plays, artists, albums and tracks overall. But I still kept coming back to records from False Body, ambretta and Hippotraktor, giving them plenty of repeat plays. My busiest listening day of the month even topped September’s peak. This week, I also listened to The Great Ox in the belly of the Snake, Dissimulator and Great Falls — all of whom feature in our playlist below.
 
 
 
📊 1709 plays (-27%)
📆 55 avg plays/day (-29%)
⚔️ 30 artists (-19%)
💿 37 albums (-39%)
🎧 271 tracks (-34%)
⏱ 4 days, 23 hrs (-37%)
🔥 Peak: Oct 1 — 202 plays (+12%)
 
 
 
⚔️ Top Artists
 
⚔️ False Body — 152 plays
⚔️ Nott — 139 plays
⚔️ Hippotraktor — 129 plays
 
 
💿 Top Albums
 
💿 False Body — Tomorrow Starts Without You (2026) (152 plays)
↳ Equivalent to approx. 17 full play-throughs
💿 Hippotraktor — Annihilist (2026) (129 plays)
↳ Equivalent to approx. 18 full play-throughs
💿 ambretta — Something Has to Change (2026) (128 plays)
↳ Equivalent to approx. 16 full play-throughs
 
 
🎧 Top Tracks
 
🎧 Hippotraktor — “Annihilist” (21 plays)
🎧 Hippotraktor — “Courageous Apathy” (19 plays)
🎧 Hippotraktor — “Oblivion Walker” (19 plays)

THE NEW FLESH INDEX: 🩸 Artists That Defined My Week #42 Oct 9th – Oct 15, 2026

 

🎧 In terms of this week's listening, the variety of artists increased significantly despite total plays remaining unchanged. Artist, album and track counts all climbed sharply, which highlighted a much broader listening week. Despite the wider spread of artists and sounds, Hippotraktor's Annihilist emerged as my defining record of the week, topping the artist and album charts while Hippotraktor also claimed all three top track positions.

These were the artists that defined my listening, and all bands offer something genuinely unique. Hippotraktor and Sickmind were both new discoveries for me.  I’d definitely recommend checking out all these bands, along with my curated playlist, which this week also includes tracks from the classic Slayer album, Seasons in the Abyss, which celebrated its 26 year anniversary.  Also featured on my curated playlist were ambretta, Acausal Intrusion and a reentry for Nott, the latter two artists I was completing deep dive into their back catalogues

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⚔️ Weekly Breakdown

 

📊 486 plays (0.0%)
🔱 14 artists (+55.6%)
💿 19 albums (+58.3%) (not full run-throughs)
🎧 149 tracks (+65.6%)
⏱ 38 hrs (+35.7%)
📈 69 plays/day (0.0%)

🔥 Peak: Oct 14 — 114 plays (-34.1%)

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🔱 Top Artists

 

🔱 Hippotraktor — 129 plays
🔱 ACAUSAL INTRUSION — 70 plays
🔱 Nott — 66 plays

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💿 Top Albums

💿 Hippotraktor — Annihilist (2026) (129 plays)
↳ Equivalent to approx. 18.4 full album play-throughs
💿 ambretta — Something Has to Change (2026) (57 plays)
↳ Equivalent to approx. 7.1 full album play-throughs
💿 Slayer — Seasons in the Abyss (1990) (40 plays)
↳ Equivalent to approx. 4.0 full album play-throughs

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🎧 Top Track

 
🎧 Hippotraktor — Annihilist (21 plays)
🎧 Hippotraktor — Courageous Apathy (19 plays)
🎧 Hippotraktor — Oblivion Walker (19 plays)

🎵 Top 30 Tracks Playlist

 

 

🎧 What's taken over your listening this week?

THE NEW FLESH INDEX: 🩸 Artists That Defined My Week #41 Oct 2nd – Oct 8th, 2026

 

This week marked a shift away from the tightly contested three-way battle of week #40. The overall listening numbers barely moved, but the records occupying most of my listening time certainly did. Dissimulator, The Great Ox in the Belly of a Snake and God Mother took over the week, with Artifice Dissolves, Euphoric Dread and Köttvärld accounting for the bulk of the listening.
 
As always, I would definitely recommend checking out all of these three bands, along with ambretta, who also featured in this week’s curated playlist.
 
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📊 Weekly Breakdown
 
🎧 486 plays (+1.3%)
 👤 9 artists (-10.0%)
 💿 12 albums (+20.0%)
 🎵 90 tracks (+83.7%)
 ⏱️ 28 hrs (-15.2%)
 📅 69 plays/day (0.0%)
 🔥 Peak: Oct 6 — 173 plays (-13.9%)
 
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👑 Top Artists
 
🥇 Dissimulator — 106 plays
🥈 The Great Ox in the Belly of a Snake — 99 plays
🥉 God Mother — 83 plays
 
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💿 Top Albums
 
🥇 Dissimulator — Artifice Dissolves (2026) — 106 plays
 ↳ Approx. 11.8 album listens
🥈 The Great Ox in the Belly of a Snake — Euphoric Dread (2026) — 99 plays
 ↳ Approx. 14.1 album listens
🥉 God Mother — Köttvärld (2026) — 83 plays
 ↳ Approx. 6.9 album listens
 
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🎵 Top Tracks
 
🥇 The Great Ox in the Belly of a Snake — “Threshold Dweller” — 15 plays
🥈 The Great Ox in the Belly of a Snake — “Black Tar” — 14 plays
🥉 The Great Ox in the Belly of a Snake — “Lavish Torment” — 14 plays
 
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🎧 THE NEW FLESH INDEX #41

🎧 What's taken over your listening this week?