SONIC SELECTIONS O))): 10 Essential albums released in February, 2025

⚔️ Artist: Obscura
🩸  Album: “A Sonication”
⚔️ Release date: February 7^th, 2025

🩸genre: progressive death metal, technical death metal, melodic death metal

⚔️ Artist: Locustfurnace.
🩸  Album: “Eyes Become The Thorns”
⚔️ Release date: February 4th, 2025

🩸genre: deathgrind, mathcore, sludge

⚔️ Artist: Morast
🩸  Album: “Fentanyl”
⚔️ Release date: February 7th, 2025

 

🩸genre: death metal, black metal, doom

⚔️ Artist: Cavernous
🩸  Album: “Ancestral Throes”
⚔️ Release date: February 11th, 2025

 
🩸genre: sludge, doom, stoner

⚔️ Artist: Throne
🩸  Album: “Ossarium”
⚔️ Release date: February 14th, 2025

 
🩸genre: sludge, doom, death metal, black metal

⚔️ Artist: Pothamus
🩸  Album: “Abur”
⚔️ Release date: February 14th, 2025
 

🩸genre: post metal, sludge, shoegaze, post rock, doom

⚔️ Artist: Cross Bringer
🩸  Album: “Healismus Aeternus”
⚔️ Release date: February 21st, 2025

🩸genre: blackened hardcore, crust

⚔️ Artist: SLUKA
🩸  Album: “Wither”
⚔️ Release date: February 21st, 2025
 

🩸genre: death metal, black metal, sludge

⚔️ Artist: Retromorphosis
🩸  Album: “Psalmus Mortis”
⚔️ Release date: February 21st, 2025

 
🩸genre: technical death metal

⚔️ Artist: Crown of Madness
🩸  Album: “Memories of Fragmented”
⚔️ Release date: February 28th, 2025

 
🩸genre: technical death metal, dissonant death metal, black metal, progressive metal, sludge

SONIC SELECTIONS O))): 10 Essential albums released in January, 2025

⚔️ Artist: Mutogenic Host
🩸  Album: “The Diseased Machine”
⚔️ Release date: January 3^rd, 2025

🩸genre: death metal

⚔️ Artist: Obscure Sphinx

🩸  Album: “Emovere”

⚔️ Release date: January 6^th, 2025

🩸 genre: post metal, sludge, experimental, alternative

⚔️ Artist: Relics of Humanity
🩸  Album: “Absolute Dismal Domain”
⚔️ Release date: January 31st, 2025

🩸genre: brutal death metal, death metal

⚔️ Artist: Membrane
🩸  Album: “Deathly Silence”
⚔️ Release date: January 8^th, 2025

🩸genre: post hardcore, noise rock, sludge, doom

⚔️ Artist: Am I in Trouble?
🩸  Album: “Spectrum”
⚔️ Release date: January 3^rd, 2025

 🩸genre: post black metal, progressive metal, black metal, avantgarde black metal

⚔️ Artist: Foetorem
🩸  Album: “Demo 2025”
⚔️ Release date: January 14^th, 2025

🩸genre: death metal, doom

⚔️ Artist: Trauma Bond
🩸  Album: “Summer Ends. Some Are Long”
⚔️ Release date: January 14^th, 2025

🩸genre: black metal, death metal, doom, power violence, grind core, sludge

⚔️ Artist: Häxkapell
🩸  Album: “Om jordens blod och urgravens grepp”
⚔️ Release date: January 17^th, 2025

 

🩸genre: black metal, folk

⚔️ Artist: GREH
🩸  Album: “Dysphoric Devotion”
⚔️ Release date: January 15^th, 2025

🩸genre: death metal, black metal, sludge, doom

⚔️ Artist: Grief Ritual
🩸  Album: “Collapse”
⚔️ Release date: January 31st, 2025
 

🩸genre: blackened hardcore, metallic hardcore, post metal, sludge

ALBUM REVIEW: Nile, “The Underworld Awaits Us All”

By: Richard Maw
 
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released:23^rd August, 2024
Label: Napalm Records
 

 
“The Underworld Awaits Us All” CD//DD//LP track listing:
 
1    Stelae of Vultures
2    Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes
3    To Strike with Secret Fang
4    Naqada II Enter the Golden Age
5    The Pentagrammathion of Nephren-Ka
6    Overlords of the Black Earth
7    Under the Curse of the One God
8    Doctrine of Last Things
9    True Gods of the Desert
10    The Underworld Awaits us All
11    Lament for the Destruction of Time
 
The Review:  

Five years after “Vile Nilotic Rites”, Karl Sanders (and George Kollias et. al.) blast back with this capable and muscled offering. “Stelae of Vultures” may start slowly, but it soon blasts off- or down- into the underworld which apparently awaits all who listen to this album. The vocals are impossibly low, the drums impossibly fast, the solos impossibly fluid the album overall is… improbably good. It’s over twenty years since “In Their Darkened Shrines” and thirty since Nile started out, but their mix of brutal death metal, Egyptian themes and middle eastern musical motifs is still as irresistible as ever.
 
“Vile Nilotic Rites” was a fairly immediate listen- and so is “The Underworld Awaits Us All”. It’s both familiar territory and wide enough in scope so as to bring the listener in. Truthfully, I loved this one as soon as I heard it. It’s sonic carnage in its most precise form and I still marvel at the musicianship on EVERY Nile album. It’s simply astonishing how far the boundaries of death metal have been pushed since the likes of “Seven Churches” or “Scream Bloody Gore” first dropped jaws in the metal world.
 
“Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down On A Stake In The Underworld and Made To Eat Faeces  By The Four Apes” not only pads out this review’s length, but is also both a ridiculous song title and an excellent track- lightning fast and with some hooks in the riffage. Elsewhere, there is not much let up-“The Pentagrammathion of Nephran Ka” may be a lovely instrumental interlude (echoing some of Sanders’ solo work) but as soon as “Overlords of the Black Earth” kicks in, the band simply lays waste to the listener. It’s fast, brutal and effective, with a creeping slowness introduced after the frenetic first act.
 
The dissonance of “Under The Curse of the One God” is different again, with excellent time changes between very slow and hyper fast, plus a female backing vocal on the chorus and a kind of middle eastern acoustic outro. I like the fact that Nile broaden their sound out on each album, it brings unexpected moments and provides an aural break to the metallic brutality. At 53 minutes in length, it’s not like this is an easy listen, exactly, but it’s so uniformly good, that the playing time flies by. “Doctrine of Last Things” may be buried in the track list running order, but it’s strong- with experimental vocals and percussion- and as such represents another worthwhile entry into the band’s catalogue.
 
The album manages to keep my attention all the way through- “True Gods of the Desert” is just superb; a slithering viper of a track that mixes clean vocals with slow tempos to excellent effect. It’s only at the penultimate point of the record that the title track is deployed and it is worthy of the honour bestowed upon it. Epic in length, while musically, it displays most of what Nile can do- the insane speeds, the crazy time changes and the excellent riffs. The production and mix, I note, are excellent. Tight and punchy, crystal clear- exactly what music of this pedigree deserves.
 
By the time the album finishes with the morose and atmospheric “Lament For The Destruction of Time”, Nile have assuredly done what they set out to do- they’ve made another excellent technical and brutal death metal album; another classy entry into their discography. With Karl Sanders now 60 years of age, how much longer this can continue is anyone’s guess, but on this evidence, the band are not ready to be interred into the pyramids yet. Essential for all fans of the band and genre.
 
“The Underworld Awaits Us All” is available HERE

Band info: facebook 

ALBUM REVIEW: Orange Goblin, "Science, Not Fiction"

By: Richard Maw
 
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: July 17^th, 2024
Label: Peaceville Records

“Science, Not Fiction” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Fire At The Centre Of The Earth Is Mine
2. (not) Rocket Science
3. Ascend The Negative
4. False Hope Diet
5. Cemetary Rats
6. The Fury Of A Patient Man
7. Gemini (Twins Of Evil)
8. The Justice Knife
9. End Of Transmission
10. Eye Of The Minotaur (Bonus Track)
 
The Review:

Orange Goblin return, after a lengthy few years between albums and once again prove why they have become- effectively- the Motorhead of their chosen genre. Each album delivers what you want, but, unlike the mighty ‘Head the breaks between records make each Orange Goblin album an “EVENT” and not just ‘another’ album.
 
Founding bassist Martyn Millard has departed- some years ago- and has been replaced by Harry Armstrong (Blind River), elsewhere Joe Hoare, Chris Turner and Ben Ward are as solid, dependable and recognisable as ever. The band sounds so strong here and the enthusiasm and care put into this album really comes through in the songs.
 
From the opening bass riff of “The Fire at The Centre Of The Earth Is Mine” to the closing “End of Transmission”, the band is rocket propelled, jet fuelled, firing on all cylinders and burnin’ up the atmosphere. It’s an assured set of performances and songs.
 
In between the opener and closer, the band don’t put a foot wrong. This is a very strong record from front to back, advance track “(Not) Rocket Science” is brilliant, “Ascend The Negative” is superb, “Cemetery Rats” is speedy and shows the punk side of the band, The Justice Knife is dark and harrowing and the aforementioned “End of Transmission” is as good an epitaph for the band as any they have ever written.
 
Throughout, Joe Hoare puts in a man of the match performance (again) with tasteful and song-serving playing. Ben Ward, a man reborn, is on gruff and powerful form. Ben’s battles with alcohol, depression and his health have been documented by the big man himself on social media, but now he is lean and mean, counting his calories and training hard. Truly, he has become a man remade and his muscled appearance matches the strength of his vocals here.
 
The band’s recent performance at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds for the album launch was one of the best times I’ve seen the band; they were on top form and dealt out a set of new and old tracks which displayed their experience. It showed that the band are at the top of their game.
 
The mix of stoner, heavy rock, punk, Motorhead infused swagger and darker influences from more extreme genres on this album works beautifully. Hopefully, the band won’t wait so long until the next album- but if this is to be the last one, or even the last one for a few years, the band can and should be very proud of what they’ve achieved here. It’s a rare band that has no bad albums in their catalogue, but Orange Goblin join Motorhead, Overkill, Death, Bolt Thrower and a handful of others who can make that claim.  A must listen.
 
“Science, Not Fiction” is available HERE

Band info: facebook 

ALBUM REVIEW: Fu Manchu, "The Return of Tomorrow"

By: Richard Maw
 
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 14/06/2024
Label: At The Dojo Records

 
“The Return of Tomorrow” track listing
 
1. Dehumanize
2. Loch Ness Wrecking Machine
3. Hands Of The Zodiac
4. Haze The Hides
5. Roads Of The Lowly
6. (Time Is) Pulling You Under
7. Destroyin’ Light
8. Lifetime Waiting
9. Solar Baptized
10. What I Need
11. The Return Of Tomorrow
12. Liquify
13. High Tide
 
The Review:

Fu Manchu have been putting out records, steadily, for thirty years now. These doyens of Californian fuzz have seen it and done it all. So, why continue? Most agree, apparently, that they peaked somewhere around “In Search Of…” or “King of the Road” or perhaps “California Crossing”. I don’t really share this view; those records are all excellent, but the band haven’t made a bad one yet.
 
Not only that, each Fu album has its own character. Whether it be “Signs of Infinite Power” or “Clone of The Universe”, the latter day work has a lot going for it. The themes remain muscle cars, sci fi, skate/surf and so on… and that’s both what I want AND expect.
 
If “Clone of the Universe” was better than “Gigantoid”, then “The Return of Tomorrow” is better again. This is ostensibly a double album- one half is revved up, the other half cruises along nicely. However, at only 49 minutes, is this really a double album or do the thirteen tracks just represent two halves?
 
“Dehumanize” kicks things off at a fast clip, burning rubber and fuzzing out. Up next is a real Fu classic: “Loch Ness Wrecking Machine”. It’s got the sci fi theme, the slow builds and dynamics that the band use and a simple and catchy hook. Scott Hill still has that laid back Cali delivery and Scott Reeder’s drums are as crushing as ever. This is a groovesome beast.
 
“Hands of The Zodiac” is just as good- wonderful grooves and riffs. “Haze The Hides” slows things down, uses a killer bass tone and shows why the band are often aligned with the stoner/doom genre- without being a part of it at all. It’s clear at this point that the band are displaying their different sides- or the different facets- of their heavier sounds. “Roads of the Lowly” has heavy riffs and panned guitars, with a somewhat repetitive hook that is characteristic of the band; heavy on the riffs and rhythms, light on the melody and with Hill’s voice mixed inside the music, not on top of it.
 
With things speeding up for “(Time Is) Pulling You Under”, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the record was a kind of cousin to “Start The Machine” or “We Must Obey”; non-stop action. However, once you are at the half way mark, things shift gear and then coast towards the line. “Destroyin’ Light” is relaxed but heavy with a quiet/loud arrangement. The drum sound is excellent, as is the guitar sound and the production is perfect with just the right level of grit and polish to showcase what the band can do.
 
I miss records which sound like bands playing live; I’m disillusioned with sound replacements and the ultra-processed sound of a lot of modern metal. Pro tools, click tracks sound replacements etc. all have their place (certainly within the extreme metal genres, where precision is demanded these days) and it’s fantastic to hear that Fu Manchu sound here like they do in a live setting. Simply put, it sounds like a band playing. In these strange days, I can’t ask for more than that.
 
The mellower approach continues with “Lifetime Waiting”, and more successfully with “Solar Baptized”- which is excellent. It has a kind of bluesy swagger and an almost sinister, threatening feel. Wonderful stuff. From here, it’s a similar approach with varying results. “What I Need” is a more contemplative track, mellow vibes abound, while the title track is a real standout with the groove hitting solidly but the pedal someway off the metal. “Liquify” is a big riff-with-space and works very nicely- the refrain is not dissimilar to the Leafhound track “Freelance Fiend” (for an obscure reference) and this works really well with the percussion ensuring that things freewheel along pleasurably.
 
“High Tide” closes things with an almost jazzy approach. These beach dwellers know how to chill you down, as well as get you running out for the next wave. All told, this is a very strong record and one that sits comfortably with anything else the band has done. Even if not every track is a bullseye, there are enough direct hits here to make this album extremely impressive. The band’s willingness to do something a little different is to be commended as, crucially, this hangs together as a cohesive collection of songs.
 
“The Return of Tomorrow” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Fractal Generator, "Convergence"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 07/06/2024
Label: Everlasting Spew Records

 
“Convergence” CS//CD/DD//LP track listing:
 
1. Cryogenian
2. Convergence
3. Askesis
4. Ancient Civilizations
5. Obelisk
6. Ciphertext
7. Xiphoid
8. Algorithmic Pathways
9. Encephalon
 
 
The Review:

Fractal Generator return for a blackened tech death encounter of the third kind here. Much like the first two albums, this is of the sci-fi themed variety of the genre. The Canadian members, known only by binary code, have created a concept piece about new planets arriving in the current solar system and the album explores this idea.
 
There are some quirky elements here- choral vocals on “Ancient Civilizations”, synths here, there and everywhere- but there are also the expected elements; death growls, warp speed drums and a distinctly dystopian atmosphere. Since Pestilence introduced atmospheric instrumental link pieces, other bands in the death metal genre have followed suit with mixed results- but things are done very well here.
There are no separate instrumental tracks, but the band does set the tone for each track with interesting intros and a surprisingly lush palette of sounds features across the songs- as mentioned.

“Cryogenian” sets the tone- fast and furious, all other tracks offer sinister creeping dread, along with  the blasting- such as “Obelisk”. The passages of riffs in “Ciphertext” are sublime and elsewhere on the album, things are just as impressive. Once again, Fractal Generator have delivered an excellently written, played and produced example of how this type of extreme metal should be done.

This is for fans of the genre- of course- but is strongly recommended because of this fact. You won’t hear better this year.

“Convergence” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook