A FEW SONGS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE EXISTED THIS WEEK JAN 26 – FEB 1

No one cares about this part anyway. Hopefully done with one of the AOTD interviews I've been working on for the last few months, so that's nice. Keep safe.

If you're new to this metal blog of bones you can also check out the various interview projects I have going on as well as the weekly recommendation posts. And if you'd like to keep abreast of the latest, most pressing developments follow us wherever I may roam (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Bluesky, etc), and listen to my, I guess, active? (no) podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple), and to check out our amazing compilation albums. You could also possibly support my unholy work here (Patreon), if you feel like it. Early access to our bigger projects, weekly exclusive recommendations and playlists, and that wonderful feeling that you're encouraging a life-consuming habit. It's probably a bad idea, but to each their own. ON TO THE LIST.

Lepra – "Where Despair Has Made its Home," from Mortuus Morgana (Black Metal – Stygian Black Hand). So, this is the debut EP/demo from Swedish project Lepra, that really came out late last year but has only down parachuted into my being since they're doing a physical release via Stygian Black Hand. I am being very technical here, as you may have noticed, and had thus far refrained from deploying my trademarked massive hyperbole™, but that is because I'm trying to keep my emotions in check when discussing what is for me, for now, right now, my favorite release of the year so far. This is incredible in almost every way (here it comes! THE HYPERBOLE!) – it drives like Stockholm death metal, it feels like melodic black metal, it has a crust-like edge, it has melodic interludes that sound like they were lifted straight out of Skydancer, it has solos that make me feel of Morbus Chron or Sweven, and the whole thing feels like it was recorded in a bedroom in a cave. It's incredible, it's amazing, and I love it. Please someone find an EU distro, the shipping might kill me.

Rwake – "The Return of Magik," from The Return of Magik (Sludge Metal/Post Metal – Relapse Records). The first Rwake album in a whole bunch of years, and it sounds pretty fucking great. Crystal-clear production that brings out the best in every instrument and makes everything feel alive, pure, and nasty. That on top of the fact that the song, a meandering 12ish minutes of everything life has to offer, is beautiful, beautifully paced, and great. Very excited for the rest. 

Omnicidal Instinct – Catharsis in Blight from Catharsis in Blight (Brutal Death Metal – P2). Truth be told, I can listen to Paulo Paguntalan gurgle the phonebook while monkeys are banging screwdrivers on tin cans and be mesmerized, but this newest project blessed by his cursed throat is happily also filled with great songwriting, pinging blasting, and the kind of pinch-harmonic-bedazzled riffs that make you want to excrete blood from orfices of which you have never known. Good shit.

Infernalivm – "The Maze of Havoc," from Conquering the Most High (Death Metal – Sentient Ruin Laboratories). This came out in the flurry of late-2024 releases that I missed because of THE LIST, but I had the sense to reach back into the SR bag and wise enough to check this debut EP from French project Infernalivm. And what I found in my infinite wisdom is some Sonne Adam/Kever style death metal, which means the best death metal anyone can ask for, with some pretty insane, mind-aching drumming to boot. Fantastic shit, creepy and weird in all those atmospheric way, and downright brutal in anything else. Great. 

Deafheaven – "Magnolina," from Lonely People with Power (Blackgaze – Roadrunner Records). Deafheaven and I, we've been some weird places in our relationship. I spend the better part of the 2010s defending the band with my life, arguing for the brilliance of both Roads to Judah and, of course, Sunbather, only to then not really get what the hell was happening, both with their "heavy" stuff, that to me often sounded like a band trying to be heavy and not really being into it, and their forays into brit pop (Corrupt Human Love) and shoegaze (Infinite Granite). If I were a person of the 90s – which I am in fact – I would describe them as "tweaking," not really sure of where to go and how to go about it. That isn't to say all of those albums had fans, I get that, I just wasn't one. Now with this new single, my suspicious hat is very much still in place, but I have to say I kind of dig it. It doesn't feel forced, for one, which has been my issue with them for many years now. It's hard being successful. Not that I know, but trying to make sense of Deafheaven brings that fact very strongly to mind – that being unsuccessful has its merits. Thank god for my lack of success. Anyhow, if I tagged this as melodic black metal or something then I already like it better than the most recent Spectral Wound, so there's that.

Messa – "At Races," from The Spin (Post-Punk/Goth – Metal Blade). Speaking of bands upgrading their label and switching up their sound, Messa is now on Metal Blade and, ironically, sounds like the bands they used to play in what my teenage-era club would call the "80's Room" (gotta love the 90s). Gone (well, almost) are the doomy, atmospheric tones that made the Italian band one of the most unique voices in contemporary metal, replaced by reverby guitars and sunny/melancholy choruses. Will I like it? I might. The production is incredible, and the contrast between angst, sunshine music, and grave music is pretty intriguing. And that voice – will never get sick of that voice. Curious about the rest of the album.

Svrm – "Лист," from Скорбота (Atmospheric Black Metal – Independent). Friends of the show and lovers of the "releasing music in January" thing, Svrm, are back, albeit much more melancholy than even their very high bar for the ailment. A nice, short, two EP track, the opener of which sounds much like the sombre vibe coming from Messa these days (see above), while the closer presented here is much more along the black metal lines to which we have become accustomed. Both are great, but the world is bringing me down as it is, and there's only so much melancholy I can take, so sad-boy riffs it is. 

Dakat Doomia – "Fury," from Dakat Doomia (Doom/Sludge Metal – Chaos Cartel Productions). From the wellspring of eternal melancholy to the den of weed smoke and big-drum sounds emanating from the debut album from Tel Aviv-based sludge band Dakat Doomia. As readers of this slippery mental slope would now, I don't do sludge/doom as often, but this is one of those rare exceptions. Great, spacey-creepy vocals, a big organic sound (courtesy of the keen ear of Gad Torrefranca (who is very good at recording just about anything), and fuzzy character. 

Bacht'n de Vulle Moane – "Wolfgebroed," from Klaagrituelen (Black Metal/Electronic – Independent). A fantastic release, and another one from later 2024, to pick you up all the way to the stars only to realize that stars smell bad too. The debut EP/demo from a fantastic new duo, comprised also of the great Scum, who is responsible for some of the best left-of-center extreme music of the last few years vis-a-vis Apovrasma of which I had written here, and Ordigort, which I mentioned here). Electro-driven black metal that sounds like a sticky dungeon floor. 

HORT FACTS ABOUT THINGS

Fact #1: There's a new Sunrot release that's pretty cool.

Fact #2: New weirdo black metal shit from Kryatjurr of Desert Ahd (and also a more noise-oriented releases on their Bandcamp as well).

Fact #3: It's kind of become a tradition to drop sick death metal in this section, so here's fucking sick death metal from Moros.

Fact #4: Cool melodic black metal from the Finnish overlords over at Havukruunu.

OH OH ALMOST FORGOT: And some more sick death metal, this time of the 90s proggy death metal variety from Starvation.