SONGS THAT PRODDED ME TO LOOK WITHIN MYSELF AND ALL I SAW WAS THAT I AGAIN DID NOT ATTEND ROADBURN APR 13 – APR 20 

A later post since my wife had a birthday and we had a nice coffee near the seaside almost forgetting the living hell in which we are immersed oh shit did I say almost forget because an attack helicopter flew overhead oh well so it goes etc. Keep safe. Oh, and a thousand thanks to Dirk who decided to join the Patreon and thus support this place as well as make me feel very good. Very much appreciated.

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.

Teardrinker – "Water / Well," from Killing the Flowers Will Not Delay Spring (Screamo/Post-Rock/Shoegaze – Independent). An absolute massive release that made my week in many different ways. Let's start with the fact that it sounds incredible, that the instruments are as clear as anything I've listened to this year, and that the drums, beyond being played incredibly, sound as incredible. But the star of the show is the music – emotive, uncompromising, beautiful. The Dutch have some weird shit in their water for sure (I say this also keeping in mind the amazing Silver Knife album that was released this week, in case you didn't go there go there) that makes them so adept at interpreting their emotions into heartbreaking music. My it's the repression. Whatever it is, this is my standout debut of the year and just amazing, life-affirming/crushing music).

Necropolis – "The First of Four Seals," from Secular Circumambulation (Black/Death Metal – Makara Press). Moving from the Dutch to a former colony (bad segue, I know), and moving from the delicate pain of Teardrinker to the blasting horror that is another astounding debut from Indonesian project Necropolis. Blackened death (deathened black?) that sounds like proto-Malokarpatan having a shred/blast-fest with a primal version of Diocletian/Teitanblood studded with odd moments of strange melody. Powerful, raw, and absolutely beautiful.

Ancient Death – "Unspoken Oath," from Ego Dissolution (Death Metal – Profound Lore Records). Every year I have a few albums that I just jam to without ever mentioning in my posts until I realize that if an albums is so good I like to jam to it then I guess I should also write about it. This Ancient Death album is basically the definition of that kind of release. Death metal on the somewhat melodic/Swedish side that is basically perfect. Fun, kinetic, ever-shifting, proggy, always-groovy, and with enough of an evil-sounding edge to make it that much more exciting. Super cool and very memorable album.

Atlantic – "Underside," from Timeworn (Atmospheric Black Metal/Post-Metal – Independent). Another shockingly beautiful recent release, and one that marries two of my primordial loves – the majesty and melancholy of atmospheric black metal and the naval gazing gravitas of post-metal/rock. It's huge, all composed and performed by the same talented person, and interestingly a talented person who it seems I have listened to before, though under a different name (if you have never checked out the amazing Foothill Roots, do so). 

Verheerer – "Grabenwurm," from Urgewalt (Black Metal – Vendetta Records). More atmospheric-adjacent black metal, that this album is a tad too pissed to be just that. I seem to remember enjoying Verheerer's previous albums as well, and this one is just a bullet of rage and melancholy. Punky at times, grand at others, angry most of the time, and just great and very weird in a good way – as if every instrument is somehow played "too" hard, making it into a very powerful and very rewarding listening experience.

Divide and Dissolve – "Disintegrate," from Insatiable by (Droning Doom/Experimental – Bella Union). I'm conflicted, it seems, about Divide and Dissolve. Not because I don't love their music, I adore basically everything about them. But because they make me feel things I'm not sure I'm prepared to feel, and do so in a manner that's so understated and gentle that you almost don't notice it's wrecking you from the inside. On the one had this is slow-drudging, glacial drone that could be described as a distant offspring of Sunn O))), but on the other it feels like Locrian's doomy bits, and still elsewhere it's pretty and almost small. I think the only conclusion is that they are a truly unique entity in a world filled with entities who probably wish were unique but aren't. Power, so much power, with so little is pretty incredible.

Nuclear Wasteland – "Bloodlust Mana," from Bloodlust Madness (Thrash/Black Metal – Independent). There's really no reason for me to be this into a thrash-esque album in 2025 as much as I am into this release. The energy, the riffs, the pacing, are all just undeniable, regardless of what they state about where I am in my emotional progression as a human being. Also, that fucking solo made me so happy there was no way I wouldn't include this here. Just pure metal, as a cringy version of myself would say.

Weeping Sores – "Arctic Summer," from The Convalescence Agonies (Death Doom – I, Voidhanger Records). Six long years after their classic of modern death doom, False Confession, the immaculate Weeping Sores are back to wreck havoc on your emotional wellbeing. And as much as the My Dying Bride worship is still very much present, those parts feel much more integrated into what feels like a whole new feel for the band – rawer, more aggressive, more monophonic sounding (is that a word?), and generally more 90s, if that makes any kind of sense. Let me tell you though, if Weeping Sores was around in the 90s they would be all I listened to, because this is just another stellar outing and the first single is just a masterclass in extreme heartbreak. Astounding. 

Zeicrydeus – "Ten Thousand Spears atop the Bleeding Mountains," from La Grande Heresie (Melodic Black Metal/Heavy Metal – The Stygian Oath). The multi-armed Indian godhead that is Phil Tougas again descends, like a Canadian Orpheus, to hell, armed with instruments, only to reascend without his loved one, but giving the earth the gift of sick, intelligent, otherworldly metal. And if Weeping Sores came at us armed with that 90s magic, Tougas is streaking through a portal in the space time continuum that allows him to – at the very same time – deliver a time capsule of blackened heavy metal as well as a very bold statement in the contemporary world of extreme metal. No one knew they needed a Euro-sounding black metal albums from 1991 until Phil gave it to them. Astounding, almost Alex Poole-esque (not words I use lightly) show of talent, taste, and execution. 

FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

ONE: Dolven is coming with another album's worth of acoustic magic, and the first single is duly magical.

TWO: Post-Metal GOATs Year of No Light have a new single out as well. Excited and hopeful. 

THREE: Nechochwen with new music! Hopefully more on that next week.

FOUR: A Hate5Six recording of a Pyrrhon performance means I don't ever have to travel again.

FIVE: I Am the Intimidator, who released one of the best, most fun albums of 2024, came out with an instrumental "karaoke" version of said album so you can yelp to your heart's content while back by race-driving guitars.

ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: More Post-metal? Pothamus. 

ROADBURN ADDENDUM: I just know it that by the time I can actually make it to RB it won't exist anymore. Hope it was good.