Feeling Overwhelmed and Exhausted While Recommending New Metal Music May 10-16

So, my new novel JUST DROPPED! AH YEAH, EXISTENTIALISTC FRAGMENTED FICTION IN HEBREW YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT! But, more seriously, I have been waiting very long for this moment, and despite the fact that I fucking hate releasing work with a fucking passion because of the expectations and the disappointment and the fact that, for good or bad, most people just consume art on their own, in silence and don't even think about voicing their opinion out loud and despite the fact that that's the only thing I really want to know is what people have read or thought, and despite all that stress, it really is a magical thing to see an idea on your computer become an object in the world. That people can hold, and see, and even the way words look on real paper. It's a vibe, I recommend it (and also don't).

OK, I will now relapse into what I do when Drake releases new music which is listening to only Drake, but before I do so here's some EXISTENTIALISTC FRAGMENTED FICTION METAL for all you wonderful people.

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, TIKTOK 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.

Haze Gazer – "Where's My Guy?" from Haze Gazer (Blackgaze/Atmospheric Black Metal – Independent). Those of you equipped with eagle eyes and sharp souls noticed I mentioned this album at the tail-end of last week's post and promised more to come. Well, this is the more to come. Just an unreal album from a band of which I'm not sure I have ever been aware. If you love it when shoegaze, screamo, and black metal coalesce into one fuzzy object of angst and pissed-offed-ness then this is so for you. My god. A wonderful album and a wonderful project.

Nedgravd – "Sentiential Incantation," from Ascension (Nasty Death Metal – Independent). This debut from death/black band Nedgravd is everything you need in life that's horrible and nasty. First, let's state the obvious here, this is primitive stuff, primitively plated, and primitively recorded. The riffs are sharp, the vocals super gross, and everything just feels like Satan unleashed in a rehearsal space. But, and here's the but, it's also made by people who are very obviously brilliant – in both the smart and talented sense – who have a clear vision and also enough ADHD to get in their own way in a plethora of wonderful ways. This band, here me out here, is going places. I mean, they might have already arrived.

Mourir – "Nous, le venin," from Nous, le venin (Black/Doom Metal – Pelagic Records). Very little in this skimpy life is better or warmer or wider than a new Mourir releases. Friends of the show (a very one-sided relationship), and one of the best contemporary bands in all of extreme music. This track from an upcoming album has, I must admit, caught me off guard. Mourir are many things, but mid-temop, doomy black metal wasn't high on my imaginary list of said things. But thing is, friends, you will listen to this track, title track, and realize quick quickly that Mourir sounds like they were born, destined in fact to play (also) like this. Not joking, one of the best tracks of the whole year so far, and yet another testament to their unrelenting brilliance.

Conduit – "Resonance Mantra," from The World Turns in Sleep (Disso Death/Black – Independent). Conduit seems to following in the steps of other fully-formed-and-yet-out-of-the-blue disso projects in the last few years, a list that includes Cosmovore, Misanthropae, and others. Which begs the question whether or not, for all its complexity, there's something about this specific genre that both pushes people to get it just right and also allows them to fulfill that goal. Regardless of those questions, this is pretty fucking sick and worth your time. Good name too.

Antichrist Siege Machine – "Apocalyptic Despair," from PROMO MMXXVI (War Metal – Independent). Purifying Blade is one of the best albums of this decade, so I'm a fan. Was not IN LOVE with Vengeance of Eternal Fire, thought it as missing some fire, and found my war-metal kicks elsewhere (Ch'ahom, for one). But this promo release has me believing. Not because Vengeance of Eternal Fire was bad, it just didn't have that feeling of listening to demented people ruining their lives for your sake. And this most definitely does. 

Hallucination Realized – "Collapsing Floor," from Developing Reality (Grindcore/Hardcore – Nerve Altar).  To be quite sure, this album is nuts and is filled with the kind of grindcore that will ruin your frontal lobe. But the track I have chosen off of this magnificent release from Hallucination Realized (all hail to the GOATS at Nerve Altar, once again), is that, while slower and more abstract than its raging siblings, is one of the more affecting tracks on the whole thing. Slower, more intent, and pissed to the fucking bone. What an album, what a fucking track.

Goetia – "Mortuary Cult," from Mortuary Cult (Death Metal – Carbonized Records). Raging death metal in the, shall we say, Swedish style, but mean. You have the melodic lines, the rock n' rollin' feel that's such a staple of that, my most beloved form of death metal but stapled to a wooden board of a grinding/black metal attack, and the kind of rawness of directness of assault that makes you feel like maybe these are people best met via the mediation of extreme metal. Nasty, catchy as all hell, and wonderful. Also, lowkey a perfect album cover.

Dodsfixering "___," from _ (Shoegaze/screamo – Independent). I think I wrote something last week, in the Black Cilice thing, about the possible magic of recording music that sounds like it was played in a distant room. In that example the effect was of a faraway violent ritual that, while distant, feels threatening. In the case of Russian project Dodsfixering it's more like opening a portal into the past, like opening a picture book and seeing you being a kid, and everyone around you has already passed on. Not for the emotionally faint of heart I guess, but beautiful and life-affirming as far as I'm concerned. 

Abyssal Rift – "Consummate Design," from Relics of Great Ash (Black/Death/Doom Metal – Transcending Obscurity Records). I am on record going nuts over Abyssal Rift's amazing debut from 2023, which also made my year-end list for that horrible year. So seeing them come back was a pleasant surprise, and hearing their first two singles was a very pleasant way to be absolutely horrified. A bit less suffocation of the soul this time around, but plenty sick, winding black-death for your rotting heads.

Impure – "The Living Grave," from The Devil Sees My Dreams (Death/Black Metal – Independent). This one's long overdue, mostly (well, only) because I did not have the faintest idea that Impure released a new album. Long-time fan here (receipts) and just love the way this new(er) album feels and am kind of bummed I missed it the first time around. But, you know, no one's perfect. Dark, brooding and, at times, annihilating black/death metal of the highest order.

FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

ONE: Nothing in this world inspires me to live and create and more than Yellow Eyes. Confusion Gate was already my AOTY for 2025, and I had already stated I might like it better than my previous favorite by them, Sick with Bloom, which just so happens to be my favorite modern black metal album. But with each passing day I realize how true that statement is. PEAK. 

TWO: Spanish post-metal legends Toundra have a new single out, from an upcoming album. Horribly underrated band, and a staple of the early days of this blog.

THREE: Cool atmospheric black metal on the more melodic/screamo-ish side from Together to the Stars.

FOUR: Don't usually vibe with stoner bands, but Methuselian is pretty fucking special. FFO: Saturnalia Temple.

FIVE: Iskandr, in case you missed the news, are an experimental/folk band now. And are about to release a mesmerizing new release next month. 

ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: I love my kids. I love my book. My book is about my kids. May they all find happiness.