As we wind down another year, have you any thoughts on what your favorite metal releases are? We’re this far in and there’s still good stuff coming at us on the regular so whether you have a list of 500, a single album, or no idea yet, count your blessings that we’ve been hammered with the goods. This week’s new stuff kicks off with some classic veined heavy metal from Speedclaw where they very effectively and efficiently stomp mudholes in earholes and walk them dry, Decrepit Altar hit us with a short but nasty doom / death treat, and Temple of Katharsis scald ears with their fiery brand of black metal. All that and a lengthy list to peruse of other stuff from the land of extremes. Let us know what you picked out this week to jam on and we’d love to hear some of your 2025 faves over the next few weeks so hit us up…
Speedclaw – Stardust (Dying Victims Productions) – heavy metal
Decrepit Altar – Egregious Defilement (Me Saco Un Ojo) – death / doom
Temple of Katharsis – Worshippers Of The Ancient Necromancy (Theogonia Records) – black metal
Also on tap:
Aittala – Ill-Gotten Gains (Exitus Strategem Records) – metal
Annisokay – Abyss – The Final Chapter (Arising Empire) – metalcore
Antinoë – The Fold (Dark Essence Records) – neoclassical
Beast Eagle – Sorceress, EP (Golden Robot Records) – metal
Bloodbound – Field of Swords (Napalm Records) – power metal
Cassidy Paris – Bittersweet (Frontiers Music s.r.l.) – modern rock
Danko Jones – Leo Rising (Perception) – rock
Darktribe – Forgotten Reveries (Scarlet Records) – power metal
Depravity – Bestial Possession (Transcending Obscurity Records) – death metal
Dome Runner – World Panopticon (Svart Records) – industrial
Dune Aurora – Ice Age Desert (Octopus Rising) – fuzz
El Muerto – Lost and Amsterdamned (Self) – black / death
Electric Boys – Shady Side of Town, EP (Mighty Music) – rock
Eradicator – Alive in the Dead Eye of the Vortex (Metalville) – thrash
Fate’s Hand – Steel, Fire & Ice (Dying Victims Productions) – heavy metal
Frozen Land – Icemelter (Massacre Records) – power metal
Gasket – S/T (Blue Grape Music) – metalcore
Gloombound – Dreaming Delusion (Gruesome Records) – death / doom
Grenouer – Downtown Dream (Brutal Records) – extreme
Hellwalker – Reincarnation, EP (Self) – death metal
In Virtue – Age Of Legends (Self) – power metal
Kill Ritual – In My Head (Massacre Records) – heavy metal
Maha Sohona – A Dark Place (Bonebag Records) – heavy psych
Monachopsis – The Carcass Choir (Self) – melodic tech death
Moonscape – Entity Chapter III: A Sudden Glimpse of Clarity (Self) – prog metal / rock
Morbikon – Lost Within The Astral Crypts (Tankcrimes) – death / thrash
Natas – Mara (Dusktone) – black metal
Nemorous – What Remains When Hope Has Failed (Bindrune Recordings) – atmospheric black metal
Olde Throne – Megalith (Avantgarde Music) – melodic black metal
Outlying – Oblivisci (Self) – metal
Pink Paradox – Crown of Thorns (Self) – metal
Rot Fester – Death Row, EP (Self) – death metal
Shores Of Null / Convocation – Latitudes of Sorrow (Everlasting Spew Records) – death / doom
Slaughterday – Terrified (Testimony Records) – death metal
Sterbhaus – Next Akin to Chaos (Killhead) – metal
Stone Nomads – Empires of Stone (Ripple Music) – sludge / doom
Stryper – The Greatest Gift Of All (Frontiers Music s.r.l.) – metal
Sun of the Dying – A Throne of Ashes (AOP Records) – doom / death
Suncraft – Welcome to the Coven (All Good Clean Records) – stoner rock
Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh (Dark Descent Records) – death metal
The Halo Effect – We Are Shadows, EP (Nuclear Blast Records) – melodic death metal
Treat – The Wild Card (Frontiers Music s.r.l.) – rock
Turbo Lovers – Working Blue (Self) – rock
Tyrann – Djävulens Musik / Besatt (Dying Victims Productions) – heavy metal
Uamh – Prairie Smoke (Fiadh Productions) – black metal
Unité Douleur – Below Zero, EP (Self) – post-metal
When Nothing Remains – Echoes of Eternal Night (The Circle Music) – death / doom
Winds Of Neptune – S/T (Small Stone Recordings) – rock
Wolftooth – Wizard’s Light (Ripple Music) – heavy metal
— Josh