…lemme hear ya say whooo who he was a reeeeeeal baad man… OH hi! You caught me mid chorus of “Baad Man” from last week’s COC delivery and WHOOO BOY what a trip that album is. I could talk your ears off (eyes out? HA) about the hows and whys of my affinity for that one but we’ve got more new stuff to discuss here on Initial Descent so we’ll do that instead. Death metal vets Vomitory kick things off in brash style, Sicarius remind us that black metal works best when it’s not pretty and shiny, Truckfighters keep doing their fuzz thing better than the rest of the fuzz field, and The Melvins and Napalm Death collab on a definite headturner of an album and no it’s not a split, I said COLLAB. Yes, it is pretty wicked so check it out. Then there’s the rest of the list so do your thing and I’m going back inside that chorus I was in the midst of. See ya!

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Vomitory – In Death Throes (Metal Blade Records) – death metal

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Sicarius – Nex (Adirondack Black Mass) – black metal

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Truckfighters – Masterflow (Fuzzorama Records) – fuzz

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The Melvins with Napalm Death – Savage Imperial Death March (Ipecac Recordings) – extreme

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Also on tap:

Archspire – Too Fast to Die (Self) – death metal

As Everything Unfolds – Did You Ask To Be Set Free? (Century Media) – metalcore

Battlegrave – Enslavement (Self) – death / thrash

Bezkres – Naturalna nietolerancja (Signal Rex) – black metal

Cave Dweller – Showing Teeth (Aesthetic Death) – dark neo‑folk

Chronicler of Ardul – Sounds of Ardul (Self) – fantasy metal

DA – S/T (Self) – metal / rock

Demonologists / Vainora – Plantae Arcanvs (Aesthetic Death) – doom & blackened electronic

Dimwind – The Carrion Waltz (Self) – alternative post‑metal

Frontside – Nemesis (Massacre Records) – metalcore

Goatpsalm – Beneath (Aesthetic Death) – doom

Lord of the Lost – Opvs Noir Vol. 3 (Napalm Records) – dark electronica

Masheena – Let The Spiders In (Majestic Mountain Records) – rock

Melechesh – Sentinels Of Shamash (Reigning Phoenix Music) – black thrash

Nick Oliveri – No Hits At All Vol. 10 (Heavy Psych Sounds) – rock

Obey The Kraken – Apocrypha, EP (Seek and Strike) – deathcore

Poly‑Math – Something Deeply Hidden (The Lasers Edge) – prog metal

Purple Skies – A Million Years (Apollon Records) – proto‑doom

Repetita Iuvant – 3+2 (Argonauta Records) – post‑rock

Resurrected – Perpetual (Testimony Records) – death metal

Riket – 2026 (Black Lion / Sound Pollution) – death metal

Scythe of Mephisto – Till Life Do Us Part (Masked Dead / Sulphur Music) – melodic black metal

Sectarian Defacement – Hostile Consuming Rapture (Grave Island Records) – brutal death metal

Skaphos – The Descent (LADLO) – black metal

Tarask – Sitra Ahra (Antiq) – black metal

Ten East & SoftSun – Turned To Stone Chapter 10 (Ripple Music) – psych rock

The Lords Of Altamont – Forever Loaded (Heavy Psych Sounds) – garage psych rock

The Machinist – Towers (Self) – industrial metal

The Mechanist – Synthetic Sun (Self) – metalcore

The Neptune Power Federation – Mondo Tomorrow (Cruz Del Sur Music) – rock

Throwing Bricks & Ontaard – Something To Lose (Self) – blackgaze

Thunderkill – Global Cataclysm (Dripfeed Records) – thrash metal

Urluk – Memories In Fade (Pest Records) – black / doom

Voidchaser – Interstellar I (Self) – prog metal

Warhog – Ethereal Journey, EP (Iron Tusk Productions) – sci‑fi metal

Witch Ripper – Through The Hourglass (Magnetic Eye Records) – metal

— Josh