VEILBURNER - Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy review

 

VEILBURNER - Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy

Transcending Obscurity Records

If you're a fan of this blog (and frankly who isn't) then you know over the past bunch of years I've sung the praises for this two piece Blackened Death Metal act from Pennsylvania. Mainly because they're not cliche in style of what you would expect. I don't like using hiptard terms like "experimental" or "avantgarde". Previously I've said VEILBURNER are a Blackened Death experince that will weird you out. 

Now I thought their last album, 2024's The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom, was like H.P. Lovecraft put to Extreme Metal music for late night listening pleasures and haunts. This new one goes a bit further into the realm of complete hysteria. I mean the opening title cut is so fucking pychotic and angry sounding that you're like what the fuck at first and then it get's jazzy to a point which is weird. 

But from there this album grows to peak insanity. There's absolutely brutal sounding cuts and then it's Blackened filth meets Tech Death. Cross that with BAUHAUS meets FUNERAL MIST in an ecletic theater of hallucinagentic drug extesy. I thought their last album was a masterpiece. But hey "That Which Crypts Howls Grandeur" is so fuckin out there. The final cut "Reeking of Tragedy" just blows up your pitiful mind. 

This is an easy pick for Exreme Metal greatness. VEILBURNER either get better with each new release or they just get creepier. If you wanna fuck with people's minds then play this. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://veilburnerband.bandcamp.com/album/longing-for-triumph-reeking-of-tragedy

GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY - Death Never Sleeps review

 

GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY - Death Never Sleeps

Transcending Obscurity Records

So after work I always stop at my favorite convenience store for a six pack of good beer (aka: IPAs) to finish the night off. At the store I always frequent they've got a new clerk who works two nights a week. On this one night the guy is wearing a Metal band shirt. So I'm like "So you're into Metal"? He was like yeah. Now while the transaction was going through I told him that I knew of the band on his T-shirt (it was WHITE CHAPEL ala Death Core). I then told him I'm not a fan of them. 

When I was leaving he told me to have a good night. To which I told em "well yeah I'm gonna drink this beer and listen to some fuckin Death Metal"! Then I threw him the horned fist salute and walked out the door. The DM band I ended up listening to that night was GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY and hell yeah it's some great stuff.

GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY are a five piece USDM act who hail from New York (I don't know if it's from the city or up state). They started out in 2017. Their debut full length, Ageless Violence, came out in 2020 on Translation Loss Records. By the way Translation Loss Records is a good label. I've got more than a handful of releases by bands on that label. But switching over to Transcending Obscurity Records is a good thing because, in my not so humble opinion, they're a great label that knows Death Metal. 

With that said Death Never Sleeps just starts off with a face ripping cut "Slaughter the Gerontocrats". That's right, no boring instro intros just a straight fucking DM attack that's old school NYDM as hell. What's really funny is that 3/5th's of this band was in a New Jersey BM act called WOE. While another band member spent time in New York's Blackened Death act MUTILATION RITES. There's no BM influences at all on here. 

Death Never Sleeps is a perfect nine track DM album that runs a few seconds over thirty four minutes. In that time span you've got cool brutal yet monster like vocals by Doug Moore. He also adds a few harsh blackened screams. Musically is where the DM fun erupts. The riffs diverge between crushing, headbanging fun to thrashy I wanna start a slam pit and hit somebody type of stuff. The guitar soloing is typical lightning dive bomb stuff which is classic. 

In the end overall this year I've listened to a bunch of DM acts who in the past I was a huge fan of. But in 2025 they bore me. GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY is a damm good sounding DM band. I mean play this release in the morning play it at night. Hell play it while you're fucking. Yeah this is one of the best DM releases of the year.

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://gloriousdepravity-label.bandcamp.com/album/death-never-sleeps

CASTLE RAT - The Bestiary review

 

CASTLE RAT - The Bestiary

King Volume Records

I first learned about this New York City act back in 2024. There was a lot of hype about em on the internet, mostly by hiptards. But I first checked out a live performance video they did at a hipster club in Brooklyn, New York City. Now despite the hype I thought they were decent. 

Their debut album Into the Realm from 2024 was pretty good. It was basically that whole NWOBHM meets Occult Doom style. I liked it especially The Rat Queen's (aka: Riley Pinkerton) vocal style. But that was then because on my first listen to this their second album I can say things have changed. After a few more listens you can understand the changes. 

Basically CASTLE RAT have become more atmospheric and bombastic in their overall sound. In other words it's like the difference between a club sound band and one that plays arenas. The NWOBHM style has been replaced with an almost Power metal influence. The Doom edge is still here and there. The production has been amped up especially on their drum sound which is thunderous. 

The collaboration of The Rat Queen's dynamic vocals as well as guitar riffs, The Count's (aka: Franco Vittore) cool lead guitar work, the thunderous bass by The Plague Doctor and newest member (Charley Ruddell) and drummer extrodinare The Druid (Josh Strmic) make this a powerful fuckin album. 

To me this feels like a concept album with instro interludes that break from the explosiveness conveyed musically. For me I do like the rawness of their first album. But after a few listens this one is an epic piece of work. How you surpass this one is another story and good luck to em. In the end it's a damm good release.

https://www.facebook.com/kingvolumerecords

LISTEN HERE:

https://castlerat.bandcamp.com/album/the-bestiary

ILON LAPSET - Mykka pimeys review

ILON LAPSET - Mykka pimeys

Visceral Circuitry Records

For me personally my appreciation for Sludge Metal died in the late summer of 2021. That was the night when I was at a show and a quarter of the way through the headlining act's set I walked out. Now the headliner was a big name band of the Sludge Metal scene who I had seen three times over their long career. Now that night the first two bands were great and both well known as well as me being a fan of. But the headliner was just the same old thing again. Actually I think I've seen em four times before that show.

If you've been in the Extreme Metal scene for four or five decades you will find yourself jaded even though you just don't want to be. So for the past couple of years while I ignore the generic stuff from this genre I'm always looking for an outlier. I do find one per year and here we have another cool one. 

This is the second full length by Finland's ILON LAPSET. They are a four piece act who started out back in 2020. So what's cool about this band is that their sound / style reminds me when Sludge first started. The sound had it's roots in the underground Punk / Hardcore scene in the late 80's. Some bands would come out playing it SABBATH-IAN low and slow with a maniac on vocals. 

That's what ILON LAPSET are doing on this six song release. You've got crushing music with tortured vocals and it's an old school reminder for me. I saw bands like this back in the day at local shows who never went further than releasing a demo tape. The HC kids were left fucked up because they couldn't slam dance to the music. I'd be in the back standing there with a beer going "this is insane and I like it". 

ILON LAPSET bring about this claustrophobic intense sound which fuckin rules. There's an atmosphere of pain and dread throughout this release. There are a few US bands from the late 1990's who they remind me of but I am not name dropping here. This is just great Sludge Metal that's not generic as legendary acts are doing. If you're a fan of Sludge Metal than this is the release you need to get. 

LISTEN TO & ORDER HERE:

https://ilonlapset.bandcamp.com/album/mykk-pimeys

 

RITUAL MASS - Cascading Misery review

 

RITUAL MASS - Cascading Misery

20 Buck Spin

Imagine tossing PORTAL, INCANTATION and HOODED MENACE into a blender. Out of it you would get an act that's horrific oppressively subterranean sounding Death Doom. And that act would have a release out on Dark Descent Records. I'm not kidding because I know I have at least two dozen or more releases by bands on Dark Descent Records who have that sound. 

I won't stop there because I have plenty of releases by other labels who have bands sounding like this. The whole sound structure permeated around the late 2000's. And here we are today well over a decade later with new bands still repeating something they heard a few years ago and maybe adding a few points of nuance. 

Case in point, this is the debut full length from RITUAL MASS who are a four piece act from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that started out in 2016. Prior to this the band released a self titled demo in 2017, an EP "Abhorred in the Eyes of God" in 2019 and a single in 2021. If you're interested you can find all of that material on a compilation they have titled It Ever Turns which is available on CD and cassette. 

Now Iike I said earlier I've heard all of this type of Death Doom before. So on this six song release all of the cuts encapsulate the description I said earlier. While the first part of the album is fairly cut and paste. The second part is where the band decides to inject some self worth into the mix. The culmination is a fourteen plus minute final opus of everything they've done over the past five cuts but more brutal sounding. 

Yeah sounds like a great way to end a performance. But with so much of this style of Death Doom out there it's hard to justify it by saying "well it's good for 2025". As if we've forgotten the good stuff from last year a couple of which sound like this. In the end this debut by RITUAL MASS is decent.

https://www.20buckspin.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/cascading-misery

SHOCK NARCOTIC - My Flesh Is Afraid But I Am Not review

 

SHOCK NARCOTIC - My Flesh Is Afraid But I Am Not

Housecore Records

SHOCK NARCOTIC are a four piece US Grind act featuring musicians from acts like DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, PIG DESTROYER, BATTLECROSS and CHILD BITE. They started out in 2019 with a fourteen song debut EP titled I Have Seen the Future and It Doesn't Work. Back then I heard about the band but never decided check out their music.

Now after listening to this their debut full length I have a few things to say. First off musically this is a very generic style of modern Grind being put forth. Also you hear bits of Groove Metal, Death Thrash, bad 90's Hardcore and wannabe Old School HB1 DM crunch all entered into the mix. I didn't find anything exciting about the thirteen cuts on here. At best it's average.

Vocalist Shawn Knight does have a loud vicious maul when it comes to his singing style. Unfortunately he comes across as more of a 90's era Hardcore vocalist then his Grind vocalist peers from Poland or Finland. As far as the musicianship goes it's average. 

https://housecorerecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://shocknarcotic.bandcamp.com/album/my-flesh-is-afraid-but-i-am-not

ENTRAILS - Grip of Ancient Evil review

 

ENTRAILS - Grip of Ancient Evil

Hammerheart Records

I've been looking forward to this new one by Sweden's ENTRAILS. I'm not going to go into my whole fan history with this band. Just for the record I've been into em since their debut full length album came out back in 2010. That was "Tales from the Morgue" and they were part of that whole old school Swedish death metal revival scene.

Fast forward to 2022 and the band, fresh with new members, released An Eternal Time of Decay also on this label. And I liked it a lot since it wasn't just a band recreating the past as a homage which I don't mind too much. Instead ENTRAILS were defining themselves as a Swedish Death Metal band and fuckin veterans. 

So this new one starts out with the title song being a violin instrumental. The violinist is none other than Thomas von Wachenfeldt who is also the guitarist of another great Swedish Death Metal band WOMBBATH. It's a beautiful sounding opening. And then the old school chaos begins. As the saying goes, may the Boss HM-2 be with you. Then look out because a slam pit is starting. 

With that said the line-up has changed again. There's new bassist Benjamin Hjort Andersson and new vocalist Julian Bellenox. Now as far as bass duties go Benjamin Hjort Andersson fits in well. But as far as vocalist Julian Bellenox goes it's different since he is / was in the Swedish Thrash band MORPHETIK.

Musically this is more Death Thrash oriented with great soloing by Markus Svensson. But even with that I am not a fan of Julian Bellenox as a vocalist. I'm also not impressed with the drum work on here as well. Whatafuck happened to this band? Even when they throw in some decent DM atmosphere aspects to their sound it doesn't register with me.

In the end there's a couple of cool tracks on this the band's eighth full length. They're Death Thrash to the hilt on here and in my attitude which is pissed off I don't care to mention em. I'm totally bored with this album and really wondering about what they're up to. Are ENTRAILS trying to appeal to a new audience or are they just tired. I just don't care for this. I'm sure some younger newbie DM kids will enjoy this but not me. 

https://www.hammerheart.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hammerheart.bandcamp.com/album/grip-of-ancient-evil