3.5

Sacred Leather – Keep the Fire Burning Review

By Steel Druhm on December 11, 2025 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, 40 comments

“I’ve never been to Indiana, so I’m not acquainted with how they do things. After listening to Sacred Leather’s sophomore outing, Keep the Fire Burning, I’m definitely left wondering if time moves differently there, though. That’s because this is one of the most retro, throwback-y pure metal things I’ve heard in some time, with a sound so hopelessly locked between 1983-1986, that I feel my back hair receding as my olde denim jacket grows new new Venom and Motörhead patches. When I call this style “dated,” what I really mean is carbon-dated. Now, don’t take this as a criticism, as those years were some of the very best for classic heavy metal.” Firing the night.

Frozen Land – Icemelter Review

By Twelve on December 1, 2025 in Reviews, Power Metal, 12 comments

“I have such a soft spot in my heart for Frozen Land. After writing my first-ever review for Angry Metal Guy, I remember feeling shaky. It went through quite a few revisions. My second, Frozen Land’s eponymous debut, was, comparatively, simple. Their 1999 Euro power metal meets 2001 Euro power metal vision made for a catchy, delightfully fun album, and my enjoyment for it showed in my writing—still my favorite intro to any review I’ve written. So it is to my great astonishment that these Finns are now on album number three with Icemelter.” Metal melts the ice.

Phobocosm – Gateway Review

By Steel Druhm on November 26, 2025 in Reviews, Death Metal, 30 comments

“Well, lookee who just oozed in! Phobocosm, Canada’s infamous cavern creepers and dealers of oppressive death metal, return to shove a lump of revolting slime-scuzz in everyone’s stocking with fourth album, Gateway. When last we heard from them on 2023s Foreordained, they were continuing to tweak and refine their revolting mash-up of Incantation, Immolation, Ulcerate, doom and vaguely pos-metal-y bits with an emphasis on the ominous, unsettling, and atonal. When all the gears lock in for Phobocosm, they’re capable of inspiring a real sense of existential dread and unease. They’ve always crafted their music to achieve this effect and conjure dark, unpleasant atmospheres through crushing heaviness.” Gateway to new annihilations.

Perdition Temple – Malign Apotheosis Review

By Mark Z. on November 24, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 15 comments

“Since coming to prominence as the guitarist and primary songwriter of Angelcorpse in the 1990s, Gene Palubicki has been tearing a burning warpath through the extreme metal underground, scorching eardrums with projects like his (sadly defunct) death-thrash band Blasphemic Cruelty and his current collaboration with Morbid Angel’s Steve Tucker and Origin’s John Longstreth in the death metal supergroup Malefic Throne. My favorite of Gene’s post-Angelcorpse projects, however, is Perdition Temple, probably because it sounds the most like Angelcorpse.” The corpses of angels in the temple of sin.

Sun of the Dying – A Throne of Ashes Review

By Thus Spoke on November 20, 2025 in Reviews, Death Doom, Doom Metal, 39 comments

“Autumn is well and truly here, so it’s about time I reviewed some doom. Though my ears have been diverted towards certain list-worthy death/black drops these past few weeks, the pull of the gloom grows stronger in proportion with the shortening of the days. But rather than the icy climes of Scandinavia, or wintry North America, or even rainy old England, my long-awaited dose of darkness came from Spain. In less than three-quarters of an hour, Madrid’s Sun of the Dying proved that you don’t need miserable, cold weather to make music about misery.” Shine into the void.

Tempestuous Fall – The Descent of Mortals Past Review

By ClarkKent on November 14, 2025 in Reviews, Funeral Doom, Symphonic Metal, 16 comments

“In 2012, Australia’s Dis Pater released the debut record for his third active—at the time—one-man project: The Stars Would Not Awaken You by Tempestuous Fall, a work of epic funeral doom. The following year, Pater released what might be the strangest split I’ve heard of: a three-way between his own active projects. It ended up being a “[three] men enter, one man leaves” kind of deal, with Midnight Odyssey being the lone survivor. In that time, he has contributed to several other bands, from a Greek black metal group, Kawir, to a Slovakian black metal group, Aeon Winds, as well as a whopping nine LPs for Midnight Odyssey. Yet something about the funeral doom of Tempestuous Fall must have called Pater back. Backed by classical symphonic elements, it turns out he had rather ambitious goals for sophomore album, The Descent of Mortals Past.” Fall of mortal hearts.

Withering Soul – Passage of the Arcane Review

By Andy-War-Hall on November 13, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 13 comments

“Much has changed in the decade since Withering Soul last graced this website. I was in high school when Madam X placed a scarlet 2.5 on Adverse Portrait, a scoring I would agree with wholeheartedly. It was an enjoyable but unfocused work, and its Moonspell-akin gothic tendencies didn’t mesh well with the band’s Dissection worship.” The withering will continue until morals improve.

Putrevore – Unending Rotten Cycle Review

By Alekhines Gun on November 12, 2025 in Reviews, Death Metal, 26 comments

“Inevitable. Perpetual. Eternal. Constant. And of course, Unending. All monikers appropriate for the supremacy of death, widely recognized by figures wiser than me as the most unifying of all our experiences. Whether your death is peaceful, disease-ridden, or a sudden explosion of macabre tragedy, it will come, and it will bear a face unique to your own experience. It’s fitting, then, that death metal too has such an inexhaustible supply of manifestations and sonic descriptors from which to draw from.” The rot never stops.

Astronoid – Stargod Review

By Samguineous Maximus on November 10, 2025 in Reviews, Alternative Metal, Pop Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, Shoegaze, 35 comments

“Astronoid and I have a history. Their 2016 debut Air was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle releases that blew the doors off my early metal fandom. A delirious cocktail of shoegaze shimmer, sugar-coated harmonies, and blast-beaten bliss, it felt like nothing else at the time, and it sent me tumbling down the blackgaze rabbit hole. Add in the fact that these guys hailed from my quiet corner of New England, and I was all in.” Sugar-gazing.

Beastwars – The Ship // The Sea Review

By Saunders on November 7, 2025 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Sludge, 19 comments

“Kiwi stalwarts specializing in thick, atmospheric sludge-doom goodness, Beastwars boast a strong track record, remaining a dependable force within their field. Sharing loose stylistic similarities with acts such as early Leviathan-era Mastodon, High on Fire, Crowbar, and Boss Keloid, Beastwars continue blazing their own battered trail. Displaying resilience and determination to navigate various personal and career challenges, Beastwars march onwards with sixth album, The Ship // The Sea.” Beastwar is beasthell.