✦✦✦✧ This is a surprisingly engaging album of blackgaze-centered eclecticism, moving adroitly from hard rock to post metal and beyond. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on their sound, they go for something new, which makes for an intriguing and rewarding listen. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ 40 years in, and KMFDM continue their decade-long slide away from abrasive industrial noise and toward catchy industrial synthpop. Still, it puts a smile on my face that they’re just as committed to this underappreciated genre. And somehow they seem more vital and committed to it than Ministry. Not everything here works, and trying to listen to it in one go is tough… but definitely give it a listen, even if you’ve got you need to skip around. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ A consistently very good, sometimes great, new offering from my favorite Australian band. Not as progressive as its predecessor Asymmetry, its return to alleged accessibility is crunchy and snarly, but also atmospheric and sumptuous. It’s an impressive first listen, but I suspect this might be a grower of an album, such is its subtle meanderings. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ The band and/or label have chosen to not provide the album via any of the streaming services, except for YouTube. I’m generally sympathetic and supportive of that kind of decision these days, although it makes our job a bit harder in the modern age. But ya know what? Half the reason of me doing First Listens is to help you, Dear Reader, decide where to devote your time, energies, and cold hard cash. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ I prefer my Testament without blast beats, as it turns out. Don’t get me wrong: in terms of composition, you can still hear the Eric Peterson of it all. And the band is definitely shredding, including new drummer Chris Dovas. But the band feels to me like they’re trying to be too many things at once, and not all of their experiments pan out. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is almost everything I could have hoped for from a new Coroner album in 2025. The tastefully updated production really serves here. Marquis Mark is not in the band anymore, but their “new” (as of 2014) drummer Diego Rapacchietti is an excellent addition. Otherwise, it’s everything you could want from Ron Royce and Tommy T Baron. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Meet the new and improved FGA, with a sound as epic and balls-to-the-wall as you’d expect, but now catchier than ever. More room is given to singer Veronica Bordacchini, and the songs are generally tighter, more concise, and more accessible. But the album still shreds where it wants to. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Very shreddy middle-of-the-road classic speed thrash. If you like Morbid Saint, you’re gonna love Morbid Saint! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Oranssi Pazuzu continue their avant-garde electronicky black metal explorations, but in going farther than ever before with their cross-genre borrowings, they’ve managed to turn in a sound that is also their most listenable? I promise, even if you’ve heard these guys before, this album will keep you guessing. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A thoroughly passable Slayer-adjacent album. Don’t expect too many revelations or surprises; even Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda sounds more Arayaish here than usual. See the rest here
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