✦✦✦✧ Blisteringly shreddy as always, although I find that the band is most potent when they slow down even just a little bit. I really dig the added investment in melody and (dare I say) catchiness, which act like life preservers in an otherwise mercilessly raging sea. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Converge’s eleventh studio album is half pit-roiler, half moody reflection. The first four songs have the band moving from shredfest to breakdown to panic chords with impossibly smooth abandon. But the rest of the album is where the real emotional damage lands; brooding, patient, and yet just as brutal in its complexity. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ The band does an even better job fusing their varied moods on this, their eighth album. Part djent, part emocore singalong, part dripping synthwave, A Pale White Dot boasts the band’s shortest average track length in a decade. Also, they’re playing 6-string baritone guitars, and until Misha, Matt, or Jake tell me otherwise, I’m going to assume that changeup is contributing to the slightly more focused and honest feel of this album. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Dammit this should’ve been mine! On the off chance that you don’t know who these guys are, do yourself a favor and just listen to them immediately. This, the band’s second album, is every bit as mindwarpy as I’d hoped, equal parts Battles, The Jesus Lizard, and King Gizzard. You should know, however, that the points docked from a perfect score are baked into the premise of the band’s conceit: there are no real vocals to judge, there’s not much shredding here in a traditional sense (unless you count mental gymnastics, which I don’t), and once you recontextualize microtonal loop layering as your base camp, there’s not much incremental innovation here. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Megadeth’s final album is absolutely listenable. The shredding is beyond reproach, of course, and Teemu Mäntysaari does a great job filling Marty Friedman’s shoes. And I’ve gotta say, the album closer Ride The Lightning really does bring something extra to the Metallica classic, and may be my favorite thing on the whole album… but you ought to listen to the whole thing through, from start to finish. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ 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
✦✦✦✧ 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
✦✦✦✧ 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
✦✦✦✧ 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
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