Foetus has unveiled the first material from the forthcoming final album. When JG Thirlwell told us at Aural Agravation it was going to be ‘epic’, he wasn’t kidding. AS if we ever thought he might have been.
‘Succulence’ is featured on the imminent new Foetus album HALT. All instruments on this track played by JG Thirlwell except drums, which are played by Brian Chase of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Play it LOUD!
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1st December 2025
Christopher Nosnibor
Since relocating to Glasgow, Teleost have been forging ahead, first with the release of the Three Originals EP at the start of the year, and now, bookending 2025 – which has seen the duo venturing out live more often – with their full-length debut. And it’s definitely got length: five tracks spanning a full fifty minutes. But it’s got girth, too. Atavism is everything they promised from their early shows – amplified. In every way. With five tracks, and a running time of some fifty minutes, Teleost have really explored the epic space they conjure with their monolithic, crawling riffery, pushing out further than ever before – and with more gear than ever before.
Despite there only being two of them, you have to wonder how they fit all that kit into a studio, let alone a van. They’re not quite at the point of Stephen O’Malley – who had to play to the edge of the stage at the Brudenell when playing solo in Leeds some years ago because the backline barely fit – but at the rate they’re amassing equipment, it’s probably only a matter of time. But this isn’t the accumulation of stuff for the sake of it: this is a band obsessed with perfecting its sound, and then going beyond and taking it to the next level. Volume is integral to that, in the way that it is for Sunn O))) and Swans – and again, not for its own sake, but for the purpose of rendering the sound a physical, multisensory experience. And also because volume facilitates the creation of tones and frequencies simply not possible at lower volumes.
The challenge for any band who rely on these quite specific conditions live is to recreate not only the sound, but the sensory experience, the full impact, when recorded. Recording compresses, diminishes, boxes in and packages something immense, compacting it to something… contained, confined, in a way that a live show simply isn’t. Live, there is movement, there is the air displaced from the speakers, there are vibrations, there is an immediacy and margin for error, all of which are absent from that ‘definitive’ documented version.
‘Volcano’ conjures atmosphere in spades, a whistling wind and tinkling cymbals delicately hover around a softly-picked intro, before a minute or so in, BAM! The pedals go on and the riff lands, and hard – as do the drums. Slow, deliberate, atomic detonations which punctuate the laval sludge of the guitar, which brings enough low-end distortion to bury an entire empire. The vocals are way down in the mix and bathed in reverb, becoming another instrument rather than a focal point. The pulverizing weight suddenly takes an explosive turn for the heavier around the mid-point, and you begin to fear for your speakers. How is this even possible? They do pair it back in the final minutes, and venture into the earthy, atmospheric, timbre-led meanderings of Neurosis. By way of an opening, this twelve minute track is beyond monumental.
They may have accelerated their work rate, but certainly not the tempos of their tunes: ‘Bari’ – which may or may not hark back to the band’s genesis, when they performed as Uncle Bari – rides in on a wall of feedback and then grinds low and slow. They really take their time here, with ten full minutes of jarring, jolting riffery that’s as dense as osmium. Turn it u and you can feel the hairs in your ears quiver and your cells begin to vibrate.
Where Teleost stand apart from other purveyors of slow, droning doom is in their attention to those textures which are grainy, thick, and each chord stroke hits like a tsunami making land reach, a full body blow that almost knocks you off your feet.
But for all of the annihilative volume and organ-bursting weight, Atavism is not an angry or remotely violent record: these are compositions concerned with a transcendent escape, and this is nowhere more apparent than on the mid-album mellow-out, ‘Life’, which offers strong parallels to more recent Earth releases. A slow, hypnotic guitar motif is carried by rolling cymbal-dominated drums. I find myself yawning, not through boredom, but relaxation – until four and a half minutes in when they bring the noise once more, and do so with the most devastating force.
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Penultimate track, ‘Djinn’ is contemplative, reflective at first and then goes on an all-out blow-out, seemingly more intense and more explosive than anything before it. While growling droning rumbling is the album’s defining feature, there does very much feel like there’s an arc of growing intensity over its course. Here, the vocals feel more skywardly-tilted, more uplifting in their aim to escape from the planet, and closer, ‘Canyon’ returns to the mesmeric, slow-creeping Earth-like explorations before slamming all the needles into the red. The result is twelve minutes of magnificent calm juxtaposed with earth-shattering riff heaven.
The fidelity is fantastic, the perfect realisation of their head-blastingly huge live sound captured. The chug and trudge cuts through with a ribcage-rattling density, and there is nothing else but this in your head. You mind is empty, all other thought blown away. It’s a perfect escape. And this is – at least in its field – a perfect album.
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Minsk, Belarus-based alternative metal act Mission Jupiter have recently issued Aftermath, their third album but first with powerhouse new singer Kate Varsak, whose voice is suited perfectly to a set of epic, drama-packed songs that should see the group achieve lift-off far beyond their home territory.
Describing the song’s meaning, the group explain that “it asks if we can be less selfish. Most of us tend not to look beyond our own doorstep….can we be better?”
Aftermath contains ten superbly produced songs in all. Fans of alternative and hard rock, progressive rock, metal and even Eurovision-esque crossover rock (on ‘Jak Spyniajecca Bol’, recorded in the group’s mother tongue and translated as ‘How The Pain Stops’) will be wowed by Mission Jupiter’s new songs, which combine sounds, moods and melodies wrapped around a stunning voice to leave listeners breathless.
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Legendary Italian experimental trio Zu returns with Ferrum Sidereum (produced by Marc Urselli), a big and bold double album arriving on House of Mythology on the 9th January.
Ferrum Sidereum – Latin for ‘cosmic iron’ – draws inspiration from the mythological significance of meteoritic iron, found in artefacts like ancient Egyptian ritual objects, Tibenta “Phurpa” blades, and the celestial sword of Archangel St Michael. This elemental force imbues every moment of the album’s apocalyptic sound. Whilst heavy in tone and subject matter, bassist Massimo Pupillo comments that their music also aims to "raise good energy… people would come up to us after the show and tell us that they felt alive."
The music combines the complexity of progressive rock, the grit of industrial music, the precision of metal, the spirit and energy of punk, and the freedom of jazz. The result is a sonic journey that is as cerebral as it is visceral, defying easy categorisation while remaining unmistakably Zu.
Today they share the track "Golgotha", about which Massimo says; “Once upon a time, the stars spoke to men, but now cosmic destiny brings a silence. Silence in which lies what men say to the stars. Man radiates atmospheres and is in continuity with the cosmos. These are atmospheres of colour and atmospheres of sound. What we radiate is colour and sound. And the cosmos listens. The return of what it incessantly gives to the earth.”
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The trio – Paolo Mongardi (drums, percussion), Luca T Mai (baritone saxophone, synth, keyboards) and Massimo Pupillo (electric bass, 12-string acoustic guitar) – spent a year refining this sprawling 80-minute epic through relentless rehearsals and live studio recordings in Bologna. Produced and mixed by three-time Grammy-winning engineer Marc Urselli, known for his work with Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, and Mike Patton, the album balances raw intensity with refined production tweaks and textures.
“We are very spiritually-oriented people,” says Massimo. “Machines and AI do not have spirituality. So they can mimic and they can assemble existing things, but they cannot create. That spirit is probably the most important thing that our music carries.”
Set for release in January 2026, Ferrum Sidereum is Zu’s biggest and boldest statement yet that challenges all conventional boundaries. Uncompromising, innovative, fiercely original.
Photo credit: Marco Franzoni
The Hangnails have certainly evolved. Recent releases have been a very far cry from the raw garage blasts of their early works, starting out almost fifteen years as a full-throttle garage duo.
There was something of a fallow spell after the release of DOG in 2017, after which Martyn Fillingham and Steven Reid made an understated return, the dropping of the ‘…and the’ signifying their shift towards different territories.
‘Come On Outside’ may be their most different yet. Stripped back, mellow, atmospheric, and synthy, it boasts epic, cinematic qualities – and they still make sound that you’d think impossible for a two-piece.
The visuals for the video are pretty striking, too.
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‘Darkest Day’ is the opening track from Rhys Marsh & Mandala’s new album, Until The End Of Time — a dark, expansive and cinematic journey that explores themes of loss and love, along with the notion that when you lose someone you love, you still love them until the end of time.
With songs ranging from ten to eighteen minutes in length, the album’s soundscape is largely dominated by majestic analogue synthesisers and led by Mandala’s trademark dynamics — ranging from whisper-quiet to wall-of-sound. Until The End Of Time will be available on all streaming and download platforms, alongside a strictly limited-edition CD, available exclusively from Burning Shed, on November 14.
Rhys Marsh has released eleven albums in the past — both solo, and as the singer-songwriter in bands — and this is the third Mandala album. It was decided to call this a Rhys Marsh & Mandala album, as thematically and stylistically it follows on from Marsh’s previous solo album, Towards The West, which was a direct refection on the loss of his Dad.
Formed in London in 1997, Mandala have toured the UK, Scandinavia and North America over the years, playing at iconic venues such as CBGB’s in NYC and The Marquee Club in London. Their blend of folk-noir, progressive rock, psychedelia — all wrapped in Marsh’s atmospheric and dynamic melodies — has garnered acclaim and airplay across multiple countries, with singles A-listed on Radio Caroline, and chart success on iTunes in the UK and Canada.
Critics have called Mandala’s sound “a kaleidoscope of prog, psychedelia, and folk”, and praised their “knife-edge atmospheres and Eastern-tinged melodies” (The Independent), with The Guardian describing their music as “folk-noir”, and Time Out highlighting their “melancholy laden melodies”.
Until The End Of Time is the kind of album that needs to be listened to from start to end. The songs are long, and the themes expand and unfold gradually. There are elements of post-rock with the long build-ups, progressive rock with the sweeping Mellotrons, and a deep sense of melancholy.
The album features spoken word in three languages: English, Norwegian and Welsh. Marsh says that this verse can sum up the overall feeling of the album:
“The kingdoms of eternity
Will bring you here
Until the end of time
Where nothingness
Leads us into forever”
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Canadian dark electro artist S1R1N has unveiled the new single and video, ‘Voodoo Doll’.
‘Voodoo Doll’ is, at its core, a song about self-destruction and destructive relationships. The lyrics describe an effigy, a doll that the protagonist has created. This doll is the most precious thing in their world, as they love it with abandon, but it also becomes the target of their anger and rage and destructive behavior. As it often is in life, people hurt those whom they love the most, and it is no different in the relationship with the self.
The story also serves as a metaphor for the artistic process, as the journey of creation involves placing one’s heart and soul into something, all of the love and positive emotions that one feels, as well as all of the suffering and pain . The sound palette used to create the song calls to mind a creepy yet melodic aesthetic reminiscent of horror film soundtracks.
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The music video for ‘Voodoo Doll’ was very much inspired by the surreal yet gritty aesthetic of the music videos of the late 90’s and early 00’s. It was filmed in several abandoned buildings including a Victorian Insane Asylum and a Tuberculosis Sanatorium. The symbolism of these places, as well as the imagery of dolls and the bloody white clothes worn by Morgan in the video call to mind themes of lost innocence, and the corruption of the inner child. This is especially exemplified by the scenes in the video where dolls are destroyed. Both the song and video are intended as a cathartic experience for both the artist and audience.
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Prophecy Productions – 19th September 2025
Christopher Nosnibor
Founded in Chicago, by vocalist Paul Kuhr, Novembers Doom have been going since 1989, and have to date released a dozen albums, if we include their latest offering, Major Arcana, since their 1995 debut, Amid Its Hallowed Mirth.
According to their bio, having started out as exponents of ‘death doom’, they’ve come to formulate a genre unto themselves, ‘dark metal’, which blends their death metal and doom roots with progressive, folk, and classic rock influences. Sometimes, I think I should probably avoid reading bios before listening to releases, because this stylistic summation is somewhat offputting to my sensibilities. I also think bands should check their punctuation – particularly apostrophes – when declaring their name, but I’m a pedant.
As the album’s title suggests, the theme – or concept, such as it may be – revolves around the tarot deck, which originated in the middle ages and has inextricable ties to occultism and mysticism. The major arcana (greater secrets) are twenty-two cards which feature in the 78-card deck used by occultists and esotericists.
‘June’ is not one of them, but this atmospheric piano-pled intro-piece is a well-considered composition which blends neoclassical instrumentation, underpinned with a sense of foreboding, and menacing vocals, makes for a suitable appetiser. The songs are not all specifically focused on a specific card, but instead explore their meanings and more.
These are some long songs, extending past the five-minute mark and well beyond, and the scale of the ambition – both conceptually and musically – is clear. The sound is cinematic in scale, the production is clean and expansive, the drumming switching from double-pedal thunder to more standard four-four beats adding emphasis to a solid guitar sound.
It turns out that the bio is fairly accurate. Sometimes, they hit a crunching metal groove that’s burning with churning distortion and snarking guttural vocals, as on ‘Ravenous’, a powerful blast of infinite blackness. These moments are charred gold.
But as songs like the title track and ‘Mercy’ find the band easing into more melodic territory, emanating progressive, and in places, vaguely folk vibes. On the latter, they cross towards Black Album-era Metallica – by which I mean the mellowness of ‘Nothing Else Matters’, and such serious emotive efforts feel somehow wanting. In the main, they’re better when you can’t make out the lyrics, but more than that, it’s not easy take the overly bombastic, overwrought thing delivered with a straight face entirely seriously.
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‘The Dance’ brings a magnificent chugging riff that just goes on and on, relentlessly, and it’s satisfying and solid. But the vocals, gritty but tuneful, feel like a bit of a letdown in contrast. Perhaps it’s the context, which makes melodic tracks sound simply weak in contrast to the might of the full force they demonstrate elsewhere. Perhaps it’s just my personal preference. I can handle diversity and range across an album, but there’s a sense that Novembers Doom are simply striving to cover too many bases here, or otherwise show a lack of focus. Either way, as bold and ambitious and well-played as it is, and despite the thematic framework, Major Arcana isn’t particularly cohesive, switching styles hither and thither without really pulling things together. The eight-minute ‘Bleed Static’ is a standout by virtue of its sustained menacing atmosphere, and while it’s as guilty of the Metallica-isms and folk appropriations as other tracks, it’s realised in a way that feels more committed, and there’s a mid-point crescendo that lands nicely and everything falls into place… and I suppose it’s against this benchmark that other tracks fall short.
I doubt existing fans will be deterred by any of this, but, objectively, Major Arcana isn’t bad, but it is patchy, an album that’s mired in metal cliché and fails to scale the heights of its ambition.
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Lunatic Soul, the Polish outfit lead by Riverside’s main composer and vocalist/bassist Mariusz Duda is pleased to announce their 8th studio album The World Under Unsun, to be released on October 31st, 2025 worldwide (excluding Poland) via InsideOutMusic.
A second, new single off the upcoming album is being launched today. Check out ‘The Prophecy’ – which features music and lyrics composed as well as all instruments performed by Mariusz Duda, except drums by Wawrzyniec Dramowicz – in a video created by Sightsphere here:
Mariusz Duda checked in with the following comment about the song: “’The Prophecy’ is one of the more “rock-oriented” tracks on the upcoming Lunatic Soul double album The World Under Unsun, closer to what I usually offered in Riverside. At the same time, it’s also among the most melodic ones, especially thanks to its catchy chorus. Lyrically, it speaks about the situation when an artist only gains fame after their death. We’ve all probably encountered this phenomenon – when, after an artist’s passing, their work suddenly attracts more attention, new fans appear, and the number of streams and album sales rises. The song’s protagonist is therefore an artist who has just learned, from ‘The Prophecy’, that he will only achieve the fame he longed for after his death. Fortunately, the composition itself is not pessimistic. You can hear hope in it. Musically, the track is epic, emotional, and uplifting.”
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KHNVM drop the visually lush lyric video ‘Purgatorial Pyre’ as the final advance single taken from their forthcoming new full-length Cosmocrator. The fourth album of the German death metal act with Bangladeshi roots has been chalked up for release on August 29, 2025.
KHNVM comment: “A celestial masquerade collapses into ash as mortals kneel, deceived, their cries devoured by a silent, indifferent deity”, singer and guitarist Obliterator oracles. “The album’s opening track ‘Purgatorial Pyre’ does not sing of redemption, but of the cruel theater that mankind mistakes for grace – where each prayer drips with despair and the divine remains an elusive phantom.”
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Aural Aggravation 