Posts Tagged ‘Metal’

GURT – Survival of the Shittest

Posted: 12 May 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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5th June 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

I laugh, because the phrase ‘survival of the shittest’ was a phrase I used – a lot – in the late 90s, in my early years of being thrown into the corporate world after completing a degree in English literature. Back then, the belief still existed that a better education would lead to a better job, although in the three years between starting my degree and finishing it, a lot changed, and none of it for the good. ‘Graduate jobs’ stopped being a thing, meaning that it was a feat just to land a temp job doing data input work at an insurance company. It was fucking soul crushing, and Charles Bukowski’s Factotum became a book I came to relate to all too closely as I trudged my way through what felt like endless drudgery. And the managers, those who got promoted, those who did well? The common trait among them seemed to be that, when you boiled it down to the basics, they were all cunts. Backstabbers, self-promoters, overconfident wankers, twats with all the ambition but none of the skills… these bastards were killing it on the career ladder, while I sloughed away in a pit of despair. Scum floats, and all around me, it did. I wasn’t envious of their lives or their ‘careers’, but it was a gut-wrenching showcase of the shitshow that is capitalism and the greasy pole of corporate life: the survival of the shittest in sharp relief. This is now true of all aspects of life: as politics has become indistinguishable from business, and capitalism has taken over all aspects of existence, every bugger is using business-speak and striving to attain success not by means of hard work and talent, but by connivery and cuntishness. And it needs to be called out, and blocked wherever possible.

This new EP by GURT is nothing less than an absolute beast. With three tracks clocking in at ten and a half minutes, there’s no flab, no extravagant solos, no wanking about. They’re described as purveyors of ‘party doom’, but they’re a bit too uptempo to be doom and far too doomy to be party for most. Ultimately, their thing is a rabid racket, and at times, I’m reminded of the Leeds scene circa 2010 and shortly after, specifically around the emergence of crazed guitar noise acts like Pulled Apart by Horses and These Monsters. These were exciting times, particularly as it predated the need for professionalism to make it even onto a stage. Don’t get me wrong: these were great bands, but they were also wild, and things feel a lot more contained now.

GURT do not feel contained, GURT feel deranged, unhinged, rampant. ‘Live Nation, Dead Scene’ goes in all guns blazing, a rabid rager presumably targeted at the multinational ticket agency – operating what’s probably one of the biggest legal scams on the planet right now, with their exorbitant fees and dynamic pricing. The music industry has always sought to gouge every penny from fans while the artists themselves wallow at the bottom of the pile when it comes to benefiting from the proceeds, but Live Nation have hatched a whole new level of exploitatious robbery. They are literally – and yes, I do mean that – killing music for profit, and should be boycotted at all costs. I doubt this is a major issue for GURT.

The title track is a low-slung, sludgy, riff-driven roar, propelled by some ferocious drumming. The vocals are mangled to all hell, and it’s seriously gnarly.

Their cover of 2 Unlimited’s ‘No Limit’ simply shouldn’t work. It’s truly preposterous, audacious, and absurd. Metal covers of pop and dance tunes is old hat, predictable, corny… and yet they overcome all of this to conclude the EP with a ballsy, over-the-top take on a dance-pop song that’s as maligned as it was successful. This version’s not going to be making number one in a hundred countries around the world or filling dancefloors in perpetuity, but credit to GURT for the inspired choice. And now ‘party doom’ makes sense. Get on down, motherfuckers!

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Codex Serafini / Amon Acid / Sunbreather – Santiago’s Bar, Leeds, 26th April 2026

Posted: 27 April 2026 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

Situated in a retail arcade in Leeds city centre, Santiago’s is a hip but alternative bar (in that it’s £6+ a pint of keg, and they play Nirvana and have band posters on the walls – although they also include rather less obvious bands like OFF! and Cerebral Ballzy) downstairs, and somewhat contrastingly, a poky dive with a capacity of maybe 80, accessed via a rickety staircase and with a stage that’s barely six inches high, upstairs. Said upstairs room affords an unusual view of the streets outside through a large arched window which occupies the entire wall beside the stage. Seeing people and traffic moving around on the street below while the bands perform seems a strange juxtaposition, and with the limited lighting inside the venue, the interior starts unusually bright and grows progressively darker as the night progresses.

Sunbreather’s name may suggest something a bit hippyish, and in some respects, it’s not unrepresentative. They play doom heavily influenced by what in the 70s was heavy metal: that is to say, big Sabbath- style riffs. They play them with a certain swing, too, which is refreshing, and it’s nicely done. They close their four-song set with a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, stripped back and heavy. The coda is played with the classic bassline at half-pace, with all the weight, and the wild guitar solo replaced by thunderous chords until the very end. It’s an inspired interpretation that works well, and isn’t out of place with the rest of the set.

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Sunbreather

Amon Acid are all about the flares and hair and lace and shades, and if the name sounds like something of a giveaway, then you’d be close enough: their thing is epic stoner doom with the deep infusion of psychedelia. The vocals are low in the mix, bathed in galactic-scale reverb and delay for good measure. The two guitars melt into one another, and while they may not be masters of innovation, they clearly know what they’re doing – and thankfully, the sound engineer has a handle on it, too. Winding up with a mammoth space rock groove, which skims out for an eternity, brings the set to a searing finale. And the longer they play, the hotter it gets. By the end of their set, we’ve all liquefied, and I find myself deliberating whether I need another £6.70 pint of am ok with the prospect of dehydrating.

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Amon Acid

While I’m deliberating, they put the fans on around the room. Meanwhile, some pissed-up cokehead cunt in an orange t-shirt who seemingly thinks he’s at a rave is going off his nut and trying to get onstage while Codex Serafini are setting up, and five minutes before they’re due on I get a sinking feeling and am hoping he’ll be leaving very soon. Mercifully, I realise around a third of the way through the set that he’d fucked off, hopefully his exuberance overtaken by a melted brain.

Codex Serafini are indeed brain-melting, after all. They’re a band I’ve been waiting to see for some time, and given the enormity of their music, the intimate nature of the venue is something of a surprise on some respects. But jazz-infused doom with a punk edge is pretty niche, and an act with albums released on Riot Season are never going to be playing anywhere huge. But this is precisely why we need small venues, and labels like Riot Season. And for all that, they definitely deserve a wider audience: when novelty acts like Angine de Poitrine are racking up millions of views, it’s apparent that the public aren’t averse to stuff that’s different or weird – in fact, they’re drawn to it. Especially when there are outfits and masks involved, as the popularity of Slipknot, Ghost, and Sleep Token (who aren’t nearly as weird as their presentation would suggest) – which means that it mostly comes down to PR. The fact of the matter is that ‘viral’ is almost never ‘organic’. And so here we have Codex Serafini, in red robes and tasselled face-masks, wrapped in Saturnian lore, merging metal, jazz, and post-punk, and this is what the music world needs right now, if only people would realise.

The first half of their ten-song set consists of material from their most recent album, Mother, Give Your Children Sanity, released last November. ‘Cause and Effect’ is an early standout for its deft, vaguely disco-hued drumming and almost funk-tinged groove. Matt McCartney’s bass doubles as rhythm guitar, the incidental melodies and atmosphere brought by the sax. And all the while, the percussion is cataclysmic and the vocals nothing short of other-worldly.

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Codex Serafini

‘Cronus’, ‘Janus’, and ‘Fountains of Enceladus’ are performed back-to-back in the sequence they appeared on Serpents of Enceladus, and Landing as the penultimate song of the set, ‘I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust’ is the sole representation of previous album The Imprecation Of Anima (2023).

At around fifty minutes in duration, their set is intense and sonically immense, filling the space with cathedrals of sound. It’s the last night of the tour in support of Mother, Give Your Children Sanity, and the Leeds reception sees it end on a high. And on a personal level, they were more than worth the wait. Would see again. Many times.

Chaidura – Plastic Beauty

Posted: 24 April 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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10th April 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

Postmodernism supposedly not only marked, but celebrated, the death of originality. Some time after the turn of the millennium, postmodern irony and the wit of parody began to evaporate, and now everything simply draws on explicitly stated influences. Art has become an endless treadmill of predictable recycling. There are rare exceptions, of course, and Chaidura is rare indeed.

Chaidura has been on the scene for a couple of years now, during which time he’s birthed an EP, Temple Paradise, and some standalone singles, showcasing styles ranging from JRock to emo, with his bio describing this work as ‘blending visual kei, emo, and alternative rock into a sound that’s heavy, emotional, and honest’.

Now resident in London, but raised in Asia, where, he says ‘beauty is often weaponized as a prerequisite for success’, ‘Plastic Beauty’ is the third single to be taken from forthcoming EP, Liminal. And what a single it is! It’s nothing short of an explosion of ideas– an entire album’s worth and more (hell, many bands with careers spanning decades don’t demonstrate this many ideas), packed into less than four minutes – leaping wildly yet also effortlessly and immaculately from one genre to another with each of the multitudinous segments.

And yes, the presentation is stunning – musically, of course, but also visually – taking cues from Adam Ant and Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ – to forge something that is nothing short of spectacular, while at the same time presenting a strong message. Opening with a soft piano intro, we’re soon thrown into some loungey jazz with an understated drum ‘n’ bass beat before – a mere thirty seconds in – being hit with a ferocious blast of metal. The experience is akin to watching Roger Moore as James Bond being spun at organ-damaging speed in a centrifuge in Moonraker, one where you mind feels as if it’s been separated from your body and transported to another dimension. It’s like all of the new year’s fireworks from around the globe going off simultaneously. And yet, incredibly, it’s got a huge chorus with an instant hook that’ll be an earworm for a week. Nothing short of phenomenal. Now, excuse me while I go and lie down for a bit.

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Andracca / Misko Boba / Bruul / Darkened Void – The Fulford Arms, York, 22nd March 2026

Posted: 23 March 2026 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

It’s a good thing it’s not raining or bitterly cold, as they’re running late setting up. Consequently, there’s a hoard of black clad folks milling about outside waiting to be let in – although thankfully, we’re allowed to go and get drinks from the bar to bring back outside. In fairness, it’s a rare thing here, and many much bigger venues are prone to opening the doors a lot more than ten minutes late. Nevertheless, I’m glad I decided to wear a hat, because Spring is still in its early stages and there’s a nip in the air.

It’s still winter inside, though, as we kick off a night of back-to-back black metal. But who knew there were so many shades of black? The four acts on tonight’s bill are all denominations of black metal, but couldn’t be more different.

Darkened Void, from Hull – yes, that’s a ‘u’ and not an ‘e’ – promise ‘melodic death black metal’. How this translates is that some of the guitar work is a bit Brian May at times, and there are some epic choruses in the mix. But there is much heavy darkness to behold, too. They’re certainly tight, and are at their most powerful when they put their heads down and churn out the monster riffs, which benefit significantly from the heft of two guitars.

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Darkened Void

Bruul, purveyors of ‘barbaric black metal’ who hail from York have their priorities right, sorting the incense sticks before their guitars and mic stands. This seems pretty civilised, if a tad bohemian, rather than barbaric. But they bring the density with a solid wall of the filthiest guitars and hell-for-leather drumming to deliver a brutal and relentless rabid blast of bestial fury. They’d probably put some effort into their makeup, but playing in near darkness they probably didn’t need to – they’re all but invisible but for the lead guitarist’s white trainers – although the atmospheric presentation certainly heightened the impact of their pummelling racket. The sheer force of their set is nothing short of stunning, and to his this level of volume and intensity so early in the night is staggering.

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Bruul

Misko Boba are the main reason I’m here after they devastated my ears in this same venue at the tail end of 2024. While being based in York, they’re a band of international origin – vocalist Kanopa is Lithuanian by origin, and her delving into Lithuanian folklore adds a level of mystique. More than that, her stage presence is nothing short of terrifying. But there’s a lot more happening here: the demonic shriek of the blood-smeared singer is paired with churning guitar work and gut-juddering five-string bass. Perhaps singing in Lithuanian (the setlist features an English translation beneath each of the song titles) adds a dimension of otherness, but everything about their performance is blindingly intense. They play hard and fast – very fast. What on the surface sounds like a blizzard of noise is, in fact, highly detailed, and the pace of the fretwork and percussion is dazzling. The effect, ultimately, is so powerful as to kick the air from your lungs.

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Misko Boba

Andracca purport to bring us black metal ‘devoted to suffering… To a Bare the Weight of Death encapsulates 5 years of grief plagued with successive deaths…’ says their bio. With faces and arms smeared with black and a massive skull (what it’s supposed to have belonged to is a mystery) on stage, they’re the quintessence of black metal. But they also highlight the tightrope that is black metal – the fine line between full-throttle, immersive rage and corny theatrics.

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Andracca

‘Thank you!’ vocalist Kieran Dawes rasps, in character, before, in a normal and very polite voice, ‘can I get more vocal in the monitor, please?’ In an instant, the spell is broken. Whereas Bruul maintained the magic by staying mute and just playing the songs, and Kanopa of Misko Boba relaxed into an affable character between songs and switched into fiery demonic mode for the songs themselves, Andracca can’t maintain a consistent approach. Perhaps more cringey than that, though, is the fact that in terms of posturing and cliché, they’re a bit Spinal Tap, but thankfully the drummer doesn’t explode. That said, I seem to be alone in finding the lofted guitars, playing back-to-back, and the power poses rather daft, and the packed crowd laps it up with pumping fists. Seriously, they are well into it, especially the front rows, and this reciprocal energy loop makes for a great atmosphere – and there’s no mistaking the technical skills or epic nature of the songwriting of Andracca, whose forty-five minute set features just seven songs. There’s new material on offer, and they conclude with the seven-minute ‘Oceans of Fire’.

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Andracca

They’re probably the third best band on the bill tonight, due to presentation more than content. But what tonight demonstrates is just how strong the metal scene is round here. Despite what seems to be an ever-diminishing number of venues and the ongoing cost of living crisis, it’s heartening that there are so many quality bands around, and people willing to stump up to go and see them – especially on a Sunday night.

Watch: ‘Coronach’ by Hellripper

Posted: 10 February 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Scotland’s ibex-obsessed blackened thrash bastards of Hades otherwise known as Hellripper are pleased to share another new song off their upcoming, fourth studio album Coronach, to be released worldwide on March 27th, 2026 via Century Media Records.

Check out the epic album’s title track ‘Coronach’ in a lyric video created by Irvan Dionisi / Theblackvisual.id here:

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Hellripper’s mastermind, guitarist/vocalist and songwriter James McBain checked in with the following comment about the upcoming album’s title track ‘Coronach’, which also closes the album:

“A coronach is a vocal lament traditionally performed at funerals in the Scottish highlands. Intertwined with my own words is the poem of the same name by Sir Walter Scott, which served as an inspiration for this story: the funeral of an ambivalent and mysterious figure, revered by his community for his heroic deeds but whose life hid many dark secrets. As well as lyrically, the track is also a musical experiment for me; it was primarily influenced by late 80’s thrash metal along with bands like Bathory, Gallowbraid and Atlantean Kodex. A dash of post-punk, a fair amount of Iron Maiden-style guitar harmonies, some classical references and the haunting wail of the bagpipes fading in the distance: this song feels like the perfect farewell to the album”.

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Hellripper – Live:

SA 21.03.2026 Aalst (Belgium) – Oilsjt Omploft Festival

FR 27.03.2026 Glasgow (Scotland) – Garage *

SA 28.03.2026 Bern (Switzerland) – EmMetal Festival

FR 03.04.2026 Nottingham (England) – Saltbox **

SA 04.04.2026 London (England) – The Dome **

MO 06.04.2026 Utrecht (Netherlands) – De Helling ***

TU 07.04.2026 Dortmund (Germany) – Junkyard  ***

WE 08.04.2026 Hamburg (Germany) – Logo ***

TH 09.04.2026 Copenhagen (Denmark) – Pumpehuset ***

FR 10.04.2026 Berlin (Germany) – Lido ***

SA 11.04.2026 Warsaw (Poland) – Voodoo ***

SU 12.04.2026 Kraków (Poland) – Zascianek ***

MO 13.04.2026 Vienna (Austria) – Arena ***

TU 14.04.2026 Budapest (Hungary) – Dürer Kert ***

WE 15.04.2026 Munich (Germany) – Backstage ***

TH 16.04.2026 Prague (Czechia) – Subzero ***

FR 17.04.2026 Mannheim (Germany) – 7er Club ***

SA 18.04.2026 Paris (France) – Glazart ***

TH 14.05.2026 Mexico City (Mexico) – Foro La Piedad

FR 15.05.2026 Guadalajara (Mexico) – Anexa Independencia

SA-SU 16.-17.05.2026 San Luis Potosi (Mexico) – San Luis Metal Fest

TU 02.06.2026 Athens (Greece) – Kyttaro ^

WE 03.06.2026 Thessaloniki (Greece) – Eightball Club ^

FR 05.06.2026 Emmen (Netherlands) – Pitfest

SA 06.06.2026 Maastricht (Netherlands) – South of Heaven Open Air

SA 13.06.2026 Hauptmannsgrün (Germany) – Chronical Moshers Open Air

TH-SA 25.-27.06.2026 Ukmergė (Lithuania) – Kilkim Žaibu

SA 27.06.2026 Campania (Italy) – Southammer Metal Festival

FR 03.07.2026 Villava (Spain) – Sala Totem Aretoa +

TU 07.07.2026 Zaragoza (Spain) – Teatro de las Esquinas +

WE 08.07.2026 Toulouse (France) – Le Bikini +

TH 13.08.2026 Carhaix-plouguer (France) – Motocultor Festival

TH 03.09.2026 Košice (Slovakia) – Collosseum Club

FR 04.09.2026 Ostrava (Czechia) – Metal!!! Festival

SA 12.09.26 Verona (Italy) – Arcanum Fest

SA 26.09.26 Hinte (Germany) – Coast Rock Festival

SA 09.01.2027 Mangualde (Portugal) – Mangualde Hardmetalfest

* w/ Sarcator

** w/ Schizophrenia

*** w/ Schizophrenia & Sarcator

^ w/ Midnight

+ w/ Testament

GLDN – Vessel

Posted: 4 February 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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6th February 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

GLDN – the musical vehicle of New York industrial / metal artist Nicholas Golden. It’s been a good couple of years since we’ve heard from him, but he’s back with what he’s calling a ‘hard reboot’. And there’s some emphasis on ‘hard’ here.

Of ‘Vessel’, GLDN is up-front, writing of ‘abandoning the organic grit of the First Blood era, this track establishes a cold, clinical architecture. It is an industrial-metal indictment of the “Trauma Economy”— where pain is sold as content…. merging the mechanical dissonance of 90s industrial with the high-fidelity aggression of modern metal.’

The first fifteen seconds alone are a brutal slab of overloading distorted guitar, bringing that nu-metal brick walling, lump hammer-like bludgeoning. The sound is thick and heavy, and when it arrives, Golden’s vocal is menacing and tortured, at first a whisper, then a scream. Amidst a snarling trudge of heaviosity, Golden evokes Trent Reznor circa The Downward Spiral in his vocal delivery, but occasionally veers into raging metal, following the instrumental work into squalling grindcore territory.

Although tightly structured, ‘Vessel’ is not a verse / chorus song: it’s a relentlessly brutal assault of the most devastating order. It’s the sound of extreme emotional violence, it’s having your oesophagus ripped out by a clawed hand, it’s nihilistic rage distilled into less than four minutes. It’s nothing short of devastating.

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Cwfen / Helve / Acceptance – Wharf Chambers, Leeds, 17th January 2026

Posted: 18 January 2026 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

That a quarter of the tickets sold in 48 hours, and the show was sold out a full three months in advance speaks for itself. It’s been a huge twelve months for Glasgow purveyors of epic goth-tinged doom, Cwfen. It was only last February that they played their first show south of the border. Since then, they’ve toured supporting Faetooth and released their monumental and widely-acclaimed debut album, Sorrows, which has had Kerrang! positively frothing with enthusiasm. And they deserve all of this. There’s something quite special about Cwfen: they’re in a league of their own, and certainly not simply your run-of-the-mill doom band. Make no mistake, they’re full-on and heavy – in places gut-churningly so – but they have so much more going on, especially in terms of melody and dynamics.

This is an outstanding lineup. All three acts are heavier than lead, but each offers something quite different. This matters, because however much you may love a headline act, its tiresome and takes the zip out of an event if the supports are lesser versions of the headliners. I’m reminded of the mid 2000s, when you’d get four instrumental post rock acts on a bill, and I’d find myself crescendo’d out by the end of the second set and be falling asleep on my feet during the headline set, and also the time industrial noise duo Broken Bone supported Whitehouse at the Brudenell. Nothing like having a third-rate tribute act who think they’re amazing as a support.

Leeds is a significant spawning ground for metal acts of all shades, and both Acceptance and Helve showcase the depth of quality on offer. First up, Acceptance bring the weight with some heavy tom-led drumming behind the blanket of guitar. Theirs is a dense wall of screaming anguish, with billowing smoke often obscuring the stage. For all that, there’s remarkable separation between the instruments, and the remarkably thick but clean bass cuts through nicely. By the end of the set, the vocalist is crawling on his hands and knees, drained, having poured every last drop of emotion and energy into a blistering performance. When the opening act could easily be headlining, you know you’re in for a good night.

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Acceptance

Helve’s bassist is wearing a Swans Filth T-shirt. This is something I would consider a recommendation. As it happens, they sound absolutely nothing like Swans, being a full-on metal act, but they are as heavy as hell. With two guitars and bass and massive amps and piles of pedals, there’s no room for the lead vocalist on the small stage. Compared to Acceptance, who play everything at breakneck pace, Helve’s songs slower, more atmospheric, offering a sound that’s more post metal. Applying a screwdriver to his guitar strings, the first guitarist conjures some strange droning sounds at the start of their set. Their riffs are slow and dense, and whole there’s some nice mathy detail along the way, the end of the set brings a full-on chug-blast in the vein of Amenra.

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Helve

While Helve clear out and Cwfen set up, we’re treated to Shellac’s first album by way of entertainment, and when Cwfen hit the stage, opening with ‘Bodies’, it’s like a bolt of lightening. More powerful than even the volume is the stunning clarity of the sound, replicating all the detail of the studio recordings but with the added potency of the immediacy of being in the room and mere feet from the band. The song’s nagging lead guitar part is an instant, hypnotic hook.

Perhaps recognising that Sorrows is perfectly sequenced, the set is, essentially, the album played in order – with the addition of a new and unreleased song, ‘Revenge’, which is inserted – most comfortably – in between ‘Reliks’ and ‘Whispers’.

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Cwfen

For such a dark band, they seem pretty happy on stage, Agnes in particular beaming throughout the set. She’s every reason to: they’re on immaculate form, and the entire room is captivated and shows its appreciation. Each member brings something quite particular to the table: gum chewing barefoot bassist Mary Thomas Baker doesn’t simply play, but becomes the groove, a solid foot-to-the-floor low-end thud that’s more goth than anything else; drummer Rös is pure precision, while Guy deNuit manages to sound like he’s playing multiple parts at once, creating a magnificently textured, layered sound. Agnes, for her part, in addition to some tidy guitar work, is a formidable vocalist with immense presence, effortlessly shifting between commanding clean vocals to a banshee howl in a breath.

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Cwfen

The screaming metal verses of ‘Penance’ give way to a sweeping , majestic chorus, and I find myself blown away in the same way I was the first time I saw them. This is indeed a rare feat. But then, if anything, they’re even better now than a year ago, even more powerful.

Talk about an early peak. I may well see other gigs which equal this one, but the chances of a night which surpasses this before the year is out are, frankly, slim. Bad Owl have done an outstanding job in curating this lineup, and Cwfen are as good a live act as you’re going to find.

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Slaughterday – Dread Emperor

Posted: 15 January 2026 in Albums, Reviews
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Testimony Records – 13th February 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

When I first started Aural Aggravation – kinda by stealth, with no fanfare – back in October 2015, with a review of Philip Jecks’ Cardinal, it was with a view to using the platform to break away from more conventional and comparatively short-form reviews to indulge in more personal, reflective, essay-type analysis. But with a bursting inbox and a desire to provide coverage to as many acts as possible, sometimes it’s not always appropriate to spend hours and column inches pondering the context and the content through a framework that sits between reception theory and gonzo journalism. More to the point, there simply aren’t enough hours.

Slaughterday is an old-school death metal duo, and Dread Emperor is their sixth album. They promise ‘crushing doom-ridden ultra-heavy parts to calculated outbreaks of utter brutality,’ and cite as lyrical inspirations ‘H. P. Lovecraft and other masters of horror’. They go on to add, ‘while sinister things crawl and creep through the duo’s timeless brutality, they have always portrayed them with a sinister flair of their own. These days, the band has repurposed those monstrous creatures as metaphorical ciphers for relevant contemporary topics’.

Titles such as ‘Rapture of Rot’, ‘Necrocide’, ‘Obliteration Crusade’ and ‘Astral Carnage’ speak for themselves, and the ‘crushing’ ‘doomy’ aspects they focus on in their pitch are very much to the fore: ‘Enthroned’ lifts the curtain with some slow, heavyweight riffery, and paves the way for the rabid attack of ‘Obliteration Crusade’.

That bands which blast out frenetic guitar mayhem at a thousand miles an hour with impenetrable growls and howls by way of vocals go to lengths to sell the merits of the lyrical content is something which is a source of vague amusement – I mean, as if you could make out a single word by ear. But it’s beside the point, really: as I’ve touched on before, it’s about the conveyance of sentiment, the implication of meaning.

On Dread Emperor, Slaughterday leap and lurch from bowel-bursting heavyweight sludge-trudge to flamboyant pirouettes on the frets. As they say themselves, they ‘deliver everything that they excel in, which is also precisely what their fans want from the duo’: as such, it’s no criticism to say that Dread Emperor ticks genre boxes, because it’s mission accomplished for the band. And it’s hard to argue otherwise. Dread Emperor delivers riff after riff, drives hard, brings the heavy and snarls, growls and spits its way with gut-churning malevolence from beginning to end.

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Watch: ‘Sanity Is Lost’ by Resurrected

Posted: 14 January 2026 in Singles and EPs, Recommended Streams and Videos
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RESURRECTED unleash the music video ‘Sanity Is Lost’ as the first advance single taken from their forthcoming new album Perpetual. The eighth full-length of the German death metal veterans has been scheduled for release on April 10, 2026.

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RESURRECTED comment: “The first single track, ‘Sanity Is Lost’, delivers a crushing mid-tempo assault rooted deep in the old school death metal tradition”, drummer Dennis Thiele writes. “It is driven by filthy grooves, dense riffing, and relentless heaviness. We are channelling the raw brutality of classic Cannibal Corpse–era death metal. At this song’s midpoint, the pace accelerates into a violent outburst that pushes intensity to breaking point. It is a merciless reminder that once the momentum hits, sanity is truly lost.”

The video is inspired by Germany’s most catastrophic mining disaster: On February 20, 1946, shortly after noon, a methane explosion ignited an even bigger coal dust detonation in the mine Zeche Monopol Schacht Grimberg 3/4. 405 miners, personnel, and three British officers of the North German Coal Control perished in the massive detonation underground. While the reason for the initial gas ignition remains unknown, lax post-war security standards are generally blamed. The so-called Myth of Grimberg remains as a deep scar in the collective memory of the Ruhr Area.

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Listen: Glory Black by sunn O)))

Posted: 13 January 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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On Friday, April 3rd, 2026, sunn O))) will release their eponymously titled first full-length album for Sub Pop.

sunn O))) was co-produced & mixed by the band and Brad Wood (Hum, Tar, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair), and was recorded at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington, January 2025. You can now listen to the album’s closing track, ‘Glory Black.’

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Framing the album visually are two paintings by the late American artist Mark Rothko – one on the front cover and one on the back cover, with the art reversed for UK & European pressings. And, within the CD and LP package are expansive liner notes by author Robert Macfarlane, whose 2025 novel Is a River Alive? is one of many sources of inspiration for the album. And, illustrations by French artist Elodie Lesourd are also featured on the inner LP sleeves and accompanying album merch.

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sunn O)) will tour in support of the album. Tickets for the below shows will go on sale to the general public on Friday, January 16th at 10am (local).

Wed. Apr. 01 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
Sat. Apr. 04 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
Sun. Apr. 05 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
Mon. Apr. 06 – New Orleans, LA – Civic Theatre
Tue. Apr. 07 – Atlanta, GA – The Goat Farm
Thu. Apr. 09 – Columbus, OH – The Bluestone
Sat. Apr. 11 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
Mon. Apr. 13 – Montreal, QC – Le National
Tue. Apr. 14 – Toronto, ON – 131 McCormack
Thu. Apr. 16 – Chicago, IL – Salt Shed
Sat. Apr. 18 – Iowa City, IA – Englert Theatre
Sun. Apr. 19 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room

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