Gothenburg, Sweden
Melodic Death Metal

RIP Tomas Lindberg

The band really gave it their all on this album. It’s a powerhouse of intensity and great songwriting for the genre. Ear-catching guitar melodies seamlessly brought together with dark and chaotic riffs. Tomas was forced to switch up his vocal style due to the surgery he underwent, and his new style here is pretty wild sounding. Everything is solid and intense in this project. Great album.

Fav songs - The Phantom Gospel, The ... read more

Dublin, Ireland
Dance Punk

Cool EP showcasing the poppier side of Sprints with a cover of the song “Deceptacon.”
Has some synth punk and Devo influence we haven’t heard on previous material.

Fav song - Better

Yonkers, New York, United States
Death Metal

The production on this is pretty insane sounding. Velocity and volume has been turned up to 11 without sounding overcooked. This album has walls of sounds that hit like a ton of bricks. The whole album is pure aggression encapsulated into 41 minutes of consistent machine-like drumming, fast-played dissonance, and monstrous sounding vocals. It's relentless.

fav songs - These Vengeful Winds, God's Last Breath, Bend Towards The Dark

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Indie Rock/ Singer-Songwriter

Upbeat and carefree forward-moving songs with friendly melodies. Reminds me a little of the slacker rock vibe that was popular back in the 90s. It’s just some feel-good indie rock. Starts a little slow, but picks up with creativity in the second half.

Fav tracks - Sugar Plum, Same, Wonder

Mexico City, Mexico
Progressive Metal/Post Black Metal

A very well produced 4 track epic that crosses a few genres. You’d think you were listening to a jazzy folk album until the dirty guitars and the powerful drumming jumps in. There are two vocalists on here. There is a female vocalist who does melodic vocals and a male vocalist doing harsh vocals that are clearly influenced by black metal bands. The transitions of the different styles are very well done, making everything feel ... read more

Groningen, Netherlands
Post-Punk

Some groovy but stripped-back punk where the bass guitar is higher in the mix than the guitar, and it sounds cool as hell. Vocals sound like they take influence from Fugazi and the Misfits without sounding like a carbon copy. This thing has got rhythms that make you want to jump around, and vocals that are energetic and filled with soul.

Fav songs - Waste Away, 9 Til Not Alright, I.D.K.T.S

Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Technical Death Metal

Big ol modern tech death. The first few tracks sound like a never ending lead guitar battle over a blasting rhythm section, with mid range screams making a lot of noise on top. The pacing slows down a bit at “Eternally Lie” and then there is a bit more focus on rhythm and melody for the rest of the album. This project is like a bunch of chaos that eventually evolves into a monster.

Fav songs - Eternally Lie, Atonement ... read more

Belfast, Northern Ireland
Hip Hop

This is an album where I found myself liking it more and more as it went on. I haven’t tried getting into Kneecap before this, and now I kinda wish I had checked them out sooner. They just put on a power-house performance throughout all 42 minutes of this project. There were no skips for me, and after I got through it, I wanted to listen to it again and again. The strong cadence, flow, and energy are undeniable here. The instrumentals are high quality ... read more

Manchester, England
Deathcore

Not the best work that I’ve heard from them, but I still like it so much more than their 2024 album. The previous LP sounded so generic to me at times, that it was a struggle for me to finish it. Thankfully they went back to a more death metal inspired sound and basically mixed it with the simple modern deathcore tropes. For some reason all of the better riffs are on the second half of the album though. This band has been kicking out vocalists lately because ... read more

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Indie Rock/Art Rock

One of the OG bands of big band indie rock are back with a familiar sound. They were one the few that I liked, so I’m glad they’re sticking around. In all honesty, they’re not doing a whole lot different than what they were putting out in the 2010s, but they are still good at doing it. It’s very loose and jam-heavy art rock with a lot going on at once. It’s a safe but pleasant sound for them.

Fav tracks - The Call, ... read more

Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Death Metal

Hello Cleveland! It’s a bright and sunny day! A day that can easily go away. Why would you want to waste a beautiful bright and sunny day? What to do? Let’s have a mutilation barbeque!
‘Scuse me, but can you stop burping into the microphone? I’m waiting for some sick guitar solos. Ah! There they are! Fourteen minutes well spent. By golly, those were some fast riffs.

Fav track - Realm of the Ossified

Dublin, Ireland
Alternative Rock/Post-Punk

I had never heard of this band before listening to this album, and now I can’t get enough of it. This is just very well done. You can tell a lot of time and effort was put into the writing and production of this project. Everything flows together very well, and nothing overstays its welcome here. The tone of the album itself is very uplifting and powerful. The style of music is built on energetic and groovy drums, with fuzzy garage rock ... read more

United States
Nu-metalcore

This band is really good at putting out chaotic cesspools of core-band brainrot. I like it for some reason. This is just so stupidly noisy and ridiculous that it’s hypnotizing. Just take every electronic music genre… and then stuff it together with Djent guitars, deathcore vocals, extreme metal drumming, and bits of shoegaze. Make it somehow sound good. Whatever dude, it’s a Darko album.

Fav songs - Majora, Congratulations, Frost Delay

Ft Worth, Texas, United States
Alternative Metal/Shoegaze

Collection of smooth grooves built with distorted and overdriven guitars wrapped in delay and reverb. All on a canvas of simple but tight drum rhythms and with some floaty tenor vocals on top of it all.

Fav track - Clown

Frankfurt, Germany
Deathcore

If you’re looking for more of that big production and super layered deathcore that Lorna Shore has helped popularize, this is a good go-to for 2026. It’s a bunch of big bassy and cinematic grooves with some electronics and digital symphony attached to them. The nu metal influence is definitely there, but it’s not obnoxious and overdone. It’s also got a lot of that spitty and wet harsh vocals that Will Ramos is known for. Just… you ... read more

United States
Experimental Hip Hop

Honestly, I’m just reviewing this for the UTILITY side. I really didn’t like POMPEII. Surf Gang’s instrumentals are probably the coolest part of this album, and they kind of remind me of your mother. Spread out, booming, and a little crusty. This is far from Earl’s best work, but I did really enjoy it when he put in the effort. Sometimes his lyrics will make up for lazy flows at least. I enjoyed UTILITY, but it’s definitely ... read more

Rotterdam, Netherlands
Death Metal

Fast paced and hapy good time lol sounding death metal. Really great drumming on here with some beats that sound unique for the genre. Lots of warped sounding chords, hard slam grooves, and monstrous sounding low growls. One of my favorite metal albums of the year so far.

Fav signs - Visions in Black, Psychogenic Excoriation, Auditory Hallucinations

Forshaga, Sweden
Death Metal

Just some good Swedish meatballs from the death-thrash store of friendship and happiness. Downtuned thrash riffs and a lot of dirty tremolo picking with a fat man stuffing his face with hamburgers and Coca Cola on vocals. They even wrote a song for one of our favorite sitcoms “Two and a Half Men.”

Fav songs- Two and a Half Men, For Gore and Country, Erased in Red

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Technical Death Metal/Progressive Metal

This album is completely absurd. Once again, Archspire put out an album of insanely fast everything. This one is cleaned up and melodic sounding enough to appeal to newcomers of the genre which may come from the world of possibly progressive metal or deathcore, and yet it’s dirty and brutal like you want good death metal to be.

Fav songs - Liminal Cypher, The Vessel, Limb of Leviticus

Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Metalcore/Death Metal

I know I can never be a tr00 death metal fan because I love stuff like this. This is one of those death metal albums that sound like they’re made by hardcore kids… you know, the ones that the boring old metal gatekeepers don’t like. It’s basically a bunch of cool death metal riffs thrown into bouncy and fast hardcore song-writing. If the Myspace era of deathcore never happened, people would just be referring to this as ... read more