Sorry for being late with this post, still overwhelmed with work!
Last week, we had a few nice releases, so I've put together the ones I liked the most and found the most relevant. Big shout-out to Ch'ahom and Revel In Flesh!
Anthrax - Cursum Perficio
Ch'ahom - Anthropic Rites of Sublimation
Early Moods - Ready for the Grave
Game Over - When Darkness Falls
Miasmes - Violence, blasphème et pourriture
Mittags-Abgrund - Mittags-Abgrund
Revel in Flesh - Flesh for the Kult of Death
Runemagick - After Chaos: Nocturnal Vigil
The Well - ...and Flames Ran like Living Animals
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight
P.S.: There were more releases, but I only wanted to mention the ones I found the most relevant. Of course, I may have missed some...
The Czech Sněť is one of those bands that stays underground but has already developed a cult following around them, even though this is only their second release, following Mokvání v okovech, released in 2021.
The much-anticipated second LP from the band was released on 10 September by Me Saco Un Ojo Records, under the name V Bažinách Vědom, which means In the Swamps of Consciousness in English. It was released on CD, vinyl, and cassette.
It was no big surprise that, when the record started playing, a massive, visceral, and haunting Death Metal sound sucked my soul into a dimension full of morbidity. The stakes were high for this one, and it didn't fail for a second.
The vocals are in Czech, which makes the sound even more rotten, and they are really powerful. The guitars are amazing, drinking from the old-school Swedish Death Metal fountain and gurgling for our delight. The drumming is massive, and together with the bass, it pulls us down into some deep layer of hell. If everything was good on the first album, on this one, everything is exceptional and highly addictive. I've probably listened to it like 10 times in a row.
This new LP has everything I look for in a rotten Death Metal album: the rawness, the old-school influence, and the ability to show just how morbid Death Metal can be.
One strong contender for AOTY in the Death Metal category.
The first time I saw Cobrafuma live, I was so surprised, not only because I didn't know the band at the time, but also because they were the last band playing at the festival. I was totally tired, and they were like an injection of adrenaline straight into my body. It was memorable and it introduced me very well what the band is.
Droga Total is the successor to the homonymous debut album Cobrafuma, which was a full-throttle album with a lot of punk and thrash influences, drinking from the same fountain as the mighty Motörhead. It is one of my all-time favourite Portuguese albums. But what about Droga Total?
It was released on 21 August on vinyl via Lovers & Lollypops, and it compiles seven violent tracks. With all the lyrics in Portuguese, just like its predecessor, Droga Total has a rawer feeling than the previous work. The punk feeling was already present on the first album, but here it is more expressive, more D-Beat, and more sludgy. It's an aggressive and violent discharge of anger and guitar riffs that cannot leave anyone indifferent.
I think it could maybe benefit from better production, but in the end, the rawness is perfect, and it couldn't have been any other way. It's also so good that, like the previous one, it feels too short, but then you realize you're already looping the whole album again and again.
The charm of Cobrafuma is that they don't follow any formula or rules. Although heavily inspired by great references, the band is building their own path without any pressure or pretension.
The Spanish Death/Doom trio Bocc is back with their second full-length album (from a discography already packed with releases). Demolarium was released on 11 September on vinyl via Night Terrors Records, on CD via Hecatombe Records, and on cassette via Noxious Ruin. This new work features six tracks with a total running time of almost 43 minutes.
I'm a huge Bocc fan, with almost every release from them in my collection, so the stakes were high for this one. From the moment I started playing the album, I could easily feel that stenchy and repugnant dark smell that is so present in Bocc's personality. But this time, there's a sludgy aura that is more present than ever, with less Death Metal, like a slow and putrid wound that doesn't want to heal...
But this slow tempo creates the perfect environment before unleashing faster guitar riffs that punch your wound to death! During these rhythm changes, there's even a kind of stoner scent in the guitar riffs and drums. The composition of the tracks follows almost the same pattern throughout the album, with some nuances, of course. They start with a low tempo and, at some point, unleash their fury. The bass is still the dirtiest instrument in Bocc's sound, and it's delightful to sit back and catch all its details.
So, overall, Demolarium is a good record that may sound different to Bocc's more attentive fans. That doesn't mean it's bad at all; it means that Bocc have the guts to explore different approaches to their music.
So, this week I bring you a well-known album cover that, in my opinion, must be mentioned here, not only because this album is one of my all-time favourites, but also because the artwork perfectly reflects the name and themes of the whole album. Besides that, it's a great piece of artwork created by Wes Benscoter.
Wes Benscoter has created artwork for other well-known heavy metal bands such as Amorphis, Bloodbath, Black Sabbath, Hooded Menace, Hyperdontia, Hypocrisy, Sinister, Vader, etc.
Cool Cover Of The Week (CCOFTW) will be a weekly section dedicated to cool and interesting cover artwork. Nothing deep, no lengthy context, just a great cover and a little bit of information about it.
I've been "away" for a few days due to a peak in workload at my job, but even so, music does not stop in my office!
I'll keep this one pretty short (still in need of an SOS at work).
Pelegrin is a French trio, and The Curse Of Nephtar is their third and latest release, released on 4 September through Ripple Music. This record has been playing non-stop since Monday: high-quality Heavy Psych and Fuzzed-out stoner jams mixed with progressive ambient songwriting, Eastern melodies, Berber music, and flamenco influences.
As stated on their Bandcamp:
"The album depicts the tale of Nephtar, a powerful black orb that comes to life in the depths of the prehistoric ocean Tethys – which used to stand above the current Middle East. Ignored for eons, it eventually uses its manipulative powers to reach the surface and subdue all living things."
Such a great surprise and definitely worth many listens! A band to keep an eye on!
Necropolis is back for its third edition at The Underworld, Camden, on 19 and 20 March 2027. As they describe it themselves:
“London’s most evil underground death metal gathering returns for its third installment in March 2027.”
With tickets starting at around €75, the first announcements have already been made, featuring names like Dead Congregation, Concrete Winds, Grave Miasma, etc.
London is just around the corner, and the lineup presented so far is definitely inviting!
It’s very common to come across one-man projects in Black Metal, but when it comes to Death Metal, that’s not quite as common. So when Cemetery Reign showed up somewhere, caught my attention with an interesting cover and was also connected to Carbonized Records, I decided to give the release a chance.
Confined To Time is the debut album from the American one-man project Cemetery Reign. Released through Carbonized Records, as previously mentioned, the album came out on CD, vinyl and cassette on February 26th.
The artwork was actually what first caught my attention. I had never heard of the project before, so I went into this release with absolutely no expectations and sometimes that’s when you get the best surprises. Most of the record was conceived during the Covid-19 pandemic, and you can clearly feel that this was a project developed with a very particular distorted mind and vision.
Cemetery Reign immediately presents its identity: putrid, dirty, old-school Swedish Death Metal. The guitars draw heavily from the Swedish school, and the lesson has clearly been learned well, as the riffs sound incredibly solid and convincing. The vocals are raw and harsh, sitting exactly where they should in the mix.
Confined To Time doesn’t really sound like a one-man project. It feels much more like a solid full-band recording, which makes the result even more impressive. However, not everything is perfect. I’m almost convinced that the tracks were composed or recorded at different moments, because the tuning, mixing and even the sequencing can feel slightly strange from one track to another. It doesn’t compromise the album as a whole, but it does break the vibe in a few places. On the other hand, those changes can also make you pay closer attention to certain details.
In the end, Cemetery Reign has delivered a great old-school-inspired Death Metal record that sounds nasty, convincing and, most importantly, makes you want to hit replay again and again.
It also left me wishing this project could eventually become a full band, not only so these songs can be played live, but also so we can get more of this excellent old-school Death Metal in the future.
The debut album from the Portuguese crossover project Testemunhas de Jeová (Jehovah’s Witnesses in English) was released with this AWESOME and hilarious cover!
Cool Cover Of The Week (CCOFTW) is be a weekly section dedicated to cool and interesting cover artwork. Nothing deep, no lengthy context, just a great cover and a little bit of information about it.
Witchsorrow are back with their fifth LP, The Devil and All His Works, released through Church Road Records on both CD and vinyl.
The British trio returns after an eight-year gap since their last release, bringing seven new tracks of old-school, slow-paced, headbanging doom! Nothing has been reinvented here, and that’s precisely the point. This is pure doom in its best form, the kind of record that will delight any true fan of the genre.
The production is spot on. Chris Fielding (Conan) has done an excellent job, making the most of the music while capturing the true essence of doom. The sound is heavy, warm and powerful without taking away from the atmosphere.
This is a record that keeps growing on you with every listen. It may not be packed with endless layers of detail, but when you focus on a particular instrument, you discover something to appreciate. The riffs, the rhythm section and the overall weight of the songs work together extremely well.
The third track, “Hades Chains,” is my favourite. Here, the band steps away from the usual slow-paced rhythm and delivers a faster, more aggressive form of doom, showing that Witchsorrow can add some variation without losing their identity.
In the end, the band doesn't simply pay tribute to some of the greatest names in the genre (Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Candlemass, or even Cathedral). They manage to stand surprisingly close to those influences themselves, proving that traditional doom is far from dead and that there is still plenty of life in the old formula when it is played with conviction.
The Devil and All His Works is a solid, honest and heavy doom record, exactly what it needs to be.
I'm digging into this 2025 release because I feel it deserves a mention. It seems to have remained completely underground in Portugal, and I’d like to give it some proper attention (partly because I genuinely wanted to dig into it myself)!
Let’s start with the introductions. Orar is apparently a duo composed of “Morgue” and “Kavadas”, expanding into a quartet for live performances, at least according to the information available on Metallum. Formed in 2025 in Leiria, Portugal, the band released their debut LP in the same year through Repulsive Echo Records, on CD (a copy of which I proudly own).
Shooting Your Soul With Cosmic Blood consists of six tracks, clocking in at just over 30 minutes. With its raw production paying tribute to the genre’s origins, the album has several details that make it stand out.
A very competent female vocalist gives the record some extra muscle, while the music moves between moments of pure black metal, melodic black metal and even some classic heavy metal vibes. None of the musicians are particularly groundbreaking or reinventing the wheel here, but they fit together very well as a whole, delivering solid and enjoyable music.
That said, in my opinion, the album suffers somewhat from its production. I understand the intention behind the raw, lo-fi approach, and it certainly fits the old-school spirit, but I can’t help thinking that the songs would benefit enormously from a cleaner and more defined recording. There is enough quality in the songwriting and performances to justify giving the music more room to breathe.
By the end of the album, I was left with the feeling that Shooting Your Soul With Cosmic Blood could almost be the demo for something much greater to come. And if this is indeed only the beginning, I sincerely hope Orar continue developing this sound and come back with something even stronger in the future.
For a band that appeared seemingly out of nowhere in 2025 and has remained largely under the radar in Portugal, Orar are definitely worth keeping an eye on.
When it comes to the stoner/doom scene, when you see the Heavy Psych Sound Records seal, you instantly know that it is something serious!
Lord Elephant is an instrumental Psychedelic Stoner/Doom power trio from Italy, who released their second LP, Ultra Soul, on 30 January via Heavy Psych Sound Records on CD, vinyl, and digitally.
After an interesting and critically acclaimed debut album, the stakes were high for Ultra Soul. But was the band up to the expectations?
Let's start from the beginning. Ultra Soul features seven tracks with a total running time of almost 50 minutes, and after “Electric Dunes,” which works like an intro, a BANGER hits!
“Gigantia” starts hitting you in the face with a dirty bass and a psychedelic guitar. It's almost impossible not to get addicted to the intro of this track, which then moves into an ethereal rhythm before punching you AGAIN in the face!
The rest of the album cannot quite achieve what “Gigantia” does, and the lack of vocals over the instrumental music may cause you to lose focus at times. So, putting it in basic terms, the second track is the peak of the album.
This doesn't mean that the rest of the album is bad — not at all. It's a great stoner and doom album, very well produced and executed, but after “Gigantia,” the rest somehow feels less impressive.
So, to conclude, Ultra Soul deserves to be heard by any enthusiast of the genre, as it is a good album. But, for a better experience, try reversing the track order!
Lord Elephant is definitely a band to keep an eye on.
