Born In A Test Tube, Raised In A Cage: It's The 2025 Metal Thread

Let's open up this fuckin' pit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBfeAnef8RQ

Just got answers back from an email interview with the vocalist from Human Barbecue, a cannibalism-obsessed brutal/slam band from Belgium. The interview will run in Burning Ambulance in February. Gotta say, his first answer made me feel pretty fucking old...

How did you first get interested in this style of metal? Can you remember the first records that inspired you to want to make this kind of music yourself?
My dad has always been listening to music at home. He used to be a punk when he was a teenager. So I have been listening to all kind of music since a very early age. I remember that he was listening to bands like Guns N’ Roses, Suicidal Tendencies, Rollins Band... I guess it just grew on me. The older I got, the harder the bands were. I discovered death metal and hardcore music during my nu-metal phase when I was 12-13. I always loved the very brutal side of death metal. Even though I started being active in the hardcore scene (still am), death metal has been by my side since those days.

Here are some upcoming releases on my radar to check out:

10-Jan
Haunted Horses (Seattle industrial metal on Three One G)

24-Jan
Mogwai
Sunrot
Wardruna

25-Jan
Clamfight (Philly Prog-adjacent Stoner Metal)

31-Jan
The Hellacopters
Jaye Jayle
Pentagram
Spesimin (Philly thrash/death/punk goodness)

7-Feb
Dream Theater
Inborn Suffering (French Death/Doom)
Jinjer
Obscura
Thundermother

21-Feb
Killswitch Engage
Mean Mistreater (Austin Trad Metal)
Sacrifice (Canadian thrashers; first new album since 2009)
The Young Mothers (Austin jazz hepcats who like grindcore)

28-Feb
Cloakroom

4-Mar
Destruction

14-Mar
Coheed and Cambria

28-Mar
Arch Enemy
Dead Meadow
Savage Master

Gotta say, his first answer made me feel pretty fucking old...

I was talking with a younger acquaintance who told me she grew up listening to the proverbial "all kinds of music." Dad liked jazz, mom liked country, little brother liked "emo." "Emo" has kind of evolved in meaning over the years, so I asked her what she meant by emo, and she said, oh, you know, stuff like Slipknot.

Definitely looking forward to new Obscura, and Destruction can always be trusted. I've heard the Mean Mistreater; it's as good as the debut, which I loved. Wardruna are actually playing near me (well, 90 minutes away, which is "near" in Montana terms) this summer:

https://fitmfest.com/

One very interesting aspect of that festival:

In partnership with the community in the Blackfeet Nation, Fire in the Mountains 2025 at the Red Eagle Campground in the Blackfeet Nation, will be an event without alcohol. This decision was made with respect to the wishes of our hosts and is a decision we align with.

Our aims have always been to build an event that places value on music, nature, and connection above all else, and to have a positive impact in the community that has welcomed us. We stand behind the decision of our Blackfeet partners that all of these aims can be obtained without the presence of alcohol.

We have no interest in passing judgments or preaching any way of life over another. All walks of life are welcome at our festival. What we do stand strongly behind is respecting the land and the wishes of those whom it belongs to.

lots of good shows coming up in London i'm looking forward to; Napalm Death/Crowbar/Full Of Hell/Brat being one, another being King Diamond/Paradise Lost/Unto Others. Incineration Fest is the one i'm most hyped for though - bearing in mind as a one dayer the clashes will be torture.... lineup so far:

Triptykon Performing Celtic Frost (UK Exclusive)
Blood Incantation (UK Exclusive)
Decapitated (UK Festival Exclusive)
Batushka (UK Exclusive)
Cryptopsy
Warbringer
Blackbraid
Spectral Wound
Lamp Of Murmuur
Undergang (UK Exclusive)
Wormwitch
Bedsore (UK Debut)
Celestial Sanctuary
Carnation
Minami Deutsch
Underdark

What does "UK Exclusive" mean? That that is the only time/place they are playing the UK in 2025? I want to start seeing stuff like this more often. Oasis at Soldier Field: Chicago exclusive! Yo La Tengo Hanukkah Shows: NYC exclusive!

yeah, I guess maybe the UK is a small enough country that promoters can pay for that sort of exclusivity and use it in marketing knowing people will travel to the show rather than miss out... probably less likely to happen in bigger countries/USA?

Old Man's Child is playing their first US live show ever this summer at an outdoor festival 90 minutes from me. Why they'd choose to make their live debut in rural Montana rather than New York or San Francisco or Los Angeles, I don't know, but they have made that choice.

There's a new German band called Axetasy, and on a purely instrumental level, they live up to the name: the guitars are pretty goddamn axetatic. But the vocals are a hoarse shout, not nearly power metal enough for the music, and they're weirdly placed in the mix. I don't love it as much as I wanted to, but others may disagree.

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/withering-tides

This Lifeless Dark album from December is apparently stenchcore, which isn't a descriptor I'm familiar with but seems like it basically came to mean a thrashier kind of crust punk? Anyway, it's really awesome.

https://lifelessdark.bandcamp.com/album/forces-of-natures-transformation

lol at stenchcore

I'm old enough to remember when Obscura were a wild, jazz-prog-fusion-y tech-death band. Unfortunately, their new album A Sonication (out 2/7) is some Dark Tranquillity-ass melodeath bullshit, with the occasional fretless bass solo to remind you of what once was.

https://obscura.bandcamp.com/album/a-sonication

fwiw the term stenchcore is as old as crust (coming up for 40 years) but seems to be enjoying a resurgence given the number of times I've seen "wtf is stenchcore" posts recently

I've always liked the term stenchcore because of the "our band smells bad" implication.

New Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ1M2i-7gF4

Catchier than I might have thought. Album drops 4/4.

It's ridiculous power metal video time! Here's "Power Train" by Majestica, and yes, it's about a train.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJ7L5LyAk4

Releases this Friday that I will be checking out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqiYgldW5nw

Pentagram

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww7iDotqQ0s

The Hellacopters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEIPPQ-5UvE

Jaye Jayle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFABZr7WPkE

Spesimin

fuck sake - i hate how much i may spend on this though also know there is little to no chance of getting tickets

https://www.instagram.com/blacksabbath/p/DFsSHb-JK-O/

yeah that lineup is pretty undeniable, even with the dubious prospects of various supergroups and Pantera playing

although somewhere Dave Mustaine is crying and i want to give him a hug?

Wonder the last time Metallica supported someone.. Maybe those Rolling Stones shows in 2005?

Out of morbid curiosity I streamed a few songs of that new Obscura and, yeah, it's terrible.

The new Century album is the first real standout for me this year. Swedish melodic heavy metal... my favourite area.

The vocal performance took me a minute to warm up to, but I like it. He has a kind of dry, stone-faced quality, which works for me, especially on short punchy tracks like "No Time For Tomorrow".

Yeah, that is good. It's an unmemorable name which is why I keep forgetting to check them out, but I've just put both their albums in my Bandcamp cart.

New Phrenelith sounding pretty great on the first go through

I interviewed Belgian brutal death metallers Human Barbecue. Plus bonus "Robert Christgau is a shithead" content!

lol at calling yourself Human Barbecue.

NEW PISSGRAVE INCOMING (finally!)

https://pissgrave.bandcamp.com/album/malignant-worthlessness

Wow, I am loving the Mean Mistreater album.

I went to see Undergang and Mephitic Corpse a week ago, and even though I caught a brutal cold at the show, it scratched a metalhead itch that was in dire need of scratching. Absolute filth.

ooh, the new Christian Mistress is up on NWOTHM Full Albums on youtube.

Atmospheric black metal cover of a Jean-Michel Jarre piece is a very specific niche, and you probably know if you're in it.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0YUsJFg8fBDSaDxLGxKvZp?si=4VoFC1y0TxOaxMWk7ZTp5A

I love that cover, I was annoyed it wasn't included as a bonus track on the copy I got of that album.

Some other good metal covers this week:
- Al-Namrood doing a black'n'roll-ish version of the Exploited's "Beat the Bastards".
- Ultrviolence's blackgazey "there is a light that never goes out".
- UMC and Anna-Lena Derer Eurevisioning Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra".
- URNE doing a basically reverent rendition of Black Sabbath's "I" (from Dehumanizer).

(And for metal covered, last week there was Rosetta Stone doing Sabbath's "N.I.B.".)

This month's Stereogum metal column has a great piece on Ragne Wahlquist and Heavy Load, the first Swedish metal band.

had a fun time at the Life After Death 2 fest this weekend in London; which is heavily associated with the great Crypt Of The Wizard record store. very good sets from Vacuous (new LP on Relapse is killer) and Jaundice (death metal from Glasgow, all looked about 18). this Friday - Napalm Death / Crowbar / Full Of Hell / Brat in brixton :D

Yeah, I'm enjoying that Vacuous record.

Me too; downloaded the promo last night after reading that post and it rips.

I like how it kinda swims against a lot of the trends in death metal right now, a little Converge energy in it.

Heck yeah--only a few songs in so far, but that new Vacuous sounds great! Artfully meat-and-potatoes to these ears, and very well-produced.

Ha! "artfully meatandpotatoes" is well-put.

New Neptunian Maximalism 3CD set in April!

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/le-sacre-du-soleil-invaincu

Brent Hinds has left Mastodon.

I still can't get used to the new name, but The Otolith (formerly SubRosa) has a new track, and it's good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdNDoMP3XWk

xp - thanks for the heads up on the Neptunain Maximalism! Instant pre-order. FYI, as much as I am happy to support Bandcamp Friday (which I am with other things today), follow the link on their page to the US store for much more reasonable shipping costs.

Wonder what led to Hinds leaving, wouldn't have expected that.

I really dig the first Otolith album, excited for more!

The new Ghost single is disappointing me.

I hear a good song there, but the mixing and compression on the guitars I'm having trouble with.

Hmm, granted it was a headphone listen, but I thought it was really good and the most I've been excited about a Ghost lead single in awhile now. Reminded me more of the Opus Eponymous era than much has lately.

FYI, as much as I am happy to support Bandcamp Friday (which I am with other things today), follow the link on their page to the US store for much more reasonable shipping costs.

Yeah, I saw that myself. Still deciding whether to spring for a physical copy or not. The three discs are only about 35 minutes long each, just FTR. But I understand why they want to break them out so you listen to each raga separately.

I'm posting this here and in the jazz thread, for obvious reasons: I interviewed Ray Suhy, who's simultaneously an accomplished jazz guitarist and the lead guitarist in Six Feet Under. It was a really fun conversation, even if the transcription program I use couldn't tell our voices apart (two guys from Jersey yappin').

I listened to Qrixkuor on Quobuz.

This is probably obvious (or plain dumb) but is it a play on cris de coeur?

This is all I could find:

The name is taken from the Qrixkuor-bird in the Ninth Arch of Kenneth Grant's book, "Against the Light":
"It is without a Name because born of the Aeon without a Word outside the circles of time ... and of the Tangled Light, Qrixkuor."

All the real-life bird names are probably taken already.

https://lambgoat.com/news/50620/vitriol-members-quit-band-leave-cofounder-at-vermont-gas-station/

I keep coming back to the Glorious Depravity album Death Never Sleeps. Old-school knuckle-walking NYC death metal from members of Woe, Gravesend and Pyrrhon. It rules.

i've been following vitriol since they released suffer & become last january. apparently the whole band left kyle r on tour - sounds like he's got some anger issues. he had a make-others-walk-on-eggshells vibe when i saw them play in slc tbh.

now i'm seeing all these parody memes from other metal bands about abandoning their singer overnight at rest areas etc. oh xp i see neando already posted about this.

I can only imagine how the Mustaine/Metallica saga would've looked like if we had social media back then

The new Qrixkuor is a trip. Some of the hugest-sounding music I've heard in a while.

Liking this!

new dead and dripping making for an enjoyable morning commute:

https://deadanddrippingus.bandcamp.com/album/nefarious-scintillations

Siege Column's Sulphur Omega is taking over my listening. It's raw and punky death metal in that 80s vein where the borders between thrash, death, and black metal aren't all that meaningful. Groovy and tight, and with perfectly scuzzy production.

Oh sick, there's a new Aktor album out tomorrow. My favourite Chris Black project.

https://aktor.bandcamp.com/album/professori-season-two

oh, siege column! i have a 7” somewhere and thought they weren’t quite there yet but was rooting for em given their NJ pedigree. all of those neat death fortress adjacent bands, seems like there’s something in the water… excited that they’re back.

Really into the debut full-length from Malefic Throne. (They released an EP in 2022 - three originals and a Sodom cover.) Steve Tucker from Morbid Angel on bass and vocals, Gene Palubicki from Angelcorpse on guitar, John Longstreth from Origin and Hate Eternal on drums. Produced by Colin Marston. It rips. RIYL old Deicide, Vital Remains, etc.

http://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-conquering-darkness

picked up the new sulfuric cautery and this is some top notch goregrind:

https://blastaddict.bigcartel.com/product/sulfuric-cautery-consummate-extirpation-lp

doesn’t appear to be streaming yet but a track is up here:

https://blastaddict.bandcamp.com/track/consummate-extirpation-2

they are really leaning into brutal death, lots of blasts but now with way more slams, less chaotic production than you'd normally get, and great riffs just spilling out left and right. antifascist too. this rules.

I am side-eyeing any year-end metal list that doesn't have the new Soulfly album on it.

Guys if you can catch Conan on their current tour and you love sludge

Do it.

Wow.

Wasn't a huge fan but I am now.

I probably should have ordered sooner, since they only made 400, but I was lucky enough to find a physical copy of Neptunian Maximalism's Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu - three CDs in a clamshell box.

Conan was fantastic at desertfest london this year; i hadn't paid much attention before... they're playing a special supercheap London show just before xmas which will be my last gig of the year, all tickets £5!

okay yeah, this Agriculture record absolutely kills. I mean, yeah, me being me I'm already primed for a record that mixes shoegaze and emo in it, but the way this is structured and flows is just incredible.

I've been behind on catching up with this thread, but I saw this on the Bandcamp essential year-end list yesterday, and yeah, it rips. Scratches that Deafheaven itch for sure, but its own unique thing.

Thanks for the Conan rec above. This is pretty much the exact kind of metal I like the most.

They came through Montana with Mares Of Thrace a few months ago.

spun the new terror corpse (new band with some ex malignant altar folks) full-length. not bad but where’d the grind go?? def preferred the direction on the ep from earlier this year.

Omg the Kontusion album from July is fantastic.

Normally I hear "death metal and d-beats" and I go "oh cool, you and 70000 other plodding assed bands", but this shit has 90s death DNA.

I wouldn't sonically compare the two, but aesthetically, this has a sliver of Slaughter-Strappado DNA. It's much much more structured than that, but the perfect riff is less important than just an atmosphere of morose filth. But they do have good riffs!

They seem tuned down to A, some snarling low end riffs, and some melodic leads, but they also have the occasional synth for moments that sound out of Altars of Madness.

Featuring ex-Iron Reagan and Repulsion.

I'm catching their set tonight too

I'm tinkering with a playlist of favourite songs from this year. I wanted it to focus towards dark and mystical heavy metal.

Tower – Under the Chapel
Morax – A Thousand Names
Species – Voyager
Scimitar – Hungry Hallucinations
Deftones – I think about you all the time
Castle Rat – Wizard
Century – No Time for Tomorrow
Ancient Death – Journey to the Inner Soul
Messa – The Dress
Helms Deep – Red Planet

sampling stuff from year-end lists and so far this coroner album is hitting the spot.

let's see, i tried messa but ehh. the self consciously retro stuff isn't for me.

rwake was sounding pretty good.

i missed the chance to catch conan - checked the album beforehand and it wasn't hitting for me - with that name and the imagery i wanted to like them too.

Took the latest Sanguisugabogg for a belated second listen today. Totally kicked ass - love it!

Thanks for the Kontusion recommendation - this is great, too!

For some reason that Glorious Depravity is doing it more than any other release this year. Sanguisugabogg is also really good. Kicking myself for skipping that show now.

Yeah, Glorious Depravity has been in heavy rotation for me too. I've also been really into the Hedonist album on Southern Lord; came to that one late, but it rules. Very Bolt Thrower.

glorious depravity album is sick

still gotta give that a listen!

are people into the malefic throne record? that one stood out from the pack for me

Yeah, I like that one too.

ok i LOVE the hedonist album. also enjoyed the sanguisugabogg album, much stink-face made by me.

i tried w/ malefic throne but maybe i wasn't in the right mood, going to go back to it.

it's really great and almost elegant honestly, i was just looking for a little more dumb-ass groove at the time i think lol.

ha! as someone who listened to a lotta idiotic brutal slammin stuff this year, i can totally relate. but “elegant” is kinda where my head is at too. masters of the form doing what they do best.

surprised the blut aus nord isn't getting more chatter. i dont love it myself but it seems to be getting treated as a return to form elsewhere.

taking advantage of a long train ride, and yep, this glorious depravity record is the shit so far

i did not know blut aus nord released an album this year! so far it sounds promising.

going back through my library i'm reminded that the conan album has my song title of the year, "a cleaved head no longer plots"

the blut record is pretty cool but i just don’t feel like throwing it on much. it’s really leaning into the psychedelic part of the sound. maybe i just need some good ol drugs to crack the code…

I'm a little worried about how much I'm looking forward to the new Rob Zombie album, The Great Satan (out in February). He's released two singles so far and each has been well under three minutes and much thrashier/more primitive than his previous work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIF7abO5Als

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0mfcGLaPqI

i'm way into the sanguisugabogg album. it's the brain-dead death groove album i didn't know i needed. davidson's drumming is perfect. enough variation to keep 47 minutes in a similar palette exciting.

also i have a shameful secret to admit - i love that tight fonky snare sound lol

I reviewed that album for The Wire:

Sanguisugabogg
Hideous Aftermath
Century Media CD/DL/LP

The late Tony Oxley would have loved brutal death metal. Its pinging snare drums, which sound like someone beating a beer keg with a ball-peen hammer, would certainly have appealed to a man whose own kit included a comically large cowbell and toms of various sizes, precisely tuned to achieve unorthodox, at times startling timbral effects.

Cody Davidson, drummer for Columbus, Ohio's Sanguisugabogg (translation: Toilet Leech), once had a snare drum that rang as brightly as a church bell or a gamelan gong. It reversed conventional musical polarities, forcing the guitar into a rhythmic role as the percussion leapt out of the mix and became a focal point. On the quartet's debut, 2021's Tortured Whole, the chugging riffs and relentless, clanging percussion were leavened with horror movie synth interludes. These were dropped by 2023's Homicidal Ecstasy and the drums became more normal-sounding, too, more like the 1990s underground rock of Helmet and Unsane.

Now, on Hideous Aftermath, Sanguisugabogg are pursuing metal glory. They've hired a real producer for the first time — Kurt Ballou of Converge, who's worked with High On Fire, Kvelertak, The Armed and other bands seeking to polish their heavy underground sounds. They've also brought in a number of guest vocalists from acts like Cattle Decapitation, Nails, Full Of Hell, Peeling Flesh and Defeated Sanity. The plan is clear from the opening riff of "Rotted Entanglement" they're a big room death metal act now, aiming to get crowds of thousands screaming their ludicrous name. That trademark ringing snare has been toned down in favour of a big, booming beat, and abandoned entirely in favour of a Godflesh-like drum machine on "Repulsive Demise".

A name like Sanguisugabogg and song titles like "Erotic Beheading" will still put off many listeners, but a record like this could make them as big as Cannibal Corpse someday.

I wasn't too impressed when I caught them in an opening slot for immolation a year or two ago and it put me off the 'bogg a bit. nevertheless, I still consider myself to be pro-bogg and will eventually check this record out. and I love big dumb mosh grooves, so this all sounds promising.

Another wave of lineup announcements for next July's Fire In The Mountains Festival. Current lineup now includes:

16 Horsepower
Enslaved
Baroness
Borknagar
Yob
The Ruins of Beverast
SubRosa
Full of Hell
Gallowbraid
Sigh
Wayfarer
Old Man Gloom
Raven Chacon & Iggor Cavalera
Midwife
Dreadnought
Phobophilic
Tarantella
Yaotl Mictlan
Savage Oath
Galvanist
Nocturne
El Welk

are old man gloom any good live? I had a ticket to see them but just spaced and forgot to go that day and I've been wondering just how guilty I should feel about that for a few years

Species – Voyager

Good song and great album, like a proggier Hypnosia or something.

wow these guys are great

Yeah, listening to the Species album now and liking it a lot. Like a jazzier Vektor.

The last track on it is just insanely good.