Weekly Digest, Week 08 / 2026

A dark and moody week, with little light penetrating to the underground, as evidenced by the releases from Coscradh, Domhain, Incandescence, Nazghor and Serpent Gates.

Up above they've got some actual light to energize and illuminate proceedings:

Atlas – Sunder (melodic extreme metal/metalcore)

Clawfinger – Before We All Die (rap metal)

Exhumed – Red Asphalt (death metal/grindcore)

Mirrorcell – Long Nights In Lovescape (alternative metal/metalcore)

Stam1na – Apnea (progressive metal)

Sylosis – The New Flesh (melodic death/groove metal)

The Veer Union – Reinvention (alternative metal)

Worm Shepherd – Dawn Of The Iconoclast (EP) (blackened deathcore)

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TOP PICK OF THE WEEK Incandescence – Hors Temps

Genre: Black metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Canada

On the border of turning atmospheric, Canada's Incandescence keep up the misanthropic pressure all the way throughout their fifth full-length, and still scores high on immersion. It's a solemn, subtly layered kind of sound that minutely changes character through minor tweaks in tone and tempo, sounding sincere and well-planted in their thematic realm. It sounds nothing like its Scandinavian counterparts, yet the differences are far from forced. It's a steady march into darkness, with a gale made up of last breaths meeting you head on. Parts of it feel somewhat like death doom, but it doesn't linger in any one direction for too long.

Highlights: "L'Enfer existe" and "Marasma"

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Coscradh – Carving The Causeway To The Otherworld

Genre: Black/death metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Ireland

This stuff sounds a bit like if the guys in Mayhem all got possessed by actual demons while in the recording studio. It's very clearly evil as all hell, and just unhinged enough that you know they don't want you to feel comfortable while listening to it. Vocals and riffs are drowned in the mix, the drums and bass are absolutely frantic, and the solos are ugly. It's very much on the cusp of war metal, although not quite as punishing as the real heavyweights of that subgenre. Conceptually and in terms of how it feels it absolutely nails the objective of being an actual unnerving blackened death album, and it might have had even more of an impact if it didn't sound like it's about to shake itself apart half the time.

Highlight: "Adhradh Dé Ghoac"

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Domhain – In Perfect Stillness

Genre: Atmospheric black metal/shoegaze

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Northern Ireland

This album feels like it's exploring and expanding upon a hidden world of gloom that can only be found at dusk. It has a stone-faced black metal core, and does put out a decent amount of aggression, but first and foremost it's a flowing, meditative experience that pulls you into a tastefully dramatic soundscape and envelops you in folk-like melody and restrainedly progressive buildups and rhythm shifts. At its best it's highly immersive, but I do find that it drags a bit at times. In total though, I find myself wanting more at the end of the roughly 35 minute runtime, and am looking forward to the continuation of this highly promising debut.

Highlights: "Talamh Lom" and "My Tomb Beneath The Tide"

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Nazghor – A World Ablaze

Genre: Melodic black metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3/5

Country of origin: Sweden

Straight-to-the-point, crunchy-riff black metal that soars on bone-chilling winds of tremolo melody and straightforward rhythms and blast beats. To those who have heard a good deal of this kind of stuff, a fair bit of it will feel like re-used old tricks, but it's effective and suits the style that they're going for. It's darkly epic and melancholy, as you'd hope for, and contrasts it with crisp aggression,

Highlight: "Bathe in Ashes"

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Serpent Gates – The Veil Of Darkness

Genre: Heavy metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3/5

Country of origin: Finland

Finnish, mildly gothic heavy metal with plenty of groove and mid-tempo shred. The Bruce Dickinson-reminiscent vocals are a highlight, and they've got their style nailed down nice and confidently. Apart from the highlights, of which there are several, there are a few fairly unremarkable tracks that don't add much but a few cool riffs and solos, but the overall delivery is on point and entertaining.  

Highlight: "Down The Cross"

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HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Bizarrekult – Alt Som Finnes

Genre: Atmospheric black metal

Country of origin: Norway