Weekly Digest, Week 25 / 2026

Prepare to be crushed by the obsidian weight of this week's releases from Belarus Beaver, Inherits The Void, Mork, Saidan and Scordatura.

There's hardly any big stuff out, except for:

Warning – Rituals Of Shame (doom metal)

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TOP PICK OF THE WEEK

Mork – Monolitt

Genre: Black metal

Subjective rating: 4.5/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Norway

Mork are back to once again prove that you can keep straight riff-and-tremolo black metal interesting if you just put your mind to it. This time around they drop even the minutest shred of pretentiousness, and, like an old skin, shed the layer of muted, misty low-fi-ness that has stuck to their latest albums for that "authentic" feel. "Monolitt" is crisp as glacial water, and immediately lashes out with riffs like wicked claws. Paired with proper chugging power and an appropriate amount of low-end rumble, the result is a ferocious, ultra-direct sound that's purpose built to go on the attack, and carrying enough weight behind it to do some lasting damage.

Each track has a different feel to it, leaning into moderately contrasting elements of dissonance, gloom, melody or groove. There's doom, black 'n' roll, a bit of thrash and heavy metal and a few proggy rhythm acrobatics, but these are all consigned to the nuances of the album's overall flavor. They manage a great balance between epic, folk-tinged scope and energetic urgency, with little to no room for atmosphere or any sort of fluff. Those who enjoyed the vastness of 2023's "Dypet" and/or the slightly experimental nature of 2024's "Syv", might find this a bit too straightforward and lacking the customary murkiness. But for me this is very close to the perfect blend of well-defined, raw hostility, awesome instrumental control, and subtly creative and mature songwriting that has the music explore and strike from a multitude of different angles along the same, unified trajectory of black metal excellence.

Highlights: "Torden" and "Ferdamann"

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Belarus Beaver – Grind af den Brune Bäfver

Genre: Death metal/grindcore

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Sweden

This is the kind of metal comedy I can get fully behind. I think it partly takes being able to appreciate the silly side of deathgrind in general, but devoting your band concept entirely (and creatively) to the vilification of beavers is just hilarious regardless. Belarus Beaver are not, in fact, from Belarus, but from Sweden, which becomes obvious from most of the lyrics and track titles anyway. Absolutely everything is beaver themed, and most of it carries horror references, which is just spot on.

The best part of the album is that it's not just blazing, relentless guitars, drums and incomprehensible gurgle-shrieks for 33 minutes straight. There's some actual thematic connection between the song titles and the kind of mood they exude. You get crusty, classic death metal, blackened spookiness and doomy, tongue-in-cheek gloom, with plenty of grindy fun of varying tempos in between. What I'm missing are those spine-tingling, hair-raising highlights of brutal groove. There are some in there, but most of the songs start off more or less as good as they ever get. Still, if you crave some actually well-produced, varied deathgrind, and don't mind dreaming about maniacally vibrating beavers for a few nights (they're in all of the song visualizers), then by all means, dig in.

Highlights: "Bävulen" and "Under a Beaver Moon"

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Inherits The Void – The Silent Abscission

Genre: Melodic black metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: France

I'm increasingly associating France with quality melodic black metal these days, and this latest release by Inherits the Void certainly helps that process along. This is their fourth full-length since forming in 2020, and this diligent release schedule seems to have allowed them to both mature and tastefully diversify their sound in record time.

On "The Silent Abscission" they strike an optimal balance between sharp cold and rumbling force, allowing the songs to feel both monumental and vicious at the same time. There's a more-than-decent amount of melodic scope, with a sprinkle of synth and sax for added flavor, and they use all this to successfully expand upon the more traditional blast-beats-and-corpse-paint aggression that most of the tracks are grounded in. It's not quite what I'd call unique just yet, but give them a couple of years and I'm sure they'll keep making strides.  

Highlight: "Wrath of the Endless Sea"

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Saidan – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory's Wrist

Genre: Black/gothic metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: USA

If this week's Mork release is too traditional for you, then might I highly recommend this oddball stuff out of Nashville, Tennessee. They are basically the answer to what happens when you build a black metal project around the melodic style of peppy-adventurous, Japanese anime theme songs, but insist on keeping it melancholy and gothic. The result carries that classic emo sad-romantic character (both sonically and visually), and if that sounds like ear poison to you, you might as well skip this entirely.

For the more curious and/or adventurous, there's some seriously solid songwriting in store, with excellent performances to go with it. The sound is icy cold, like half-frozen purple ink, and the soaring-on-broken-wings melody is countered by some truly ferocious aggression. For me, the whole horror theme feels pretty superfluous, and the contrasts in tone are a little jarring, but then I'm not really into the kind of culture and image that they're pulling inspiration from. If you're a fan of theatrical, tragic black metal in general, then you shouldn't hesitate to dive into this.

Highlights: "Stained Glass Sin // Fang Driller" and "Ethereal Blood"

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Scordatura – Led Into Oblivion

Genre: Death metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Scotland

These Scots are serving up a full portion of classic-brutal death metal for the first time in six years, and from the level of ferocity let loose on here, it sounds like it was high time to relieve some pressure. While the coarse vocals and ripping guitar tone draw from the morbid greatness of old, the level of technicality has a much more modern and moderately progressive feel to it. It's not overdone, but certainly elevates what might otherwise have felt a little stale.

Parts of the album have a certain grindcore impatience to them, and the general energy level and precision have no problem keeping up. Some of the rhythm transitions can feel a little rushed and overly restless, and allowing for a few more sections of controlled, savage groove would likely have made this an even more satisfying listen. That aside, it's very obvious that this is a band that refuses to settle for "good enough", as each song explores a slightly different approach, be it in terms of tone, tempo or rhythmic variation. It's all crushingly heavy, regardless.

Highlight: "Oppressed / Repressed"

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HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Avarice – Perpetual Ruin

Genre: Death/thrash metal/hardcore

Country of origin: Denmark

Destructor – Tales of Glory

Genre: Thrash/heavy metal

Country of origin: USA

Gold Spire – Steps Into Shadow

Genre: Avant-garde death/doom metal

Country of origin: Sweden

Iron Kobra - Eternal Dagger

Genre: Heavy/speed metal

Country of origin: Germany

Loneshore – Nothing Left To Deconstruct

Genre: Melodic/progressive doom/death metal

Country of origin: Brazil

Lumen Ad Mortem – A Grave Ascent

Genre: Black metal

Country of origin: Australia

Lindsay Schoolcraft – Harrowing

Genre: Gothic/alternative metal

Country of origin: Canada