Weekly Digest, Week 33 / 2026

A collection of style-divergence to keep you on your toes, from The Absolution Sequence, Coyote Man, Ironflame, Living Weapon and Raunchy.

Big releases? What do you mean? Well okay then, have one, at least:

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God - Chapter 2 (alternative metal/rock)

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TOP PICK OF THE WEEK

Coyote Man – Prosthetic Memories

Genre: Progressive/sludge metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: USA

This is one of those progressive albums that deserve its classification not on the grounds of its technical unconventionality, but in the way that it takes elements of certain subgenre traits and combines them in a way that hasn't been done quite like it before. I'd describe it as Intronaut- and Mastodon-like prog sludge with some dreamy-spacey elements from Devin Townsend and a touch of Deftones alternative tone and melody. Apart from the last track, it's also instrumental, which I would normally count as a negative, but with this richness of composition, I didn't find myself missing vocals at any point. In fact, when they kick in on "Faith in a Burning Room", it's a bit jarring.

The band dip in and out of heavy, chugging riffs and mildly psychedelic, captivating guitar-led melody lines that feel optimistic, yet reasonably solemn. This isn't your typical "fooling around", experimental shenanigan-prog. Neither does it feel lofty or in any way overdone. It exists in a world of its own, swirling in and out, up and down on a road of fascinating discovery.  

Highlights: "War Hatchet" and "Interpreting Dreams"

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The Absolution Sequence – Dread Cycle

Genre: Technical groove/death metal

Subjective rating: 3/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Australia

Causing waves (in an irregular, high frequency pattern, of course) all the way from Tasmania, The Absolution Sequence are finally out with their debut full-length after starting up all the way back in 2013. Their sound is Allegaeon-reminiscent in its aggressive techiness and slightly aloof, stark atmosphere, but leaning much more into groove, not unlike a lesser-well-known band like Alustrium. While it's generally quite speedy, it's not out to completely overload your mind like all the big tech death acts seem to be these days.

There's heaps of cool playing on "Dread Cycle", mixed with a slightly uneasy, dark mood that gives the album an effective overall feel. My main issue is that, at least to my ears, none of the melodic tendencies are carried on through the riffs. The chugging heaviness just hits and does its own thing, pretty much regardless of what's led up to it, resulting in a disjointed flow that doesn't really go anywhere. A great technical groundwork, that to me lacks memorability.

Highlight: "Ghost Mantra

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Ironflame – Worlds to Conquer

Genre: Heavy metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

Had enough of extreme metal's... well, extremity... for a while? This album, and band, hearkens back to simpler (in a good way) times, when the original legends were making names for themselves. Ironflame play fantastical, battle-ready heavy metal of the kind pioneered by Rainbow, Iron Maiden and Saxon, and these influences are clearly audible on "Worlds to Conquer".

While certainly not devoid of riff gymnastics or solos (in fact, they're a big part of what makes the album stand out), this is mostly mid-tempo, resolutely marching epicness led by a supremely competent, Dio-esque vocal performance. The album oozes larger-than-life, darkly mystical mood, not unlike that of Khemmis, and it fits the instrumental style perfectly. A few of the songs do get stuck in the same pattern for a little too long at a time, putting the breaks on the momentum, but if you're not craving outright speed, you'll probably not mind the album taking its time.

Highlight: "Night Closes In"

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Living Weapon – Death In The Family

Genre: Mathcore/hardcore

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: USA

Did the Converge releases earlier this year leave you craving more punishment? Fear not, for going into Living Weapon's debut album you can safely pre-book a hospital bed. The theme of the day is the end of life, but at least we're going out with a concrete-pulverizing, rebar-snapping series of bangs.

There's no shying away from the fact that "Death In The Family" is noisy, supremely violent and fairly chaotic, but the band hasn't made the mistake of creating a relentless, unbroken cacophony that would leave you desensitized by track four. The hostility and industrial, alien atmosphere is ever-present, but the intensity pulls back periodically to reassess and prepare for new, unexpected angles of attack. There's perhaps not a ton of personality to be found, but it conveys a lot of good thinking, and will leave you with bruises in all the places that you're most actively trying to defend.

Highlights: "Interspecies Quality Assessment" and "The Leaving Process"

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Raunchy – Prisoner

Genre: Alternative/groove metal

Subjective rating: 2.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Denmark

In a way I'm not surprised that the existence of this Danish band has completely escaped me up until now, even though they are fellow Scandinavians and have been around since 1992. For one they haven't released an album in 12 years, and secondly their rather unique style of genre-blending melodic metal would probably only have appealed to my very early, introductory taste in heavy music.

That's not to say that this is a simplistic, easy-to-label, trend-chasing kind of thing. The band is championing a style all of its own, combining elements of groove, alternative, melodic death, industrial, metalcore, prog, pop... I could go on. At its very best I get small hints of Igorrr, Haken, Leprous, Mercenary, Deftones, Avenged Sevenfold and even Electric Callboy, but where the latter fully embrace the silliness of their pop-electronic/metalcore slick/heavy collision for comic effect, Raunchy seem to expect you to be able to digest the full flavor spectrum of their weird ass potpourri with a completely straight face. For me, there's simply too much cringe-level sappiness and pop-ballad "wooo-oooh's", and too little actually original songwriting in the picture to draw any lasting enjoyment, but for the fanbase it's a confident and cobweb-free return to form.  

Highlight: "Designed Despair"

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HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Abyssal Rift – Relics Of Great Ash

Genre: Death/doom metal

Country of origin: USA

Alligator Rodeo – Optimists Club

Genre: Sludge/doom metal

Country of origin: Germany

Soulgrind – Ad Pulchram Mortem

Genre: Gothic/folk metal

Country of origin: Finland