Weekly Digest, Week 35 / 2026
Watch out for the end-summer avalanche of releases, headed by Black Spikes, Ninth Realm, Static Abyss, Sunscorched and Triosphere.
Try not to get too distracted, but there's great stuff up above as well:
Beartooth – Pure Ecstasy (hard rock/metalcore)
Code: Pandorum – Tales From The Blight (electronica/industrial metal)
Exumer – Death Mask Messiah (thrash metal)
Flotsam And Jetsam – Rats In The Temple (power/thrash metal)
Gorod – The Ember Gone (technical/progressive death metal)
In This Moment – Witch (alternative metal)
Kamelot – Dark Asylum (symphonic/power metal)
Ladrones – Arriba La L (rap/alternative metal)
Mastodon – Marrow Deep (Progressive sludge metal)
Russian Circles – Nine (progressive sludge/black metal)
TOP PICK OF THE WEEK
Ninth Realm – Damnation's Veil
Genre: Thrash/death metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: USA
In short terms, this album feels like being skewered on the spiky shoulder pads of the knight on the cover and torn along on a ferocious gallop through battlefields, blizzards and monstrous duels. This is death thrash of the magnificently pissed off variant, set in a dark fantasy realm and added elements of hardcore and melodic black metal.
The vocals are like absurdly coarse sandpaper, to scour away accumulated bullshit coating the walls of your mind. The riffs are like mechanical, serrated scythe strikes, and you get peppered with speed-style solos. The drums are so eager that they actually feel like they're stumbling over themselves at times. The performances certainly aren't squeaky clean, but in a way it would feel wrong if they were, and the production is perfectly rough for the style. You get the furious fun of thrash, the lethality of death metal, and just enough conceptual depth to make it memorable.
Highlights: "Cohorts of the Abyss" and "All Hail Treachery"
Black Spikes – Ydos
Genre: Alternative/industrial metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Country of origin: Lithuania
A bit of theatricality and panache will go a long way to grab you some attention in the metal world, but if you want to keep it you better have the musical chops to follow it up. This isn't an issue for Lithuanian band Black Spikes. They combine the alternative-style allure of In This Moment with the modern technical aggression of bands like Jinjer, and expand upon it with electronica and hip-hop-elements, effectively courting the industrial and nu metal crowd simultaneously.
The music is highly melodically inclined and certainly on the accessible side, but not nearly to the degree where it feels dumbed down or too streamlined (although underground purists will probably disagree with that last statement). They play around with rhythm shifts and breakdowns without getting progressive or djent-y tunnel vision. They're as much a visual spectacle as they're an explosion of energy and trend-conscious flavor, and anyone not taking themselves or the genre too seriously should absolutely check them out.
Highlight: "AUREA"
Static Abyss – The Dying Hunt
Genre: Death/doom metal/hardcore
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Country of origin: USA
This is one of those albums that can't make up its damn mind, but it's (mostly) to the benefit of you, the listener. On it, old school, ragged death metal wrestles with its other personalities to keep some sort of equilibrium between raging hardcore and cosmic, dread-inducing doom. But judging by how both sides are strongly prevalent throughout, also within individual songs, it's somewhat of a losing fight.
The cool thing is that, thanks to the grimy tone, rusty vocals and groove-heavy riff breaks, it's all somehow brought together. Sure, it's a bit mad and disorganized, to the point where you wonder if it's occasionally repeating itself because it forgot what it was doing five minutes ago, but if you like the slightly bonkers, carefree and style-experimenting side to death metal, that still feels faithful to the subgenre's origins. then I think you'll have a great time with this.
Highlight: "The Dying Hunt" and "Sinew Leech"
Sunscorched – Blood of the Badlands
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Country of origin: USA
When I first got the gist of what this album's concept was gonna be, I immediately suspected superficiality and gimmickry. Atmospheric black metal with an American old west theme? News flash: banjo playing in black metal has already been done. But my delight was great when I found the concept to be well considered and executed.
The album feels a bit like a tale of misery, toil, existentialism and horror, told in the hot blackness of the prairie night, with only the vast starry canvas above as illumination, and the smoke of the burned out campfire still stinging your nostrils. It sounds a bit crap production wise, most of which I expect is on purpose, but other than that, the less I say about it further the better. Saddle up and give it a ride.
Highlight: "Stranger's Land"
Triosphere – Oceans Above, Stars Below
Genre: Power/melodic prog metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: Norway
I had a chance to see Triosphere at a festival this summer, in their home town of Trondheim, Norway, no less, but I prioritized a different stage. Listening to their fourth full-length, which brings a twelve-year release drought to an end, I firmly regret giving them a miss. On it is a seamless and vibrant mix of power-, prog-, heavy- and thrash metal, spearheaded by a stellar, truly forceful vocal performance.
The album goes big on drama, but doesn't leave the planet surface behind like 99% of all power metal bands. It's all properly guitar based, with epic and thrashy riffs abound, and even more jaw-dropping solos. The rhythm work isn't exactly challenging, but impressively technical, and still plenty fluid enough not to interrupt the flow. They don't quite stand as much out from the crowd on every single track, but there's a generous handful of highlights, and whether it goes for fun, exultation, awe or simply pleasantness, it succeeds at pretty much everything.
Highlights: "Of Tyrants" and "Orpheus' Bane"
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Besvärjelsen – Till Glömskan Ad Oblivionem
Genre: Stoner rock/doom metal
Country of origin: Sweden
Enemies Everywhere – Enemies Everywhere
Genre: Deathcore
Country of origin: Finland
Immiserator – The Blight Of Subsistence
Genre: Progressive/atmospheric black/death metal
Country of origin: New Zealand
Kulk – Choosing To Die
Genre: Sludge/noise metal
Country of origin: England
Mindwork – Adrift
Genre: Progressive extreme metal
Country of origin: Czechia
Miscreance – Reminiscence
Genre: Progressive/experimental thrash/death metal
Country of origin: Italy
Rahaty – Bestial Lustmord
Genre: Blackened death metal/grindcore
Country of origin: Belarus
Sarcoma – Ponzoña
Genre: Death metal/deathcore
Country of origin: Ecuador
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