Weekly Digest, Week 41 / 2025

Faithfulness meets playful disregard among these releases from Gorotica, Enragement, Hooded Menace, Dissona and Wode. 

Things are far less interesting at ground level, but these are at least worth mentioning:

Bloodred Hourglass – We Should Be Buried Like This

Dirkschneider And The Old Gang – Babylon

Gore – If You Do Not Fear Me… (EP) 

Orbit Culture – Death Above Life

Vimic – Open Your Omen

Wind Walkers – I Don't Belong Here (EP)

---

Gorotica – Daily Grind Of The Medieval Age

Genre: Grindcore/death metal

Subjective rating: 4.5/5

Objective rating: 4.5/5

Country of origin: Australia

I have a soft spot for grindcore that knows how to have fun, and this thing is just riotously entertaining. Don't get me wrong, it's hyper aggressive and savagely heavy, but instead of starting each short track with the intention of simply causing damage in a slightly different, but equally punishing and straightforwardly chaotic way, these French(?)-Australian lads craft an 18-long series of flavorful, outstanding chapters in a mildly unhinged tale of cannibalism and medieval sadism, that's about as serious as a Tarantino-film. While retaining the coarseness and relentlessness of deathgrind, the songs are structured like, or otherwise infused with, hardcore, punk, garage rock, melodeath and classic heavy metal. From acoustic, folk-instrument interludes to absolutely frantic outbursts of roaring fury, this is a massively enjoyable feast of tongue-in-cheek morbidity.  

Highlight: "Connoisseurs Of Human Flesh" and "Nothing Left To Penetrate"

---

Enragement – Extinguish All Existence

Genre: Technical death metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Finland

Better hold on to something, it's about to get hairy! Entrapment is a Finnish death metal band that plays a technical, modern-brutal and intensely fierce variant of the subgenre. I had nice things to say about their 2022 release "Atrocities", and I'm delighted to be able to repeat the praise this time around. The production is crisper and more detailed, it's even more ferocious than before, which is saying something, and it doesn't get lost in technical showmanship. While not quite as convincingly malevolent as last time around, it makes up for it with sheer aggression, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. Delivering massive riffs, a good variation of harsh vocal styles and just the right amount of precision vs. savagery, it's a beast of a record that will most likely leave you spent and in need of a sonic time-out.

Highlights: "Natural Mass Asphyxiation" and "Harbingers of Degradation"

---

Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration

Genre: Death/doom/heavy metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Finland

Now, I'm in no way a Hooded Menace expert, but it doesn't take a deep familiarity with their discography to tell that this is a bit of a departure from well-established ways. Yes, it's still old school death doom at its core, but a far cry from funeral-paced abyssal misery. The main differentiator is the appearance of a highly influential classic metal spirit that ups the tempo, groove, sense of adventure and occasion, and the use of guitar solos. It's got that mildly synth-y 80s feel plastered all over it, with the horror feel of that era as part of the package, which suits the style very well, and it's not overdone. Speaking of which, you get parts where they seem to be holding back in honor of their past, almost as much as parts where they really let go, and embrace the galloping ride-to-battle bravado. The inclusion of a Duran Duran cover on a mere 7-track album underlines the offshoot thinking of the project, and while I've certainly heard far less tasteful flavor blends than this, I've also heard them less muddled.

Highlights: "Pale Masquerade" and "Into Haunted Oblivion"

---

Dissona – Receptor

Genre: Progressive metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

While you're never in doubt about which subgenre of metal this belongs to, the band makes a commendable effort to instill personality into the music, and keeping it feeling vital by constantly tugging at the rhythmic, tonal and stylistic reigns. The sense of direction suffers a bit as a result, but It's always going somewhere, and purposefully so. And the more you get to meet the different shades of its disposition, the less you care about the destination. It's all about what comes around the next corner. It's an album that is both frivolous and solemn, technical and atmospheric, vicious and gentle. All the while, it retains substance, suggesting that there always was a twisted vision for its final form, or at least the different flavors that would bloom out from its core identity.

Highlight: "Incisor"

---

Wode – Uncrossing The Keys

Genre: Black/heavy metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: England

Wode are back with their fourth full-length, and, to a significantly higher degree than on 2021's "Burn In Many Mirrors", they've paired their jagged black metal core with a strong influx of classic heavy metal, in mildly experimental fashion. A good deal of the primal. hard-hitting savagery of earlier releases has been sacrificed in favor of a nimbler, leaner and more flexible sound. When supported by doomy groove and riff-happy cool, this really works, fully proving the potency of the style shift and the band's versatility. But they also tend to get lost in meandering, wander-tempo aimlessness and contemplative, warm-toned melody that contrasts rather oddly with the sharp, mean-spiritedness of the dominant aggressive sections. Overall, it's a bit uneven, but still a highly worthwhile listen for blackened heavy metal fans.

Highlight: "Under Lanternlight"