2025 brings us its first sizable bounty, and it's spearheaded by thrash! Featuring Sarcator, Häxkapell, Hazzerd and Onirophagus.
Sarcator – Swarming Angels & Flies
Genre: Thrash/black metal
Subjective rating: 4.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: Sweden
Sometimes you get the sense that a metal subgenre was created awaiting the day when a band comes along and discovers a way to maximize its inherent potential. I certainly get that sense with Sarcator and blackened thrash metal. The sheer anger radiating from "Swarming Angels & Flies" is like a pair of barbed fists that grab you by your battle vest and shake you mercilessly until you're left standing in tattered rags. This is not your typical "fun" blackened thrash album. It's a bloodthirsty, mean, calculating and deft-handed bastard that's on a mission to sever heads and write blasphemous passages with the blood. The fact that this is only the third full-length from a very young band spells great things for their future.
Highlights: "Where the Void Begins" and "Comet of End Times"
Häxkapell – Om jordens blod och urgravens grepp
Genre: Black metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: Sweden
Häxkapell is a relatively fresh Swedish black metal band that's now on its second full-length release, and yes, as per the norm for promising, up-and-coming black metal outfits these days, it's a one-man project. While not fully committed to a distinctly melodic or atmospheric sound, there are strong folk elements, foremost of which are deep, warm chants and the use of violin as an alternative to the guitar tremolo, as well as rousing, crowd-moving rhythms. The intensity sometimes dips into a mid-tempo doom-like realm, but for the most part remains harsh and bitter, if not explicitly aggressive. It's an exceptionally well-balanced sound that melds the best aspects of pagan black metal, not unlike early Enslaved.
Highlights: "Metamorfos" and "Satan's rötter"
Hazzerd – The 3rd Dimension
Genre: Thrash metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: Canada
Thrash! Unfiltered, unmodified, unpretentious, on-point thrash that takes its mission just the perfect degree seriously. This is a band that wants to achieve something more with its music than just getting heads banging. There's social commentary in the lyrics, and real effort has gone into equipping each song with character, utilizing distinct rhythms, impressive technicality and memorable guitar licks and melody lines. Not markedly old school nor modern, it perfectly blends speed, groove, sharp precision and impatient attitude into a pure, timeless thrash extravaganza.
Highlight: "Interdimension" and "Parasitic".
Onirophagus – Revelations from the Void
Genre: Death/doom metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Country of origin: Spain
This is a band that's clearly intent on getting the best out of both the metal subgenres that they're utilizing for their sound. While you certainly get extended sections of the typical death/doom deflated, dry-gurgled vocals on top of riffs that are like cave systems collapsing in slow motion, there's actual variation in the vocal style (including some outraged shouting that reminded me of Nergal in Behemoth) and parts that go all-out in one direction or the other. The doom side is saturated with bitter melody, and the death metal side roars in with thundering force like a second personality that simply won't accept whatever injustice has been done without venting the totality of its pent up rage. There are sections throughout that overstay their welcome slightly, but for the most part this is a captivating listen.
Highlight: "Landsickness"
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