Weekly Spotlight, Week 11 / 2025
- Thomas
- Mar 12
- 4 min read
This week we get lots of great prog, with a side of death-, sludge and classic metal, from Cryptosis, Sadist, Impurity, Dawn of Ouroboros, Christian Mistress and K L P S.
Cryptosis – Celestial Death
Genre: Progressive thrash/extreme metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: Netherlands
Among several other bands returning from a bit of a full-length drought this week, Cryptosis' four year gap is on the trivial side. And with this kind of a result, I'd say the wait is more than worth it. The band's style is vaguely technical, progressive thrash metal with a lot of attention spent on atmosphere, but also drawing heavily from an extreme wellspring somewhere between death- and black metal. The latter of the two is particularly well-represented on "Celestial Death", with plenty of tremolo, and an overall chilly tone to the melodies. It's the kind of progressive approach that isn't exhausting in its complexity, rather being preoccupied with moving the style in different directions away from the core, precisely so that you can't accurately label it, and instead accept it as something genuinely unique. The album strikes me as exceptionally well-considered, where the overall feel leaves a stronger mark than any individual highlights, of which I'd say there are only a few. But they're there, and the rest is still very high quality.
Highlights: "Reign of Infinite" and "In Between Realities"
Sadist – Something To Pierce
Genre: Progressive death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: Italy
This is one to jump on if you want your death metal to challenge you, but are tired of the surgical technicality of the modern stuff. Sadist plays it murky and whacky, and doesn't go overboard with the complexity. It's not exactly melodic, but there's groove, and there's spacey atmosphere. You won't find any harsh dissonance on here, but that doesn't mean it's not aggressive. It's an easily distracted kind of sound that constantly goes on tangents, be it alternating rhythms or portions of ambience, as if it can't really settle on what it deems the most interesting approach for that given moment. The good thing is that it all somehow fits really well together, and doesn't feel like simply a way to show off their instrumental skills. It's coherent, fun and old-school heavy.
Highlights: "The Best Part is the Brain" and "Deprived"
Impurity – The Eternal Sleep
Genre: Death metal
Subjective rating: 4/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Country of origin: Sweden
A Swedish bunch diving head first into the country's old school death metal traditions and nailing the sound right out of the gate. Once they get going, it's an all guns blazing kind of affair, with racing drums and ripping riffs almost stumbling over each other in their eagerness. There's a bit of jankiness, with the performances feeling fairly raw, but if you, like me, absolutely dig this kind of stuff, then you'll forgive them for it in a heartbeat and probably find that it actually suits the style rather well. It sounds like it comes from a place of being perfectly in tune with the subgenre. It's not terribly inventive, but makes up for it with good tempo variation, some tasteful horror atmosphere and restrained folk-derived melody, and a couple of instrumental tracks that don't overstay their welcome.
Highlight: "Ancient Remains" and "Life of Horrors"
Dawn Of Ouroboros – Bioluminescence
Genre: Progressive metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 4/5
Country of origin: USA
Trying to nail down a concise label for this, outside simply "progressive", is a bit of a fool's errand, as it doesn't lean steadily enough in any one direction for that to be defining. There is black harshness, death heaviness, metalcore versatility and melodic styles from everything from doom to dream pop. It's also got a very jazz-like approach to certain structures. As you can probably gather, this is an album of big contrasts and a restless, near-experimental progression. It never feels random, but it's definitely unpredictable, and if you are not a fan of any one of the stylistic influences, chances are you simply won't like the album in total. It's markedly technical, but doesn't get hung up on its own cleverness. It's simply too impatient for that. The vocals range from mild whispers to raspy roars, and deliver solidly in every style. All in all it's a rich and daring release that demands quite a bit of its listener, and rewards in equal measure.
Highlights: "Nebulae" and "Poseidon's Hymn"
Christian Mistress – Children Of The Earth
Genre: Heavy metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Country of origin: USA
Ten years have passed since their last album, and Christian Mistress returns sounding hungry and vital. And retro, let's not forget retro. The style for each song sounds very determined from the start, like they're gonna run the course as if on train tracks, but they break it up with playful instrumental flourishes. The guitar solos in particular are downright delicious. The vocals add a light layer of doom and gloom upon an otherwise fairly straightforward rock 'n' roll-based classic metal core, and greatly help making the overall sound distinct. They go intentionally off-key at certain points, which really isn't for me, but it fits, and becomes less noticeable the longer you listen to it. A strong, if not superbly outstanding release on the thriving classic metal revival scene.
Highlight: "City of Gold"
K L P S – K L P S
Genre: Sludge metal
Subjective rating: 3.5/5
Objective rating: 3.5/5
Country of origin: Sweden
K L P S (previously Kollaps\e) delivers harsh, heavy sludge on their self-titled release, going dark places but not letting the gloom and bitterness sink in and poison the very core of the music. There's a contemplative, cautiously constructive quality to the restrained melodies that play in the more mellow sections of the album. It's still fairly doomy and a tad melancholy, but it feels like a vital piece to let you know that the thing hasn't fully surrendered to bleakness. The tempo varies, but seems most comfortable at mid- to low speed, where it's all about the message, and the outbursts of aggression are more like a way to vent negativity. It's an album you need to take your time with, and not one that will give you energy, but it can surely be quite cathartic.
Highlight: "UNDERTOW"
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