Weekly Digest, Week 13 / 2025

This week brings a litter of releases most comfortable in the shadows, from Tower, Dissocia, Katla and Throne.

Tower – Let There Be Dark

Genre: Heavy metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: USA

Keep feeding me doom-flavored heavy metal, and I'll generally be happy, although sometimes the bands tend to lean a bit too heavily on the superficial elements of the two styles. This is not an issue on the latest release by Tower. The powerful vocals perfectly balance extravagance with a tasteful solemnness, and even though the instruments are plenty playful, there's a hint of melancholy attached to the melodies that prevent it all from sounding flippant. What might be the most impressive part of the album is that the band manages to craft slow, ballad-like tunes that are, if anything, even more captivating than the high-energy, galloping, solo-tastic tracks. As a result, while I could have wished for a bit more umph from the production, this is a super dynamic, engaging listen that delivers a great balance between classic, guitar-driven fun and straight-faced, on-theme commitment.

Highlights: "Book of the Hidden" and "Let There Be Dark"

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Dissocia – To Lift The Veil

Genre: Progressive metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Spain

This is the kind of prog metal where you just have to dive in head first and hope for the best. It's all consuming, in that it's intricate, at times ferociously aggressive, and also dream-inducingly atmospheric. The vocals and instrumentation both manage several different iterations of, and in between, clean and harsh, and does so very proficiently. It's a mildly blackened affair, with a lot of the melodic elements performed with a synthwave approach, making for a sound that exists in a twilight area between deeper darkness and a realm of swirling, vibrant impressions. It's suitably wild and unpredictable, but not chaotic. There's a current pulling you through, pausing and accelerating at carefully considered moments. At times you might find your mind wandering as the music is more methodical or aloof than it is captivating. But as a "serious" dark, modern and spacey prog effort, it manages to stand out, courtesy of great songwriting.

Highlight: "Samsara"

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Katla – Scandinavian Pain

Genre: Sludge/doom metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Denmark

This is a coarse, sludge-heavy, and slightly odd doom metal project from Denmark. Most of the time it's completely zoned in on being a colossal, snarling beast of heavy riffs and light-culling tone. And then they go "Hey! Here's a six and a half minute spoken-word story accompanied by some gently acoustic tunes." And then it's back to the punishment. If this sounds like your kind of weirdness, then rest assured you're in for quality all the way through. It's got the directness of hardcore, with black metal bitterness and an understanding for how to expand the sound with a bit of subtle atmosphere. 

Highlight: "Taurus"

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Throne – That Who Sat Upon Him, Was Death

Genre: Death/black metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

Blackened death metal usually works best in a crushing, mid-tempo iteration with lots of unpleasant atmosphere, but this gang is successfully putting a more contemporary, technical spin on it. Based on modern brutal death metal, it delivers a precise, hammering assault of drums and riffs like weaponized hellfire. The tone is in large part what saves it from becoming too clinical. The guitars are ripping, and there is actual, evil energy at play. Also, the song structures don't just take you down the expected path of ping-snares and slamming breakdowns, While I wouldn't describe them as super dynamic, the songs usually explore a few different rhythmic avenues on their way, and for the most part there's a drive like a predatory hunger that mercilessly pulls you along.

Highlight: "Blasphemous Perversion"