Weekly Spotlight, Week 15 / 2025

Precision, technicality and aggression are standout elements on this week's releases by Warfield, Fractal Universe, Tómarum, Frantic Amber and Zeolite. 

Warfield – With The Old Breed

Genre: Thrash metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Germany

German band Warfield serves up impressively consistent, mean-tempered, battlefield-thrash that's both bitingly ferocious and heavy on the shreddy groove. Immediately establishing a malicious tone and a headstrong, impatient approach to song progression, the guys deliver on this promise on track after track. Sure, not every single one is as memorable, but the reckless attitude, fronted by the snarling vocals, is infectious, and never lets up, ensuring a visceral feel even when they slow down to a mid-tempo trot. Tight drum work and a nice, punchy bass make for an excellent counterpart to the slicing guitars, filling out the sound and adding to the impact. At times perhaps feeling a tad too controlled, the utter devotion to the riff, the dark tone, gang-vocals and bared-teeth aggression make this thrash to the bone. 

Highlights: "Appetitive Aggression" and "Inhibition Atrophy"

---

Fractal Universe – The Great Filters

Genre: Progressive metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: France

While their style is still easily recognizable, it seems like these French proggers are making a genuine attempt at diversifying their sound on this, their fourth full-length. They've been melodic and able to switch effectively between gentle and harsh before, but their technical, aggressive core has for the most part held the upper hand. This time around, the death metal elements are more scaled back, in favor of really exploring and expanding on the atmosphere. It's a move that heavily relies on the band's ability to write strong, memorable melodies and engaging mid-to-low tempo rhythms, and while certainly not bad, it's still not their strongest suit. The heavy progressive work that remains has its ups and downs - both bold, attention-stealing innovation as well as fairly recognizable, odd-timed rhythms that feel like prog for prog's sake. Still, the saxophone is well integrated, and it's a step in a much more well-rounded direction. 

Highlights: "Casualty's Grip" and "Dissecting the Real"

---

Tómarúm – Beyond Obsidian Euphoria

Genre: Progressive black/death metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: USA

If you like your extreme prog metal busy, then this is absolutely for you. At 1 hour 8 minutes, this is a mammoth of an album. In true aggressive, technical prog fashion, it goes for the throat in a myriad of different ways, and loves to delve into adventurous, melodic tangents both energetic and dreamy. It's with these vivid melodic sections that they really win me over, although by contrast, some of the more aggressive, frantic rushes feel overdone and jumbled to me, often employing disharmony to boost the feeling of alienating hostility. There is a lot to take in over the course of the album, almost like you're getting two albums worth of material. It's complex and technically brilliant, certainly a bit nerdy and show-off-y and not quite going the direction I would have liked following 2022's more measured "Ash in Realms of Stone Icons". But it's a massive, content-rich effort that manages to blend in both darkness and brutality in an impactful way.

Highlights: "Shed This Erroneous Skin" and "The Final Pursuit of Light"

---

Frantic Amber – Death Becomes Her

Genre: Melodic death metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Sweden

I first discovered all-female melodeath band Frantic Amber with their sophomore release "Bellatrix" back in 2019, and found their aggressive-epic approach to slot satisfyingly in between melodic heavyweights like Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth and more savage, sharp-edged bands like Goatwhore and Crypta. This is still true six years later, and "Death Becomes Her" is a more even, focused effort that's technically a significant step up. But it's also more revealingly on a tipping point between straight-up catchiness and cut-throat viciousness, not quite always getting the balance right. Still, it's got a number of distinct highlights that are evenly spread throughout, making for an engaging listen that should further elevate the band.

Highlight: "Hell's Belle"

---

Zeolite – L'Appel Du Vide

Genre: Technical/brutal death metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Australia

Eschewing most of the symphonic elements of their debut, 2021's "Proselytism", Zeolite still deliver big on over-the-top heaviness and precision. It's also still a dark, menacing sound, in the typically unsubtle kind of way that usually goes with modern, brutal death metal, but it's a bit more raw and sharpened this time around. The utter abandon of no-holds-barred, brain-shaking aural devastation of its predecessor has been reigned in somewhat, which is a bit of a shame. "L'appel Du Vide" is more mature, more focused in purpose, and sounds more genuinely ominous. The apocalyptic, slamming delivery certainly hasn't been abandoned though, and while a bit of the fun is lost, the contrasts are greater, making for a more dynamic listening experience.  

Highlight: "Impetus"