Weekly Spotlight, Week 16 / 2025

A week touched by melody, but no less heavy, with releases by Blood Abscission, Imperishable, Cytotoxin and Idle Heirs.

Aside from my spotlight picks, this week's releases also include:

Elvenking - Reader of the Runes - Luna

Epica - Aspiral

In the Woods... - Otra

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Blood Abscission – II

Genre: Atmospheric black metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Unknown

With a name like Blood Abscission you'd probably expect more vivid album and track naming, but no. Maybe it's on purpose then, as a way of subverting expectations, that the tracks are simply roman numerals, with the album title/numeral as a prefix. In any case, this is a synthetic-melodic, highly atmospheric black metal project. Very importantly, it doesn't get lost in its distant wanderings, staying on course and getting both exultant and in an uproar at times. The hoarse-roar vocals are pushed way back in the mix, as is the bass, so they're definitely contributing but feel quite blunt and soft. The lead guitar, cymbals and synth are much more distinct, and effectively chart the course. It's cold, dark and cynical, but not overly hostile or sharp. The melodies carry faint elements of western tunes at times, as well as a bit of epic folk and doom, but it's all suitably delicate, and doesn't color the whole as going in any particular of those directions. It's very well composed, not too long at just over 41 minutes, and surprisingly engaging for something this fluid. 

Highlights: "I I - I I" and "I I - V"

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Imperishable – Swallowing The World

Genre: Melodic death metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Sweden

If I say "old school melodic death metal", the well versed listener will form certain, fairly rigid expectations. A return to the "Gothenburg sound". This is that, AND a bit more, which makes a significant difference. It's heavily infused with Death era old school tech death as well, which means that, compared to the old Swedish classics, it's really rather restless. It's busy, but not overly so, and not in the modern, slightly artificial way. It's more like taking the basic, raw, evil formula and shaking it up a bit. It feels almost hyperactive in nature, like it keeps changing its mind about which path to take, but retaining the same tone and attitude throughout. I'm not saying it's the most meticulously planned out thing ever, and I am missing a bit of crunchy heaviness, but it's a refreshing change and something that might open a whole new avenue for OSDM.

Highlights: "Blood to Bleed" and "Cenotaph of Dreams"

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Cytotoxin – Biographyte

Genre: Technical death metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Germany

Cytotoxin is a German, brutal-styled tech death project that themes their music around nuclear disaster, more specifically the Chernobyl catastrophe. You might think you're in for a near-unlistenable mass of incessant bass drum pounding, sink drain vocals and spasmic-city-sized-steam-roller riffs. But while you get most of those things (the vocals are actually borderline understandable), they are served out with an insane level of control and actual bit of restraint, cramming in huge amounts of groove instead, as well as a good deal of guitar solo melody. It's busy, yes, but manageable, and with the added dynamism, it actually hits quite hard.

Highlight: "Condemnesia"

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Idle Heirs – Life Is Violence

Genre: Atmospheric sludge metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

I hope you're into long, gentle buildups and big contrasts, cause that's what this album is all about. It's a mix of sludge, atmospheric doom and folk-like rock, with a heavy, driving low end and vocals that go all the way from soft, melodic shoegaze to rusty, roaring gutturals. It's mildly melancholic in tone throughout, which is counteracted by snappy drum work and turns into both melodic beauty and ugly, dissonant crashes of heaviness. All in all, they do take their sweet time a tad too often, prolonging the experience beyond the strictly necessary. But it's also very well composed, so not something you at any point really want to stop coming out of your speakers.

Highlight: "Rare Bird"