Weekly Digest, Week 34 / 2025

What's this? A weekly spotlight without death metal? Time to take a break from the morbidity with Fell Omen, King Yosef, Incite and Justice For The Damned.

If you still need you fix, the death metal's all in the big leagues this week: 

Baest – Colossal

Chevelle – Bright As Blasphemy

Grand Cadaver – The Rot Beneath (EP)

Unleashed – Fire Upon Your Lands

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Fell Omen – Caelid Dog Summer

Genre: Black/heavy metal/punk

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Greece

Talk about nailing a style! This stuff sounds like Kvelertak meets old school Darkthrone on speed, and with an even worse production. This is the kind of stuff where it hardly matters whether your speakers cost $10 or $1000  - it's the spirit of the music that matters. The origin is (naturally) a single individual in a suit of armor, clearly having the time of his life playing cellar-dungeon-darkness-meets-biker-tomfoolery punky, speedy black metal. There's nothing sinister about this, but the harshness plays a critical part as contrast to the silliness, and allows the gothic atmosphere to function as a theatrically ominous soundscape-shaper, rather than just a tacked-on, pretend-evil vibe. The music sounds like it belongs in some alternate, shadowy realm that only its creator can allow you to visit, and it's a privilege to have been invited.

Highlights: "The Fire Is Still Warm" and "Poise On Rune"

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King Yosef – Spire Of Fear

Genre: Industrial metal/hardcore

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

I'm not well versed in the dystopian realms of industrial metal, so King Yosef is complete news to me, but the fact that this project is now six albums deep becomes evident in the craftsmanship. It's a hostile, beat-heavy experience, but with a great deal of haunting, synthetic, noise-tinged atmosphere to go with it. It's got the heaviness and ferocious nature of metal, with the rhythm and structure mentality of hardcore and hip-hop. The energy takes a bit of a dip past the halfway point, with tracks starting out doomy and ethereal before getting their bite on far into the song. Apart from this there is much to like, with strong song identities and a consistent mood that has you feeling trapped in an eternal state of smoggy dusk, containing both beauty and horror, threats and opportunities.

Highlight: "Vi Coarctus" and "Lichen"

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Incite – Savage New Times

Genre: Groove/thrash metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

Incite are back with their seventh full-length, and a slight shift in style to go with it. It's still groove metal with strong thrash elements, but they've now gone in a harsher, leaner and more hardcore-oriented direction. The rhythms are a bit more start-stop, with some slightly clunky transitions here and there, which isn't great for the flow, but also veers away from the stereotypical. It has a few highlight tracks where they sound properly pissed off and ready for battle, but also some that either lack punching power or where the instrumental approach gets a bit repetitive. It reminds me of Kataklysm and early Machine Head, and sounds hungry and vital despite the experience behind the levers.

Highlight: "Just a Rat"

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Justice For The Damned – Stay Relentless

Genre: Hardcore/deathcore

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Australia

This is metallic hardcore going to war with a deathcore arsenal. Once you hear the first couple of songs you know pretty much exactly what you're gonna get for the rest of the 30 minute experience, and that's okay, cause even though it's all expected, the delivery is good at worst and exceptional at best. It's dry, throaty roars on top of jump-around rhythms and grim-toned, crunchy riffs, with plenty of chest-beating energy behind it. It rarely devolves into the generic, and stays loose and relevant throughout, managing an infectious combo of groove and hard-hitting, percussive aggression.

Highlight: "Built To Be Broken"