Weekly Digest, Week 38 / 2025

It's business as usual in the underground, getting strong thrash, death, sludge and heavy metal representation, with albums from Mortal Scepter, Heruvim, Helstar, Motherless and Unaligned.

A few things you don't want to miss among the big names as well:

Between The Buried And Me – The Blue Nowhere

Demon Hunter – There Was a Light Here

Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Innern

Lorna Shore – I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me

Not Enough Space – Weaponize Your Rage

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Mortal Scepter – Ethereal Dominance

Genre: Blackened thrash metal

Subjective rating: 4.5/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: France

If you're looking for the opposite of bombastic, thickly layered and overproduced, then this will scour your palate clean from fluff in a heartbeat. French thrash isn't exactly something you stumble across every day, but here it is, and it's in a very Spanish mood. Meaning that it hurls itself at you at breakneck pace, brimming with enthusiasm and lacking any intention of letting up. But while it's clearly not some cerebral or deeply conceptual thing, it's also not completely straightforward. There's an air of prestige, and a tendency of wanting to flesh things out beyond the dagger-storm of riffs and hyperactive drums. There's darkness, but in that cosmic, uncaring universe sort of way rather than demonic, and it's not without a sense of adventure. It's accompanied by very fitting, barking vocals, and offers technical showmanship in spades while keeping it solidly integrated in the song structures, so it's not flow-breaking or in your face. I never stopped enjoying myself, and if you're a thrash fan I don't think you will either.

Highlights: "Ethereal Dominance" and "Into the Wolves Den"

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Heruvim – Mercator

Genre: Death metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Ukraine

Here's a Ukrainian debut old school death metal album that sounds like it's traveled all the way from the late 80s and picked up traits from some of the more influential bands along the way. Beginning with that mildly progressive Death technicality, and then adding to it with some early Swedish groove, and then coating it all in a very light layer of grime. It's a sound that knows how to get you going, but also sets higher goals for itself, like this is the start of building its own little world where it has total control, and can subject you to whatever it so desires. For now, the world is quite small, but radiates all the charm it needs to pull you in and keep you there, and once you're in you're completely enveloped. I get the feeling that when this evolves, it'll take a turn for the uglier... which is exactly what you want. And it might very well be magnificent.  

Highlights" "Gnosis" and "Mercator"

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Helstar – The Devil's Masquerade

Genre: Heavy/speed metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

Try to imagine Judas Priest falling head over heels in love with the sound of Merciful Fate, but deciding that it needs to be faster and thrashier. This album might very well have been the result. I'm tempted to call it occult, guitar-happy power metal. It's lofty, but instrumentally very direct, jumping straight into racing riffs and licks the moment the short intro track is over, and clearly realizing that the target audience will be happy with them keeping this up till the end. You do get tempo variation, but the guys don't slow down for long, and only at a point in the runtime when even the most riff-starved listener will be good and satisfied. I would say that it's an album you remember as a whole rather than for a set out outstanding tracks, and it's not in any way revolutionary, but it's committed, and above all else highly entertaining.

Highlight: "Seek Out Your Sins"

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Motherless – Do You Feel Safe?

Genre: Sludge/doom metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

Deep, crushing riffs and sharp, strained-throat vocals with heavy hardcore rhythms and dark doom groove is the recipe for this Chicago sludge project. It feels raw and coarse, but at the same time well-rounded and with plenty of low-end stopping power. You don't feel like you've been miles away coming out the other side, more like spending some quality time in a closed-down, restricted area where everything takes on the same, distinct, overwhelming flavor. Despite its heft, it moves well and has the energy to get your heart going, not getting lost in exaggerated use of noise, miserable tonality or oppressive atmosphere.

Highlight: "Reptile Dysfunction"

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Unaligned – A Form Beyond

Genre: Technical/progressive death metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

A lot of tech death debuts that I've listened to are typically preoccupied with instrumental precision, speed and complexity above all - including any sort of artistic traits that might imprint a bit of personality. I understand why they do this though. A tech death album simply can't be sloppy. Unaligned must therefore be patient enough to have honed their sound over long enough time, or simply talented enough to hit the ground running, all guns out and with a clear plan in mind. I won't say that they avoid bringing to mind a good number of their peers, but "A Form Beyond" is neither trying too hard nor lacking in terms of craftsmanship. The technicality has been utilized in enabling a moderately progressive approach to structure, and this has been executed tastefully. It's not a wild album, but it's certainly dynamic. Aggressive yet melodic, and avoiding an impressive number of tropes, it's not instantly memorable, but will grow on you, and oozes potential.

Highlight: "Ruins of Lunacy"