Here are some of our favorite releases from this past month.
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Witch Ripper – Through The Hourglass | Magnetic Eye Records (April 10)
I fuckin’ loved Witch Ripper’s last record, 2023’s The Flight After The Fall–it’s (still) one of my favorites of the decade—and somehow they’ve been able to create something equally stunning with their new LP, Through The Hourglass. Hell, even the sci-fi story is as gleefully batshit as its predecessor.
Hourglass is unabashedly burly and sludgy, but it’s also got hooks—“The Portal” has a chorus so catchy it could be a radio hit—and is filled with satisfying riffs that’ll bounce around in your head for days. And then there’s the band’s secret weapon, drummer Joe Eck, whose playing is roughly the middle ground between Brann Dailor and Justice-era Lars Ulrich, who spends the record putting on a clinic of tasteful flashiness.
OK, fine: I wasn’t ready for Through The Hourglass because I wasn’t sure it was possible to top, or even match, The Fall. And I’m happy to have been dead wrong. Lesson learned: don’t doubt this band.
–Steve Lampiris
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Astral Spectre – Cosmic Mirage | Independent (April 10)
Out of the paisley kitsch sands of time! Untapped since the 1970s, Astral Spectre casts spells from the tightly guarded, metallic Book of the Dead. The desiccated desert scripture coming forth from Cosmic Mirage (2026) is a menagerie of guitar blackened clash-to-melody smooth terror which die-hards of the 1970s will gladly appreciate. Cosmic Mirage is reminiscent of a darker, German Blue Öyster Cult—says the Blue Öyster Cult guy—but Astral Spectre is not a guttural ghost. Vocals here run diabolically cold and the composition is Sahara hot. Titles such as “Stardrifter,” “The Demon’s Offer,” and “Death of Osiris” speak of all the awful lore entombed within. No need to fret! This is an illusory cathedral of smoke, upon the Nile, full of organ and stylish clarinet. Lyrical ears should give themselves over to “The Witch’s Waltz” while the carnivorous can devour the lengthy, ritualistic “Death of Osiris.” One might want to start painting an Egyptian mural of sacred geometry on the side of their beater van after consumption. Cosmic Mirage is not enchanting, but it is a re-enchanting for anyone looking to pick up dynamic tunes out of time (“Chronomancer”) or out of the salivating jaws of Maat (“Dancing with Ghosts”).
–William Pauper
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Belexum – Belexum | Transylvanian Recordings (April 3)
If you’re looking for 20 minutes of all-killer-no-filler extreme metal, then Belexum’s self-titled EP should be on your list. Each track explodes with twisted imagination and riffcraft that keep you at the edge of your seat—or, more appropriately, dangling from the blood-soaked precipice on the cover. Opener “Master of Masks” and the eponymous closer use scorched black metal landscapes as backdrops for all manner of gnarled, daemonic dissonance. “Echoes of the Minds Collapse” unleashes a lurid death metal nightmare that hits first and poses questions about the nature of consciousness later, while the delightfully named “Fleshwagon of Bones and Teeth” is haunted by witchy cackles emanating from a cursed wood as chiming pinch harmonics toll your impending doom. If my scrying mirror is to be believed, Belexum has the potential to seize this fragile realm by force. Our days may be numbered…
–Alex Chan
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Immolation – Descent | Nuclear Blast Records (April 10)
Does Immolation have the best discography in death metal? If not outright, they are certainly in contention for that crown. The band emerges every few years with another exceptional album full of iconic riffs, and Descent is yet another high point in their catalogue. It’s not drastically different from any of their recent albums, but rather a further sharpening of the towering, menacing sound they’ve been working with for the last decade or so. Pounding drums, absurdly heavy incendiary riffs, and vocals that sound like an infernal blast furnace are here in plenty. The rage and contempt they bear for religion is palpable and it clearly fuels them to consistently greater heights.
–Kevin Zecchel
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Ice Howl – The Ledger of Timeless Watchers | Independent (April 24)
Power metal is often a bit of a pariah in metal circles. If you’re turned off by the overly flowery melodies of European metal bands, Ice Howl should set you right. They tread much closer to Painkiller-era Judas Priest than Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica. There are seriously chunky heavy metal riffs, and the songs are true fist-pumping anthems of steel, however, the star of the show is vocalist Zebah Latifi. Her pipes could go toe-to-toe (throat-to-throat?) with Rob Halford himself. She offers a truly astonishing performance with some of the best power screams you’ll ever hear. Overall, The Ledger of Timeless Watchers is an extraordinarily fun release and one of the best power metal albums to come out in the last few years.
–Kevin Zecchel
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Melvins & Napalm Death – Savage Imperial Death March | Ipecac Records (April 10)
Savage Imperial Death March is the result of a long-simmering Trans-Atlantic collaboration between two legendary extreme music pioneers/institutions: Melvins and Napalm Death. For years there had been a deep level of mutual respect and admiration between the two bands, which culminated in 2016’s seismic “Savage Imperial Death March” tour. This tour was so comfortable, so successful that the two units resurrected it once more for a nine-week campaign in 2025. As friendships solidified, talk of writing and recording music together increased until it became inevitable, necessary even. According to Napalm bassist Shane Embury, the “chance to make an album of eclectic musical madness with them was truly an honor and a whole lot of fun.” Melvin’s sovereign King Buzzo echoed that sentiment, adding: “We wrote songs together. It was truly a 50/50 partnership.”
I’m not one to disagree with kings and this record certainly does scan as an authentic collaboration, but I also think there’s a reason the Melvins are billed first. The evergreen heart of the Melvins: Buzzo (guitar/vocals) and Dale Crover (drums) were joined by Napalm soldiers: Embury, Barney Greenway (vocals) and John Cook (guitar) to craft original music that often veers slightly toward the Melvins side of the ledger. Not that that’s a bad thing or that Napalm’s contributions are minimal or unimpactful, to be clear.
Recorded in the Melvin’s L.A. studio, with Barney’s vocals tracked back in England, the mission, as Embury recalls, was “anything goes.” Nothing was off limits. One of the most apparent results of this ethos is the fairly significant presence of synths/electronics. Neither of which are quite as apparent in either band’s lengthy and influential discographies. Embury’s passion for electronics can be discerned in his recent Dark Sky Burial project, whereas if you reach back in time, you can cite the Melvins/Lustmord collaborations in the early aughts as possible antecedents or analogues to Savage Imperial Death March. The most obvious avatar of these additional textures is the instrumental “Comparison is the Thief of Joy,” a writhing, stuttering mass of electronics and unsettling ambient flourishes that Crover somehow manages to knit together with anarchic crashes and fills. Brooding clouds of electro ambience are also apparent on ‘Nine Days of Rain,” an overcast post-punk dirge that lazily channels Killing Joke. “Some Kind of Antichrist” features shiny bits and layers of Stylophone destruction mixed up with metallic riffs, industrialized percussion and a bewildering set of duelling vocals. Lead single “Tossing Coins into the Fountain of Fuck,” bursts forth with Barney roaring over twisting, dissonant riffs reminiscent of Napalm’s bizarro late 90’s quasi-noise rock era before strange glossy leads come out of nowhere. “Rip the God” features an ominous, pummeling bass line underpinning a standard-issue Melvins’ crawl that’s elevated only when Greenway abruptly storms in with damaged, demented growls and cyborgian screams. “Stealing Horses” manages to sound like Clutch and Capitol Records-era Jesus Lizard getting sloppy drunk together at some godforsaken AmRep Bash. It’s also probably the most effective intertwining of the Buzz/Barney dual vocal attack. “Awful Handwriting” is a truly bizarre, inscrutable slice of bouncy demonic electro core. “Death Hour” is another sick vocal counterpoint sitting atop big as a mountain riffage until the bottom falls out into a noisy cubist nonsense stew that ultimately quotes Van Halen.
Your album co-MVPs are Crover, who, against all odds, unfailingly gives these insanely disparate pieces a level of form and cohesion they probably don’t deserve, and Greenway, who adds a thunderous, gale-force intensity every time he appears. Ultimately, if you’ve been following and listening closely to these bands through the years, nothing on this record should surprise you. No matter what you imagine it sounds like going in, you will be beguiled, delighted, dismayed, annoyed, elated, aggravated, inspired, aggrieved…etc. But you shouldn’t be surprised. With regards to how fans may react to Savage Imperial Death March–take us home, Mr. Embury: “I hope they get some sort of reward in the sense that we were very free when we put it together.” Free at last. You’ve been warned.
–Dennis J. Seese
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