Next month we’ll all get to hear Run, Run Pure Beauty, Luxembourg-based Jana Bahrich’s latest album as Francis Of Delirium. She’s already shared “Little Black Dress” and “It’s A Beautiful Life,” and today she’s back with “Requiem For A Dying Day.” The song’s a mournful ballad that reminds me of Cat Power or the ballads…
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Reviewed by Sam Jones
Ah yes, Swedish death metal. If there’s ever one nation to boast a great plethora and variety in death metal, its Sweden. Whether its chunky, racing, buzzsaw-toned, volatile or simply by the numbers, Sweden has graced us with scores of quality acts with Xorsist being no exception. Born out of Stockholm in 2020, the band rapidly unleashed their first self-titled Single a year later and soon reinforced that eponymous release with their debut studio album, 2022’s Deadly Possession. Then you had their second record, At The Somber Steps Of Eternity, which I also reviewed prior to release, citing the band’s Dismember influence and shredding buzzsaw tone; this record saw the band’s first signing to a label, in this instance Prosthetic Records. But with a new album finally en route, a change in guitarist, altered logo and a signing on with Hammerheart Records, could Aberrations be a new step for the band? Upon the surface its difficult to discern but come April 24th everyone shall have an answer to that question.
From the outset Xorsist demonstrate they’re not here to waste your time, as if the last three years was merely an inconvenience preventing them from tearing your head off. With rapturous feedback and the foretelling of unrepentant slaughter the band kick off with all cylinders firing and there’s little suggesting their attack shall, for any moment, begin subsiding. Curiously the buzzsaw element I found prevalent on their last record has been replaced with something much thicker and indicative of blunt-force impact. There are hints towards a buzzsaw tone in the background but it’s faint albeit now serving to amplify Xorsist’s ravenous momentum, for the band have leaned towards a more despicable, blood-crazed approach with their songwriting.
The resulting alteration in guitar tone, impacting how the record feels, shows also a different approach in production. Aberrations feels much bigger than the band’s previous releases, everything seems to have been juiced up several times over. Their rampant performance, their disdain towards respite theirs or your own, consumes the record’s interior size as the band fill every absent space and nook veritable for breathing with gardens concrete; as you’re thrown wall to wall and back bones are shattered and necks fraught with whiplash. While Xorsist have been a force in Swedish death metal for a few years now, I think they’ve truly come into their own with this release.
I love how natural the frantic energy feels off the drumming. It doesn’t feel like the drums simply set the pace for the band, this is how they have to be on such a record for naught else would do. While there is necessary variation in the drumming, you really feel that injection of heightened animalism as blast beats are brought to the fray sending the band from primal vigour into pure and rabid malice. Furthermore these drums aren’t taut, one can hear the bounce upon which the drum sticks conjure when strikes occur. It helps impart that naturalised drumming sound aiding them rise above the din of vocals and riffs so there’s a great chance the audience won’t miss a thing during their time here.
While the band establish themselves as a more bludgeoning, bone breaking act now I appreciate their insistence on possessing a slew of tracks where their individual lengths are genuinely varied. You’ll have some five and six minute pieces before a single minute piece coms along, succeeded by something longer and then something shorter. It’s why Aberrations possesses this ease of accessibility, not because it’s easy to listen to knowing the virulence of their songwriting, but because there’s no point where one needs to think about listening to them perform. Like breathing you’ll enjoy Aberrations for all that’s waiting for you without recognising you’re actively doing so. It gives you leniency knowing you can return to Aberrations with the fullest confidence it rewards repeat visits and perhaps they’ll be something else picked up that was missed last time.
In conclusion, Aberrations finds Xorsist in perhaps the best position of their career, with a changed approach to death metal baring the hallmarks of their nation’s influences whilst pushing forth their own identity with a firmer hand. I think there’s more to enjoy here too, not that they haven’t been entertaining beforehand but they seem far more assured of themselves now and a lot more confident in the songwriting they’re championing. It’s harder hitting and yet manages to weigh out that added strength with track variations that feel natural to the band’s performance. It’s not the same four and five minute pieces repeated ten times over, there’s legitimate diversity in what Xorsist have on display. If this is Xorsist’s road I’ll happily join them on it.
The post Album Review: Xorsist – Aberrations appeared first on The Razor's Edge.
(written by Islander) For those of us who were electrified and bewitched by Cnoc An Tursa’s first two albums, The Giants of Auld (2013) and The Forty Five (2017), the wait for something more from these Scots has brought its fair share of woe, because the wait has been so long. But even though it’s […]
The post AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CNOC AN TURSA — “A CRY FOR THE SLAIN” appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.
Here in the hall, we have a tradition called “Squatter’s Rights”. This ensures that if you had the fortune to review something good, you get first dibs on that band’s next release; it also helps prevent the staff from mass-slaughtering each other when trying to see who gets to cover bigger names. Impossibly long-running “Little Engine That Would” outfit Six Feet Under are a remarkable inversion of that rule as the only “big” name where the opposite is true. Rapidly passed about like a blunt when the cops roll up, their last seven albums reviewed here have been through no less than five writers, and now their newest “opus” has fallen to me.1 Previous album Killing for Revenge had the inimitable Iceberg shower the band with praise enough to justify upping their classification from embarrassing to “merely” bad, which is, at least, an improvement in the most scientific sense of the word. Can Barnes and the Boys keep this upward trajectory?
That Next to Die suffers from self-sabotaging of good ideas is no surprise; what may be surprising is how many good ideas there are to sabotage. Against all odds and seemingly with the sole purpose of ruining entertaining writing, Six Feet Under has managed to assemble an album I find very difficult to outright hate. From a collection of fun, tasteful solos (“Destroyed Remains”, “Next to Die”) to grooves and riffs which manage to carry a whiff of old-school authenticity without devolving completely into boneheaded ignorance (“Mutilated Corpse in the Woods”), Next to Die is mostly barren of the rage-triggering flaws of olde. There are moments in here to get my toes tapping and noggin’ joggin’, with high-energy Obituary-isms and riffs that recall the stench of the oldest of old school death.
For the most part, Chris Barnes has managed to get out of his own way, discovering high-brow concepts like hot tea and honey between takes and maybe not smoking all the time. The utter ghastliness of Nightmares of the Decomposed has been mercifully abandoned, as he turns in a performance which manages to straddle a sweet spot between The Bleeding and Butchered at Birth, albeit more sun-bleached and war-torn. True, the more open spaces do him no favors when he tries to fill them with sustained growls, and from time to time, he still sounds like he’s struggling with his pacing (“Grasped From Beyond”, “Wrath and Terror Takes Command”), but he doesn’t sound like he’s trying to talk through a tight and possibly fuzzy leather belt anymore. He’s brought a smidgen more tonal range this go-round, digging deeper for some extra lows in “Skin Coffins” and squeezing out the last drops of juice from his throat in the high-belted chorus of “Ill Wishes”. While it’s only taken a decade or three, Barnes can’t be considered the defining weak link of his band anymore.
Instead, everyone gets to have a hand in things!2 Drummer Marco Pitruzzella often zigs when he should zag, with bizarre drum arrangements and surprisingly minimal beats (“Unmistakable Smell of Death”, “Mind Hell”) which turn into real momentum killers. Some artistic ideas can’t stick the landing, like the aforementioned “Ill Wishes,” which swings for a real album climax in presentation but is ruined by Barnes licking my ears with wildly moist ASMR verses,3 and album kickoff “Approach Your Grave” tries to return death metal to its horror roots with a nifty curtain-raising styled riff that takes two and a half minutes too long to get to the point. Then there’s the paradox of the album: “Mister Blood and Guts.” Musically speaking, this is the crown jewel, with a curb stomping, pit igniting, grin-inducing wad of chug-heavy fun in the chorus, as long as you try not to think too hard about how the lyrics sound like they were written by Sid from Toy Story. Really, that’s the album in a nutshell: there’s some unexpected joy in here, but the sense of relief you feel as the average and mediocre lifts its head is palpable.
“Stand tall, score it appropriately.” That’s what my Freezer Brother Tyme said. Well, I have, and frankly, I’m angry about it. This was not the dumpster fire I was looking forward to. It is not irredeemable, it is not atrocious, and it is not appallingly terrible. It is instead a cumulative result of a surprising amount of good ideas, riddled with enough flaws and imperfections to drag the final product down to average. Many bands would find that devastating. For Six Feet Under, it is a crowning accomplishment, a continuation of their upward trajectory from the unforgivable to the merely appallingly milquetoast.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: April 24th, 2026
The post Six Feet Under – Next to Die Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.
Back in the days of pre-enshittified Tumblr, there was a blog called Pop Culture Died In 2009. The now-dormant account, run by blogger Matt James, dug into his mom’s back issues of Star Magazine and the remnants of Web 1.0 gossip sites on the Internet Archive to surface old tabloid covers, ill-begotten paparazzi shots, and other quietly forgotten but deeply influential ephemera of 2000s pop culture. Like many Tumblr blogs, it had a hyperspecific audience: everyone who can conjure, from memory, one specific tabloid photo of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan together in a car.
The post <em>WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA</em>, Best Album For The Moment: Why Slayyyter’s Breaking Through After A Decade Of Trying appeared first on Stereogum.
Swedish doom metal titans Monolord are going to release their next album Neverending on May 29 via Relapse Records, so of course they released a new single to keep folks hyped up. And as you’d expect, this new track titled “Oozing Wound” is a fuzzy, heavy, and at times ethereal.
Speaking of the track, vocalist/guitarist Thomas Jäger said “Oozing Wound” marks a major change for the band, as it’s the first time they’ve tuned wayyy down for maximum heavy.
“It’s the first song we’ve done in a drop tuning. We usually play in B, but ‘Oozing Wound,’ ‘You Bastard,’ and ‘It’s Neverending’ are all drop A. Except for one part, ‘Oozing Wound’ is almost the same riff all the way through. It’s repetitive, but we do different stuff with it, like remove the guitar and have just bass and drums in parts and then remove rhythm guitar when I play the solo melody. The lyrics are about being stuck on a bad road, feeling trapped with someone who takes advantage of you.”
The song itself is almost seven minutes of pure doom metal. If you like your metal like you like your barbecue (cooking low and slow, that is), then this jam is just for you.
Neverending will be released on May 29 via Relapse Records, but you can preorder your copy today.
Monolord also have an assload of tour dates set for the rest of the year. If you want to catch Monolord live, be sure to check out the list of dates below. Chances are they’ll be coming to your town (or at least be in your vicinity) pretty soon.
Neverending tracklisting:
*-features vocals by Jörgen Sandström (ex-Entombed)
Monolord U.S. tour dates:
Mizmor opens on all Western U.S. dates
June 11 San Diego, CA Casbah
June 12 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst
June 13 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
June 14 Sacramento, CA Harlow’s
June 16 Eugene, OR John Henry’s
June 17 Portland, OR Nova PDX
June 18 Seattle, WA Substation
June 19 Bellingham, WA Structures Brewing
June 20 Tacoma, WA Airport Tavern Music Hall
June 23 Denver, CO Marquis Theater
June 24 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge
June 25 Las Vegas, NV Bizarre Bar
June 26 Pioneertown, CA Pappy & Harriet’s
June 27 Los Angeles, CA The Regent Theater
Khemmis opens on all Eastern U.S. dates
August 27 Chicago, IL Thalia Hall
August 28 Louisville, KY Portal
August 29 Atlanta, GA Garden Club
August 30 Asheville, NC Eulogy
August 31 Columbia, SC New Brookland Tavern
September 2 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts
September 3 Brooklyn, NY Elsewhere
September 5 Baltimore, MD Labor Daze
September 6 Cookeville, TN Muddy Roots Festival
September 8 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups
September 9 Detroit, MI Sanctuary
September 10 Indianapolis, IN Black Circle
European tour dates:
May 28 Malmö, SE Plan B
May 29 Stockholm, SE Slaktkyrkan
May 30 Gothenburg, SE Monument
July 30 Ghimbav, RO Rockstadt Extreme Festival
August 7 Kortrijk, BE Alcatraz Festival
October 6 Hamburg, DE Bahnhof Pauli
October 7 Haarlem, NL Patronaat
October 8 Eindhoven, NL Effenaar
October 9 Sint-Niklaas, BE De Casino
October 10 Paris, FR La Maroquinerie
October 11 Nantes, FR Le Ferrailleur
October 12 Toulouse, FR Le Rex
October 13 Lyon, FR Jack Jack
October 14 Aarau, CH KIFF
October 15 Munich, DE Backstage
October 16 Osnabrück, DE Bastard Club
October 17 Cologne, DE Gebäude 9
November 4 Copenhagen, DK Stengade
November 5 Berlin, DE Columbia Theater
November 6 Dresden, DE Beatpol
November 7 Warsaw, PL Hydrozagadka
November 8 Krakow, PL Hype Park
November 9 Brno, CZ Kabinet Múz
November 10 Budapest, HU Dürer Kert
November 11 Vienna, AT Arena
November 12 Zagreb, HR Vintage Industrial Bar
November 13 Milan, IT Legend
November 14 Bologna, IT FreakOut
November 15 Karlsruhe, DE P8
The post Monolord Release New Single “Oozing Wound” appeared first on MetalSucks.
The Curse Of Public Opinion is a really, really good album title. It would be a really, really good album title even if the band in question wasn’t called Public Opinion, and that might make it even better. If you’re not already familiar with Public Opinion, I would sincerely suggest that you change that. The…
The post Public Opinion Announce New Album <em>The Curse Of Public Opinion</em>: Hear “Balloon Man Running” appeared first on Stereogum.
Hitting the road with three decades of songwriting, storytelling, and sonic evolution behind them, Phoenix’s Little King spent this past March bringing their ‘Lente Viviente Tour‘ to stages across New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and even a surprise pop‑up show in Mexico. Now, the band is offering fans a deeper look behind the scenes. Little […]
The post Little King Posts New Studio Video ‘Keyboard Soldier’ + ‘Lente Viviente Tour’ Recap appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.