Mini Reviews From Around The Bowl (10/02/2025)
Fun-sized reviews
The Acacia Strain – You Are Safe From God Here
Rise Records | October 24, 2025
It’s been two whole years since the last time we heard from The Acacia Strain, but now they’re coming back and they have a real heater of an album getting ready to drop in a little over a month from now. YOU ARE SAFE FROM GOD HERE is their newest full length LP and it’s every bit as brutal and disgusting as you’d want it to be. 10 brand new tracks hot off the presses spanning roughly 40 minutes, and every one of them is perfectly crafted to bang your head to.
They do not hold back with this album, you would expect a first track with the title Eucharist I: BURNT OFFERING to be a slow intro track but you’d be dead wrong. It immediately slaps you in the face with blast beats, guttural vocals, and pinch harmonics. The same applies for the rest of the tracks on this record, white knuckle insanity with a taste for blood. Constant screaming, constant distorted guitar riffs and stomping beats perfect to groove out too. I don’t want to spoil too much considering this record releases over a month from now, but if you like deathcore and want new music to get into, this album needs to be on your radar, it will not disappoint you. – Gage
Slow Crush – Thirst
Pure Noise Records | August 29, 2025
From Belgium, Slow Crush have been one of the newer standout acts in executing a modern take on shoegaze. Their third outing, Thirst is no exception and feels like they’ve elevated even further after two really good albums already in the bag. The band does an exceptional job in mixing elements from other genres that makes their sound dreamy, noisy, poppy and grunge at the same time. This makes for a unique shoegaze sound while still respecting the fundamentals of the genre. There are some really nice curveballs on this album too like the use of the saxophone in “Covet” that finishes off that track in style. Another curveball is the use of harsh vocals in a couple songs like “Hollow” and the closing track “Hlýtt” that adds a heavier element that you didn’t expect. The drumming on this album is also a standout where you have some chaotic moments in that department in tracks such as “Leap” for example. The dream-pop vocals from Isa Holliday blended in with the guitars that deliver the noisy & grunge tone makes for an ethereal journey that you can just zone out and chill through. – Stevo
Scalding – Nuclear Winter Spell
Self-Released | October 3, 2025
Black metal is a style that’s like comfort food for me, despite the myriad of sketch bullshit, when you find a cool band with good music it makes the swimming through bullshit worth it, and that’s certainly the case for Scalding from Vancouver, Canada. Their sophomore record Nuclear Winter Spell is as classic and furious black metal as it gets, and with the inclusion of drummer extraordinaire Kevin Emms (The Hallowed Catharsis) the band can clearly double down on the intensity, but this record’s greatest strength is how the band incorporate classic rock harmonics to enhance the brutality; particularly through the soloing of lead guitarist Anthony Sirianni and especially the forceful bass work of Jon Maheswaran. The record distills classicism and displays some great musicianship to boot for a solid and powerful package, an easy recommendation for any fan of black metal. – Falxifer
JawTrap – Hellscape
Independent | September 12, 2025
Thematically and musically built on a very solid and unmistakable foundation of grind-, fast-, and hardcore, this debut nonetheless takes many a surprising turn, showing that the sole musician behind most of it has plenty of experience with different genres. Cleverly using said foundation as a jumping-off point, he builds some pretty eloquent songs that freely dip into post-hardcore, screamo, and progressive (by grind standards) territory, most notably so on back-to-back bummers “Black Grunge” and “Prophets of Profit.” Even when sticking to its more straightforward roots though, an interesting arrangement or riff waits on almost every corner, such as on “Who Would Jesus Bomb” and “Deicide,” helping the record to stand out in a genre that sometimes struggles to present listeners with anything beyond sheer brutality. Several guest vocalists from the local Danish scene further help to make this a strong contestant for most versatile grind album of the year. – Hans
