O Pallid Porcelain, O Odorous Onus, waft Thy gifts to nostrils near and fart. This week, we’ve got thorny devils, papal damnation, and Mike. Who ever thought bands would all want to release their albums on Halloween? That’s crazy. Anyways, there is a metric shit-ton of releases below, so get dredging. BOO! Spooked ya. Let us know what we missed in the comments!

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Hecktic – Unbeholden (Independent) [Death]

With Unbeholden, Hecktic joins the ranks of modern death metal stalwarts Hath and Atræ Bilis, melding dense production and songwriting with precise, demanding rhythms. While this mechanistic style is impressive at first blush, without the obvious flaws of humanity (read: emotions), it can all start to sound sterile and perfunctory. Thankfully, Unbeholden has a progressive edge, layering acoustic passages, jabs of dissonance, and Nevermore‘s bouncy grooves throughout its runtime. Tracks like “Vital to the Clockwork” and “In Sterquiliniis Invenitur” even flirt with the exuberant lead guitars of Arch Enemy—an unexpected ray of light in a genre known for presenting a dour face. The whole record is out today, so let me know what you think! -Roldy

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Absolon – In the Halls of Silence (No Life ’til Metal Records) [Heavy Metal]

Aephanemer – Utopie (Napalm Records) [Symphonic Melodeath]

Aquilla – Sentinels of New Dawn (High Roller Records) [Speed / Heavy Metal]

Archaic Thorn – Malicious Spears (High Roller Records) [Death]

Army of in Between – Might as Well Praise Dirt (Independent) [Industrial Black / Gothic Metal]

Avatar – Don’t Go in the Forest (Black Waltz Records) [Groove / Alt Metal]

Believe in Nothing – Rot (Church Road Records) [Sludge]

Black Bleeding – Blutwurst (Rotten to the Core Records) [Death]

Blackthorn – Hexsecratus (Independent) [Gothic Metal]

Blind Maniac – Car Trouble (Independent) [Crossover Thrash]

Bloody Moon – Lost & Damned (Inverse Records) [Symphonic Melodeath]

Burned in Effigy – Tyrannus Aeternum (Independent) [Melodeath]

Cemican – U k’u’uk’ankil Mayakaaj (M-Theory Audio) [Death / Groove / Folk Metal]

Chained to the Dead – Something Happened on the Way to Hell (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) [Death]

Chaos Perversion – The Judgment of Malkuth (Empyrean Collapse) [Blackened Death]

Circling Vultvre – Luminous Decay (Independent) [Blackened Doom / Post-Metal]

Creeper – Crushing (No Life ’til Metal Records) [Thrash / Groove Metal]

Crossover – Miserere (Sleaszy Rider Records) [Blackthrash]

DET – Destructive Elite Terror (Dying Victims Productions) [Blackened Speed]

Damned by the Pope – Blasphemy Perpetuated (Independent) [Death]

DannaH Project – Veneficus in Paradisum (Independent) [Post-Metal / Heavy Metal / Instrumental]

Defecto – Echoes of Isolation (Frontiers Records) [Prog Metal]

Demiurgus – Equilibrio (Awakening Records) [Deathrash]

Despised Icon – Shadow Work (Nuclear Blast Records) [Blackened Deathcore]

Doomsayer – The Illusion of Choice (Independent) [Blackened Death / Heavy Metal / Instrumental]

Dwelling Below – Wearisome Guardians (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Death/Doom]

Elenion – The Symphony of the Night (Independent) [Symphonic Power]

Embraced by Darkness – Ex Inferis (Non Serviam Records) [Black]

Empire Drowns – Endless Nights (Target Records) [Melodeath/Doom]

Erebus – Χάος | Chaos (Independent) [Meloblack]

Evil Beast – Summoning the Beast (Invasion of Solitude Records) [Speed / Thrash]

Face Scraper – Goat Smoker (Independent) [Sludge / Stoner Doom]

Flesia – Achterbahnekstase (Independent) [Black]

Germán Pascual – Beyond Our Comprehension (Roxx Records) [Heavy Metal]

Godchilla – Psionic Dreams (Independent) [Psychedelic Sludge]

Grave Ghoul – Gruesome and Macabre (Dismal Fate Records) [Death]

Harkon – Love and Vore (Doc Gator Records) [Prog Metal / Hard Rock]

Heretica – Veil of Eternal Dusk (Harsh Productions) [Post-Black]

Heteropsy – Embalming (Caligari Records) [Death/Doom]

Hexalter – Coronation in Chaos (Iron, Blood and Death Corporation) [Blackened Death]

Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin (Magnetic Eye Records) [Stoner Doom / Psych Rock]

Ice Howl – The Ledger of Timeless Watchers Pt. 1 (Independent) [Heavy Metal]

Incriminating Silence – Rite of Reflection (Independent) [Melodeath]

Inferisium – In Hell (Independent) [Death]

Infrahumano – Depths of Suffering (Lavadome Productions) [Death]

Kalkumakuñ – Furiyampai Mew (Chem no Rume) (Independent) [Blackened Deathrash]

Kesys/Tassi – Sky Asset 天道酬勤 (Duality Records) [Shoegaze / Electronic]

Miasmata – Subterrania (Naturmacht Productions) [Meloblack]

Misanthropic Might – Qualzucht (Independent) [Black]

Mägo de Oz – Malicia: La noche de las brujas (Warner Music Spain) [Heavy Metal / Folk Rock]

Nachtkreatur – Kreaturenkrankheit (Independent) [Black]

Nervous – Cruelty in Innocence (Independent) [Heavy Metal]

Nobody – No Light, No Life, No Salvation (Independent) [DSBM]

Nyrak – Phoenix Mortis (Void Wanderer Productions) [Symphonic Black]

On the Loose – Path to Serenity (Independent) [Doom]

One of Nine – Dawn of the Iron Shadow (Profound Lore Records) [Symphonic Black]

Oneironoia – The Great Resignation (Independent) [Death/Doom]

Orm – Guld (Indisciplinarian) [Black]

Outlaw – Opus Mortis (AOP Records) [Black]

Parasite – Indoctrination Rituals (Independent) [Thrash]

Pentakunt – The Kult of Kunt (Solitary Night Collective) [Raw/Lo-Fi Black]

Phyllomedusa – The Short Life of an Amphibian (Hypyractyv Larynx Frogquencies) [Gorenoise] [WARNING: LOUD!!!]

Pile of Knives – Driven by the Blade (Independent) [Death / Deathcore]

Pillory – Old Soul (Independent) [Deathrash]

Poodator – Avalanche (Independent) [Deathgrind]

Primitive Man – Observance (Relapse Records) [Sludge / Death/Doom / Noise]

Redshark – Sudden Impact (Listenable Records) [Speed / Heavy Metal]

Rogga Johansson – Dreaming the Otherwhere (Iron, Blood and Death Corporation) [Death]

Rottenness/SaintBreaker – Japan Tour Split 2025 (Independent) [Brutal Death / Deathrash]

Runemagick – Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms) (Hammerheart Records) [Death/Doom]

Saeva – I Hope You’ve Healed from All You Wouldn’t Say (Independent) [Prog Black / Post-Black]

Sarayasign – Shadows of the Dying Light (Black Lodge Records) [Heavy Metal / Hard Rock]

Satan’s Hammer – El despertar de Satán (Iron, Blood and Death Corporation) [Blackthrash]

Selfgod – Left Hand Pagan (Independent) [Death]

Shades of Deep Water – The Years on Borrowed Time (Meuse Music Records) [Funeral Doom]

Shivered – Chains (Independent) [Doom / Gothic Metal]

Sligm – Untethered Dimensions (Independent) [Deathgrind]

Slumdweller – Electronic Sounds from the Forest (Independent) [Dungeon Synth]

Starlight Ritual – Rogue Angels (High Roller Records) [Heavy Metal]

Stillbirth – Survival Protocol (Reigning Phoenix Music) [Brutal Death / Deathcore]

Suicide Forest – IX of Swords (Independent) [DSBM]

Sypsis – Annihilated Existence (Awakening Records) [Thrash]

Tales of Mike – Human (Fetzner Death Records) [Heavy Metal]

Tatterdemalion – Ultraterrestrial (Wergild) [Black / Dungeon Synth]

Testimony of Apocalypse – Agony in the Garden (Roxx Records) [Deathrash / Groove Metal]

Thron – Vurias (Listenable Records) [Black]

Trivium – Struck Dead (Roadrunner Records) [Metalcore / Thrash / Heavy Metal]

Voorhees – 4 (Fetzner Death Records) [Death]

Wayd – Reinvent (Independent) [Death / Jazz]

Wicked Trip – Tales From Beyond The Grave (Independent) [Psych Doom]

Wyld Timez – Infernal Possession (Independent) [Blackened Speed / Heavy Metal]

Ëvil Sínner – Fears to Fathom (Ironbound Records) [Thrash / Heavy Metal]

Ария – Когда настанет завтра (M2BA) [Symphonic Heavy Metal]