O Carcosan crapper, O swirling sultan ov the abyss, thy waters transport our refuse, cleansing the world of righteousness. This week we’ve got the end of Dry January (thrash), Dire Straits death, and caveman weed slam. Depth? Not much to speak of—but I know you’ll find something, some nugget, a smear on the side, to fixate upon. Dip them toes, friends!

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Theophonos – Ashes in the Huron River (Profound Lore Records) [Dissoblack / Hardcore]

Dire. Dissonant. Intense. Weird, but good-weird. This album sets out to recapture the magic of Serpent Column‘s 2019 avante-garde banger Mirror in the Darkness, and actually pulls it off.  Since this is the solo endeavour of an ex-Serpent Column member, I guess it shouldn’t be that surprising, but the output of dissonant black metal bands is notoriously uneven (or evenly terrible). That makes this record a solid accomplishment. If you’re looking for some disso experimental blackened hardcore that is an “account of a life spent in the rotten heartlands of neoliberal capitalism and a tribute to the vibrant underground music cultures that thrived before the second half of the last decade”, or if you just want to jam on new material that scratches the same niche itch as Serpent Column, give this a spin. -Eenzaamheid

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All This Filth – Tomorrow Will Be Better (Brutal Records) [Groove]

Ara – Blutroter Mond (Into Endless Chaos Records) [Black]

Aureole – Alunarian Bellmaster (Prophecy Productions) [Atmoblack]

Ayush Kumar Project – Millennial Dream (Independent) [Melodeath]

Black Dregs – II (Independent) [Death / Sludge]

Chapel of Disease – Echoes of Light (Ván Records) [Prog Death]

Contaminated – Celebratory Beheading (Blood Harvest) [Death]

Dead Runes – Raidho (Independent) [Doom]

Divinationist – The Tyrant (Independent) [Blackened Death / Dungeon Synth]

Exa – Left in Shards (Independent) [Thrash]

F.K.Ü. – The Horror and the Metal (Despotz Records) [Thrash]

Full Assault – Dying World (Iron Shield Records) [Thrash]

Gates Open – Voice After Silence (Independent) [Melodic Blackened Death]

Hacavitz – Muerte (Vomit Records) [Black]

Hadadanza – Aventura y leyenda (Helheim Records) [Folk Metal]

Hail Caligula – Mortiis Hominum (Coyote Records) [Brutal Death]

Hannes Grossmann – Echoes of Eternity (Independent) [Prog / Tech Death]

Heretic – Filthy Hymns for Sleazy Demons (Ván Records) [Black ‘n Roll]

Herfstdood – Lijdensweg (SneeuwStorm Produkties) [Atmoblack]

Hulder – Verses in Oath (20 Buck Spin) [Black]

In Vain – Back to Nowhere (Fighter Records) [Power / Heavy Metal]

Morbid Saint – Swallowed by Hell (High Roller Records) [Thrash]

Night Slasher – S/T (Sliptrick Records) [Speed / Black]

Nosłeep – Impaled (Independent) [Doom]

Otras – Čas karhat (Into Endless Chaos Records) [Raw/Lo-Fi Black]

Petrification – Sever Sacred Light (Svart Records) [Death]

Punks of the Empire – Gehenna (Inconsistency Records) [Groove]

Rabhas – Propaganda antiumana (Broken Bones Promotion) [Death]

Romuvos – Spirits (Hammerheart Records) [Folk / Viking Metal]

Råtten – La longue marche (Negra Nit Distro) [Black]

Scarefield – A Quiet Country (Independent) [Heavy Metal]

Secreted – Intoxicated Primitive Anthropophagus (CDN Records) [Brutal Death / Slam]

Spectral Voice – Sparagmos (Dark Descent Records) [Death/Doom]

Spiritual Deception – Semitae Mentis (Amputated Vein Records) [Tech Death]

Throat – Blood Exaltation (Primitive Reaction) [Raw/Lo-Fi Black]

Torchia – Arcane Magicae (Independent) [Melodeath]

Toxic Reign – Apocalypse: The Day Before Tomorrow (Independent) [Thrash]