This Toilet Tuesday (6/17/25)
O Carnivorous Crap Keeper, O Tamer ov Tumultuous Tummies, deliver us from our inner turmoil. This week we’ve got sheep stomach grind, BMP-core, and booty baptism. The summer drought of releases has begun, but for the intrepid, gems await in the murky waters of the Bowl. Start dredging and let us know what we missed in the comments!
Helms Deep – Chasing the Dragon (Independent) [Speed / Power / Heavy Metal]
Based on the high-octane space dragon art, one doesn’t need a scroll to identify Helms Deep as power/heavy/sword nerd metal (laudatory). Alex Sciortino’s bombastic cleans will put chainmail on your chest, and the early Blind Guardian speed metal influence adds a welcome layer of grit to the songwriting. From the hints of blackthrash in “Chasing the Dragon” to “Flight of the Harpy'”s proggy second half (replete with wind chimes and toy piano), Chasing the Dragon is shaping up to be a varied treasure trove of memorable compositions. Make sure to grind some gold ahead of Friday, lest you fail to pay the 8 ingot toll, banishing you to the Shamelands of Poseuria. -Roldy
Abruptus – Drifting on the Macabre Depths (Ablaze Productions) [Death]
Alestorm – The Thunderfist Chronicles (Napalm Records) [Power / Folk Metal]
Angel of Damnation – Ethereal Blasphemy (Dying Victims Productions) [Doom / Heavy Metal]
Babalon – Blood Lust (Independent) [Raw/Lo-Fi Blackened Death]
Betelgeuse – Relatos de la opresión humana (Three Metal Forces) [Black]
Black Majesty – Oceans of Black (Scarlet Records) [Symphonic Power]
Deathblow – Open Season (Independent) [Thrash]
Eternal Dissonance – Through the Endless (Darkwoods) [Atmoblack]
Gravewitch – S/T (Independent) [Blackthrash]
Haggus – Destination Extinction (Tankcrimes) [Goregrind / Mincecore]
Hellevaerder – Fakkeldragers (Void Wanderer Productions) [Black]
Herzoga – Evil Waits for Its Messiah (Independent) [Deathrash]
IX of Blades – Carcosa & Other Delusions (Independent) [Black / Death Rock / Heavy Metal]
Imha Tarikat – Confessing Darkness (Prophecy Productions) [Black]
Inception of Fall – Ruin (Independent) [Tech Death]
Irga – Black Pine Needles (Svanrenne Music) [Prog Black]
Itinerum – Resurgence (Independent) [Symphonic Metal]
Küntsquad – Satans Cock (WormHoleDeath) [Death]
Leverage – Gravity (Frontiers Records) [Heavy Metal]
Lucille – Dawn of Destruction (Dying Victims Productions) [Thrash]
Malevolence – Where Only the Truth Is Spoken (Nuclear Blast Records) [Metalcore / Groove Metal]
Mandragora Titania – In Fabulis (MDD Records) [Folk / Melodeath / Heavy Metal]
Morbyda – Under the Spell (Dying Victims Productions) [Blackened Speed / Heavy Metal]
Nihili Locus – Semper (My Kingdom Music) [Atmoblack]
Patristic – Catechesis (Willowtip Records) [Blackened Death]
Psychotic Memories – Chaos Enforced (Independent) [Thrash]
Ravine – Chaos and Catastrophes (Ripple Music) [Sludge / Stoner Doom / Groove Metal]
Reflection – The Battles I Have Won (Pitch Black Records) [Heavy Metal]
Returning – Numinous (Bindrune Recordings) [Atmoblack]
Santet – Cruelty in the Sorcerer’s Land (Masters of Kaos Productions) [Symphonic Black]
Shaxul – Rasa & Bhava (Lucha Final) [Neofolk]
Shtandarth – Наркобойня II (Возвращение ХАБЫ) (Independent) [DSBM]
Skräcken – Echoes from the Void (Dying Victims Productions) [Heavy Metal]
Sodomic Baptism – Contra Christum (Brutal Records) [Death]
Tenebrae in Perpetuum – Vacuum Coeli (Avantgarde Music) [Black]
The Medea Project – Kharon (Independent) [Sludge / Death/Doom / Gothic Metal]
Valdrin – Apex Violator (Avantgarde Music) [Meloblack]
Varhara – Первый вздох после (These Hands Melt) [Atmoblack / Blackgaze]
Vinnum Sabbathi – Intersatelital (Teschio Dischi) [Stoner Doom / Drone]
WOAT – Prevail in Absence (Independent) [Death / Hardcore / Powerviolence]
Warhog – The Dystopian Chronicles, Vol. 3 (Independent) [Heavy Metal]
Witherer – Shadow Without a Horizon (Hypaethral Records) [Prog Black]
