Weekly Welease Wednesday (5/27/26)
O Storied Stall, O Wampyric Water Closet, Hell is full with tales of your hunger. This week, we’ve got malign meadows, C.S. Lewis-core, and weed contempt. There’s a cornucopia of crap (laudatory) to wade into, so without further adieu-dieu, let’s get to listening. As always, let us know what we missed in the comments!
Maladie – The Dance of Tragedies (Apostasy Records) [Avant-garde Black]
With album art like Stephen Gammell‘s worst nightmare, one might assume the latest from Maladie dwells in dissonant realms. To be fair, the title track’s pop-punk intro, followed by a staccato saxophone break (“The Chicken Dance” and other oompah songs come to mind) is quite discordant on a compositional level. After spinning the track a few times, my urge to recoil from this bizarre collage of sounds subsided: why shouldn’t piano rock levity morph into angular tech death riffing, so long as each genre is handled with care? (I’m generally onboard until bands throw ragtime piano into the mix—everyone has their limit.) What horrors and head-scratchers await on Friday I cannot possibly fathom, but I look forward to the effusion of confusion! -Roldy
Ana – Motivated by Death (Eclipse Records) [Symphonic Groove Metal]
Astar – Journey Beyond the Ages (Independent) [Meloblack]
Balmora – These Graven Halls (Daze) [Melodeath / Metalcore]
Belligerence – Liturgies of the Vile Ones (Lycanthropic Chants) [Death]
Brånd – Tåg & Nåcht (Avant! Records) [Blackened Punk]
Chronic Hate – Defeating the Oblivion of Life (Time to Kill Records) [Death]
Consecration – Exanimis (Nuclear Winter Records) [Death/Doom]
Crocell – Swarm of Insects (Emanzipation Productions) [Blackened Death]
Dauþuz – Todeswerk: Uranium II (Amor Fati Productions) [Black]
Degenerated – Echoes of Infection (Great Dane Records) [Death]
Devin Townsend – The Moth (InsideOut Music) [Prog Metal / Ambient]
Disappear… – Stargazer (Forgotten Tears Records) [DSBM]
Elder – Through Zero (Blues Funeral Recordings/Stickman Records) [Prog Metal]
Emerald Rage – The Eyes of the Dragon (Stormspell Records) [Speed / Heavy Metal]
Eternal Evil – Forever Feared (Listenable Records) [Blackthrash / Speed]
Eternal Sword – Valorous (Independent) [Black]
Fields of Agony – Fields of Agony (Into Endless Chaos Records) [Raw/Lo-Fi Black]
Fortification – Don’t Question My Authority (Independent) [Deathrash]
Fragmentary Solid Abyss – MMXXVI (Independent) [Raw/Lo-Fi Black] [WARNING: LOUD!!!]
Frankenbok – The Ariba War Honkle (N/A) [Groove Metal]
Funebrarum – Beckoning the Void of Eternal Silence (Pulverised Records) [Death]
Furnace – Echoes of a Distant Future (Independent) [Melodeath / RJCU]
Fâché – Crampe Au Cerveau (Independent) [Grindcore]
Galvanist – The Silence Between Stars (Independent) [Blackened Death/Doom]
Godthrymm – Projections (Profound Lore Records) [Epic Doom]
Graveir – The Festering Triad (Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings) [Blackened Death]
Gutrectomy – Slamdown Is Not a Phase, Mom (Independent) [Slam / Brutal Death / Deathcore]
Hecate Enthroned – The Corpse of a Titan, a Lament Long Buried (M-Theory Audio) [Symphonic Black]
Horizon of Aeons – Timeless Forms of Desolation (Inverse Records) [Symphonic Blackened Death / Gothic Metal]
Ice Chemicals – The Lowest Point (Independent) [Metalcore / Nu Metal]
Iron Savage/Priest Strangler – Split (Consumed by Darkness) [Blackened Speed]
Ironwill – Reforged Within (Art Gates Records) [Heavy Metal]
Ishimura – Msster (Centipede Abyss) [Raw/Lo-Fi Blackened Death]
Joel H. Bulsara – Hastur the King (Independent) [Doom]
Killing Suzy – Stillborn (Independent) [Gothic Metal]
Kyanos – Deep Inside of Me (Independent) [Heavy Metal]
Leatherwitch – First Spell (Listenable Records) [Speed / Heavy Metal]
Malebeste – Monestherou (Independent) [Black]
Malummeh – S/T (Inverse Records) [Melodeath / Groove Metal]
Masquerage – Atomic Spies (Inverse Records) [Power]
Mind Funeral – Garage Daze (Independent) [Doom / Stoner Rock]
Misanthrope – Embrasement (Holy Records) [Symphonic Groove Metal]
Monolord – Neverending (Relapse Records) [Doom / Sludge]
Morgue Supplier – Mastering the Disease (Independent) [Deathgrind]
Mother Bear – Orm 2 (Independent) [Stoner Doom]
Musta Suru – Viimeinen viilto (Downfall Records) [DSBM]
Narnia – X (Independent) [Neoclassical Power]
NecroBeast – Iron Baphomet (Urolig Sjel Records) [Blackthrash]
Nirensimt/Scoured – Ceaseless Majesty, Endless Malice (Independent) [Atmoblack / Blackened Death]
Nox Terror – Covenant of the Lost Shadows (Independent) [Black]
Pvrgatorii – Profane Rites for Cursed Times (Night Terrors Records) [Blackened Death]
Redshift – Down the Wire (Pale Wizard Records) [Prog Metal]
Rimruna – Wenn droben nachts der Frostmond thront (Schattenkult Produktionen) [Black]
Ringlorn – The Queen of Wildred (Independent) [Heavy Metal]
Saiseiga – 黒舞台 (Independent) [Nu Metal / Groove Metal]
Sarcasm – Lifeforce Omnibound (Hammerheart Records) [Blackened Death]
Se, josta ei puhuta – Syvyyden portit on saatava auki (Inverse Records) [Black]
Serpent – As the City Burns (Stormspell Records) [Heavy Metal]
Serpent Lord – The Once Forgotten Ways of Old (Eisenwald) [Black]
Sik Salvation – I.R.E. (Independent) [Death]
Soulers – Retribution of the Horned One (Independent) [Doom / Drone]
The Fifth Alliance – Stenahoria (Tartarus Records) [Black / Doom / Post-Metal]
The Scalar Process – Agnomysticism (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Tech Death]
Tooms – Karst (Cursed Monk Records) [Sludge / Doom]
Torturebitch – In Mood for Murder (Independent) [Thrash / Hardcore Punk]
Trelldom – …by the Word… (Prophecy Productions) [Avant-garde Black]
Tyrann – Tyrann Forever (Dying Victims Productions/Electric Assault Records) [Heavy Metal]
Uada – Interwoven (Eisenwald) [Meloblack / Grandpa’s Guitars]
Vault – Hush (Independent) [Groove Metal]
Verzauber – Dire Garden of the Ages (Naturmacht Productions) [Atmoblack]
Vimbulnatt – Der dunklen Tugenden – Echos (Void Wanderer Productions) [Blackened Death]
Vølus – Elegy of the Necrochosen (Vargheist Records) [Blackened Death]
Wyrmhaven – Seasons of Gloom (Independent) [Melodeath / Metalcore]
