Heavy Metal Talks music blog

  Artist: Sarcator Album: The Ones We Follow Origin: Sweden Label: Reigning Phoenix Music Released: October 30, 2026 Genre: Heavy Metal / Thrash Metal / Death Rock Rating:  5/10 I have to be honest, The Ones We Follow is a bit strange for me. Sarcator mix heavy metal, thrash, punk and a pretty obvious western influence here. When they go heavy and groovy, this works really well. There are moments that remind me of early Metallica, and even a little early Mötley Crüe. The riffs have weight, the drums are really good and the bass gets plenty of room. The vocals are more hit and miss. I like them much better when they are darker and clearer. On some of the faster punk parts they become a little too chaotic for me, and together with everything else going on it can turn into more noise than something I actually enjoy. “In Search of Oblivion” and “Bleeding Ages” are the clear standouts. Both have the heavier sound I like, with good groove, strong riffs and much be...

  Artist: Desolus Origin: Washington D.C., USA Label: Hells Headbangers Records Released: May 15, 2026 Genre: Black/Thrash Metal Rating: 8/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Desolus play old school, tight and claustrophobic form of thrash metal, with clear elements of both death and black metal. This sounds real, raw and filthy from start to finish. The whole album gives me an old school, demonic feeling ,almost like being hunted through the dark forest. The riffs and drums deliver the classic thrash feeling, with clear associations to both Slayer and Sodom. Fast, aggressive and full of the primitive energy that makes this kind of metal so effective when it hits right. The production is a big part of the experience. It gives me the feeling of being locked inside a damp bunker with bad air, rusty walls and no way out. Tight, dark and filthy , and here that is a strength. This album was never meant to sound pretty. It was meant to sound dangerous. The tracks that stand out mos...

  Artist: Moshquito Origin: Germany Label: German Democratic Recordings Released: May 15, 2026 Genre: Death/Thrash Metal Rating: 7/10 Listen/Buy: Metal Archives This is a difficult album to review for me, simply because Dies Irae is my first encounter with Moshquito. After some reading up on the band, I found a fair amount of negative opinions around this record , most of the criticism pointing to a lack of development and a missing progressive edge the band apparently had before. For me, that might actually be a good thing. I came into this without any old favourites in the back of my head. I'm not listening for what Moshquito once was. I'm hearing this as a death/thrash album,and for that Dies Irae works pretty well. There's a lot that hits right. The album has a dirty, brutal and direct feel to it, though I miss more energy in some places. There are sections that feels a bit flat, and a few more tracks that really kick harder would have lifted the whole...

  Artist: Se, Josta Ei Puhuta Origin: Iisalmi, Finland Label: Inverse Records Released: May 29, 2026 Genre: Black Metal / Death Metal Rating: 7/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Cold, dark and angry. That's what hits first. Se, Josta Ei Puhuta play black metal-infected death metal with roots in punk and thrash , and you feel it. At times really fast, at others deeply melodic. The contrast is real and it is so good when it works. The vocals sit between death and black metal, and I prefer them when they go full black metal. Either way they fit , they complete the music rather than fight it. Got this one as a promo ahead of release ,  thanks to Inverse Records for the trust. Syvyyden portit on saatava auki is the track that got me. A good dose of everything I like , the darkness, the melody, the intensity all hitting at once. I don't understand a word of Finnish but the music told me its own story. That's not nothing. Other tracks that stands out is : Varis and pimeys ...

  Artist: Devenial Verdict Origin: Helsinki, Finland Label: Transcending Obscurity Released: May 1, 2026 Genre: Atmospheric Death Metal Rating: 8/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Devenial Verdict hit hard from the very first note. Death metal straight in the face! A vocalist who sounds like he means every single word. Heavy, intense and direct, and from there it just keeps getting better. Elysium is the stand out track for me, rhythmic, groovy and brutal all at once ,the drummer really gets to show what he's capable of here. Everything works together. Riffs, drive, vocals and drums all pulling in the same direction. Death metal at its best. Thrones is the other standout. Chaos. But controlled chaos. And that's exactly what I like. The fact that these are older tracks given new life works surprisingly well. The production is solid throughout , every instrument gets a breathing space and a time to shine. The vocals deserve special mention it is brutal and almost beautiful...

  Artist: Inthraced Origin: Finland Label: Inverse Records Released: May 15, 2026 Genre: Symphonic Melodic Death Metal Rating: 8.5/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Inthraced pull you in from the start. The universe is set immediately, the symphonic death metal scene done right, and I'm a sucker for it. Track two builds further, more synths, the tension rising. Then the clean vocals arrive and the whole thing flips on me. It doesn't sit well. When everything else is working this good, the clean vocals feel like the wrong call. They break the momentum and undo some of what the album had already built. It happens twice ,once early, once on the closing track and for me that costs the album something. Everything else though? Excellent. The vocals are aggressive and hold a high melodic death metal standard throughout. The drums deserve special mention ,production has treated them perfectly here, every hit landing exactly where it should. The guitars delivers riff after riff...

  Artist: Hubris Origin: Buffalo, New York, USA Label: Independent Released: April 3, 2026 Genre: Black Metal / Blackened Death Metal Rating: 7.5/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Hubris open Acts of Sedition quietly. A still start. Almost like they're luring you in. Then track two arrives and it's over. No warning. This is black metal with real death metal intensity ,cold, brutal and relentless. The drums alone are worth the price of admission. Blast beats from another dimension, fills that hit hard and a pace that barely lets you breathe. The guitar work keeps is impressive just for keeping up with the drums, solid tremolo picking, riffs that stick, enough dark melody to remind you this is still black metal at heart. The vocals are a highlight. Raw, angry and intense , for me the screams land exactly where they should, and those blegh moments scattered through the record give the whole thing an extra layer of attitude. A real don't-give-a-fuck energy that suits H...

Artist: Sisyphean Origin: Vilnius, Lithuania Label: Edged Circle Productions Released: April 3, 2026 Genre: Blackened Death Metal / Dissonant Black Metal Rating: 6.5/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Sisyphean  back with Divergence, and they've gone deep into dissonant black/death metal territory. This is not music that tries to be accessible. It's twisted, uneasy and full on intense. The opening is instrumental with a voice speaking over the music, building a sense of dread and anxiety, like something unpleasant is about to happen up. The mood builds slowly before the show really starts. This is dissonant black/death metal with serious control. It sounds chaotic but never random. The riffs twist forward, the drums keep the pressure up, and the vocals sit dark and intense. The band clearly knows what they're doing. The production is rock solid. Dense, heavy and clear enough that the details come through. There's a lot of atmosphere here aswell ,the album consiste...

Artist: Northern Graves Origin: Saskatchewan, Canada Label: Meuse Music Records Released: April 17, 2026 Genre: Blackened Doom Metal Rating: 8.5/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Northern Graves open Derelict Heart strong. The mood is set from the first note and it doesn't let go. Powerful and atmospheric , good vocals, riffs that sits tight and drums  really do the job. Both black metal and doom metal come through clearly here. The weight is there, the atmosphere is there, and there's enough intensity that the black metal side doesn't get swallowed up by the doom. Both styles coexist and strengthen each other throughout. Two tracks stand out for me. Endless is where everything clicks at once , vocals on point, guitars locked in, drums doing an amazing job. Then there's the title track ,the longest on the album and absolutely worth your time. There's a longing in the vocals that hits differently, the buildup is well executed and the softer passages with clean...

  Artist: Inferi Origin: Nashville, Tennessee, USA Label: The Artisan Era Released: April 10, 2026 Genre: Technical Death Metal / Melodic Death Metal Rating: 7/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Inferi open Heaven Wept strong. From the first note it's clear this is a band that knows exactly what they're doing. High technical level, riffs that hit hard, and the album throws you straight into a landscape of brutality, melodic guitar lines and precise chaos. This is technical death metal done right. Blast beats, complex riffs and intense passages,but what makes this album interesting is that the brutality doesn't stand alone,underneath the technical surface there's an emotional nerve. The melodic riffs add depth and make this more than just a display of skill ,it actually hits atmospherically too. The guitar work is one of the big strengths here. Riffs that are strong, melodic and aggressive. The vocals coming through well , intense delivery with fry scream moments t...

  Artist: Immolation Origin: Yonkers, New York, USA Label: Nuclear Blast Records Released: April 10, 2026 Genre: Death Metal Rating: 9/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Twelve albums in. Nearly forty years. And Immolation still sound like they want to drag you somewhere you can't come back from. Descent is heavy, suffocating and evil. The guitar work is twisted and unpredictable , riffs that don't go where you expect them to, structures that keep you off balance the whole way through. Brutal but dynamic. The drums are precise and aggressive, shifting between blast beats and heavier, groovier sections without losing the thread. And the bass deserves a mention,it creates this sense of depth and weight that most death metal bands miss entirely. It's what gives the album that bottomless pit feeling. The whole record moves between fast, aggressive attacks and slower, more atmospheric passages. Neither one overstays its welcome. The balance is what makes it work. Producti...

  Artist: Warside Origin: Lyon, France Label: Gruesome Records Released: April 17, 2026 Genre: Death Metal / Death Thrash Rating: 8.6/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Warside is not a band you've necessarily heard of ,but the algorithm probably already pointed you in their direction. That's how it happened for me. Four guys from Lyon, France, been at it since 2018, and they finally dropped their first full-length album. Cognitive Extinction sounds like an album that's been waiting a long time to be made. No warmup. No gradual intro. It just hits from the first note and doesn't let go. Death metal with clear thrash veins...Direct, no unnecessary detours. The kind of record that grabs you when it's done right. Warside do it right. The guitar work is really tight , riffs that stick. Technical precision without losing the groove. Double bass gives the album a physical weight ,you can just feel it. But the drumming steals the show. The speed is absurd. Constant s...

  Artist: Necrotted Origin: Baden-Württemberg, Germany Label: Reaper Entertainment Released: April 24, 2026 Genre: Death Metal / Blackened Death Metal Rating: 7/10 Listen/Buy: YouTube Music The algorithm did its job. Necrotted was completely unknown to me before this album showed up in my feed ,and that's exactly how underground metal should be discovered. Random, no expectations. The band from Baden-Württemberg are now on their sixth album, and We Are The Gods That Tear Ourselves Apart is a statement from a band that knows what it wants to be. Blackened death metal is right up my alley, and Necrotted deliver exactly that. The guitar riffs land. They're not there to impress ,they're there to hurt in the right way, and they do. The drums are a machine of double bass and blast beats that push the album forward with an energy that barely lets go. Brutal the way good death metal should be brutal ....not chaotic, but controlled aggression. The vocals are strong ...

  Artist: Zerre Origin: Würzburg, Germany Label: Dying Victims Productions Released: March 27, 2026 Genre: Thrash Metal / Crossover Rating: 8.4/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp This album smells like blood, sweat and rust. Zerre don't waste time playing "retro thrash" , they rip the head off tradition and use it as a snare drum. Rotting on a Golden Throne is 40 minutes of pure violence in riff form, and I love every second of it. The sound is so dense and dirty it feels like getting the speakers shoved straight into your face. The guitars cut like razor blades over a concrete wall, and the vocals? More of an attack than singing , Nico Ziska sounds like he's screaming his way through the world's last riot. Brutal, but controlled on a disturbingly precise level. Pigs Will Be Pigs comes in like a chainsaw attack, and Deception of the Weak is straight up amphetamine thrash. In the middle of it all they find room for Mental Vacation, which slows things down w...

  Artist: Vanir Origin: Denmark Label: Mighty Music Released: April 3, 2026 Genre: Melodic Death Metal Rating: 9/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Eight albums in and Vanir from Denmark are still one of the best kept secrets in melodic death metal. Wyrd hits hard from the first second. Against the Storm opens the album with straight up melodic death metal, no intro, no buildup, just riffs. the keyboards comes in quite early on this record and I'm not usually a keyboard guy , but here it actually works. They add something without taking over, and after a minute or two you stop noticing and just go with it. The vocals are great. Raw and close, like the guy is right in front of you spitting you in the face. The guitar work is solid throughout ,lots of tremolo, double kick and blast beats doing the heavy lifting in the rhythm section. Production is tight, everything sounds exactly how it should. Never Surrender and Mod og Ære are the two tracks I kept coming back to. Both have ...

Artist: Teratoma Origin: Berlin, Germany Label: Me Saco Un Ojo Records Released: March 25, 2026 Genre: Old-School Death Metal Rating: 7.2/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Never heard of Teratoma before this one landed on my radar. Teratoma are a death metal band from Berlin and this is their second album, out on Me Saco Un Ojo. And yeah , this hits. Right from when the title track kicks in after the short intro, there's a weight to it that grabs you. The rhythm section is tight, the riffs are good and they stick. Mid-paced, heavy, no bullshit. Exactly what you want from this kind of death metal. Chaotic Bewilderment is the standout for me. It's got a momentum that sets it apart, and then out of nowhere there's a guitar solo I genuinely didn't see coming. Small moment maybe, but that's the kind of thing that makes you pay attention. Circle of Perdition and Festering Realm hit hard too. The short atmospheric break on Interim is a nice breather before the album...

  Artist: The Holeum Origin: Murcia/Alicante, Spain Label: Lifeforce Records Released: March 20, 2026 Genre: Post-Metal / Death Doom Rating: 8.5/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Never heard The Holeum before this,came in completely blind, no expectations, just a name that sounded like it belonged in a physics textbook. Turns out that's kind of the point , these Alicante five-piece named themselves after an astrophysical theory about dark matter and black holes. Ensis is their third album, and whatever they've been doing in the years since their last record, it was worth the wait. The first thing that hit me was the atmosphere. Not the riffs, not the vocals , just the mood. There's a doom weight to this record that settles over you almost immediately, the kind that's more about gravity than volume. The guitars are doing a lot of the heavy lifting , building that slow, suffocating blanket of dark sound that good doom lives and dies by. I'm a sucker for it, and ...

  Artist: Soulinpain Origin: Santiago, Chile Label: Independent Released: March 13, 2026 Genre: Death/Thrash Metal Rating: 6/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Years deep in the underground and still no label. 200 copies on CD. Soulinpain don't give a shit about the industry and The Last Dance of Death sounds exactly like that. This hits raw and aggressive right out of the gate — no warm-up, no bullshit intro to ease you in. Chilean death/thrash the way it should be, mean and direct. Insertion grabs you by the throat early and doesn't let go, and Mental Intoxication is the kind of track that gets stuck in your head whether you want it to or not. Four minutes of pure forward momentum. The guitars do two things and do both well — heavy riffs that just bulldoze forward, and tighter technical runs that keep it from getting predictable. The drums back it up the right way, switching between blast beats and heavier mid-tempo grooves without losing the thread. Francisco Gallegos on...

Artist: Intoxicated Origin: Tampa, Florida, USA Label: Redefining Darkness Records Released: March 27, 2026 Genre: Death/Thrash Metal Rating: 6.5/10 Listen/Buy: Bandcamp Intoxicated is one of those bands that has stayed under the radar long enough to feel almost unfair. Florida veterans with roots going back to the 90s, and with The Dome they deliver their third full-length ,30 minutes of death/thrash that doesn't waste your time. The guitar work is the first thing that hits me. The riffs are good, dirty, and rooted in classic thrash tradition. It grinds and tears in that way that makes your neck move on its own. Not particularly original, but executed with conviction, and that counts for something. The vocals are a pleasant surprise. They hit well within the genre without becoming a cliché of themselves , aggressive enough to match the music, but with enough personality to stand out. That balance is rare, especially in the death\trash area. The production does a ...

Artist: Gluttony Origin: Sundsvall, Sweden Label: F.D.A. Records Released: March 13, 2026 Genre: Old-School Death Metal Rating: 8/10 Gluttony have been doing this since 2009, and Eulogy to Blasphemy is their fourth full-length. I'll be honest.I came in expecting another competent-but-forgettable OSDM record. What I got instead was an album that actually got under my skin. The thing that hits first, and keeps hitting, is the atmosphere. This record is genuinely dark in a way that feels earned rather than performed. There's a claustrophobic weight to it, like the songs are closing in on you rather than just blasting past. A lot of bands in this lane go for sheer speed and volume and call it a day. Gluttony are more patient than that. The tempos shift, the mood thickens, and by the midpoint of the album you're properly buried in it. Magnus Ödling's vocals are a big reason why. Mid-range growls are his bread and butter, but he's not monotonous about it. T...