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KYLE THOMAS Confirms EXHORDER Are Starting Work On A New Album, Potentially Arriving In 2027

https://metalinjection.net/news/kyle-thomas-confirms-exhorder-are-starting-work-on-a-new-album-potentially-arriving-in-2027

#KYLETHOMAS #EXHORDER #Confirms #AreStartingWorkOn #album #newalbum #MetalInjection #metal #music

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Exhorder’s Working on a New Album That Likely Won’t Release Until 2027

https://www.metalsucks.net/2025/11/03/exhorders-working-on-a-new-album-that-likely-wont-release-until-2027/

#Exhorder #Working #groovemetal #album #newalbum #newrelease #interview #MetalSucks #metal #music

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#Blabbermouth
EXHORDER Is Starting To Work On New Music; Next Album Tentatively Due In 2027

https://blabbermouth.net/news/exhorder-is-starting-to-work-on-new-music-next-album-tentatively-due-in-2027

#EXHORDER #IsStartingToWorkOnNewMusic #NextAlbumTentativelyDueIn #groovemetal #album #interview #vocalist #Blabbermouth #metal #music

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SIX FEET UNDER's Tour With EXHORDER, WRETCHED & INCITE Has Been Cancelled

https://metalinjection.net/news/bummer-alert/six-feet-unders-tour-with-exhorder-wretched-incite-has-been-cancelled

#SIXFEETUNDER #EXHORDER #TourWith #HasBeenCancelled #tour #MetalInjection #metal #music

Incite – Savage New Times Review

By Steel Druhm

Written By: Nameless_n00b_602

Within metal circles, one does not simply invoke the Cavalera name. Its crest is adorned with more than just the seminal works of Sepultura. There is ambition there that does not sleep. That great name is ever pushing boundaries, creating new sounds. This is no barren wasteland riddled with fire and ash and dust. There is no poisonous fume for inspiration to choke on. Not with 10,000 artists could you accomplish what those brothers have done; it is folly. Thus, it is with great interest—and a little skepticism—that I was assigned Incite’s seventh LP. Fronted by Max Cavalera’s stepson, Richie Cavalera, Savage New Times promises to be the band’s truest-to-self offering yet. Let’s see how deep the roots go.

For those unfamiliar, Incite majors in groove metal. A familiar southern aggression suffuses Layne Richardson’s axe work and Cavalera’s contentious lyrical delivery. Mid-paced tracks like “Used and Abused” or “Savage New Times” take a cue from Lamb of God or Exhorder, while rager “No Mercy, No Forgiveness” could easily fit on an early DevilDriver record. Bassist EL knows his craft well, building tension and promising violence with well-placed, threatening basslines (“Chucked Off,” “Never Die Once”). The instruments make room in verses for Cavalera’s vocal aggression to brew before crashing together in a choral release, and it is here that drummer Lennon Lopez shines. His energetic drumming steals the spotlight on the choruses of “Used and Abused” and “Chucked Off.” With such strong adherence to the tenets of groove metal, Savage New Times makes it clear that Incite has never missed a class at Pantera’s Vulgar School of Power.

Incite meets with mixed success when they venture outside their core sound. Richardson shows real prowess on “Used and Abused,” where he evokes both Amon Amarth in the bridge and the spiraling tones of System of a Down in the chorus. “Savage New Times” features leads reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse in the verse and, like “Feel This Shit (I’m Fired Up),” sports a militant burst fire tempo around the midpoint. On the other hand, “Doubts and the Fear” falters with a murky, pseudo-psychedelic bridge and nasally Agnostic Front-tinged vocals. Longest song “Dolores” also struggles. Unlike Phil Anselmo’s softer cleans that match the verses of Pantera’s “This Love,” Cavalera barely dulls his edge for the parallel sections of “Dolores,” creating a sonic disconnect between the instruments and himself. This is exacerbated by a similar divide between the rhythm section and the sprawling, idyllic solo recalling “Hotel California.”

More generally, Savage New Times suffers from unambitious songwriting. Except for the neoclassical intro of “Chucked Off” and the solo in “Used and Abused,” Richardson’s lead sections feel lethargic and unremarkable. Song structures feature minimal variation and fall into cyclical verse-chorus-verse-chorus patterns. While this isn’t a problem individually, ten songs of it feels repetitive. Additionally, several tracks lack a satisfying conclusion and feel half-baked. “Dolores” ends with a well-performed piano melody, but it feels tacked on after such a strong finish from the band. Similarly, by cutting their outros, “Lies,” “Feel This Shit (I’m Fired Up),” and “No Mercy, No Forgiveness” could have all ended powerfully rather than aimlessly.

While Savage New Times isn’t a terrible album, because of its deficiencies, I often found myself listening to Incite’s influences rather than Incite themselves. There’s plenty to critique between unmoving songcraft and mixed experimentation, but the final nail in the coffin is the production.1 There’s a slight sibilance and several artifacts throughout Savage New Times. It’s most egregious on “Used and Abused,” ruining one of the record’s best cuts.2 This is the common trend of the album—otherwise good tracks flawed by preventable missteps. I’ve spun this record dozens of times, and I’m sure that with more confidence and a clearer vision, Incite has a good record in them. Savage New Times just isn’t it.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Reigning Phoenix Music
Websites: Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 15th, 2025

#20 #2025 #AgnosticFront #AmericanMetal #AmonMarth #Aug25 #CannibalCorpse #DevilDriver #Exhorder #GrooveMetal #HeavyMetal #Incite #LambOfGod #Pantera #ReigningPhoenixMusic #Review #Reviews #SavageNewTimes #Sepultura #SystemOfADown #ThrashMetal

Patriarchs In Black – Home Review

By Saunders

Random dunks into the promo sump yield a variety of interesting, if uneven results. The element of risk and getting lumped with an unlistenable dud is counteracted by the odd chance of scooping up an unheralded stunner, or the next big thing. New York/New Jersey duo of scene veterans Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Non-Fiction) and Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Quiet Riot, Danzig) formed Patriarchs In Black several years back. Despite a relatively short career, the duo, armed with various guest musicians and vocalists, arrive at their fourth album, simply titled Home. Featuring an array of well-known and lesser-known guests, it almost feels like a compilation rather than a traditional album. This is especially evident through the varied musical terrain the seasoned vets traverse, exploring diverse and occasionally questionable musical territory with impressive ambition and a broad sense of adventure. Can this genre-hopping, vocal-swapping fest hit the mark and result in a compelling and cohesive listening experience?

Home is an odd duck album, both adventurous and perplexing. At nearly an hour in length, Patriarchs in Black cram tons of material and excessive ideas into its weighty runtime, featuring a colorful cast of supporting characters, predominantly filling the restlessly shifting vocal duties. Musically, Lorenzo and Kelly boast big match experience and tight, punchy chops as they hyperactively shift between genres. The album fits both comfortably and loosely under the stoner/doom metal banner, yet this label only scratches the surface of the band’s repertoire. Elements of hard rock, southern rock, blues, nü, modern alt rock/metal, rap rock, and a swathe of ’80s and ’90s metal influences, lending retro flavors to the more contemporary and streamlined modern rock and metal tropes. It’s the old everything but the kitchen sink approach for better and worse.

A snapshot of the guest vocalists finds contributions from Mark Sunshine (Unida, RiotGod), Kyle Thomas (Exhorder, Alabama Thunderpussy), Karl Agell (ex-Corrosion of Conformity, Legions of Doom), Dewey Bragg (Kill Devil Hill), John Kosco (Dropbox) and Rob Traynor (Black Water Rising) amongst others. Sunshine’s impressive pipes feature most prominently, including channeling Axl Rose and Chris Cornell on the sludgy, grungy groove of “Burn Through Time,” while adding some melodramatic theatrics with mixed results on “Celestial Yard.” Opener “Hymns for the Heretic” benefits from the well-worn grit of Kyle Thomas’s vox, pairing with infectiously bluesy, heavy rock-drenched riffage and fat stoner grooves. “The Call” keeps momentum rolling, as veteran Agell punches out an inspired performance atop a beefy and melancholic doomy rock base. “Storm King” is another gritty, noteworthy cut, riding some infectious, Clutch-esque grooves, featuring booming riffs and vocal grunt. Shit gets decidedly weirder as the strange journey hits some left-field bumps. “Kaos” livens energy and aggression, throwing down some angsty, goofy vox and meatheaded grooves to jarring, nü metal-adjacent effect. There are ill-advised, lamely executed rap rock ditties (“Where You Think You’re Going,” “Ready to Die”), and a decent modern blues rock number (“Enough of You”) that sounds awkwardly out of place, even by the album’s haphazard standards.

Throw in a couple of overcooked songs lengthwise, and short, questionable interludes, including the jokey “The End,” a fittingly silly way to climax the album, and you are left with a unique and strange album. Home has fun elements and a handful of enjoyably groovy tunes and inspired vocal additions. Lorenzo and Kelly are skilled, seasoned musicians, sounding as though they are having loads of fun across intersecting and occasionally disparate genres, excelling most when delivering thick, bluesy stoner doom riffs and swaggering grooves. Unfortunately for all its charms and oddities, Home remains hamstrung by numerous less-than-stellar factors bogging it down. The length and choppy nature of the writing song-to-song makes for an overloaded, inconsistent and messy front-to-back listen. And while never dull, it’s an exhausting listen, marred by sizable missteps and too many clunky moments to overcome.

One of the more intriguing albums I’ve heard in 2025, Home is an odd curiosity that could eventually fit into a time capsule equivalent of ’90s Metal Weirdness. While there are solid tunes and cool jams scattered across the album, the pros are dragged down by the cons. Entertaining and confounding in nearly equal measures, Home is hampered by considerable bloat, clunky flow and ill-advised experiments and stylistic decisions, resulting in a curious, if sadly mixed bag collection. Worth a listen to cherry-pick the gems, but prepare yourself for a rocky journey.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metalville
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases worldwide: August 15th, 2025

#25 #2025 #AlabamaThunderpussy #AmericanMetal #Clutch #CorrosionOfConformity #Danzig #DoomMetal #Exhorder #HardRock #Home #KillDevilHill #LegionsOfDoom #MetalvilleRecords #PatriarchsInBlack #QuietRiot #RapRock #Review #Reviews #RiotGod #SouthernRock #StonerMetal #TypeONegative #Unida

@burnyourears Wir haben das Glück, in #Stuttgart mit dem „Schwarzen Keiler“ einen reinen Metalclub zu haben. Bei einer Kapazität von unter 200 bringen die dort so Urgesteine wie #Kryptos, #Exhorder oder #Raven auf die Bühne. Und dann motzen welche, dass 30 Euro zu teuer wären. Anstatt eines Stadion-Gigs können sie dort fünf und mehr Gigs sehen. Und hätten wahrscheinlich fünfmal mehr Spaß. 🤘

Was gibt es Schöneres als Thrash Metal an einem Montagabend im Schwarzen Keiler?

https://www.gig-blog.net/2025/08/05/exhorder-fateful-finality-04-08-2025-schwarzer-keiler-stuttgart/

#Konzert #Konzertbericht #Concert #LiveMusic #LiveMusik #Konzertfotografie #ConcertPhotography #Metal #ThrashMetal #Exhorder #FatefulFinality #Stuttgart

Six Feet Under, Exhorder, Wretched, & Incite U.S. tour dates announced

https://metalnerd.net/six-feet-under-exhorder-wretched-incite-u-s-tour-dates-announced/

#SixFeetUnder #Exhorder #Wretched #Incite #metal #deathmetal #tour

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Six Feet Under to Tour with Exhorder, Wretched and Incite This Fall
A brutal reckoning is upon us! Six Feet Under to Tour with Exhorder, Wretched and Incite This Fall .

https://www.metalsucks.net/2025/06/25/six-feet-under-to-tour-with-exhorder-wretched-and-incite-this-fall/

#SixFeetUnder #Exhorder #Wretched #Incite #Tour #MetalSucks #ChrisBarnes #DeathMetal #Fall #SunDontShine

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Metal Journo Mick Wall is Being Evicted as He Recovers from a Heart Attack, Fundraiser Started

https://www.metalsucks.net/2025/06/25/metal-journo-mick-wall-is-being-evicted-as-he-recovers-from-a-heart-attack-fundraiser-started/

#MickWall #MetalSucks #Fundraiser #HeartAttack #Eviction #Crowdfunding #MetalJourno #SixFeetUnder #Exhorder #Wretched

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SIX FEET UNDER Announces September/October 2025 Tour With EXHORDER, WRETCHED And INCITE

https://blabbermouth.net/news/six-feet-under-announces-september-october-2025-tour-with-exhorder-wretched-and-incite

#SixFeetUnder #Exhorder #Wretched #Incite #ChrisBarnes #MidnightInHell #DeathMetal #AftershockFestival #TheNoose #Tour2025

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#Exhorder
The Man That Never Was
The Man That Never Was

YouTube Search:
https://youtube.com/results?search_query=Exhorder+The+Man+That+Never+Was+The+Man+That+Never+Was

Songwhip:
https://songwhip.com/Exhorder/The-Man-That-Never-Was

Lyrics:
https://genius.com/Exhorder-the-man-that-never-was-lyrics

LastFM:
https://www.last.fm/music/Exhorder/_/The+Man+That+Never+Was

#metal #thrashmetal

New Artist announced for Alcatraz Metal Festival 2025

Exhorder

Added top 5 songs to the playlist Alcatraz Metal Festival 2025

Listen now on YouTube Music: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB5UNN-XlHr0qyFD1W3X4B-JCokWBZdh0

#Alcatraz_Metal_Festival_2025 #Exhorder #fyre_festivals #livemusic #youtube #music #2025 #musicfestivals

EXHORDER – Defectum Omnium
https://eternal-terror.com/?p=64693

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://www.exhorder.com/

And you will hear wars nearby and reports of wars far away. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must come to pass, but it is not yet the end. For group will rise against group, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginning of birth pains – […]

#Exhorder #grooveMetal #HardcorePunk #heavyMetal #LOUISIANA #NewOrleans #NuclearBlastRecords #RCRecords #RoadrunnerRecords #TheUnitedStates #thrashMetal

Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024

By Dr. A.N. Grier

If I were to rate the year of our Lord 2024, I’d give it a solid 4.5/5.0. No, I joke. FUCK 2024. Good riddance, fuck off, goodfuckingbye. This year, the layoffs continued (even affected some of our writers here), the prices skyrocketed, the World Series was bullshit, and landfills across the States are twice their capacity thanks to useless election fliers. This year has resulted in practically zero time to work on AMG efforts, write reviews, or listen to music as I continue to try to keep my job. Yay. Cheers to you, 2024—you sack of horse shit. Let’s go, 2025, you sassy bitch who suggests great things to come but probably won’t deliver. If only you could promise me more time doing the things I love—listening to metal, writing about it, and pretending to edit the other writers’ reviews while completely hammered. If so, I’d kiss you as the ball drops, take you to the back alley during the after-party, and promise not to poison your coffee the next morning.

But we aren’t there yet. We are still stuck in the past, looking over a mediocre year of metal, regurgitating the same shit we already wrote for each album on our lists. That way, you all can praise, argue, and whine about each choice and its placement. Thankfully, my lists rarely overlap with anyone else’s and no one actually gives a fuck, so my sleep patterns remain the same. Having passed the ten-year mark at this amazing madland, my tastes remain the same, and no one will be surprised that most of the selections here are the items I alone reviewed. That changes occasionally but with no time to think about music this year, you’ll be treated to odd takes and albums that only scored a 3.0. Oh no!1

Thank you to the AMG staff for their lackluster productivity and overrating tendencies. To Dolph, Kenny, and Sharky for introducing new segments and keeping legacy ones alive. And to Cuervo and GardensTale for the additional year-end contributions they deliver. I also have to give a huge shoutout to the top bosses—AMG and Steel Daddy—for all they do2. I guess I should also thank all of you for your continued support. I guess. May this list find you well as we are thrust into 2025 and the potential nightmares that it’ll bring. Cheers.

#ish. I Am the Intimidator // I Am the Intimidator – What? You fucking knew this was coming. When Steel told me to review an album about NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt, I couldn’t not do it. I mean, this one-off, self-titled record from a one-off band was a perfect opportunity to unleash my rage. And then… wait, what the fuck? It’s actually kinda good? In a weird year where I reviewed two racing-related albums, I Am the Intimidator sports3 six wild tracks that combine Dio and Iron Maiden with Ministry. What the fuck? And, somehow, the lyrics would be fucking hilarious if they weren’t so passionate. OK, the lyrics of the surprisingly delicious and crushing “Gasoline” are fucking hilarious, and a regular, all-caps attack in the AMG channels. After all the chaos and wild influences that make up this tight, six-track album, the passion for “The Intimidator” is true, even if it’s weird. But, I can’t stop listening to this album any more than I can stop drinking beer.

#10. Dust Bolt // Sound & Fury – Like so many other Grier lists, there’s always an album that becomes the most frequented in my shit-filled ears. Yup, I know, you all fucking hate it, and I couldn’t care less. For the band (and style), Sound & Fury is a brave effort that I find addictive, fun, and hilarious trolling material when Steel talks shit. Is it thrash? No, but that didn’t stop me from proclaiming Load as Metallica’s best album. Shifting away from the overused thrash concept and mediocre record releases, Dust Bolt chose the unconventional route of cleaner vocals, smoother production, and catchier choruses to remove themselves from their past outings (and, some would argue, from thrash and metal in general). For you naysayers, there are plenty of headbangable moments on Sound & Fury, so you don’t have to feel like a poser singing these new songs in your mom’s shower.

#9. Midnight // Hellish Expectations – Perhaps one of the most prolific metal bands out there, what can I say about Midnight that I haven’t said already? Oh yeah, they’re badass and if you don’t like them, you’re shit. Also, fuck you. Like previous releases, Midnight continues to speed through riffs that bring to mind classic outfits like Darkthrone, Motörhead, Venom, and Celtic Frost at a relentless speed. While other Midnight records are better, Hellish Expectations joins its compatriots in a discog that can do no wrong. Unless, of course, you don’t like this band’s style. In that case, read above regarding that “fuck you” thing. What makes Hellish Expectations great in this frustrating year is that it caps at twenty-five wonderful minutes—which is the same amount of time it takes to shit out your morning coffee. So, this is a chance to correct your poserness. If you like this band, you already know Hellish Expectations is a fun ride that’ll keep your spikes sharp and your leather pants shit free.

#8. Bombus // Your Blood – Like another band on my list, this Swedish heavy metal, hard rock band has seen a lot of ups and downs in their career. And, for some reason, their co-founding vocalist and guitarist walked. But that didn’t stop Bombus. Not only did they find someone to fill those two slots, but they also added another guitarist to round it out to three. With these new additions, the skill displayed on Your Blood is superior to anything the band has ever done. There’re solos, harmonizing leads, and riffs up the fucking wazoo. I’m uncertain if it’s due to this new skillset or an increase in motivation with five years between albums, but Bombus held nothing back for Your Blood. While there are plenty of the bangers you would expect from a band of this caliber, like the addictive “Take You Down,” there are also other interesting inclusions that I should hate, yet love. For example, the weird, Spaghetti Western qualities of “Your Blood,” the Nick Cave-meets-The White Stripes musings of “The One,” and the bizarreness that is “Carmina.” With Your Blood, the band has found their groove and passion again, delivering their best album yet.

#7. Vanessa Funke // Void – This year brought a surprising new addition to my favorite bands of all time. In this case, it was the newest release from the multi-instrumentalist, Vanessa Funke. With a small but stellar catalog, Ms. Funke continuously dabbles in new influences and song approaches with each album and Void is no different. Coming off last year’s acoustic masterpiece Vanessa Funke rewinds to her debut record, Solitude, alternating between rasps and cleans, acoustic and distorted guitars, and her perfectly molded combination of folk, melodeath, and atmospheric black metal. The textures created by the vocals, guitars, keys, and piano take Void down into some incredible depths, engulfing its listeners in blankets that can be both soft and stabby. Albums like this are rare for me these days, so when they do completely submerse me to the point that I can’t think of anything else, there’s no doubt it’ll make it on my year-end list.

#6. Crystal Viper // The Silver Key – Maybe not everyone’s favorite Polish act,4 Crystal Viper’s founding vocalist and guitarist, Marta Gabriel, has been knocking around her blend of heavy and power metal for nearly two decades. But, it’s been a rocky road of great, mediocre, and rage-inducing records. Where Crimen Expecta shines like a bright star in the sky, Tales of Fire and Ice is a dumpster fire that topped my most disappointing album of 2019. When I approached this year’s The Silver Key, I was expecting another mid album (or worse) but was immediately engrossed—maybe even more than Crimen Expecta. Though many of you dislike the vocals, Gabriel is in top form. But, her vocal performance is only one aspect of the Crystal Viper sound. Her guitar work is some of the best of her career, lending new ideas to the song structures and album flow. While plenty of bands are—and are not better—than Crystal Viper, The Silver Key is undeniably one of the best albums of their career.

#5. Sidewinder // Talons – Most likely one of the only overlaps I’ll have with the cunts that work here,5 Sidewinder’s newest release, Talons, threw me for a loop. Not expecting anything from a band I’ve never heard about, Talons immediately got my noggin’ bobbin’ in the most pleasing way. I can’t pinpoint exactly why I like this style of heavy, bounding stoner metal, but every time I hear it, it clicks. And nothing is better than diving right into a record where one of the band’s best pieces is the opener. “Guardians” is a quintessential Sidewinder piece that personifies the band and everything they stand for. But that’s only the beginning, as the guitars cruise down the road and the bass rumbles through the gravel. Clocking in at a mere thirty-four minutes, this eight-track beauty never reaches beyond its means, ensuring the songs are straight and tight, allowing Jem’s powerful vocals to direct the varying moods. While the band resides in the lush and beautiful landscapes of New Zealand,6 if a sound could represent the harsh desert lands of my home, this would be it.

#4. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – As many know, death metal is not my cup o’ tea. Once upon a time, death metal was my life, but that ship sailed when my favorites grew old and repetitive, and what you all call death metal these days bores me to tears. But the one band that continues to make me salivate is Aborted.7 And, boy, did this year’s Vault of Horrors deliver. With tracks like “Dreadbringer,” “The Golgothan,” and “Malevolent Haze,” this new release offers some incredible depth and relentless brutality. Aborted has always delivered good-to-great albums but after nearly thirty years, how can these lads continue to improve and produce such quality releases? Vault of Horrors is a great record and arguably one of the band’s best. It’s been several months since this beauty was released, so if it passed by you, rectify your posersivity.

#3. The Vision Bleak // Weird Tales – I don’t know what it is about The Vision Bleak but they fucking hit me and hit me hard. On the surface, their style is quite simple, but it’s the layers, stories, mood, and damning vocal performances that draw me in like I’m viewing a Vincent Price horror marathon. Combining their Type O Negative vocal characteristics with atmospheric moods that can be depressive at one point and ethereal at another, The Vision Bleak took a massive leap by releasing Weird Tales as (technically) a one-song album. Eight years since their incredible The Unknown, Weird Tales doesn’t skip a beat, maintaining the duo’s title as one of the greatest bands in gothic metal. With magnificent builds, eerie transitions, mind-bending fluidity, and heart-wrenching passages, the haunting nature of Weird Tales leaves you contemplating your existence in a world controlled by the fate instilled in it by the late, great H.P. Lovecraft.

#2. Kingcrow // Hopium – For fucking months, our progressive cunt, Dolphin Whisper, tried desperately to steal Kingcrow’s Hopium from me—somehow thinking he’s better than me when it comes to describing the lushness of Kingcrow. The fuck. Even though Kingcrow hasn’t released an album in six years, there’s no way some flipper fucker would take this from me. Sure, I’m not a huge fan of progressive metal, but at least I know what’s good progressive metal instead of lazily making love to everything with the tag of “prog.” Anyway, Hopium continues to deliver gorgeous tapestries painted with soothing vocals, synthy atmospheres, and impressive performances for all involved. Though I consider Eidos their best, Hopium is not far behind. While tapping into common influences like Dream Theater and Spock’s Beard, this Italian outfit is very much on a level all its own. If you like prog, you’ll find Hopium—with such wildly varying tracks like “Vicous Circle,” “Parallel Lines,” and “White Rabit’s Hole”—to be the most diverse prog record of the year.

#1. Borknagar // Fall – Goddammit, I love Borknagar. Few bands have such high album scores for a career that spans thirty years and a dozen albums—especially with a constant rotation of players and vocalists. Though, how can you be pissed off about having any of the great vocalists Borknagar has employed throughout the years? Since the beginning, the band has continuously introduced more melody and keys in their music, but Fall is special compared to the output in the last twenty years. Though this new album hasn’t hung up that hat by any means, Øystein G. Brun, Lars A. Nedland, and crew dug through the ashes of the past to bring some of those old-school black metal moments back into the mix. From the blackened assault of “Summits” and the Dimmu Borgir-esque vibes of “Northward,” the band continues to shock and surprise, avoiding a repetition from a previous album. So, dive into the best album o’ the year in all its glory.8

Honorable Mentions

Portrait // The Host – While I didn’t like the production of Portrait’s The Host, I’m still a slut for King Diamond and Meryful Fate-adjacent metal. Especially when it comes to Portrait, who continues to be less like a copycat and more like a pioneer of the style.
Attic // Return of the Witchfinder – More King Diamond-core! Easily one of the best examples of the sound, Attic continues to keep me coming back with each release. As their predecessor, Return of the Witchfinder brings a new story, more twists, and those pleasing falsettos that trigger my “O” face.
Sarke // Endo Feight – Sarke (the artist) and crew have had one hell of a busy couple of years. This year, in particular, sees not only a new Sarke release but also a new Khold record (see below). Endo Feight is a wonderful addition to the band’s catalog and, by god, it’s wonderful to see the man himself back behind the kit.
Khold // Du dømmes til død – See? I told you it would be here. While 2022’s Svartsyn was better record than Du dømmes til død (and a fantastic comeback), Du dømmes til død still has those elements that make the band so unique and fun to listen to.
Blood Red Throne // Nonagon – Three years ago, Blood Red Throne released not only one of their best albums but 2021’s best death metal record. Unsurprisingly, it’s difficult to follow something like Imperial Congregation without some hiccups. That said, Nonagon is still a brutal piece of work worthy of mentioning.

Disappointments o’ the Year

Darkthrone // It Beckons Us All……. – Like Sarke, Nocturno Culto has also been busy this year. If that’s part of the reason for the utter bore that’s It Beckons Us All……., I don’t know. But, this new record feels like Darkthrone is going through the motions. While I respect that they don’t care what the fuck any of us think, this is one of their worst albums.
Exhorder // Defectum Omnium – After Exhorder’s incredible comeback album, Mourn the Southern Skies, I was more than a little excited for this new one. Unfortunately, like Darkthrone’s newest, Defectum Omnium is a dreadfully boring record that lacks all the passion of Exhorder’s comeback, leaving me confused and pissed the fuck off.

Songs o’ the Year

Kingcrow – “White Rabbit’s Hole” – With an album full of great songs, there’s just something about the energy of this track that makes me so happy.