Metallian Heavy

CRYPTOPSY has announced a next full-length, An Insatiable Violence, for June 2025. It was recorded, engineered, produced, mixed and mastered at guitarist Christian Donaldson’s Studio by Christian Donaldson. There was a video for the song Until There’s Nothing Left.

Germany-based HATRED INHERIT has issued Void, which is its first album, through Pest Records. The band was founded in 2012. The album was recorded at guitarist Stipe Šimleša’s 3rd Floor Sounds studio.

GOLEM OF GORE’s Ultimo Mondo Cane album is available through Everlasting Spew Records on 30th May 2025. The Italy-based act was founded in 2017.

Darkness Shall Rise Productions will release Of Owls And Eels, the sophomore full-length from Germany-based CROMLECH, in June. CROMLECH is playing with GEHENNA and PENTHOS in November.

Italy-based death metal band UNBIRTH has an album called Asomatous Besmirchment as of May 19th. It was recorded by Claudio Mulas at Art Distillery Studio.

IMPURITY (and HOSTILIA) are to open for DISMEMBER in Stockholm and Göteborg, Sweden in October 2025.

USA-based BRAT is heading to Europe for several big and small shows this summer.

Canada-based black metal act THANTIFAXATH will tour Europe this summer.

Immortal Frost Productions has signed ASPHAGOR, the Austrian black metal band featuring several former and current members from AGRYPNIE, KARG and PERCHTA, for the release of its album, which is slated for the autumn 2025.

Drowning In The Distorted Light by Belgium-based black metal band THRONUM VRONDOR is available through Immortal Frost Productions. The song To Burn The Absolute features Surtur Lenaerts (ARS VENEFICIUM) on guest vocals.

Reunion 2026? Slovenia-based black metal band DEKADENT is disbanding after twenty years. Before they call it quits, the group will perform three more shows (two in Greece with BLACKBRAID and one in Bulgaria on May 1st).

Brazil-based black metal group OPHIOLATRY has signed with WormHoleDeath Records for the release of a new album called Serpent’s Verdict, which will be available in June 2025. There is a video for the song Death Tour.

Time To Kill Records has signed Michigan, USA-based death metal group RECORRUPTOR for the release of its next album, Sorrow Will Drown Us All.

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions is issuing COCAINE CULTURE’s self-titled album in May. The band was more shoegaze and alternative before becoming heavy and is compared to DEAFHEAVEN, DISEMBODIED, GAZA, etc.

USA-based CAUSTIC WOUND has a new record. It is called Grinding Mechanism Of Torment and available through Profound Lore Records.

USA-based grindcore act CHEPANG has signed a deal with Relapse Records for the release of its next record. Jhyappa will be released on May 23rd.

USA-based death metal band TRIBAL GAZE has signed with Nuclear Blast Records. The band is recording an album.

New York, USA-based melodic death band DAUGHTER CHAOS will release a demo called Noble Rot.

Aiming to be in the news twice, an album name is not announced. Veteran crossover band TOXIC YOUTH has signed with Time To Kill Records for the release of its upcoming debut album.

Italy-based crossover band STYGIAN has signed a deal with Time To Kill Records for the release of its upcoming debut album, Dreadlands, in July 2025.

USA-based death metal bands PYRRHON and REPLICANT will tour Europe together in August 2025.

Scotland-based death metal band DEATH KOMMANDER has a video for the song Yellow Cross. The lyrics are about the horrors of World War I. The track is taken from the Never To Grow Old album available through FDA Records on 30.05.2025.

To support the release of its Beyond Obsidian Euphoria album, TÓMARÚM have announced a string of North American tour dates with support from SAIDAN.

Sweden-based THE CROWN will embark on its first tour of Spain in March 2026.

Germany-based death metal duo UNINHIBITED returns with a demo called Scourge.

PARADISE IN FLAMES, ALLEN KEY and HATEFULMURDER are supporting CRYPTA on tour in Brazil this summer.

USA-based black/death metal band HEXROT has signed with Transcending Obscurity Records.

Nadir Music is issuing INFECTION CODE‘s Culto and TENEBRAE’s Loss albums. Both bands are based in Italy.

Norway-based black metal band DEN SAAKALDTE is working on its fourth album, which is going to be called Om Svik Og Vanære. The album is scheduled through Dusktone in the spring of 2026.

Portugal-based ONIRIK’s next full-length is called Curling Serpents Under Stone and available on 30.05.2025. It is being released through I, Voidhanger Records. The label is also issuing death doom metal band WEEPING SORES’ The Convalescence Agonies album on the same day.

France-based SKAPHOS has a full-length album called Cult Of Uzura through Transcending Obscurity Records.

Avantgarde Music has signed Cincinnati, USA-based quartet VALDRIN. The act’s next release is scheduled for early summer 2025.

Switzerland-based AS THE SUN FALLS has a forthcoming EP called Pohjoisen Sydän through Theogonia Records on May 23rd 2025.

Sweden-based JORDFÄST has an album called Blodsdåd Och Hor through Black Lion Records in July. The title translates into Bloodshed And Fornication.

Finland-based black metal group VELJESSURMA issue a debut album. It’s entitled Haltioissaan and available through Naturmacht Productions on 30.05.2025.

Speed metal band SPACE CHASER has uploaded a song called Ignite The Skies. Guitarist Leo Schacht has taken over the vocals.

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS returns with its sixth full-length. It is called A Void Within Existence and will be issued through Agonia Records on July 18th 2025. It was produced by Ken Sorceron and mixed by Dave Otero.

UK-based TRIVAX has an album called The Great Satan through Osmose Production. An advance song is called Operation Ramadan.

Germany-based sludge and doom band LIGHTLESS has a debut full-length called A Foreseen Loss through Fading Light Studio. The track Malicious Hopes Turned To Dust is twenty minutes long.

Sludge band THE LION’S DAUGHTER is calling it quits. The band will play a final show at OFF Broadway Music Venue on June 21st 2025. All proceeds from the show will benefit Stray Rescue. The band’s epitaph reads, “Fuck You All.”

Ukraine-based Satanic act LUCIFUGUM has a cassette called Adanom, which is limited to 99 copies. Female singer Stabaath has returned for the release. The songs are dedicated to Ukraine and its fighters.

Black Lion Records has signed Germany-based dark folk act CINEASTRE. An album is slated for June 2025.

Like every other band, despite reality the sound is being described as “black metal”: Saskatoon, Canada-based KRATORNAS has a vinyl demo on May 20th and a remix cassette through Grathila Records on May 30th, 2025. These releases serve as a prelude to the full-length album God Of The Tribes, which is scheduled for release on August 20th, 2025. The man warns fans that the musical style has shifted since previous works.

It’s post black metal time! MAREA will release an EP, called Adrift, through Masked Dead Records on May 9th.

It’s post black metal time! Ambient Australia-based band AUSTERE and LUNAR TOMBFIELDS are touring Europe. The former band has an album called The Stillness Of Dissolution through Prophecy Productions on 06.06.2025.

It’s post metal time! Italy-based WASTE CULT’s debut full-length album Blame will be released through Aesthetic Death on June 6th, 2025. The band explores a doomier, stoner sound.

It’s post metal time! Iceland-based SÓLSTAFIR has another tour of Europe lined up for June and July.

The three feminist Norwegians called WITCH CLUB SATAN have booked a European tour for September and October.

SODOM has a lyric video for the song Trigger Discipline, which is taken from The Arsonist album. It is available through Steamhammer Records in June. In tandem, band leader Tom Angelripper has opted out of immediate touring and is instead focusing on his home and family.

Japan-based HATE BEYOND has recycled its 2018 album, Ruthless Aggression, in the form of Ruthless Aggression Redux.

SACRED REICH is touring Europe, including several concerts with EXODUS and appearances at Rockwave and Graspop, this summer.

Yet another side-project: NEFARIOUS is a new act featuring HIRAX‘s Katon W. De Pena on vocals, guitarists Rick Hunolt (EXODUS) and Doug Piercy (HEATHEN), bassist Tom Gears (BLIND ILLUSION) and drummer Will Carroll of DEATH ANGEL. NEFARIOUS’ debut album, entitled Addicted To Power, will be released through Relentless “Metal” Records (CD) and Hectic/Bleeding Priest Records (LP) on July 18th 2025.

For those not sick of cover versions here is another one: Australia-based DARKER HALF has a covers’ EP called The Elephant Incident. It is out May 30th and has covers of JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN and more.

More self-cover versions bands want people to pay for: UK-based thrash metal band TORANAGA U.K. will release a demo, called A New Order, on May 19th. Two songs on the release are from the band’s 1990 album, God’s Gift.

Germany-based thrash, groove and metalcore act PHENOMY has signed with Art Gates Records.

Norway-based solo act TONIC BREED, led by Patrik K. Svendsen, has teamed up with FLOTSAM AND JETSAM guitarist Michael Gilbert for a guest solo on the new single The Die Is Cast.

North Carolina, USA-based white metal and crossover act HIS KINGDOM SUFFERS releases an album called Lord Have Mercy through The Charon Collective.

Transcendental Revolution has released a 7″ called Tortured Ascension by the “metallic hardcore” band BURIED TRUTH. Formed in 2022, BURIED TRUTH features Daniel Brown on vocals (ex-LEFT TO THE WOLVES), guitarists Kevin Thoroughman (ex-10 YEAR WINTER) and Zach Honeycutt, Doyle Huskey on bass (ex-CITY OF SIRENS) and Cameron Covington on drums.

Canada-based ANCIIENTS returns to the USA for its first tour in eight years. The Quest Beyond Our Minds tour is booked for August and September 2025 and will feature support from DAWN OF OUROBOROS, ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE, NOTT and EXIST on select dates.

Deathcore group THY ART IS MURDER is conducting the Brutality Across Australia tour this summer. Support comes alternately from MELANCOLIA, HATE COMPLEX, MELTING, ANNIHILIST and THANARTIST.

Extreme Management Group/EMG (SUFFOCATION, etc.),has signed groovy band AMETROPIA. The band has a cover version of DEATH‘s The Philosopher and intends to record in late 2025.

CHANGELING, a “progressive death metal project” created by Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger (ex-OBSCURA, BELPHEGOR, DEFEATED SANITY) and featuring Morean (ALKALOID, DARK FORTRESS) on vocals, Arran McSporran (VIRVUM, VIPASSI) on bass and sessionist Mike Heller on drums has a self-titled debut album through Season Of Mist.

Oregon, USA-based VINTERSEA will embark on the Eyes Of The Sea tour of the West Coast of the USA this spring. BLIGHTED EYE will open.

“Symphonic” band AEONYZHAR has a music video for the song I Spit In The Face Of Forgiveness, which is taken from The Profane Era album available through Apostasy Records.

Keyboard-oriented MIST OF MISERY has lost its singer of three years Änglamakaren to the man’s main band, NIGHT CROWNED.

“Orchestral funeral doom one-man band” THE HOWLING VOID has another full-length, called The Glow Of A Distant Fire, through Ardua Music.

USA-based groove metal band BYZANTINE will release a full-length album, entitled Harbingers, through Metal Blade Records on June 13th 2025.

Finland-based groovy white metal act INBORN TENDENCY has a lyric video for the song Fist Evangelist through The Charon Collective. The band is working on releasing a full-length in 2025.

CARNOSUS is heading outside Europe for the first time in June 2025. The band is headlining the Maple And Mayhem Tour of Canada with openers CARRION VAEL and APOGEAN.


Metallian Hard

DIRKSCHNEIDER & THE OLD GANG has a single called It Takes Two To Tango, which comes in advance of the 2025 Babylon record that is slated through Reigning Phoenix Music (RPM).

SAXON will release a live album entitled Eagles Over Hellfest. Recorded at the 2024 Hellfest, it will be available in double-CD format with the latest studio album Hell, Fire And Damnation in June 2025.

HELLOWEEN has announced that its next album, Giants & Monsters, will be released through Reigning Phoenix Music (RPM) on August 29th, 2025. It is the band's second studio album as a seven-piece.

Brazil-based GAIABETA will issue its debut album, Gate Of GaiaBeta, through Pitch Black Records on May 16th 2025. The act was founded by vocalist Marcos Diantoni in the city of Feira De Santana in 2017.

Switzerland-based SHAKRA has a lyric video for the song Burning Heart. The song was recorded during the sessions for the Invincible album of 2023 originally. The session files were lost and subsequently rediscovered during the band’s 30th anniversary preparations.

Australia-based ACROLYSIS has a demo called Intoxicator on the 1st June 2025. The heavy metal band was founded in 2016.

The other DEFENDER based in Germany has an album called Dying To Live through Metalapolis Records.

USA-based SIREN's former bassist Ed Hauser died in April. Illness had prevented the bassist from traveling to Germany for an appearance at Keep It True in 2018. His original replacement Gregg Culbertson had replaced him again.

Scotland-based doom metal band KING WITCH released an album called III through Listenable Records on 27.07.2025.

Richmond, Indiana, USA-based doom metal band WOLFTOOTH is working on a new album. The follow-up to 2021's Blood & Iron is due later this year.

Poland-based black/doom metal group NIGHTLY GALE is in the studio working on a new full-length, which follows 2013's Lust.

The band is called heavy metal, power metal and death metal, but has synthesizers: Chile-based AURA DE ILUSIONES has a demo called La Senda. The band reports that it was meant to be a demo-EP, but a change in the line-up propelled the band to record a full-length demo.

Germany-based heavy metal band THE NIGHT ETERNAL has signed with Metal Blade Records. The group is writing music.

WARLORD's latest compilation is called The Lost Archangel. It will be released through High Roller Records and contains four new songs, three self-cover versions and six live cuts.

THE ALMIGHTY and WOLFSBANE are touring The UK in November. The latter band has several headline concerts in the UK in July in support of its self-cover version album Live Faster...

SYMPHONY X will be headlining a 19-date North American tour with SONATA ARCTICA in September 2025.

Former JUDAS PRIEST drummer Les Binks, who was heard in the 1970s on the Stained Class, Killing Machine and Unleashed In The East albums, died on March 15th.

Sweden-based hard rock band GRAVEYARD and GOAT have a collaboration 7'' for record store day.

Higher is a song and a video from WALTARI's next album Nations' Neurosis. The new record is available through Metalville Records in May 2025.

Sweden-based REXORIA is working on a new record.

USA-based Neoclassical and keyboard damaged band OBSIDIAN SKIES has uploaded a song called Unmade By The Ocean in advance of a full-length this year.

After an eight-year hiatus, Australia-based RUM RUNNERS is back with a demo called Wreck And Revere as of the 1st of May 2025. The band is described as "pirate metal" and "Epic Folk Metal."

Austria-based glam metal band MÄDHOUSE has an album called Plead The Fifth through ROAR in June 2025.

Cosplay pop metallers WARKINGS has an album called Armageddon through Napalm Records on July 4th 2025. The release is mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studio.

Logic Il Logic Records and Burning Minds Music Group have signed Italy-based horror metal (i,e, the band uses synthesizers) band GRIMORIO, for the release of a debut album, On The Path Of The Morning Star. The band was founded in 2023 and features Mirko Di Bella (vocals, guitar, synthesiser), Christian Balsamo (guitars and synthesiser), Liliana Teobaldi (bass) and drummer Francesco Paladino.

JOE SATRIANI and Steve Vai have united to form SATCHVAI BAND, which will tour Europe this June and July.

STRYPER is working on a Christmas album.

Edmonton, Canada-based band FAMOUS STRANGERS has a video for the song I'll See You In The Stars. The band is headlining on May 10th at The Starlite Room with support from BLACK FRIDAY, KING THIEF and EMBUR. The act has festival appearances at Loud As Hell Open Air and Decimate Metalfest, as well as upcoming tour dates yet to be announced.

Doom act FAETOOTH has a single called Death Of Day. It was engineered, mixed and mastered by Joseph Calleiro.

DOMKRAFT and HOWLING GIANT will tour the West Coast of Canada and USA this summer.

USA-based heavy rock act ELECTRIC CITIZEN has an album called EC4 through Heavy Psych Records in June 2025.

France-based hard and heavy band DEEP SPACE MASK has a demo called Burn In Hell.

Be Prog! My Friend Festival will return this year and take place in Barcelona, Spain in September. Bands appearing include TESSERACT, THE PINEAPPLE THIEF, THE DEAR HUNTER and THRESHOLD.

Metallian supports MAGA! Let the king destroy the empire from within.


Metallian Demos

THE GORGONUM CHAOS - PERILOUS AMBITIONS
This is an appealing demo from this unknown Canadian act. The riffs are solid and varied, but always heavy and never weak. The name might mean nothing to anybody, but the amazing music may be due to the band having been around under this and another name for over a decade. That does not look like Mars on the cover, but somewhere more deathly and sludgy.
The vocals are upfront on this, the music is built on gargantuan riffs and the drums are warm. The cymbals, though, are recorded less than perfectly. Gorgonum Chaos' Perilous Ambitions has music that could come from Cerebral Fix and Benediction if they were to mate with Fudge Tunnel and Satyricon (particularly on The Griever). Bird Of Prey cranks up the bass. The voice is that of an enraged monster unleashing his bestial rage upon terrans. Some of it is in Klingon too. It does veer pantera for a few minutes though, but gracefully not much. The passing odd vocals on Ghost In The Rain are the only weakness really. Perhaps it is meant to be that of a ghost? Go Here: https://gorgonumchaos.bandcamp.com/album/perilous-ambitions - Anna Tergel

WRECK-DEFY - HYBRIDIZED
Honestly it is impossible to tell whether this band is still called Wreck-Defy or Wreck-Defy (feat. Chris Poland). Never mind that it's apparently too onerous for the band to type out 'featuring,' which is a whole nine letters, but search anywhere including on the band's Facebook page and the act is… Wreck-Defy (feat. Chris Poland). Odd. Chris Poland is the former Megadeth guitarist and is, er, featured on this demo. It could be worse: the band could be called Aggressor or similar!
The band and album are thrashers, which the first song, cleverly titled How It Ends, makes clear a few seconds in. It is tight, aggressive and pure except for some grungy vocals inserting themselves into the track and mixing awkwardly with the thrashy vocals. Pick A Side has vocals like Bobby Blitz, which is actually not unfamiliar territory for the band's music. Don't Be That Friend rips off Metallica's Kill 'Em All without hesitation.
Whether channeling Exodus, Megadeth or Overkill, the band throws in its own melodic solo (feat. Chris Poland?) and time changes and delivers with enough conviction to validate the entity's existence. The odd grungy vocals, pinch harmonics and riff like the sub-genre's heroes are less than ideal of course, but the bulk of this material is respectable and could easily be recommended to thrash metal fans. This is an independent release, but the production is thick and juicy. - Anna Tergel