THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE MONTH should be self-explanatory, an ordered ranking of ten albums that’d resonated most throughout this month. If you’re new to the site, the tendency is heavy and/or surreal music. Choices are selected based on temporal immersion, personal connection, impressive style, point of view, aesthetics and with consideration for the lasting value of each selection. All choices are ultimately personal and come without consideration for populism, nepotism, cronyism, or any outside factors including perceived “relevance”. Writing about music is a passion I afford as much time as is manageable and I am grateful to have so much to choose from. Thank you.

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I. This month on MystificationZine.com included 26 longform album reviews, two month’s worth (35+) of video reviews/features, 22 short album reviews. As much as I try to cover there is a vast, vast number of overlooked releases that are yet worth seeking out. Take this as a jumping off point for your own exploration and let me know what you find.

II. After a year long wait several updates are coming to the site in May:

[II.I] Be on the lookout for a “ZINE” tab/menu item on the site which will link to purchase of the first six issues of Mystification Zine. Keep in mind that issue one was a physical zine, it will never get a digital version but it will be available for sale (30/100 copies left) within the United States. Issues 2 through 6 are digital (.PDF) and there will be an option to purchase all of them at once. These won’t be automatic file transfers, you’ll purchase an issue then I will e-mail you a link to download it.

[II.II] Mystification Zine Issue Number 7 will be completed shortly, all planned interviews are finished (two more are technically in the works). Because some interviews were so extensive I’ve had to create quite a few more illustrations than expected. If all things go according to schedule it will be available within ~2-3 weeks and be made available direct from the site. Some but not all of the interviews will be posted on the website at a later date.

[II.III] The future home for the Mystification Zine store (for physical media, merch, etc.) will be: mystification.bigcartel.com, the number of items will be very limited (~five) and there will be no shipping outside of the United States through this store to start. The store will go live around May 5th. If you would like to distribute the 2021-2023 released CD, tape, and vinyl releases from Spirit Coffin Publishing please get in touch, I am generally willing to sell them in bulk (more than 10 items) at cost of production + shipping.

[II.IV] A host of underground, mainstream, etc. metal and rock releases have been made available over on my Discogs page: discogs.com/seller/terraasymmetry as I begin to declutter my office, sell off some inherited/gifted music, and make room for upcoming ventures. Only shipping within the United States for now.

III. Don’t miss late-month new releases by: Jarboe, Deserted Fear, Hate Forest, and Goats of Doom. I didn’t have enough free time to get around to reviewing these but they are all worth checking out. Didn’t get your album reviewed this month? It probably had AI artwork (fuck all that), or you didn’t send it in more than one week prior to its release date! Please allow me sufficient time to evaluate your work and stop using AI.

IV. In 2025 written reviews will now have a video component which will post at the bottom of each review or feature, typically every week or two. If you enjoy these please consider following on YouTube. We are hovering around 1250+ subscribers and hoping to reach the 2,000 mark in 2025.

V. As always I’d like to express my gratitude for the bands, labels and PR firms who choose to work with me. Thank you.

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17. DORMANT ORDEAL – Tooth and Nail (2025) | REVIEW
16. NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM – Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu (2025) | REVIEW
15. MIZMOR & HELL – Alluvion (2025) | REVIEW
14. CONAN – Violence Dimension (2025) | REVIEW
13. HERALDICA DE MANDRAKE – Nunca bastó con rezar (Self-Released)
12. CAUSTIC WOUND – Grinding Mechanism of Torment (2025) | REVIEW
11. DIABOLIZER – Murderous Revelations (2025) | REVIEW

#10
ARTIST:	PESTIFER
TITLE:	Ravaging Fury
RECORD LABEL(S):	Iron Blood & Death Corp.

On their sophomore full-length album Porto, Portugal-based death metal quartet PESTIFER return even more ragged and brutal than before. Seven years later they’re blasting with the violent cull of late 90’s Krisiun and Angelcorpse but with a few songs that hit a la 90’s Torture Squad, more death-thrash oriented riffing/pace, and a few even bear a sort of Melechesh-esque weave to some of their songs (re: “Execration Diatribes”, etc.). Raw elite death metal attack, completely obsessed with the riff and thrashing throughout. Discovered this one long after release otherwise I’d have reviewed it.

>> FULL STREAM <<

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#9
ARTIST:	ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ
TITLE:	ΝΕΚΥΙΑ-The Necromantic Patterns
RECORD LABEL(S):	Zazen Sounds, III Damnation

Acherontas have never been light on ideas or lacking in vision and this tenth album is no exception in that sense, where it stood out for my own taste was in the riffs, the guitar work in general and how that spike in activity also coincided with inspired lyrics/vocals in accompaniment. It is always a pleasure to return to their work as (much like Abigor) there is a wandering progression to their discography, not a linear event but a sauntering walk through myriad conceptions which leave each album with its own sense of purpose and sound. Otherwise I’d felt the somewhat melodic focus of the guitar work particularly suited its dramatic surroundings, aggressive but enlightened by its own temperamental directive.

“Calling upon decades spent gathering secreted ancient knowledge the ritualistic hymnals of the occult sorcerer(s) in Athens, Greece-based black metal project ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ now guide us through ceremonious conjuration of the labyrinth toward death’s dissolution. This necromancy-bound work finds its truth in translation of the language of the ascended dead along our path through the netherworld unto ascension, intending spiritual scour and recommission within the darting rise-and-fall of this tenth full-length album. ‘NEKYIA -The Necromantic Patterns‘ is a black-shimmering sweep of the skull into demystification, a painful curse meant to yank the wayfaring soul away from ugliest spiritual indoctrination and its latencies. To the delight of anyone familiar with the band’s long history of occult magickry the swelling semi-melodic froth of their work achieves a new, differently angled high within these acts.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#8
ARTIST:	TETRAMORPHE IMPURE
TITLE:	The Sunset of Being
RECORD LABEL(S):	Aesthetic Death

Funeral death/doom metal rarely achieves this careful a balance of ‘old school’ death/doom metal grit, 90’s melodic death/doom metal’s gothic dramatism, and the exaggeration of those forms within (early) funeral doom metal traits while maintaining cohesive, eloquently stated pieces in the process. ‘The Sunset of Being‘ is a strange dark sub-genre salad on paper in my case but in practice it is a pleasure to return to every time per its imposing-yet-downtrodden tonality, a headspace which allows for both empyrean heaviness and downtrodden gloom without ever appearing pedestrian in creation.

“In meditative procession a slow descent into darkness is depicted via ancient extremism, one which calls for both depressive solemnity and throat-shredding roar as Alessandria, Italy-based funeral death/doom metal project TETRAMORPHE IMPURE present their debut full-length album, intending damningly immersive introspection on their morbid traipse through pumice-lined caverns. A morbid ebb felt as horrifying sundowning into existential collapse ‘The Sunset of Being‘ pressures the listener’s psyche with enormous, fittingly thunderous extreme doom metal hailing down as their underworld rises to greet a dying realm. Calling on the old gods of 90’s death/doom metal and thier earliest connections with funereal craft this album is admittedly slow-growing in its cling to the mind but lacking for nothing per its finely tuned sound design and broadly varied expression.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#7
ARTIST:	INSINERATEHYMN
TITLE:	Irreverence of the Divine
RECORD LABEL(S):	Rotted Life Records, Memento Mori

This Los Angeles-area pure ‘old school’ death metal crew hit harder with each release and this third one hits with some of their all-time best riffcraft. Their blunt-edged USDM prioritized sound still has some Scandinavian trait within the bigger picture but this one is all about reaching for the level of riff Deicide and Monstrosity heads should appreciate. For my own taste this is their best album to date, the whole package in terms of production values and aesthetics fitting perfectly with their music, their whole deal is only getting better with time.

“Scourging the putrid throne and defiling all angelic hides softened by their own contemptuous reign Los Angeles, California-based death metal quartet INSINERATEHYMN storm the marbled halls of sanctitude with a brutally blasphemic rally via this stabbed-through third full-length album. ‘Irreverence of the Divine‘ spills ancient blood in the name of proper ‘old school’ death metal guided by a practiced killing hand and via unhinged minds, attuning their focus toward malevolent grooves and increasing brutality. Still a pure death metal band raining down riff-after-riff under total possession of the old cult these folks’ve outdone their previous work here with a bigger record, cutting into meander territory without losing the feral edge carried through each of their releases thus far.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#6
ARTIST:	KEXELÜR
TITLE:	Epigrama de un pasado perdido
RECORD LABEL(S):	Sun & Moon Records

Kexelür are a jam outside of sub-genre considerations, I mean we could describe their stuff as post-this or black-that but their trips into math metal/post-hardcore, jazz fusion, psychedelic rock and beyond only just begin to describe one part of the first song on this album. They’re not “all over the place” so much as eclectic in their muscle memory for myriad forms as they cruise through their work with an inventive hand in every case. Improvised and otherwise, there is already something unique to their work and what this LP does beyond their initial demo phase is prove they’re advancing in the greater conception of their work, not simply mashing sub-genre buttons but refining the flow of each piece ’til their run-on thoughts are incredibly lucid and a prime ride to experience on repeat.

“Existential revelations under dram and delirium of psychoactive muse revel in the nausea of nihil, a level of spiritual self-poisoning that’d best convey insatiable wanderlust felt in emergence beyond several years of cavernous containment. A cough of dead air from below sedates and blinds the senses as the realm of Santiago, Chile-based experimental black metal trio KEXELÜR opens to behold shapes pulled from shadowy battles and spiking curiosities unveiled by the light on this debut full-length album. Yarning an affected aural maze that feeds the wanderer blissful fusion and post-tormented possession ‘Epigrama de un Pasado Perdido‘ explores progressivity from a dark and initially dissonant place. For this debut the band’s increasingly free-built configuration begins incorporating elements of progressive rock, post-black metal and psychedelic rock movement within their broad-handed and exploratory vision. Sensorially gripping in its expanse yet motivated to move from portal-to-portal within their greater journey there is some magnetism to the way these folks intuit their way through the dark and endless corridors herein.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#5
ARTIST:	ATAUDES
TITLE:	Tempus Edax Rerum
RECORD LABEL(S):	Memento Mori, Obscure Disharmony

Tempering their wandering hand with abstract blackened riffcraft, dissonance and doom this sophomore full-length from Ataudes delivers an additional exponent of depth beyond their debut without losing their underground death metal locus. Fans of Immolation and Krypts should appreciate the rhythmic verve of this band.

“With our primeval engine left whirring off-cylinder and expended of every last telomeric extension our ancient clock is left to flatly rattle through its timeworn exterior as the caustic remnants of the “self” are soured by discord and tempest ’til eroded… settled into putrid dust by the wrathful degrade of Buenos Aires, Argentina-based death metal trio ATAUDES who’d repeatedly conjure their decayed tones with the temperament of an ageless ghoul on this impressive sophomore full-length album. ‘Tempus Edax Rerum‘ presents time as the unsettling source of angst within mankind, an incontrovertible devourer of existence (and remembrance) as the nihil pours bile-black and reeking from each piece. Their work on this second LP smacks of paradigmatic soul-exchange, a dramatic shift in voicing which better attains (and elevates) their original vision of morbid, angularly cut death metal rippling with eerie-toned atmospheric descent.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#4
ARTIST:	ANCIENT DEATH
TITLE:	Ego Dissolution
RECORD LABEL(S):	Profound Lore Records

If I spend a good portion of a review for a death metal album referencing ‘old school’ greats, talking about potential and such it is a good sign that that album is both in a good place but the band is in the process of defining their path. In the case of ‘Ego Dissolution‘ mulling over identity, place, and time made sense to me in as a reaction to Ancient Death‘s prompts as well as their thrashing, heavily atmospheric yet classicist prog-death metal ideation. What I’d suggested in several different ways over the course of my review is that they’ve gestured clearly as to where they’ll head with this sound and I am looking forward to it, otherwise this is a brilliantly realized debut which does well to represent both fandom and futurism.

“Inner peace, compassion and alien-eyed visions’ve usurped the horrors of olden death metal today as the noveau hippies of the ‘new old school’ movement embrace deeper generational echoes of early 90’s underground enlightenment. Emotional maturity, social awakening and greater self-actualization are among the mind-broadening subjects addressed and encouraged within this debut full-length album from Walpole, Massachusetts-based psychedelic death metal quartet ANCIENT DEATH as the ego-death depicted portends a potential higher state of personal authenticity will follow. As they go on whirling through ‘Ego Dissolution‘ these folks act within the realm of progressive and pure death metal tropes in construct of bespoke mutations curated from a point of strong personal taste, transforming recognizable tones and space-cased rhythmic temperament into righteously flowing movements. As this hotly wafting set of gestures are delivered between familiar hands and curiously invaginating riffs its oddly meditative roar-and-shred manifests intimately surreal moment after moment, a not-so bizarre stretch of contemplative thought and surrealistic wonderment.“

>> FULL STREAM <<

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#3
ARTIST:	SERPENTES
TITLE:	Desert Psalms
RECORD LABEL(S):	Norma Evangelium Diaboli

There is an intoxicating descent into the viper-lined pits of ‘Desert Psalms‘ which I’ve found hard to shake, an poisoned and dramatic sensation that writhes throughout this album of mysterious horrors and well-trained stabbing hands. The combination of sensibilities from folks in Angrenost and Misþyrming was probably always a sure thing in some sense but the result is yet surprisingly feral, guided by prime musicianship and erratic temperament alike to the point of diabolical tension.

“Walking in step with the wicked, cracking open their ante-scriptural snakeskin tomes and delivering seven fork-tongued sermons sans superscriptions Portugal/Iceland-borne black metal quintet SERPENTES demand devotion to the underdark with escalating conviction on this righteously invoked introductory creed. From a wheezing throat crushed by daimonian hand their debut full-length album, ‘Desert Psalms‘, conveys the purgation of the light as the freeing of the mind through envenomed release. As an off-color black metal experience it is naturally riff-intensive, a puzzled together flow of inspiration made demanding per the odd handed skill of the unhinged devotees involved.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#2
ARTIST:	MORBIFIC
TITLE:	Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh
RECORD LABEL(S):	Memento Mori, Me Saco Un Ojo

This third time around Morbific benefit from a sharper but still raw-as-shit recording in hitting bigger riffs, rhythms which are way dumber and way more brutal than most of what they’d done before. It all works for the sake of embodying the horrid demo-days underground death sound beyond shambling Autopsy-isms, taking on plenty more variety and picking bigger riffs along the way. If you’re into zombie-ass ‘old school’ death metal this is the one so far this year.

“Awestruck by the pillar of gore erected from horrifying pits of poisoned drainage and fevered to feed from the slippery musculature bobbing in the reeking overflow before their eyes Kitee, Finland-based death metal trio MORBIFIC howl through rotten throats in signaling peak primal engorgement. Reared up and scanning the horizon for more meat these folks’ third full-length album ‘Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh‘ once again offers pure underground death metal sounds from a state of coherent yet personalized render, a bruiser of a riff record given sonic lustre worthy of their tightened instrumentation and increasingly cruel style. Here their ‘old school’ guided hand finds its superior groove, their meanest rhythms to date in fine-tuning an ugliest rot-obsessed species apart.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#1	Album of the Month
ARTIST:	SIJJIN
TITLE:	Helljjin Combat
RECORD LABEL(S):	Sepulchral Voice Records

Leaning back into the most feral instincts to be found at the 80’s-set impetus of sinister speed metal ’til death metal Sijjin surprise once more as they present incredible precision, musicianship upheld to a standard which is leagues beyond all contemporaries and reveling in sinister acts rather than cheap flourishes. This isn’t just a case of a death/thrash metal band having a hundred riffs per song, though I’d celebrate that too, but instead a band who have songs and this time around a greater variety of riff and venture on hand so that it doesn’t all meld together into one wild maze (see: ‘Sumerian Promises’). Much as I loved the dizzying incantations of their debut this one has been quickly creeping up on me as my favorite this year.

“At a point of total descent into burning Jahannam three ancient djinni shapeshifters are disturbed from their eminence by unnamed fajir assailant, erupting into retaliatory stakes that’d drive them to possess flesh formae with diabolic vengeance, inhabiting the skulls of German/Basque death-thrash metal trio SIJJIN and inciting them to crush and dement their waking bane. Conjured from arcane treachery into mayhem the precision-cut evil speed-death metal found on the band’s sophomore full-length album, ‘Helljjin Combat‘, is charged at its core by the primeval engine of thrash metal as it’d inhaled its first acts of morbidity unto death. Rather than deliver increasingly extreme waves or turn down toward a point of regression their work finds its songcraft markedly facilitated via a swinging-yet-technical sharpness, an acrobatically achieved authenticity of form which is equally fevered with slavish anciency and plagued by possession.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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