• MASSIVE REVIEWING CAPACITY • is our latest short review column focusing on stray quality releases a few times a month, or, roughly every two weeks depending on the current month’s release schedule. In an attempt to be more conversational these are easygoing and casual thoughts for the most part, so relax and think for yourself as I attempt to find something, anything to say about multitudes of new releases relevant to my interests. — If you find a record you dig go tell the band on social media and support them with a purchase. If you’d like your music reviewed, read the FAQ and send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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Wemmel, Belgium-based black metal project ERBEET AZHAK comes from C.V.B. a key component of Cult of Erinyes and Wolvennest who has worked with a number of different folks from Abysmal Descent, Possession, Abyssal Vacuum and others to realize this debut LP. The first demo from the band released back in 2024 and I would generally recommend checking it out first, it provides similar production values and length and a precursory level of sophistication. Upon approach it may very well appear this project is a chip off of a similar block in terms of its atmospheric reach but ‘Only the Vile Will Remain‘ is a caustic lashing, a groan from the depths which manages something more cruel than expected. This applies mostly to the combined effect of hellishly scraped-out vocals and its brutally struck drumming but also the poisonous wringing shared between the two main guitar positions. What starts out somewhat dissonant and multi-armed eventually calms away from its shouted orthodox blackened tinge and for that reason I’d found the first half of this album far more engaging. The second half is no less biting in its cause but songs like “The Weakness of Our Cycle” and the heavy metal stoked entrance for “The Wings of Liberation” naturally stand out up front with a cause in mind. I’ve no real issue with how this plays out, the album is rawly atmospheric and yet fully in command as a full listen blows through but a few of these songs are noticeably weaker in construction or core idea.

THE MON is a long-running eclectic solo project from Italian musician Urlo who is best known as vocalist, bassist and synthesizer hand in Ufomammut. ‘Songs of Embrace‘ is the second part of a two-part series titled “Embrace the Abandon” which follows the 2025-released ‘Songs of Abandon‘ with a markedly different voice. This record is purely instrumental with a heavy focus on the synthesizer as the main voice and atmospheric component though the whole of the experience includes drums, guitars and such as a sort of tonal compliment and/or counterpart to the earthen sky-sighted vision of the previous LP (“Incantation” here vs. “The Hidden Ghost” for example). The first first half of this record is warm to some degree, carrying some ominous droning qualities as it progresses. Things fittingly fall into a dark(er) place within “Ritual of Night Violence” accordingly revealing sparse dark ambient landscape beyond, eventually reaching the apex of “Echoes of the Drowned” (see also: “The Sigil”) and its distorted synth grumbling. This is the peak of the experience for me beyond what “Incantation” does to anchor the experience. Otherwise the closer and final drift into space via the palpitations of closer “Embrace the Abandon” helps to round the full listen into theme. The atmosphere generated here is engaging but will still require patience enough to let simpler gestures ride through to their conclusions, otherwise the tones in hand help to keep the experience floating along.

Oxfordshire, England-based heavy stoner metal/sludge rock band DESERT STORM have been around since the late 2000’s having undergone a number of changes per the course of now seven full-length albums since. This time around they’ve gotten a new bassist and taken a somewhat darker, doomed over turn amidst the now heavier-than-thou production values assigned their work. This is initially in strong contrast to some of their stonier, “southern rock” inspired records past but within these ~40 minutes they’ve covered most of those bases including progressive sludge interest, the occasional High on Fire-ism and hell they even sound kind of like CKY as they close out “Shamanic Echoes” here. I always appreciate when a long-running band continues to glom and accumulate rather than cede to their own excess as it rings with the kind of hubris that sludge needs to carry on. Though these are loud, dense and hollered up pieces for the most part they do institute some relief on the back half with shorter burners and such to break up the dynamic which forms within the first five or so songs. This isn’t necessarily my thing as a whole but I’d appreciated the doom-footed stomp they’d lead with on the first couple of songs.

Concepción, Chile-based brutal death metal trio SERMON TO THE LAMBS surge from the unknown with this self-titled debut full-length album, a release largely stoked by the early 2000’s exploded ordinance a la that era of Deeds of Flesh, Enmity and Disgorge. They aren’t necessarily a full throwback but as they crash into this record that’ll be the obviate hallmark of their riffcraft beyond the pinging snare applied upon opening salvo. I personally love this style and have long been accustomed to the over the top pain and harassment it serves the mind but there is something to be said for what each of these three folks apply here. This is particularly true via the nutso vocal performance from Richard Aguayo where even just holding it down for those first three songs is a wild feat, especially if they can pull it off live otherwise. The guttural end of his range shows up more clearly on “Maximum Apostasy” and hits that sweet spots for my taste. Otherwise some of the chuggier mid-2000’s moshable grooves eventually infest (“Saints are Centurions of an Aristotelian Christ”) and I kinda duck out a bit but most of the songs smoke here in the most heinous way. Huge debut, bonus tracks kinda overdo it, hope they continue on with this level of extremity.

The Québecois fellowes who feature in epic power/speed metal troupe RAVENSPELL might’ve played in a few black metal bands between them (Beholder incl.) but here they find their footing divorced from extreme metal per a fairly traditional vision of 80’s inspired power metal with a mild thrashing component. This type of heavy metal is of course typically centered upon vocal melodies but on ‘Obsidian King‘ they’ve managed to pump a few songs with notable instrumental framing. “Warriors 9 to 5” might have an awful title but the song itself is inspired, a bit slow for my taste but a memorable trod nonetheless. “Obsidian King” right after does well to echo most of those traits into a more dire song but this more epic stride is where I think the band thrive most beyond the faster-thrashing standout “Battleaxe Apocalypse”. The tropes found on “Onwards We March”, “Hellstorm” and one or two other songs are maybe on the rote side for my taste but this doesn’t stop them from finding a catch enough place to land their spear. Solid enough heavy metal album, they’ve done some incredibly fine work here overall but I see potential for tighter and more tense action in the future.

Around since 1996 but broken into broader consciousness in the early 2000’s Amsterdam, Netherlands-based straight edge hardcore punk quartet VITAMIN X have now amassed seven full-length albums to their name and this latest no doubt carries the right torch. The actual root of their sound recalls the late 80’s inspired movement of European hardcore in the late 90’s/early 2000’s before the metalcore thing had fully punched down on it, straight forward and direct stuff with an emphasis on what I’d consider a metallic hardcore edge. On ‘Ride the Apocalypse‘ they’re sticking to their guns but they’re blazing on them too clipping an average of ~30 seconds off their average song length and taking less time building up to their bark. A couple of songs veer off for the sake of interest, such as the groove-slicked “Bite the Hand that Feeds” or the militant march through “Genetic Mutation” but all of it feels in context and (mostly) rides throughout. I like this one even more than the last and that has been a pretty consistent trend since their first, not sure how much more they could tighten up their gig beyond this point.

České Budějovice, Czechia-based death metal quartet TEMORA give us a fifteen minute window into their rotten crypt with this debut demo release which has been picked up for a CD version nearly a year after a couple of cassette runs. Their work here kinda seems like the usual Undergang type filth outright but “Astrální Vize” and especially “Znesvěcení Slunce” have something else going on, enough of a thought outside the box that whatever they do next could be ace. Wasn’t sure about the wah-pedal whipped “Trollmor” but overall these folks aren’t as primitive and ghastly as they might appear upon first glance of the jacket.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based trio MOROS have been around for just over a decade but they’ve only more recently taken a step beyond their Primitive Man and Ilsa inspired extreme sludge sound. Here you’ll find something akin to death/sludge metal with some hardcore stamping underfoot and w/o any of the atmospheric drapery of their 2019 debut. ‘Cemetery Hallucinations‘ brings a notably loud, hi-fi room shaking level of assault here to start and rarely lets up on their circulation of heavier swinging grooves. Gone are most of their late to the party harsh noise/dark ambient threads and instead the stumbling-over-itself hop of modern primitivity (“Drowned in Decomposed Remains”) helps to shape a barking and chugging kind of record which goes on chopping through its ~4-5 minute chunks one after another. While I like the change they’ve fostered here for the sake of something more substantial and engaged but the actual riffs are mostly average, techniques become brutally repetitious, and the leads are typically quiet squalls resigned to the tail end of each song. This leaves most of the full listen samey in style and pace, so, if you’re doing for what you hear on those first two tracks you’ll find those ideas exhausted real quick. That said I’d appreciated the title track’s smaller breaks from the drudge as well as the punkish crush through “The Pool” later on. Doesn’t really hit in terms of the riffs but I like where they’re headed with it.

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