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 some of the best releases of the year, again too many worthy of feature but just ten worth of the slots available. This round is no less substantive than the last leaving us with a fair mix of death, thrash, black and doom metal in varying levels of combine. Albums from Warning, Thy Killing Hand, Iskandr, and Thætas all warrant additional praise and should be investigated as we look forward to a drought of interest in July where I’ve lined up less than three weeks worth of compelling releases.

II. Consider following on YouTube. Video accompaniment for this list will be up next week. I’ve got a new edition of An Exhaustive Study on the way soon, videos and articles will post simultaneously when readied next month.

III. 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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If you’d found the first volume of ‘Arcane Desert Rituals‘ a revelation in ritualistic psychedelic doom no doubt part two will prove even more of a boon to their dark and fantastical vision. Minimal as King Potenaz‘ approach is the four songs here cover considerable distance, jam with incredible ease and entertained enough for frequent return listening. “Lord of the Rust” is probably the big, barn-burning hail of the lot and the piece to pull me into their realm but the jammed-out, slow creeping psychedelia of the second half sealed the experience for my taste.

“Sauntering low within slow-wrought passage from portal to portal Fasano, Italy-based psychedelic doom metal trio KING POTENAZ transgress ancient rituals and cosmic quandary within occult dark fantasy realms on this snarling, buzz-heavy third full-length album. The groaning n’ gnashing mouth of possession which introduces ‘Arcane Desert Rituals Vol. II‘ eventually releases its shoulders into jammed and searching depiction, further expansion of the band’s ouevre within the unholy glut produced within these sessions. Though all actions are yet informed by a host of classic inspiration the more exploratory psychedelic doom they’ve brought here is yet appreciably moody, bleak yet stoney to a point of admirable characterization.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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This second LP from the relatively young slashers in Ruyned shows a considerable leap in both execution and quality control, a crafted album experience which is short as Hell but all impact in its chosen pieces. ‘Profanum Sacrificium‘ doesn’t hang out too long, finds its own handle upon variety and left a dent in mind with their ideation of witching metal. This one is definitely a lightning in a bottle release and I’m curious to see how they vault off of that momentum next.

“From the mind of a ruthless psychosexual serial killer to the opportunistic terror campaign that was the inquisition Timișoara, Romania-based black/speed metal trio RUYNED take macabre inspiration as they spread tales of hammer-horror and opportune cruelty on this step-up of a sophomore full-length album. ‘Profanum Sacrificium‘ might initially read as solely rooted in mid-80’s speed metal traditions but the whole of its runtime reveals inspired progression toward increasing diabolic ideals, a new level of personage gained as they rip through. By remaining contained in statement and all-killer in action they’ve managed a highly repeatable second record well beyond their years.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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Originally a Basque-centric take on pagan black/folk metal Numen have steadily evolved into a band admirably driven by the riff, their own razor-whipped melee of many forms, while also taking on increasingly abstract and virtuosic musicianship. This finds ‘Erre‘ a strikingly accomplished release, even more focused and fusion rich than the last despite its relatively traditional read. Though the riffs are the focus here per my own taste the basslines and bass guitar performance in general is a huge highlight for this release, obviously rooted in some classic ideals but worming in a way that I’d found worthy of countless listens.

“The last breath of the ashes lent the wind offer unforgettable reek amidst the stillness afforded by death, a stench which hangs in the air well beyond the horrifying screams of the incinerated as Arrasate-Mondragón, Basque Country-based sextet NUMEN depict dark religious and opportunistic violence in the age of inquisition on this exceptional fifth full-length album. Precisely measured between second wave stoked violence and their own taste for bounding and ranting exploration ‘Erre‘ is cut from a familiar cloth known to their name as it supplies a best-yet version of their volatility beyond pagan/folken inception. The obviate appeal of their long-held dynamic rally speaks for itself as this material offers a rare strike at guitar driven, or, riff-driven black metal muse which entertains for its embrace of fundaments into force which is well beyond the usual salad-tossed ideation.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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In spite of a pretty major line-up change in recent years this Finnish quartet do not appear at all hindered on this second album. In fact Morgal manage to outdo some of the throat-ripping movement found on their self-titled EP within this more sophisticated meld of melodic black, speed metal and heavy metal. Every time I picked this record up it’d kicked my ass and cinched up its brief runtime before I’d known what hit me, offering some reasonable depth in their work while still making a strong heavy metal album of it. Atypical for Finnish black metal but also for the black/heavy metal paradigm in general, might be of interest if you’re a fan of Swedish melodic black metal and its early adjacency to black/thrash.

“After a half-decade spent variously pulling and sharpening their teeth in the shadows Mikkeli, Finland-based black metal band MORGAL return a steel-jawed quartet per this inspired sophomore full-length album. Yet informed by classic black/thrash and melodic black metal traits ‘The Seventh Circle‘ resembles deeper fusion of these elemental markers, no less a heavy metal album than their first but also a well-considered, mightily performed delve into their ‘ready established cause. Though the usual bigger-is-better tendencies of any second album apply here in terms of boldly applied style these folks haven’t mutated their total impact so much as sharpened their blade unto a brilliantly concise hammer of an album.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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Sure it’d be fair to say Khemmis have always been either too eclectic or (now) too glossy in the reach for their own melodic heavy/doom metal vision but with ‘Khemmis‘ the amount of streamlining done to their work makes for a very focused, oft melancholic listen. I’d probably reach for an Argus (Pennsylvania) record before for this particular style and I’m not sure they’ve reached the dramatic intimacy of a band like Crypt Sermon but solely in the context of this bands work this might be one of their best, most clearly stated efforts to date.

“In presenting their fifth full-length album Denver, Colorado-based heavy/doom metal quartet KHEMMIS exude a new season of gratitude and heightened heavy metal faith in their messaging yet the work itself is tonally dire, melodramatic as ever in its solemn-yet-steeled stance. Set up to be the band’s defining work ‘Khemmis‘ is certainly their most measured and tightly writ material, carefully carved loose of their sludgier, at-times chaotically inspired excess. The resulting experience is unsurprisingly slick, an emotionally (or, oft vocally) driven affair in modern form which yet captures the gloom and introspection inherent to traditional ‘epic’ doom metal.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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After a long silence Godless return with a truly damaging, wrathful display in ‘Adversus Parousia‘. Though even the best modern examples of the sub-genre appear to shrink away from anything but status quo production values these folks aim for darker, obfuscated textures and malign brutality in achieving a new level of menace within their work. More abstract, dizzying in its pitch black cough, and featuring expression howled to the point of maniac possession this record offers both disturbing atmospheric depth and a riff-crushing burst through. Probably the one album on this list that I feel like I still need more time with beyond the review process.

“Presented as an adversarial second coming meant to staunch the insidious nox of christendom and confront the mesmerizing darkness of death this sophomore full-length album from Talca, Chile-based death metal quartet GODLESS thrives within its heightened state of chaotic entanglement and impious wrath. ‘Adversus Parousia‘ retains and extends the somewhat challenging abstraction of their debut, weaponizing tonal grime and rugged force unto a grotesque screed of formidable occult death music. Spectacularly bleak and unpredictive as their action is here there’ll be no denying the murderous carve of the riffcraft at hand here as their efforts resound with the core tenets of the sub-genre as much as they bend them.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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Nuclear Tomb is one of very few bands kicking right now who seem just as obsessed with technical thrash metal, old school death-thrash metal and the weirding obscure corners of each niche as I am. They’d already proven they had their shit together on their first record but this one pushes a bit harder, goes heavier in some respects and generally keeps it quick-cut. While I’m missing some of the obsessive wandering and run-on riff after riff ideas of my favorite records (‘From This Day Forward‘, eh) this is kind of the band’s ‘Outer Isolation‘ moment where they’re keeping those ideas tight and packing a ton of movement and detail into each one.

“The mutant sounds stirring louder and louder within the mausoleum confirm what the AI-generated articles in your social-engineered feed already suspected, that the mind-scouring nightmare of humanity’s murderous collapse will inevitably be interrupted by radioactive waste seeping upward and outward as the greed of the bunker-set class manifests irredeemable, incurable reality. The dead do not walk but instead hiss from within the melting seal as Baltimore, Maryland-based progressive death/thrash metal quartet NUCLEAR TOMB emerge with a sophomore full-length album built from road-tested wares in extension of thier maniac signature. Tightened to a point of bizarre tension but given its own ‘old school’ death metal attuned edge ‘Epoch Inhumane‘ fleshes out and contracts at once, sprawling within myriad possibilities before cutting all down to most essential statement. Though it may not follow the exacting strictures of the late 80’s as a point of purpose the continued evolution of these folks work is notable for taking it to a point of surrealistic confrontation, a personalized gig gaining potency within each new action.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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This second album from Vafurlogi is among the best of the year for my own taste, not squarely for the sake of its adjacency to Sinmara but moreso for its unique handle upon the functions of melodic and orthodox black metal. Though their performances are not fully knifed from the gut, sans any signs of cracked psyche or overwhelmed breaks, there is yet a severity of purpose fed into their search, a reach for higher meaning and inspiration which hums in mind throughout. As I’d commented in review the whole of this album drapes and runs over the mind in downpour, a rare feat for sophisticated and tightly dialed in black metal melodicism which suffers no confounding pretense. The bounding pagan soul of their work is yet there, maybe less than before, but in its place is a developing character which finds a palpable point of transcendental lift by the endpoint.

“Celestially set gaze and fire-enrobed corpus stand entranced by the gloria of illuminant fury, all that possesses power through destruction as Reykjavík, Iceland-based melodic black metal quartet VAFURLOGI return a new-bodied old soul in pursuit of their own ignis divinus on this accomplished sophomore full-length album. As the ashes settle in surround ‘Gneisti af eldi Guðs‘ enlivens rather than suffocates within its hailing downpour of distinctly orthodox-embedded melodic black metal. Borne from an ages-old ever divining search their work here yields strong contemporary standing, an intensely immersive feat which proves more stirring and ambitious with each pass.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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By the end of 2023 I’d become so obsessed with Astriferous‘ debut album I figured whatever they released next couldn’t possibly live up to that exacting achievement. Here a few years later ‘Atavistic Unraveling‘ does actually crack through that skull-thick fandom, producing a sublimely unexpected reaction to their first record. Sure it is the “bigger, better” deal one’d expect in some sense as a second LP but also a more complex, off-kilter and oddball USDM meets Finndeath infused soul. Plenty of depth to pull from repeated listens, a little bit less doom than before, and an altogether great example of a nowadays bent on early 90’s death metal standards.

“Signaled by doom’s tolling behind unseen gates all manner of slow-writhing terrors streak the skies a sickly red-orange hue as our cosmic keeper’s bodies cut steeply angled coronal slash through the von Kármán line in-whorl. Vessels for an ancient power astir by the sound (and aghast at the sight) of primitivism in erasure San José, Costa Rica-based death metal quartet ASTRIFEROUS bend and glint with the thorned gnarl of Eldritch cunning on this diabolically achieved sophomore full-length album. Immersed in the gloom of a realm in permanent eclipse ‘Atavistic Unraveling‘ appears both heavier and more contorted than before, radiating within the clarity afforded fresh exposure. Tunneling within their wiles with unpredictive purpose the band offer prime mutation of ‘old school’ death metal au fait taste unto unnerving, bizarre twine herein.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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As I’d suggested per #2 on this list there was seemingly no way Rotten Tomb was going to top their first LP, it’d been my album of the year when it released and their follow up was up to that same standard but it is nigh impossible to recreate the feeling of discovering such an ideal and being flattened by it. ‘Vestiges of Tortured Souls‘ was a kick in the head in that regard thanks to its burly, impossibly huge sound and refined, cumulative approach. Deeper-set lyrical themes, stronger melodic formations, and an overall superior signature aligned all make an argument for one of the best death metal records I’ve heard this year. It’ll be a damned task to knock this one out of my AOTY contender list.

“Ritualized into enduring symbolic acts to the point that the very walls of every institution reek of ancient morbidity fear-based perceptions of death may appear as purposeful superstition of a fading mystic cult, or, symptoms of greater biology manifested but in either case the outcome is avoidance rather than confrontation. In the midst of this additionally defining third full-length album Iquique, Chile-based death metal quartet ROTTEN TOMB question cultural attitudes, traditions and behaviors pertaining to death in shaping a narrative around what remains when collective rituals fail and nihil sustains. ‘Vestiges of Tortured Souls‘ illustrates a realm of terror potentially cleansed by introspection mounted in confrontation of death, encouraging the listener to embrace mortality as a point of spiritual and rational alignment. Yet one of the finest pure death metal bands in existence today, here they’ve supported this perceived theme with wrathful, damning sounds steeled by better-entwined doomed and melodic notions.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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