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.

---

I. This month on MystificationZine.com featured a wide array of quality death and black metal though I’ve made some effort to pursue both “traditional” and experimental works nearby. There can only be ten so… you might find albums from Inferno, Mourir, Ad Finem Omnia, and Into Darkness just as good as or better than anything on this list, check them out too. Otherwise I’ve spent the month slowly playing through both System Shock games and re-reading an old annotated copy of the Oresteia for the first time in two decades, on both counts.

II. Consider following on YouTube.

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.

---

Ritualistic droning summoners Pylar enter the final trilogy of their lifespan with a dark, fire-circling event in ‘Delyrio‘. Meant to capture performances from the brink of delirium their conjurations are unreal yet captured in strikingly realistic space, placing the listener within their slow-riffing heavy percussive feats and readied to fall under the spell of their incredible vocal expression throughout. A rare band where they only seem to get better with every release, especially when pursuing the dark unknown.

“A ritual of delirium gathered from subterranean nodes set to catalyze a three-tier series of terminal summons this ninth full-length album from Sevilla, Spain-based avant-garde drone/doom metal ordo PYLAR manifests dread as dark power within four captivating constellatory acts. Proposed as a marriage of abstract spiritual/metaphysical search and extreme tonal gouge ‘Delyrio‘ celebrates the post-deliriant stature of the mind, a brimming state of fixated disorientation used to commune with unseen, unnamed forces. In slightly more concrete terms the group’s unique form of organische psychedelic drone/doom ventures deeper into extreme metal texture and tone within these ritualized otherworldly performances, an imposing step taken beyond the cosmic horror imbued trilogy that’d preceded it.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

---

Abysmal death rock psychedelia, congested blackened death and true infusion of psychedelic rock creates a new found and oft original sensation from this Canadian quartet. Having different guests provide synth, mellotron, organ and keyboards gives this album a broad range of textural interest beyond its already subversive craft. Though I’d enjoyed and celebrated Black Death Cult‘s boldness in the past what they’re doing here makes for one of the most eerie, surreal releases of the year thus far.

>> FULL STREAM <<

---

Having began as a blackened thrash or black/heavy metal crew from members of Armagh the folks in Torpor have steadily shifted toward a more traditional mid-80’s epic heavy metal style over the years. Their debut LP might be fairly short but man does every song on this thing hit from the first listen. The combination of thrashing, more extremely rattled out drumming and a heroic Omen-esque vocal was enough to pull my ear in but I’d stuck around for the bass guitar performances too, some of my favorite in recent memory. Here’s hoping whatever they do next it’ll have a better album cover, shit doesn’t do their work justice at all.

“For the sake of liberation, unspent glory or cruelty alone Warsaw, Poland-based heavy metal quartet TORPOR gather readied to conquer the ancient underkeep ahead within this surprisingly tuneful, rapt debut full-length album. Given thrust by their interest in arcane black metal but cast deeper into their 80’s stoked ‘epic’ heavy metal stature ‘Ðungeon Ðescent‘ is the proposed ideation of the core trio involved, a concise but immersive delve into strong high fantasy characterization. Built atop a melodic sensibility beyond their years yet still squarely focused on the grit, grime and dented armor of the ancient underground their work here manages a rare bout of tuneful inspiration.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

---

Though I’ll always be most fixated on the ’95-’05 era of the band as a fan Taake has been entirely consistent in the two decade since, a name which rings of dark and singular brilliancy in every case. With this album and the previous release his sound is rawly cut and songs remain fairly longform in motion, large expanses used to capture Hoest‘s unique style and voice. Whereas the previous album had me figuring some manner of prog-rock structured hand was involved this time around harnessing the self seems to have been a bigger goal, at least in terms of delivering a fresh take on his signature while also releasing all strictures and expectations from where it’d all flow.

“A hewn hazel branch draped with equine headmeat, spine and blood dripping within the rune-cut curse down its pole is one of countless cast from within the prolific solitude-set realm of Bergen, Norway-based black metal act TAAKE who bring their signature menace and malaise in that order to this ninth full-length album. The second work released within a new era of raw atmospheric, unfettered vision ‘En Skog Av Nidstang‘ channels the artist with the least amount pretense possible as its four chapters flow from clangorous bravado into intimate farrago. The naked, wide-open vision of this work reads as characteristic musing sans any performative desperation assigned, thoughts left to run wild and echo resoundingly wherever they reach.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

---

In revisiting Heretic Cult Redeemer‘s discography I’d appreciated the same general locus being audible yet each release producing a very different result. Landing upon ‘In Oculum Chaos‘ I’d expected a pivot of some sort but not one toward polished and present obsidian sheen and their avant-garde/dissonant sides expanded. Technical but never purely mechanistic their efforts here were engrossing as the were brutally struck leaving me entranced by their steadfastly ambitious craft. If you are a fan of everything from 2000’s DsO to Ved Buens Ende this album should speak a relevant dialect.

“In their fourth-stage heightening of the senses that would detect the unseen, unspoken and unheard-of forces which power the universe beyond comprehension Athens, Greece-based avant-garde black metal quartet HERETIC CULT REDEEMER envision the void-womb via negativa, a deduction which envelops the whole of their impressive fourth full-length album. Presented in brightly lit, immediate space yet given to surrealistic conjuration of null ‘In Oculum Chaos‘ successfully reaches for thunderous dissonance and clangorous rhythmic entrenchment within this brazen, boldly delivered avant-garde black metal assail. Though their methods and immense rhythmic instrumentality should rightfully dominate the conversation here layers of expressive performance, meaningful spiritual sojourn and sharp design all factor into the brilliancy of this new standard set.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

---

Sallow Moth did something cool, certainly ambitious within their previous LP but this quasi-sequel shard they’ve created something great. ‘Hydrophilous Brood‘ not only makes it real by onboarding a human drummer but the style of the album bends toward an experting fusion-in-transit wherein technical brutal death metal steadily morphs into a spaced form of progressive metal in a high-brained kinda way. It makes for an endlessly entertaining listen and the best capture of their eclectic stew of ideas to date. Fine production values, uniquely moody album art, and a surprisingly aggressive hand up front had me listening to this one all month.

“Portal’d through an unknown vessel and rapidly hybridized in high-mutagenic, continuous evolutionary event our protagonist undergoes a mind-and-body bending transformation reflected within the volatile surrealism of Dallas, Texas-area progressive death metal duo SALLOW MOTH‘s fourth full-length album. Illustrating a changeling in the midst of adaptive writhe ‘Hydrophilous Brood‘ offers a surprisingly brutal yet lushly abstract form of progressive technical death metal, a steady stylistic transformation built to match its imagery across its length. The ratio of transporting movements and tightly writ, virtuosic brutality is ideal here as the band begin to harness and meld their eclecticism into imaginative, increasingly experiential forms.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

---

When early digs from Coprolith first hit it’d sounded like they were just rolling off stuff like Cerebral Rot to some degree, not a bad thing at all, but on this debut LP they’ve taken on a cavernous Finndeath sauced sound which is immense almost beyond recognition. On ‘Putrescence‘ they kinda hit a lot of the same marks early Funebrarum and Phrenelith had but with a simpler approach to riffcraft, leaning into doomed Incantation-isms to exceptional results. The hollow, guttural expanse of their sound here is the big draw but the motion of this album as it blasts and bounds unto doomed prolapse is what’d drawn me back time and again. Didn’t see enough hype around this one in July considering how good it was.

“As if maggots risen by their own churn, thrashing and roiling up toward the scum of mud-drowned gore the festering minds behind Toronto, Ontario-based death metal quintet COPROLITH can be found milling between rotten wrath and suffocating doom in abundance on this abhorrent debut full-length album. Though the moldering, blood-caked ‘old school’ thunder of ‘Putresence‘ is not without precedence the dirt headed, scowling and riff-obsessed among us will appreciate not only the imposing atmospheric girth of the band’s work but the dreary underground thump of its render. A well-stylized and psyche melting effort set far beyond any implications of the band’s demo tape these folks offer a well above-average debut with some room to grow herein.“

>> FULL STREAM <<

---

Whereas you might’ve been able to speak reductively about Sepulcrum‘s earliest work being heavily inspired by early Florida death metal style with each release their work has sophisticated, becoming both lyrically rich and ripe with auld technical finesse in its ‘new old school’ approach. There is a piercing intelligence to the material found on ‘Lacerator‘ yet it bears no loss of connection with the feral rebellion of late 80’s/early 90’s peaking high of the real thing. I’ve been obsessed with this record since it’d basically surprise dropped, still working on the review but I had to place it here because it is that good, not only as a follow-up to their debut but an exceptional classicist death metal record in general.

>> FULL STREAM <<

---

Much as I’d wanted to fully gear into the previous LP from Altarage as a grand return this newest record is probably their biggest and best to date for my own taste, a superior result which speaks to their most complete actualization. ‘Cogwheel‘ presents a new sound alongside loudest-yet purpose, a transformative integration of their experimental hand (harsh noise, industrial, etc.) unto fresh dynamic which I’d found incredibly immersive and repeatable as a mind-rending experience. Sure, you could still reasonably compare their affect to Portal, that has always been fair, but that semblance becomes increasingly surface level with regard to this material. If you weren’t sure what was up with ‘Sol Corrupto‘ consider this album a full invocation of that vibe/aesthetic (not modus) into a huge double LP.

“Choking in the ever churning miasme of the growing planetary ash-heap, standing in awe of the schism cut between life’s dawn and the inescapable darkness ahead Bilbao, Basque Country-based experimental death metal trio ALTARAGE cut a toothed channel between the old world in its ancient groove and the mass death under tread on this angst-ridden seventh full-length album. Stinging with impossibly weighted existential dread yet implied without outright nihilism in purview ‘Cogwheel‘ embraces pensive liminal spaces in crafting its atmospherically rich, irrational and outsized presentation. In stirring untapped potentiate their work here gives offering of the band’s bleaker than thou experimental side now in direct fusion with the monstrosity of blackened dissonant death they are known for. It is the band’s most extensive and completely realized work to date.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

---

A decade beyond their last album we find Chilean crew Ripper resilient, expanded and readied to compound their long-standing development of thrash ’til death style into an unholy return to form. If your taste leans toward their less prog-death tapped second LP and moreso their first ‘Towards Rebirth‘ will hit like a second coming for the group. At a time when so many bands’ve lost touch with the high standards of late 80’s/early 90’s riffcraft and songcraft this one nuked me with its ~40 minute barnstorming call to violence.

“Positing death as release from the increasingly unreal, brutal cacophony of existence while relishing in any imagined alternative to the suffering of the wheel Talagante, Chile-based death/thrash metal quartet RIPPER return for a harder-lined riff obsessed tunnel through the inner self on this immense third full-length album. Awakened ten years beyond their last and with a ~fifth configuration at hand ‘Towards Rebirth‘ finds the band lacking none of the signature violence and cold introspection they’d first stoked nearly two decades ago. As they present their most considered high rate ‘old school’ death/thrash effort to date some of their prog-death tics and musings are shed yet the end result justifies as a strong reinvigoration and a rare point of well-stylized mastery for the niche.“

>> FULL REVIEW <<

---