REVIEW: Vertiginous--Incessant Affliction (CD) (2026 Comatose Music)

comatosemusic.com

8/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Comatose is a label that I usually rely on, along with New Standard Elite, to deliver high caliber brutal bands with every release, and Vertiginous is such a band. I don't understand why Comatose releases strictly on CD, though, since the LP is king of physical media. They've always done it that way and there's something to be said for sticking to your guns in a changing market, however. As for the music itself, I hear a lot of Suffocation and Deeds of Flesh in Vertiginous' sound, although they are not a worship band at all, and they are similarly relentless in their rapid fire attack. This is the style of brutal death metal I largely prefer, as "slam" has become a trend and needs to die out. This has no trendy side to it at all. It's brutality the way it was originally intended by the creators of the genre. The vocals are guttural growls, but are powerful, and they are well-suited to the music. There is no weakness here whatsoever. Everything about this is rhythmic, and it's a full-blown attack on the senses that will leave you feeling a bit drained after listening to the entire record, but in a good way, like a feeling of catharsis. That's what good brutal death metal ought to do to the listener, exhaust and deplete! This doesn't attempt to rewrite the rules for the style yet is quite original even while wearing their influences on their sleeves. I truly enjoyed this.

REVIEW: Humerror--Liturgy of the Synthetic Gods (CS) (2026 Independent)

humerror.bandcamp.com

7/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Humerror hails from Indonesia, where brutality of all sorts dominates the scene. Humerror play solid deathgrind with heavy grooves that immediately catches the ear with solid, intense riffing. There are some modern approaches borrowed from metallic hardcore, like stop/start sections, but they use these wisely. The hardcore in their sound is fine by me, as it serves to make the grind slow to a thrash beat and really adds some intensity. The vocals are delivered in a yelled growl similar to Barney Greenway, and there's some definite Napalm Death influence at work here. The songs are well written, with diverse riffs from across the metal and hardcore spectrum, but without pigeonholing the band, and they remain deathgrind at their core. Overall this is competent, well-constructed fare that's sonically diverse enough to throw a few curveballs on their first and only full length so far.

REVIEW: Ver--A Fereg Pusztulasa (CD/LP) (2026 Me Saco Un Ojo Records)

mesacounojo.com

7/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Once it comes to Eastern Europe, the languages become totally alien to me, based as they are more on Slavic languages than Romance languages. I definitely prefer my metal to be in English (or maybe Spanish, since I understand a little), but that's just because I can't speak anything else. I decided to check Ver out based on the inscrutable and horrific cover art. Ver is apparently Hungarian for "blood," and that's a fine name. It's nice and short and even dumb monolingual Americans like me can remember that. I hear some of the usual suspects in their sound - plenty of Autopsy, Entombed in the faster parts, perhaps some early Morbid Angel as well, and Black Sabbath in the doomier sections. It's an enjoyable mixture. It's also thoroughly in the '90s worship camp of death metal, and their playing is true to the style. It's real death metal for real deathmaniacs. This is just a good, solid death metal record with decent riffs and good playing overall. 

REVIEW: Medical Etymology--Concepts of Medical Terminology (CD) (2026 Base Record Production)

baserecordproduction.com

8/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

It's easy enough to guess from the name, but this band falls firmly in the Carcass-worship camp, especially of the Necroticism era, right down to the guitar sound. High and low vocal tradeoffs are key to their attack along with quite good Carcass-style riffs. The low vocals are very interesting, as they're more of a croak than a growl, and I've not heard too many vocalists trying this approach. They even use samples of people discussing medical shit, just like on the aforementioned Carcass album. The songs, though, are fantastically well-written and there are hooks galore that make the riffs stick in your head nearly instantly. Overall, it's quite a good record, worship well done.

REVIEW: Bloodscrawl--Catatonic Rot (CS) (2026 Independent)

bloodscrawl.bandcamp.com

10/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Hailing from Spokane, WA is Bloodscrawl, a mighty fine example of 1990s-worshipping death metal that stylistically lands somewhere between old Cannibal Corpse, Death, Bolt Thrower, Autopsy, and Mortician. They're content to sit in a heavy-ass groove until a section of grind makes sense and serves to elevate the song. The songwriting is truly superb and the riffs are particularly pernicious in their catchiness. I've made it pretty clear in these pages about my warm and fuzzy feelings for the new bands playing in this venerable style, and I'm ecstatic about finding this particular band. Here's to hoping they continue to make music after this fine record, well into the future. One thing that truly helps this record is the natural, almost understated drum sound. Too often in death metal the drums are over-emphasized and they just sound noisy. Not here, not at all. Another thing I really found enjoyable was the mid-album '70s/'80s horror film-style musical interlude to break up the albums progression and to provide a rest for the ears. It's wonderfully executed and suitably Goblin-esque. I also hereby gift Bloodscrawl a "clever wordplay award" for the track they titled "The Bile Belt." Excellent work gents!

Review: Ninth Realm--Damnation's Veil (CD/LP) (2026 Transcending Obscurity Records)

tometal.com

10/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

A lot of folks first hear the thrash and hardcore in Ninth Realm's influences, but I hear and feel the death metal in their sound more than anything. For me, this is a death metal record. I can detect exactly what the other reviewers are hearing, there is plenty of both thrash and hardcore in Ninth Realm's repertoire, and I love that aspect of them, but this album is pissed off in a way that only death metal will allow. Take a song like "Imbued in Hellfire," or "Rituals in Thar'amath," for example. These are pure death metal epics with thrashing riffs! The band defies easy classification, to be sure, and that's what I like so much about them. It's just good, aggressive heavy metal. The guitars really shine during the solo work. There's some real talent in this band, to say nothing of their songwriting chops. This is quite the accessible album for being an extreme metal record, with hooks galore and catchy riffs everywhere. It's just a record that all metalists need to hear, and I'm giving it perfect marks.

Review: Vilifier--Skullthrone (Digital) (2026 Independent)

vilifier.bandcamp.com

7/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Now, I know it says digital in the title line above, but there should be a physical release of this coming at some point. The promo for this release was sent to me on a hand numbered cassette, which reminded me wistfully of the old days of the scene. Until an official release is out, you can grab the digital version on Bandcamp. Vilifier deliver some seriously sickening metal of death on this EP, properly ancient sounding and filthy. The band makes a show of saying this was recorded "under abysmal conditions," but the sound isn't bad at all, just quite raw. I can still hear all the instruments well, and everything sounds like it should. It doesn't take away from the heaviness, no, it adds to the atmosphere! Gone are the days when recording quality could give a band a specific atmosphere, but hats off to those bands like Vilifier who remember this and do something about it. Stylistically there's plenty of war metal influence, but also 80s and 90s death metal and black metal. The riffs are simpler, the arrangements are catchy, and the axiom "only death is real" applies. I truly enjoyed this material, as I generally do with most of the scene in Australia! There's just something about bands from that country, a certain grittiness in the sound that truly satisfies my metal tapeworm. This is worth tracking down, get thy ass to Bandcamp now.

Rapidfire Review: In Obscurity Revealed--Chaotic Maelstrom (CD/CS) (2026 Personal Records/Night Terrors Records)

personal-records.com

8/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

In Obscurity Revealed comes from Mexico and play an interesting dark death metal perhaps a little like Sadistic Intent. There is some excellent guitar solo work on this record, which really helps to distinguish the band. The vocals are low growls with force and power behind them, and they're produced perfectly for this style. This is another solid release from Personal Records, who have really found some interesting bands recently.

Rapidfire Review: Azatoth--Carnal Lust of Blasphemy (CD/LP/CS) (2026 Extremely Rotten Productions)

extremelyrottenprod.com

9/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Azatoth hail from Finland and play catchy, dark, filthy death metal. Their darkness reminds me of Incantation, but their catchy songwriting reminds me of Grave. Vocally we get near-guttural low growls with the occasional pitch-shifted measure mixed in to make it ultra grimy. This should be an album to buy for those of you who want death metal that's sick and filth-ridden.'

Review: Abyssal Evisceration--Bleeding Through (Digital) (2026 Obscurity Records)

obscurityrecords1.bandcamp.com

8/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

The Archives tells me next to nothing about this band, other than they're signed to Michigan's Obscurity Records and that they're from Colorado. They're a complete mystery, and that's interesting to me. Their music is a vicious hybrid of death metal styles, half the material being firmly rooted in groove-oriented, almost 1990s style brutal death metal, and the other half being vicious deathgrind. I can't figure out if the drums are programmed or there's just heavy trigger use. If this is a real drummer, he's a fucking beast, a grinding god. The blasts are super-tight, even on the gravity blasts, and the double bass is inhuman. Vocally we get mostly mid- to low-range growls, and they're aggressive, which is nice to hear on something this brutal instead of the typical gurgles. Some of the riffs are straight out of the 1990s Florida camp, and there are slower, heavier Dying Fetus-style transitions and breakdowns. The grind influences mixes with these two things to form incredibly brutal death metal the way it ought to be played, and the nice part is they're not actively playing in anyone else's style like happens so often with brutal bands. This is totally original sounding. So far, no sign of CDs or LPs, but you can get a digital copy at the label's Bandcamp site. I think this deserves a physical release, so hopefully someone will step up and make that happen.

Desecresy--The Secret of Death (CD/LP/CS) (2026 Xtreem Music)

xtreemmusic.com

7/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

When Desecresy first hit the scene back in 2010 or so, I knew it was going to be a special and important band. Now we're on the ninth full length album with no signs of stopping! I was a big fan of Slugathor, which Desecresy mainman Tommi Gronqvist also played in, and the bandsw have a similar feel to them at times. It's that ancient, slower style of death metal that is both obscure and crushingly heavy. That's not to say all the material is slower, it's not. There are indeed faster moments and the tempos vary quite a bit sometimes, but a lot of time is spent in mid-tempo territory. What this band does best is stuff like at the beginning of "Crypthymn" with the slow fade-in with horror sounds. Then comes the crushing opening riff, then on into the meat of the song. It's these sorts of transitions that I listen for in Desecresy's music. I'll never understand how one man can play all these different instruments with such proficiency. I can't play a damn thing besides using my throat to make evil noises, and it seems so wild to have mastered even three different instruments plus singing as Tommi does in this band. I'm always impressed by this. Overall, this is definitely worth a few listens, and the effort to track it down will be rewarded.

Morgarath--Onward to Extermination (CD) (2026 Independent)

morgarath-dt.bandcamp.com

7/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Morgarath from Poland play a delightfully rough and morbid mixture of black, death, and thrash metal, bringing to mind comparisons to Protector, Messiah, Necrodeath, Sarcofago, and early Sepultura. The production is raw yet all the instruments are quite audible and there's some real talent here. This is not a band using a raw production to hide any deficiencies in their playing. No, they can play. For some reason I really like the flat bass drum sound, it just sounds great to me along with the natural sound of the rest of the kit. The vocals are mixed a bit high compared to the other instruments, and they're a bit noisy, but you get used to it just like with the demos of old. This is excellent material overall and I highly recommend it to fans of the old South American scene in the late 1980s. It has the same feel to it, and it's quite a satisfying listen in a world of perfect productions and sterile atmospheres. Slick recording has made all metal sound the same, and it's a tragedy. It's nice to hear a raw production once in a while.

Feretro--The Mortuary Destiny of Flesh (CD) (2025 Nihilistic Holocaust Records)

nihilisticholocaustrecs.bandcamp.com

8/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Feretro have finally delivered a full length after a long stretch of demos and splits going all the way back to 2008, and it was worth the wait. This is death metal in the old way, reminding me of Mortuary, old Sepultura, and old Death. They have a doom-influenced side as well, evidenced by how many times they slip into a slower tempo. Thankfully they don't dwell on those riffs long, as it might put me to sleep. As they are, they add dynamics to the album, used sparingly. The guitar tone is rather satisfying on this album, being thick, crunchy, and clear. It reminds me a lot of the tones Schuldiner used to use. Vocally we get all sorts of growls and screams, from near-gutturals to high-pitched shrieks, and everything in between, but with a marked predisposition toward sounding as morbid as possible. There aren't terribly many blastbeats, as they style here is more toward '80s death metal, but the double bass is constantly at work providing a lot of forward motion for the songs. I fully recommend this record, and it's absolutely worth the trouble to track down.

Obstruktion--The End Takes Form (LP) (2025 Suicide Records)

suiciderecords.se

6/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Obstruktion from Sweden play an absolutely seamless melding of death metal and metallic, dissonant hardcore. The hardcore strips down the death metal to the absolute basics and leaves the riffs and heaviness intact. The vocals remind me of the intensity of The Haunted's original vocalist, with his frantic delivery and wound-tight-as-fuck presence in the mix. The same thing is going on here, as the vocals resemble hardcore vocals more than death metal, most times, although growls do make several appearances. The riffs are an even match between hardcore and death metal, with the guitarists welding hardcore to the death metal like it was just a bunch of spare parts to a motor that gets even more powerful as you add to it. Some of the material is an instant hit for me, and some is an instant miss (the more dissonant riffing). This is highly original material stylistically and avoids the trap of "this is just hardcore with death metal vocals" that some bands fall into. No, this is a more deft combination of the two styles without falling into the deathcore trap, either. They're death metal enough that I'd welcome their presence on a death metal show, but they would easily fit into a modern hardcore show as well. Not bad, not amazing, yet definitely original.

Chaos Inception--Vengeance Evangel (CD) (2025 Lavadome Productions)

lavadome.org

9/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

I've been a fan of Chaos Inception for a long time, and of their predecessor Fleshtized before that, so when a new Chaos Inception record was released, it went on my rather lengthy review list and I'm just now getting around to reviewing it. Since this site is more of a journal of my listening journeys and adventures and less about promotion, I'll often review things that are a bit older. If you're not familiar with this band, it's ok - it's been thirteen years since their last record graced our ears with its sounds. They're still hyperblasting death metal that reminds me of Hate Eternal and Morbid Angel with a touch of older Krisiun. The occasional weird sludgy riff rears its head like in the beginning of "10,000 Dead by Pincer," which especially reminds me of Morbid Angel. I'm fine with this since Morbid Angel themselves can't be bothered to play good death metal these days. This whole song is like an ode to proper Morbid Angel-style death metal. I like that they wear their influences on their sleeves, these guys always have, and their musicianship is top notch as well, with all the instruments giving us a clinic of proper death metal playing in a classic style. Vocally we get a quality performance that hearkens back to the best of the 1990s, with excellent rhythmic patterns and a good mid-range tone to the growls. This is an album that death metal fans cannot go wrong with, so give this band some support and track this down.