“Hurtling into the new year with his heart on his sleeve (and bones on his shirt), Ellende’s one-man maestro L.G. bids to set a high bar for 2026. Zerfall, the band’s first new material since 2022, continues where Ellenbogengesellschaft left off, further polishing the allure of classically infused black metal. Conjuring comparisons to compatriots Harakiri for the Sky and Weltenbrandt, Austria’s Ellende lives somewhere between post and depressive black metal.” Despair is a head crab.
![Species – Changelings [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Species-Changelings-01.jpg.webp)
“About once a year, I find a technical thrash album I utterly adore. 2023 graced me with Xoth, and 2024’s Dissimulator debut was my favorite album of the year. In 2025, the premiere thrash platter belongs to Warsaw, Poland’s Species. Unfairly or not, thrash is an oft-maligned genre accused of being unserious and trite or stale and stuck in the past. On Changelings, Species’ sophomore offering, the band nimbly threads the needle between paying homage to thrash’s heyday while shaping a fresh sound that’s enchanting yet familiar.” Speed into the future.
![Sallow Moth – Mossbane Lantern [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Sallow-Moth-Mossbane-Lantern-01.jpg.webp)
“I don’t know if Garry Brents is the busiest person in metal, but he’s active enough that I worry for his work-life balance. In 2025 alone, Brents cranked out releases for multiple projects, including Sallow Moth’s latest platter, Mossbane Lantern. This is death metal for purveyors of the unrepentantly weird, especially those who indulge in sci-fi and fantasy.” Leave the lantern on.
“Dense, dark, and demented, Lychgate’s Precipice breaks nearly six years of silence with music as unsettling as the concept it’s built upon. The album’s primary inspiration draws from E. M. Forster’s short story “The Machine Stops,” a dystopian tale first published in 1909 that cautions against over-reliance on technology. In it, The Machine enables people to govern their lives from isolated chambers, interacting virtually rather than in person after the Earth’s surface becomes uninhabitable. Integrating notions such as blind obedience to technology, instantaneous communication, and climate change furnishes a lavish backdrop for London’s Lychgate and their fourth LP.” Throw open the gate!
“Known for cultivating legendary acts such as Cult of Luna, Meshuggah, and Refused, Umeå, Sweden, sows fertile ground for seminal rock and metal bands. Formed in 2022, Skogskult joins their compatriots with a self-titled debut of grimy stoner doom in hand.” It’s in the water.
“Billed as blackened folk metal and boasting a sound that will remind listeners of the aughts-era Darkthrone, Änterbila returns with sophomore album Avart. Three years removed from their self-titled debut, the foursome from Gävleborg County, Sweden, retains the core sonic principles of Änterbila and dunks them into the muck, invoking a darker, grimier aura.” Darker thrones?
“Besides a stout back catalog, experimental black metal weirdos Master’s Hammer vaunts an intermittent history both in band activity and AMG coverage. After releasing two largely unsung platters of black metal in the early 90s, the band unleashed the terminally forgettable Šlágry and hung up the hammer. In the same year our estimable blog was spawned, Master’s Hammer returned with Mantras, further augmenting their core sound with synth layers and an expanded songwriting tool belt.” Re-raise the Hammer!
![Aephanemer – Utopie [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Aephanemer-Utopie-01.jpg.webp)
“I first encountered Aephanemer between Prokopton and A Dream of Wilderness, and it was love at first listen. Their classical flourishes seamlessly converge with aggressive riffing to develop complex layers of hook-infested earworms so inescapable that no prescription can rid me of their iron thrall. Four years after their last outing, Aephanemer returns with a mature interpretation of their signature sonic stamp.” Apes and hammers and melodeath.
“1914 has never shied away from the ugliness of war and death. Since Where Fear and Weapons Meet was released in 2021, the Ukrainian outfit has witnessed the horrors of that ugliness on their own soil. On Viribus Unitis, the quintet from Lviv maintains the poise and brutality of earlier material while imbuing their latest opus with deft poignancy.” War is always Hell.
“After dropping debut EP Romantik I in 2022 and follow-up Romantic II in 2023, Austrian-Hungarian duo Bergfried rides in on a wave of 80s nostalgia to deliver debut full-length Romantik III. At the conclusion of a trilogy, main character Anna tirelessly roams hell in pursuit of her lost lover. During the search, Anna clashes with God and Devil in her quest for love reunited. Bergfried and the Romantik series are the creations of Erech von Lothringen, guitarist on Romantik III and mastermind of Narzissus and Ancient Mastery, among others. While his other projects lean toward black metal, Bergfried forges something entirely different—a rock opera.” Berger time.
