“Based in Birmingham, UK, Cattle Hammer was formed by vocalist/guitarist Duncan Wilkins in 2023. He’s joined by I Cartwright on drums, J Wyles on guitar, and D Von Donovan on bass. Together, they mix a caustic brew of drone, doom, and sludge, but each track on Dark Thoughts with Lights Out has its own identity.” Hammers for beef.
![Primitive Man – Observance [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Primitive-Man-Observance-01.jpg.webp)
“It’s been a decade since Primitive Man last graced these halls with 2015’s tepidly received Home is Where the Hatred Is, but they haven’t been idle. In the meantime, the Denver trio has released 2 LPs, a full-length EP, a split with Unearthly Trance, and a collab with Full of Hell. Those ten years were spent experimenting, learning, and honing their sound into something so incredibly bleak that not even the promo pit could contain such hopeless darkness.” Man against earlier man.
Ah, the pungent stench of autumnal Filters. Forget pumpkin spice and get you some Filter droppings from September!
“Kiwi stalwarts specializing in thick, atmospheric sludge-doom goodness, Beastwars boast a strong track record, remaining a dependable force within their field. Sharing loose stylistic similarities with acts such as early Leviathan-era Mastodon, High on Fire, Crowbar, and Boss Keloid, Beastwars continue blazing their own battered trail. Displaying resilience and determination to navigate various personal and career challenges, Beastwars march onwards with sixth album, The Ship // The Sea.” Beastwar is beasthell.
August is but a warm, sunny memory and All Hallows Eve is upon us. Good thing we finally de-gunkified those August Filters to avoid tricks.
“This is my first time reviewing Brooklyn’s Tombs, but it’s not my first time experiencing them. Each year that a new Tombs drops, I feel the hype machine churning from the community, which I love, disinterring my interest in the sludgy, blackened call Tombs is now known so well for. It’s been five years since the somewhat divisive Under Sullen Skies first graced my ears, and now I take over for Doom_et_Al to serve at the foot of Feral Darkness.” Buried in Brooklyn dirt.
July Filters get sticky from the heat. It takes time to cool em down and unstickify those rascals. We did it though, for YOU.
“Blending sludge metal and electronica make for fascinating bedfellows, and that’s exactly what instrumental outfit Modder brings to the table with Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun. I don’t recall encountering this genre combo before, but the unlikely pairing fits together in compelling and novel ways. Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun is one part early Mastodon and one part The Prodigy, and it works better in practice than I’d ever expect it to on paper.” Sun mode.
“Sometimes, you don’t need nuance. Sometimes you don’t want prog-soaked journeys through inner turmoil, or post-whatever atmospherics that whisper about pain instead of screaming it in your face. Sometimes you just want music to sound like the goddamn world is on fire. Featuring members of Without Waves and site favorites The Atlas Moth, Chicago’s Motherless might have just that with their debut Do You Feel Safe?.” Save the mothers.
“Arkhaaik is a fascinating band. Usually, when a metal project endeavors to write a historically-accurate deep dive into ages gone by, they make some kind of power metal, and the ages are Middle. Maybe the ages are pre-1,000s, and they make black metal. But rarely—if ever—is the age Bronze, but I guess when the topic is the Bronze age, the band is blackened, death-y, sludge-y annihilation, and their name is Arkhaaik.” Bronze into sludge.
