Incantation

Fossilization – Advent of Wounds Review

By Steel Druhm on February 11, 2026 in Reviews, Death Metal, 0 comments

“Back in 2023, Brazilian death crew Fossilization dropped their Leprous Daylight debut on the unsuspecting world below, impressing Cherd
in the process with its Incantation-esque blend of ghastly cavern crawling and 5-ton doomy digressions. He even went so far as to suggest it was superior to Incantation’s then-new platter Unholy Deification while generally singing the praises of preserved beast bone recovery. Fast-forward a few years, and the band’s sophomore release, Advent of Wounds, falls to me as Cherd has gone missing in a very nonsuspicious way that does NOT require police involvement or any half-assed internet sleuthing of any kind” Digging for cave bones.

Malignant Aura – Where All of Worth Comes to Wither Review

By Owlswald on January 27, 2026 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 30 comments

“The marriage of death and doom is a well-trodden path, but Malignant Aura’s 2022 debut proved they had quickly mastered the formula. Abysmal Misfortune is Draped Upon Me was a crushing blend of old-school death metal (OSDM) misery and funeral desolation, establishing the Australian quartet as another worthy addition to an already vibrant scene. Now a part of the Memento Mori roster, their sophomore effort, Where All of Worth Comes to Wither, arrives to push Malignant Aura out of the nether realm and into a world all their own.” Aura Borealis.

Invictus – Nocturnal Visions Review

By Kenstrosity on January 26, 2026 in Reviews, Death Metal, 79 comments

“Five years ago, I highlighted Invictus’ 2020 debut LP Catacombs of Fear as part of our year-end death metal roundup feature. Since then, the Japanese death metal trio toiled under the ground with a brutal live schedule and steadily wrote what might very well be my most highly anticipated follow-up in the death metal realm. Hot on the heels of killer releases from personal favorites like Depravity, and jumping just ahead of another highly anticipated salvo from Eximperitus, Invictus’ upcoming Nocturnal Visions has big shoes to fill and stiff competition to combat.” Captaining the soul.

Casket – In the Long Run We Are All Dead

By Spicie Forrest on January 22, 2026 in Reviews, Death Metal, 12 comments

“For over 30 years, Casket has been a reliable—if slow and not terribly well-known—source of classic death metal. Originally forming as a four-piece in Reutlingen, Germany in 1990, they released a slew of demos between 1992 and 1996 before releasing their debut, Under the Surface, in 1998. They’ve released something (demo, EP, or LP) every five years or so since then, and aside from paring down to a trio in 2007, not much has changed since the early days.” Getting laid in the coffin.

Architectural Genocide – Malignant Cognition Review

By Alekhines Gun on January 18, 2026 in Death Metal, Reviews, 18 comments

“It’s gotta be tough being inspired by genre giants. For bands like Incantation or Autopsy, it can be hard to drink from their well without sounding like derivative, uninspired knockoffs. In the realm of brutal death, Suffocation unsurprisingly stands at the top of the corpse pile, with a sound that’s inspired offshoot after offshoot and triggered more permutations of listener-savaging than one can count. There was a period when “Suffoclone” was used as a term of mockery, and now time has looped back around to turning such a descriptor into a potential point of praise. Architectural Genocide have landed with their sophomore album Malignant Cognition, which unsurprisingly seeks to worship at the altar of the brutal death kings.” Brutalist constructions.

Oraculum – Hybris Divina Review

By Owlswald on January 12, 2026 in Reviews, Death Metal, 23 comments

“New year, new beginnings. And just as my resolutions refresh and my word count resets to zero, Chilean quartet Oraculum arrives to break the seal. These connoisseurs of the “tried and true” first graced these pages more than ten years ago with their counter-breaking EP, Sorcery of the Damned—back when EPs still qualified for regular reviews outside of our now annual EP/Split/Single Roundups. That initial offering was a grim manifesto on old-school death metal (OSDM), forging deathly Incantations into a sharp, lethal slab of barbaric hostility.” Olde but still bolde?

Phobocosm – Gateway Review

By Steel Druhm on November 26, 2025 in Reviews, Death Metal, 30 comments

“Well, lookee who just oozed in! Phobocosm, Canada’s infamous cavern creepers and dealers of oppressive death metal, return to shove a lump of revolting slime-scuzz in everyone’s stocking with fourth album, Gateway. When last we heard from them on 2023s Foreordained, they were continuing to tweak and refine their revolting mash-up of Incantation, Immolation, Ulcerate, doom and vaguely pos-metal-y bits with an emphasis on the ominous, unsettling, and atonal. When all the gears lock in for Phobocosm, they’re capable of inspiring a real sense of existential dread and unease. They’ve always crafted their music to achieve this effect and conjure dark, unpleasant atmospheres through crushing heaviness.” Gateway to new annihilations.

Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh Review

By Saunders on November 17, 2025 in Reviews, Death Metal, 19 comments

“Already boasting a killer debut EP to their name in 2025, courtesy of the sick, old school deathgrind mayhem comprising Systems of Apocalypse, Texan wrecking crew Terror Corpse hit the ground running in their short time together. The newly minted outfit come seasoned with underground cred, featuring members that have logged time in the likes of Malignant Altar, Oceans of Slumber, Necrofier and Insect Warfare. Recording the EP as a five-piece, debut full-length Ash Eclipses Flesh finds Terror Corpse stripping back to a trio and shifting tact musically” Death walking Texas Rangers.

Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin Review

By Steel Druhm on November 14, 2025 in Reviews, Death Metal, 14 comments

“Seattle-based old school deathers Degraved have been lurking in the back alleys since 2020, tweaking their rancid and rotten caveman-trapped-in-a-cesspool sound for maximum stench terror. 2025 sees them finally give birth to their debut full-length, Spectral Realm of Ruin, and let’s just say their offspring ain’t a looker. Sounding like a time-locked study into the effects of early 90s death on the human brain, you get a nauseating fusion of early Cianide, Incantation, Autopsy, and disEMBOWELMENT. This is low-grade, scuzzy, and exceptionally fetid skunk cabbage suitable only for the worst of us.” Altars of Asparagus.

Putrevore – Unending Rotten Cycle Review

By Alekhines Gun on November 12, 2025 in Reviews, Death Metal, 26 comments

“Inevitable. Perpetual. Eternal. Constant. And of course, Unending. All monikers appropriate for the supremacy of death, widely recognized by figures wiser than me as the most unifying of all our experiences. Whether your death is peaceful, disease-ridden, or a sudden explosion of macabre tragedy, it will come, and it will bear a face unique to your own experience. It’s fitting, then, that death metal too has such an inexhaustible supply of manifestations and sonic descriptors from which to draw from.” The rot never stops.