Were you missing the 2025 Mathcore Madness list? Miss no MOAR!
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Post-Hardcore
Heathe – Control Your Soul’s Desire For Freedom Review
“As I prowled the depths of the promo bin, preparing for my next review, a peculiar glint caught my eye. The label read, “RADIOACTIVE: FOR N00B ABUSE ONLY,” and below it, in what must have been an act of genre-tag terrorism, sat the words: nü metal/gospel/jazz. I briefly considered calling the authorities, but morbid curiosity won out. What kind of unholy chimera lurks inside something with that particular trifecta? I dusted off the cover like a bomb disposal tech, hoping the wires are color-coded. The culprit is Control Your Soul’s Desire For Freedom, the sophomore album from Danish group Heathe.” Tripping over trip wires.
Row of Ashes – Tide into Ruin Review
“Bristol post-hardcore group, Row of Ashes, likes to make noise—and they’re good at it. Known for their untamed live energy and drawing heavily from revered acts like Unsane, Will Haven, and Kowloon Walled City, Row of Ashes crafts an unyielding and suffocating wall of sound; one that fuses post-hardcore and sludge together with the experimental, dissonant fringes of noise rock. After releasing two EPs, their raw, physical force exploded onto the scene with 2022’s Bleaching Heat, a ruthless debut that earned them a tour with Will Haven. Now standing on the brink of broader recognition, Row of Ashes is ready to unleash Tide into Ruin, their second post-hardcore punch designed to be as overpowering and instinctual as their live performances.” What walks behind the rows?
Warrior Pope – A Morbid Parody of Justice Review
“Whereas Warrior Pope’s earlier material was a quirky mixture of post-metal and stoner doom, A Morbid Parody of Justice is even more of a hodgepodge. There is still a prominent doom metal backbone wherein founder Oli Foxen continues to lay down hefty bass lines alongside longtime drummer Katya’s hypnotic rhythms. However, the framework within which they operate is more volatile now that the steady stoner grooves are diminished.” Popery.
Svarta Havet – Månen Ska Lysa Din Väg Review
“Hailing from Turku, Finland, post-hardcore/blackened post-punk activists Svarta Havet boast a passionate mission statement focused on denouncing fascism; raising connected communities; advocating queer, feminist, and transgender rights and justice; rejecting late-stage capitalist values and recognizing their wide reaching damages to society and the planet; and supporting animal rights. Oftentimes, material dealing with these ideals in the heavy music space trend towards the cynical, hopeless, and bitter perspectives. Those are all valid emotional responses of course, but for Svarta Havet, the primary message is one of hope.” What does the fox say?
K L P S – K L P S Review
“Determined to explode my word count while safeguarding my character count, K L P S is a familiar band with an unfamiliar name. The band’s 2023 debut Phantom Centre, released under the name Kollaps\e, got stuck in our filter before I yanked it out. Phantom Centre’s sludgy mix of atmosphere and eighteen-wheeler riffs made it concise and compelling, albeit one-track. Two years on, K L P S sees Sweden’s sludgers drop a backslash and four letters while adding even chunkier riffs, more atmosphere, and three non-breaking spaces.” Sludge by any other name…
Harakiri for the Sky – Scorched Earth Review
“Harakiri for the Sky is one of those bands that is consistently very good but constantly eludes greatness. The Austrian duo’s grasp on melody is second to none, pairing yearning atmospheres with blackened aggression and meditative tempos, resolute in its muscular weight and melodic motifs without devolving into either jadedness nor frailty. While devoted to the style’s trademark slow-burning growth, they constantly avoid the pitfalls of the “post-black” descriptor, refusing to fall into the weak and twinkly shenanigans of their counterparts.” Pitfall Harakiri.
Silhouette – Les Dires de l’Âme Review
“There’s a little bit of buzz about Montpellier, France’s Silhouette, ahead of their full-length debut, Les Dires de l’Âme. This is built on the undeniable strength of their 2022 EP, Les retranchements (which, passing the 30-minute / seven-track mark as it did, was arguably an LP but that’s by the by). There, the sextet blended various styles, including black and post-metal, and shoegaze to create a dark and dreamy atmosphere, which oscillated between ghostly beauty and harsh, post-black fury.” Tis the season of ghosts and gloom.
Eye of the Golem – Nigredo Review
“For the most part, Eye of the Golem operates at the post-hardcore end of the post-metal spectrum. Nigredo majors in chunky, chugging guitars, underwritten by big, distorted bass lines and a lot of reverb. And within that, we are closer in tone to The Atlas Moth than we are to Cult of Luna or Isis.” Eye of golem, feet of clay.
Glare of the Sun – TAL Review
“We’ve had a long wait for the follow-up to Glare of the Sun’s 2019 sophomore album, Theia. That was a record I liked quite a bit, giving it a place on my first year-end list here at AMG Industries. I admit that I thought, even then, that I overrated it. However, upon revisiting, it is, as I remembered, a densely layered and starkly beautiful slab of progressive doom, dabbling also in the post-metal realms. Does TAL match the highlights of its predecessor or is it left in the shadows?” You mean the numerical score wasn’t a representation of objective reality?
