While No Peace manifests many upgrades from their (admittedly good) debut, the biggest win might be that No/Más firmly institutes their identity. The change isn’t drastic, and No Peace is a natural progression from Consume/Deny/Repent, but the sophisticated onslaught supplied on this sophomore sweep oozes with sneering confidence. Following in the footsteps of Nails, No/Más balances grindcore, death metal, and hardcore/crust tendencies with playful intelligence, weaving together Full of Hell’s caustic bite, Napalm Death’s thuggish simplicity, and Jungle Rot’s warped melodicism into a densely packed third of an hour. And if those touchstones aren’t enough, No/Más unleashes Sepultura-informed grooves and a slow leak of Pro-Pain into their secret sauce. Not to fret, though, because despite all the influences, No Peace presents as a unified vision, and one that will rouse languid listeners into a frothing fancy.

No/Más’ instrumentation on No Peace sets a high bar with energetic performances, snapping necks with whiplash-inducing riffs and a license to thrill. Joe Vasta’s bass bounces and chugs with in-your-face rumbles throughout No Peace (“Abolition,” “Cycle of Sacrifice”), wielding a thick, surly tone that’ll rabbit punch you into head-banging if you’re standing still. Drummer Henry Everitt wallops the skins hard enough to rattle your ear bones, battering with furious fills (“Abolition”) and dropping to half-time backbeats (“No Peace”) as songs demand. It’s not all about the beatdowns, though, as No/Más injects a welcome helping of melody into No Peace. John Letzkus’ guitar slices through the faff to drench the album in a satisfyingly saturated buzz (“Act of Killing,” “Spineless”), though he also takes the reins and dazzles with efficient, arpeggiated leads (“Leech”) that I wish appeared more. Vocalist Roger Rivadeneira rounds out the quartet, shouting, growling, and screeching in a varied attack that demonstrates a willingness to experiment that was largely absent from Consume/Deny/Repent. In total, No/Más fires on all cylinders throughout No Peace, and never gives you a moment to come up for air.

With only twenty-two minutes on tap, No/Más leaves no room for inessential slop. And besides the half-minute intro flush with wall-of-sound static and indistinct yelling, they wildly succeed. As you’d expect from any decent grindy endeavor, no song pushes past its distilled essence, staying just long enough to rip and bludgeon before getting the fuck out of the way for the next track to exact its toll. No song eclipses the three-minute mark, and each exudes a rabid savagery that seethes with conviction. Additionally, No Peace sounds great—sure, the dynamic range scores low, but it’s exactly how this brand of overstimulating ass-kicking should sound. It’s well-mixed, abrasive, and highlights the rhythm section without sacrificing the sparse six-string fortitude. I wish there were a few more songs like “Leech,” partly because No/Más excels with the tunefulness, but also because I think it would address the biggest opportunity with No Peace—the compact composition allows little room for songs to establish unique flavors, leaving them to sometimes blur together. In the end, though, this is only a minor quibble, and there are many great moments to appreciate.

No/Más hasn’t redefined the DNA of deathgrind with No Peace, but they have contributed a worthy addition to its annals. Corrosive, pummeling bangers streamlined with minimal frills sum up to a blistering platter I’ve quite enjoyed. While I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing No/Más live, this crew boasts the hallmarks of a band that whips a crowd into a frenzy and ends with a broken bone or missing tooth. With twelve tracks running so lean, No Peace is helplessly easy to spin again and again. If they keep pumping out tunes this good, I can’t wait for what comes next. No más? No. Más.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: March 13th, 2026

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It’s been a long five years since we’ve had an album from this Norwegian foursome. Which is probably a good thing, considering their last few releases haven’t been their best by a long shot. Basically, since 2011’s V, the band has struggled to retain their days-of-yore sound while trying to expand on it and deliver something fresh. Having left Season of Mist and returned to Indie Recordings, now is the time to drop something new and exciting—especially if you’ve once again enlisted the mighty Mistur’s keyboard wizard, Espen Bakketeig, to lend a hand in the finished product. One spin in and Vreid fans will find a lot of what you’ve come to expect from the band, while also exploring some surprising new directions that are sure to drop your jaw. But, is that a good or bad thing for The Skies Turn Black?

As has become the norm for the band, we’re blessed with some killer guest appearances by the aforementioned Espen Bakketeig and Djerv’s Agnete Kjølsrud, a smart decision by Kampfar on the amazing Ofidians Manifest. While Bakketeig’s performance on 2021’s solid Wild North West, I felt he was underutilized when crafting his key atmospheres or lustful piano passages. Thankfully, that is not the case for The Skies Turn Black. Outside of the emotional piano interludes, you’ll find plenty of powerful, spacey, and quirky key atmospheres throughout. And Kjølsrud’s contributions to the almost gothy “Loving the Dead” make it one of the best songs the band has ever penned.¹

The album begins on a strong note with “From These Woods,” which is one of the longer and more epic tracks. After opening with some soothing clean and acoustic guitars, the black metal assault ensues. After passing through a dark alley of echoing clean-vocal support, the new riff change is nastier and heavier than ever. But the moment you get settled in, the song comes to a screeching halt, unloading beautiful piano, soaring guitars, and lush, clean vocals. When it concludes, you’re whiplashed with a vicious attack because the fucking song still has two minutes to go. Another track that has similarities is “Smile of Hate.” This one has a simple but headbangable riff in the vein of Amon Amarth, that marches along at one point and collapses into another impressive piano passage. This time, a little less ethereal and more like the piano and key work of Dimmu Borgir.

But, like all Vreid records in the last decade, there’s a point where things get real weird. Not in a negative way, like some previous material. On The Skies Turn Black, it begins with “Kraken.” It turns out this track is part of the soundtrack to this year’s Norwegian “blockbuster,” Kraken.² But being more synth-driven than guitar-driven, it has an eerie vibe that actually would work equally well in the movie Sorcerer.³ It’s not a standout track, but it’s the perfect introduction to “Loving the Dead” because it uses the same elements. As mentioned, this song stands way out because Kjølsrud dominates on vocals. This eight-minute epic takes you through so many emotions, from Kjølsrud’s vocals to the intertwined guitar work and the climactic finish. This special piece is definitely a Grier SotY contender.

There are plenty of other high moments on this record, which is hella nice to hear for a change. The track that really loses me, though, is “Echoes of Life.” It’s not a bad song, but it’s an odd duck of ’70s progness. While it’s smooth and clean, it’s too old-timey to fit with the rest of the album. Thankfully, the follow-up closer “The Earth Rumbles” reignites the fire before the album concludes. If “Echoes of Life” ended the record, I might be a bit more upset. But, I’m pleased to say The Skies Turn Black is Vreid’s best album since V. Which is wild to say considering there are four full-lengths in that time. The master is nicely done, letting everyone shine when it matters—especially the bass, which has always been a major staple to their sound. If the skies really are going to turn black, I’m here for it. After all, that’s better than the color they are these days.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: Stream | Format Reviewed: Stream deez nutz
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: vreid.bandcamp.com | vreid.no | facebook.com/vreidofficial
Releases Worldwide: March 6th, 2026

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Mega Colossus’s philosophy for making music seems to be “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” What this specifically means for them is a triumphant return of their hybrid of traditional heavy metal and classic rock, with pinches of thrash and power metal. Similar to Iron Maiden, Judicator, or Dream Tröll, Mega Colossus eschews the darker and harsher aspects of metal, choosing instead to build upon an unassailable melodic foundation. In that regard, it feels like Mega Colossus is operating at a godlike level. They have an exceptional knack for unearthing juicy earworms and threading them onto more hooks than can be found in a master angler’s tacklebox. Just like with Riptime and Showdown, to call Watch Out! fun would be a massive understatement.

As ever, an unadulterated spirit of camaraderie shines through in the way the members of Mega Colossus play together. I’ve already established how catchy Watch Out! is, but it’s the way that the melodic components synergize that makes it special. While twin guitar harmonizations may be standard in this genre, the skill with which Chris Millard and Bill Fischer craft them is anything but. The vocal harmonies, though more sparing, are no less sweet, with up to three other band members melding their voices with lead singer Sean Buchanan’s during key lines (“Good Hunting”). Every time they shout during the chorus of “Battlefront,” I can’t help but dream of shouting along with them in the crowd at a show. Fittingly, “Tag in Your Friend” is the greatest all-around example of coordination between the vocal and guitar melodies. Anthony Micale’s bass lines are no less important to this melody delivery system than are Doza Mendoza’s high-octane drum rhythms.

While Mega Colossus largely functions the same, they refuse to stagnate in songwriting. Others in this genre may struggle to keep songs relevant past the 5-minute mark, but Mega Colossus expertly stretches song lengths without the listener noticing. Chief among them is “Good Hunting,” which has the highest hooks per minute and a stellar bridge. If this isn’t my Song o’ the Year in December, something must have gone very right in 2026. Elsewhere, Mega Colossus proves that they can still write engaging music with the speed dial turned down. The dreamy guitars in “Here Lies You” echo Led Zeppelin, while “Bloodless” goes full bard-mode, telling the tale of Kvothe (The Kingkiller Chronicle). I would have preferred that these two slower tracks weren’t placed back-to-back at the end of Watch Out!, which might be why “Bloodless” feels a bit too long. Minor pacing quibbles aside, it’s great to hear Mega Colossus continue to branch out compositionally.

Showdown was a tough act to follow, but Mega Colossus knocked another album out of the park with seeming ease. Each member’s individual performances have leveled up, with faster, more technical fretwork and an impressive array of drum tempos. Buchanan’s vocal range has expanded, the rich timbre of his voice drawing me into the stories he spins and making the poetic lyrics even easier to appreciate. The sheer quality and quantity of hooks radiate enthusiasm with every note. I hope that Watch Out! will be the record to ignite the explosion in popularity that Mega Colossus deserves. These lovable ruffians have once again brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Cruz del Sur Music
Websites: colossusmetal.bandcamp.com | meltedfaces.com | facebook.com/colossusmetal
Releases Worldwide: March 6th, 2026

Kutemouse (aka Mrs. Killjoy)

Watch Out! Mega Colossus has done it yet again. And by “it,” I mean they captured the heart and soul of traditional metal in the most entertaining way possible. So entertaining, in fact, that they have managed to grab my attention and pulled me from the depths of stale pop music to a world of rich lyrics, incredible guitar riffs, and extraordinary vocals. This down-to-earth band of unapologetic nerds hails from North Carolina, with Watch Out! being their fifth full-length album since their debut in 2008. Their music continues to be the bridge between pop culture and metal that the world never asked for but desperately needs, leading to me, an avid pop and K-pop listener, feeling a critical desire to share this review.

This seven-track album carries on the trend of combining sharp hooks with entertaining lyrics that its preceding album Showdown set, yet once again, this band has evolved their sound. Several tracks feature eerie interludes and dark lyrics, providing contrast to the high-energy compositions we’ve heard from Mega Colossus previously. That’s not to say that each track doesn’t make me want to get up and dance, grab a sword, jump in a Chevy Impala, and go on an adventure (yes, in that order), but the album as a whole deals with heavier themes that are followed through within the instrumentals. Mega Colossus has cited rock band Uriah Heep as inspiration for this album, accounting for the lean into the contrasting style this album presents. In fact, thanks to the darker tones pervading this record, Watch Out! swerves more into traditional metal territory over the band’s previous Kansas-esque classic rock sound.

Most tracks begin gradually, with the two guitarists, Chris Millard and Bill Fischer, leading the build-up into the familiar quick-tempo, high-energy sections as lead vocalist Sean Buchanan begins singing. More contrast is introduced with a subdued interlude or two, only to get thrown right back into the frenzied fray that gets your heart racing. One of the tracks that doesn’t follow this pattern is “Battlefront,” the first single to drop from Watch Out!. This is likely not a coincidence, as the song best mirrors the warmer sound and hopeful call-to-action lyrics found in previous hits. It’s a full dance party throughout the entirety of the track, with no breaks in tempo to be found and guitar riffs that ascend and descend like hills on a roller coaster. Yet the fact that the song is in a minor key and contains lyrics concerning fighting ‘til death gives the track more edginess over its mellow counterparts like “Wicked Road” (Showdown).

As one who comes from a background of listening strictly to pop music, I greatly appreciate Mega Colossus’s elaborate storytelling ability that breathes life into each song’s lyrics. “Here Lies You” provides a reprieve from nimble tremolo picks and a breather from all that adventuring and dancing. The song swells into a gorgeous duet between the two guitarists, accompanied by Sean Buchanan’s husky vibrato, that tells the story of a fallen soldier haunting the battleground where he passed rather than moving onto an afterlife reminiscent of Valhalla. The tragic, poetic lyrics are what bring this album to life and are what help shape its doomful sound that still appeals to pop culture enthusiasts like myself.

While I wasn’t as intrigued by this album as I was by Showdown, this album will hopefully broaden Mega Colossus’s listener base by adding edgy tempo contrasts and imaginative, somber lyrics to their overall sound. Between the incredible vocals that have only improved with time, the easter eggs in their lyrics that point to fictitious worlds created by others, and the dueting guitarists that bring powerful energy to each track, Watch Out! deserves a listen or twelve from music listeners of any genre.

Rating: 3.5/5.0²

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As the opening notes of “Newfound Respect” hit, Buried Under the Weight of Reason reveals itself as a blunter, more dynamic beast than its predecessors. The guitars have thickened into a sludge/doom/stoner hybrid of epic proportions, blending Boss Keloid-like phrasing (“Rot to Ruin,” “Newfound Respect”) with Baronessian textures (“Twelve Seasons,” “Law Unto Myself”) and even the occasional djenty chug (“Cut Your Teeth,” “Rot to Ruin”). Huge, low-slung riffs drive Desert Storm’s definitive songwriting pattern. Songs lurch between stampeding verses and clean, crestfallen bridges, often featuring playful bass flourishes and blues refrains. Elliot Cole’s drums hit with massive, tom-forward authority. Each booming strike fuses with new bassist Andrew Keyzor (ex-Beard of Zeuss), carving deep pockets on tracks like “Woodsman” and “Shamanic Echoes.” By the time the first few tracks roll by, it’s obvious that Buried Under the Weight of Reason finds Desert Storm operating squarely in their wheelhouse.

Desert Storm commits to a single mission on Buried Under the Weight of Reason: delivering crushing, irresistible grooves from start to finish. Though lesser bands often bail on a great hook too early, Desert Storm has the confidence to lock in and let a sequence breathe like a fine wine, avoiding the common pitfall of over-complicating a riff before it reaches its zenith. Their controlled songwriting approach shines on the “Woodsman” and “Shamanic Echoes,” where the group adds nuance through minimalist, hook-heavy phrasing that feels both exciting and fresh. “Rot to Ruin” and “Cut Your Teeth” utilize spacious, bluesy transitions to reset the listener’s palate before building toward massive payoffs. The latter succeeds because the quartet holds back, patiently waiting for the precise moment to strike with a mammoth closing riff. The album closes with “Twelve Seasons,” a standout track that balances technical complexity and eccentricity with Desert Storm’s conviction to mine every ounce of a groove’s energy until it runs bone-dry.

Matthew Ryan’s vocals have historically been Desert Storm’s hollow point, but on Buried Under the Weight of Reason, they arrive with a newfound polish and reliability. Hitting with a grizzled, Crowbar-like growl, Ryan provides a solid—albeit largely safe—foundation that underpins Desert Storm’s low-frequency bulk. While Ryan’s vocals struggle to elevate the plethora of high-caliber riffs, they sit comfortably in the mix, serving their purpose without overreaching. Inconsistencies surface, however, on “Woodsman,” where mechanical chanting feels like a unique angle tripped up by its own peculiarity. More jarring is “Dripback,” where Ryan’s barking cadence feels a bit too unhinged, overshadowing an otherwise great groove. Beyond the vocal performance, the compressed mix masks the finer nuances—like the cowbell on “Twelve Seasons”—and the quartet’s commitment to the almighty riff sometimes results in songs feeling overextended. While Desert Storm’s “groove-first” philosophy is surely their strength, it leads to some bloat on the record’s longer cuts (“Rot to Ruin,” “Shamanic Echoes”). Additionally, the inclusion of the interlude “Carry the Weight” feels pointless in the context of the album’s flow.

But for Desert Storm, Buried Under the Weight of Reason is a cause for celebration. By knowing and staying largely within their established limits, the group has created not only a good record, but easily their best to date. While it occasionally oversteps its bounds or struggles to maintain its momentum, the songwriting and groove are infectious enough to have every head in the club bobbing in unison. Their sharpest effort to date, with enough weight to kill an elephant, Buried Under the Weight of Reason is a damn good time and a reminder that sometimes, that’s all a record needs to be.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Websites: desertstorm.bandcamp.com/music | desertstormband.com | facebook.com/desertstormuk
Releases Worldwide: March 6th, 2026

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Kicking off with the blistering “Unsafe at Any Speed,” Exhumed pull no punches in a typically exuberant, brutal yet wickedly infectious style. The riffs rip and burn with reckless abandon, drums set a scorching tempo, while the dueling vox, trade-off solos, and gut-punching grooves land vital blows of awesomeness. It feels familiar yet fresh and the right amount of pungent. Striking a balance between the sharp melodicism and grooving charms of modern classic Necrocracy, mutated with the blunt force savagery of Horror, and a dash of the more primitive goregrind stylings of their early days, Red Asphalt finds Exhumed subtly tweaking their formula to remain vibrantly dangerous deep into their career. Through modern refinement and sharp, technical execution, Exhumed maintain their gritty, no-frills edge and slick but organic sounding production, while the grindy, blast-riddled attack and sick dual vox ensure these old dogs still pack a brutal, unhinged punch.

Careening recklessly from one gnarly, adrenaline-fueled incident to the next, Exhumed mostly jam the gears high and slam the pedal to the floor, weaving twisted cables of melody through mangled wreckages of deathgrind mayhem and gore-soaked grooves. “Red Asphalt” unleashes thrashy uppercuts and Heartwork-inspired melodeath flair to killer effect. More measured cuts (“Shovelhead,” “Death on Four Wheels”) detonate slower, crushing devices, bloodied riffs, and dicing solos to slamming impact. When Exhumed are not grinding and pummeling with deathly intent, their thrashy tendencies take hold, offering a trademark punky, turbo-charged counterpoint on numerous high-octane scorchers (“Shock Trauma,” “The Iron Graveyard,” “Symphorophilia”). “Shock Trauma” deftly incorporates screaming, emergency siren solos into an explosive barrage of searing deathgrind battery, showing Exhumed can still blast and brutalize with the best of them.

Performances are uniformly tight and deranged, Harvey again proving an elite riff meister, sharpening his tools of the trade to whip up a frenzy with Philips, including a generous bounty of killer, infectious riffs and tasty, slashing solos. The shredding is top-grade stuff, adding a wild and reckless melodic edge to the album (check the ripping axe pyrotechnics on “Death on Four Wheels” and “Crawling from the Wreckage”). Vocally, Harvey and Sewage sound as savage as ever, forming one of the best dual vocal combos this side of Dying Fetus, albeit a gentle push forward in the mix would have been welcome. At a taut thirty-seven minutes, Red Asphalt blasts by in an efficient, addictive fashion, by the time “The Fumes” engulf your senses to close out the album. Aside from a couple of stock moments, Exhumed’s songwriting sounds energized and inspired, nearly thirty years since they dropped their debut.

Red Asphalt stands up to scrutiny as another high-quality modern platter to add to Exhumed’s ever-impressive repertoire. Exhumed rarely miss, testament to their dedication and skilled craftsmanship in remaining a bulldozing force in the modern death metal arena, carrying the Carcass-inspired torch, yet transcending the influence of their forebearers. Exhumed’s timelessly fun and feverish brand of old school brutality, filtered through a modern lens, and packed with sharp riffs, sharper hooks, is a thrashing, grooving, blasting good time. Red Asphalt arguably edges the past couple of Exhumed albums, resulting in a bloody crash course in deathgrind lunacy, grisly grooves, and melodic smarts.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stinking stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: exhumed.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/exhumedofficial
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026

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But rest easy—no HM-2 pedals were harmed in the making of The Eternal Hunger. Instead, Harrowed delivers enough primitive-drenched filth to satisfy any SweDeath devotee craving the crunch. Alpadie’s serrated tremolos and lacerating riffs cut like rotary blades, while Lindmark’s feverish blasts and tribal tom rolls drench highlights like “Blood Covenant” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” in a heavy layer of cavernous abrasion, tearing through the speakers with surgical precision. The Stockholm sound’s hardcore punk DNA is also front and center, as the duo rips through tracks like “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria,” “Bayonet,” and “The Reins” with high-octane skank beats and wailing dirges. Lindmark’s vocals are a caustic mix of barbaric regurgitations, adding formaldehyde-infused dressing on Harrowed’s cadaver sandwich. Tied together by a punchy production that preserves the weight of the muddy sound of yore while also maintaining a modern, nimble edge, every disgusting note on The Eternal Hunger lands with maximum impact.

The Eternal Hunger channels the spirit of ’90s-era Entombed, yet Harrowed also weaponizes influences from far beyond Swedish borders. The duo frequently abandons standard old-school formulas to explore a diverse palette of unbridled savagery. On “Blood Covenant,” Lindmark’s stampeding, guttural-punctuated rhythms and turbulent transitions coalesce with Alpadie’s blazing fretwork, leaning closer to classic thrash than typical SweDeath. Pivoting from there, “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” embrace a blackened speed identity where icy tremolos, demented double-bass attacks, and progressive ride patterns imbue a sinister edge outside typical HM-2 purism. Harrowed also pulls from the American scene. “The Eternal Hunger” mirrors the swampy, gore-soaked roots of early Autopsy and Death, while the haunting, clean arpeggios driving the title track and “The Haunter” resurrect Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss.” Strategic moments of suspense, where the duo strips away the distorted crust in favor of suspenseful intros and bridges, only make the final blows feel more devastating as hammering half-time grooves (“Blood Covenant”) and esoteric patterns (“Formaldehyde Dreaming,” “The Reins”) work well to keep the listener off-balance.

While Harrowed’s varied songwriting is largely airtight, certain songs reveal minor cracks. “The Reins” suffers from a disjointed bridge that briefly stalls the track’s momentum, though Lindmark’s technical drumming and visceral vocal attack do well to anchor the chaos. There are also occasional moments when tracks feel like retreads, suggesting Harrowed may have hit the bottom of their bag of tricks. “Formaldehyde Dreaming,” for instance, relies on a riff set strikingly similar to those found in “Bayonet” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows,” while the clean intro of “The Eternal Hunger” echoes “The Haunter.” Furthermore, the title track’s brooding build-up fails to deliver a proportional payoff, indicating the track would have benefited from more editing. Despite these slip-ups, however, The Eternal Hunger remains 36 minutes of grime-soaked efficiency that favors memorable songwriting over high-concept filler.

Harrowed successfully pays homage to the Swedish spirit without merely exhuming its grave. By channeling a wide-reaching spectrum of influences and pushing them through a modern SweDeath filter, they’ve created a record that is easy to like and refuses to grow stale. Much of The Eternal Hunger’s success stems from Harrowed’s balanced and varied songwriting, with Lindmark and Alpadie both pulling their weight equally to flex their creative muscle and produce material that sounds both familiar and surprisingly fresh. A debut with this much power is impressive, especially coming from only two people. If this is what the new wave of SweDeath sounds like, I’m on board—and you should be too.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-hunger | facebook.com/harroweddeathmetal
Releases Worldwide: February 27th, 2026

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My confidence grows when I see that these Norwegians have picked the album’s first two songs as singles. “Fire and Ice” starts things off with some energetic power metal-infused heavy metal that brings Dream Evil immediately to mind. After a huge earworm chorus and some killer riffing and leads, the song winds down, and I’m horrified to realize that I’ve been involuntarily smiling and headbanging the whole time. Fear not, I say to myself. The next single can’t be as good. “We are One” takes the momentum of the opener and runs with it. I hear Brainstorm. I hear Dio. I hear more Dream Evil. I hear an even bigger chorus. Shit.

Not to worry! I’m sure they’ve simply stacked the singles at the front because they’re the best tunes. A qualitative drop-off is sure to come! Just as those foolish words finish leaving my mind-lips, “Down Low” slaps me across the face with a down-tuned chug that I didn’t see coming. This PED-enhanced version of Rozario, also seen on “Sleepless” and “Betrayed,” fits the Brainstorm mold alluded to above, and even ventures towards Mystic Prophecy levels of heaviness. “Crusader” and “Die Like Warriors” both see the band putting their Saxon pants on, their quality daring me to add them both to my “SWOARDS” playlist of battle-ready metal.

I finish Northern Crusaders for the first time and am surprised at just how fast the album’s 50 minutes flew by. I play it again. I like it even more. I am totally fucked. Sure, I can look across the album’s track list and pick out two songs that I don’t absolutely love (“Coming Home” and “The Warning”), but they’re still good songs whose place in the runtime almost totally mitigates any potential impact they could have had on the overall flow. I’m rather pissed that singer David Rosario puts in a journeyman performance with his weathered voice, and I’m even more upset that he’s filled his near-eponymous band with so much talent, particularly on guitar. The duo of Stein Hjertholm and Taran Lister has filled these tracks with muscular riffs, beautiful leads, and face-melting solos, and this is a huge reason that Northern Crusader feels so effortless and easily replayable. Even the production is fantastic. Gah! What a catastrophe!

It’s now been several weeks since I plucked this from the sump. As I put the finishing touches on the review and prepare to enter the final rating, I am suddenly aware of a presence in the room with me. I look up from my laptop screen to see 3.5 glaring at me with a sinister smile on its face. “You couldn’t live with your own failure,” it says. “Where did that bring you? Back to me.” I type the score, realizing it is futile to resist, fully aware that I’ve made the mistake of judging Rozario’s Northern Crusaders by its cover. I slam my computer screen down, stand up, and walk away, naked and full of shame.¹

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Pride & Joy Music
Websites: rozarioofficial.com | facebook.com/rozarioband
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026

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Stylistically, not much has changed since Grim1. Necrosexual still play a comedic, sleazeball form of blackened punk-thrash that sounds something like a snottier version of early Celtic Frost or a PG-13 version of Shitfucker. On songs like the opener, “High Times in Hell,” the band deliver big, confident riffs over battering mid-tempo drums, all while The Necrosexual delivers his sneering roar. A few tracks also feature brief forays into genuine black metal, complete with frosty riffs underlaid by blast beats. In a move that vaguely calls to mind Devil Master, much of the album also features twinkling synth lines in the background, an effect that makes the second track, “The Brimstone Brothel,” sound like a Venom-inspired carnival ride from hell.

For all my gripes about Grim1, variety wasn’t one of them, and Road to Rubble features a similar level of diversity with a much higher level of quality. “Kiss the Knife” stands out with its catchy, sinister verses that feature the track title sung in a King Diamond-style falsetto, while the more straightforward “Lubricator” sounds like an alternate version of Morbid Tales where the dethroned emperor has become a sex slave. As the album progresses into its final third, things get more rock-esque, with the rhythms getting stompier, the leads getting more flamboyant, and the vocals getting more adventurous. “Damned Romance,” for example, is like a blackened 80s cock rock anthem that culminates with a chorus of deep crooning cleans that are impossible not to sing along with. The closer, “Hard Leather Woman,” gives off similar vibes while reminding me of Midnight with its gruff, semi-clean vocals.

If there’s any gripe I have with Road to Rubble, it’s that stacking so many slower songs in the album’s second half saps a bit of the energy generated by the quicker songs earlier in the record. By the time I’ve reached the eighth of these nine tracks, hearing another slow song like “Nocturnal Ignition” isn’t going to make me have a nocturnal emission anytime soon. Fortunately, the stellar production outweighs this quibble, with the guitars sounding full and vibrant, and the overall sound having a slightly raw edge while balancing everything well. The guitar solos are plentiful, colorful, and rocking, and the band sound like they’re enjoying the hell out of themselves over the entirety of these 35 minutes.

In revisiting Necrosexual with Road to Rubble, I initially wasn’t sure whether my taste had gotten worse or the band had gotten better. Turns out, it’s probably a little bit of the former and a whole lot of the latter. With this album, the band has maintained their penchant for variety while stepping things up in every way, with better songs, better performances, and a better production job. Beyond all that, this album just feels incredibly endearing, with a genuine, fun, and oddly timeless quality that makes Necrosexual sound like a band you want to both listen to and root for. For those who don’t mind a little humor and playfulness in their blackened thrash, I’d say this Road to Rubble is worth taking a ride down.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: PCM
Label: Black Metal Archives
Websites: necrosexual.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/grimmestofalltime
Releases Worldwide: February 27th, 2026

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Dissecting the Leech sets the thrashy tone with some sweet riffs and thumping blast beats on opener “Under the Sun.” Hanchuck collaborates with a long list of guest guitarists, such as Chris Poland (ex-Megadeth) and Mike Gilbert (Flotsam and Jetsam), to ensure a never-ending supply of fresh, exciting riffs, solos, and other guitar antics. As in prior outings, Wreck-Defy plays largely in the Testament mold with a few Megadethian flourishes. However, it’s not all pedal to the medal—plenty of songs vary in tempo, like the melodic, mid-paced “Millenial Dystopia” and the near-ballad “The Path.” While retaining their core identity, Wreck-Defy manage a varied sound throughout Dissecting the Leech, with tunes lasting anywhere from the blink-of-an-eye at three-and-a-half minutes (“Do It Again”) to the progressively-paced six-and-a-half minutes of “I Don’t Care.”¹ The latter flexes creative songwriting similar to last year’s Helms Deep, with a mid-track portion that unexpectedly rockets off into a shreddy solo that’s absolutely riveting.

While Hanchuck and Christian prove to be the heart, the two new players more than hold their own. Greg Wagner has the grizzled voice of an old soul and brings a level of grit to the music. Yet he’s no one-trick pony, occasionally rising to the falsetto of many power metal vocalists, not to mention taking a few stabs at King Diamond shrieks. His surprise melodic lilt on “Another Day” proves to be one of the record’s highlights.² David Allan proves to be quite effective behind the kit as well. His opening kicks to “Under the Sun” establish a fiercely energetic tone that resonates throughout much of Dissecting the Leech. Perhaps my favorite moment comes from “The Haunting Past,” a completely bonkers track that sounds like its instruments have gone haywire before delivering a blitzkrieg of thrashy riffs and blast beats powered by Allan’s jaw-dropping performance.

Wreck-Defy power their thrash into social critiques that prove forceful behind their spirited performances. They tackle environmental, political, and generational issues, casting a gloomy pall over modern events. On “Under the Sun,” they lament the degradation of our planet through warfare (“Look at the damage we’ve done”) and warn, “we’ll all die under the sun.” Concern turns towards the younger generations on “Millenial Dystopia,” where Wreck-Defy observes that “there’s no room to grow old,” leading to a “generation of no hope.” All people want, according to “Another Day,” is “air to breathe / just let me live another day.” Considering critiques from Steel and commenters over juvenile lyrics from Powers That Be, Wreck-Defy appear to have matured in their storytelling and thematic content. They offer a coherent narrative, even if it just boils down to “the world is a mess,” and mankind is facing “a dark, dismal future” (“Revolt”), and end on the hopeful message that they’ll “keep on fighting” for what’s right (“Apocalypse of Hope”).

Like Steel before me, I had never heard of Wreck-Defy before taking this promo, and I’m impressed. Dissecting the Leech is proving among the best in a rather good year for thrash so far, though a few things do hold it back. At 48 minutes, it’s a tad long, but considering its progressive leanings and the impressive musicianship, that’s a minor issue. A couple of songs don’t fit in as well as the rest (“Dissecting the Leech,” “The Path”), proving to be weak links amidst a great set. “The Path” is particularly puzzling, appearing to serve as the evening wind-down music to help settle the kids and old-timers for bedtime. But you’d better hurry because the ironically-named finale, “Apocalypse of Hope,” serves a jolt of caffeine to keep the party going. If you like thrash, you’ll have a good time with Dissecting the Leech.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Massacre Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026

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As with prior albums, Misotheist continues exploring the band’s sonic landscape within the context they’ve defined for themselves. Second-wave tempests reign supreme, broken up by leaden crawls and punctuated with antagonistic bouts of dissonance and harmony. Fans of the band won’t be surprised at De Pinte’s mix, once again donning the lo-fi trappings Misotheist is known for and imbuing the songs with buzz and crunch. With four tracks on De Pinte compared to the typical three, Misotheist manages their most accessible album to date by keeping the opening trio trim (for them, anyway) and comprising a tightly written side A. Overall, the refinement on De Pinte signals a keen band that understands the path to greater success is one of degrees.

The first three tracks on De Pinte may be Misotheist’s best material yet, spewing counterbalanced discord and melody over varied paces in concise doses. The guitar twangs in “Unanswered Thrice” drop a wistful anchor of melancholy that tugs at the heartstrings over furious riffing and a bludgeoning drum performance, and “Blinded and Revealed” rumbles at an unhinged gait similar to Panzerfaust, injecting spidery leads over the blackened tumult beneath. It’s “Kjetterdom,” though, that stands out amongst on the A-side of the album, decelerating the momentum to an agonizing plod while the bass plays a pivotal melodic role that offsets serpentine guitar jangles. Throughout, the vocals cut and gut with what sounds like broken glass being ground in the back of someone’s throat, engendering an uncomfortable brutality that works seamlessly with the music. In all, the front half of De Pinte is loaded with great moments and potent songwriting, setting the stage for Misotheist’s longest song to date.

Though the heights of De Pinte surpass its predecessors, Misotheist hits a snag during the album’s last leg. The key to De Pinte comes down to tension, and where the front of the album excels here, “De Pinte” doesn’t quite stick the landing. Swirling, hypnotic trems play over rigidly metered bass drum blasts, and odd cymbal splashes jar proceedings out of orbit and into an exciting, dangerous crash course. The musical dynamics expertly weave to and fro, adventurously shifting the song’s velocity over a twenty-minute run that always shocks me with how fast it slips by. Misotheist’s dedication to atmosphere and tension throughout “De Pinte” is magnificent, and it’s baffling when so much time gets spent forging tension to have De Pinte just… end. There’s no big release. No catharsis. It might have been easier to look past if Misotheist hadn’t committed the same sin at the end of Vessels by Which the Devil Is Made Flesh, too. Despite how great the rest of the album is, the lack of fulfillment leaves me hollow, and the impact is outsized since this is a listener’s final impression.

Make no mistake, Misotheist brings the goods with De Pinte, and any fan of metal should find plenty to like on it. Though I’m disappointed with the lack of a fulfilling climax, I regularly find myself looking for forty minutes to sneak in another listen. Unquestionably great moments permeate the album, and while I’m disappointed with its final, crucial juncture, Misotheist’s latest is a must-listen in a month flush with quality releases. Don’t miss it, or the choice could come back to torment you.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Terratur Possessions
Website: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026

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