“Hailing from Croatia, one-man black metal project Petrale have arrived with some creepily straightforward artwork and an equally straightforward album title; will this be relegated to your ever-flowing streams, or have you reaching for your wallets?” Goat on a black lake at sunrise.
![Pillars of Cacophony – Paralipomena [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Pillars-of-Cacophony-Paralipomena-01.jpg.webp)
“Amidst the routine of our daily lives, it’s easy to overlook the hidden, complex universe that exists just outside our normal gaze. It only takes a bit of magnification to reveal it: a place where cells shift and collide, forming the invisible architecture of existence. Capturing the awe of this biological machinery is a tall order. Yet, Dominik, multi-instrumentalist and mastermind of Pillars of Cacophony, has created a soundscape with second LP, Paralipomena, that does exactly that, exploring the building blocks of life through sound.” Life and death metal find a way.
“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.
“Promising in its promo a ‘stylistic mélange of death, black, and thrash metal with inventive electronic experimentation,’ Hexrot has woven an abstractly grim tale of a world rejecting Heaven and Hell by plunging reality into empty Oblivion. Classical in theming, modern in sound, it sounds like quite the undertaking.” A little late, but better than never.
“Back in ’22, your favorite AMG staffers butted heads and said “yeehaw” in a Rodeö whose scores were disappointing, very good, and everything in between. The band was a little Swedish oddity called Floating, whose collision of sounds compiled a library of post-punk’s sneering rhythms, post-metal’s ponderous hugeness, and doom’s lurching intensity, at heart beating with dissonant death metal blood inspired by Demilich and Ulcerate. I found myself on the more favorable side, a little put off by its inconsistencies and experimental quirks, but ultimately excited to see more, and my wish has been granted in follow-up Hesitating Lights.” Float or bloat?
The April Filters are now fully de-scuzzified. You can approach and examine the scuzz flotsam.
“The first eight centuries of the common era were a tumultuous one for Christian theology, played out in the writings of scholars now considered Early Church fathers. The study of this back-and-forth, which eventually resulted in an agreed ‘canon,’ gives Patristic their name. On debut Catechesis, the trio turn to the turbulent and culturally pivotal period that saw the fall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of the once-marginalized religion.” Church, State, Hell on Earth.
“Relative newcomers Supreme Void began their journey as Depravity in 2016, releasing a couple of EPs over a five-year period, culminating with 2021’s End of Games. The EP delivered a familiar slab of Polish death metal, packed with the aggression, technicality, and power that flagbearers like Behemoth and Hate have long championed. Presumably realizing the existence of numerous other bands named Depravity, the trio changed their name to Supreme Void in 2023, coinciding with their signing to French label Dolorem Records, who then re-released End of Games under the new moniker. Now, Supreme Void’s debut full-length, Towards Oblivion, aims to fuse the brutal, fast and specialized Polish sound with the dissonant and stylish tendencies of the likes of Ulcerate and Gorguts.” Void of depravity.
February was a filthy, dirty month and the Filter Techs are gonna tell you all about it,
“I’ll be the first to admit that technical death metal is not my forte nor favorite. As much as I love death metal in its many stripes, I disapprove of how tech death often relies on blistering speed and technical showmanship rather than focusing on songwriting. But a nod from the immortal Willowtip Records and nine tracks across just 40 minutes makes for what should be a tidy slice of metal on Requiem by San Francisco’s Ominous Ruin.” The ruin of technicality.
