Doom on Top, Chaos All the Way Down
This week is stacked, and almost none of it came from the mainstream pipeline. A self-titled statement from one of American doom’s most underrated bands, the return of cybergrind’s weirdest export, and an underground bench deep enough to carry the list on its own. If you only have time for one of these, that’s a you problem.
#1 — Khemmis — Khemmis (Nuclear Blast) | Doom Metal
Doom metal meets power metal in an awesome new drop from one of the most underrated bands in metal. This is album five — self-titled, first since 2021’s Deceiver — and putting their own name on it tells you exactly how Khemmis sees it: this is the statement record. Galloping riffs, actual vocal hooks, and that mournful-but-triumphant thing nobody else in American doom pulls off. They’ve been underrated for a decade. This should be the record that fixes it.
#2 — Genghis Tron — Signal Fire (Relapse Records) | Cybergrind
Cyber grindcore? Let’s go. First record since 2021’s Dream Weapon, and it’s a super fun listen — synths and blast beats colliding in ways that shouldn’t work and absolutely do. Relapse keeps letting them get weirder, and the records keep getting better. I’ll definitely be spinning this one all weekend.
#3 — Stormkeep — The Nocturnes of Iswylm (Vesperian Sounds) | Melodic Black Metal
Five years of hype since Tales of Othertime comes due this Friday — the most anticipated melodic black metal record of the year, full stop.
#4 — Goreworm — Miasmic Solitude (Transcending Obscurity) | Technical Death Metal
Canadian tech death with riff density that borders on irresponsible. Transcending Obscurity keeps finding these bands, and I keep losing weekends to them.
#5 — Nuclear Tomb — Epoch Inhumane (Rotted Life Records) | Thrash/Death Metal
Weirdo Baltimore thrash for the Voivod sickos — angular and proggy where the rest of modern thrash plays it straight.
Five records, zero filler. Run it.