Weekly Release Roundup: Monday 26th May 2025 – Friday 30th May 2025
From heavy hardcore to thrashing metal, to powerful progressive rock, eccentric post-hardcore, anthemic rock, and emphatic doomgaze, it’s a big week for releases and we’ve got a list for you to check out. All these releases are out now!
Desolated – Finding Peace (MLVLTD)
Putting it bluntly, this is as mean as it gets. Desolated bring the stompy hardcore heavy, but with metalised intensity, and deliver each track with furious focus. Chances are, you’ll end up with a bloody nose just sitting alone listening to it.
Read the full review here.
Vader – Humanihility (Nuclear Blast Records)
Decades in the heavy metal game, and producing some of their finest music these days, Vader’s new EP is a short and sharp release. Featuring three hefty head bangers based in the thrash and death world, Humanihility goes f**king hard.
Read the full review here.
Rivers of Nihil – Rivers of Nihil (Metal Blade Records)
Even if you didn’t like everything Rivers of Nihil deliver, there has never been any doubting their talent and song writing abilities and here, it feels like everything has gelled, come together perfectly and found a happy spot. The band sound united, the different styles have all come together to create a unified sound and experience in what may very well be Rivers of Nihil’s most accomplished and cohesive album to date.
Read the full review here.
Diesect – Hide from the Light (Greyscale Records)
Six absolute bangers that will leave you feeling like you’re concussed.
Read the full review here.
Kusanagi – Paramnesia (Ripcord Records)
It really does speak volumes about a band’s talent that something so complex and expansive can be so expressive. You’d think a personal touch, something the listener can connect to, would be lost under the weight of powerful and intricate instrumental detail, but not here. Not with a band like Kusanagi, who deliver (arguably) their finest work to date. Paramnesia is very special.
Read the full review here.
Brake Loose – Frenetic (Symphonic Distribution)
This is rock music that appeals to all, stadium-sized, yet it retains the heart and soul of something more direct.
Read the full review here.
Monumentum Damnati – From Beyond (Self Released)
Showcasing a more developed musical palette, refining the blacker side of their sound, and experimenting in boundary pushing ways. All this, and so much more, results in an album that proves to be as fascinating as it is horror-laden, and it is steeped in horror. Not just with its thick gothic atmosphere, but with lyrics and topics that cover creepy mythological stories and characters from the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe.
Read the full review here.
The Haunted – Songs Of Last Resort (Century Media)
Who had The Haunted releasing one of their most vitriolic albums to date on their 2025 bingo card? Very few people I imagine, but here we are. The Haunted have returned, releasing their first new album since 2017’s Strength in Numbers, and creating the kind of noise we’ve not had from them in quite a while.
Read the full review here.
Indifferent Engine – Speculative Fiction (Church Road Records)
For ease, let’s call Indifferent Engine ‘post-hardcore’, but be warned, it’s far from the simplest of summations as what this band creates is far more experimental. It’s an experience like no other, truly dynamic, and at times utterly beautiful, while at others, absurdly abrasive. Throughout the album you’ll experience the divine, but you’ll also hear the sound of a band unhinged.
Read the full review here.
ButcherBird – Drought/Deluge (Drowning Sea God Records)
The sound of a very confident band throwing their all into making as much noise as possible.
Read the full review here.
Cwfen – Sorrows (New Heavy Sounds)
I know when words like ‘hugely anticipated’ are used it can sound like hyperbole, and sometimes it is, but sometimes it sums up both a personal and a general feeling about the release of a record. This is the case here, where I, and many others, are beyond excited to hear it. All thanks to a slew of mighty singles that have showcased a thrilling sound that is part doom, part post-punk, part gaze, and twisted by gothic imagination.
Unsurprisingly, hearing these songs in context, alongside unheard efforts, and with deeper atmosphere, proves to be an unforgettable experience. Cwfen have nailed it and in doing so, confirmed themselves as one of the most exciting new bands within the UK scene.
Read the full review here.
