Hey from hot Arizona! This is the first “This Week’s Picks”! The plan is to do it (or at least try to) every week, sharing a few records that grabbed me with a quick note on each. Between billionaires picking fights online, politicians pretending they can fix the mess they made, and pumpkin spice season sneaking up like a bad omen, at least the underground is consistent: loud, strange, and very much alive. Here’s what’s worth spinning while the world eats itself. Plenty of other cool albums dropped today, but I’m sticking to the ones I’ve actually spun myself. – Scott
APPALOOZA – The Emperor of Loss (Ripple Music)
The French trio ride back into town like outlaws who’ve baked under too much desert sun. Heavy stoner grooves crash into grunge-y grit, but there’s a concept lurking under the dust: a spiral into Stockholm Syndrome, identity loss, and emotional captivity. Wild Horse’s baritone cuts through like a preacher at the end of the world, pulling you deeper into this dark mythology. Imagine Alice in Chains locked in a cage match with Them Crooked Vultures, soundtrack scored by sandstorms.
Vibe: Best played with the lights off and a desert wind howling outside.
BARRENS – Corpse Lights (Pelagic Records)
Post-rock can get lost in its own atmosphere, but BARRENS keep a sharp edge. Corpse Lights is five years in the making, and it shows – every build, crash, and silence feels deliberate. Synths shimmer like dying stars while guitars stretch wide enough to swallow you whole. One second you’re drifting, the next you’re crushed by percussion that hits like collapsing buildings. The Mogwai comparisons are fair, but BARRENS sound hungrier, more restless, like they’re not just painting landscapes – they’re burning them down.
Vibe: Mogwai, but with existential panic attacks.
DESTRUCTION RITUAL – Providence (EAL Productions)
Straight from the Lovecraftian shadows, Destruction Ritual’s debut Providence is six acts of black/death chaos. French and American miscreants team up to fuse mid-paced dirges with furious outbursts, spiraling solos, and eerie samples. MkM’s lifeless, caustic vocals guide you through a world of vice, ruin, and recurring inner demons – a ritualistic trip for those craving tradition with a psychotic twist.
Vibe: Chaos in your earbuds, ritual in your skull. #Providence #BlackenedBliss
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT – Innern (Season of Mist)
Germany’s philosophers of black metal keep digging inward. Innern isn’t about spectacle – it’s about stripping yourself bare and staring into the void. The band balances blast-beat fury with quiet passages that hit just as hard, turning suffering into something oddly transformative. Kamprad’s production gives the whole thing an almost live immediacy, like you’re trapped in the room with them while the walls shake. It’s bleak, but there’s light flickering in there too, if you stick it out. Not for casual listeners, but rewarding if you let it swallow you.
Vibe: Good for staring into the void while questioning your life choices.
HELSTAR – The Devil’s Masquerade (Massacre Records)
Forty years in, Helstar still sound hungry. Their eleventh album digs back into their roots: speed, hooks, and plenty of supernatural horror. Rivera’s vocals bite as hard as ever, while Barragan’s riffs carry that unmistakable old-school weight. Lyrical nods to vampirism, possession, and apocalyptic doom make this feel like a lost Twilight Zone episode on steroids. Guest appearances from Texas metal veterans are just icing. This isn’t a reinvention – it’s Helstar doing what they do best, and doing it loud.
Vibe: Halloween in September? Yes, and you’re invited to the masquerade.
HERUVIM – Mercator (Redefining Darkness Records)
This isn’t just another death metal record – it’s survival pressed into vinyl. Written and recorded between Odesa and exile, Mercator channels war, displacement, and fury into something both ugly and beautiful. Heruvim mix death metal heft with surreal Lynchian touches, making the songs feel like nightmares you can’t shake. Lyrics dive into power, exploitation, and the fragility of being human when bombs are literally falling. You can hear the danger, the urgency, in every track. This is heavy music that means something – and it doesn’t let you forget it.
Vibe: Not a “relaxing listen,” unless your idea of relaxing is existential dread.
INFERNAL THORNS – Christus Venari (Personal Records)
Chile’s INFERNAL THORNS have been lurking for years, but Christus Venari feels like a statement: they’re here to stay, and they’re here to destroy. Nine tracks of blackened death slam old-school rawness into sharp, modern songwriting. Solos wail like tortured spirits, rhythms lurch from chaos to precision, and the whole thing smells faintly of sulfur. If Necrophobic had grown up under the South American sun, maybe they’d sound this vicious. This is the kind of record that doesn’t just blast – it gnaws at you until you give in.
Vibe: May induce headbanging injuries and general life reassessment.
MATT MILLER – Fiber Tormentum (Exitus Stratagem Records)
Matt Miller has been shredding for years, but Fiber Tormentum feels like his first true beast. No longer just an instrumental showcase, he’s brought in vocals and a full band to give the chaos weight. The result is part tech-death, part prog-metal, and part sheer unhinged energy. There are nods to Necrophagist precision and Devin Townsend atmospherics, but Miller twists them into his own hybrid. It’s wild, ambitious, and occasionally overwhelming – in the best way.
Vibe: For anyone who thinks music should melt your brain and your heart at the same time.
NEPAL DEATH – Pilgrims and Psychonauts (Kali Psyche Records | Grand Sounds PR)
Sweden’s NEPAL DEATH serve up a psych-rock trip that feels like getting lost on purpose. Fourteen tracks of warped guitars, sitars, gongs, flutes, and analog synths tumble together like a cosmic road map drawn by someone on a serious desert bender. Imagine Charles Manson and a bunch of faux Hare Krishna types tearing down the Hippie Trail in ’72 – chaotic, hypnotic, and gloriously unhinged. The album moves like one long ritual, grooves undulating, mantras pulsing, and somewhere between the dance floor and a desert hallucination, you might forget what year it is.
Vibe: Mind-bending, trancey, and probably best experienced barefoot in the sand or with your eyes shut.
REVELATOR – Light The Devil’s Fire (Nameless Grave Records)
Edmonton’s Revelator don’t waste time on polish or subtlety. Their debut is filthy, raw black/death that worships at the altar of the old guard – Desaster, Mortuary Drape, early Nifelheim. Ten songs, all teeth, no compromise. The riffs are nasty, the vocals sound like grave dirt, and the whole thing feels dug up from some cursed tape traded in the 90s. Pure underground fury, with zero interest in modern gloss.
Vibe: Recommended with leather jackets, bad coffee, and disdain for clean production.
SCHREIGARM – Mara Comes and Darkness Shall Reign (Purity Through Fire | Grand Sounds PR)
Black metal with a capital B. Schreigarm’s second record is nearly 50 minutes of pagan grandeur, all storm clouds and torchlight. The German/Ukrainian duo lean into melodicism without softening the blows – the riffs surge, the vocals claw, and every track feels like a standalone ritual. There’s majesty here, but also real fire. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it doesn’t need to. Sometimes you just want black metal to sound like the end of days, and Schreigarm deliver.
Vibe: Bring a cloak and a ceremonial dagger for full immersion.
THE SWITCH – No Way Out (Frontiers Music s.r.l.)
Every few years, someone promises to bring the 80s back. Most fail. The Switch actually pull it off. Canadians and Swedes unite to build a debut that plays like a lost AOR soundtrack to some neon-soaked blockbuster that never existed. Think fast cars, arcades, mobsters, and a plot so ridiculous it can only be told in guitar solos. It’s cheesy, sure – but it’s also fun as hell. Bobby John belts like he was born with Aqua Net in his lungs, and the Martins’ production gleams like chrome. It’s escapism in its purest form, and honestly, who doesn’t need that right now?
Vibe: Perfect for cruising in a Testarossa or imagining you are.
UNALIGNED – A Form Beyond (Transcending Obscurity Records)
Technical death metal usually feels like an endurance test. Unaligned know all the tricks, but they don’t beat you over the head with them. Instead, A Form Beyond breathes – tight, scathing riffs crash into melodic breaks that feel almost cinematic. The alternating vocals shift the mood constantly, keeping you on edge without exhausting you. It’s blackened, it’s technical, but it also has heart, which is rare in a genre that often treats emotion like a weakness. Brutal, smart, and surprisingly replayable.
Vibe: For fans of math class, but with way more screaming.
From desert storms to cold cathedrals, this week’s releases prove the underground has a mood for every kind of chaos. Crank it, let it burn through your week, and remember: while the world argues, the riffs remain undefeated. See ya next week (I hope so)!
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