Record(s) o’ the Month – January 2025

By Angry Metal Guy

The tradition at Angry Metal Guy has been the strong start to the year where, like so many people with New Year’s Resolutions, you stick with ’em for a while, and then they taper off, sliding later and later as the year goes on. But this year, even the dopamine kick of listing everything in some kind of ranking order and getting lots of positive feedback from readers didn’t help me shake my funk. Alas, that means that I got way behind, and no one was available to pick up my slack. I apologize. However, since I am breaking the trend this year, maybe that means that 2025 will be significantly different!1 So, here’s your R(s)otM for January. It’s a beautiful time to be alive, my friends.2

Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine [January 3rd, 2025 | Gurgling Gore | Dry Cough | Memento Mori | Bandcamp] — The death metal newcomers in Mutagenic Host are already impressing with their brand of old school-inflected, death metal-fueled technological cynicism. With such timely, relevant themes for this nightmare fueled hellscape that we’re living in as the backdrop to the rifftacular and muscular tuneage contained on The Diseased Machine—out January 3rd, 2025, from a melange of labels [buy it here on Bandcamp!]—the whole package dropkicks the listener from the opening strains to the final moments and has entranced the staff of Angry Metal Guy (as well as a-me, Angry Metal Guy). As the recently demoted n00b Tyme opined in his review:3 “Mutagenic Host has released a death metal album that checks all the boxes, a rifferously frenzied affair of epic proportions. It will not be the only thing I recommend in 2025, but it’s undoubtedly the first. I will be intently eyeing Mutagenic Host, anticipating their next evolution, and fans of this style should, too.” Set up those Google alerts, folks!

Runner(s) up

The Halo Effect // March of the Unheard [January 10th, 2025 | Nuclear Blast | LOL, you want to own lossless digital files? No chance of that, loser!] — You can’t imagine that I moved to Gothenburg only to not begin shilling for everything that comes from this beautiful city. Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s actually a requirement of being Swedish that you shill for your home territory.4 Some things—like the In Flames discography following Colony—make the task of shilling hard; March of the Unheard makes it easy.

As a fan of the Gothenburg sound embodied in the conjoining of Dark Tranquillity and In Flames that builds the root of The Halo Effect’s sound, this is a delicious meal loaded with everything you need in a melodeath record. Add to that that Mikael Stanne is one of the best vocalists in metal whose performance raises the level of the record at every turn, and you’ve got yourself a Record o’ the Month. Fellow old Steel Druhm was equally impressed, if in his particularly understated way: “You can appreciate March of the Unheard as a lost Dark Tranquillity album or as a slick homage to a specific moment in metal history, and it works well both ways. This is a superior album to Days of the Lost with a much greater replay potential, and I’ve been surprised by how vital and fresh it is. Not bad for a bunch of olde dawgs retreading their own ancient stomping grounds. Here’s to the olden ways in these confusing modern days.”

Faithxtractor // Loathing and the Noose [January 10th, 2025 | Redefining Darkness Records | Bandcamp] — Faithxtractor—the band with the worst name since Fvneraryy Fvnkk—has returned with Loathing and the Noose, an ambitious evolution of their old-school death metal sound. Building on their 2023 record Contempt for a Failed Dimension, these Ohio death metallers have upped their game by fusing blackened thrash, melodeath, and bedeathened doom into a relentless (yet surprisingly dynamic!) assault. Faithxtractor balances brutality with surprising melody, innovating without losing their edge. And one guy—our very own Maddog, who I was shocked and a little disappointed to learn is both quite sane and human—sees this as the proof that they are carving out a place for themselves in the modern death metal landscape. He proselytized (more or less) pithily: “Faithxtractor makes it work by whole-assing their every move. Loathing and the Noose’s gargantuan death metal riffs, smooth songwriting, and excellence throughout its genre romp won me over.”

#2025 #Faithxtractor #Jan25 #LoathingAndTheNoose #MarchOfTheUnheard #MutagenicHost #RecordSOTheMonth #RecordsOfTheMonth #TheDiseasedMachine #TheHaloEffect

Faithxtractor – Loathing and the Noose Review

By Maddog

Faithxtractor’s second biggest musical contribution was the comment section from their last album. With a Farmers Only joke, a thread about metalcore album names, and a story that must be read to be believed, the birdbrain community’s mockery of Faithxtractor’s name has left me giggling for two years. Of course, the band’s biggest contribution was 2023’s Contempt for a Failed Dimension itself. Perhaps my favorite frill-free death metal record in recent memory, Faithxtractor’s fourth full-length dealt in riffs and also riffs. Unlike the other wannabes that litter the old-school death metal revival scene, Faithxtractor stood out through thoughtful songwriting. The album’s doom-tinged riffs were punchy, and its cohesive flow has withstood two years of wear. Ohio’s underground farmers are back with another slab of death metal. As I started spinning Loathing and the Noose, I knew what to expect.

At least, I thought I did. While Contempt for a Failed Dimension reveled in riffy simplicity, Loathing and the Noose is much more adventurous. Faithxtractor’s signature remains, with extra chunky riffs that alternate between furious death metal and Asphyxiating death-doom. However, while Contempt turned everything up to eleven, Loathing shatters the knob altogether. The most intense sections veer into blackened death-thrash, landing in between Morbid Saint and Panzer Division Marduk (“Fever Dream Litanies”). Even early Suffocation rears its head in Faithxtractor’s most bludgeoning brutal riffwork (“Flooded Tombs”). Spastic flailing guitar solos complement this unhinged assault on the senses. However, Faithxtractor ventures in the opposite direction as well. Loathing’s soaring leads and its melodeath-inflected riffs make it feel more melodic than Contempt. Meanwhile, the album’s starkest change lies in its bluer shade of doom. Faithxtractor’s melodic death-doom passages recall Swallow the Sun, displaying a newfound emotive side rather than merely adding heft. While Loathing and the Noose is far from an avant-garde record, it marks a sea change for Faithxtractor.

Miraculously, Faithxtractor’s experiments pay off. Even the most unexpected pieces are bafflingly powerful. Despite my knee-jerk skepticism, the melodic death-doom escapades are as evocative as the genre’s best (“Cerecloth Vision Veil”). Conversely, Loathing and the Noose’s speediest blackened cuts hijack my brain using frantic melodies and Marduk riffs (“Ethos Moribund”). These varied elements fit together with uncanny grace. The mid-section of opener “Noose of Being” mutates from blackened riffs to melodeath to sadboi death-doom to knuckle-dragging Autopsy worship, with fluid transitions that make each long jump feel like a natural step. Similarly, “Caveats” shines through its dynamic back-and-forth between an elegiac key melody and an enormous doom riff. While Faithxtractor’s round-trip transitions are sometimes abrupt, like the funeral-doom-and-back of “Flooded Tombs,” these are rare exceptions. Indeed, because it’s so well-crafted, Loathing and the Noose is an immediate hit despite its evolution; even the doomy seven-minute closer flies by, lodging into my memory by my second listen. Over-experimentation can be a turn-off, but Faithxtractor makes it work by whole-assing their every move.

Of course, it helps that the caveman segments slay. Even on its more adventurous tracks, Loathing’s overpowering death metal riffs are grin-inducing (“Cerecloth Vision Veil”). I have a soft spot for guitar solos paired with a dominant rhythm guitar, and Faithxtractor delivers on this with reckless abandon (“The Loathing”). If anything, Loathing and the Noose’s explosive tendencies make it a more visceral and infectious listen than its predecessor. And because the album’s climactic fury is sprinkled across each track rather than being sequestered, its 37 minutes are consistently lovable. While Loathing’s loud in-your-face master blunts its teeth, it remains a delight to revisit.

This is not the death metal album I was looking for. I showed up expecting a single-minded half-hour curbstomp. While Loathing and the Noose retains these simple roots, it does so much more. With influences ranging from blackened thrash to weepy death-doom, Faithxtractor’s newest record marks a transformation that initially left me worried. But its gargantuan death metal riffs, its smooth songwriting, and its excellence across its genre romps won me over. Contempt for a Failed Dimension was not just one of the greatest albums of 2023; it shocked me, revitalizing a subgenre that rarely rises above a 3.0. Loathing and the Noose sounds worlds apart, but checks the same elusive box. Mastermind Ash Thomas continues to understand my taste better than I do, releasing fantastic records in styles that often let me down. Keep an open mind and give this a shot.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Websites: faithxtractor.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/Faithxtractor
Releases Worldwide: January 10th, 2025

#2025 #40 #AmericanMetal #Asphyx #Autopsy #BlackenedDeath #BlackenedDeathMetal #ContemptForAFailedDimension #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #DeathDoomMetal #Faithxtractor #Jan25 #LoathingAndTheNoose #Marduk #MelodicDeathDoom #MorbidSaint #RedefiningDarkness #RedefiningDarknessRecords #Review #Reviews #Suffocation #SwallowTheSun