Angry Metal GuyRecord(s) o’ the Month – June 2025
By Angry Metal Guy
As we inch inexorably closer to relevance and timeliness, we must first cross the fallow fields of June. A weird month, June was differentiated by the sheer number of recommendations that I received from the staff. Some months will see the Groupthink kick in, and everyone will vote for the same three albums. But June had no clear standout. Instead, it had a raft of yeah, I like that! That said, the longer I’ve spent with the records that were released in June, the more I have enjoyed almost all of the recommendations. Some of them unexpectedly. That there were so many recommendations has meant that I have had to take my time. But at last, the time has come…
You guys remember that time when we had a big kerfuffle with the guy who produced The Flesh Prevails? That’s the last time that I can clock that a Fallujah record really hit home for me. As much as I adored their debut, Fallujah’s post-gettin’-big material has largely left me cold. I’m not even sure I remember listening to 2022’s Empyrean until prepping for this. Xenotaph—out June 13th, 2025, from Nuclear Blast Records [Bandcamp]—is different. With a vibe that screams Traced in Air, but with a willingness to push into the realms of death metal that made Fallujah a household name,1 Xenotaph hits genuinely different. Sounding something more akin to reunion-era Cynic works for them because it’s technically appealing, it’s melodically sexy, and it doesn’t undermine their strengths. It enhances them. While The Harvest Wounds did have a vaguely atmospheric backing, the guitars and drums had bite, and the whole album didn’t have the dreamlike quality that came to define their follow-ups. While the increasingly atmospheric vibe undermined the band’s sound for me, Xenotaph—which features more guitar attack than any record of theirs since their debut, probably—benefits from the dreamy qualities, giving it a surreal, progressive feel that flows with the album art, the dynamic vocal performances, and interesting composition. Yet, the reintroduction of attack on the guitars and the more consistent compositional dynamics make Xenotaph feel heavier and more immediate than anything I’ve heard from these Bay Area death metallers in a long time. The deeper I dig into Xenotaph, the stronger it feels. Dolphin Whisperer noted—in a newborn baby-induced fugue state—that the album benefits from borderline-conceptual interlinkages between songs and “endless and lush guitar layers that scaffold the composition on Xenotaph and make it a rewarding, repeatable listen.” That’s unusually understated for a Record o’ the Month review. So let me hyperbolize: Fallujah has achieved a conceptual evolution on Xenotaph that feels true to their origins and yet develops their sound in ways that make it accessible, and yet, truly unique. Said differently, Fallujah’s sellout has been well executed, and I’m here for it.2
Runner(s) Up:
Insania // The Great Apocalypse [June 13th, 2025 | Frontiers Music | Stream on Tidal] — I was surprised when I started listening to Insania’s The Great Apocalypse and found myself increasingly invested in it. At first, it was the kind of record that felt familiar—a solid Good! on the rating scale, something that scratched an itch and amused me—but with time, I came to see so much more. Too much of the response to this album has been to write it off as either derivative or rote power metal, but a deep dive tells a different story. The Great Apocalypse finds a band that’s developing its sound, using decades of experience, and branching out slowly but surely. This becomes increasingly true as the album continues. A bit like T/L’s Rhapsody, this record starts in the familiar and becomes increasingly adventurous and interesting as it goes on—with particularly elevated guitarwork throughout. But I don’t need to justify my love for The Great Apocalypse by saying it’s more than it is perceived to be. Because it is also a very good Europower record from a band that cut its teeth decades ago and has reawakened full of piss, vinegar, and addictive hockey rock choruses that you won’t forget for days. To quote an earlier, extremely excited version of AMG Myself, “by playing to form and yet resisting predictability, The Great Apocalypse finds Insania sounding like a band that knows the rules so well that they don’t have to break them; they subvert them. While earlier albums felt a bit paint-by-numbers, added nuance and increasing sophistication have propelled Insania into a different tier: one that’s ambitious, confident, and, at times, even profound.”3
Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence [June 20th, 2025 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — Remember when a Cryptopsy release was the biggest deal in the metal scene since the last Cryptopsy release? It’s been a while. And yet An Insatiable Violence is a reminder that Cryptopsy is still very sorry for whatever it was they tried to do, and actually, they’re still really fucking good. Maybe they’ve gotten better. At first pass, An Insatiable Violence feels like a continuation of 13 years of Cryptopsy paying penance for an album no one liked while proving they can still rip with the best of them. But the longer you sit with An Insatiable Violence, the more it comes into focus as something greater: 38 minutes that deliberately weave together every era of Cryptopsy, from the bone-grinding grooves and whirwind savagery of their early days to flashes of melody and subtle nods to avant-garde detours. As some fucking guy who I’ve never heard of before (Alekhines Gun?4) wrote with an obvious excess of pathos that makes me wonder whether he’s a fit for what we do around here: “For the last decade plus, Cryptopsy have enhanced their skillset, honed their compositions, and fine-tuned their performances into the giants they used to be. An Insatiable Violence is engaging, bloodthirsty, frantic, and most importantly, an excellent release from a granddaddy band who are here to remind any that there truly is none so vile.”
Helms Deep // Chasing the Dragon [June 20th, 2025 | Nameless Grave Records | Bandcamp] — American power metal was on a lot of lips in June. Alas, everyone was talking about one band with great music, but who struggled to stick the landing. On the other hand, not enough people were talking about the album that literally has a dragon with a fucking jetpack on the cover, as well as a vocalist who can both cheese and hit notes when doing his US Power Metal Obligatory Falsetto Wail™. Whether evoking Mötely Crüe (“Cursed”) or Rata Blanca (“Craze of the Vampire”), Helms Deep does it all with the kind of charm and pizzazz that is undeniable. Chasing the Dragon exudes a certain charisma, what the kids would call “rizz,” but also has a righteously old school production job—in style, if not in DR Score—that makes me feel like I’m listening to a dubbed tape that my brother’s buddy’s older brother recorded for us. But all of this is window dressing on a record that is chock full of genuinely good guitar work, fun writing, and the kind of Drinking a PBR and Headbanging with My People energy that metal has increasingly lost as listeners and practitioners have become invested in Being Taken Very Seriously as Artists.5 As a-guy-who-definitely-is-not-Superman wrote, unchecked by journalistic ethics or a desire to be circumspect and humble in his opining: “Within the belly of this dragon is a great album. I immensely enjoyed my time with Chasing the Dragon, which has a modern sound that is clearly dedicated to its influences without ripping them off. Sciortino has created a magical project. If Helms Deep can combine their balls-to-the-wall energy with some discipline, their next album could be a monster.” Point taken, it’s long, but Chasing the Dragon is already a monster. A winged, armored, fire-breathing monster wearing a fucking jet pack!
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🤘 The Metal Dog 🤘
