Recensie: MONOLORD – NEVERENDING ★★★★
https://writteninmusic.com/albumrecensie/monolord-neverending/

#Music #Metal #Monolord #RelapseRecords #Suburban

I always thought Monolord could level up by favoring hooky bangers. So too did Roquentin, who, in evaluating Vænir back in 2015, saw in these long-form Sabbathians the potential for memorable songs. In picking up Monolord reviewing duties, Huck N Roll began charting a consistently Good stoner/doom career that flirted with evolution but consistently maintained a tried-and-true formula. I would have added the adjectival modifier to Your Time to Shine (2021)—its five distinctive tracks strike a Very Good balance of droniness and catchiness across a sensible 39 minutes.1 My revisionism notwithstanding, Monolord has come to embody the AMG Good, with four branches now on the beloved 3.0tree. As the third Monolord reviewer, the odds suggest I will slap another 3.0 on Neverending and call it a day, especially if album six continues to innovate only around the edges.

Fortunately, Monolord agrees that hooky bangers would reinvigorate Monolord. To help sculpt what they describe as ‘more succinct and immediate songs’ and a ‘sharper album,’ the band enlisted the legendary Sylvia Massy to record, produce, and mix Neverending.2 Monolord credit Massy for significantly influencing their editing, but this isn’t to say she radically altered the band’s stoner/doom sound. Sonically, Massy beefs up the already thick n’ fuzzy tones of this Swedish power trio. Indeed, the guitar of Thomas Jäger and bass of Mika Häkki continue to combine for some of the fattest, tastiest riffage in the game, with a signature chromaticism hard to achieve in the genre.3 As on prior records, Jäger’s vocals sit back in the mix, making his mid-to-upper range croon ethereally prominent. The metronomic drums of Esben Willems also sit back, making every crash, fill, and cowbell monumental. Like previous outings, Neverending sounds invitingly warm, with some welcome heft this time around.

Under Massy’s guidance, Neverending shakes up the Monolord formula for the first time. Whereas previous records are 5–6 tracks with an average song-length of 8 minutes, 5 of 8 tracks here sit between 3–5 minutes. Exemplifying this new approach is the opening one-two punch of “Iodine,”—which feels like a miniature YOB meets the noise-groove of Killdozer—and “You Bastard,”—the album’s strongest Minilord song. The latter propels an infectious verse-chorus cycle, supplemented by shimmying shakers, with a Riff o’ the Year candidate. Later, “The Masque” and “Invisible” hit the spot; the former has a fun blues stomp and delightfully dark verses, but the song would’ve benefitted from three iterations of its (terrific) chorus. Minilord falters, however, on “Crystal Bridge,” which actually feels too short. Excellent CoC-style sludgery gives way to Jäger alone, laying plaintive vocals atop clean chords. It seems to set up something expansive, but once the sludge riffing returns as a capper, “Crystal Bridge” ends up sounding like a song without a chorus.

Despite their emphasis on succinctness, Monolord lace ‘classic’ longer jams throughout Neverending. ”Oozing Wound” is the darling in this regard, typifying the winning chemistry Jäger, Häkki, and Willems possess when they lock in on a simple riff and give it enough space, turns, and melodic character to make it interesting yet still hypnotic. On “It’s Neverending,” Jäger vocally collaborates with Jörgen Sandström, the former bassist of Entombed, which gives Monolord its first flavoring of death-doom via Sandström’s growls. Though I’m less enthusiastic about the Sandström-led portions, the song’s gentle, melancholic dénouement makes it an exceptional eponymous closer. Speaking of closers, “Inside a Collider” weirdly feels like one at track three. It drones on a hooky riff/vocal combo for a while, but it also contains a killer doom descent I wish happened more than once.

After careful analysis, I have arrived at the same score Monolord has been achieving at AMG for over a decade. In 2019, Huck described No Comfort as the band’s transition album, which was true at the time. But as it currently stands, Neverending is Monolord’s transition album, and it’s a transition not without its growing pains. Though the songwriting falters more than it should on a ‘sharp’ album, holistically, Neverending is an enjoyable 43 minutes, making it a more-than-worthy branch on the 3.0tree.4 In the promo materials, Häkki shares that the collaboration with Massy ‘makes [him] curious about what the next chapter will be’ for Monolord. I count myself among the curious—Neverending isn’t the fully-realized version of Minilord I was hoping for, but it plants the seed.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: Official | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 29th, 2026

Recensie: New Idea Society – Fire On The Hill ★★★★
https://writteninmusic.com/albumrecensie/new-idea-society-fire-on-the-hill/

#Music #Alternative #NewIdeaSociety #RelapseRecords #Suburban

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#Blabbermouth
UNDEATH Signs With RELAPSE RECORDS

https://blabbermouth.net/news/undeath-signs-with-relapse-records

#UNDEATH #RELAPSERECORDS #SignsWith #deathmetal #album #Blabbermouth #metal #music

Detroit’s death-doom institution Temple of Void had an interesting journey over their 12-year career. Their 2014 debut split the baby between 90s Peaceville doom and nasty death metal like Asphyx and Bolt Thrower, and the end product was heavy as fook. 2017’s Lords of Death shifted toward death metal without losing any of the crushing, venomous intensity. It wasn’t until 2020s The World That Was that Temple of Void really started experimenting with the scope of their sound as influences like post-metal crept in. When 2022s Summoning the Slayer arrived, it seemed like the band was losing the plot, as their sound became overly pared down and simplistic, causing tedium to set in. That brings us to their fifth album, The Crawl. With a new bassist in tow, the band stated that they set out to write a heavy record without regard to how many death or doom influences were included. In that pursuit, they’ve expanded the scope of their sound to include elements like grunge and Goth for greater dynamism and diversity. Will that be a boon or bane to those who just want another ball-busting, skull-crushing death-doom platter?

I’ll give Temple of Void some credit for spicing up their recipe this time out. Opener “Poison Icon” is a hard-rocking death-meets-stoner-doom meat paste that’s bright and upbeat while managing to remain pretty damn heavy. There’s a rowdy urgency to the riffs that doesn’t fit neatly into death or doom camps, and the segues into hard rock stanzas with guttural death vocals over the top remind me of various melodeath Rogga products and the recent works of Hooded Menace. It’s not the nasty Temple of Void that I long for, but it’s entertaining nonetheless. “Godless Cynic “moves into darker, more grotesque death-doom territory with riffs that slither and snake all over, and when teamed with really hostile death vocals, things feel threatening and dangerous. It’s one of the album highlights, and it reminds me of the long-forgotten, criminally underrated Dutch doom band Another Messiah, which is a win in my book. 1 The title track is classic death-doom designed to pulverize and pummel. It does the job well, and the riffs are grisly fun as they swing from death stomp to doom plod.

Things also heat up on “A Dead Issue,” as discordant leads and eerie keyboards conspire to create an ominous, unsettling soundscape. The dreamy, ethereal guitars that weave in and out add another layer and make for a dynamic listen. The 7:41 closer “The Twin Stranger” is ferocious, with huge riffs dropping from the sky like spiked anvils. There’s enough forward momentum tank chugs to recall the glory days of Bolt Thrower and the pacing keeps the song from feeling as long as it is. Not every track is as successful at world-building, though. “Thy Mountain Eternal” attempts to cram an epic Viking metal element into the death-doom foundation, but ultimately ends up sounding more like recycled Omnium Gatherum than Ereb Altor, and at just under 7-minutes, it drags on too long. At 41-plus minutes, The Crawl is just about the ideal length for this kind of fare, and though there are moments of bloat to be found, most of the tracks are fairly fit and spry. The production gives the guitars enough raw power to intimidate, and those death vocals will shake the molars out of your head.

The Temple of Void edifice is highly reliant on the riff firepower brought to bear, and Alexander Awn and Michael Erdody bring enough explosives to flatten a small city. Yes, they dabble in outside influences, but this is a death-doom album at heart, and the bulldozing leads aim to harm. The rock, Goth, and other outside elements decorate the riffs, but they don’t replace the hammer and axe. There are many hook-tastic leads and smoking solos to absorb, and the diversity keeps things from feeling like a monolithic slog. Erdody’s large-scale death roars are highly effective, and he keeps things heavy no matter what genre the guitars decide to visit. It’s really the writing that elevates The Crawl beyond what was heard on Summoning the Slayer. This is a much more ambitious, adventurous outing, and it sounds like the band felt more confident and free to develop their sound this time out.

I came into The Crawl concerned that Temple of Void was going to evolve right into an early grave, but the material here is full of life, liberty, and the pursuit of the best bits of death and doom. There’s variety and inventiveness, but it will still flatten your ass regularly. I doubt they will ever give us another Lords of Death, but this ain’t so bad in its stead. Visit the newly renovated Temple.



Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: NA | Format Reviewed: Fucking STREAM!!
Label: Relapse
Websites: templeofvoid.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/templeofvoid | instagram.com/templeofvoid
Releases Worldwide: March 6th, 2026

Unfortunately, the mighty Relapse stable now floats down the shitty stream for promos. As such, we are slow on the uptake with the latest platter of splatter from legendary underground gorehounds, Exhumed. Always searching for fresh inspiration for their deathly brand of precision butchery, tenth album Red Asphalt channels inner road rage via good old carmageddon mayhem and vehicular violence as its overarching conceptual theme. Otherwise, it’s business as usual for Exhumed, returning with a tight, signature blast of groovy, thrashy, blasting deathgrind, led by seasoned underground warrior Matt Harvey (guitars/vocals). Joined by right-hand man Ross Sewage on uber low vox and bowel rumbling bass, alongside drummer Mike Hamilton (Deeds of Flesh) and guitarist Sebastian Phillips (Castle Freak, Mammoth Grinder, End Reign). Red Asphalt marks their first album since 2022’s solid and well-received To the Dead, a welcome return for these ever-reliably vicious brutes. With a high reliability factor baring well for a good arse kicking, how does Red Asphalt fare against a bulletproof modern run of albums since their second coming on 2011’s All Guts, No Glory?

Kicking off with the blistering “Unsafe at Any Speed,” Exhumed pull no punches in a typically exuberant, brutal yet wickedly infectious style. The riffs rip and burn with reckless abandon, drums set a scorching tempo, while the dueling vox, trade-off solos, and gut-punching grooves land vital blows of awesomeness. It feels familiar yet fresh and the right amount of pungent. Striking a balance between the sharp melodicism and grooving charms of modern classic Necrocracy, mutated with the blunt force savagery of Horror, and a dash of the more primitive goregrind stylings of their early days, Red Asphalt finds Exhumed subtly tweaking their formula to remain vibrantly dangerous deep into their career. Through modern refinement and sharp, technical execution, Exhumed maintain their gritty, no-frills edge and slick but organic sounding production, while the grindy, blast-riddled attack and sick dual vox ensure these old dogs still pack a brutal, unhinged punch.

Careening recklessly from one gnarly, adrenaline-fueled incident to the next, Exhumed mostly jam the gears high and slam the pedal to the floor, weaving twisted cables of melody through mangled wreckages of deathgrind mayhem and gore-soaked grooves. “Red Asphalt” unleashes thrashy uppercuts and Heartwork-inspired melodeath flair to killer effect. More measured cuts (“Shovelhead,” “Death on Four Wheels”) detonate slower, crushing devices, bloodied riffs, and dicing solos to slamming impact. When Exhumed are not grinding and pummeling with deathly intent, their thrashy tendencies take hold, offering a trademark punky, turbo-charged counterpoint on numerous high-octane scorchers (“Shock Trauma,” “The Iron Graveyard,” “Symphorophilia”). “Shock Trauma” deftly incorporates screaming, emergency siren solos into an explosive barrage of searing deathgrind battery, showing Exhumed can still blast and brutalize with the best of them.

Performances are uniformly tight and deranged, Harvey again proving an elite riff meister, sharpening his tools of the trade to whip up a frenzy with Philips, including a generous bounty of killer, infectious riffs and tasty, slashing solos. The shredding is top-grade stuff, adding a wild and reckless melodic edge to the album (check the ripping axe pyrotechnics on “Death on Four Wheels” and “Crawling from the Wreckage”). Vocally, Harvey and Sewage sound as savage as ever, forming one of the best dual vocal combos this side of Dying Fetus, albeit a gentle push forward in the mix would have been welcome. At a taut thirty-seven minutes, Red Asphalt blasts by in an efficient, addictive fashion, by the time “The Fumes” engulf your senses to close out the album. Aside from a couple of stock moments, Exhumed’s songwriting sounds energized and inspired, nearly thirty years since they dropped their debut.

Red Asphalt stands up to scrutiny as another high-quality modern platter to add to Exhumed’s ever-impressive repertoire. Exhumed rarely miss, testament to their dedication and skilled craftsmanship in remaining a bulldozing force in the modern death metal arena, carrying the Carcass-inspired torch, yet transcending the influence of their forebearers. Exhumed’s timelessly fun and feverish brand of old school brutality, filtered through a modern lens, and packed with sharp riffs, sharper hooks, is a thrashing, grooving, blasting good time. Red Asphalt arguably edges the past couple of Exhumed albums, resulting in a bloody crash course in deathgrind lunacy, grisly grooves, and melodic smarts.



Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stinking stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: exhumed.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/exhumedofficial
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026

Death Knocks isn’t the most extreme album out there, but it straddles the metal boundary more than enough to earn a spot here. While I hadn’t heard of Hoaxed before, their new release caught my eye through its album art and its impressive lead single, “Where the Seas Fall Silent.” This three-piece from Portland plays metal-edged occult rock that aims for an eerie atmosphere as much as for melodic gems. Simple and concise, Death Knocks isn’t revolutionary, but it’s a worthwhile half-hour coven excursion.

Hoaxed plays a familiar brand of bass-heavy, mid-paced doomy rock. In contrast with much of the genre, Hoaxed’s guitars might be the most understated part of their sound. Alternating between more aggressive riffs that recall Sumerlands and sparser melodies, Kat Keo’s guitar work is simple but tinged with evil. New bassist April Dimmick (Soul Grinder) brings her thrash experience to bear with aggressive thumping bass lines that often steal the show. Keo also handles lead clean vocals, while Dimmick alternates between clean harmonizing and harsh growls. These vocal melodies serve as a backbone, offering straightforward but engaging hooks to hold songs together. Rounded out by occasional synth backing, Death Knocks’ style of Gothic rock reminds me of Avatarium or a slowed-down Unto Others. It’s not an unheard-of style, but it’s one that works.

Death Knocks by Hoaxed

Death Knocks revels in its simplicity. Keo and Dimmick’s vocal work shines through its power rather than any technical gymnastics. The catchy melodies grab my attention throughout, even when other pieces falter; for instance, the rising and falling vocals of “Kill Switch” single-handedly redeem a track that struggles otherwise. Keo’s serene vocal approach sometimes reminds me of Myrkur’s folkier work (“The Fallen”). Similarly, Dimmick’s vocal harmonies aren’t earth-shattering, but they add a layer of depth throughout the album. Meanwhile, her bass riffs don’t hesitate to take center stage, adding oomph and variety (“Wretched”). But the real star of this show might be the drums. Kim Coffel’s tom-heavy and hi-hat-heavy kit attack displays a mastery of groove and creativity without feigning a technical clinic. The drums evolve constantly both within verses and between them, adding fluidity even in melodically simple moments (“Dead Ringer”). Coupled with a rich sound, Death Knocks’ drums are the most memorable part of the album, which I rarely ever say.

Straightforward songs are Hoaxed’s strength, but they can get old. Death Knocks’ song structures are cookie-cutter, with verses and choruses interspersed with instrumental interludes. While this poppy approach can work fine, it quickly loses me when the underlying melodies aren’t bulletproof (“Promised to Me”). Similarly, Hoaxed struggles to have creative outros even on their stronger tracks (“The Fallen”), making it seem like they came up with great ideas but weren’t sure how to stitch them together. Keo’s guitar melodies stand out on the opener “Where the Seas Fall Silent” and the fantastic “The Family,” but in the middle of the album, they tend to lose my interest through repetition. Death Knocks is consistently competent, but would benefit from more variety in its songwriting.

It’d be tough to argue that Death Knocks rewrites the book on anything. But with catchy vocal harmonies, engaging guitar and bass lines, and a stand-out drum performance, it’s a worthy addition to your collection. Death Knocks is also a triumph of conciseness; if this album had been 50 minutes long rather than 31, the bloat would have made it more of a chore to get through. As it stands, while Hoaxed has room to grow in their musical diversity, Death Knocks is a perfectly entertaining and ghoulish listen.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: hoaxed.bandcamp.com | hoaxedband.com | facebook.com/hoaxedband
Releases Worldwide: February 13th, 2026

Photo: Ross Sewage

Hi Matt, how are things at your end? I’m very grateful to you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us today.

M: My pleasure! Thanks for including me!

You have a killer new album coming out titled Red Asphalt, which contains plenty of groove and wicked hooks. I am curious as to the theme and topic of the LP, namely “the American road.” You’ve often […]

Recensie: Hoaxed – Death Knocks
https://writteninmusic.com/albumrecensie/hoaxed-death-knocks/

#Music #Rock #Hoaxed #RelapseRecords

Poison Ruin Announce New Album; Share New Single And Video “Eidolon”

Poison Ruin’s Hymns from the Hills ambitiously rewrites the very rules of what punk is capable of achieving, pushing their sound into expansive new terrains without sacrificing an ounce of the bleak symbolism and uncompromising aggression that first established them as an urgent new voice in the world of extreme music.

The Philadelphia punks have expanded their signature approach to grim mythmaking and scythe-swinging aggression in bold new directions, offering up a new body of songs that strike one as equal parts natural, undeniably of this world, and phantasmal. 

On Hymns from the Hills, Poison Ruin’s previous stories of toil and dispossession are revealed to be but one chapter etched upon a bleaker tapestry- One populated by spirits traversing sunless deserts and wilted hillsides, demonic torture objects limning the edges of the psyche, bodies transfigured into Luciferian snakes, Sadean prisoners bound to the screaming silence of abandoned castle towers. 

Poison Ruin’s signature form of raw, anthemic aggression pummels on lead single “Eidolon”, released today alongside its video. Frontman, lyricist and guitarist Mac Kennedy states, “‘Eidolon’ is about being stuck in a broken reality, a cog in a fate-machine doomed to play out the same cursed loop until it fully breaks down. The ones who had the power to affect change have abandoned the scene. Their phantoms loom down in quiet disapproval of the disaster that slowly plays out beneath– Grim reminders of what could have, but will not be.”

https://youtu.be/VzQAPQT3kF4?si=FIh4QXSVsDsbXogN

The record is at once a forceful restatement of Poison Ruin’s trademark sound and a departure from it. The crackling, cassette-dubbed darkness and crushing rhythms listeners have become accustomed to are buttressed by a carefully sculpted mosaic of new textures, from flourishes of Killing Joke hacksaw primitivism and blast-beats worthy of the Relapse catalogue number to crisp analog synth lines and ambient serenades reminiscent of Scott Walker and The Durutti Column. Like a serpent moving ever outward with spiraling circularity, Hymns from the Hills expands Poison Ruin’s sonic landscape in imaginative new directions while maintaining its center of gravity firmly in the band’s already established mythos.

Hymns from the Hills is meticulously composed. Much like the rest of their work, this LP was self-recorded without the use of professional studio equipment. To meet the greater sonic demands of Hymns from the Hills, however, Poison Ruin lyricist and guitarist Mac Kennedy relocated to a private practice space, retiring from his previous routine of squeezing in tracking sessions around the rare moments that the band’s shared practice space happened to be vacant. To best serve the record’s grander ambitions, the band enlisted the mixing prowess of Jonah Falco (F*cked Up, Career Suicide) and the mastering of Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Blood Incantation, Cavalera), who helped to elevate the record’s teeming variety of sounds to new heights of self-assured fidelity. Kennedy lent a second hand to the mixing process, splicing in grittier tape recorded segments in order to maintain a certain tonal continuity with the band’s previous work, creating a rich structure of unconventional frictions, crystalline flashes of polish ripping through abysses of hissing low end only to shatter against the whipping sting of rusted chains moments later.

Poison Ruin’s mythic sensibilities grip at new poetic heights. Lyrically, Hymns from the Hills extends both the cynicism and the defiant bravado of their established fantasy aesthetics. While the record continues Poison Ruin’s tradition of employing medieval-inflected fantasy imagery, Kennedy does not intend for these figures to be read as historically accurate. “I’m not very interested in conveying the historical facts of medieval culture. If we are to make sense of the present, we need to employ a more mythic mode of language and symbol to reach beyond the spiritual malaise that envelopes us. A mythic truth resonates within any time, but its echoes call from outside of time. Medieval and fantasy imagery are simply effective personal starting points for tapping into that mode of communication.”

Hymns from the Hills sees its release April 3 via Relapse Records on vinyl, CD and digital platforms. For more information on physical variants and to pre-order, go here.