2026/09 Listening Log

Genre: Groove Metal

Groove Metal with a touch of melodeath. Very powerful grooves and drums on this one. The competent vocals are also reminiscient of Randy Blythe, which is perfect for this genre. Unfortunately the songs themselves are not very catchy or memorable, despite being cool as fuck.

Tier: B-
(Better than average, but just barely)

Genre: Unknown, but it’s definitely not metal

Fantano went nuts for this one, and while I can see why, it just did not appeal to me. This stuff is for those that really like to challenge themselves musically, and most likely understand music on a deeper level than I do.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Post-Metal

Very well-made and well performed post-metal by this band who’s now been at it for 20+ years. A primarily instrumental affair with grandiose ambitions and a hefty soundscape. Gets plenty heavy and bakes in more than enough artsy flair to satisfy those with more sophisticated palates than mine.

Tier: C+
(Cool, I like it)

Genre: Stoner Doom

Very compressed and peaky production on this one which makes it a bit fatiguing to listen to. Plenty of stoner power in the sound, but too much doom style in the songwriting, which just leads to me being bored.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Post-Metalcore

DISCLAIMER: A member of this band is an old friend/acquaintance of mine, so there will be some bias here.

I actually think Kingseeker have managed to find a sound of their own, and they’re doing very interesting things compositionally in their music that I don’t really hear many other bands doing. That said, the screamo vocal style they do is not my favorite, and they almost slide into millennial-core in certain sections of the songs. Despite all this, it’s clear that they have an artistically coherent vision going, and they’re writing pretty decent music at this point.

Tier: B
(Better than average)

Genre: Metallic Hardcore

Great energy and breakdowns, but unfortunately doesn’t offer much beyond that.

Tier: C
(Cool)

Genre: OSDM

The kind of album where the production makes every single instrument, including the vocals, sound weak and uninteresting. Nothing exciting going on compositionally either.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Progressive Tech Death

A record full of impressive musicianship and complex rhythmical structure, but somehow void of actually interesting or appealing music.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Latin Folk

The vibes on this album are immaculate, much like on their last album Sonido Cósmico. It instantly transports you to a different time and place where you’re standing in a sun-drenched dry landscape with blue skies, and you can practically feel the gentle breeze on your face. It’s great, but I do feel like they’re rehashing some of their material with this one.

Tier: B
(Better than average)

Genre: Singer/songwriter

The legend that is Beck has seen fit to grace us with Sea Change 2.0 with this album, and I am very here for it. Finally, a slow and chill record that I feel like I can get lost in. Haven’t felt that for a long time.

Tier: B+
(Better than average, and then some)

Genre: Blackened Metallic Hardcore

Yes, you read that right. This record has a very interesting genre blend going on, and it is vicious in its sonic expression. A big record with big songs that pull no punches.

Tier: B
(Better than average)

Genre: Deathcore

Crown Magnetar’s music fits squarely into modern deathcore, but to me they still have a sound of their own. They somehow come across as more gnarly, gritty and grimy than most other bands in the genre. I think it’s a combination of the timbre of their vocalist and their guitar tone. Based on their sonic identity alone I tend to favor their material over many other bands, even though the music itself isn’t really that different compositionally.

Tier: B-
(Better than average, but just barely)

Genre: Death Metal

Holy crap, we have a winner here, folks!

It’s groovy, it’s heavy, it’s punchy, and it’s pissed off in the best possible way. The whole record is like a barreling train of righteous feminist rage. Dark and menacing riffs in songs that are full of attitude and personality, with great variation throughout. Inventive and catchy songwriting makes it feel like the album and the band have an actual identity instead of just being another death metal release.

Might be my favorite album of the month, and there were plenty to choose from.

Tier: A
(Awesome)

Genre: Hardcore

Groove-laden hardcore like this is usually right up my alley, but this just sort of fell flat for me even though I can’t put my finger on why. A bit too ‘by the numbers’ I guess.

Tier: C
(Cool)

Genre: Thrash Metal

A slightly heavy metal styled thrash record which does a lot of things right. Crispy production, a hefty pace, and powerful drums keeps the momentum going throughout. Not much to critique here, to be honest, other than the fact that they stick to what works in this genre and aren’t really doing anything interesting with it other than just doing it really well.

Tier: C+
(Cool, I like it)

Genre: Death Doom

The initial impression had me thinking this was a Deathcore record due to the vocals and sheer heaviness of the riffs, but it never picked up the pace and actually became more somber and dark as it went on. Church choir and organs helped me nail the genre down once the EP was halfway done.

All in all, I’m fine with this, but I keep getting bored of the slow pace and lack of punch.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Death Metal

A modern, groovy, and chunky death metal album which keeps things interesting by introducing some well-fitting melodic elements into to this otherwise really heavy and brutal genre. The vocals are a bit generic but other than that I have a very good time listening to this.

Tier: B
(Better than average)

Genre: Speed Metal

An oldschool type thrash record with a lot of reverb, a great bass tone, and a whole lot of speed. Not my taste, but I respect the style a lot.

Tier: C
(Cool)

Genre: Metalcore

A “millennial-core” album that does a couple of interesting things for flair but ends up not being any more than the sum of its parts.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Deathcore

This EP features some pretty stompy and punchy music (which I enjoy just on a general basis), but it’s clear that this band don’t have it in them to write entire albums. Like most other deathcore releases these days, the album relies too much on novelty and bursts of extremes, which is fine in smaller doses, but not if you wanna make music that will still impress and capture listeners ten years from now.

Tier: C
(Cool)

Genre: Death Metal

An album that switches between what I would consider fairly standard OSDM fare and extremely cool groovy passages. As it constantly keeps swinging from meh to awesome I find it hard to rate it, so I’ll just put it straight in the B tier and say that overall it’s pretty good.

Tier: B
(Better than average)

Genre: Thrash Metal

A pleasant surprise! This leans into the style of Slayer (especially in the vocals), only with a much better and grittier production. There’s quite a visceral sound signature here too. It sounds alive, which I really appreciate in this genre. They also know how to throw in the occasional whimsical guitar solo.

Between this, and the recent Evisarize release, thrash fans are eating well!

Tier: B+
(Better than average, and then some)

Genre: Heavy Metal

This band certainly has a style of their own, and I have to say I respect it. They have catchy choruses, easy to sing along to, and still keep that authentic heavy metal edge through it all. It’s not my favorite, but I would never object to someone putting this on at the function.

Tier: C+
(Cool, I like it)

Genre: Progressive Death Metal

Clearly a band who know what they’re doing, but to me they don’t quite lean far enough into neither groove nor melody nor interesting instrumentation for long enough periods of time in order to hook me as a listener. They’re constantly switching between doing different cool things without lingering long enough for it to make any impact, so it just comes off as a disjointed and stressful listen to me.

I’m sure this is someone’s cup of well-brewed tea, but it’s not mine.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Melodeath

A completely anonymous piece of work that I forgot as soon as I finished listening to it. Has all of the musical ingredients but none of the charm or personality needed to make it interesting.

Tier: D
(Didn’t remember anything)

Genre: Deathcore

Perfectly fine Deathcore with a touch of melodeath. Not much here to separate them from the pack though.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Blackened Thrash Metal

An absolutely blistering and relentless thrash album that does not take its foot off the throttle for even a minute. The production has a delightfully organic taste to it where you can immediately tell that the drums here are not beatmatched or synced to a grid, and yet the music still sounds punchy and tight.

The most immediate comparison I can make to the guitar work is actually Dragonforce, but this band seems to have none of the pretense that Dragonforce does. This is the best and most fun Thrash Metal album I’ve heard so far this year.

Tier: A-
(Awesome)

Genre: Sludge Rock

This strikes me as Chat Pile’s most well-produced album yet. The bass guitar and vocals especially are coming through very clearly, and to the music’s benefit. There’s a clear Grunge and Nu-metal influence here, which could either be a great or terrible thing depending on your perspective. For my part, the biggest flaw of this band is their very monotonous compositional style and lack of instrumental variety. Combined with the fact that pretty much every single song is so somber and serious, fatigue sets in pretty quickly and I can never get through an entire album in one sitting.

I’d still classify this as quite good music however. That might sound strange, but I’m considering my lack of ability to stick with albums like these for more than fifteen minutes at a time as a personal flaw rather than a weakness of the music itself.

Tier: B
(Better than average)

Genre: Hip-Hop

It’s been a long time since I listened to an entire Hip-Hop album without skipping half of it. I guess when you combine the old-school type beats with rappers that came up during what I consider to be the golden age of the genre, AND you get Tom Hardy of all people to rap alongside them under the Frankie Pulitzer alias, you get a winning combination. The track Mad Technology especially is a real banger.

Tier: B
(Better than average)

Genre: Metallic Hardcore

Here we have another example of a situation where each individual musical element is appealing, but the way the band writes their songs does not resonate with me at all. I don’t actively dislike it, but it doesn’t do much for me either.

Tier: C-
(Cool, but not my thing)

Genre: Sludge

A very raw and abrasive record, whose production makes the music turn to aural soup at times, yet still has the songwriting chops and dynamics to make it interesting.

There are melodic elements, synths, choral vocals in the background, and it can get really heavy and intense. In the end this still doesn’t quite match my taste, but I can recognize it as good metal music.

Tier: B
(Better than average)