Tag: heavy metal

2025 Best of Metal: #14 Wretched-Decay

Release date: August 6, 2025
Origin: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Personnel: Billy Powers-vox, Steven Funderburk-guitar, Andrew Grevey-bass, Marshall Wierczorek-drums

Wretched comes back after an 11 year absence with Decay. This is a pretty ambitious death metal album that kind of feels like two separate albums. Part one of the album is pretty aggressive guitar driven death metal. Part 2 is in the middle of the album which consists of two instrumental tracks. The first is a mellow ambient trance track that leads into a 16 minute epic journey. The instrumental tracks are right smack dab in the middle of the album and almost acts as a palate cleanser before picking up with the death metal again to finish out the album. Kind of a weird album, but I dig it.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
14. Wretched-Decay
15. Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #15 Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia

Release date: September 5, 2025
Origin: Kristiansand, Norway
Personnel: Kjetil Nordhus-vox, Terje Vik Schei-guitar, Bjorn Harstad-guitar, Stein Roger Sordal-bass, Endre Kirkesola-keys, Jonathan A. Perez-drums

Man, what a lush goddamn album. These guys have morphed from straight ahead death metal band into this gloriously nerdy proggy gothic band. They’ve gotten so proggy that this is album number one in what is to be a grand trilogy of a concept. It’s a really good start and I’m looking forward to hearing the twists and turns on the albums to come. The vocals on this one are just so very clean and emotive and mesh perfectly with the grand sound being crafted underneath.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
15. Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #16 Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me

Release date: February 14, 2025
Origin: Austin, TX, USA
Personnel: Aryn Jonathan Black-vox, Asa Allen Savage-guitar, Adrian Arostone-guitar, Garth Condit-bass, Ryan Henderson-drums

Psychedelic metal from my hometown. I’m all in. Honestly, I thought this band was dead. They had made some pretty decent inroads 10 years back with Acid Roulette and the future seemed pretty rosy for them. However, they had a string of band member upheaval and not much was heard out of the band except for some one-off shows around town. It looks like lead vocalist, Aryn Jonathan Black, got back together with some of the original members of Scorpion Child and they were finally able to craft their third album. And it was well worth the wait. The new album has the old vibe of Scorpion Child with some new aspects. It definitely has a weary feeling to it overall. It’s as if the time and toll to make this album kind of seeped into the songwriting process.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #17 Benediction-Ravage of Empires

Release date: April 4, 2025
Origin: Birmingham, England
Personnel: Dave Ingram-vox, Peter Rewinsky-guitar, Darren Brookes-guitar, Nik Sampson-bass, Giovanni Durst-drums

Another old school band that is still full of piss and vinegar. Pretty standard straight-ahead death metal here. Very much for fans of fellow Brits Bolt Thrower or Memorium. Not a whole lot to say on this one. Just put it on and be prepared to have your ears slaughtered.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens