OBSCURITIES – VOLUME XXVIII: FLYING HIGH

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 172026
 

(Today we present another monthly collection of reviews by Daniel Barkasi, who focuses his attention this time on albums released during May 2026.)

I began writing this reflecting on what was another incredible edition of Maryland Deathfest and preparing for my flight over the pond to attend and cover the mighty Fortress Festival. Well, with the time needed to complete my extensive overview, we’re finally getting back to this column. Apologies for the delay, but between that and getting my general existence sorted post-Fortress mayhem, this unfortunately got pushed to the back burner. But hey, better late than never, and we’ve got some records you won’t want to sleep on.

I also have to give a shout out to the wife, as Monday, May 25th, was our tenth wedding anniversary. Thanks for being the best and dealing with my oddball self. Time flies far too quickly, and each moment is a cherished one.

To add to personal instances, we mentioned our pregnant horse Naru was due any day. Well, during the Maryland Deathfest weekend, she gave birth to her first foal, a wonderful grulla filly who we just named Ezri. Mom and the little one are healthy as can be, doing great, and thriving at home. Life can be pretty awe-inspiring sometimes, and this is one of those moments. Excited to see this little one grow up. Continue reading »

YOU’RE NOT HARDCORE (UNLESS YOU LIVE HARDCORE)

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 152026
 

(Andy Synn highlights his history with Hardcore, along with three recently-released gems)

I’ve mentioned it in passing before, I’m sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever really gone into how important Hardcore was as part of my formative years as a music fan (and still is to this day).

Like most of us, I’d imagine, my early forays into forming my own music taste were somewhat scattered and inconsistent, and it wasn’t until a friend of mine at the time (whose name I’ve long since forgotten) lent me a CD of various Metal and Hardcore acts, introducing me to bands like Earth Crisis, Zao, and Vision of Disorder – then a little later the likes of Shai Hulud, Ringworm, All Out War (all three of which I was lucky enough to get to see live again last year) – that I truly began to develop a sense of what I really liked (and didn’t).

It wasn’t just that these bands were loud, aggressive, and filled with the sort of energy that I needed back then (and still do now) it was the way they weren’t afraid to wear their ideals and beliefs loudly and proudly… standing for something as part of an actual counter-culture that prioritised things like collective resistance and communal action, rather than simply being against whatever the current “thing” was… that made me feel like this was music with more substance, more meaning, than what the mainstream charts at the time were full of.

And while my personal experiences with the wider “scene” weren’t quite so positive – the increasing presence of insular cliques and “crews” (with their mean-girls style “you’re not tough/cool enough to sit with us” vibes) and the growing emphasis on “conformity” over “community” (especially when it came to judging the worthiness of someone’s “mosh style”) meant I once again found myself as an outsider amongst outsiders – I’m happy to see that there are still bands (and fans) out there fighting the good fight and standing up for what they believe in (and making some kick-ass music at the same time).

The reason I’m saying all this is because while I still love Hardcore, I don’t necessarily live Hardcore (and if you don’t know what that’s a reference to feel free to ask your parents)… but that’s not going to stop me from highlighting as many bands as possible from across the ‘core spectrum (whether that’s Hardcore, Metalcore, Post-Hardcore, Screamo, Mathcore, etc) that I think our readers should hear.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: EMPTINESS, FÖGBÖTLER, CAGED BASTARD, MILLIONS OF THEM, WOLFZAHN, MERRIMACK

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jun 142026
 

(written by Islander)

After yesterday’s big trough of music for gluttonous souls, I wasn’t sure what to do with this column today. I easily could have rewarded gluttony again. The platter of new black(ish) metal songs and complete releases that’s in front of me is so loaded it makes the trenchers groan. Given the obsessive nature of my mind, I felt compelled to put as much of it before you as I could manage.

But I didn’t. After nearly a week away, my spouse has returned home, and although she’s still sleeping as I write this, I’d like to be “present” whenever she wakes up. So I’ve cut this collection short (or at least shorter than what my obsessive mental gremlins were clamoring for), although this group includes a pair of EPs in addition to “singles”, so that might make the total duration of the music here longer than yesterday’s collection.

I’ve also again resorted to some of the short-cuts I used yesterday (almost no cover art, release info that looks like an inventory list, not quite as many of my own words). I don’t really want to resort to those short-cuts every weekend, but this weekend it had some relaxing benefits.

Enough introductory babble, here’s what I picked to recommend today. Continue reading »

FORTRESS FESTIVAL 2026 – MAY 30-31, SCARBOROUGH, NORTH YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND – DAY 2

 Concert Reviews  2 Responses »
Jun 122026
 

(Here is Daniel Barkasi’s extensive report on the second day of Fortress Festival 2026 in England, accompanied by his great own photos. Go here to see his article on Day One of the festival.)

Sunday, Day 2

Intro

Survive the first day, we did. To say that we were raring to go for day two, at least on first waking up, would be an outright fallacy. Four days of Maryland Deathfest, all of the travel, and the long first day had somewhat caught up to me. The initial plan was to grab breakfast from somewhere – there were a few places nearby that looked solid – but that would require me to move more than a couple of feet, so a couple of protein bars and some Tim Tams that I picked up at the local Tesco would have to suffice. Don’t get me started on my adoration for Aussie snack foods, but yes, I indeed did make some tea and did a proper Tim Tam slam. You’re not looking at some novice.

Once our faculties were in order, it was about time to stroll over to the old Spa for a second and final day that was to give very little mercy in terms of downtime. The proof of a killer lineup – we’ll take it, but the feet protest. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CRIPPLE BASTARDS — “LA TUA FOTO SUL MARMO”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 112026
 

(written by Islander)

It’s not valid to summarize the attractions of extreme metal in a word or two. The experiences are too varied. At one end, it can feel like the oppressive pressure of the ocean in the deepest trenches. It can also be mysterious and mesmerizing, or profoundly spiritual. But perhaps the greatest attraction derives from its explosive intensity, its raging nature, the furious violence it’s capable of channeling. And in those aspects it’s probably true that no sub-genre captures the heat or provides that kind of catharsis better than grindcore.

I have friends for whom grind is their meat and potatoes, the rushing red blood of what they listen to. I have other friends that barely have any use for it. Not enough hooks, not enough changes, not enough atmosphere, not enough groove to propel the banging of heads, the songs not long enough to sink in. I’m still going to urge those friends (and you) to hear what we’re premiering today, for reasons I’m about to explain.

What you have in front of you is La tua foto sul marmo, a new EP from Cripple Bastards that’s set for release on June 12th – tomorrow! – by F.O.A.D. Records. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ECOTAGE / MELTING / RATS WILL FEAST

 SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 112026
 

(Andy Synn presents three short-but-savage examples of the Metallic Hardcore arts)

Ok, I’ll admit it, I’ve been neglecting the short-play side of the scene again

So today I’m going to shine a light on three hefty pieces of Hardcore – of the more Metallic variety, naturally – whose brief run-time still packs one hell of a punch.

And then, if you’re lucky, I’ll follow up with a more Death Metal focussed one next week, deal?

Continue reading »

ASYLUM TX: “CULTUS INOXIA”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 112026
 

(This is DGR’s review of the latest album from a Fort Worth band who now call themselves Asylum TX.)

Texas-based tech-death group Asylum – now operating under the name Asylum TX – are a band we’ve been following for some time now, iInitially as a group that showed a surprising amount of promise from seemingly out of nowhere in the death metal world, but then afterward because the group’s music kept making strange twists and turns.

Where Asylum TX were looking to take their music was not something we would have expected or guessed. 2021’s Sharpen, for instance, is a lengthy album that treads the line between tech-death and something more amateurishly explorative of various forms of hallucinogens. It was an hour-plus worth of music that felt like a group of stellar musicians who had fallen into a weird Alex Grey by way of Tool rabbit hole and then taking the wildest swing at making a death metal album about it. Prior EPs and their 2017 album Psalms Of Paralysis had been more straightforward in that regard, as Asylum bore the marks of more than one Cattle Decapitation-influenced twist on their sound.

Five years removed from Sharpen, however, and Asylum – again, wearing a new visage as Asylum TX – once again sound as if they’re a completely different band who’ve come up with something far more angular in its approach than a traditional tech-death release for their newest album Cultus Inoxia. Continue reading »

KHEMMIS – KHEMMIS

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 102026
 

(Andy Synn girds himself to take on the epic new album from Khemmis, set for release this Friday)

Self-titling an album is always a bold move.

After all, what it says to an audience… for better or worse… is “this is the definitive version of who we are“.

It stands to reason, then, that self-titling an album when you’re already more than a decade into your career, with four other incredibly successful records already under your collective belt, is an even bolder move.

Because it doesnt’t just say “this is who we are“, it also says “this is what we’ve been building to all this time“.

So let’s see exactly what Khemmis have been building, shall we?

Continue reading »

FORTRESS FESTIVAL 2026 – MAY 30-MAY 31, SCARBOROUGH, NORTH YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND – DAY 1

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 102026
 

(Below you’ll find Daniel Barkasi’s extensive report on the first day of Fortress Festival 2026 in England, accompanied by his great own photos. His report on Day Two lies ahead.)

Intro:

When one has an incredible experience, it’s only natural to chase that down to re-experience it again. My experience at Fortress Festival last year without doubt qualifies – a festival that was built from the ground up to provide something unique, and now in its fourth iteration, Fortress has become a destination for many that they simply can’t miss. Yours truly obviously can be tossed into that categorization, as here we are, ready for our second helping of black metal insanity.

With this mind-boggling lineup, how could we not come back? Continue reading »

ARÜSPEX: “THE DEATH INSTINCT”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 092026
 

(Here’s a review by DGR of an album by the northern California crust band Arüspex, which was released in January by the band and later in the year on tape by Fiadh Productions.)

Crust-punk group Arüspex have had one of the longer tenures on the “to review” list that we are slowly working our way through now. While I can’t claim that I was there on the ground floor with the Sierra Nevada punks, for what little it is worth at the very least I’ve been digging into their newest release The Death Instinct since the end of March. Small potatoes when you consider that The Death Instinct came out in the middle of January, but what would we be if we didn’t have releases in our queue that we’ve missed the bus on so bad that the local municipalities have had time to defund the public transit system and replace the bus stops with lame “scenic” pottery and more lanes for cars?

Arüspex, like many groups, lie in an in-between realm within a couple of different genres lines, making them semi-difficult to define and an exciting listen because they’re equally somewhat hard to predict. Genre definitions themselves being for fools like us who build mood-playlists. Why do that when the whole album is a proverbial mood? The group’s core is very much that of a crust punk band, and the low-end-driven riff work and equally voracious thud on the drumkit no doubt fortifies that, but again, like many bands, a handful of other influences are also comfortably seated on the fringe of The Death Instinct that politely move it beyond mere sub-genrefication and into something vicious on its own terms. Continue reading »

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