It's June, which means the year is once again reaching its apogee (or zenith or aphelion to be honest, they all fit) and we start to look back at everything that happened in the last six months. But just before we do that, we still have July to reckon with and it was, once again, a fantastic month for music. So, let's have at it, and don't forget to tune next month, when we'll be recapping 2025 so far!
-Eden Kupermintz
Ominus Ruin - Requiem
It's fallen out of style recently, but I actually really like my death metal to feel "closed". OK, sorry; what do I mean by that? I've heard "spidery", "dry", "cold", and many other adjectives to describe this style of death metal but my mind just goes to "tight" or "closed" when I think about it. This is your Archspire, your Atka (please listen to Atka), your Necorphagist. Fast, many-noted, relentless, without a lot of space for ambience. I get why the style enjoys a degree of infamy today; like all fads, it was overused and ubiquitous about ten years ago. In addition, seeing as the whole idea of the approach is that it's overwhelming, it's especially egregious to be forced to listened to fifty sweeps a minute wherever you look.
Luckily for me, and for everyone else, Ominous Ruin have found a way to blend that style with more "space" while still maintaining that relentless, "tight" feeling to it. At the core, this approach begins from making sure that those tight parts are, well, as tight as possible. I cannot stress this enough: when Requiem is going, it's going as hard as you've ever heard a band go. Check out "Divergent Anomaly" as an example and let the breakneck vocals, relentless sweeps, and furious blast-beats wash over you. Everything feels set to suffocate you but not like doom or even murkier death metal suffocates; this is hand to the jugular, forward momentum, a thousand strikes in a second sort of aggression.
But then, "Fractal Abhorrence" starts with these weird, digital synths and open chords which perfectly sets the stage for a brief return to aggression before a bass-driven, gorgeous bridge. "Bane of Syzygial Triality" (say that five times fast, I dare you), which precedes "Divergent Anomaly" is a beautiful interlude track that leans into this atmosphere even further. These more ambient, melodic moments are everywhere on the album and are expertly connected to the heavier, faster segments so as to not sound like throwaways. They are integrated deeply into the Ominous Ruin sound, breaking away from that "tight" core for more open, chromatic expression.
This is exactly the divergence (get it) that the album needs, elevating it above mere tech-death worship and into something wholly unique. It allows the band to wholeheartedly commit to the pummeling, non-stop style that they come from while making sure it doesn't become stale or overstay its welcome. The end result is one of the best technical death metal of the recent few years and certainly of 2025. Dive in; you won't regret it.
-Eden Kupermintz
The Callous Daoboys - I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven
From the release of their first two EPs back in 2017 and through three full-length albums since, it’s fairly safe to assert that weird mathy rock-metal wonders The Callous Daoboys have yet to release a bad record. While 2019’s Die on Mars served as a supremely effective and chaotic shot across the bow, the band’s subsequent releases have each built on that record’s legacy, and I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven is no different. In fact, it’s simultaneously the band’s most calculated and chaotic offering yet, building on all the elements that make the band special with somehow both smoother and sharper edges, culminating in a collection of songs that feels calculated and royally unhinged. It’s a blast from start to finish.
“Schizophrenia Legacy” kicks things off in glorious fashion, setting up solid expectations for the general tenor of the remainder of the record: Vicious beatdowns, wild swings in tempo and tone, random and delicious saxophone breaks, and a manic energy that rivals mathcore’s most extreme acts. Overall, I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven feels like a multi-car high speed collision between mid-career The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, and Frontierer, with a not-so-subtle dose of The Story So Far fused with a poppy sensibility reminiscent of Fall Out Boy. It’s a mess in the best possible way, with each element here blurring seamlessly into a violent sonic collage that sounds about as good as that combo of elements possibly could. From the metallic growls of “Full Moon Guidance” and the glitchy Tik-Tok core of “Two-Headed Trout” to the uplifting pop-punk balladry of “Distracted by the Mona Lisa” (the latter matching Bring Me The Horizon’s “Lost” in reaching for pure MCR worship, with much better results), there is so much diversity here that it can almost be overwhelming.
But here’s the thing about The Callous Daoboys… this all works. And not just barely, but exceptionally well. The songwriting tightrope this band is walking is one that is extremely difficult to nail without coming across as directionless or memey, but there’s an obvious earnestness to these tracks that creates a unique level of cohesion throughout the record. At no point did the wild swings in tempo and tone feel unenjoyable or shoehorned in for mere schock factor. It’s a record that feels two screws loose in all the right ways, making the listening experience infinitely repeatable. A big piece of this is also due to the band being exceptional musicians with a keen understanding of what makes all the genres they dabble in tick, resulting in each element of their sound being supremely enjoyable as both microcosm and in the context of the finished overall product. It’s wild and amazing.
In case it wasn’t already clear, I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven is an absolute banger and one of my favorite albums of the year thus far. There are few bands in the extreme music scene that can match The Callous Daoboys’ level of intensity, unbridled lunacy, and unique ear for blending various sounds into a thoroughly enjoyable whole. I love this record, think it may be the band’s best offering thus far, and I cannot wait to see where they take us next.
-Jonathan Adams
Planning for Burial - It’s Closeness, It’s Easy (gloomgaze, post-metal)
Planning for Burial has held a special place in my heart ever since I first listened to their 2017 album Below the House, an album that was not only my album of the year that year, but has remained one of my favourite albums of the past decade. The ambient doomgaze meets post-metal/slowcore solo-project of Thom Wasluck perfectly captures to me what depression feels like, particularly in the achromatic melancholy of winter. And while that album, down to its artwork, was very much a “winter” album, this new release, It’s Closeness, It’s Easy, feels like the hazy spring-summer counterpart. Just as gloomy, but with a few more hints of bittersweet optimism and acceptance. Like a slow timelapse of a solitary flower blooming through the cracks of the parking lot of an abandoned mall.
It’s Closeness, It’s Easy further explores Thom’s expression of dense textures of distortion. Yet through the fog of these abrasive walls of sound lies so much emotion. Grief, pain, longing; it’s palpable. The guitar tone and overall production work channels his sound so perfectly, it’s heavy, rough and consuming, but with just enough brittle-tinniness to give a sort of cold frailty that you can feel to your core. The vocal work throughout complements the instrumentation and production, showing a refreshing range between sombre, deep slowcore singing, muffled speech, and variety of passionate screaming and shouting. It’s all slightly buried in the mix, to not stick above the atmosphere, but to further enrich it with passion and cathartic emotion. Spirited drumming adds a slight freneticism and urgency, while also choosing carefully when to slow down for dynamic swings and letting the ethereal floatiness of the music resonate.
Most of the songwriting shifts between repetitive building-on-itself post- and doom metal inspired riffing and cinematic ambient droning, blending the two into these powerful works of art that you can feel the weight of. The tempo is picked up on occasion however, with tracks like “Fresh Flowers For All Time” taking on a more upbeat post-punk vibe, elevated by dreary shoegaze riffing for an especially ethereal sound. The repetitiveness and overall introspective atmosphere allows for easily getting lost in the album in an almost hypnotic manner. It’s addicting in a way. That sort of “high” from reinforcing sadness with relatable sadness. A unique connection that Thom so masterfully facilitates.
Planning for Burial has once again delivered the perfect album for introspection and reflection. It’s the sort of music that you can bask in and heal from, if you let it. It’s Closeness, It’s Easy is available now digitally and physically from the lovely people at The Flenser.
-TB
Pyramids - Pythagoras (ambient black metal/shoegaze/neoperreo)
Pyramids have long established themselves as pillars in the world of blackgaze, producing albums that deftly blend black metal, shoegaze, industrial, drone, and avant-garde into lush-yet-eerie soundscapes. Over the course of 17 years, the shape-shifting group has proven themselves to be fiercely experimental. And yet….Pythagoras is a shock to the system.
A Northern Meadow, Pyramids’ previous album, was created in collaboration with Colin Marston (Krallice) and Vindsval (Blut Aus Nord). Their haunted sound became twisted and scaled into a massive wall-of-sound that channeled the mechanized chill of drone and industrial metal, overwhelming the listener with the call of the void. Dreamy atmospheres floated at the edges of a sinister droning soundscape that oozed with mechanical menace, the chill of black metal front-and-center.
With Pythagoras, Pyramids reshuffle their influences for an entirely new take on blackgaze. Reggaeton and neoperreo rhythms take centerstage, emphasized by new vocalist Emy Smith. The new sound feels intimate, almost like an internal dialogue with dancing emotions. Harsher elements of black and industrial metal create a haunted atmosphere for Smith’s measured, almost conversational singing, which contrast with Rich Loren’s wistful intonations. Rather than a wall of sound, Pythagoras presents a danceable and haunting vision of heavy music.
- Bridget Hughes
FURTHER LISTENING
…And Oceans - The Regeneration Itinerary
18 years after the release of Cypher, Finland’s phenomenal melodic death/black metal unit …And Oceans rose from the grave with 2020’s Cosmic World Mother, one of my favorite albums of that year. Three albums deep into their resurgence, they show no signs of slowing down. Consistently perfecting their resurrected craft, The Regeneration Itinerary is an aptly named manifesto of all the band does well and then some. The instrumentation is top-notch, as is their songwriting. There really isn’t an aspect of this album worthy of major criticism, and if you’ve found yourself once again enraptured by the band’s sound you will absolutely love this. Essential listening.
-JA
Mossback - Black Canyon City (stoner metal, blues, dark trap)
Know that intense musical scene from Sinners (2025) where music from different generations collide into one? What if there was an entire album seemingly inspired by that. Mossback involves three members of the progressive death metal group The Odious, two of whom are somewhat-secretly more known for their emo rap/trap metal projects, namely Grim Salvo. Black Canyon City however, finds them exploring a bizarre yet weirdly genius combination of stoner metal, country blues, and elements of their grungy, heavy trap-style hip-hop or “wave” as apparently it’s starting to be called. This album goes so many places and does so much of it shockingly well. I could really see this blowing up at some point for its accessible, novel, genre-blending approach to heavy music not too unlike Zeal & Ardor.
-TB
Aesop Rock – Black Hole Superette (progressive/alt hip-hop)
It's a pleasure to hear Aesop Rock stick to his guns, creating another sprawling, faintly sci-fi concept album, while returning to some of the more abstract sounds and lyrics that first made me fall in love with his style.
-EK
Stone From The Sky – Bakeneko (post rock/metal)
Tune in, sit back, and relax as the masters of French instrumental psychedelic/post-rock take you on another mind-bending journey. This one is heavier, with plenty of post-metal added in, to great effect.
Skaphos - Cult of Uzura (brutal death-doom)
Death doom, emphasis on the death. Skaphos present an ominous, bludgeoning vision that pits pummeling brutality against droning incantations and funereal riffs. An eerie haze of dissonance blankets Cult of Uzura, further heightening the tension across a dystopian and all-consuming album that pays respect to death, doom, and black metal while creating something entirely new.
-BH
Rivers of Nihil – Rivers of Nihil (progressive death metal)
The Haunted – Songs of Last Resort (melodeath thrash)
Antisoph – Ateos (weird/progressive math-rock)
Kristeva – Kristeva (sad post-rock)
Maps And Foils – Nulle Part (progressive post-hardcore)
Obsidian Tongue – Eclipsing Worlds Of Scorn (progressive/doomy black metal)
Obstruktion – The End Takes Form (crossover death metal)
Quadvium – Tetradōm (instrumental bass-prog)
Speculative Fiction – Indifferent Engine (post-hardcore)
Syncatto – Memento (nu prog, shred)
Vildhjarta – + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + (djent)
Weeping Sores – The Convalescence Agonies (progressive funeral/death-doom)
Chepang – Jhyappa (mathy grindcore)
MS Paint – No Separation (alt rock)
Shock Culture – Monarch (death/metalcore)
Spiralist – Violent Feathers (industrial/alt-rock)
Turtle Skull – Being Here (stoner psyche)
Year Of No Light – Les Maitres Fous (arty post-metal)
EchoSoul – Time of the Dragon (thrashy power metal)
Full of Hell – Broken Sword Rotten Shield (blackened crust-grind)
Gigafauna – Eye To Windward (sludge prog)
Grails – Miracle Music (post/prog rock)
Wounded Touch – A Vivid Depiction of Collapse (hardcore, metalcore)
Genune – Infinite Presence (post/blackgaze)
billy woods – Golliwog (hip-hop)
Harms Way – Other World (brutal/industrial hardcore)
King Parrot – A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot (death/grindcore)
Kal-El – Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (stoner rock/doom)
Little Simz – Lotus (progressive hip-hop)
mclusky – the world is still here and so are we (alt rock)
Telos – What They Built (noisy mathcore)
Your Spirit Dies – My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest (metalcore, groove thrash)
fallfiftyfeet – Counterfeit Reflections (hardcore, metalcore)
Knives – Glitter (saxy post punk)
Melting – You Exist Because We Allow It (beatdown metalcore)
Propagandhi – At Peace (alt/melodic punk)
Pup – Who Will Look After the Dogs? (pop/indie punk)
Slung – In Ways (alt rock, sludgegaze)