Release Day Roundup: 8/15/25

Top Picks

Broken by the Scream – Solar Strain (progressive kawaii-core)

I copped a bit of flak in the Heavy Blog Discord for taking shots at Babymetal in last week's roundup. Turns out the Kawaii metal icons have quite a few fans among our readers, and it seemed like the populace had the upper hand, until our resident Japanese music enthusiast Dan dropped in to point out that there are plenty of other bands out there doing what Babymetal do these days, except way better and way more interestingly. Case in point: far more extreme, long-running Kawaii-core band Broken By the Scream, who might be more accurately described in terms of BTBAM or "Between the Babymetal and Me".

Don't be fooled by the Dragonforce-esque lead melodies that open the album, Solar Strain is nominally a progressive deathcore album, with driving, Slipknot-style death metal percussion and some serious shredding and sugary pop hooks thrown in to keep you on your toes. The band are fronted by idols Nozukidaira Io who does the low, death-growls, and Takayashiki Yayoi who delivers some very some very Dr. Mikannibal-esque shrieks, along with Mikogami Shizuku and newcomer Takayashiki Yayoi, who balance them out with more traditional J-pop cleans that somehow never become too twee. The music itself appears primarily to be the work of producer/guitarist Katsuya Kumamoto (aka Electro Sonar), and—let me tell you what—the dude can really shred!

There's an almost unending array of killer riffs and solos to be found throughout the album. "Troublemaker" in particular is built around a thrashy metalcore riff that buils to a more extreme metal ending, and "Santa Claus no Koibito" ("Santa is my Boyfirend") has one of the best solo sections I've heard in ages, while "Kocchi Muite, Amore" veers into progressive djent. The whole album though is merely building to its final, fourteen-minute prog-metal opus "Tsuioku no Nazca" which transitions from triumphant power-pop through flashes of prog-grind, dissonant death/mathcore breaks, dramatic orchestral sections and an ecstatic solo section or two—the latter of which sees the band going full Cowboy Bebop—and both of which (spoiler alert!) put everything on the new Between the Buried and Me album to absolute shame. And that's just one song.

Broken by the Scream are more than deserving of your attention. Hopefully won't have to resort to collaborations with Neo Nazi-associates to get it, and when they sing about chocolate (on "Chocolat the End") at least they do it with more nuance and finesse than a three-year-old. Babymetal could never.

Chevelle – Bright as Blasphemy (Tool-core)

I'd always associated and written off Chevelle along with the rest of the early-2000s, American butt rock crowd. Having since gone back through their discography, I'd say I was largely right to do so (for every "Comfortable Lair" and Sci-Fi Crimes (2009) there's everything else they've ever done). Something interesting happened around 2019 though, with the departure of longtime bassist Dean Bernardini, leading to remaining brothers Pete and Sam Loeffler's return in 2021 (after a rather lengthy release-hiatus) with the much more adventurous and progressive-sounding Niratlas. Those progressive tendencies are continued on Bright as Blasphemy which strongly suggests that the band have spent much of the interim listening to Tool.

The progressive metal titans' influence upon both Chevelle and the broader butt-prog scene was already extremely clear (see the aforementioned Sci-Fi Crimes), but Bright as Blasphemy rivals even Wheel in terms of its imitation, as well as its style and quality (thankfully). Not only is there the very "Vicarious"-sounding breakdown at the end of "Jim Jones", which follows a bunch of "The Pot"-style vocals, while "Hallucinations" taps into Tool's "10,000 Days" and "Disposition". Elsewhere, "Rabbit Hole" and "Shocked at the End of the World" draws closer comparisons to those most esteemed (and more Heavy Blog-friendly) Tool imitators Karnivool, with the vocal delivery also reminding me at time of fellow Australians Dreadnaught in their more progressive moments. "Wolves" brings the riffs, as does "Karma Goddess", which sees Pete Loeffler doing his best Tom Morello impression while shredding his throat "Ticks and Leeches"-style, and "AI Phobias" even sounds like a mash-up of Muse and modern Gojira.

All of this might make it seem like Chevelle are lacking a bit of their own identity, and to some extent they are, but in tapping into this more progressive and much heavier assortment of influences they've also managed to elevate their sound to new heights, while still retaining a lot of the directness, momentum and memorability that has propelled their previous material and which is often sorely lacking from their influence's output these days. Longtime fans might balk at my assessment, but as a newcomer (and a much bigger Tool fan), I think this is clearly the strongest album Chevelle have ever put out.