My oh my how time has forged ahead, leaving our poor little Death’s Door closed. Sad. But sorrow no more, friends! We’re back up, and it’s time for some hellish death metal madness straight to the dome. Let’s go.
It’s been a really solid year for all that is deathly, and the past few months were no exception. Some of our favorite releases of the year have crossed our stereos in the past few months, and we’re excited to share what’s piqued our interest with you!
As always, enjoy seismic levels of brutality. It’s death metal. Always and forever.
-Jonathan Adams
Cream of the Crop
Nothingness - Godslaughter
As a precocious young lad, I remember frequent constructive feedback from my mother regarding watching my tone. I very rarely said outwardly cruel things to my friends or siblings, but apparently the WAY in which I said seemingly innocuous sentences got me in trouble far more often than the words themselves. Sometimes it’s not just what you do, but how you do it that matters (or gets you in trouble because you’re a smart aleck).
Death metal in 2026 finds me contemplating all this nonsense because, outside of sharing a pointlessly broad childhood anecdote, it holds a more than small grain of truth with my experience in the genre on this trip ‘round the sun. While there have been an absolute glut of fantastic albums in the genre this year, there have been stretches where everything felt kind of, I don’t know… samey. Classic sounds recycled over killer riffs is certainly a fun time, but there’s something to be said for how a band approaches the sonic blueprint of their old school death metal nastiness. Like I learned as a child, it’s not just the content. It’s how you deliver it. Which brings me finally to Nothingness and their gobsmacking third full-length record, Godslaughter. It’s good, folks. REALLY good.
Following the release of their excellent sophomore record Supraliminal, Nothingness landed squarely in the “must-listen” camp of my metal matrix, and Godslaughter has only further cemented that status. This record is absolutely brimming with excellent musicianship, effective and interesting songcraft, and above all an approach to tone that absolutely destroys much of their modern death metal competition. From the opening notes of aptly titled “Incinerated Immediately,” it’s abundantly clear that Nothingness is out to carbonize brain cells, and with few (tasteful) exceptions this pattern runs rampant through Godslaughter. This is some of the heaviest, nastiest, most pulverizing shit I’ve heard all year, and a big reason why is how the instruments sound as much as what’s being played.
I cannot stress enough how effective the guitar tone is on this record. It’s demonically delicious. In similar fashion to my thoughts on Mylingar’s latest, the guitars aren’t wielded so much as an instrument here as they are weapons of mass destruction. Holy hell is this thing filthy. The guitar tone could level a city, rumbling and tearing through expertly executed riffs which are replete throughout. I dare you to listen to the opening salvo of “Umbral Spear” or the main riff of “Skull Evulsion” and not immediately stand and start throwing fists at air. This is such a prime example of how utterly violent death metal can sound, and I cannot get enough.
Front to back Godslaughter is superb. There’s enough variety to keep the record engaging throughout, but Nothingness excels most supremely at sheer audio punishment. This is one of my favorite sounding records that I’ve heard in a while, and I cannot recommend it highly enough for fans of particularly nasty death metal. While Supraliminal felt like a frothing plate of nastiness, Godslaughter ups the ante in every way, culminating in the band’s finest achievement to date.
-JA
Best of the Rest
Gorod - The Ember Gone
Somewhat concerningly 2026 so far has largely failed to delight me when it comes to death metal releases. Thank Gorod, the french masters of groovy, melodic technical and progressive death metal are back after three years with what I can confidently say is my favorite DM record of the year so far.
I was first utterly enthralled by Gorod on 2018s seminal Æthra, a hooky, slick and both conceptually and musically enlightening masterpiece. While I initially failed to latch onto the smoother surfaces and proggier swerves of 2023s The Orb, recent returns to its orbit indicate I have erroneously slept on that release. Prior albums are no slouches either, and perhaps for those more inclined towards the knottier or jazzier era of Gorod those are their peak, production notwithstanding.
This somewhat lengthy and gushing intro brings us to the highly anticipated The Ember Gone, Gorod’s topical and tasteful addition to the canon of climate systems breakdown-conscious metal.
Portentous theme or not, The Ember Gone may be Gorod’s most accessible work to date, interspersing their trademark trifecta of groove, melody and technical chops with more stripped down and atmospheric sections, more frequent use of clean vocals and forays into a proggy sound that recalls Pelagial-era The Ocean at times, as exemplified by standout lead-single “Forgiveness”
Creating more breathing room in the compositions affords contrasting moments of heaviness that much more tectonic force, as demonstrated on the excellent three track run of “Devise” through “Forgiveness” and “Regret”.
Interlocking heaviness, melody and atmosphere are anchored by Gorod’s standout ability to maintain funky grooves at even breakneck tech-death speeds, never losing their heartbeat in the maelstrom of different BPM.
As the titular ember dances flickers towards the fade, the album mimics these movements and shows off its more prog- and even jazz-forward side. Longer instrumental passages and shimmering solos lead towards thematic focal point “Ignite” and its gorgeous climax, and while I prefer the albums earlier cuts for their groove and hooky dynamics, a soothing and often meditative energy permeates much of the album’s final third.
While Gorod’s angles have been smoothed by the rising tide, their raging fire still belies the album’s moniker. Don’t sleep on this album, The Ember Gone shows Gorod still wield their shifting magic with unwavering passion.
-BK
Miscreance - Reminiscence
What if Horrendous, Atheist, and Death had a baby? Well they did, and it’s an ugly bugger. Italian prog/avant death aficionados Miscreance happen to be that abominable love child, and their sophomore tilt Reminiscence is as delightful as one would expect a mix of the above bands to be. While the band’s 2022 debut Convergence was a fantastic opening shot across the bow, Reminiscence takes the elements that made its predecessor such a promising affair (technical instrumentation, old school and gleefully batshit songwriting, and a flair for knowing how long to let a riff ride) and translates them into something that borders on technical perfection. This album is an absolute ripper and I couldn’t be more thrilled that it exists.
Let’s start with the instrumentation. Anyone who can hear Reminiscence and not be fairly gobsmacked by the technical proficiency on display here might need to get their ears checked. From the opening notes of “Trait d’Union” it’s abundantly clear that Miscreance are bringing their absolute A game to the proceedings. But what makes Reminiscence stick out when viewed next to their contemporaries is how they blend their technical prowess so intentionally into their songwriting. When the band deviates into technical insanity, it never feels random or purposeless. Miscreance instead write tracks that feel specifically made for this style of technical excellence (almost a tamer version of Ad Nauseam, minus the most inaccessible bits), and the way each track seamlessly and stylistically blends into the next is fair proof of their skill in this area. Technical wizardry and deft songwriting existing in one package? I guess it does exist.
Clocking in at a fairly tight 37 minutes, Reminiscence is a delightfully compact affair that gives itself plenty of time to engage with its many ideas without ever feeling tired or overstaying its welcome. It’s the perfect blend of instrumental pyrotechnics and deeply thoughtful songwriting that feels simultaneously fresh and worshipful of the classics. It’s… kind of a miracle that this record exists. I’m all the way here for it. A strong and enthusiastic recommendation.
-JA
Sallow Moth - Hydrophilous Brood
Hot take - death metal should make you dance. There are different dances for each type of death metal. Death-doom should move you from the stomach outwards while tech death should induce a kind of full body, muscular spasm that sends your limbs flying. And then there’s the exceptional dance induced by great progressive death metal, a kind of shuffle involving the neck and shoulders, a lurid appreciation of the excellence unfolding before your ears. Sallow Moth has made me dance before but never like they have on Hydrophilous Brood. The project continues to be a funnel for Garry Brents’ more ambitious tendencies and this only gets truer with every release. Hydrophilous Brood is many-faceted, intricate, and groovy as all hell.
Just turn on the opening track, the elegantly titled “Nebulous Appendages of Vacillant Seafoam”. Let the combo of slammy, guttural, gurgling vocals, intricate, many-noted prog death metal riffs, fusion bass, and more breaks than a beginner ice-skating lesson’s aftermath wash over you. There is just so much going on and yet, I feel the urge to dance. This is probably because everything is so seamlessly constructed with an eye towards structure and theme. The work feels cohesive and that makes us want to dance because our brains love things that fit in neatly but fit in different, strange, and unexpected ways. The puzzle box that is this album simply keeps going, each track chock full of this unique approach towards busy, complex death metal that nonetheless feels efficient and essential.
-EK
Dissimulator - Artifice Dissolves
We don’t do grand narratives here at Heavy Blog (until we do) but allow me to say: what an amazing year it has been for thrash metal. This time around, given the column we are currently writing/reading in, it’s death-thrash but technical, progressive, and just good ol’ thrash has been having a banner year all around. It was just a matter of time until it leaked to death metal and I am so, so happy that the leak’s source is Dissimulator. I still think that their 2024 release, Lower Form Resistance, is criminally underrated but it’s also true that Artifice Dissolves, their latest release, is pretty much superior on all fronts. Most importantly it is much nastier, diving into the death metal side of things with eager abandon.
Just hit play on “Apophenic Rage”. Yes, the riffs go fast and the drums have that machine-gun quality to them but there is so much death metal all over this thing. From the growls, to the meaty guitar tone, and all the way “down” to the pummeling bass, everything bleeds corrosion, decay, and life beyond death. And elsewhere there’s so much progressive weirdness going on. It’s on “Apophenic Rage” and you’ll know it when you hear the main riff suddenly lurch and then come right back in but transformed.
But there’s a lot more: the viscerally bass-forward opening of “Alloyed”, the oddly metallic vocals on “Neon Metropolis” and more. But more than anything, there is the Riff, the Glorious Riff, and the frictionless power that it generates when thrash and death collide. More than anything, this album will make you headbang, dance, and even wiggle your tongue, revelling in the fiendish power of death metal. Lastly, I will just say that if you really have no time right now all you need to know is that this is one of those albums which sounds just like its cover. And if that won’t get you to store it somewhere for later listening, I don’t know what will.
-EK