Written by Kep, Kirk, and Ellis
It’s a new year, and with the new year we’ve got a new monthly article for you, dear reader. Each month some of our writers will each choose an album that constitutes the best thing they heard from that month’s releases and give it a good healthy shoutout. We’ll also each add a runner-up for good measure.
Albums we reviewed in full on the site aren’t eligible for this feature, so make sure to read up on those if you missed any! This month, they are:
Am I in Trouble? – Spectrum
Slaughtersun – Black Marrow
Disrupted – Stinking Death
Now on to the best of January 2025!
Kep: Guts – Nightmare Fuel
Death metal from Finland
There were several good to great death metal albums that came out in January, including efforts from Mutagenic Host, Faithxtractor, Concrete Icon, Disrupted, Discordant Meditation, Maceration, and Shrieking Demons. The album that gets the crown, though, is the sophomore effort from heavily underrated Finnish quintet Guts, who have put forth the best slab of grim pummeling violence so far. Nightmare Fuel is a beefy, crunchy 43 minutes of everything you expect out of great Finnish death metal: punishing riffs with unnatural bits of melodicism, a monster low end, guitar tone so gnarly it could tear through concrete, a healthy helping of groove, and the right proportion of hideously twisted shit against workmanlike rhythms that you can just fucking bang your head to. The tracks are smartly written and the record feels shorter than its runtime, which has already made it ripe for replays in my car, office, and living room. I’m pretty sure that Guts‘ 2023 album, Decay, went unnoticed by many in the metal scene, but don’t you dare let Nightmare Fuel slip by you.
Kirk: Necrodeath – Arimortis
Black/death/thrash metal from Italy
I realize the exact origins of different types of extreme metal are murky at best, and we often get caught up in our American takes on heavy metal, so it’s easy to forget the global reaches of a fat, juicy riff. Italy’s Necrodeath has been doing this shit for over forty years now—since nineteen-fucking-eighty-four!—and not only do they still have plenty of riffs left in the tank, those riffs are pretty fucking amazing. Which is a shame, because they’ve decided to call it quits after their next tour, but it’s best to go out when you’re on top of your game, and I really don’t know if anything recorded or released after Arimortis could or would measure up. So turn the volume up to 11, ready your horns to reach for the heavens, and grab the ibuprofen, because your neck (at the very least) is gonna be hurtin’ when this album’s done!
Ellis: Crush Your Soul – Living Gracious
Metallic hardcore from the US
Much like its relatively recent self-titled predecessor, Living Gracious fires out around ten minutes of some of most swagged-out, mosh-ready beast music you are likely to hear this year. Frontman Jay Petagine (also of Mindforce, of course) is as magnetic as ever, and the hip-hop style skits really complete the whole vibe and aesthetic. Highlights are probably “WISH DEATH” and “RV ALLSTARS”, the latter stuffed with guest spots from Combust, Gigan, Lukey Cage, and Loyal to the Grave, but to be honest just stick the whole thing on dammit, it’s hardly asking for much of your time. CYS!
And, of course, the month’s runner-ups:
Kep: Discordant Meditation – Tragic Creature
Kirk: Sisters of… – Marie/Michel
Ellis: The Blood Mountain Black Metal Choir – Demo I – “Folklore”