Albums of 2/21/25

The most interesting releases of the week!

Retromorphosis aren’t Spawn of Possession, but they’re sure being marketed like they are. Seems unfair to the sole non-overlapping member of the band. In any case, Psalmus Mortis sounds like a Spawn of Possession album. The band’s razor clean technical death metal seems ripped straight from a decade ago. Psalmus Mortis was released on Season of Mist

Regarding the band’s musical ethos, you won’t find anything revolutionary here. The arpeggios arpeggiate. The vocals growl with staccato. The drums blast beats all over the place with some gnarly fills and stylistic changeups where necessary. This is simply tech death as you’ve heard it before. But it’s a good time. If you’re into this style, you might not find a better instance of it this year.

Gold is a black metal clusterfuck released on Nuclear Blast. The lineup is as star-studded as anything released in forever, meaning that there’s no way this was ever going to meet people’s expectations. However, Gold combines the raw grit and energy of bands like Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Pantera, and famous friends into tight 3-minute black metal tracks with no break. Scour made a great album.

This album could have had scope creep. Instead we get something focused and cutting. There’s no fancy exploration, no calls back to any of the DNA bands. The song structures are well-trodden, the riffs are simple. Chaos and aggression explode out of every cell. If you want your face blown off, have a great pitstop with Scour.

Scatterling Empire was released on Mongrel Records. With Acid Magus, you’re getting that sweet stoner doom guitar tone, similar to Elder or Allfather. Combine with clean vocals and deep drums, and you have some fairly nifty songs. While these tracks don’t absolutely need to be 7 or 8 minutes long, I don’t feel myself getting bored. It’s a good place to get lost if you’ve got the time.

Acid Magus have the ability to make the mundane sound interesting. Throughout their songs, you’ll find yourself listening to a single lingering tone, occasionally with one friend, surprised by how marvelous it sounds. This makes it so much more satisfying when the rest of the music comes crashing in.