Albums of August 1 and August 8 2025

The most interesting releases of the past two weeks!

First Metastasis is Cancer Void‘s debut EP, released on Iron Fortress and Me Saco Un Ojo. After the obligatory spooky intro, Cancer Void give us four tracks of absurdly disgusting death metal with some of the best guitar and vocal tones that I’ve heard this year. The riffs are focused and precise. Even the interlude is worth listening to.

One portion of Cancer Void‘s songwriting that deserves praise is the transitions. As the band travels from riff to riff and from song to song, they do so with a natural flair that makes each passage sound 10 times as satisfying. Each moment feels like a worthy conclusion to the last.

Majestas, released on I, Voidhanger Records, follows one of 2021’s best EPs and a solid 2023 full-length. As to be expected from Sea Mosquito, Majestas is not an immediate listen. Psychedelic black metal with somewhat hefty track lengths doesn’t make for light background music. However, there’s some entrancing moments, a nice blend of energy and exploration, and some gripping moments that make Majestas absolutely worth listening to for anyone even slightly interested.

Sea Mosquito careen down some wild hallways here, with tracks that explore both pseudo-dark-ambient followed by extreme, dense dissonance cranked up to 11. The songs themselves are often repetitive, but in an intentional trance-setting manner. The repetitive sections are sandwiched between fluid moments as well, which helps keep everything vigorous and a little overwhelming. There’s so much to Majestas, and it’s always intriguing.

Sallow Moth is one of Garry Brents’s many, many projects, and it is possibly heaviest and most straight-forward. But Massbane Lantern is still an I, Voidhanger release. Previous Sallow Moth releases somehow had more magic-the-gathering-related themes than magic the gathering currently does. Mossbane Lantern seems to go in a somewhat different thematic direction, although the music is just as amazing as the rest of Garry Brents’s releases.

The production on Mossbane Lantern felt a bit off on first listen. However, I came to appreciate how it fit the music over time. The stuttering, sporadic riffs, the burping vocals, the frantic drums that always seem to be looking half a beat ahead, and the bass off on its own adventure make this one of the better brutal death metal releases I’ve heard this year.

Plasmodulated is a new project featuring Myk Colby from Wharflurch, and shares some of the DNA. An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell contains bright and warped death metal with some delightful solos. Fans of the Florida scene will enjoy.

Toujours Humain was also released on I, Voidhanger Records. Creatvre has been making grandiose symphonic for a few years now, and Tourjours Humain continuous this path. Creatvre never forget to include catchy melodies no matter how out of hand the rest of the orchestration gets. Fans of Ihsahn or Arcturus will enjoy.

When you have a one-man band with this many different balls to juggle, some production snags are expected. And there are a few moments that sound a bit too artificial. But the songwriting is always too engaging for me to care. Creatvre are a band that revels in excess, and Toujours Humain is a wild success.

Malthusian‘s second full-length was released seven years after their first. You can hear the time. Released on Relapse Records, The Summoning Bell contains patiently-unfolding black/death. While there’s a dismal sheen over the entire album, I never feel entirely sure of my footing when listening to The Summoning Bell.

The primary focus on The Summoning Bell is slowly-developing song lines. While some of the individual riffs sound quite satisfying on their own, hearing the various dissonances blend and evolve inch by inch over the course of 8 to 15 minutes does wonders for my appreciation of the album. Malthusian sound very deliberate here, resulting in tension that develops over the songs as you wonder why they’re going with a particular idea.

Cemetery opens Thoughts on Life…and Death with a blistering, one-note guitar line, followed by a straightforward blast beat, followed by wordless howling. What unfolds from there is a hefty progressive (ish) death metal album with bright tones and maintained excitement. Good gym music.

Cemetery demonstrate a bizarre inability to end a song on Thoughts on Life…and Death. The first few tracks all stumble to an abrupt ending that seems to just happen. This is my only real songwriting complaint. Otherwise, the riffs are flashy and at times border on virtuosic, the vocals have a satisfying growl. I appreciate the clear production that lets me hear the bass line, although the bass is usually supporting the guitars.