Albums of December 12, 2025

The most interesting releases of the week!

Tour Ira Mieux Sans Hous starts off with something resembling standard death metal opening, complete with yelling vocals and descending guitar lines. The effect is somewhere between the opening waffling of Deep Purple‘s “Speed King” and a free jazz album. From there, things descend into hell. Before the 2-minute mark, the music implodes and then rebuilds into a mix of black metal, jazz, and post metal sounds that continue to shapeshift for the entire release. Void Paradigm‘s fourth full-length was released, unsurprisingly, on I, Voidhanger Records.

Void Paradigm have made some stunning choices here. The album is supposed to be listened to in one go, despite the track break in the middle. Ideas gestate and grow over several minutes at a time, only to be abruptly cut off by some other structure. This results in the music sounding intentionally incomplete and jarring. Often the missing pieces slot back in, but in an unhelpful form that offers no relief. As Tour Ira Mieux Sans Nous drifts through various sounds, it never, ever feels at ease.

Pedestal For Leviathan have made one hell of a Septicflesh album. Enter: Vampyric Manifestation was released on Personal Records, eventually, and luckily the music sounds better than the album title. The symphonic blackened death metal band gives the listener maximalist excess on their debut release. The run time is appropriately short for something this massive.

Pedestal For Leviathan have written mostly simple riffs and song-structures, which allows them to overload with effects and flourishes and create contrasts when those flourishes disappear. One satisfying moment comes just before the 3-minute mark of “Sanctity of Retribution.” Pedestal For Leviathan have been blasting away with everything all at once for most of the track before all instruments other than the drums drop out, leaving a gaping void you’d expect to be filled with a snazzy drum fill. The silence is instead filled with a mesmerizing fill consisting of: Exactly 4 snare hits, all on the beat. Then the song continues as it had been. Moments like this provide flavor and dynamics on an album that otherwise could have been too messy and show that Pedestal For Leviathan are in complete control as they bum rush you with symphonics.

Rotten Sound‘s newest EP was released on Season of Mist. As with all of the band’s releases, Mass Extinction consists of swirling excess and over-the-top venom. The EP’s shortened run time allows Rotten Sound to go all in all of the time with aggression and temp. The result is a short, overwhelming blast of grindcore that comically overtops all competitors and then leaves before it wears you down.

Mass Extinction doesn’t change Rotten Sound‘s formula. Short tracks with maxed out tempos except for the occasional intro or breakdown, packed with great performances and ruthlessly serious vocals. This is grindcore for people who think that the formula was perfected in the 80s but with a more modern production.