Albums of December 5, 2025

The most interesting releases of the week!

Infinite Measure, Finite Existence was the debut release from progressive metal band Jester Majesty, released on Xtreem music. The band was quite clearly influenced by a variety of the wonkier thrash and death metal bands out there, including Death and Vektor. Jester Majesty gives us a satisfying variety of sound on their debut. And while there are some elements of the music that noticeably clash, such as the clean vocals in the more active passages, as a whole, Infinite Measure, Finite Existence contains enough meat to intrigue most prog fans.

The beginning of the album sounds as if Jester Majesty wanted to avoid stagnation at all costs. The music rises and dips through electrified arena riffing and hushed contemplation, but all passages alike drive forward towards resolution with an anxious intensity. There is some potential lost here, as this aggressive approach leaves the album feeling more one-note than I think the band intended. But for the most part it works. Between the cutting guitar riffs and tight performances, Jester Majesty have made a promising debut.

This is some harsh music from Season of Mist. Ashspawn is Enthroned‘s twelfth full-length release, and their first since 2019. On this album, Enthroned ensure that the listener doesn’t get a break. The guitar tone sounds designed to grate, and the songwriting oscillates between closely played instruments overlapping with one another to create a solid block of sound and sporadic separated instruments sounding out of time and key with each other.

Ashspawn had to be delicately put together to sound as harsh as it does. This form of bleak black metal only works with well-written, intentionally placed pivots between different bleak songwriting approaches. It helps that many of the riffs are absolutely engrossing, giving the listener to something to handle, and that the passages where the band is playing full blast also seem to be of simpler composition. Ashspawn is thoroughly entertaining, uncompromising black metal.

I’m still struggling with what to think about Exitus Triumphalis, Svntarer‘s second full-length. The pummeling, on-beat songwriting blends punk with post in a manner that is both catchy and tiring. Exitus Triumphalis sounds like if Amenra started a dance club. I can’t say I love some of the songwriting choices, but Svntarer obviously spent time crafting something cohesive and memorable, so I guess I’m in the wrong here.

Exitus Triumphalis is an emotional album, but not one that blends on the sheet music enough to obscure the notes. There’s a constant rhythmic pulse for the first forever minutes of the album, through several tracks. This glue binds the songs into one piece of music and not a collection of tracks. Svntarer made music from an angle that I don’t normally appreciate, but gave it enough of an earnest, all-in approach that it pulled me in.