Mascharat - Ars Aurea Mortis

Labels: Remparts Productions

Formats: CD/Digital

Release Date: 31 Jan 2026

Tracklist:

 

1. Intro

2. Re Mida

3. Nigredo

4. Albedo

5. Citrinitas

6. Rubedo

7. Lapis

8. Outro

May has been a little bit frustrating as I haven't been able to post as frequently as I would have liked. I'm still pleased with what I have been able to write about, just wish time would have been on my side a bit more. I was certainly hoping that would be the case when I put together this month's schedule! Italian black metallers Mascharat were one of bands I added to said schedule, after they wrote to me earlier in the year.

Their newest (and second full-length) Ars Aurea Mortis was released back in January via French label Remparts Productions. Mascharat released their debut demo back in 2014 before their first self-titled album in 2017. With a gap of nearly nine years between albums, Mascharat will be opening themselves up to a whole new wave of listeners.

As I sat down to write this review I realised how many other sites/blogs have already done a similar thing. That’s not a negative realisation though, as it just means that this album and Mascharat have gathered a lot of attention, which is fully deserved. For me that attention starts with the ‘Intro’ to Ars Aurea Mortis, which is a lot more grandiose than I was expecting. ‘Re Mida’ goes someway to banishing that sense of grandeur, as Mascharat launch into typically fabled black metal with an occult tinge. I was actually thinking today about the fact that I don’t listen to enough black metal! This has all the icy hallmarks of the genre, from the raspy vocals to the metallic guitar melodies and mesmeric percussive barrages. Not truly raw but not avant-garde either. 

Mascharat give their songs plenty of space to build and breathe on this album, if you excuse the first and last ones. ‘Nigredo’ is a perfect case in point, as the marauding opening passages give way to mid-paced introspection and dramatic shifts later on. For a Mediterranean country that’s known for great food and wine, it’s hard to imagine such musical bleakness. I’m sure I’ve alluded to something similar before though! ‘Albedo’ wraps itself around your ears in a way that only black metal can. Mainly, due to those unnerving riffs and ghostly vocals. I will say that it’s a bit of a disappointment when the song fades out with nearly a minute to go, leaving only ambient tones.

Following the album’s longest song, ‘Citrinitas’ takes you into it’s latter half with plenty of immediacy. The metallic/melodic guitar work takes centre stage again, as bass, drums and vocals swirl around them. Mascharat’s approach is one that’s more deeply rooted in traditional black metal and they do it well. ‘Rubedo’ packs a lot more urgency to say the least. Containing fewer atmospheric passages than earlier songs, it sees Mascharat revelling in their furious blasphemy. Can’t say fairer than that!

Penultimate song ‘Lapis’ mixes both Mascharat’s traditional black metal blueprint with introspective/instrumental passages that feel airy and light. I’m not saying that they’re going soft or anything, just that their instrumentation is able to breathe life into what is an extreme album, just when it needs to. Closing Ars Aurea Mortis with a beautiful ‘Outro’, Mascharat bring to an end what is an engrossing album. Above, I mentored that it was neither raw nor avant-garde. It sits in that middle ground and gives Mascharat a platform to really build upon.

You can stream and purchase the album digitally below:-

Mascharat have sold out of their CD copies but you can still purchase them from Remparts Productions here - https://rempartsproductions.bigcartel.com/product/mascharat-ars-aurea-mortis-cd-digital

Mascharat - https://www.facebook.com/Mascharat

Remparts Productions - https://www.facebook.com/RempartsProductions 

Moloch - Bend. Break. Kneel. Crawl

Labels: Self-Released/Howling Mine/SuperFi Records/Dry Cough Records

Formats: Vinyl/CD/Tape/Digital

Release Date: 06 Feb 2026

Tracklist:

1. In Chrysalis

2. Bleeding Through The Interrogation

3. The Bunker

4. Slowly Chewing Umbilical

5. Another Family Slaughters Itself In The Countryside

6. 16.03.13

7. Mother Medusa

In February, UK sludge institution Moloch returned with their first new music in six and a half years. Bend. Break. Kneel. Crawl was self-released on vinyl and digital formats, while SuperFi Records handled a CD release and Dry Cough Records did the same on tape. A US vinyl pressing is due to come from Howling Mine too, so keep an eye out for that stateside.

As I mentioned, Dry Cough Records released a limited tape version of the album and did so with alternative artwork, which I've shared below too. I purchased a copy when it was launched and I apologise for how long it's taken me to sit down to review it.

This release definitely heralds the early days of Dry Cough’s existence. Doom and sludge were DC’s sub-genre mainstays back then, and coming from the label that helped release Moloch’s previous splits with Haggatha, Lich and Groak, it was ace to see them working together again. There is a certain weight that comes with writing about Moloch’s music. It’s hard to explain why as it’s not something I usually feel with other bands, but it’s definitely there. Opener ‘In Chrysalis’ is the first taste you get of Moloch in 2026 (being a year shy of the 20th anniversary of their first demo) and it’s got a groove to it that stands out. It may have always been there but I remember the tempos being a lot slower on previous recordings. Whatever, it’s still a proper gut-wrenching listen that epitomises UK doom/sludge. 

‘Bleeding Through The Interrogation’ is a bass and feedback-drenched song that’s hard to adequately describe. It’s off-kilter at times and truly heavy all the way through. I think you need to listen to it to really appreciate what I’m trying to say. For a song to last almost three and a half minutes but feel like it lasts double that, something has to be going right. The further you get into this album, the nastier it gets. The low growls and bass-heavy doom that follows the screeching feedback at the start of ‘The Bunker’ sets the tone for what’s to come and Moloch don’t hold back at all. It’s mesmerising, showing yet again how a tried and tested formula can be moulded into something new. 

As stark as its title, ‘Slowly Chewing Umbilical’ takes a lumbering form. There’s a driving tempo to its first half and by that I mean it’s not too slow. The latter half though is where that slowness comes in, which is to be expected. Considering what I said when talking about the previous song, changing things drastically would have been a bad idea for a band so revered for their honest and bludgeoning music. ’Another Family Slaughters Itself In The Countryside’ conjures up all kinds of images and those images are interpreted in musical form here. The bass/low-end guitar duo work together to weave a foreboding atmosphere, while the percussion and vocals sit either side in unforgiving union.

Penultimate song ’16.03.13’ is filled with suspense as it builds. There’s something so enjoyable (to me at least) about the mix of dissonant heaviness and screeching feedback that just can’t be beaten. The fact that it comes in the form of an instrumental song as well is even sweeter. It’s the perfect, noisy precursor to the album’s closing number. ’Mother Medusa’ is both the harrowing and the euphoric ending that nobody expected (or maybe you did?). A true mix of Moloch’s mesmeric heaviness and tempo shifts, it’s the perfect send off for an album that’s been a long time coming. Honestly, this is such a good album. Great in fact! To have a band like Moloch delivering doom and sludge like this again is just epic.

You can stream and purchase the album digitally from Moloch below, where their self-released vinyl and a solitary CD copy can also be purchased:-

Moloch Instagram - @moloch.scum

Physical copies can also be purchased from the labels below:-

SuperFi Records - https://superfirecords.limitedrun.com/products/872432-moloch-bend-break-kneel-crawl-cd-lp

Dry Cough Records - https://www.drycoughrecords.com/product/moloch-bend-break-kneel-crawl-cassette-dc84

Also keep an eye out for news on the US vinyl release, which hopefully will come from Moloch soon.

SuperFi Records - https://superfirecords.neocities.org

Dry Cough Records - https://www.facebook.com/DryCoughRecords

Howling Mine - https://noladiy.org/howlingmine.html

SuperFi Records Instagram - @superfirecs 

Dry Cough Records - https://www.facebook.com/DryCoughRecords

Concealer - This Room Could Be Heaven.

Labels: Zegema Beach Records/Ephyra Recordings

Formats: Vinyl/CD/Tape/Digital

Release Date: 31 Mar 2026

Tracklist:

1. Vanity, a Fractured Promise

2. Claymore

3. Color Slowly Fading

4. |

5. ||

6. A Quiet Ending

7. The Stillness Between Us

8. ...And The Sunlight Spoke

9. In This Moment,

10. This Room Could Be Heaven.

It feels like Zegema Beach Records are really switching it up this year. Entering their god-tier era if you will. I guess you could argue that they've been at that tier for a long time though! March 31st saw them release the debut album This Room Could Be Heaven. by US metalcore/metallic hardcore band Concealer. It follows the double EP Heartfelt Entries, that was also released via ZBR in 2024 and gathers together the two earlier EPs that Concealer and Armageddon Records put out.

250 copies on white w/black and red splatter vinyl were pressed and have unsurprisingly sold out. Ephyra Recordings are handling CD and tape pressings, which still appear to be available via their webstore as I write this.

I may have abandoned my roster review series, where I was trying to write about every ZBR release in chronological order, but I think it’s been worth it to focus on their current output this year. I just need to pick up my pace! Given how incredibly strong the screamo community is right now, it’s no surprise that a band like Concealer has managed to captivate so many fans. Starting off This Room Could Be Heaven. with ‘Vanity, a Fractured Promise’, they present an immediate collage of epic emoviolence/screamo coupled with introspective melodic post-hardcore/emo. The instrumentation is frenetic percussion-wise and riff-filled, while the vocals are that mix of harsh screams and glorious cleans that really stand out.

As somebody who was discovering music like this back in the early 2000’s through the likes of Funeral For A Friend, Hopesfall, etc, it’s amazing to see bands taking it to a current day audience. I know that people can still discover those earlier bands through the Internet but sometimes it’s nicer to just find them organically. ‘Claymore’ was the second single to come from the album and it’s easy to why it was chosen to be one, as it’s filled with excellent metalcore/hardcore that’s too good to ignore. Concealer have nailed this sound to the point where it sounds heavy but not abrasive.

The third and final song to be released prior to the album was ‘Color Slowly Fading’ and it’s every bit the metalcore song you hoped it would be. Both heavy and pensive when it needs to be, Concealer give it everything. The clean vocals provide a welcome sense of nostalgia when set up against the harsh screams, while the musicianship charts a course filled with pummelling drums and guitar work that’ll make you grin from ear to ear. 

‘I’ is a song with a very different atmosphere. It starts with harsh noise and building screams, before retreating to reveal some full-band instrumental work and spoken-word passages laid over the top. It leads (after an agonising pause) to ‘II’, which is mathcore-esque from the start. That heaviness soon gives way to Deftones inspired vocals that fit absolutely perfectly. It’s wild to think about how much great music has already been released this year and how much I’m still missing out on.

Moving into the album’s latter half, Concealer reveal ‘A Quiet Ending’, which is anything but quiet. It’s a bruising amalgam of all the genres and sub-genres that give it life. It’s 2026 but it doesn’t sound like it should exist in this year and I think that’s the takeaway. I go back to what I said at the beginning of this post about god-tier eras. We’re existing in one right now and maybe don’t realise it!

‘The Stillness Between Us’ is gentile, features dance-like beats, quiet guitars and subtle clean vocals that show yet another side to Concealer’s varied musical palette. That variation is what stands out the most here, as the band are not afraid to take things from the brink of chaos to uplifting euphoria. ‘…And the Sunlight Spoke’ quickly dispels any euphoria though (depending on how you view it) as Concealer put their best screamo foot forward. It goes to prove that labelling them as this and that really doesn’t help. You should just enjoy them for what they are, which is excellent.

Penultimate song ‘In This Moment,’ feels like a noise-laden precursor to closing title-track ’This Room Could Be Heaven.’ and indeed it is. Once again, shades of nu-metal influence make their way into the music as Concealer blast out one final number that shows just how mature and intelligent their songwriting is. The musical landscape is forever evolving. It’s twenty years this year since Bring Me The Horizon released Count Your Blessings and people are saying that Knocked Loose are the next big act (deservedly so), but there are so many others that are worthy of greater praise.

Concealer are still at the start of their career but with this album they’re already showing that they’re destined for greater things. What else is there to say. If you’ve slept on this or you’re only just discovering them, now is the perfect time to put right those wrongs. Cross everything for a repress on any physical format too. It needs to happen!

You can stream and purchase This Room Could Be Heaven. from Concealer on bandcamp below:-

Concealer Instagram - @concealercashflow

CD/Tape copies are available to buy from Ephyra Recordings here -https://ephyra.bigcartel.com/products?page=1

Ephyra Recordings Instagram - @4ephyra

Zegema Beach Records Instagram - @zegema_beach 

Culloden - Lords Of A Lawless Land Single Premiere

This evening I'm very excited to be able to premiere the newest single from Newcastle heavy metallers Culloden. 'Lords Of A Lawless Land' has been officially released today and I'd like to thank Andrew, and the band for allowing me to share it.

The song is based on stories about a group of raiders called the Border Reivers, who roamed around the Anglo-Scottish borders in medieval times. To help tell this tale, Culloden have drawn inspiration from traditional heavy metal bands like Saxon, as well as heavier bands from the same era including Bathory and Venom.

The premiere is live to stream via my YouTube channel below:-

My first impression of the song is very positive. It's got both melody and genuine bite, as you'd expect from a heavy metal band. The North East is a bit of a hot bed for the traditional end of the metal spectrum and Culloden pull it off really well. It's also refreshing to hear a band taking lyrical inspiration from historic events that took place closer to their home.

I hope you'll join me in championing another fine band from the UK.

'Lords Of A Lawless Land' is also available to stream and purchase digitally from Culloden via bandcamp below here - https://cullodenuk.bandcamp.com/track/lords-of-a-lawless-land.

You can also find all of Culloden's social/streaming links here - https://linktr.ee/culloden.

Redivider - Sounds of Malice

Labels: Third House Communications

Formats: VinylCD/Digital

Release Date: 09 Jan 2026

Tracklist:

1. Quartered & Devoured

2. Sounds of Malice

3. Shackled to Existence

4. Apocalyptic Waste

5. Fratricide

6. Back in the Rot

7. Left to Rot

So much for a bank holiday of rest and relaxation. My head is full of numbers and way too overburdened. I don't know why I do it to myself! That being said, I made time to sort out my record collection too after recent arrivals and I need more space. Maybe I'll eventually add a copy of Redivider's Sounds of Malice to it at some point.

The death metal quintet for Kentucky, United States released their debut album back in January. They originally formed back in 2021 and released a demo the following year, which featured three of the songs that make up this album. Sounds of Malice was released in collaboration with local Louisville, Kentucky label Third House Communications. Let's see how their death metal holds up...

I haven’t been keeping track but it’s been a while since I last featured any US death metal, mainly because I’ve been trying to diversify a bit. Kicking off with ‘Quartered & Devoured’, Redivider go with a sound that’s equal parts thrash, slamming death and Southern drawl. It has a ferociously mean rhythm-section, excellent dual guitars and vocals that offer up squeals, and gutturals alongside a nod to Lamb of God (maybe?).

Next up it’s the turn of the title-track ‘Sounds of Malice’ and it’s a lot more brutal sounding, with pummelling drums, off-kilter time signatures, pinch harmonics and even an epic solo or two. Obviously, that’s not all there is to it and knowing that none other than Dan Swano mastered this album (and let’s not forget the recording work by Michael Kent O’Bryan and Brian ‘Bone’ Thorburn, or the mixing of Paul Nunavath, who is also the band’s lead guitarist), and you can see why it sounds so damn good!

’Shackled to Existence’ has the unique honour of being the album’s longest song but also its most progressive. I’m not sure that’s the right descriptor for it in truth but Redivider pull out all the stops to make it sound as engrossing as it does. I think the gap between the demo and the release of this full-length has been time well spent, as it’s allowed Redivider to truly hone their sound. 

In true thrash/death metal style, there had to be a song here called ‘Apocalyptic Waste’! I say that in the kindest sense because it reminds me of the bands that introduced me to both sub-genres. As a song it doesn’t disappoint with plenty of up-tempo extremity and progression, as well as some good old chugging riffs for good measure.

‘Fratricide’ continues along the progressive vein, using it to make Redivider’s death metal sound even dirtier and more old-school. There’s been such a resurgence in this form of death metal over the last few years and it shows no sign of slowing down. If anything, it should keep on going! I know everything is cyclical and it probably won’t last forever, so best to make the most of it.

Penultimate song ‘Bask in the Rot’ lives up to its title as Redivider delve deeper into the rottenness that prevails in death. While it’s first half is more of a mid-paced crawl, the latter half is punchier for the most part, as percussion builds in tempo and the guitars follow suit. The vocals are still as horrid as they’ve been throughout and ending on a sludgy tipping point is a nice touch.

All of this leads you to album closer ‘Left to Rot’, which is a succinct four-minute blast of everything great about Redivider’s songwriting. The fact that they’ve been working so hard on their songwriting over the last few years, shows how much they care about their craft. To use it to create such a strong first album is even more impressive. 

Some bands exist for decades and write countless albums based on their laurels (you can probably guess who I mean). They’re not even close to being as enjoyable as Sounds of Malice. Hats off to Jacob (vocals), Paul (lead/rhythm guitar), Jake (rhythm guitar), Alexander (bass) and James (drums).

You can stream and purchase Sounds of Malice digitally, and on vinyl below:-

Redivider - https://www.facebook.com/redivider.louisville

Third House Communications - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581503949129