Abyssius - Vermin

Labels: Self-Released

Formats: CD/Digital

Release Date: 20 Mar 2026

Tracklist:

1. To Slay a Rat King

2. Death Drive

3. Patricide

4. Hesitation

5. Corpse Star

6. Black Dogs

7. L'appel du Vide

To quiet fanfare in late March, International technical death metal quartet Abyssius released their 2nd full-length Vermin. With members spanning Norway, Taiwan and the United States, Abyssius have been honing their sound since 2023. Shortly after, they released their debut self-titled album in January 2024. Perusing the band recommendations at the bottom of their bandcamp page, I see Xoth, Drouth and Mors Verum amongst others. That isn't bad company be in. Aside from the already promised death metal and technicality, maybe we'll get some proggy tones and blackened madness to boot.

I really want to get my old iPod classic refurbished. I’ve got so much music sitting, waiting to go on it it’s unreal. This album from Abyssius would definitely be on it, as straight from the word go it sounds so full and melodic. Opening song ‘To Slay a Rat King’ is pretty damn fast tempo-wise, with the drums dictating things. The guitar work is excellent but slightly drowned out by the percussion and indeed the vocals, which are delivered with a lot of intensity.

There are subtle atmospherics and clean vocals sitting amongst the instrumentation, plus a great guitar solo later on too. It’s more modern and polished than I was expecting, which is no bad thing at all. ‘Death Drive’ features more of the melody and atmosphere I was talking about above, though both elements are short-lived as Abyssius kick back into full gear again. There’s a real Scandinavian edge to it at times, kinda like Norther and Soilwork. That’s no surprise given the Norwegian contingent amongst their ranks.

‘Patricide’ sees Abyssius reaching their most technical, especially in guitar terms. Honestly, I think they’re at their best when their music flows, as it does in passages here. The more aggressive it becomes, the more disjoined it sounds at times. That’s only my opinion though, which I know you’ll take with a pinch of salt. Given that my neighbour upstairs is bashing on their floor again; it must mean that either I’m typing too loud or the music isn’t to their taste. Oh well, sucks to be them. ‘Hesitation’ is delivered without any such worry as Abyssius up the ante once again, giving a modern melodic death metal masterclass in the process. That solo especially rules supreme!

Talking of masterclasses, ‘Corpse Star’ has a ridiculous percussive tempo from the off. As has been the case throughout Vermin though, the guitars remain buried deeper in the mix while the vocals are provided lots of space. At times, they remind of Lorna Shore. Abyssius seem to be leaving the best till last musically, as penultimate song ‘Black Dogs’ has the best opening bars of the album so far. If they continued down the nasty down-tempo path, there’d be a totally different vibe to it. That said, they know how to wrestle back control with some ultra-sick solo work and guttural madness. 

Closing out with ‘L’appel du Vide’, Abyssius provide one final blast of their technical yet brutal death metal. Their atmospheric touches are prominent once again, adding dramatic elements to the music. The clean vocals used later on are more obvious than earlier in the record, while the guitar work sits on top, exhibiting their musical prowess one last time. This is another example of not judging a book by its cover. I was waiting for progressive, otherworldly death metal but instead I was broadsided by a more melodic approach to the genre. I have nothing bad to say about this album though as Abyssius have given a genuine account of themsevles and the music they want to play. That’s all that really matters. I know a lot of people will really dig this!

You can stream Vermin and purchase it digitally, as well on limited cd from Abyssius below:-

Abyssius - https://www.facebook.com/abyssiusofficial

NSIXHUNDRED - Discography '24-'25

Labels: Zegema Beach Records

Formats: Tape/Digital

Release Date: 17 Apr 2026

Tracklist:

1. and longing for the truth i say...

2. yogurt

3. immediate sword master

4. as fast as a snail

5. well guess what?!

6. Mr. Noob

7. The Duel

8. Return of the Shirt

9. let's have a ball!!!

10. Santiago's big day

11. blue dream (live)

We're having a small heatwave and everybody's melting! Personally, I love it but I do feel quite lethargic at the same time. Hopefully, I'll be productive with what's left of this month. Tonight it's the turn of another new release from Zegema Beach Records and while there's been a hint at some changes coming for the label, what isn't changing is their ability to put out stellar music!

US emoviolence/mathcore sextet NSIXHUNDRED are the latest band to get the ZBR discography treatment. It gathers together all of the songs they recorded in 2024 and 2025, including their debut EP and longing for truth i say..., the songs from their split with Dance of the Seventh Crow and two songs from their two song tour demo 2025 (as there are three on bandcamp), with a live track thrown in as well.

Discography releases aren’t just reserved for when bands break up. NSIXHUNDRED are very much still a band, so this may be at lot people’s first introduction to them (it is mine!). ‘and longing for the truth i say…’ kicks things off with vicious emoviolence, a multi-vocal approach that could strip paint, chugging low-end passages and nice mathcore rhythms for good measure. You don’t get much change out of two minutes, but that’s the whole point.

‘yogurt’ has some of the best bass-swagger I’ve heard from a skramz band. It’s really cool how they’re able to go from peppy verses to chaotic noise in what seems like seconds. The ending has a live feel to it with cheering and clapping, as it closes with a solid panic-laden riff. That same riff lead you into sixty-second rager ‘immediate sword master’, which is the heaviest, spinkicking-est show of aggression yet!

I’ve just noticed that the cover art for this release comprises elements from the art on their discography to date, which is a really nice touch! ‘as fast as a snail’ is thankfully faster than a snail, though the addition of some sludge-like tempos do the trick! What is noticeable too is that there hasn’t been any re-mastering done to these songs (and to be honest why would there?), though please correct me if I’m wrong. To me, they sound just as they were intended.

The deafening feedback that starts ‘well guess what?!’ soon gives way to a song that’s equal parts noise-rock and chaotic screamo. It has a kind of atonal sound to it till about halfway through, where NSIXHUNDRED go off on a tangent with stop/start instrumentation, mathiness and what could be a belching noise? Maybe I’m hearing things. ‘Mr Noob’ definitely sits more at the mathcore end of the spectrum and it shows where they were at when they released their split with Dance of the Seventh Crow.

There’s actually a lot more melody in it (well, perhaps just a little more), as there’s also a lot of grind as well. ‘The Duel’ is beyond description. Just when you think it’s settling into one sub-genre, it pivots into another and even when NSIXHUNDRED play the introspective card, it’s still not restful, with the exception of some lovely piano towards the end.

The rawness is back on ‘Return of the Shirt’ and with the belligerent heaviness that makes this band so unforgettable. Not sure if I’m repeating myself here but this has to be the heaviest thing ZBR have released (but feel free to challenge me on that). ‘let’s have a ball!!!’ was recorded as part of the band’s 2025 tour demo and it belongs on such a release. Witnessing it live must be something else as well!

‘santiago’s big day’ follow’s suit in the same way, with a cacophony of noise filling the speakers. Anybody that owns a copy of that demo must surely just be playing it on repeat. I would be! Closing the discography with ‘blue dream (live)’, NSIXHUNDRED show that they can play live just as well as they can on record. There’s sometimes a question mark over whether more technical bands can do that out in the wild. There are no worries here.

NSIXHUNDRED are another band I wouldn’t have known about were it not for ZBR. I can’t get over how heavy they sound or how enthusiastic they are. The latter definitely comes across in their music. If you’ve read the news on ZBR’s socials over the last 24 hours, you’ll know that USADave is departing the label, which is sad. Thankfully, CanaDave is carrying on, which is good. More quality screamo to come. 

It didn't take very long at all for the tape copies of this release to sell out, but you can still grab it digitally from ZBR below:-

NSIXHUNDRED Instagram - @nsixhundred1

Zegema Beach Records Instagram - @zegema_beach

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