[#MusicMondays] 24.03.25: Release Round-Up
Welcome to our second Release Round-up for Music Mondays here at Inner-Strength Check!
(Check out THIS LINK for our most recent Music Mondays segment, which is a topical column exploring the history and themes of heavy/alternative music in Ireland as a St. Patrick’s Day special).
First things first - Butters. All hail this fluffy king.
Butters loves heavy music, too! Pictured, cat chillin’ to extreme metal, happy as can be.
There simply is just too much great new music for myself or our entire team to possibly hope to cover in terms of reviews. I’m always one for promoting alternative and heavy music in all its’ auspices as much as humanly possible.
Additionally, the bulk of music-journalism press releases centre around teasers. Singles, samples and streams, as much as we enjoy the hell out of ‘em, can often leave us wanting and musically H U N G E R Y.
See below for a whole slew of diverse releases from the international music community - albums you can sink your teeth into right now! Merch you can buy! CDs and Vinyls of long-awaited releases and/or curious new finds, right in your hot little hands.
Peace, Love and Feasting On Tunes New and Old xoxo - Brady.
Pictured: Average good-music enjoyer attempting to feast on all the goodies swarming various music platforms, 2025 (Colourised).
RELEASE ROUNDUP:
(SEE HERE for our prior Release Roundup from 16th March, including releases and full-album streams, order links etc from Vokodlok, Bruno Karnel, An Evening With Knives and Plasmajet).
First cab off the rank is New York’s death metal supergroup Fleshspoil.
You can check out all the necessary information, album preorder/artist links and more via our Heavy News coverage right here!
And, for the lazy - here’s the Bandcamp link for latest LP The Beginning Of The End, which drops this Friday! You’ll be able to sneak a listen of three advance singles via this link in ‘Skies Turn To Graves’, ‘Fleshspoil’ and ‘A Frail Demise’.
Next up, we’re veering off from the grunt-and-blast path into some hook-laden rockin’ territory! This album released on March 21st via MNRK Heavy.
What Remains, Pop Evil’s eighth full-length album, is a thundering collection of arena-ready modern rock and metal hits in which frontman Leigh Kakaty opens heart, mind and soul – pulling no punches and taking no prisoners in doing so.
“There are a lot of issues and things that I’ve dealt with in this journey of Pop Evil that I’ve buried for a long time,” the frontman explains of this 10-track explosion of life-affirming noise. “What Remains is an introspective collection of chapters in my journey, and what I’ve been through to reach where I and Pop Evil is today. It’s everything I’ve never known how or felt able to say – until now.”
What Remains is the culmination of everything Leigh Kakaty has fought for his entire life. It’s the dismantling of the armor he has adorned to survive the journey along the way. It’s the reckoning with the man he was yesterday, the man he has become today, and the man he strives to be tomorrow. It is at once the complete Pop Evil story writ large, and its definitive release.
LINKS:
ABOUT THE ALBUM – AEGONY:
An eight-track journey through distorted yet deeply immersive landscapes, AEGONY embraces an analog recording approach, rejecting modern over-processing. With no reamping, no triggers, and no pitch correction, the band has ensured a warm, dynamic, and organic soundscape, resisting the "Loudness War" and preserving the raw intensity of their performance.
The album oscillates between hypnotic, dreamlike atmospheres and crushingly aggressive riffs, embodying the tension between melody and chaos. Each track is rooted in real-life stories, forming a conceptual thread that explores the destructive nature of the ego when unchecked by collective consciousness.
ABOUT THE BAND:
Formed in 2012, DRUNKEN CROCODILES carved their sound through years of experimentation and live performances, releasing two EPs before stabilizing as a trio in 2016. By 2017, they had committed to writing their first full-length album, leading to the release of OUT OF BARREL in 2019 under Too Loud Records. This raw and intense record was followed by an extensive tour in Eastern Europe.
Following a brief hiatus due to the pandemic, founder Elia Borelli (vocals/bass) reassembled the band with guitarist Federico Pardini and drummer Simone Silvestre in late 2021. The revitalized lineup wasted no time, embarking on a European tour in 2023 and refining their unique blend of Stoner Psych and Sludge. By summer 2024, the band entered the studio to record AEGONY, their most ambitious and conceptually driven work to date.
TRACKLIST:
01 - FIRST POINT OF LIBRA 1:11
02 - AUTOJEKTOR 7:30
03 - RAINMAKER 4:47
04 - LE DIVIN MARQUIS 7:11
05 - HOMO HOMINI LUPUS 6:21
06 - SLOW BURN 4:49
07 - BEHAVIORAL SINK 10:22
08 - FIRST POINT OF ARIES 2:00
CONCEPT:
AEGONY delves into the existential turmoil caused by an unchecked ego, where self-centered desires overpower communal well-being. The album's narrative raises a critical question:
"Doesn't the ego shape all actions, steering humanity away from harmony and deeper connections?"
Each track portrays a real-life event, illustrating the devastating consequences of egocentrism on human nature. The album challenges listeners to contemplate a more unified existence, where collective progress replaces individual dominance. While this ideal may seem utopian, AEGONY suggests that, through trial and error, humanity may eventually find its way toward true awareness and balance.
Stay Drunk, Stay Crocodiles!
https://www.facebook.com/DrunkenCrocodiles
https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords
Spanish/American Progressive Metal duo, DISSOCIA, featuring members of Persefone and Wormed, have release debut album, To Lift The Veil, on Willowtip Records!
DISSOCIA enters the mind of multi-instrumentalist Daniel R. Flys (Persefone, Eternal Storm) as the sonic landscape between two realms: the conscious and the unconscious. With ferocious and convoluted riffs, dreamy synths, extreme and subtle clean vocals, we enter this in-between world backed by Gabriel Valcázar's (Wormed, Cancer) chaotic and groove drumming and Paul R. Flys' cinematic violin layers.
Mixed and mastered by the prestigious Ukrainian engineer Max Morton (Jinjer, Ignea, Shokran), To Lift The Veil is a concept album that serves as a metaphor for being a growing seed in an asphalted world. DISSOCIA makes an effort to blend extreme metal with synthwave and dreamwave elements to create a fine progressive blend that is catchy and yet unpredictable to the listener. Further developing this mood, the stunning and oneiric artwork created by Rein Van Oyen (Haken) captures the lights and shadows present on the dynamic songwriting and all the contrasts found on the duo's debut.
The album is available on CD, vinyl LP, and digital formats.
"Captivating, progressive music."
- Heavy Blog is Heavy
"Exceptionally good."
- No Clean Singing
"An intense and immersive journey that confirms DISSOCIA as one of the most interesting offerings in progressive metal today."
- TNT Radio Rock
"The music is complex, but also accessible, as the band showcases some tight songwriting skills." (9/10)
- Metal Temple
"DISSOCIA is well on its way to taking the scene by storm." (8.5/10)
- Powermetal.de
"Modern progressive metal, with elements of death metal incorporated into its cinematic whole. A strong, confident first record."
- Wonderbox Metal
"Highly melodic yet extremely heavy music. It’s one of those rare works that balances thoughtful writing, pacing and performances in a way that makes it easy to spin over and over again."
- The Goat Review
"No one who listens to To Lift The Veil should remain indifferent to it. You must find a place for it in your library."
- Metal Eclipse Reviews
"If you are up for an adventure, lend Dissocia your ear."
- Flying Fiddlesticks
Purchase/Stream To Lift The Veil:
Willowtip: https://bit.ly/veil-willowtip
Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/veil-bandcamp
YouTube: youtu.be/eBh1j8GfAyc
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/01YeRtT1288CP8pI2Ptxn7
Apple Music: music.apple.com/gb/album/to-lift-the-veil/1786469095
Link to Full-Album Stream (via Willowtip Records’ official Youtube Channel):
Track Listing:
1. Existentialist [Video]
2. He Who Dwells
3. Samsara [Video]
4. Zenosyne
5. The Lucifer Effect
6. Evasion
7. Out of Slumber
Credits:
Daniel R. Flys - Vocals, Guitars, Bass and Synths
Gabriel Valcázar - Drums
Guest violins performed by Paul R. Flys (track 7).
Additional post-production by Max Morton and Alex Tena.
Written by Daniel R. Flys.
Produced by Daniel R. Flys.
Drums recorded by Carlos Santos at Sadman Studio.
Vocals recorded by Alex Tena.
Vocals and violins recorded by Carlos Rodríguez.
Mixed and mastered by Max Morton at Morton Studio.
Design and layout by Rein Van Oyen.
Ghostsmoker's Inertia Cult is out today - a record of earth-shaking sludge and blackened doom
Don’t miss one of Australia’s finest up and coming doom bands. The tectonic heaviness of Ghostsmoker’s Inertia Cult is sure to ring in your ears for days, and is essential listening for loves of sludge, post-metal, doom and drone alike.
From: Melbourne, Australia
Album Release: 21 March 2025
For Fans Of: Thou, Conan, ISUA and Bongripper.
Art As Catharsis is proud to announce the release of Ghostsmoker's debut album, Inertia Cult - a record of earth-shaking sludge and blackened doom.
Following the release of their 2022 EP Grief, Inertia Cult represents an evolution for Melbourne’s Ghostsmoker. Their newly refined, collaborative approach to recording has allowed the band to hammer out powerful riffs, tighter song structures and further experiment with mood and atmospherics.
Comparisons to Conan, Thou, Bongripper and ISUA are warranted. Each of Ghostsmoker's riffs ring with monolithic, thunderous power, generating the kind of sonic intensity that only comes from years of amplifier worship.
Opening with haunting howls chased with bone-crushing riffs, Incarnate is the first single from Inertia Cult. The song wages a careful balancing act between loud, hulking instrumentals and haunting ambient inspired sections, each one underscored by slamming drums and wild lashes of fuzz from every string struck. The final product is both hypnotic yet rhythmically punishing, a balancing act that, on face, is hard to achieve.
Grizzled and sludgy, the second single and album opener from Inertia Cult, Elogium, pummels eardrums at the pace of a war march. Accompanied by heaving drums and raspy vocals, each low-fuzzed riff shudders like fractured earth before lifting itself into a haunting bridge. The track folds back on itself at the end, closing with rhythmic doom and gnarled riffs as a warning of things to come.
“We made the decision for this to be the opener of the record because it’s primal and abrasive, with a hint of ambience, so it’s a good introduction on what to expect,” says Brunning. ”Elogium is a tribute, or elegy, to someone who has passed, who lived their life going through pain and struggle, hoping to see the day that it was all worth it, but unfortunately never getting to have their moment in the sun before their life was cut short.
With live performances that have been hailed as brutal, earth shattering and monolithic, Ghostsmoker are developing a much warranted reputation across Australian gig halls.
Preparing for the release of Inertia Cult sees the band committing to a promotional tour for Incarnate's release across Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide throughout November and December this year. Following that, a full album release tour will take place in March 2025 across Australia, with the potential for overseas tours to Japan or Europe.
Don’t miss one of Australia’s finest up and coming doom bands. The tectonic heaviness of Ghostsmoker’s Inertia Cult is sure to ring in your ears for days, and is essential listening for loves of sludge, post-metal, doom and drone alike.
Ghostsmoker’s new album Inertia Cult is out now on Art As Catharsis.
ALBUM LINKS:
Artist/Label Links Available via our Heavy News Release, RIGHT HERE.
Finally, and #InCaseYouMissedIt - we also have the scoop on US experimental/progressive death metal outfit Aversed and their latest opus Erasure of Color via THIS LINK.