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Hey, it’s time for another Unreviewed Roundup. This is all about releases that, despite not getting a full review due to time constraints or whatever else, I still wanted to talk about and introduce everyone to, because I still think they’re very much worth a spin.

And remember, if you like any of the releases that I talk about today, support these bands with a digital album purchase or physical media, or buy a shirt or add them to your favorite playlist, or whatever else. It’s really tough out there for artists and your support, I’m sure, means the world to them. So anyway, let’s dive in and discover something new today.

Dominion by Ancst

Ancst isn’t afraid to branch out into electronic, ambient and breakcore music on a lot of their releases, but at their core, Ancst is a blackened, crusty metalcore band for the masses. And if this new EP Dominion isn’t giving you some serious At The Gates meets Dödsrit meets The Black Dahlia Murder vibes, I don’t know what to tell you.

What I really love about Dominion is that it is so shamelessly 2000s metalcore but without sounding cheesy or going overboard into trying to be retro. Instead, Ancst simply takes that sound and views it through the lens of modern metal and modern production. This isn’t trying to sound like it’s straight out of 2002—compositionally, it certainly does, but production-wise and visually, it doesn’t.

And sure, I have minor gripes about Dominion, but nothing that derails my enjoyment of it. I certainly wish there was a little more going on stylistically with the drums, other than either like blasting or double kick parts—or like the occasional d-beat thing—but whatever.

They serve the songs well enough, and the rest of everything else going on musically within those songs is pretty interesting. And if you’re trying to get an even clearer picture of what Ancst does with their heavier material, check out their two latest live records Through the Woods and Live in Rostok, released last year and this year. Those are both very good as well.

Grinding Mechanism of Torment by Caustic Wound

Caustic Wound is back after five years with their sophomore effort, and it’s the perfect mix of bludgeoning death metal and razor-sharp grindcore. Grinding Mechanism of Torment is 16 tracks and 28 minutes long and made by dudes who know what the hell they’re doing within these genres. For those unaware, Caustic Wound is vocalist Clyle Lindstrom of Corpus Offal and Fetid, guitarist Max Bowman and Chase Slaker, as well as bassist Tony Wolf, all of Mortiferum, and drummer Casey Moore of Magrudergrind.

And what stuck out to me about Grinding Mechanism of Torment is that it’s just so damn musical in its brutality. Like you can make out the riffs, you can make out the individual parts, and clearly the band took great care in jamming each brief track with loads of intricacies and carefully crafted riffs. As in, this isn’t just some blast-happy grind record for the sake of being fast or brutal or whatever. This is an expertly crafted death metal record that got tossed into the blender and came out as a mangled grind record.

Fragile Wings by Cave Sermon

It is time that everybody get acquainted with the name Charlie Park, because this man is out here making some of the most interesting metal of this decade. Cave Sermon‘s 2024 album Divine Laughter was definitely among my favorites of the year in all its post-metal, black metal, prog metal, ambient-ish glory. And now, about a year later, Park is back with another masterpiece, though it is wildly different than Divine Laughter.

Divine Laughter was this super dense, heady post-metal record with healthy doses of black metal and ambient work thrown in there. Fragile Wings leans a lot harder into the post-metal world and focuses more on this drier, kind of less distorted presentation. If Divine Laughter was a churning ocean of uncertainty, Fragile Wings presents a more spacious overall composition that singles out the elements that comprise it. Again, as in, you can tell what’s going on. There’s not just kind of this cacophony. There is a very focused effort. There is a very focused composition about this.

Charlie Park and Cave Sermon are a band to watch. I’m not sure if Cave Sermon will ever have a live presence, but so far the project’s studio output has been nothing short of jaw-dropping. I strongly urge everyone to sit down and listen to both Fragile Wings and Divine Laughter back-to-back if you have the time. I mean, they are both kind of long, but they are both very, very good. Those albums are both some of the most interesting and well-put-together metal that I’ve heard in a while, and skipping them would frankly be a disservice to yourself as a fan of the heavier genre.

Live at Roadburn 2023 by Chat Pile

This new Chat Pile live album, Live at Roadburn 2023, is interesting in that it quite literally captures one of the major turning points, if not the turning point, in Chat Pile‘s career. Chat Pile now is a much bigger name that doesn’t seem to be having much trouble, if any trouble, selling out tours, but before that, Chat Pile was playing their biggest show ever at Roadburn 2023 on the festival’s main stage to about 3,000 people.

Live at Roadburn 2023 was mixed and mastered by Jared Stimpfl, who did a really solid job putting Chat Pile right in your face, as much as they can be on a recorded live album, anyway. I also really love that Chat Pile and their team decided to leave all the in-between-song banter in there as separate tracks. It adds this kind of sense of levity and humanity to the record that I think is a pretty important aspect of Chat Pile‘s music. It’s also just downright funny at times.

If you’ve seen the hype around Chat Pile and you never dug into them, Live at Roadburn 2023 might be a good place to start. It features music from throughout their career at the time, and it showcases it in a way that is palatable to new fans, as in, it sounds good, it flows great, it’s fun, and you’re just gonna have a really good time listening to this record. Unless you listen to the lyrics or something, then you’re maybe not gonna have as good of a time. I guess that depends on what your idea of a good time is.

Tooth and Nail by Dormant Ordeal

Dormant Ordeal answers the question of what Behemoth would sound like in 2025 if they were still making music that was actually good and that I cared about. Harsh toward Behemoth? Yeah, maybe, I guess. But every Behemoth fan should maybe consider jumping ship and getting into Dormant Ordeal, because hot damn is Tooth and Nail a total rager.

I mean, really, I hate to drill down on the Behemoth thing, but Dormant Ordeal just sounds like if Behemoth continued on an upward trajectory after The Satanist. Dormant Ordeal hits hard as hell, thanks in part to drummer Chason Westmoreland of Brand of Sacrifice and Burning the Masses and about 1,000 other bands, because the guy is extremely good at drums, and he deserves to be in the 1,000 other bands, but brutality and technicality and just hard-hitting-ness is not the only game for Dormant Ordeal on this record.

I mean, the riffs on this record are just spine-breakers through and through. Go ahead and put this record on and get through the opener, “Halo of Bones,” and try not to crack a smile at just how heavy and well-written that song is. The riffs are just monsters. Look, Tooth and Nail is just killer. If you’re a fan of bands like Behemoth and Decapitated and Ulcerate and Hate Eternal, you are going to love this.

Tales from a Blistering Paradise by Heaven’s Gate

Heaven’s Gate, the band featuring Tony Foresta of Municipal Waste on vocals, Mike Goo of Warthog on guitar, Jeff Howell of Horsewhip on bass, and Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse on drums, just dropped their debut record, and a lot more people need to be listening to this band.

Tales from a Blistering Paradise sounds exactly like you think that it does, in that it’s a solid mix of Municipal Waste‘s usual thrashiness, but with a more aggressive edge, as in, this is less of a beer-fueled house party and more of a threat from afar. I mean, really, just hit play on this record and get through the first, like, three or four songs, and you’ll see what I mean.

Foresta certainly has his classic yelled vocals happening quite a bit, but he verges on growls and screams a lot on this record. It’s pretty savage. Tales from a Blistering Paradise is hardcore punk, but again, the death metal influence bleeds in quite a bit. This isn’t gonna cause just kind of a thrashy circle pit. This is gonna cause several broken bones and a very sore neck.

Given Foresta and Mazurkiewicz are in bigger bands that are constantly up to touring and recording and all that stuff, I think expecting a Heaven’s Gate tour is probably unreasonable, but if there’s a case to be made for one happening, it certainly is Tales from a Blistering Paradise. I’m practically bruised all over my body just from listening to this thing.