Subscribe to my YouTube channel right here!

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 that 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 purchase, or buy a shirt, or add them to your favorite playlist or whatever the case is. It’s really tough out there for artists and I’m sure that your support means the world. So with that in mind, let’s dive in and discover something new today, yeah?

Chapter XII by Chainsword

Polish death metal band Chainsword is keeping the world of Warhammer 40K alive and well in death metal thanks to their third full-length album, Chapter XII. Chapter XII is an engine of war driven by unyielding double bass, persistent picking, and bellowing vocals that command the entire battlefield. As an added bloody bonus, Chapter XII also features Dopelord guitarist Grzegorz Pavłowski contributing a guest guitar solo to the song “Forsworn,” and Dopelord vocalist Paweł Mioduszewski throwing down some guest vocals on the song “Butcher Horde”.

As for the relevance of Chapter XII to Warhammer 40K, Chainsword said it’s their “first concept album drenched in blood and brutality—diving deep into the lore of Khorne and the World Eaters of Warhammer 40K.” I personally don’t know a damn thing about Warhammer 40K, but that’s never stopped me from listening to Bolt Thrower, and that’s not gonna stop me from listening to Chainsword either. Oh, and in case you’re wondering if an actual chainsword in the world of Warhammer 40K looks cool, it totally does look exactly as cool as you think it does.

Astral Voyager, Vol. 1 by Kal-El

Somehow the Scandinavian countries continue to be the best at desert rock and stoner doom. Norwegian band Kal-El is a prime example of that, especially with their latest record, Astral Voyager, Vol. 1. For every sun-baked rocker you get on this record, you’re getting some mega-spacious stoner doom whose stereo image is roughly the size of the cosmos alongside those rockers. And even better, it’s a sci-fi concept album.

According to Kal-El‘s record label Blues Funeral, Astral Voyager, Vol. 1 “tells the saga of intergalactic bounty hunter Mica, who trades in taking down the scum of the universe while dodging The Nine, a control-obsessed consortium that seeks to dominate her as they do the rest of the cosmos.”

And if you’re wondering about a potential Vol. 2, it’s definitely coming sometime later this year. Neither Kal-El nor Blues Funeral have made any official announcement about a specific release date, but Vol. 1‘s press material notes that Vol. 2 will be out sometime in 2025. In the meantime, I challenge every fan of this type of rock and metal to listen to Vol. 1 and not crack a smile even once. You can’t do it. It’s impossible. It’s too much of a good time.

The End Takes Form by Obstruktion

Gothenburg’s Obstruktion sounds like what would happen if Hatebreed, Earth Crisis, and Obituary got together to make a record. Maybe a little more hardcore than death metal, but who’s gonna get petty about genres when there’s a tornado of fists flying around you?

I had the great pleasure of seeing Obstruktion play Viva Sounds 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and I’m not sure my jaw ever really left the floor. These guys are exactly this vicious live, if not more so than the recording. Still, The End Takes Form captures that belligerence extremely well and should be played at unreasonable volumes. Preferably through whatever big speakers you’ve got at home, and don’t worry about what the neighbors think — they’ll come to love this one eventually.

I’d also like to give a quick shoutout to Obstruktion for ending their record on a 10-minute song called “Born of Contempt”, because it slowly falls away into this distorted disarray that again, was just a really cool writing choice. Because I’ll be honest, when I first saw that, my initial thought was like, “Oh great. Another band with a bunch of short songs ends their record on an EP-length track. Let’s see where this goes.” But that track is totally savage through and through, and is the perfect end to The End Takes Form.

Abhorrent Worship by Ossuary

Before we get into the music on Abhorrent Worship, can we talk about this artwork? Morgan Sorensen doesn’t seem to have very many metal album artworks to his name – so far it’s just this and Dormant Ordeal‘s Tooth And Nail from this year — but I’m really hoping we get to see more of their artwork in metal. Because when Abhorrent Worship got announced, I immediately wanted to like this, just so I could have that Sorensen artwork on vinyl. What a very cool, unique style of art, and what a breath of fresh air in the world of metal album art covers.

Yeah, so a full decade after forming, Wisconsin-based death metal band Ossuary has finally released their debut album Abhorrent Worship. The album follows two demos and an EP, as well as Ossuary finally starting to play live shows a few years back. I’m also guessing the delay for this record has something to do with Ossuary drummer Nick Johnson also being the drummer for massive synth-pop artist Zola Jesus since 2009. So there’s a fun bit of trivia for you.

Outside the long wait and awesome artwork, musically Abhorrent Worship is cavernous death metal that borders on death-doom, but stops a few beats per minute short. Abhorrent Worship also feels meditative in a way. It’s like one of those things that “if everything’s brutal, then nothing’s brutal”, which I really liked about this. It’s just this onslaught of downtuned filth until you’re just kind of one with the grossness. I recommend maybe getting one of those hard hats with the light on top before listening to this one because you are headed deep into the recesses of the earth for this album’s full 37-minute runtime. Make sure you bring food and water.

Psudoktrination by Psudoku

I had never heard Norway’s Psudoku prior to this record and now I’m furiously going through their back catalog trying to catch up on what I missed. The best way to describe it is Psudoku sounds like someone making grindcore while listening to jazz inside a time machine, but the time machine is completely tripping out and just keeps repeating itself.

I especially love that all the vocals on this record have this super metallic echo on them throughout. It makes the already chaotic music sound that much more insane and mimics whatever the aural equivalent of motion is. Maybe Psudoktrination should come with a barf bag or something, because someone’s definitely gonna ruin a couch or a chair while listening to this thing.

This is some pretty next-level grindcore, and I am here for it — presently and retroactively, which might be happening at the same time depending on if the time machine starts working again or not. This record is very confusing, but I really strongly urge you to listen to this whole thing. Just don’t close your eyes. It makes the dizziness worse.

Demo by Visceral Filth

I don’t know what it is about bands from New England that make them sound so angry, but hey here’s another example of that. Massachusetts grindcore band Visceral Filth just dropped their debut demo and it is seething with rage. The instrumental work on this demo is completely limb-shattering, but I’d really like to give a shoutout to Visceral Filth vocalist Felix whose last name doesn’t appear anywhere, and who isn’t credited with being in any other band. This guy just stepped up behind the microphone and unleashed some of the most incendiary, gut-shredding vocals of 2025 out of nowhere.

Visceral Filth‘s debut demo is a must-have for any fan of grind or death metal. The mix and master make each individual component stand out from one another, yet each component is practically entombed in its own grime. So a clean mix that couldn’t be more repulsive if it tried but like, in a good way. Basically, there’s just a bunch of monoliths of filth just standing before you, and you just gotta kind of stand there and take it.