Grotesque Digest - Week 40, 2025
Your weekly extreme metal release roundup
If the name hasn’t given it away yet, we at Grotesque Digest like to keep things at a steady level of..gross during all seasons, but welcome to official creepy time, precious viewers. When a band named “Frosted Undergrowth” appears in the new releases column, you know things are about to get icy (bad pun intended).
Are you haunted by spooky ghosts? Hooded Menace are, or maybe they are the spooky ghosts… Regardless, the masters of epic death-doom are back with a tribute to the wailing melodies of trad doom like Trouble, accentuated by thick riffs and roars of agony (Nex says “kitschy” but I say pppllplplffft). There’s a smorgasbord of black metal to sift through this week, with standard adjective-less fare in Inritvm and Ereminium, both fierce, ripping blades of different shapes and serrations. Gorycz prove Poland’s experiments with the black metal formula still produce excellent results, mixing jangly pop stylings with choice dissonance and blackened swells. This is what Ulver would sound like if they hadn’t abandoned the BM entirely, methinks.
-Ryan
In our commitment to be as fastidious as possible with our research, we’ve checked more than 70 releases over the past few days. While October is stacked with great music, promising new works by both beloved veterans and exciting newcomers (see above), most of what came out this week sadly fell short.
Standing out from the substantial pile of rather middling black, death, and - most of all - black-death albums starting this grossly commercialized-to-the-bone season are Umulamahri, who delivered a daring piece of slightly avant, synth-ridden death metal with their debut EP, and Suffering Hour’s Impelling Rebirth. Breath by Außerwelt was an unexpected, if minor, highlight, and will likely be your jam if posty black or blackened post sound like a good time to you. My final shout-out for the week goes to Dispossessed, who spewed out a truly heavy-weight album from the death-doomy sludge realm.
The singles section is a bit on the light side this week, but not devoid of bangers. Among others, there’s tantalizing teasers from the likes of Qrixkuor, Binah (!), and Moral Implant for you to digest.
-Nex
Inritvm - Ex nihilo ad nihilum
🇫🇷 Black Metal
Frosted Undergrowth - Unchained
🇩🇪 Black Metal
Ereminium - Skickelse
🇸🇪 Black Metal
Achathras - A Darkness of the Ancient Past
❓ Melodic / Symphonic Black Metal
Außerwelt - Breath
🇩🇪 Atmospheric Black Metal / Post-Metal
Consummatio - Circulus
🇵🇹 Atmospheric Black Metal
Hangatyr - Sumpf der Fäule
🇩🇪 Atmospheric Black Metal
Nidernes / Candelabrum - Elegies for the Radiance Lost [Split]
🇵🇹 / 🇵🇹 (Melodic) Black Metal / Dungeon Synth | Atmospheric Black Metal / Dungeon Synth
Gorycz - Zasypia
🇵🇱 Post- / Avant-Garde Black Metal
Condenados - Condenados
🇪🇸 OS Blackthrash
Ofermod - Drakosophia
🇸🇪 Deathened Black Metal
Baalberith - We Are the Infernal
🇬🇧 Deathy Black Metal
Suffering Hour - Impelling Rebirth [EP]
🇺🇸 Dissonant Black / Death Metal
Wode - Uncrossing the Keys
🇬🇧 Black / Death Metal
Unsouling - Outward Streams of Devotional Woe
🇺🇸 Atmospheric / Experimental Black / Death Metal
Church of Insects - Church of Insects [Demo]
🇲🇽 OSDM
Devoid of Thought - Necrotic Surface Discarded [Early upload]
🇮🇹 OSDM w/ Tech, Death Doom & Prog bits
Ephemeral - Envisaged Human Collapse
🇺🇸 HC-infused OSDM
Ripping Remains - Necrodestiny [EP]
🇺🇸 OSDM / Deathgrind
Ruineum - Urn Burial [Demo]
🇸🇰 OSDM
Galge - Dødelig
🇩🇰 Excursive Proggy Modern (Death) Metal
Enragement - Extinguish All Existence
🇫🇮 Modern Brutal Death Metal
Umulamahri - Learning the Secrets of Acid
🇺🇸 Avant-Garde / Dissonant Death Metal
Dispossessed - Dêmocide
🇺🇸 Death Doom / Sludge Metal
Hooded Menace - Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
🇫🇮 Epic Death Doom Metal
Breathe//Die - Gestalt
🇩🇪 Death Metal / Hardcore / Powerviolence
Corpse Pile - In the Beginning… [EP]
🇺🇸 Slam
Constrict - Kadavergehorsam [EP]
🇩🇪 Deathgrind
Fermented Mess- Fermented Mess [EP]
🇺🇸 Grindcore
Gorotica - Daily Grind of the Medieval Age
🇦🇺 Deathgrind
Sutratma - Adrift
🇺🇸 Funeral Doom Metal w/ some Death Doom
Cranial - Structures
🇩🇪 Droning Post- / Atmospheric Sludge Metal
Beneath the Kudzu - Birds Sing As the World Crumbles
🇺🇸 Progressive Sludge / Post-Metal
Tempered - Cruel & Unusual Punishment
🇬🇧 Crossover Thrash / Hardcore
Struck a Nerve - Struck a Nerve
🇬🇧 Thrash Metal / Hardcore
Smohalla - Ruina draconis
🇫🇷 Blackened Progressive / Avant-Garde Metal
Hot Singles in Your Area
Vacua - Dies Funeris Terrae
Mater | November 7th | Hidden Marly
🇮🇹 Black Metal / Post-Punk
One of Nine - Quest of the Silmaril
Dawn of the Iron Shadow | October 31st | Profound Lore
🇺🇸 Medieval Melodic Black Metal
Sunken - Glædesfærd
Lykke | October 24th | Eisenwald
🇩🇰 Atmospheric Black Metal
Qrixkuor - Slithering Serendipity
The Womb of the World | November 7th | Dark Descent
🇬🇧 Avant-Doomy Black / Death Metal
1914 - 1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl)
Viribus unitis | November 14th | Napalm
🇺🇦 Blackened Death / Doom Metal
Moral Implant - Obsecrate
Delusion | November 14th | Caligari
🇵🇱 Blackened Death Metal
Liquid Rot - Feathers and Flesh
Tortuous Horrors Await Vol.3 | October 31st | Iron Fortress
🇮🇹 OSDM
Binah - Mount Morphine
Ónkos | October 31st | Osmose
🇬🇧 All-encompassing Death Metal
Depravity - Call to the Fallen
Bestial Possession | November 21st | Transcending Obscurity
🇦🇺 Death Metal
Infrahumano - Battalion of Darkness
Depths of Suffering | October 31st | Lavadome
🇪🇸 Death Metal
Insidius - Orgiastic Official
Vulgus illustrata | November 7th | Black Lion
🇵🇱 Death Metal
Vile - The Eternal Opponent
Self-released
🇺🇸 (Technical) Death Metal
Warmarshal - The Diseased
Self-released
🇮🇳 Thrashy Death Metal
Lust of Decay - Nourishing the Swine
Entombed in Sewage | December 12th | Comatose
🇺🇸 Brutal Death Metal
Analepsy - Doomsday Protocol
Self-released
🇵🇹 Slam
Dwelling Below - Sacraments
Wearisome Guardians | October 31st | Transcending Obscurity
🇺🇸 Death Doom Metal
Terror Corpse - Sons of Perdition
Ash Eclipses Flesh | November 21st | Dark Descent
🇺🇸 OSDM
Frontierer - The Collapse (Redux)
Self-released
🇬🇧 Mathcore
Speed - Ain’t My Game
All My Angels | October 23rd | Last Ride / Flatspot
🇦🇺 Hardcore
Drofnosura - The Well of Seven Heads
Ritual of Split Tongues | October 24th | Transcending Obscurity
🇨🇦 Blackened Sludge / Post
Speedclaw - Allnighter
Stardust | November 21st | Dying Victims
🇭🇷 Speed / Heavy Metal
We’re certain you’ll find something in your brand of disturbing to keep you warm and cozy for the coming nights, and we’ll strive to keep you informed of all the best options! Until next time on…
 | A guest post by
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Interesting album by Inritvm, which includes members with many years of experience in the scene of France