Sunday, January 18, 2026

VULGARIAN ~ Cost Of A Bullet ( 2026 )


Denver sludge skulking back to the formative years of the genre when progressive chords and melodies were something to be sneered at. This is primeval sludge, grooves condensed to neutronium density, pierced by intense rays of phosphorous feedback. 

Everything that made Vulgarian's last Full Length 2023's 'End Stage' so noxious has been amplified with 'Cost Of A Bullet' the toxicity, the anger and hatred, the grind sections of the album have added crust and the sheer leaden weight of doom within this record is enough to make you pray for salvation.

This is part of a message I received from Thomas of Vulgarian. "We've further polarized our sound since the previous release -- the fast parts are faster (including full-on grindcore) and many of the doom metal sections are absolute dirges. Put a lot of effort into a particularly crushing, nasty tone as well."............. 

Well didn't you just my friend, didn't you just!



Saturday, January 17, 2026

ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES ~ 4/1/26 to 15/1/26


 2025 was a vintage year for new underground metal albums plus some classic reissues and the ripples are still washing up against the dank charnel walls of the Anointing The Sick Metal Blog ramparts. But you daren't relax for a minute because 2026 has already exploded into life with tons of new releases already and plenty of incomings ready to detonate onto the scene. Death metal has dominated this first batch of newies, particularly the most brutal kind!

Here are some of the bangers that are making my ears ring and bleed!

~ Wallow In Sickness ~

Giant ~ Beneath The Mountains


Carrion Vael ~ Slay Utterly


Quaoar - Five Friends Floating



Hyperion ~ Cybergenesis

Swarm ~ Air

Bound To Prevail ~ Enthroned in Torment

Deadwood ~ Rituals Of A Dying Light

Nighnacht ~ Limb Service
 
Halflighted ~ Terra Morta


Stranguliatorius ~ Flies Don't Lie

Monday, January 12, 2026

ANOINTING THE SICK ~ Top 20 Releases in 2025

 


It's such a difficult task somehow choosing 20 exceptional albums from a vintage year of incredible extreme underground metal releases. I had a shortlist but the albums I chose could have filled a dozen 'Best of 2025' lists, so I had to be extra disciplined. Stoner in it's various forms dominated my most played but doom and sludge featured regularly also. The scene was saturated with some excellent new death metal albums and my podcast show has played a lot of tech death, however I've come up with three that, although not reinventing the wheel, once I'd finished playing their albums, I felt pretty satisfied with what the bands had acheived.

I'm happy with the top 20 I've ended up with and I hope there is something in here that helps you  discover a gem you may have missed.

CRIMSON STORM ~ Livin' on the Bad Side
SWEETBEAST ~ Illusions
KLASTOS ~ Born to Ruin
KIRITSIS ~ Kiritsis
BURDEN OF DESPAIR ~ Confutatis

 Behölder ~  In The Temple Of The Tyrant
https://beholderdoom.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-temple-of-the-tyrant

BIRDWITCH ~ bless the spark that found its home
THE CHRIS ROLLING SQUAD ~ Damn You All To...Hell
AFGHAN HAZE ~ Sermons of Filth and Disgust
HIBERNAUT ~ Obsidian Eye
Heidrún ~ Entropía
BIRDS OF NAZCA ~ Pangaea
BLACK CHARGER ~ Small Town
PALE HORSE RITUAL ~ Diabolic Formation
DARAH ~ Holier Than Thou
TRIA PRIMA ~ The Mortificatio
THE BATELEURS - A Light In The Darkness
TURTLE SKULL ~ Being Here
CRYPTIC PROCESS ~ Gulps
AZELL ~ Astralis



You can download and check each band out here

Saturday, January 3, 2026

ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES ~ 20/12/25 to 3/1/26


It's been very quiet here at the Anointing The Sick Metal Blog Mausoleum but, even though there was relative calm in the extreme metal underground leading up to and beyond Xmas, half a dozen new releases captured my attention. 2026 promises a blistering start but in the meantime please give these bands a listen. They're worth it!

Wallow In Sickness

Wednesday, December 31, 2025

ANOINTING THE SICK DIRTY 30 ~ Death Metal Volume 5


 Here's something to evaporate any remaining festive cheer. 30 tracks from 30 death metal bands of all levels of depravity. Volume 4 contained a few melodic death metal songs but volume 5 is a full on relentless assault on your hearing. Download and take the pain!

Abrasive https://rebirththemetalproductions.bandcamp.com/album/abrasive-edge-of-darkness

Bastard Priest https://bastardpriest.bandcamp.com/album/ghouls-of-the-endless-night

Cambion https://lavadome.bandcamp.com/album/conflagrate-the-celestial-refugium

Dark Reflection https://grindtodeathrecords.bandcamp.com/album/everlasting-night

Ectoplasma https://ectoplasma187.bandcamp.com/album/inferna-kabbalah

False Leaders https://falseleaders.bandcamp.com/album/depts

The Generals https://thegenerals2.bandcamp.com/album/to-hell

Harsh Realm https://harshrealm.bandcamp.com/album/death-carries-on

Ill Reasoning https://illreasoning.bandcamp.com/album/ill-reasoning

Just Before Dawn https://chaos-records.bandcamp.com/album/the-aftermath

Kaligula https://brutalmind.bandcamp.com/album/doctrination-of-atisamdha

Larvae ( U.S ) https://larvae.bandcamp.com/album/entitled-to-death

Maceration https://maceration.bandcamp.com/album/a-serenade-of-agony-2022-remaster

Necro Chaos https://necrochaos666.bandcamp.com/album/spiral-of-obscurity

Obscene https://obscenedeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/agony-wounds

Pandrador https://paganrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sei-r

Question https://question-chaos-records.bandcamp.com/album/reflections-of-the-void

Rageful https://rageful.bandcamp.com/album/ineptitude

Sadism https://sadismau.bandcamp.com/album/the-ocularis-domination

Temple Of Dagon https://templeofdagon.bandcamp.com/album/rituals-of-the-deep

Unborn Prophecy 

Vallenfyre https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/album/fear-those-who-fear-him-24-bit-hd-audio

Warside https://warside1.bandcamp.com/album/the-enemy-inside

Xoth https://xoth.bandcamp.com/album/exogalactic

Yatra https://yatradeath.bandcamp.com/album/born-into-chaos

Zealot Cult https://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/spiritual-sickness

Abscess https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/album/horrorhammer

Bastard Son https://bastardson.bandcamp.com/album/devils-mask

Camera Obscura Two https://selfmadegod.bandcamp.com/album/d-o-d

Darkapathy https://darkapathy.bandcamp.com/album/condemned-in-black

** DOWNLOAD HERE**



Saturday, December 20, 2025

ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES ~ 9/12/25 - 19/12/25


 I know that best of 2025 lists are appearing but this month still has gems waiting to be unearthed. Here are some recent treasures that you should be checking out and adding to those 'Best Of' lists.

New albums by ~

Lady Luna and the Devil

https://ladylunaandthedevil.bandcamp.com/album/vampiric-visions-vol-ii-living-death

Sunday Of The Dead

https://sundayofthedead1.bandcamp.com/album/memento-moribundis

Lust Of Decay

https://comatosemusic.bandcamp.com/album/entombed-in-sewage

Sacred Leather 

https://sacredleather.bandcamp.com/album/keep-the-fire-burning

Frost Finger

https://frostfinger.bandcamp.com/album/feeding-dreams-2

Rotten Sound 

https://rottensound.bandcamp.com/album/mass-extinction

Black Bomber

https://violenceintheveins.bandcamp.com/album/heading-to-hell

Pak40

https://invertedgrim-millrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/superfortress

Tenebro 

https://tenebrohorror.bandcamp.com/album/tenebro-una-lama-dargento

Phantom Corporation 

https://phantomcorporation.bandcamp.com/album/time-and-tide

Macabre Manifesto

https://pathologicallyexplicit.bandcamp.com/album/macabre-manifesto-at-night-in-the-graveyard

Death From Above

https://greatdanerecords.bandcamp.com/album/reckoning-of-the-damned

Zorn aka The Men Of Hell

https://zornakathemenofhell.bandcamp.com/album/the-return-of-the-gods

Abysmal Grief

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/taetra-philosophia

Sator

https://dusktone.bandcamp.com/album/the-dying-light

King Heavy

https://witchesbrewthrashes.bandcamp.com/album/atlantic-reborn

Neckbreaker

https://witchesbrewthrashes.bandcamp.com/album/mental-void

Black Rabbit 

https://blackrabbitnl.bandcamp.com/album/warren-of-necrosis-2

House By The Cemetary

https://pulverised.bandcamp.com/album/disturbing-the-cenotaph

Giant Lungs

https://giantlungs1.bandcamp.com/album/praise-the-laze

Friday, December 12, 2025

BIRDS OF NAZCA ~ Pangaea ( 2025 )


Bolstered by a punishing mix of colossal stoner doom, 'Pangaea' by French guitar / drum duo Birds Of Nazca is a sonic soundbite of tectonic plates crunching into one another. Punishing drums and moist, Doom riffs, sodden with fuzz forms the basis of what is possibly the band's heaviest album to date. 

A lack of vocals is something that would normally put me off listening to an album but there are so many variations of sound and tempo within  Pangaea that it took me a while to notice and by then I was completely sold on it. I love the contrast between the density of doom, the grooviness of stoner rock and the interludes of cosmic, almost Krautish psych.

Pangaea is an interstellar journey between genres, abundant with incident and wonder, I was totally captivated by it.