SARIN ~ Sarin (2022)

This is the Midwestern US version of Sarin and their first, self titled, full length album has turned cruelty into an art form. It's a full blown assault of  feedback laced deathcore, all rampant rhythm and devastating hardcore style crunchy breakdowns, some of which trample into sludge territory and topped off with a thick layer of crust.

NOTHINGNESS ~ Supraliminal (2023)

Chamelionic death metal from Minneapolis. This is the bands second album following on from the excellent The Hollow Gaze Of Death and is even more gloriously chaotic. Riffs assault the eardrums with frenzied abandon, sometimes black, sometimes doom, always devastating, connected by warped, deformed, progressive death metal influences.

This is one of those rare death metal albums that somehow manages to weave complex, nightmarish structures without losing an ounce of brutality

DREAD WITCH ~ Tower Of The Severed Serpent (2023)

Dread Witch was formed in 2022 in Aarhus, Denmark by Andreas Cadaver of stoner metal act Stone Cadaver on guitars, bass, and keys, Mikael Rise of tech metal outfit Scamp on vocals, and Dennis Larsen, formerly of Olm, on drums.

Six tracks of skin crawling doom sludge aural abuse, crushing the megalith with riffs of  gravitational force and neutronium density.

I detect a leaning towards and beyond Triptycon at their heaviest especially in the opening track 'The Tower' but what makes Tower Of The Severed Serpent extra special is when the band occasionally transcends the oppressive gloom and launches a passage of stoner doom groove before once again succumbing to tyrannical sludge doom dissonance.

HORRID SIGHT ~ Evil Made Flesh (2022)

The last track 'Somber Dust' has just finished and I feel like I've been mauled by a pack of wolves then fed through an industrial cheese grater! This is an album of relentless fury and death/thrash savagery. Most of the tracks are between four and six minutes long which is perfect for allowing wailing, screeching solos to waltz with excoriating riffs in various merciless tempos.

I wish I had persevered with a 'best of' list for 2022 as 'Evil Made Flesh' by Mexican band Horrid Sight would most certainly have occupied a place within it.