{"id":191902,"date":"2025-09-01T16:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/191902\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T16:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:40:12","slug":"records-o-the-month-august-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/191902\/","title":{"rendered":"Record(s) o’ the Month – August 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

I said last month (well, last week, but who\u2019s counting) that everything had been leading to that point. That\u2019s true, because I was so stoked to make Calva Louise<\/strong><\/a> the Record o\u2019 the Month for July<\/a> in a somewhat relevant fashion that I did a mad dash to get that out before they were off to their tour in the USA<\/a>. And then I was left there, feeling empty. I had worked so hard. I had come so far. But in the end, I wondered if it really even mattered. In my malaise, I turned to August releases. And realized something: \u00abNo, Doctor Metalero Enojado<\/strong>\u00bb, me dije, \u00aba\u00fan no todo est\u00e1 perdido. Ahora puedes subir el\/los Disco(s) del Mes a tiempo. Y as\u00ed les cierras la boca a todos esos progres llorones de los comentarios para que sepan qui\u00e9n manda.\u00bb Said differently\u2026<\/p>\n

WE DID IT! WE\u2019RE #1! WE\u2019RE #1! USA! USA! USA! USA! BOOORTLES!!!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Angry Metal Guy<\/strong> didn\u2019t yet exist when I got into In Mourning<\/strong>. In 2008, I got caught in the hype machine for a little record called Shrouded Divine. Following its release in 2008, the band went through a period when it felt like they were still establishing an identity, but in recent years, In Mourning<\/strong> has been on a low-key tear. While both 2019\u2019s Garden of Storms<\/a> and 2021\u2019s The Bleeding Veil<\/a> were very good records, In Mourning<\/strong> has outdone themselves on The Immortal<\/a> [Bandcamp<\/a>], which was released August 29th, 2025, from Supreme Chaos Records. Without mincing words, The Immortal is clearly the band\u2019s best record since its debut, and I would submit that it\u2019s the best melodeath record since Insomnium<\/strong>\u2019s Winter\u2019s Gate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When faced with an exceptional record, it can sometimes be difficult to explain exactly why it\u2019s exceptional. The melodies are beautiful and rich, hitting you right in the feels whether carried by voice (\u201cSilver Crescent\u201d) or on trem-picked guitars (\u201cAs Long as the Twilight Stays\u201d). The riffs are punishing with a good balance of chug (\u201cThe Sojourner\u201d) and trem (\u201cStaghorn\u201d), resulting in something that alternates between death and black in feel, if not in orthodoxy. These slight evolutions of sound help to keep In Mourning<\/strong>\u2019s approach fresh, but it\u2019s here that the dark matter of composition can be deduced, but not directly observed. None of this is totally novel in the band\u2019s sound. But sometimes shit just works. There\u2019s a lot of work that goes into writing. And no matter how good you are, not every minor key melody you write is going to be a tear-jerker, not every chunky riff is going to be quite as hooky or head-bangable as others, not every closer is going to be a Song o\u2019 the Year candidate like \u201cThe Hounding\u201d. But sometimes, you just keep rolling natural 20s.<\/p>\n

The Immortal feels like one of those records blessed by the Metal Gods. Things that aren\u2019t so different from what has gone before, but it all just hits a little harder. This makes The Immortal unquestionably one of the best records released in 2025, and everyone around here agrees with Kenstrosity<\/strong>\u2019s eminently reasonable\u2014arguably even understated\u2014take that \u201cwith The Immortal, In Mourning<\/strong> further solidifies its status as an elite act in the melodeath pantheon.\u201d The Immortal is on par with the best records in the genre, and \u201cyou owe it to yourself to hear it.\u201d I think he underrated it.<\/p>\n

Runner(s) Up:<\/p>\n

\"\"Blackbraid<\/strong> \/\/ Blackbraid III<\/a> [August 8th, 2025 | Self-release | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Black metal is not an easy genre to make vital in the Year of Angry Metal Overlord 2025. But Blackbraid<\/strong> has a sound that feels vital. There\u2019s a no bullshit intensity that Sgah\u2019gahsow\u00e1h brings with III\u2019s blast beats, croaks, and the trem-picked wall of sound that brings me back to falling in love with Emperor<\/strong>. Like the very best black metal, however, Blackbraid<\/strong> is not afraid of dropping into groove and synchronized-guitar-swing-friendly riffing that makes the blasts hit harder. There\u2019s also something undeniably slick about Blackbraid<\/strong>. Digging through the potential standout albums from August, I kept coming back to III, because it gives me the things that I love about black metal: the intensity, the feel, the Ulver<\/strong>esque atmosphere without the obvious plagiarism<\/a>. And it accomplishes this while avoiding the traps of so many modern black metal bands. As Doom_et_al<\/strong> so aptly summed it up: \u201cBlackbraid III is everything a fan of either the band or this style of music could want. Like the land that inspires it, it is infused with violence and beauty and complexity. But it\u2019s the ability to combine these disparate concepts with epic scope and intense vulnerability that sets it apart.\u201d Say what you will, Blackbraid III is a real accomplishment.<\/p>\n

\"\"Farseer <\/strong>\/\/ Portals to Cosmic Womb<\/a> [August 22nd 2025 | Self-release | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Farseer<\/strong> has its roots in stoner and sludge, and my eyes just shut of their own accord while I wrote that. So, it should come as no surprise to you that a self-released stoner\/sludge release didn\u2019t exactly jump off the page at me when reading about it. But thanks to some fine writing by Tyme<\/strong> and a well-placed bundle of cash in my freezer, I gave Portals to Cosmic Womb another listen. And another listen. And another listen. Turns out, these cats have some riffs in them. When their soupy riffs hit, they hit with the kind of splat that kills<\/a>. Portals to Cosmic Womb has a drive that adds life to the thick guitar sound and the not-particularly-complex riffs, and for 39 minutes, it holds the listener in its grip without breaking a sweat. Our very own Tyme<\/strong> waxed poetic about Portals to Cosmic Womb, writing, \u201cFarseer<\/strong> basting in their creative juices over the past six years has resulted in a vastly improved product, as Portals to Cosmic Womb shatters any notions of a sophomore slump. As if constructed from a blueprint of Opeth<\/strong>ic design, Farseer<\/strong> crafted Portals to Cosmic Womb with a near effortless flow. Its six songs\u2014spanning a very manageable forty minutes\u2014find Farseer<\/strong> merging the best parts of meandering instrumentals into rock-solid compositions that, like spring and neap tides, rise and fall with dramatic intensity.\u201d Yeah, he\u2019s saying it\u2019s really good, y\u2019all. Keep up!<\/p>\n

\"\"Anchorite<\/strong> \/\/ Realm of Ruin<\/a> [August 1st, 2025 | Personal Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Anchorite<\/strong> is one of those bands that I shouldn\u2019t be expected to like. The blues-infused doom roots here are strong, and yet, Realm of Ruin makes a surprisingly convincing case for itself. As is often the case when working with doom metal, the vocalist tends to drive whether a band is good or bad. In this case, Leo Stivala does a great job of balancing the aesthetics of Metal Voice\u2122 and actually being able to sing with power. He\u2019s got a pretty keen sense for melody, and his performance stands out. With that in place, Anchorite<\/strong>\u2019s riffmeisters get to work writing a solid post-Candlemass<\/strong> doom that hits a place in my sadboi soul when I listen to it. And yet, part of what makes Realm of Ruin work is that it\u2019s also surprisingly immediate at times. There\u2019s a vibe like US power metal or thrash metal that suffuses the whole album, and with its unique production\u2014that snare drum actually feels punchy, guys, so that\u2019s weird\u2014and its idiosyncratic songwriting, it all starts to feel special. Serial overrater and all-around softy Steely D<\/strong> put it like this: \u201cRealm of Ruin is one of those albums you enjoy on the first go-through, and with each spin, it reveals more of itself until you\u2019re fully submerged in the band\u2019s craftwork. Anchorite<\/strong> has writing chops, and Realm of Ruin is an immersive stroll through the ruins with moments of genuine brilliance and grandeur.\u201d So, there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I said last month (well, last week, but who\u2019s counting) that everything had been leading to that point.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":191903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1444,70324,70326,107263,107264,107265,171,107266,107267,107268,107269,975,107270,70333,107271,89881,89882,107272,107273,67,132,68,107274],"class_list":{"0":"post-191902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1444","9":"tag-anchorite","10":"tag-aug25","11":"tag-blackbraid","12":"tag-blackbraid-iii","13":"tag-blog-posts","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-farseer","16":"tag-garden-of-storms","17":"tag-in-mourning","18":"tag-insomnium","19":"tag-music","20":"tag-portals-to-cosmic-womb","21":"tag-realm-of-ruin","22":"tag-record-o-the-month","23":"tag-records-o-the-month","24":"tag-records-of-the-month","25":"tag-the-bleeding-veil","26":"tag-the-immortal","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-winters-gate"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}