Succumb - XXI (2021)

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SHOM has been keeping a finger on the pulse of San Fran's Succumb since their debut record in 2017 which (like this album) saw its release made possible from the consummate and enigmatic The Flenser—which in my books, is a breath of fresh air in a saturated world of music where sterility and originality are celebrated and touted.

I digress, XXI picks up right where it's 4-year old predecessor left off: Down a serpentining pit of crust, grind and death metal with a sound that encompasses a lurching energy which simultaneously feels unique and familiar—Not much parsing needs to be done to hear a broad musical soundscape that harkens back to Converge, Gorguts, Mitochondrion, Caustic Wound, with tinges of Disfear.

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This album is going to end the year in high ranking with me… I think for all intents and purposes, this record is flawless. You've got to be bent to not get the appeal, brutish ferocity and whirling doom packed into 30+ minutes of abyssal death metal.

Succumb - XXI (bandcamp)

Nocturnal Graves - An Outlaw's Stand (2022)

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Following up a Melbourne release with another Melbourne release albeit with significantly different soundscapes and ethos—but all the same, I maintain that Australia has one of the most banging music scenes going on at the moment.

Nocturnal Graves is just pure unfettered worship for all things thrash and black metal and all the muck and mire in-between this ilk. We've got a one track (very early) teaser to go off of for the upcoming album, An Outlaw's Stand, and it's what you'd probably expect out of these guys; bestial energy pulsating through a barrage of blackened thrash with emphasis on a greased-up tempo and ruining your day.

Nocturnal Graves - An Outlaw's Stand (bandcamp)

Michael Beach - Dream Violence (2021)

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Australia is an absolute uncontested hotbed in the realm of toothy rock and roll and Michael Beach is just yet another fish in the pond of energetic and woollen post-punk from Melbourne. Angular guitars pervade through a post-punk sentimentality that isn't at all afraid to traverse the sonic highways of a multitude of different genres and ideas, experimenting between tracks that harken to The Velvet Underground, Joy Division, Solid Space, Nick Cave and even a track in 'You Know Life Is Cheap' that sounds like something Timber Timbre would write with its wobbly bayou dirge. 

Michael Beach - Dream Violence (bandcamp)

Skourge - Hardcore Up Your Ass (2021) [EP]

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New Skourge EP is right up my alley! Nothing new being invented here, in fact it's more of a regurgitation of things already out there  (I mean this in a positive way), because it is a mish-mash of all that good stuff in the early 90's—Exxxtremely heavy and up your ass hardcore with half a foot in the early metal scene of thrash. A pivot from the production of 'Spiritual Disrepair', trading in murkiness for a bit more bottom-end and heft? Make sense? Doesn't matter. 'Spiritual Disrepair' is very worth your time, to say the least.

I can't find a damn thing anywhere on this album except the album uploaded on YouTube.