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

https://crimsonstorm.bandcamp.com/album/livin-on-the-bad-side

SWEETBEAST ~ Illusions

https://sweetbeastrock.bandcamp.com/album/illusions

KLASTOS ~ Born to Ruin

https://klastosklastos.bandcamp.com/album/born-to-ruin

KIRITSIS ~ Kiritsis

https://kiritsis.bandcamp.com/album/kiritsis

BURDEN OF DESPAIR ~ Confutatis

https://burdenofdespair.bandcamp.com/album/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

https://birdwitch.bandcamp.com/album/bless-the-spark-that-found-its-home

THE CHRIS ROLLING SQUAD ~ Damn You All To...Hell

https://chrisrolling.bandcamp.com/album/damn-you-all-to-hell

AFGHAN HAZE ~ Sermons of Filth and Disgust

https://afghanhaze.bandcamp.com/album/sermons-of-filth-and-disgust

HIBERNAUT ~ Obsidian Eye

https://hibernaut.bandcamp.com/album/obsidian-eye

Heidrún ~ Entropía

https://heidrunmx.bandcamp.com/album/entrop-a

BIRDS OF NAZCA ~ Pangaea

https://birdsofnazca.bandcamp.com/album/pangaea

BLACK CHARGER ~ Small Town

https://blackcharger.bandcamp.com/album/small-town

PALE HORSE RITUAL ~ Diabolic Formation

https://palehorseritual.bandcamp.com/album/diabolic-formation

DARAH ~ Holier Than Thou

https://underground-syndicate.bandcamp.com/album/darah-holier-than-thou

TRIA PRIMA ~ The Mortificatio

https://triaprimaua.bandcamp.com/album/the-mortificatio

THE BATELEURS - A Light In The Darkness

https://thebateleurs.bandcamp.com/album/a-light-in-the-darkness

TURTLE SKULL ~ Being Here

https://turtleskullmusic.bandcamp.com/album/being-here

CRYPTIC PROCESS ~ Gulps

https://crypticprocess.bandcamp.com/album/gulps-5

AZELL ~ Astralis

https://azellrr.bandcamp.com/album/astralis

You can download and check each band out here

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

Shadows Taller Than Souls https://stts.bandcamp.com/album/ouroboros

Castigation https://maximamusicpro.bandcamp.com/album/castigation-messiah

Pythonic https://pythonic.bandcamp.com/album/decomposition

Easy Death https://easydeathband.bandcamp.com/album/easy-death

Taedifer https://archaic-sound.bandcamp.com/album/indivinus

Dead Sun https://roggajohansson.bandcamp.com/album/this-life-is-a-grave

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**

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

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.

ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES ~ 27/11/25 To 8/12/25

 

The very best of the recent new releases. Some killer death metal albums proving that this genre is anything but stale. As always I've also highlighted 'must haves' from the realm of stoner/thrash and doom.

~ Wallow In Sickness ~

Victim Of Reality

https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat411-victim-of-reality-the-dump-of-human-hopes-2025

Mayzel

https://defenserecords.bandcamp.com/album/mayzel-pathetic-existence

Burning Death

https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/self-titled-6

Vast Pyre

https://vastpyre.bandcamp.com/album/ii-bleak

Sons Of Hades

https://sonsofhades.bandcamp.com/album/tombs-of-the-blind-dead

Skogscult

https://skogskult.bandcamp.com/album/skogskult  

Hexjakt

https://hexjakt.bandcamp.com/track/monolith

Blood Red Throne

https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/siltskin

Sepulchral

https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/beneath-the-shroud

Indigosaur

https://evrecords.bandcamp.com/album/indigosaur-cosmic-censor

Phobocosm

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gateway

Depression

https://depression-deathgrind.bandcamp.com/album/das-monument-dcd

Palm Desert

https://palmdesert.bandcamp.com/album/rays-of-the-gold-and-grays

Carnal Savagery

https://carnalsavagery.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-decay

Those Who Bring The Torture

https://ironbloodanddeath.bandcamp.com/album/miscreant-world

Pale Horse Ritual

https://palehorseritual.bandcamp.com/album/diabolic-formation

Sun Empress

https://sunempress.bandcamp.com/album/still-life

Black Magic Tree

https://blackmagictree.bandcamp.com/album/terra

Thermality

https://thermalitysweden.bandcamp.com/album/concept-42

Fessus

https://fessusdarknessshallrise.bandcamp.com/album/subcutaneous-tomb

Cryptic Process

https://cryptofdrgore.bandcamp.com/album/gulps

Malefic Throne

https://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-conquering-darkness

King Cruel

https://kingcruel.bandcamp.com/album/sky-eater

Victim  

https://victim666.bandcamp.com/album/nuclear-nightmare-2

ANOINTING THE SICK #246 ~ Lying In The Shadow Of The Tombstone

Underground metal mayhem in the latest Anointing The Sick Metal Blog show 'Lying Under The Shadow Of The Tombstone' starting with the epic traditional doom of Astral Sleep and ending with a further two doom tracks from Pale Horse Ritual and Isole. This weeks 'Dose Of Death' features 3 tracks of quite different death metal bands Demiurgus, Acid Death and Tria Prima.

*Edit*

Heartfelt sympathy to the guys of Kelevra who have recently lost a much loved band member Adrienne Mahoney R.I.P

Astral Sleep

Novichok

Mutilated By Zombies

Kollapse

Kelevra

Cell Press

Black Charger

Pesta

Darath

Octotanker

Dead Hits                       * Free Download (BC)

Demiurgus

Acid Death

Tria Prima

Pale Horse Ritual

Isole

**DOWNLOAD THE SHOW HERE**