Jungle Rot - A Call to Arms (2022)

A Call to Arms is released by Unique Leader Records, but this is definitely an old-school album, the eleventh from Jungle Rot, an American band formed in 1992. They play a death/thrash/hardcore crossover (no, not metalcore nor deathcore, more like Obituary meets Agnostic Front and Kreator). It's all about raw mid-tempo grooves. Done with a lifelong mastery. A solid, enjoyable, and again, old-school album. 

 

The BC page

 

Cytotoxin - Nuklearth (2020)

Nuklearth is the fourth album (released by Unique Leader Records) from Cytotoxin and one of the best technical brutal death album I heard recently (will be in my "best of 2020" list for metal). It grabs the listener's attention and keep it throughout, excellent song after excellent song. Maybe not the most spectacular of the technical bands, but one of the very best thanks to their superior songwriting skills. Highly recommended!

The BC page.

 

Katalepsy - Terra Mortuus Est (2020)

With their new album Terra Mortuus Est, Russian death metallers Katalepsy went one step further in their evolution towards a more well-rounded, sophisticated and technical death metal, keeping their brutal groove mastery but keeping on developing the tech death elements and the songwriting skills for more balanced songs. In my opinion the result is really convincing, giving birth to one of the most memorable death metal album for 2020, with a very powerful combination of brutal/slam and technical shredding culminating in moments where it gets close to the kind of imposing presence that could be felt in Morbid Angel or Nile albums, with the means of modern death metal. Heavily and brutally recommended!   

  

The BC page.

Exocrine - Molten Giant (2018)

All the praises this album is receiving is deserved. Molten Giant, released with Unique Leader records is the third, and best album of the French Exocrine. This is high quality brutal and technical death metal, somewhere between Morbid Angel and Obscura. Not only good riffing and grooves and nice leads but also well-written memorable songs that are catchy yet brutal. Really good stuff.

The Bandcamp page.