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Album Review – Unearthly Rites / Tortural Symphony of the Flesh (2026)

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Delivering filthy, mold-ridden Death Metal, this Finnish brigade explicitly calls for action in defense of nature and the rights of ethnic, gender and sexual minorities in their breathtaking new album.

Delivering filthy, mold-ridden Death Metal deeply rooted in the muddy sewers of the Finnish DIY Punk Rock and Hardcore scene, Finland’s own horde Unearthly Rites is unleashing another slab of raw old school Death Metal, Grindcore, and Crust in their sophomore album, titled Tortural Symphony of the Flesh. Presenting a total meltdown of nature, humanity, and machine, and of transgression, lust and power, the follow-up to their 2024 album Ecdysis advances the band’s crushing riffs and characteristically moldy grimness toward a more malicious and brutal soundscape, documenting the atrocities of capitalist society while also explicitly calling for action in defense of nature and the rights of ethnic, gender and sexual minorities, all masterfully crafted by Sisli (they/them) on vocals, Simo (he/him) and Santtu (he/him) on the guitars, Jennika (she/her) on bass, and Tapio (he/him) on drums.

The opening track Tuonen tulijat, manan menijät, or “those who come here, those who go there” from Finnish, already presents the trademark low-tuned, evil sounds blasted by the band, blending their core sonority with sheer Doom Metal, followed by Sokli Fields Forever / A Radiative Picnic, a primeval form of Death Metal where Sisli’s guttural is not recommended for the lighthearted so demonic it sounds. Simo and Santtu, supported by the rumbling bass by the she-demon Jennika, offer an overdose of wrath and darkness in Solstice, as doomed and vile as it can be; whereas A Stygian Winterscape is an atmospheric interlude that could have been slightly shorter to keep the vibe of the album more incendiary, setting the stage for the band to kill in Tortural Symphony of the Flesh, with Simo and Santtu giving a lecture in insanity with their caustic riffs and sick solos while Sisli keeps barking in the name of darkness.

Ignis fatuus, the elusive blue flames also known as a “Will-o’-the-Wisp” or “corpse-candle,” a glowing atmospheric phenomenon which has a reputation for causing mischief and even death, is the perfect title for a song by Unearhtly Rites, with the music transpiring the mystery and obscurity of that light, and with Tapio crushing his drums like a true beast in a Finnish Grindcore avalanche. Metalli, liha, kone, or “metal, meat, machine,” showcases another killer blend of Death Metal, Grindcore and other demented sounds, with Jennika and Tapio showing no mercy for our damned souls, followed by Absurd Transgression, as chaotic and dissonant as its predecessors, where their piercing guitars exhale hatred supported by Sisli’s deep roars. Then the quick and eerie interlude Not for the Weak warms us up for their coup-de-grace in The Notion of Emerging Totalitarianism, led by Jennika’s thunderous bass, leaving us completely disoriented after all is said and done while Sisli sounds inhumane, demented and furious on vocals once again.

“Tortural Symphony of the Flesh deepens our critique of capitalist oppression as a force that devastates nature through ecocide, erodes minority rights, and promotes conservationist ideology that ultimately reinforces colonialist power. Nature and humanity are inseparably fused in imagery of metal, roots, mud, flesh, and ice, forming a visceral rejection of fossil-industrial society. Queer BDSM lust and the words of William Blake are offered as an antidote to the christofascist trajectory,” commented the band, and you can join them in such an important mission by following the band on Facebook and on Instagram, by streaming their acid music on Spotify, and by purchasing their excellent new album from BandCamp or from Svart Records. Because the unstoppable Unearthly Rites are not just a Death Metal band. Their music has a deep and important message for all of us, metalheads or non-metalheads, and their new album definitely deserves our total attention in our rotten and decaying society.

Best moments of the album: Sokli Fields Forever / A Radiative Picnic, Tortural Symphony of the Flesh and The Notion of Emerging Totalitarianism.

Worst moments of the album: A Stygian Winterscape.

Released in 2026 Svart Records

Track listing
1. Tuonen tulijat, manan menijät 3:33
2. Sokli Fields Forever / A Radiative Picnic 3:33
3. Solstice 4:04
4. A Stygian Winterscape 2:53
5. Tortural Symphony of the Flesh 3:31
6. Ignis fatuus 7:21
7. Metalli, liha, kone 3:32
8. Absurd Transgression 3:48
9. Not for the Weak 0:35
10. The Notion of Emerging Totalitarianism 7:12

Band members
Sisli – vocals
Simo – guitar
Santtu – guitar
Jennika – bass
Tapio – drums

Album Review – Backengrillen / Backengrillen (2026)

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Behold the scathing debut by this Swedish ensemble, filled to the brim with the self-hatred endemic to the province of Västerbotten from whence they hail.

The grill will fucking rule things. A new ensemble born from the ashes of Refused, with their roots in Hardcore, Punk Rock, Noise and free Jazz, Umeå, Sweden-based Experimental Death/Doom Metal/Punk Rock/Jazz entity Backengrillen is ready to attack your senses with their self-titled debut offering, filled to the brim with the self-hatred endemic to the province of Västerbotten from whence the member’s hail. Blasting an antifascist and antiracist free form of death-jazz in the memory of Swedish musician Lars Lystedt (RIP), the band formed of Dennis Lyxzén on vocals and effects, Mats Gustafsson on saxophone, flute and live electronics, Magnus Flagge on bass, and David Sandström on drums and electronics brings forward a paean to chaos and destruction in their debut opus, inspired by the most distinct acts the likes of The Cramps, Little Richard, Albert Ayler, Polly Bradfield, Entombed, John Zorn, Misfits, Stooges, Lars Gullin, Can and much more.

The album kicks off with ten minutes of absolute sonic insanity entitled A Hate Inferior, starting in the most serene, grim manner before evolving into a deadly Sludge and Doom Metal feast led by the demented sax by Mats; and such a high level of craziness goes on in full force in Dör för långsamt, or “dying too slowly” in English, where Mats’ flute walks hand in hand with the tribal beats by David, all boosted by the bursts of sheer dementia by Dennis on vocals. Then their wicked fusion of metal music with the unique sound of the saxophone sets the tone in Repeater II, where Dennis once again sounds killer on vocals supported by the thunderous kitchen crafted by Magnus and David. Backengrillen, the song that carries the name of the band and of the album, brings to our avid ears a fully Experimental Doom Metal sonority with hints of Noise, sounding utterly sluggish, caustic, and visceral, followed by Socialism or Barbarism, the most dissonant yet melodic of all songs, perfect for dancing inside the mosh pit, with Mats once again stealing the show armed with his infuriated sax.

Backengrillen was written on a Thursday during their first ever rehearsal, performed live on a Friday and recorded on a Saturday, so what you’re hearing is raw, stupid, gut instinct music played by seasoned purveyors of Hardcore Punk, countless forms of metal music, free Jazz, Noise, and so on, positioning the band as one of the most innovative names of the current Swedish rock and metal scene. Backengrillen are such a weird band to the point they don’t have any profiles in any type of social media, giving them an even rawer and unique vibe, but of course you can put your damned hands on their destructive debut by purchasing it from BandCamp or from Svart Records. Backengrillen is Swedish for “back grill,” which makes me wonder if the band is inviting us to enjoy some quality barbeque with them while listening to their album, or if they simply want to throw us in the grill to feel the fire of their demented music. Either way, I’m in.

Best moments of the album: Repeater II and Socialism or Barbarism.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2026 Svart Records

Track listing
1. A Hate Inferior 10:09
2. Dör för långsamt 12:12
3. Repeater II 6:11
4. Backengrillen 10:18
5. Socialism or Barbarism 9:37

Band members
Dennis Lyxzén – vocals, effects
Mats Gustafsson – saxophone, flute, live electronics
Magnus Flagge – bass
David Sandström – drums, electronics

Album Review – Vesperith / Vesperith (2019)

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Experimental, intuitive, abstract and futuristic. This is Vesperith.

Experimental, intuitive, abstract and futuristic. That’s what an Experimental Black Metal one-woman project hailing from Tampere, a city in southern Finland, that goes by the stylish name of Vesperith, has to offer us all with her debut full-length self-titled opus, or as Vesperith herself likes to call it, get ready for an entrancing tempest of “Experimental Audiovisual Mysticism” made in Finland. Co-produced by Oranssi Pazuzu mainman Jun-His, Vesperith is the brainchild of the multi-talented artist Sariina Tani, former vocalist for Finnish Progressive Gothic/Melodic Doom Metal band Reveries End, who’s not only responsible for all vocals and instruments in her debut album, but also for the songwriting, lyrics, artwork and animation, channeling the depths of the cosmos through the vessel of Vesperith by fusing music, art and theosophy to otherworldly, meditatively chaotic dark radiance.

Musically speaking, Vesperith sounds and feels like a cosmic marriage of Björk meets Swans via Emperor (and we can also add Myrkur and Burzum to this amalgamation of sounds and styles), mirroring the duality of light and darkness and meditating on the nature of shadows and emptiness. “This new album is a pilgrimage to the abyss. For many, shadows, darkness, emptiness or void are almost stigmatized as evil, bad or scary, but I see almost heartbreaking beauty, light and infinity there,” explained the enchanting Sariina, with her album of entrancing astral visions certainly being one of the deepest, darkest things to come out of Finland in a while, therefore deserving your undivided attention. From atmospheric drones, screeching distortion and a mesmerizing ambience, Vesperith is a conduit for the chaotic harmony of the universe that suddenly blows up into euphoric phoenix-like waves of bewitching guitars and hypnotic siren song, inviting you to join Sariina in her whimsical journey to infinity.

Cosmic waves and hypnotizing sounds permeate the air from the very first second in the opening track The Magi (the “wise men” from the East who brought gifts to the infant Jesus), before the angelical vocalizations by Sariina penetrate deep inside our minds like a tribal initiation to her ethereal world, working as an extended and enfolding intro that keeps growing in intensity and “invades” the following tune titled Fractal Flesh, where you can sense Sariina is about to unleash an endless amount of energy at any moment. That indeed ends up happening after around two and a half minutes in an explosion of Black Metal infused with experimental and atmospheric elements, not to mention Sariina’s devilish harsh vocals, which feel bestial and obscure while at the same time very delicate. And if you thought the two previous songs were already very eccentric get ready for Refractions, a Dark Ambient extravaganza where Sariina’s anguished roars emerge from the very depths as a sonic refraction pierces our ears and minds beautifully.

The musical experimentation by Sariina gets even more unique in Valohämärä, which should translate from Finnish as “twilight”, once again presenting stunning vocal lines by our skillful one-woman army amidst an overdose of doom-ish beats and serene background keys and tones. Furthermore, she fires her most demonic, she-wolf gnarls of the entire album and in her mother tongue, just to make things even more enthralling, dismantling our senses with her visceral sonority. Then you better be prepared to have your senses heightened with over ten minutes of an incredible journey through the realms of Experimental Black Metal entitled Quintessence, where Sariina will put you on a fantastic trance with her gorgeous vocals in an enfolding atmosphere perfect for gazing at the stars before an onrush of blackened sounds and hellish growls crushes your soul mercilessly, slowing things down gradually until imposing sounds crush our psyche in the closing tune Solar Flood, perhaps the most atmospheric and gentle of all tracks in Vesperith. All we have to do is close our eyes, free our minds from any dark thoughts, and let Sariina mesmerize us all with her otherworldly vocal lines until the song’s very last second.

If there’s one amazing thing that truly stands out in Vesperith, that is certainly how the music flows smoothly and flawlessly from start to finish, building a very detailed connection from track to track and, consequently, making the album feel like one single (and wonderful) entity. For instance, last week, more precisely on November 8, Sariina hosted a pre-listening party at the Helsinki Ursa observatory, where the lights were dimmed and the album was listened in full in the dark while the attendants could also watch the stars (and the event was also streamed live through the Svart Records’ YouTube channel, by the way), showing how important it is to listen to Vesperith as a whole without interruptions and with the only “distraction” being the charming lights up in the sky. Also, with a lineup of cohorts gathered around her, Sariina will also take Vesperith to the stages of Europe during the end of this year and into 2020, and if you want to know more about such distinguished artist, her tour dates and other nice-to-know details, go check what she’s up to on Facebook and on Instagram, and obviously buy your copy of Vesperith from the project’s own BandCamp page, from the Svart Records’ webstore, or simply click HERE for all locations where you can purchase and listen to Vesperith. Sariina and her Vesperith are not only the future of atmospheric heavy music, but a journey though space and time that should definitely be appreciated by anyone who loves music, nature and the stars, especially if all at once.

Best moments of the album: Fractal Flesh and Quintessence.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2019 Svart Records

Track listing
1. The Magi 8:57
2. Fractal Flesh 6:37
3. Refractions 4:35
4. Valohämärä 7:51
5. Quintessence 10:31
6. Solar Flood 7:27

Band members
Sariina Tani – vocals, all instruments

Album Review – Bathsheba / Servus (2017)

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From the depths of the black charcoal mountains rises a new Occult Doom Metal entity, bringing endless sadness, pain and anguish with their first full-length opus.

From the depths of the black charcoal mountains rises Bathsheba, an unholy gathering of four talented musicians hailing from Genk, a city located in the Belgian province of Limburg, aiming at spreading grief and agony all over the world with their first full-length opus, the excellent Servus. Portraying a biblical name and fronted by the stunning she-devil Michelle Nocon (Serpentcult, Leviathan Speaks, Death Penalty), this distinct quartet formed in 2013 brings forth an occult version of Doom Metal intensified by elements from Sludge and Black Metal, resulting in a blackened feast of atmospheric and schizophrenic sounds.

The mystical frontwoman Michelle, together with guitarist Dwight Goossens (Disinterred), bassist Raf Meukens (Death Penalty, Torturerama) and drummer Jelle Stevens (Sardonis), released a demo  tape in October 2014 and shortly after signed to Svart Records, releasing an EP titled The Sleepless Gods in May 2015, which then led the band to participate in important underground festivals such as Doom Over London, DesertFest, Incubate, Dutch Doom Days and Doomed Gatherings. However, it’s with Servus, which features a stylish artwork by Olivier Lomer-Wilbers (Dissolvtion), that the band has reached a new level of wickedness, offering the listener six complex and peculiar songs about struggle, sadness, constant threat and distortion of the mind. In other words, Bathsheba will drag you into the horror of existence under the crushing weight of reality with the doomed music found in Servus.

Somber words work as an intro to the sluggish and obscure tune Conjuration of Fire, with the slow, dirty rhythm carved by Dwight, Raf and Jelle opening the gates of hell for the she-demon Michelle to start mesmerizing us by declaiming the song’s poetic lyrics (“Art of chaos / come over me / I wander endlessly / Are you the One / the One for me / Divided in Earth and Sea”). Furthermore, the second part of the song gets beautifully heavier and more diabolical, turning it into a modern-day witchcraft hymn. Like a tenebrous tempest, Bathsheba come crushing our souls in the boisterous Ain Soph, displaying old school doomed beats by Jelle and whimsical guitars by Dwight. Michelle delivers some deeper, darker vocal lines, while a saxophone creates a gripping paradox with the song’s more extreme Black Metal-inspired sounds. And the somber aura present in both previous songs continues to penetrate our skin in Manifest, where an atmospheric background and the smooth voice by Michelle are slowly joined by the other instruments until the music reaches a fierce Doom Metal stage bursting with melancholy and heaviness. Put differently, this excellent composition will offer you 10 minutes of hopelessness emanating from its sharp riffs, flammable solos and those potent and steady beats only found in old school Doom Metal.

Wandering through a desolated field, Bathsheba fire Demon 13, an awesome Doom and Sludge Metal chant with a demonic vibe showcasing a growing excruciating pain through the rumbling roar by Raf’s bass guitar and the pounding drums by Jelle, with Michelle sounding more menacing and pleasant and the same time. Inspired by the most obscure creations by Black Sabbath, Dwight brings tons of feeling to the music in the slow-paced and melodic composition The Sleepless Gods, while Michelle becomes some sort of enchantress through her vocals; and if you love truly dark sounds, I, at the End of Everything will certainly please your ears, being like a tribal version of Doom Metal displaying Stygian guitar lines in sync with Jelle’s rhythmic beats, not to mention the song’s conjuring lyrics (“And by the virtue of the Highest One / I command Thee / To perfect the Creation / Make me myself again / Universe tremble again / You who is worthy of all praise”). After this song is over, I bet you’ll go back to the beginning of Servus again and again so addictive Michelle’s performance is throughout the entire album, proving how gripping the music by Bathsheba can be.

Servus is already on sale at several locations, such as Bathsheba’s BandCamp or Big Cartel in different formats (CD, LP, CD + shirt package and LP + shirt package), at the Svart Records’ webstore, at Record Shop X, at Discogs, on iTunes or on Amazon. This, my friends, is the sorrowful and eldritch world crafted by this dark entity called Bathsheba, an obscure land where although happiness and peace are not welcome, we’ll indubitably enjoy living in its shadows.

Best moments of the album: Conjuration of Fire and Demon 13.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2017 Svart Records

Track listing
1. Conjuration of Fire 7:34
2. Ain Soph 5:42
3. Manifest 10:33
4. Demon 13 5:45
5. The Sleepless Gods 7:14
6. I, at the End of Everything 8:25

Band members
Michelle Nocon – vocals
Dwight Goossens – guitars
Raf Meukens – bass
Jelle Stevens – drums