Diaries of Doom

Happy New Year! 2025 birthed some fantastic releases in the heavy music world, and I've picked out five hidden gems from the English circuit that may have flown under your radars. We've got a melting pot of groove metal, sludge, death metal, and all of the above in my recommendations, which mostly saw the light of day over the second half of last year. I want to use this to thank everyone who sends me their music for review. I would love to give space on my blog to every artist who emails or messages me if there was an extra six hours a day and an extra three days a week to make that happen. These five here, though, are genuinely worth your time if you care about grassroots heavy music. We're all excited to see what 2026 brings. Drēor - Hell's Kitchen Rising Nottingham old school death metal trio Drēor (meaning 'blood' in Old English, or 'gore') released their sophomore EP in June, an unapologetic slab of classic OSDM. Dripping with blood and guts, and...

Callous Hands have been doing well lately. After a busy 2022 that saw them play on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock, they've prepared themselves for 2023 by getting the next release ready to go. Recorded by Neil Hudson from Krysthla , they've teased it out over the past months with a stream of videos. It's due out tomorrow and they'll be celebrating it at the Tap N' Tumbler in Nottingham next Friday with Kensei and Mantis Defeats Jaguar . I see them pushing everything that they do well musically out into bigger and better directions on this release. Earth Mover was a sign of things to come, but the melodies are much bigger this time around and there's a progressive streak that has really come into its own. For the sake of transparency, it's not a secret that I work with Callous Hands behind the scenes. This EP, though, is all on them, the work of five musicians hammering songs out and grafting the music out relentlessly in their practice space. Callous H...

Birmingham Death Metal newcomers Hand of the Host are due to release their latest song Cannibalistic Self Mutilation on 03/10/22. Following on from the success of previous single Demonic Tormentor , Cannibalistic Self Mutilation is a throwback to classic death metal with chainsaw guitars and bruising drums. It's certain to evoke the brutality of the lyrical subject matter, which takes inspiration from the 2009 case of a New Zealand man who acted upon the fantasy of amputating and eating his own body parts. With ominous bass notes in the intro, Hand of the Host waste no time in setting an atmosphere. The doomy opening chords and foreboding guitar squeals suck you into their depraved world before the verse even kicks in. The medium pacing of the track is ideal for a sea of headbangers to nod along to, with double bass drumming that pounds away and keeps the song ticking. A lead guitar section towards the end really impresses, with a tasteful, expressive performance.  C...

Midlands Extreme Metallers  Ashen Crown have announced a change in their ranks.  After the departure of guitarist Jay Rogers , they faced a huge task in finding a replacement who was a good fit both musically and in personality and immediately got to work on finding a guitarist to cover upcoming shows. Sy Taplin ( Wired THC , Ex- Savage Messiah , Ex- L-Sol-Tace ) was approached by the band, having performed with him previously and being well aware of his playing ability and pedigree, to initially stand in temporarily. After a successful headline set at Beermageddon Metal Festival , Sy and the band agreed that they would like to make it a permanent fixture.  Ste Fowkes , guitarist of Ashen Crown said “ In one rehearsal, we instantly realised he was a perfect fit musically, the vibe was right and the collective decision to offer him the spot full time was unanimous - We are massively excited to begin injecting Sy's creativity into AC and working to deliver a strong f...

Coventry metallers Chaplain released A Disgusting View of Humanity two years ago, but couldn't have been more unlucky with the timing, unleashing it in March 2020 as the world closed its doors for what felt like could be forever at the time. As the world's opened up again, they've re-established themselves on the death metal and extreme metal live circuit, and if you've caught them in a sweaty, beer-stained live room lately, you might recognise this new one. Chaplain are a death metal band to my ears, but that's a simple way of looking at it. They fearlessly do their own thing, with influences from doom and bouncy groove metal. Their focus is more on simple, catchy and powerful bangers than the pursuit of mind-blowing technicality or playing the fastest. It's refreshing, really, who knew extreme could be fun as well? Utopia crawls in with a slinky riff before a rolling snare, earth-moving scream and a bass drop introduces a verse full of swagger and attitude. Th...

From the depths of England and Ireland, DeathCollector arise from the mire with their debut EP. Planted firmly in the old-school style of death metal, it's a brutal, unnerving endeavour. Its lineup is enough to make heads turn, with past and present members of Bolt Thrower, Memoriam, Darkened, Zealot Cult, Severe Lacerations, Ashen Crown and Grimorte collaborating on this effort. Yet its eye-watering amount of musicality and flair makes it stands out from the crowd on its own merit. Kieran Scott (vocals) explains that the album title is ' a comment about the fragility of life and how easy it’s taken away from you, irrelevant of how you struggle, when your ‘Time’s Up’, you’re done '. Clockwise from top left: Andy Whale (drums) - Mick Carey (guitar) - Kieran Scott (vocals) - Lee Cummings (bass) As the first, dread-fuelled notes of eponymous track 'DeathCollector' ring out, claustrophobic energy hangs in the air, remaining permanently over the course of the EP. It'...

 Midlands death metal/deathcore mob Djinova have finally unleashed their debut EP to the world. Two years in the making, it follows their slow but steady ascent within underground extreme metal circles, culminating with a slot on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock a couple of years ago. Recorded at Initiate Audio and Media, it showcases the band - currently operating as a quartet - and the material that has helped them to get where they are with that extra bit of studio polish, with the slick production doing the four songs justice, covering all corners and eras of the death metal genre. There's something for every death metalhead on Apocalypsis Infinitum . 'Ingest the Gospel (Preach the Disease)' wastes no time in setting a tone of brutality, with tremolo-picked guitar riffing, ugly harmonic dissonance and a glass-shattering scream before the song has even really begun. With a melodic undercurrent in the chorus, illuminated with dizzying bass work from Scott, this serves as...

  They’re back with a vengeance; leaning heavily on their blackened influence, this is sophisticated death metal which is going to make you pull those nasty, yet satisfied faces. With their third full-length album, Lucca Schmerler serving vocals, Marvin Kessler and Nahuel Lozano taking the lead on guitars, Viktor Dick bossing the bass and Danny Strasser blasting on drums, Mental Cruelty are going from strength to strength, proving that they’ve got a lot to offer in this emerging genre. I’m quite excited to share this release with you, I hope you’ll enjoy it as I have. A calming ambience introduces the album [ Avgang ] as a precursor to the forthcoming cavalcade of noise they’ve called Ultima Hypocrita . This feels like a bit of a breath of fresh air for the Germanic Death Metal Quintet, much more akin to the orchestral backdrop accustomed to Lorna Shore or Fleshgod Apocalypse. A high level of intensity bursts out of the stereo field; from the soaring highs of blackened melodies to...

Callous Hands burst onto the Midlands live scene in early 2019 and made their mark very quickly, soaring all the way to the final of the Coventry Metal 2 The Masses competition before they could count their played gigs on two hands. As with many other bands, the pandemic stopped them in their tracks, but with a glimmer of hope on the horizon for live music, Callous Hands are poised to become one of the truly essential modern bands in the metal scene when concerts return. Earth Mover is due out at the end of the week, and as they put it themselves, 'I mean at the end of the day, it’s heavy as fuck.  We hope people enjoy listening to this EP as much as we’ve enjoyed making it'. Their blistering, groove-infused brand of extreme metal indeed has the impact of a ton of bricks and should signal the start of a big chapter for the guys. A solemn, soft guitar opens the release, before a piercing scream really introduces 'Heed the Call' amid epic-sounding instrumentation. It ki...

If you like your metal extreme, you need to listen to Patiently Waiting For Wonderful Things. With perhaps the most visceral release from the UK this year (yes, even up against Napalm Death), CMA have crafted an energetic blast of refined anger that shines with tongue-in-cheek humour and fantastic musicianship.  Cathedral of Porn kicks down the door with a crossover thrash swagger before absolutely destroying the rest of the analogous room with blast beats so quick they'll break your neck. You Smell Expensive slows down the tempo ever so briefly, but only so the track can stamp on your head effectively. Swirling bass notes and searing vocals proceed utter chaos of the highest degree. The two opening tracks set the stage incredibly well for the EP: this is going to be a white knuckle ride through grindcore, but leaning heavily into the hardcore punk elements that give a fantastically fresh feel to the release.  Maximum Bastardry ups the ante with sing along hooks and punchy, pe...

Having released a series of singles since their new EP “Exordium” back in October 2019 (after being signed to Realityfade Records earlier the same year), Visions of Disfigurement are on their best form so far, and they haven’t even peaked yet. Along with welcoming their newest guitarist only last year, the boys have been busy as part of the 0161 Slamchester movement. Visions of Disfigurement are one of the leading figures in the Manchester Slam/Brutal Death Metal scene, along with the likes of Ingested, Chainsaw Castration and Crepitation, as well as plenty others unmentioned, helping with a revival of the Brutal Death Metal genre which was almost dying out in Britain, especially with a lot of the best bands in the scene being situated around Europe and the United States (more notably Europe with bands like Begging for Incest and Kraanium, if you like the filthy depraved sounds of beautiful cacophony that perpetuate through the creative whims of the souls behind Visions of Disfiguremen...