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...

Groove metal quintet Empire Warning have been major players in the London heavy scene since the early 2010s, winning the city's Metal 2 The Masses finals in 2019 to earn a coveted spot on Bloodstock Festival's New Blood Stage shortly before the pandemic. The Unite & Die EP followed in early 2020, which was played in full over their Bloodstock set, though there's even a couple from their latest EP, Destiny , that were played back during their iconic performance. Destiny dropped at the end of last month, offering a blistering 25 minutes of aural assault, with shades of Machine Head, Lamb of God, Slipknot and other aggressive influences to stake their claim for bigger stages and wider recognition. Empire Warning - Bloodstock 2019 (full set) First up is the crushing Be My Victim , with a descending guitar line that introduces the EP, wasting no time in setting the tone in front of a fist-pumping groove and a verse riff that snaps your neck in time to its beat. Lyrically, ...

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...

Oldham thrashcore outfit Tortured Demon have really set the UK live circuit alight in recent years. Their first full-length, In Desperation's Grip , dropped in 2021, the same year that they notably packed out the smallest stage at Bloodstock before lunchtime, selling out all of their merch. After touring with Evile in 2022, their ascent seems unstoppable and inevitable, now with another string to their bow with Rise of the Lifeless . Tortured Demon - Oppressed (live at Bloodstock 2021) It's not a carbon copy of the first record. Tortured Demon have upped their game as musicians and songwriters, and the addition of a second guitarist has injected new life into the band. This is particularly evident over some of the choruses, where a counter-riff or Corey Beaulieu-style melodic lead seems to elevate its part to another level. Eyes of the Fire houses a series of fantastic diminished licks, and the solos in Global Threat , The Damage Is Done and the title track are outstanding....

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...

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...