- Adelitas Way + New Medicine – Last Laugh [10/3]
- Gasoline Invertebrate – Misery Monster [10/3]
- Wind Walkers – I Don’t Belong Here [10/3]
- nøwhere – Final Descent [10/10]
- Douglas Katula – Screwtape [10/10]
- SVNFR – Memory Fragment 87 [10/17]
- northroot – clouds. [10/24]
- Witchz – Ded Again [10/31]
- Coldwards – Bad News [10/31]
- Christopher Ardra – SaiRu [11/4]
- Motif Hive – Phase [11/5]
- Cirkus – Straight to Hell [11/7]
- THEHERO – Gemini II [11/14]
- Sons of Levin – EP II [11/14]
- Spirit of the Moon – All That is Hidden [11/28]
- Matyrker – The Obscurial EP [11/28]
- Queen Kona – Smokeless Fire [12/5]
- Hallowtide – Drown With Us [12/6]
- Patient Sixty-Seven – A Very Heavy Christmas [12/10]
- Cryblood – Take My Life [12/12]
- K.A.R.L. (Kill All Remaining Life) – God is Watching: Redux [12/12]
- Ghost of Rucker – Hikari No Yoin [12/13]
- Loose Lips – Pretty Devastating [12/19]
- Life Hoax – Slow Burn [12/26]
- L.O.U.D. – AM Broadcast [12/31]
New music
Albums Released From October to December 2025
- Daughters of Mara – I Am Destroyer [10/3]
- Bullet to the Heart – Echoes: The Final Chapter [10/3]
- Linx – Annihilation [10/10]
- Living Dead Girl – Conspiracy [10/10]
- Batchelor – Shadow Protocol [10/14]
- Heartsick – Break the Curse [10/14]
- Julien-K – DRK|MODE [10/17]
- Dead Deceased – Chasm of Radiant Despair [10/17]
- Starver – The Silent Letter [10/17]
- The Thing With Feathers – So Electric [10/24]
- Anaria – Piercing the Veil [10/24]
- POET The Band – Night Era (Nightcore) [10/24]
- Buried Beneath Me – The House of Ash [10/24]
- Parhelyon – From Dark to Light [10/24]
- Dark Moon Spirit – Sacrificial Moon [10/31]
- Wraithlurk – Engraved [10/31]
- MethodOne – Novus Initium [10/31]
- Armchair Cynics – The Lost Tapes [11/7]
- Soulhound – The Divine Purge [11/7]
- Citizen Soldier – Family Heirlooms [11/12]
- Stellar Circuits – Phantom::Phoenix [11/14]
- Suicide Queen – Crowned in Blood [11/14]
- The Malt – Weeping Red [11/15]
- DENIGH – Sleep With No Sound [11/17]
- Falls for the Elderly – Insomnia [11/20]
- Never Enough – Aurora [11/21]
- Moonscape – Entity, Chapter III: A Sudden Glimpse of Clarity [11/21]
- The Pretty Wild – zero.point.genesis [11/21]
- Ghosts Are Here – Under [11/21]
- RedPrint – Beyond Reality [11/26]
- Sleeper Signal – Tales of the Misguided Souls [11/26]
- Jungle Dream – We Are Legion [11/28]
- Black Dog Moon – Hell and Back [11/28]
- Excide – Bastard Hymns [11/28]
- Distant Legacy – The Lighthouse’s Fate [11/28]
- Devil-M – Titanomachie [11/30]
- Michael Botte Band – Demos & Diamonds, Vol. 1 [12/5]
- the OWLiNG – You Don’t Bow You Will Learn [12/5]
- Immunosuppressed – Lilith [12/5]
- Set For Tomorrow – ARCS [12/5]
- Crispin Earl – Covers Collection, Vol. 2 [12/5]
- Stain the Canvas – Honey Rot [12/12]
- Eye of Atlantis – Eye of Atlantis [12/13]
- Severed Skies – Oblivion [12/15]
- Vagabond – Ode to Isotopia [12/17]
- Priest – Live in Hollywood [12/19]
- Dark Enchantment – Fragments of Faith [12/20]
- Matti Hoffman – Ascend [12/20]
- SouthsideFerris – Dying Light [12/23]
- The Further I Get – Life [12/25]
- Libricide – Kismet [12/26]
- Cirkus – Still Remains [12/27]
- Damnum – Obsidian Machine [12/30]
EPs Released From July to September 2025
- House of Warwick – Lost in Hypnosis [7/1]
- Loosely Sewn – LS-1 [7/1]
- SFINX – SFINX [7/8]
- Moonfall – Hope at the Edge of Spring [7/11]
- Ded En – The Gala [7/18]
- Anaria – Chasing Shadows [8/1]
- Stain the Canvas – Inevitable [8/1]
- Phobias – This Was All For Nothing [8/7]
- Miss FD – Euphoria [8/8]
- Servants øf Sleep – 2.0/ [8/12]
- something else together. – see through [8/16]
- Ex Okay – Black EP [8/22]
- The Funeral Portrait – Dark Thoughts EP [8/22]
- Collide – Freaks Me Out [8/22]
- Glass Lungs – Afterglow [8/22]
- Vendetta Bloom – Decay Theory [9/3]
- Shadow Reborn – The Magnificence of Agony, Pt. 1 [9/5]
- SINthetik Messiah + Moose Harris – Pyramid Schemes [9/6]
- Hunter and the Cold Hearts Club – Till the Flesh Falls [9/10]
- Flür – Your Way [9/19]
Albums Released From July to September 2025
- Shovel Monster – Shane [7/1]
- BOOGEYMVN – Even Angels Wrists Can Bleed [7/4]
- Ghost Chamber – A Decade in Review, Pt. 2 [7/4]
- Palecurse – dark room [7/11]
- StrikingBlue – Reflection [7/11]
- Collide – Signals, Vol. 1 [7/18]
- Covenant of None – Death of the Voice [7/30]
- To The Grave – Still [8/1]
- Alethium – The Darkest Show on Earth [8/1]
- Eldercall – Closure [8/1]
- TJ From Beyond – Humanless Thing [8/4]
- Sleep Dance – Full of Smiles [8/8]
- Black Water Rising – The Edge [8/15]
- Orion – Into Darkness [8/17]
- Hands Like Houses – Atmospherics (Deluxe) [8/22]
- Magdalene Rose – The Heart That Bloomed After Death [8/22]
- Jutes – Dilworth [8/27]
- New Medicine – Die Trying: The Double Album [8/29]
- Forsaken Throne – Bloodline [8/29]
- Silent Theory – Theoretically Speaking III [9/5]
- Seilies – Between Truth & Lies [9/5]
- Apocalyptic Society – Instinctual Self-Slaughter [9/5]
- vasthearts – grow your wings [9/6]
- Deverauxx – This Isn’t Going to End Well [9/9]
- SFINX – Feral [9/9]
- Noir Addiction – Decadent Desire [9/9]
- Not Enough Space – Weaponize Your Rage [9/12]
- Naked Sunday – Library of Medication [9/12]
- The Twin – Blue Honey [9/12]
- Ded – Resent [9/19]
- A Killer’s Confession – Victim 2 [9/19]
- Autumn Dreams – Colors, In Motion [9/21]
- 9th Evolution – 9th Evolution [9/29]
EPs Released From April to June 2025
- Hand of the Tribe – Makinas, Vol. 1 [4/4]
- Wraithlurk – Suffering [4/4]
- Rise to Ruin – The Alchemy EP [4/4]
- Once Unnoticed – Forever Again [4/5]
- In Passing – In Passing [4/11]
- postdrome – Postdrome [4/15]
- Jutes – The End [4/23]
- Traverse the Abyss – Memento Mori [4/25]
- Death Valley High – U DON’T KNOW WHAT UR ASKING [4/25]
- Bad Valentines – Memory Tattoos [4/25]
- Valtozash – Sundered Synapses [5/2]
- The Journals Kept – Strike the Match [5/2]
- Anaria – Spark of Life [5/9]
- I Was the Crown – Broken Wings [6/1]
- StarrShine – As a Kid [6/5]
- Kumiko – The Space Between [6/7]
- Atomic Fate – Try It… You Might Like It!!! [6/10]
- Eayondig – Ivory Eye [6/11]
- L.O.U.D. – FM Broadcast [6/13]
- Traverse the Abyss – Memento Mori (Instrumental) [6/13]
- Lucretia Death – Half Dead [6/20]
- Priest – Chaos EP [6/20]
- Stain the Canvas – Gattini [6/27]
- Have I Weather – Porch Sessions [6/27]
- splinter kid – Control Freak [6/27]
- The Lucidia Project – The Twilight Affliction [6/30]
Albums Released From April to June 2025
- Swallow the Sun – Shining (Deluxe Edition) [4/11]
- K.A.R.L. (Kill All Remaining Life) – Chapter 5: Astral Projection [4/11]
- Young Other – Enlightenment [4/11]
- Arcadia – Renovatio [4/15]
- Circuit Preacher – Heaven Can’t Heal [4/18]
- Our Frankenstein – Magnum Spire Hotel [4/25]
- AM FALL – All My Friends Are Local Legends [4/25]
- Wednesday 13 – Mid Death Crisis [4/25]
- Zammek – Swell As Well [4/25]
- Naked Sunday – The Shoe String Sessions [5/2]
- Crimson Whisper – Vast World [5/2]
- How We Feel – Ready for War [5/2]
- The Fifth – We Are One [5/2]
- Plain Suite – Sweet Lady [5/8]
- Sleep Token – Even in Arcadia [5/9]
- Ghost Bath – Rose Thorn Necklace [5/9]
- Sleep Theory – Afterglow [5/16]
- Sister Kill Cycle – We Were Ghosts [5/16]
- No Fly List – Way More Tracks [5/30]
- Deadcode – Nothing and Nowhere [5/30]
- Lift the Curse – Don’t Bury the Dream [5/30]
- Blueprint Tokyo – Neon Circuits and the Mission of Hope [5/30]
- Cosmobrigade – Hollow Obsessions [6/6]
- AnimA – Demigod [6/10]
- Elvira’s Curse – The Time Has Come [6/12]
- Static Season – Peripheral [6/13]
- turner.Eturnal – Eturnal Terror [6/13]
- FleischKrieg – Herzblut II [6/13]
- McKenzie Hills – Ice Crossing [6/13]
- AVKRVST – Waving at the Sky [6/13]
- The Funeral Portrait – Greetings From Suffocate City (From Beyond the Abyss: Deluxe Edition) [6/13]
- Whispers in the Shadow – Rapture [6/13]
- Fright – GhostTown [6/18]
- Aesthetic Perfection – Closer to Human [6/20]
- Wraithlurk – Teethmarks [6/20]
- Ghost Chamber – A Decade in Review, Pt. 1 [6/20]
- Mission to the Sun – Seven Years [6/27]
- Half Lyfe – All in All [6/29]
Carbonstone Calls For a “Standoff” in New Single
Alt-metal titans Carbonstone are coming out swinging with their latest single and music video, “Standoff,” which releases May 30th. The new track boasts a vocal collaboration with Jonny Santos of Silent Civilian, Spineshank, and The Less Dead. With “Standoff,” Carbonstone has taken their raw emotion and relentless energy to the next level, and it packs the punch of a speeding freight train.
This song is multi-layered, both musically and in its history. Says Carbonstone frontman Corey James, “I actually wrote this way back in 2010. [“Standoff”] was originally released as a demo on an old EP called Strength in Silence. It was completely organic with zero electronic elements.”
But the track stuck with him, as some songs do, and James found himself circling back to it. “I sometimes revisit songs from the past, and this one has always spoken to me. I thought it would be really cool to bring it back and give it a complete makeover.”
Enter Jonny Santos, an influential figure in James’ musical journey. The two artists began talking after James reached out. “I literally saw him make a post and took a shot in the dark.” The conversation turned to the topic of a collaboration and, says James, a reimagining of “Standoff” immediately came to mind. The result is an in-your-face piece with the electronic/industrial/nu metal stylings so true to Carbonstone.
“Standoff” is roughly four minutes of vented fury, unleashed in the form of crunchy guitars, steady percussion, and the vocal interplay between James and Santos. The track calls out those who take advantage of the people around them and gives a hearty middle finger to anyone who believes your only worth is in being used and controlled.
“It’s such a shame you betray everyone with the fucking words you say/You believe I’m so weak/Come and get a motherfucking piece of me!”
The song is another example of a story carefully constructed with music, something at which Carbonstone excels. Using a maelstrom of instrumentation with a dance between a low tortured growl and an outburst of rage-filled screams, it carries the listener through the narrator’s emotional journey of becoming fed up with somebody who is manipulative and breaking the chains that once bound them together.
Catharsis is then reached after the second chorus, when James and Santos declare “I’m letting you go.” Echoing the release of all the anger and the sense of resolve that has been found, there is a brief acoustic interlude, and the track reaches its conclusion with a sprinkle of flamenco style picking.
“Standoff” will be available on May 30th. The music video premieres at 8 p.m. EST, and the song will hit streaming services at midnight!
You can pre-save “Standoff” here, and you can find links to all of Carbonstone’s socials and streaming profiles at carbonstone.net.
Three Covers That I Did Not See Coming
I always enjoy hearing artists’ takes on songs they love, and the most fun reimaginings to me are the ones that come from a completely different genre than the original. Over the past week, two such renditions have been released into the world. The third cover… Well, it was always a dark song, so an infamously dark artist sharing his version makes sense.
1. Priest: “Black Hole Sun”
Yes, that “Black Hole Sun.” It’s so Priest, but I think it’s a very respectful nod to Soundgarden and the original. And, let’s be honest, it takes balls to release a song and know everyone is going to be comparing your vocals to Chris Cornell’s.
2. Aesthetic Perfection: “Fade to Black”
Aesthetic Perfection is a self-proclaimed industrial pop act. Hearing them do a Metallica track was unexpected, but I dig it.
3. Marilyn Manson: “In the Air Tonight”
Manson prides himself on shocking people. His entire career is based on it, in fact. He has done odd covers before. However, I just never would have predicted a Phil Collins song. Lol. As stated above, it kinda makes sense. The subject matter of “In the Air Tonight” is rather dark. Who better to reimagine it than Marilyn Manson and Tyler Bates?
The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 6 (Updated 12/30/24)
This is the last update of 2024! I can’t believe this year is already coming to an end. It seems like just yesterday I was adding the first few songs to part one of the playlist. I hope my posts helped y’all find your new favorite song(s).
Pt. 1 – Pt. 2 – Pt. 3 – Pt. 4 – Pt. 5 – Pt. 6
Get ready for my top 50 of 2024, which will be posted tomorrow!
Here are the releases that have been added to the playlist since December 22nd.
- The Flips: “Freefall”
- The American Scream: “cut”
- The American Scream: “i’m a mess you’re a wreck”
- The American Scream: “You Said”
- Sunny Hallow: “Contact List”
- The Mizzerables: “Oi to the World!”
- Wudakhan: “10 AM”
- Engines of Ruin: “Riding”
- The Black Vultures: “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide”
- Carrying Torches: “Good in Blue”
- Saint Aquarius: “Leave Me Behind”
- Appalachia: “At the Center of Divide”
- Mercury Red: “Victim”
- The Whispering Trees: “Bloodline”
- Sick Century: “Tidal Wave”
- Till Lindemann: “Meine Welt”
- Glass Horizon: “Rehabilitate”
- Only Love: “Gallows”
- Caught Off Guard: “Blind Thief in a Dark Alley”
- Unfit: “Until the End”
- Lastry: “Neverland”
- TheoryMD: “Take Me Higher” (ft. David Mason)
- One Day Alive: “Never Again”
- RA: “Without You With Me”
- Soluna: “Ivory” (ft. Garret Rapp)
- The Holy Knives: “Manipulator”
- Somewhat Sober: “I Stayed Until the End”
Albums Released July to December 2024
Be sure to visit the list of albums from January to June 2024 as well!
Note: My focus is on the indie scene. If you don’t see an album here that dropped this year, please let me know!!!
- Synapsa: Hate Awareness [7/5]
- Auric Echoes: Division for Human Ascension [7/12]
- Damon Stone: My Resurrection [7/12]
- Amerakin Overdose: Artificial Infection [7/12]
- After the Apocalypse: Factions [7/18]
- David Dentinger: Prettiest Girl in the Bar [7/18]
- Shallow Side: Reflections [7/19]
- Patriarchs in Black: Visioning [7/19]
- Dearden: The Call of the Void [8/2]
- Shape: It’s Just Beginning [8/11]
- BlackRabit: Twin Shadows [8/15]
- The Crosseyed: Born in the Bowery [8/16]
- There Is No Us: There Is No Us [8/16]
- Bödel: Välkommen till avrättningen [8/16]
- Left to Suffer: Leap of Death [8/16]
- Endless Chain: Agony [8/23]
- Heal the Hurt: Heal the Hurt [8/23]
- Wraithlurk: Carnival of Madness [8/28]
- Wicked Scoundrel: The Dreamers of the Day [8/30]
- Catburglar: Splintered [8/30]
- Min Min Light: Min Min Light [8/30]
- Akira Xx: Black Rebel Empire [8/31]
- IAM-CK: Nightmares and Love Notes [9/4]
- Submersed: Grand Illusion Army [9/11]
- 8mm: Black Cat [9/13]
- The Funeral Portrait: Greetings From Suffocate City [9/13]
- Embracing the Enemy: Nihilist [9/13]
- Supahoney: Wishing in a Fishbowl [9/13]
- Sun Order: Reveal Yourself [9/13]
- Neocracy: Who To Blame? [9/15]
- My Cavernoma: Forgiven [9/20]
- Dead Spring: Anywhere But Down [9/21]
- Gone For Now + BatHead + KAIOHTE: Thoughts From the Grave [9/21]
- EpicDown: Days of Oblivion [9/27]
- SevVven: Don’t Panic [9/27]
- HILD: Thrash På Svenska [10/4]
- Christopher Ardra: Sometimes Other Times [10/4]
- Wraithlurk: ORIGINS [10/7]
- The Numb Project: Definition [10/11]
- Myles Kennedy: The Art of Letting Go [10/11]
- The Giant Baba: Apocalypse [10/15]
- Nightspell: SPOOKED! [10/17]
- Mindistry: Doppleganger [10/18]
- Mosspaw: Big Bite [10/18]
- Bloodhum: Bloodhum [10/24]
- Pøltergeist: Nachtmusik [10/25]
- Self Deception: Destroy the Art [10/25]
- Atreyu: The Pronoia Sessions [10/25]
- GhostEyes: Love Letters From the Tomb [10/31]
- Lost Seeds Found Trees: Full of Holes [10/31]
- Linkin Park: From Zero [11/15]
- The Anix: Voltage [11/22]
- Marilyn Manson: One Assassination Under God – Chapter 1 [11/22]
- Deep as Ocean: Dance With Death [11/22]
- Society of Beggars: Levitator [11/28]
- Follow the Raven: Crowman [11/29]
- Hunt For More: Hunt For More [11/30]
- Velocyr: Somnium [12/1]
- Desert Undertones: The Sentinel [12/5]
- Jungle Mountain: Reverse Confusion [12/13]
- The Veer Union: Welcome to Dystopia [12/27]
Mostly Music 