Last Friday I didn't get around to a real recommendations post both because I was busy and because none of the new releases I checked out did much for me, save the new Health album. Tomorrow will be another busy day for me and I get the sense that new releases are winding down for the year, so I put together some recommendations of albums I'm revisiting as I start planning my best of the year list. Most of these were released before I started this little blog, so this will be my first time writing about them. But before we get to the old stuff, I've got one recommendation for new music that came out this week. 

Our one new release recommendation for the week is Liberosis, the first EP by southern California band Breadth. They posted about it on Reddit and named checked, among others, Amenra, Swans, and Deafheaven. That's the sort of comparison that's going to send me running immediately to Bandcamp. I'm not sure I truly hear all those bands' DNA in these five songs, although there are definitely flashes - the third track "Flourish" has some harsh vocals that absolutely recall Amenra - but nevertheless this is some solid blackgaze. There's some especially cool guitar tone in the closing minutes of the final track. 

I saw Unreqvited a couple years back opening for Mizmor. Their set was one of those joyous moments in concert attendance for me when a band that wasn't really on my radar really clicked with me immediately. Unreqvited is another blackgaze band and they (or he, as it's essentially a one-man project when not touring) lean more toward the atmospheric end of things than the brutal. A Pathway to the Moon is quite a pretty album, with a lot of gentle, quiet sequences amongst the heavier bits. Its an album that slipped off my radar for a while this year as I've spent time with newer releases, but upon revisiting it is clearly a strong collection of songs. 

Sometime I'll have to write up the story of my crew's decision to see Year of the Cobra at a van convention earlier this year. It was completely ridiculous in the best way, but happened before I was writing this blog. I'll get to it next year for sure. In the meantime, the band's self-titled album from earlier this year is great. Side note: this year was great for two-piece doom bands in general. I will certainly be writing more about that soon. Anyway, this album crushes. Check it out. 

Speaking of duos, Marie Michel is a two-song EP from Sisters Of... This two-piece instrumental band dropped this EP back in January, which seems to have disappeared from Bandcamp since then. It's solid, atmospheric instrumental metal, and definitely worth your 17 minutes.

Noisy, slow, heavy, moody - all the stuff we love here! That's what you'll get with Object 1 by Kansas City's Flooding. This one was in pretty heavy rotation earlier this year, and while I have yet to catch them, Flooding are a veteran of my beloved Caterwaul festival in Minneapolis. I've got my ticket secured, so I would love to see these folks on the bill for 2026. 

May you all make it to the end of 2025 with your sanity intact.