Hello Sputters! It’s that time of the month, once again, for our contributors’ songs of the month! Let’s see what Calc, Futures and JoyfulPlatypus have to say!
Calc’s SOTM: Pachinko, Pt. 1 by Moron Police
“I’ve always had immense respect for people who can reframe tragedy into joy. And while some use the reframing as a means to dissociate from the event in order to process feelings (a completely understandable reaction) there are others who can create through these moments a labor of love so real, complete strangers can feel its warmth, be it through art, music, or stories. Among a myriad of influences, including the untimely death of their drummer Thore Pettersen, Moron Police have created in Pachinko a celebration of their friends’ life through the wacky story of a guy who gets turned into a Pachinko machine. And for me, Pachinko, Pt. 1 captures the sunny energy everpresent throughout the album. At 11 minutes, the song is a bonafide prog classic in the making, taking the listener on a magic carpet ride through Pachinko’s (the character) transformation. The melodies are bright and mood perennially uplifting as the band shreds through act after act in the song, with my personal highlight coming with Pachinko stating how he wants to be a “pretty boy” after being transformed over the backdrop of a vaguely Egyptian flavored music interlude. This is just one of the many peaks the song takes you on, with naught a musical valley in sight. And for…
Hard to believe that we’re getting ready to put a bow on 2025! Thank you to all of you who submitted a ballot for your top LPs of this year — results coming in a few weeks! In the meantime, here’s an exceedingly smol list of new releases for December 12th. Feel free to jam the playlist below, request reviews from staff and contributors, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week (in music or otherwise), and in the meantime: time to punch out of this yawn factory.
– List of Releases: December 12th, 2025 –
Abbie Falls – Life is Just a Temporary Plan Genre: Deathcore / Djent Label: Out of Line
ASC – Vanishing Light Genre: Atmospheric Drum and Bass / Jungle Label: Spatial / [Previews available here]
Boy & Bear – Tripping Over Time Genre: Indie Rock / Dream Pop Label: [independent]
Conway the Machine – You Can’t Kill God with Bullets Genre: Gangsta Rap / Boom Bap Label: Drumwork
CunninLynguists – The Heartstring Theory (Part Two) [EP] Genre: Conscious Hip-Hop / Cloud Rap Label: Old Soul
Funeral Vomit – Upheaval of Necromancy Genre: Brutal Death Metal / Goregrind Label:…
And here we are again! Another month, another album voted on by our beloved users as the best release of the month. November’s winner is Veilburner and our buddy Arthropod has prepared a blurb for us!
Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy is like a bog: once you’ve stepped in, it’s hard to get out. Except, in this case, you’re going to like it. It’s a 50-minute onslaught of genuinely unnerving vocals and riffs, bone-shattering rhythms and thoughtful unpredictability. Whether it’s guitars going angle grinder mode, suspiciously melancholic leads emerging amidst the extreme metal mayhem or the sheer range of screaming styles, the sound is truly caleidoscopic. And yet, everything here feels perfectly adjusted.
This flaming ride of a record is both consistently filthy and so variable that it’s impossible not to pay attention. –arthropod
Ballots close on (or after, but not before) December 4th at 23:59 EST!
The form is in 3 parts, with the last section being optional:
Part 1: your username (or what it would be if you could create an account here);
Part 2: your top 10 LPs of 2025 (so no EPs, Live Albums, Compilations, singles that are somehow in the database, etc.). Please note that a ballot needs at least 10 entries;
Part 3: this section is optional. However, if you can sneak in anywhere between 11-25 LPs in total across the two sections, have at it!
Additionally, please continue to hype up your favourite records so far this year in the comments, in threads, in lists, or wherever else your collective hearts desire on the site.
Below is a very short list of new releases (a healthy chunk being live albums) for December 5th, 2025. Feel free to jam the playlist below, request reviews from staff and contributors, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week (in music or otherwise), and remember: it was the best of times, it was the blurst of times…?
Guys, gals, and non-binary pals: cuffingvoting season is upon us!
The tl;dr: if you would like to submit a ballot so that your voice is heard for the site’s Top 50 LPs of 2025, please submit yours [here].
The tl;dr of that tl;dr:
1) The ballot is in three sections. The first is your username (even if you can’t create an account, remember your password, etc.). The middle third is your (mandatory) top 10. The last portion is completely optional, but you can include picks 11-25 on it. Please be sure to submit your ballot officially! You can go back and edit it as long as the form is accepting submissions.
2) For now, we’re going to stick to LPs, so please do not submit EPs, Live Albums, Compilations, singles that are somehow in the database, or any other non-LP item.
3) Please strive to ensure the artist and album reflect what’s in the Sput database, even if it’s not technically correct (since we can’t seem to figure out a solution for ampersands, artists with the same name, non-Latin characters, and the like). By having artist and album in separate cells, we can try to fix any accidental errors.
4) Deadline is going to be on or after December 4th at 11:59PM EST (it will not close early — we promise).
5) Please continue to hype up your favourite records so…
Ahoy-hoy! We are winding down on 2025, so please continue to hype up your favourite records so far this year as we get ready for December festivities. Below is a short list of new releases for November 21st, 2025. Feel free to jam the playlist below, request reviews from staff and contributors, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week (in music or otherwise), and remember: no jury in the world’s going to convict a baby. Mmm… maybe Texas. Alrighty then!
– List of Releases: November 21st, 2025 –
Acid Death – Evolution Genre: Groove Metal / Thrash Metal Label: 7hard
Aerosmith & YUNGBLUD – One More Time [EP] Genre: Pop Rock / Glam Rock Label: Capitol
Annisokay – Abyss – The Final Chapter Genre: Alternative Metal / Metalcore Label: Arising Empire
The Brokedowns – Let’s Tip the Landlord Genre: Melodic Hardcore / Pop-Punk Label: Red Scare
Danko Jones – Leo Rising Genre: Hard Rock / Power Pop Label: Sonic Unyon
De La Soul – Cabin in the Sky Genre: Neo-Soul / Jazz Rap Label: Mass Appeal
Ella Eyre – Everything, in Time Genre: Contemporary R&B / Alt-Pop Label: [PIAS]
It’s about that time boys, its the release of the month for October! The winner for this month is Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration by Finnish doomsters Hooded Menace! Our very own Dedes has written a blurb for us all to enjoy!
“Hooded Menace are entrenching themselves deeper into the mire of grizzled death-doom while simultaneously zoning in to an EXORBITANT degree their penchant for og 80s metal cheese and I absolutely adore it. This is an evolution that, while having some deeply ingrained roots to start (Fulfill the Curse being decidedly more morbid ofc) really only spread its wings around The Tritonus Bell, and like the glorious valkyrie taking flight, they did so with flash and grandeur. There’s even enough gleam and glimmer for a fucking Duran Duran cover (“Save a Prayer”) to make an iota of sense. I could wax poetic for days on how damn beautiful, fun, grotesque, caveman-gutturaled and riff-chonkified (if skronk is a descriptor so is chonkified, no @’s!!!) but uhhhh idk digs is listz m/m/m/.”
Greetings! Below is a non-exhaustive list of new releases for November 14th, 2025. Feel free to jam the playlist below, request reviews from staff and contributors, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week (in music or otherwise), and please continue hyping up your favourite albums of 2025 in the comments — the time for voting is quickly approaching! Remember: we are directly under the earth’s sun… now. Cheerio!
– List of Releases: November 14th, 2025 –
1914 – Viribus unitis Genre: Death Metal / Black Metal Label: Napalm
5 Seconds of Summer – Everyone’s a Star! Genre: Alternative Dance / New Rave Label: Republic
Apollo Brown & Ty Farris – Run Toward the Monster Genre: Boom Bap / Conscious Hip-Hop Label: Escapism
Hello fellow Sputters, we are back with another edition of our contributor’s favorite songs of the month (plus yours truly lmao). Let’s see what JoyfulPlatypus, Shamus and Futures have to say about their favorites from October!
JoyfulPlatypus’ SOTM: Artificial Angels by Grimes
“Grimes has always been a very (for lack of a better word) interesting figure in the music industry. I could write an entire essay on why that is, but we’re here to discuss her new single, not her controversial public image. Outside of Art Angels, Grimes has never been what I would describe as a “pop artist.” She has always leaned more into the atmospheric side of things, and typically forgoes the big, catchy hooks typical of pop songs in favor of layered, complex synth melodies. “Artificial Angels” takes all the best elements of Grimes’ musical prowess and throws them into a blender. The result is a near-perfect three minutes that combines Grimes’ trademarked zaniness (after all, the song is written from the perspective of a rogue A.I. who is trying to hunt humans) with a sugary sweet earworm chorus. Some may hear this track and think of it as a bit of a clusterf**k, especially with the hyper-pop-esque glitchy vocals in the verses. To me, however, it clicks in a way that only Grimes could pull off. And, thankfully, the song is a perfect length. It’s just short enough not to overstay its welcome, yet just long enough…
A candid, gritty, and sometimes shocking look at the Norwegian black metal scene in the early 90s. If you’re wanting to know more about the infamous immergence of black metal in Norway – the church burnings, the murder of Euronymous, the Count Grishnackh Kerrang! interview, and other disturbing internal conflicts – as well as its cultural impacts on music in 2008, with a decent amount of footage following Darkthrone’s Fenriz around and giving his insight into it all, this is essential viewing. Until the Light Takes Us is a very compelling and well-made documentary that, like the rest of the documentaries on this list, is surprisingly raw and unfiltered in execution.
This one was recently recommended to me by our very own insomniac15, diving into the cut-throat nature of the music industry, told from the perspectives of a freelance musician, and what an iconic artist like Billy Joel, Rob Zombie or Alice Cooper looks for in a hired musician. Two highlights in particular really knocked me back, which involves Billy Joel’s story and Filter’s Richard Patrick, but I won’t spoil the moments if you’re intending to watch this documentary, as both sections really encompass what the industry can do to people when they’ve been involved in the industry for any decent amount of time. Suffice to say, like Until the Light Takes Us, Hired Gun…
Wow, we have somehow made it to November, which is Inspirational Role Models Month (among others). Remember: no matter how good you are at something, there’s always about a million people better than you. Below is a not-thorough list of new releases for November 7th, 2025. Feel free to jam the playlist below, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week (in music or otherwise), and start hyping up your favourite albums of 2025 in the comments — the time for voting is quickly approaching!
– List of Releases: November 7th, 2025 –
Agnostic Front – Echoes in Eternity Genre: Hardcore Punk / Rap Rock Label: Reigning Phoenix
Alexisonfire – Copies of Old Masters: Volume 1 [EP] Genre: Post-Hardcore / Post-Punk Revival Label: Dine Alone
Allie X – Happiness Is Going to Get You Genre: Sophisti-Pop / Neo-Psychedelia Label: AWAL
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist – Mercy Genre: Abstract Hip-Hop / Jazz Rap Label: Backwoodz
Armor For Sleep – There Is No Memory Genre: Emo-Pop / Alternative Rock Label: Equal Vision
Happy Halloween week, where spooky, scary skeletons send shivers down your spine and shrieking servers speak with such a screech in ensuring they stay alive long enough to give you yet another supernatural Weekly Releases post, this time for October 31st, 2025. Have a ghoul-d time this week, and remember: we must move forward, not backward. Upward, not forward! And always twirling, twirling, twirling toward freedom! This is indeed a disturbing universe.
– List of Releases: October 31st, 2025 –
adults – the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless Genre: Jangle Pop / Shoegaze Label: Fika
Anna von Hausswolff – ICONOCLASTS Genre: Art Rock / Post-Rock Label: YEAR0001
Avatar – Don’t Go in the Forest Genre: Alternative Metal / Groove Metal Label: Thirty Tigers / Black Waltz
Hi, everybody! Below is an unofficial list of new releases for October 24th, 2025. Feel free to jam the playlist below, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week (in music or otherwise), and remember: if you’re not sure about something, rub it against a piece of paper. If the paper turns clear, it’s your window to weight gain. Bye bye, everybody!
– List of Releases: October 24th, 2025 –
The Acacia Strain – You Are Safe From God Here Genre: Metalcore / Deathcore Label: Rise
Below is an unofficial list of new releases for October 17th, 2025. Feel free to jam the playlist below, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week (in music or otherwise), and remember: there’s no such thing as Scotchtoberfest. Until next time!
I’ve got with us today, musical prodigy, Raphael Weinroth-Brown, here to talk about his new album, Lifeblood, which comes out on the 3rd of October. It’s been a few years since we last spoke, so give us a bit of an up-to-date on what you’ve been doing the last few years.
Sure. I guess the last time we spoke was after the release of Inheritance, Musk Ox’s last record, so that would have been 2021. I released my live album Worlds Within Live and Inheritance within a week of each other in summer 2021.
A good year.
Yeah, it was a good year for releases, for sure. In 2022, I resumed touring with Leprous and got back on the road in the US and Canada in early 2022, then immediately after that I got involved in a contemporary dance project with Ottawa Dance Directive here in my hometown of Ottawa; that was a very immersive project which involved me performing my entire Worlds Within album. Following that, I started to play live quite a lot as a solo artist throughout 2022, so I was very active as a live performer, playing both material from Worlds Within as well as a plethora of new pieces that I was composing throughout the year, some of which ended up on Lifeblood. I did a very long tour with Leprous in the fall 2022-2023 with Apocalyptica; we did a European headline tour, 40 shows in 7 weeks, it was very long, so I was on…
