You can read the full review I did for HumaningHERE.
After being on a decade-long hiatus, Earshot finally teased their return with a new line-up of members and a couple of singles to warm up with just before and during the Covid period. Yet, it was in 2025 where the band finally made their glorious return, dropping their first new album in 17 years and doing a 30+ date tour with Saliva to grease the engine and get things moving in a big way again. Simon (Dr.Gonzo) had an extensive discussion with Wil earlier last year to talk about the band’s history and their subsequent return, which you can watch here, however, in this new interview Gonzo catches up with Earshot to talk about Humaning at length, as well as the Spotify boycott, Lars v Napster, funny tour stories, new material in 2026, and much, much more in this monster discussion.
Alright everyone, it’s about that time! The last release of the month for 2025 is Dove Ellis’ Blizzard! Our very own mkmusic1995 has prepared a very nice blurb for us all to enjoy!
“Dove Ellis waited till the last minute to unleash his debut record which also happens to be one of the most complete and exciting singer-songwriter records of 2025. Highlighted by lush instrumentation and soul-baring lyricism, Ellis conjures one beautiful track after another while channeling the vocal stylings of artists like Jeff Buckley and Thom Yorke. Ellis’ voice certainly retains elements of those artists with his range and the melodic tremble in his delivery, but his artistry is completely his own mixing elements of chamber pop, jangle rock, indie folk amongst others to invite a sense of nostalgia while breaking new, interesting sonic ground. There’s a lot to chew on with these rather breezy tunes, but the more time spent equals more respect, more enjoyment and simply more excitement for what this artist has yet to deliver. Each song feels a bit different whether it contains some horns and resembles something you’d hear from modern windmill-scene bands or is just a stripped back ballad with guitars or piano and Ellis’ touching voice; it all packs such a punch and makes such an impact in the tracklist.
It must be such a daunting task to create a debut record and to get so much buzz around it only to be in a position where…
You can read the full review I did for Requiem HERE.
Primarily known for his dark folk project, Thurnin, Jurre Timmer is a no-nonsense solo artists with a wealth of talent under his belt. Coming off the back of last year’s fantastic third Thurnin album, Harmr, Jurre has resurrected his old melodeath project I, Forlorn 9 years after the release of his debut album, My Kingdom Eclipsed. This brand new 5-track EP, titled Requiem, is an appetiser for a full release later this year and can be listened to right now. With that in mind, Simon (Dr.Gonzo) recently had a chat with Jurre to discuss both I, Forlorn and Thurnin, as well as a soundtrack he has lined up for 2026, slop social media, mental health, and reflecting on Harmr nearly one year on from its release.
Ryan (Hawks) and Simon (Dr.Gonzo) recently caught up with David Moody and Chris Sheppard, the duo behind some of the most interesting black/death metal on the market today, to talk about Veilburner’s latest album, Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy, as well as a load of interesting subjects including world-building, playing live, influences, and a candid look at how the sausage is made in the Veilburner camp.
In the ’60s, figures like Les Baxter and Martin Denny gifted their audiences the illusion of sounds from another world: aural experiences that seemed to unravel mysteries from the darkest corners of the Earth, from outer space, from uncharted realms altogether. I often wonder how the godfathers of Exotica would react to Imperial Triumphant.
There are no secrets anymore. How could there be, when anything and everything is a click away? We’ve been brutalized into the hive mind, anesthetized by sheer opulence. It’s gross, decadent; the act of consuming art has become a monster devouring itself in denial. That is exactly what Imperial Triumphant sound like.
That Goldstar is their most accessible album says everything. It’s grotesque and relentless, save for the occasional jazzy detour or skeletal intro, but at heart it’s still a quasi-death metal spawn packed into nine tracks of absolute madness, wrapped in an art deco package for your visual pleasure.
The New York triumvirate have had quite a year. They’ve released one of their most brilliant works to date, toured the world treating the masses to a spectacle of champagne and laser beams, all while playing like a well-oiled bulldozer. Reading the media call this “catchy” is almost funny — and deeply unsettling. What the hell have we become?
Racing Mount Pleasant’s self-titled debut feels like an album that time-traveled to us from the indie revival of the late ’00s and early ’10s. Swept up in grandiose and often romantic gestures, the record constantly feels like it is levitating. Jazzy chords and wispy strings give way to momentous orchestral flourishes – subtlety be damned – because the feeling with which everything is performed is too profound to not metaphorically scream it from the mountain tops. If you want to experience Racing Mount Pleasant in one representative capsule, you might turn your attention to “Emily” – one of the most damn impressive and heartfelt songs I’ve heard all year long – and feel it tug at your heartstrings as the instrumentation swells over the refrain: “We only danced behind closed doors / And the kiss from your lips on my forehead, it burns / The scorching cold of that November night will be forevermore.” It’s one of those moments that so perfectly distills desperate longing that in just under six minutes, you’ll relive every lingering memory of love and loss from your youth. Racing Mount Pleasant has that same sense of urgency throughout its runtime, rounding up all its passion and pain and performing them to the stars. It’s a little bit indie-folk, a little bit post-rock – call it whatever you want, it’s absolutely brimming…
What makes an art-pop album excellent? If it’s immense attention to production detail, then Saya has it. If it’s melodies that begin subtly, but unravel over time into brilliant earworms, then Saya has it. You can see where we’re going with this: Gray’s second LP and follow up to the highly acclaimed 19 Masters is everything a fan of avant-leaning but aesthetically mainstream music could hope for. It’s also an album that shores up any lingering doubt that she could write a cohesive, broadly-reaching pop record without dulling the keen songwriting which has always made her work such a pleasure to explore in depth. Saya is her most vivid-sounding and wholly representative creation yet – an aptly-titled piece. –Sowing
Few bands embody musical evolution quite like Abigail Williams. In terms of public opinion, their trajectory has been especially dramatic. I’ll put it bluntly: the band was initially viewed as a laughingstock throughout the old metal blogosphere I used to frequent. Their debut album was a blend of symphonic black metal and deathcore that was widely mocked by the gatekeepers of the era – just take a gander at contemporaneous reviews on Rate Your Music. There was a seething contempt that labeled the album a disgrace to…
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
