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From a meteorological lens, some of us are starting to feel the dog days of summer, so hopefully those of you upside-down are persevering through the cat nights of winter. Below is an ostensibly incomplete list of new releases for August 15th, 2025. Feel free to jam the playlist, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week, and thank you for teaching kids everywhere a valuable lesson: if things don’t go your way, just keep complaining until your dreams come true. Until then, we’ll catch you for the next one!


– List of Releases: August 15th, 2025 –


The Aces – Gold Star Baby
Genre: Dance-Pop / Nu-Disco
Label: SoundOn

Alison Goldfrapp – Flux
Genre: Dance-Pop / Electropop
Label: A.G Recordings

Audrey Hobert – Who’s the Clown?
Genre: Electropop / Indie Pop
Label: RCA

Babyface Ray – Codeine Cowboy
Genre: Detroit Sound / Trap
Label: Empire

Baest – Colossal
Genre: Heavy Metal / Death ‘n’ Roll
Label: Century Media

Big Noble – It’s Later Than You Think
Genre: Ambient Techno / Sound Art
Label: [self-released]

Black Honey – Soak
Genre: Indie Rock / Alt-Pop
Label: Foxfive

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Good news, everyone! mm/dd/yyyy and dd/mm/yyyy are the same this week! This won’t happen again until… 10/10. Hopefully we’ll get there if we stack ’em one week at a time! All we can do is try, and trying is the first step towards failure. In the meantime, below is a not-exactly-comprehensive list of new releases for the week of August 8th, 2025. Feel free to jam the playlist, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week, and we’ll catch you on the next one!


– List of Releases: August 8th, 2025 –


Ada Lea – when i paint my masterpiece
Genre: Indie Folk / Neo-Psychedelia
Label: Saddle Creek

Amaarae – BLACK STAR
Genre: Jersey Club / Dance-Pop
Label: Interscope

Anamanaguchi – Anyway
Genre: Slacker Rock / Indie Rock
Label: Polyvinyl

Attack Attack! – Attack Attack! II
Genre: Metalcore / Electronicore
Label: Oxide

Aversions Crown – A Voice from the Outer Dark [EP]
Genre: Deathcore / Technical Death Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast

BABYMETAL – Metal Forth
Genre: Kawaii Metal / Metalcore
Label: Capitol

Bad Suns – Accelerator
Genre: Electropop / Post-Punk Revival
Label: Epitaph

The Black Keys – No Rain, No Flowers


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It might seem tragic that August is both Romance Awareness Month and National Catfish Month, but we figure the latter has to do with the fried-in-Old Bay-and-cornmeal variety. Below is a non-exhaustive list of new releases for August 1st, 2025. Jam the playlist, tell us your favorite sandwich/panini (since those are celebrated this month as well), and we’ll catch you next time!


– List of Releases: August 1st, 2025 –


ACCVSED – Dealers of Doom
Genre: Metalcore / Alternative Metal
Label: Arising Empire

Almost An Island – Almost An Island
Genre: Ambient / Drone
Label: Past Inside the Present

araabMUZIK – Electronic Dream 2
Genre: Instrumental Hip-Hop / Trap [EDM]
Label: Genre Defying Entertainment

The Armed – The Future Is Here and Everything Needs to Be Destroyed
Genre: Post-Hardcore / Noise Rock
Label: Sargent House

Between Friends – WOW!
Genre: Alt-Pop / Indietronica
Label: 10K

Car Bomb – Tiles Whisper Dreams [EP]
Genre: Mathcore / Djent
Label: Church Road

Centuries of Decay – A Monument to Oblivion
Genre: Progressive Death Metal / Atmospheric Sludge Metal
Label: [independent]

Chance the Rapper – Star Line
Genre: Pop Rap / Pop Reggae
Label: n/a…

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Below is a partial list of some new releases for July 25th, 2025. It’s also Shark Week this week. Jam the playlist, vote on the best shark, and let us know what the haps be in your neck of the sea — and we’ll catch you next time!


– List of Releases: July 25th, 2025 –


16volt – More of Less
Genre: Industrial Rock / Electro-Industrial
Label: Metropolis

Alessi Rose – Voyeur [EP]
Genre: Alt-Pop / Indie Pop
Label: Atlantic

Alice Cooper – The Revenge of Alice Cooper
Genre: Hard Rock / Psychedelic Rock
Label: earMUSIC

Anchor & Braille – New Mexico
Genre: Alternative Rock / Post-Punk
Label: Equal Vision

Beheaded – Għadam
Genre: Brutal Death Metal / Technical Death Metal
Label: Agonia

Blankenberge – Decisions
Genre: Shoegaze / Dream Pop
Label: Automatic Music

Bleary Eyed – Easy
Genre: Shoegaze / Noise Pop
Label: Born Losers

Boneflower – Reveries
Genre: Screamo / Post-Hardcore
Label: Deathwish

Bruce Dickinson – More Balls to Picasso [Revisited/Regenerated]
Genre: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Label: BMG

Cheat Codes – Future Renaissance
Genre: Dance-Pop / Electropop
Label: Create Music Group…


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Below is a partial list of notable new releases for July 18th, 2025. What are you looking forward to this week? Jam the playlist (or the DK Rap in honor of Donkey Kong Bananza‘s release) and let us know what the haps be — and we’ll see you all for the next one!


– List of Releases: July 18th, 2025 –


Abigail Williams – A Void Within Existence
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal / Melodic Black Metal
Label: Agonia

Above & Beyond – Bigger Than All of Us
Genre: Melodic House / Progressive Trance
Label: Anjunabeats

Alex G – Headlights
Genre: Indie Folk / Americana
Label: RCA

Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here
Genre: Post-Metal / Atmospheric Sludge Metal
Label: Road to Masochist

Billie Marten – Dog Eared
Genre: Bedroom Pop / Indie Pop
Label: Fiction

Bush – I Beat Loneliness
Genre: Alternative Rock / Post-Grunge
Label: earMUSIC

Clairvoyance – Chasm of Immurement
Genre: Death Metal / Black Metal
Label: Carbonized

Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway – Addicted to the Violence
Genre: Alternative Metal / Alternative Rock
Label: Scarred for Life

DJ Haram – Beside Myself


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Welcome back to our humble abode, rife with intrusive boner pill ads and a roller grill featuring products that might survive a nuclear holocaust. We’re sorta like 7-Eleven: we’re not always doing business, but we’re always open. Jam the playlist below, let us know what you’re looking forward to this week, and we’ll catch you on the flippity-flip.


– List of Releases: July 11th, 2025 –


Amy MacDonald – Is This What You’ve Been Waiting for?
Genre: Power Pop / Pop Rock
Label: Infectious

Born of Osiris – Through Shadows
Genre: Metalcore / Djent
Label: Sumerian

Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out
Genre: Gangsta Rap / Experimental Hip-Hop
Label: Roc Nation

Disembodiment – Spiral Crypts
Genre: Death Metal / Death Doom Metal
Label: Everlasting Spew

Gina Birch – Trouble
Genre: Post-Punk / Art-Pop
Label: Third Man

GIVĒON – BELOVED
Genre: Pop-Soul / Contemporary R&B
Label: Epic

Goon – Dream 3
Genre: Indie Rock / Neo-Psychedelia
Label: Born Losers

Gwenno – Utopia
Genre: Art Pop / Dream Pop
Label: Heavenly

Hammock – Nevertheless
Genre: Ambient / Post-Rock
Label: Hammock

Hell –


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Happy Pride, Happy Canada Day, Happy 4th of July — July is also Social Wellness Month and UV Safety Awareness Month, so please wear sunscreen and stay properly hydrated when you’re out touching grass during National Picnic Month! Here are some new releases on deck for the week of July 4th. Jam the playlist and let us know what you’re looking forward to this week!


– List of Releases: July 4th, 2025 –


Divine Sentence – Killing is a Cycle
Genre: Metalcore / Sludge Metal
Label: Blood Blast Distro

Haarvöl – Horizons of Suspended Zones
Genre: Experimental / Dark Ambient
Label: Crónica

Jonny Nash – Once Was Ours Forever
Genre: Ambient / Modern Classical
Label: Melody as Truth

Kae Tempest – Self Titled
Genre: Conscious Hip-Hop / Electro Hop
Label: Island / EMI

Kesha – . [Period]
Genre: Dance-Pop / Alt-Pop
Label: Kesha Records

Necht – The Inevitable Suffering [EP]
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal / Blackened Death Metal
Label: [self-released]

Nilüfer Yanya – Dancing Shoes [EP]
Genre: Bedroom Pop / Alt-Pop
Label: Ninja Tune

Rival Consoles – Landscape from Memory
Genre: Future Garage / Ambient Techno
Label: Erased Tapes…


 

My Top Finnish Metal Bands

 


by Hawks

(thank you to NexCeleris for all the assistance!)

Well, folks, it is time for a look into the depths of depravity. The Finnish metal scene is one of my favorites. It has a bit of everything. There’s over-the-top folky stuff, blitzing melodeath, the murkiest death metal you’ll ever hear, and some of the darkest, ritualistic black metal ever put to tape. I will be covering my personal top 10 all-time (as of this moment) in the Finnish scene. Buckle up, boys, here we go!


CoB

Ahhhhh, yes, the quintessential Finnish metal band. While Children of Bodom might not be the the ‘trvest’ band out there, they are responsible for getting many (including yours truly) into Finnish metal and metal in general.

Starting off in 1993 as Inearthed by world-class guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho, the band offered a somewhat different approach than what was happening in the Finnish metal scene at the time. Bands like Demilich, Rippikoulu and Funebre, just to name a few, were dropping some of the most disgusting-sounding death metal known to mankind. The boys of Inearthed/Bodom opted for a way more melodic, neoclassical-influenced sound with shredding riffs, bombastic keyboards and throat-tearing, high-pitched vocals.

Their opening trio of Something Wild, Hatebreeder and Follow the Reaper


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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 27th, 2025. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.


– List of Releases: June 27th, 2025 – 


Ashley Campbell: Goodnight Nashville
Genre:
Country
Label: Dot Records

Coil: Black Antlers
Genre:
Industrial / Ambient
Label: Threshold House

Deadguy: Near-Death Travel Service
Genre:
Metalcore / Mathcore
Label: Relapse Records

Drawn and Quartered: Lord of Two Horns
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Nuclear Winter Records

Greet Death: Die in Love
Genre:
Shoegaze / Indie
Label: Deathwish Inc.

Heaven Shall Burn: Heimat
Genre:
Melodic Death Metal
Label: Century Media Records

Katseye: Beautiful Chaos
Genre:
Pop
Label: Geffin Records

Late Night Drive Home: As I Watch My Life Online
Genre:
Indie Rock
Label: Epitaph Records

Laura Stevenson: Late Great
Genre:
Indie Rock / Americana
Label: Really Records

Lorde: Virgin
Genre:
Indie Pop
Label: Universal Records

Moving Mountains: Pruning of the Lower Limbs
Genre:
Post Rock / Indie Rock
Label: Wax Bodega

Orianthi: Some Kind of Feeling
Genre:
Rock
Label: Woodward Avenue Records

Pig Pen: Mental Madness
Genre: Hardcore
Label: Flatspot Records

Shadow of Intent: Imperium Delirium
Genre:
Blackened Deathcore
Label: Bloodblast Distribution

Sodom: The Arsonist
Genre:
Death Metal / Thrash
Label: Avalon

Will Carlisle: Winged Victory
Genre:
Americana / Folk
Label: Signature Sound Recordings


Sputnikmusic89

You can’t join this particular party, but you can get close if you follow one of our social media pages:

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The summer is solsticing and the halation is blinding. Need some cool blasts to beat the heat? Riff Index is your one-stop shop to stock up on all the week’s best new metal and metal accessories.
Shake off your Seppuku-punx blues, grab a molotov and join the Death Pill grrrrls rioting in Kyiv or start a Midsummer bonfire with Rites of Tara.
Hear the new decree from Valdrin now seated upon his lunar throne.
Get bewitched by the Diamanda Galás incanted Puppe Magnetik.
It took 17+ years but Destroyer Destroyer have found another destroyer to destroy and Insanity return to life after Death After Death.
Want to storm the Parthenon at the speed of black with the wild melodies of heavy metal? Aetos has you covered – just don’t get behind the gas-puffing dragon of Helms Deep.

-Azazzel

 


List of Recommendable Guitar Music:
June 16th – June 22nd, 2025


Compiled, checked, and recommended by ThyCrossAwaits, Azazzel, and yours truly

 

Tenebrae in Perpetuum

Tenebrae in Perpetuum – Vacuum Coeli
Genre: Black Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | SpotifyYouTube Music

 

Hellevaerder

Hellevaerder – Fakkeldragers
Genre: Black Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | SpotifyYouTube Music

 

MYR

MYR – Helvegen
Genre: Black Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | SpotifyYouTube Music

 

Rites of Tara

Rites of Tara – Relic
Genre:


Welcome to a very special interview with My Epic’s Aaron Stone, conducted by DrGonzo and Tyman. Founded in 2005, My Epic are known for their deep-rooted Christian themes and lyrics, over a sound that has gone through various transformations over the years – from post-hardcore and post-rock to indie and pop, all carefully crafted with lush, ethereal soundscapes with powerful breakdowns. Both Tyman and Gonzo hold a huge amount of reverence for My Epic, and we got chance to sit down with Aaron Stone, the band’s vocalist, to discuss the band’s history, future and all things in between. So, let’s dive in.

Tyler: For those of you who are listening and may not know, we are joined by Aaron. He’s the vocalist of My Epic. If you don’t know My Epic, what are you doing now? Me and Simon absolutely love this band and thought it would be fun to have a good little chat with them.

Simon: Jumping straight into the My Epic stuff, could you just give us a brief overview of the band and its history, if that’s cool?

Aaron: The band started my senior year of college with my brother Jesse and my best friends, Jeremiah and Maddie. After college we moved to Charlotte together and the band sort of whittled down to me, my brother and Jeremiah, and that had been the core of the band for a long time. We signed to Facedown Records in 2008 and released our first full-length [I Am Undone],…


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Here’s a partial list of new releases for June 20, 2025. Please feel free to request reviews and let us know what you’ll be jamming this week!


– List of Releases: June 20th, 2025 –


Alestorm – The Thunderfist Chronicles
Genre: Power Metal / Folk Metal
Label: Napalm

Badflower – No Place Like Home
Genre: Alternative Rock / Emo-Pop
Label: Big Machine John Varvatos

Benson Boone – American Heart
Genre: Pop Rock / New Wave
Label: Night Street

Biosphere – The Way of Time
Genre: Ambient / Ambient Techno
Label: AD 93

Coming Up Roses – How Did We Fall So Far?
Genre: Alternative Rock / Shoegaze
Label: INH

Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence
Genre: Technical Death Metal / Brutal Death Metal
Label: Season of Mist

Facta – GULP
Genre: Microhouse / UK Bass
Label: Wisdom Teeth

GoGo Penguin – Necessary Fictions
Genre: Nu Jazz / ECM Style Jazz
Label: XXIM

HAIM – I Quit
Genre: Pop Rock / Indie Rock
Label: Polydor

Hamza – MANIA
Genre: Trap / Alternative R & B
Label: Just Woke Up

Hiroe


SputnikmusicBanner

Welcome, fellow netherfiends, to the second inscription upon the unholy tablet of the Riff Index. Herein we humbly offer cuts deeper than skin deep, names that are not often spoken outside whispers below the fog of the leathery underbelly. Fresh slabs just unearthed from the depths!

Row of Ashes drags post-hardcore through thick, bloodied mud, creating a muck monster that thrashes in the bog water. Elsewhere, Dr. Lipoma churns melodic death riffs and goregrind in a filthy medieval cauldron, his voice bubbling and pus-choked like the sounds of Dark Age surgery. Not to be outdone, Draugveil present potentially the most majestic and romantic album cover in recent memory. Do not be fooled by the blonde page boy coif or the bed of roses; the album delivers thunderous melodic black metal spurred by remarkably vibrant drumming.

There is and shall always be darker corners to explore. Dig through and dig deep. May you find yourself a treasure in the murk.

-ThyCrossAwaits

 


List of Recommendable Guitar Music:
June 9th – June 15th, 2025


Compiled, checked, and recommended by ThyCrossAwaits, Azazzel, and yours truly

 

Somnvs Mortis

Somnvs Mortis – Onírica Evocación de las Auras Condenadas
Genre: Chilean Black Metal
Streams: BandcampYouTube

 
Karçaz

Karçaz – Estrela Palída do Silêncio Mórbido
Genre: Black Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | SpotifyYouTube

 

Extreme Measures

It’s that time of the month again. No, I’m not talking about the single sunny day in London or the sleep-depriving full moon. What? No, no, no—this isn’t about the eleventh Hawks list written in all caps. It’s time to measure extremely! We’ve hastily installed whatever patches we could dig up from our dusty 8-inch floppies in a desperate attempt to translate the transmissions below for you, our valued readers. Let’s hope it worked.

 

In the Sput corner:

 

CottonSalad

CottonSalad, skronk birb

normaloctagon

normaloctagon, clearly a circle

Spacer

 

NexCeleris

Yours truly, dripping host

Spacer

You’re so not ready for our special guests this month! It’s…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artifical Brain

Sam and Alex (Artificial Brain, third from right and second from right)

 


 

– Calendar week 18 –

 

Coffin Mulch & Mick Harris

Chromatic Dissolution by Coffin Mulch & Mick Harris — Sam’s pick

In Dub05.02.2025At War With False NoiseSpotify

SamI admit that I don’t often care for new music that falls under the umbrella of OSDM. For one, I’m still discovering such surprising, inspired records from the early years of the genre. Perhaps more importantly, early death metal…


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Here’s a list of some new releases for the week of June 13th, 2025. It’s okay to be a little stitious. Please feel free to jam the playlist and request reviews from the staff and contributors.


– List of Releases: June 13th, 2025 –


7038634357 – Waterfall Horizon
Genre: Ambient / Progressive Electronic
Label: Blank Forms

Altesia – The Somnambulist
Genre: Progressive Metal / Djent
Label: [self-released]

Annahstasia – Tether
Genre: Art Pop / Progressive Soul
Label: drink sum wtr

Apathy – Mom & Dad
Genre: Conscious Hip-Hop / Boom Bap
Label: Anchors Up Records

AVKRVST – Waving at the Sky
Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: InsideOut

Baby Jane – A Grave Marked Strange
Genre: Electropop / Witch House
Label: Terem

Buckcherry – Roar Like Thunder
Genre: Hard Rock / Sleaze Rock
Label: Round Hill Records

The Bug Club – Very Human Features
Genre: Power-Pop / Slacker Rock
Label: Sub Pop

Byzantine – Harbingers
Genre: Groove Metal / Progressive Metal
Label: Metal Blade

Calum Hood – ORDER chaos ORDER
Genre: Synthpop / Chillwave
Label: EMI

The


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