Author Archive

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 – Vacuum Coeli
Genre: Black Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube Music

Hellevaerder – Fakkeldragers
Genre: Black Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube Music

MYR – Helvegen
Genre: Black Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube Music

Rites of Tara – Relic
Genre:…

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 – Onírica Evocación de las Auras Condenadas
Genre: Chilean Black Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | YouTube

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

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, skronk birb
normaloctagon, clearly a circle

Yours truly, dripping host

You’re so not ready for our special guests this month! It’s…
Sam and Alex (Artificial Brain, third from right and second from right)
– Calendar week 18 –

Chromatic Dissolution by Coffin Mulch & Mick Harris — Sam’s pick
In Dub — 05.02.2025 — At War With False Noise — Spotify
I 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…

“Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.” -Goethe
Sun sheaths into twilight, a rising moon pales dimming eyes and wearied ears, whose echoing memories are etched now, in the Riff Index – a weekly inscription of all things metal spawned from the clutch of a new brood.
A serpent uncoils, teeth gnash. The crypt’s grinding lurch; flesh sloughs onto rot-stenched soil. From iron rusted barrows anguish bellows across long fallow battlefields, up gale blasted ruins of towered stone. Smoke curls around snow-bedded branches bowed over churning embers, the night howls.
We convoke to witness these sonorous rites in brief violent blossoming from the skein of unknowing. Each offering a fleeting wound; a cairn of proclamation. Into the shadow of vanishing silence, a procession of flames dance and beckon.
Hark! Will you hear their song?
List of Recommendable Guitar Music:
June 2nd – June 8th, 2025
Compiled, checked, and recommended by ThyCrossAwaits, Azazzel, and yours truly

Iku-Torso – Wolfheart
Genre: Pagan Black
Streams: Bandcamp | YouTube Music

Owls – Une Toile de Plus à Brûler
Genre: Black / Melodic Metal
Streams: Bandcamp | YouTube

Gaahls Wyrd – Braiding the Stories
Genre: Dark…

Have you recovered from your trip to Arcadia yet? Good. Even on Sputnik, music never stops. This is a Daoboys, Full of Hell and Pelican type week, but we won’t stop you from indulging in some Zorn. As always, please feel free to use the comment section to tell us what you’d like to see reviewed, let us know what we missed and/or wear your jams with pride.
– List of Releases: May 16th, 2025 –

Aminé – 13 Months of Sunshine
Genre: Pop Rap / Contemporary R&B
Label: CLBN

Arm’s Length – There’s a Whole World Out There
Genre: Emo-Pop / Emo
Label: Pure Noise

Ben Frost – Under Certain Light and Atmospheric Conditions
Genre: Electronic / Post-Industrial
Label: Mute

Bury Tomorrow – Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience
Genre: Melodic Metalcore
Label: Music for Nations

The Callous Daoboys – I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven
Genre: Mathcore / Alternative Metal
Label: MNRK Heavy

Causa Sui – In Flux
Genre: Psychedelic Rock / Jam Band / Stoner Rock
Label: El Paraiso

Confessions of a Traitor – This Pain Will Serve You
Genre: Metalcore
Label: Facedown

The Dandy Warhols – Rock Remaker
Genre: Alternative Rock / Neo-Psychedelia / Alternative Dance (remixed)
Label: Sunset Blvd

Dead Chasm – Spectral Tyranny
Genre: Death Metal / Death…

A Greek, an Aussie, a German and a Briton walked into a bar. Said the German, “LFG!”. Voilà, this month’s edition of Extreme Measures was born — this time with more Sput guests, more “makes you scream at your screen” bad takes, more words, more… everything. What will be Night’s final jams before he goes on intermittent hiatus? Who is the handsome fella photobombing our special guest? Will Tool superfan JotW be able to endure the pedestrian guitar music perfidiously thrown at him in an act of backstabbery by people he once considered decent chaps? Who is going to taste the forbidden angular-aural-abrasive-aesthetic fruits first? (Spoiler: It’s gonna be May.) Questions upon questions — let’s get digging for some home truths.
Representing Sput this month are two staffers and a fool:
NightOnDrunkMountain, lo-fi glutton
JohnnyoftheWell, Thesaurus rex

Yours truly, naked host

Oh, you’re here for our surprise guests, aren’t you? That would be…
Brendan Sloan (Convulsing) and some bearded bloke (back to front)
– Calendar week 14 –

Crisis Apparition by Goetia — Brendan’s pick
Otherworldly Agency — 04.01.2025 — Self-released — Spotify
…

Hi. Did you miss Sputnik? Did you miss music? I missed Sputnik. I missed music. Where are the new artists? Not on Sputnik, at least for the moment. Look forward to the fabled one-entry Weekly post coming soon™. In the meantime, here’s new music — while supplies last.
– List of Releases: May 2nd, 2025 –

A Flock Named Murder – Incendiary Sanctum
Genre: Black Metal / Post-Metal
Label: Hypaethral

Anthony Naples – Scanners
Genre: Tech House / Deep House
Label: ANS

Bleed – Bleed
Genre: Alternative Metal / Nu Metal
Label: 20 Buck Spin

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture
Genre: Indie Rock / Alternative Rock
Label: Partisan

Car Seat Headrest – The Scholars
Genre: Indie Rock / Rock Opera
Label: Matador

Crematory – Destination
Genre: Gothic Metal / Industrial Metal/ Melodic Death Metal
Label: Napalm

Eli Keszler – Eli Keszler
Genre: Electroacoustic / Nu Jazz / Ambient / Avant-Garde Jazz
Label: LuckyMe

Enji – Sonor
Genre: Vocal Jazz / Contemporary Folk / Urtiin duu
Label: Squama

Esther Rose – Want
Genre: Singer-Songwriter / Americana
Label: New West

The Flower Kings – Love
Genre: Progressive Rock / Symphonic Prog
Label: InsideOut

Flume & JPEGMAFIA – We Live in a Society
Genre: Future Bass / Hip Hop …

Welcome, metal afficionados, inquisitive readers and everyone in between, to the premiere of Extreme Measures, a new monthly format where Sputnik users and artists come together to take a long, hard lo-, ahem, briefly check overlooked (and some overly looked at) extreme metal and adjacent releases that came out in the previous month and offer their thoughts on select songs. This has been a long time in the making, and we’re excited to finally share our findings with you. For this first edition, some very, very special guests did themselves the honor of joining in. We hope you’ll have as much fun jamming and reading as we did crafting this. Let’s dive in.
Sput jammers (spammers?) this month:
evilford, DM hypeman extraordinaire
Yours truly, humble host

And our surprise guests for this episode are:
Vaughn, Jacob, Josh and Lille (Defeated Sanity, left to right)
– Calendar week 10 –

Innermost Intestinal Exposure by Chordoma — Josh’s pick
Chordoma — 03.07.2025 — Comatose — Spotify
I hadn’t heard of this band until now, but definitely a strong relative new-comer to the brutal death metal…

Easter is right around the corner, and you can finally spend your hard-earned dineros on overpriced molded chocolate to your heart’s content — we won’t judge. Alternatively, here’s some music for your consideration. Wait a second… How did all that exquisite metal get in there? Don’t give me that look! As always, please feel free to use the comment section to request reviews, let us know us what we missed, link to photos of your home-cooked rabbit stew (or plant-based equivalents) and/or tell everyone what you’re hyped for.
– List of Releases: April 18th, 2025 –

Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution
Genre: Death Metal / Death Doom / Prog
Label: Profound Lore

Beirut – A Study of Losses
Genre: Indie Pop / Indie Folk
Label: Pompeii

Charles Mingus – In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts
Genre: Post-Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz
Label: Resonance

Crypts of Despair – We Belong in the Grave
Genre: Deathcore / Death Metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity

Dormant Ordeal – Tooth and Nail
Genre: Death Metal / Black Metal
Label: Willowtip

Iron Lung – Adapting // Crawling
Genre: Powerviolence
Label: Self-released

Julien Baker & TORRES – Send a Prayer My Way
Genre: Singer-Songwriter / Indie Rock
Label: Matador

Karg – Marodeur
Genre: Blackgaze / Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: AOP

Lik – Necro
Genre:…

3, 2, 1, Weeklies! Unless you’re using the DD/MM format, in which case you’ll be delighted to learn that the number 213 is part of Levine’s sequence. You already knew!? We’ll try to make up for the lack of educational value by surprising you with some of the upcoming releases below. Please feel free to request reviews from staff and/or contributors, let the community know what we’ve missed, brag about your PhD in Mathematics and/or post your jams.
– List of Releases: March 21st, 2025 –

Bloodywood – Nu Delhi
Genre: Nu Metal / Rap Metal
Label: Fearless

Cradle of Filth – The Screaming of the Valkyries
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
Label: Napalm

Disarmonia Mundi – The Dormant Stranger
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Coroner

Dissocia – To Lift the Veil
Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: Willowtip

Drudkh – Shadow Play
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Season of Mist

Embrional – Inherited Tendencies for Self-Destruction
Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Label: Agonia

Floodlights – Underneath
Genre: Indie Rock / Post-Punk
Label: PIAS

Greentea Peng – Tell Dem It’s Sunny
Genre: Neo-Soul / Alternative R&B
Label: AWAL

The Horrors – Night Life
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia / Gothic / Synthpop / Post-Punk
Label: Fiction

Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar
Genre: Avant-Garde Metal / Dissonant…
|
|
|