canada – Page 2 – Metal Eclipse Reviews

Völur & Cares – Breathless Spirit

Metalcatto

I’ve seen it all in my short life—from bands trashing venues for fun to false nuclear armageddons. Not much surprises me anymore. And yet, the world still has some strange tricks up its sleeve. This is where Völur & Cares step in. The band claims to be an Experimental Doom act, but to me, Breathless Spirit is pure Avant-Garde Metal. I mean, how else do you describe a Metal album with no guitars—just bass, violin, and drums—centered on an epic Icelandic saga? It’s full-on weirdness, and we’re diving straight in.

Zeicrydeus – La Grande Hérésie

Metalcatto

When we talk about retro-Metal at MER, we usually end up talking about rancid Death Metal or potato-production Black Metal. However, rarely do we run into a band like Zeicrydeus; one that’s honestly hard to define beyond saying “these guys play a bunch of Metal that reminds me of what dad used to put on here and there.” La Grande Hérésie should be promising just by the fact of having a French title. You know, that usually means this is going to be excellent or cause me indigestion. Let’s start!

Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence

Milo Lane

Hello, solstice, and hello, Cryptopsy Saturday! An Insatiable Violence arrives with the summer heatwave — relentless, overwhelming, and probably exactly what you didn’t know you needed. Just when you thought the Brutal Death Metal scene couldn’t get any more punishing, these Canadian legends throw down a record that will easily jackhammer an eardrum out of ya. And while I can’t tell you what to like, I can try my best to explain why this is a good thing.

Décryptal – Simulacre

Metalcatto

It used to be that if you learned English and maybe Swedish or German, you’d be able to understand around 90% of extreme Metal lyrics. However, that’s not true anymore. Now you need French too—because beyond France, Quebec is basically its own Metal country (this isn’t a political statement, don’t kill me!). Décryptal‘s Simulacre is bringing some old school Death Metal that promises to be disgusting enough that we’d actually remember it from the pile. Or at least that’s what the promo claimed. Let’s go!

A Flock Named Murder – Incendiary Sanctum

Milo Lane

A surefire way to pique my interest is to record one song and call it an album. However, not many things can be Dopesmoker or Crimson. A slightly more realistic move in today’s age of thirty-second attention spans is to put four humongous songs next to each other and call them an album. And in A Flock Named Murder – Incendiary Sanctum‘s case, I found it quite hard to lose focus.

Tribunal – In Penitence and Ruin

Sometimes in metal, as in life, appearances are deceiving. For example, I’m an invisible Metalhead – you’d never guess I belong to this illustrious community. So when Tribunal‘s Penitence and Ruin promo arrived from 20 Buck Spin, I assumed we had another reliable but predictable old-school Death Metal album on our hands. You know, the typical 3.0/5.0 or maybe slightly better. Oh, but I was surprised to find out this isn’t just a Doom Metal band – it’s a Symphonic Doom Metal band (I can already imagine some of you salivating over that). So, let’s see if this formula works.

Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea

If we go back to 2021, most of you were locked into your homes, thinking about how many shows were left to watch before the total apocalypse consumed us. However, that wasn’t the only surprise of the year. We got Eternal Blue, an album that put Spiritbox on the map as one of the new ambassador bands (bands that bring newcomers into the genre). Being such a band can deeply divide the Metal world, which is why Tsunami Sea is one of the most anticipated—and dreaded—releases of 2025. I’ll be honest, I enjoyed the debut as much as anyone, but I understood its limitations. So, where does Tsunami Sea stand?

Sacrifice – Volume Six

You know what we haven’t done this year? Review some fresh Tmehrash! I don’t know when the genre died again, but not so long ago, it was booming with ideas. At least last year, we got this beast. However, Sacrifice – Volume Six seems to aim for the more traditional side of the genre, where relentless pummeling and intense energy are the name of the game. You could even say they don’t make them like this anymore, so how about we dive into this modern relic?

Nepenthe – The Fading Promise of Tomorrow & Elegies of Loss and Doom

SonikGoat

I discovered Nepenthe shortly after writing my review of its labelmates, QAALM, and its mighty offering, A Grave Impression of an Unbroken Arc, under Hypaethral Records. Having found in that album an excellent blend of styles, the description of this Ontario-based band was enough to pique my interest. Would they manage to incorporate these diverse styles into a cohesive blend of their own?

Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion

There you can see it: Prometheus carrying the weight of our world, of our sins! There aren’t many bands that portray war like Panzerfaust. It’s not just the horror and immorality of it, but also its symbolism. This band gets that, which is why reaching the end of this tetralogy feels bittersweet. Who else has ever pulled this off? Four albums exploring a single concept with such depth? Maybe only Obscura with its cosmological tetralogy. Anyway, last time Panzerfaust released something, I had my concerns. Let’s see if The Suns of Perdition – Chapter IV: To the Shadow of Zion proves me wrong.