Beyond The Pale – Monument In Time

Metalcatto

There are musical projects with wildly ambitious dreams—like making a sustainable living from metal—and then there are the more humble endeavors that simply exist as an excuse for friends to create music together. That latter category seems to be where Beyond the Pale firmly resides. A band that began its battle during the isolating days of the pandemic, it’s are now ready to release its debut full-length, Monument in Time, which promises a savage and unrefined fusion of Death and Thrash Metal. I’m continually surprised by how infrequently these two genres are blended effectively, as the combination makes so much inherent sense. Anyway, let’s jump into the fray.

Paganizer – As Mankind Rots

Metalcatto

Paganizer is like a shark. In the sense that after millions of years, it has changed very little. And why would you when you play Old School Swedish Death Metal? However, even I’ve started to wonder if the band can break the mold for once. Given that its last release wasn’t that long ago, my hopes aren’t exactly high for As Mankind Rots to deliver change, but let’s see!

Malignant Aura – Where All of Worth Comes to Wither

Metalcatto

Rarely has a band name been so accurate in describing the atmosphere it creates as Malignant Aura. From the very first moments, the music lives up to that promise, radiating a suffocating, almost inhuman presence that feels carefully engineered rather than accidental. One could imagine this being the sound of ancient entities waking up, though filtered less through Lovecraftian myth and more through a modern Progressive/Death Metal lens. Even before pressing play, Where All of Worth Comes to Wither sets the tone with a title that feels relentlessly bleak, practically daring the listener to engage with it on its own terms.

Obscurity – Ascheregen

Metalcatto

Obscurity has a long career, and I probably should’ve realized that sooner just by looking at the name. Seriously, how did nobody take it before? Anyway, Ascheregen is clearly meant to make us feel the pain and destruction of the world. Very uplifting stuff. That said, the album has a noticeable blend of death and post-metal elements that give it a more emotional edge than you might expect. On paper, that combination should work for me, and in practice… well, I genuinely wondered what the worst that could happen was. Turns out, not much in a bad way.

Shine – Wrathcult

Metalcatto

Welcome back—it’s been one day! So let’s get into what the new year already has in store for us. If you were hoping for brutal and merciless blackened death metal, then today is your lucky day, because I’m here to show you what Shine have to offer with Wrathcult. An album with a promo campaign more pagan than an Edda Reddit thread. So prepare your spells and animal bones, because this is going to be one of those mythological trips—or at least I hope so.

Metalcatto’s Top Death Metal Albums of 2025

Metalcatto

There’s one subgenre that almost never disappoints, and that’s the original extreme Metal style. I’m talking about Death Metal—the one that’s given us the best and worst reputation among the normies. But enough chatting; here are my picks for the best Death Metal albums of 2025.