Five For Friday: April 25, 2025

Greetings, Decibel readers!

Have an especially deadly set of releases for you this week. But if you want to know who my favorite modern old-school heavy metal band is, scroll to the bottom.

Enjoy!

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Coffin Feeder – Big Trouble

Do you like brutal death metal, 1980s action-movie references, and crystal clear political metaphors? Well, have I got a treat for you!

Stream: Apple Music

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Disfuneral – In Horror, Reborn

Some solid death metal. Simple as. Fans of Vader, Master, and Asphyx will find plenty to enjoy on this album.

Stream: Apple Music

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Insineratehymn – Irreverence of the Divine

Brutal, satisfying evil set to music. Deicide obviously looms large over this band’s music, but there’s echoes of Immolation, Incantation and Imprecation to be found here as well. I mean, you’re sold already, aren’t you?

Stream: Apple Music

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Samiarus – Reign Destroyer

Speaking of evil, let this sink its teeth into you, you won’t regret it. The Oakland-based band has entered the arena with a supremely violent new release, a work that combines blackened death metal with the attitude of grind and powerviolence in a way that’s similar to bands like Gravesend and Caustic Wound.

Stream: Apple Music

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Venator – Psychodrome

Among the legions of “new old-school heavy metal” bands that have emerged over the last 10 years, none looms larger for me that Venator. Everything about the band’s sound comes together so well, channeling Judas Priest, The Scorpions, WASP and Thundersteel-era Riot and updating it all for the 2020s. Glorious but never cheesy, aggressive but well balanced, melodic but still totally badass — it just totally rules. The riffs are there, the vocals are there (and most singers in this style really turn me off, but Hans just owns the material so expertly), and the songwriting is simply supreme (those choruses!). This will be one of the few non-black or death metal albums on my end of year list for 2025, guaranteed.

Stream: Apple Music