A quieter but still excellent week for new music this week, with ten country, metal and rock albums for us to sink our teeth into! Let’s dive right in!
Cole Swindell: Spanish Moss
The fifth album from the modern country star is a pretty interesting release. On the one hand it’s exactly what you’d expect from this generation of country star; a mix between Blake Shelton’s more traditional roots and Russel Dickersons more pop-leaning style. And it’s a Warner Nashville album, so of course it’s an hour plus long. However, none of that is inherently bad (aside for the length making my weekend harder). I honestly think my only issue stems from the arrangement of the thing. I didn’t mind it to begin with, but it felt incredibly average and I was struggling to get into it. However, then I reached ‘Lost Heart’ and it genuinely felt like the album shifted in tone and quality, and from then on out I found myself having a much better time. It had a bit more of a rock feel to it, giving much more Randall King vibes, which I loved. That and the slower ones like ‘Country Boy Can’t Survive’ are so very Drake Milligan. Like from ‘Lost Heart’ to ‘One Day’ is a run of eight incredible songs, most having a bit more stomp and intrigue to them. The rest of the album isn’t bad, by a long shot, but the latter seven songs were definitely where I felt the length. Spreading the eight tracks may have helped break up the monotony a little, and cutting the fat a little may have done Cole even better!
As I said, it isn’t a bad album by any stretch, but there are certainly better songs on it than others, in this writers opinion. Said tracks should be checked out by everyone, but if you’re into Swindell or country music in general and have a spare hour I’d definitely recommend giving this a listen. A lot of this has ended up on my personal playlist, and I’ll certainly be spinning it a lot in the coming weeks and months. A very solid 8/10 from us! We at least liked it more than his last one!
Heaven Shall Burn: Heimat
The German extreme metallers are back with album number 10, and go just as hard as ever before! I’ve been a fan of them for years at this point, and instantly fell in love with this album, especially the more I listened to it! It’s been a long five years between releases but is more than worth the wait. The band maintain their heaviness and full-on nature, but add in so many other styles throughout too, keeping the music constantly fresh. From the epic, atmospheric black metal opener to the almost Parkway-like ‘Empowerment’ to the Jesse Leach-featuring Killswitch cover ‘Numbered Days’, there is a lot of variety and so much to love, the album being packed full of highlights! It’s like vaguely radio-friendly extreme metal, and I loved every second of it. The mix on a couple of the tracks was a little weird, coming across more of a wall of sound than something I can pick apart, and it was incredibly hard to hear the bass throughout, almost giving off …Justice vibes. But it certainly isn’t enough to at all put me off; the album is an amazing heavy release. And heck, we even get an awesome second bonus disco with a few more guest vocalists and some in the bands native tongue.
If you are at all into the heavier side of metal, I cannot recommend this enough. It continues the bands run of amazing albums, and is a must for anyone even slightly curious! And it gets a very solid 8.5/10 from us!
P.S. that album artwork… AMAZING and gut-wrenching all at once.
Parker McCollum: Self-Titled
The second massive country album to be released last week; Parker keeps it pretty chill on his namesake fifth release. Honestly, it’s good, but it’s not really for me. It’s weird too, because there are artists that I like with this general style; everyone from Zach Bryan to Counting Crows to Pinegrove to Koe Wetzel. However, this is a very slow album with very few peaks and troughs and little variety, making it a sadly tough nearly-hour listen. Don’t get me wrong, I very much get the appeal, and Parker is fantastic at the style he plays, but it isn’t for me. Songs like ‘Solid Country Gold’, ‘Come On’ and the slightly Southern-rockier ‘What Kinda Man’ were personal highlights, and about the only tracks that stood out to me. The album has a great flow to it and works perfectly as a whole piece, but there were very few individual tracks that stood out much. It’s fantastic, chilled-out background music. If you like it that’s awesome, and if you’re a country fan I’d definitely recommend at least giving a try! However, I can’t give it much more than a 6.5/10… sorry!
Sodom: The Arsonist
The German thrash legendary are back with their first new studio release in half a decade. Despite the band being around for over four decades at this point, they prove here that they have not lost a single step. It’s exactly what you’d expect from German thrash in 2025, and I loved every second! It’s the perfect blend of Kreator and Slayer, and is 48-minutes of thrash metal goodness. Songs like ‘Battle of Harvest Moon’, ‘Witchhunter’ and ‘Twilight Void’ are all personal highlights, but there really isn’t a bad track on this! My only slight complaint is that it’s all pretty similar. I know thrash fans are hardly going to complain about that, but I always found my favourite albums from the likes of Metallica, Slayer and even Evile are ones with a bit of tempo shifting and variety. Still, it’s not much of a complaint when it’s all of this high quality! It’s a solid 8/10 from us, and a welcome return from one of the best thrash bands to ever do it!
Royale Lynn: BLACK MAGIC
This is a damn interesting debut album, to say the least! I got turned onto the band a couple of months ago from TikTok, and have been rather curious about what a full album would sound like. The answer: pop music with chunky guitars behind it. It’s… fine. It clearly takes a lot of inspiration from the likes of Poppy, Spiritbox and even Skynd, but misses out on the sauce that makes each of those bands special and unique. What’s wild is that it used to have said sauce. Her early stuff had a country infusion to it that reminded me of HARDY or Lakeview, feeling pretty fresh and interesting. It had that heaviness but brought other stuff to the table and made for genuinely interesting country singles. This is just like my least favourite parts of Poppy and Spiritbox stretched out across a 34-minute album.
I hate sounding so negative, as it isn’t a bad release by any stretch. There is some good riffing throughout and Lynn clearly has a fantastic voice and range. Songs like ‘PANDORA’S BOX’ and ‘WHEN WE DIE’ are damn good and certainly highlights. But generally it all sounded pretty similar and it wasn’t the stand-out album I had somewhat hyped it up to be beforehand. It will certainly have plenty of fans and she’s surely primed to be a huge name, but it isn’t fully my sort of thing. It just felt slightly too polished and pop and safe. Still, an easy 7/10!
Shadow of Intent: Imperium Delirium
Firstly, another SICK album cover from the metal side of things offered up this week, damn. Like, may be artwork of the year for me, that’s that damn cool!
The fifth album from the deathcore quartet also lives up to the awesome artwork too, as this is a stellar heavy release! It’s crushingly heavy, epic and technical all in equal measure, and is fantastic for its full nearly-hour. Songs like the opener, ‘Infinity of Horrors’, the epic closer/title track and the Corpsegrinder-featuring ‘Feeding the Meatgrinder’ are all awesome! Heck, that outro on the latter is utterly FILTHY. However, there really isn’t a bad track on this thing, even the intro and instrumental track are amazing and give the album a great vibe and flow. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly isn’t going to be for everyone. However, it’s an absolutely fantastic technical deathcore album, and everyone in the band is a phenomenally talented musician and songwriter. If you are at all into the heavier end of metal, this is one for you, that’s for sure! And it’s another easy 8.5/10!
Willi Carlisle: Winged Victory
This thing is wild, from the music to the lyrics, mixing to the artwork. It’s like a Napoleon Dynamite-style fever dream of great, folky bluegrass movie, and I’m kinda here for it! It’s simple and stripped-back, mainly just being strings, the accordion and vocals, the lack of drums always being a strange choice to me. However, it’s a fun, easy listen, and the lyrics and message behind them is fantastically poignant, despite the sometimes ridiculous presentation. From the opener to the title track, ‘Work is Work’ to ‘Big Butt Billy’, there is some really great songs on this! After ‘gathering together all the world’s weirdos and misfits under the big tent’ with last year’s Critterland, Willi follows it up perfectly with this release. It reminds me a lot of Adeem the Artist, which is very much a compliment in my book, and if you’re at all curious and haven’t heard him already I’d highly recommend giving this a listen! He has a new fan in me and I already can’t wait to hear where he goes next. A very solid 8/10 from me!
Lord Belial: Unholy Trinity
The Swedish black metal legends return with album number ten, and their second after their return. If anyone knows the band or the genre, this is exactly what you’d expect! The mix is pretty great for the genre, which is nice to hear. And I liked it when it got a little darker and more extreme metal, like in ‘Serpent’s Feast’. However, overall it’s just your typical 90s black metal band, for better or for worse. If you are into that, awesome, you’ll love this! It’s a great album as whole, and definitely one that’s probably worth listening to in full! It’s not my favourite genre by any stretch, but I can fully appreciate how good this is, and definitely enjoyed my listen of it. A solid 7/10, I’d say!
Indemon: Reclaiming Chaos
The debut album of the Finnish thrash band is honestly fucking awesome! Right from the opening song I was hooked, and the band didn’t let me go until 32 minutes later. There are so many good songs on this thing, from the opener to ‘Passenger’ to the acoustic-featuring, slower and more menacing instrumental ‘Ruoja’. However, all eight tracks on this thing are incredible! I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to discover this band, and they have a massive new fan in me immediately. This is a damn amazing thrash album, and one I’d recommend to anyone even slightly into metal. The band have a massive new if future ahead of them if this album is anything to go by, and I cannot wait to see and hear where they go from here. For now though, it’s a very easy 9/10 for this!
Lily Fitts: Getting By
This is a fantastic half an hour of indie-folk music from one of the best young artists in the game. And the fact that this is somehow her debut long release, especially when she’s only been putting singles out for a couple of years. Her voice is incredible, and her lyrics and songwriting are both far advanced for her age. Every single one of the singles are amazing, but the album tracks are just as good! I love this side of the wider country genre that the scene seems to be shifting towards; it’s got a slight rocky edge to it as well as the folk and Americana and pop, and every song has such a great hook to it! It’s impossible to pick highlights as every song is so damn good, and I can’t recommend this enough to anyone even vaguely interested in country music! She’s another artists on this list with a huge new fan in me, and I’ll certainly be spinning this a lot in the coming weeks and months. I can’t give it any less than 9/10, amazing stuff!