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MetalBite's Top 10 Albums of the Month - November 2025
Welcome back to MetalBite's Top 10 albums of the month! November is a chaotic time of the year for releases and it's easy to miss great stuff in the midst of putting together your year-end lists right before the music industry goes into a brief hibernation. Or maybe there weren't enough good albums for you to fill your list out. You're empirically wrong, but either way - this should help you catch up. Happy holidays!
-Nate
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Glorious Depravity - Death Never Sleeps
Transcending Obscurity Records
Prepare for a nice slice of New York death metal, the kind influenced ever so slightly by hardcore, that is brutal but still has something to say and can be truly funny! Take the opening track for example, "Slaughter The Gerontocrats", with an impeccable instrumentation of fast thrashing riffs coupled with fast blastbeats you hear those lyrics: "Slaughter the gerontocrats Rip their ancient guts out Our hordes descending on the Hamptons and Florida, We hunt them down at the golf courses and country clubs". It's a "creative" way to deal with the gerontocracy… Moving on, Death metal can be funny but also thoughtful. I give you "Carnage At The Margins": "Hails, gentlemen, I bear the board's congratulations, We've shipped the product, Despite our resource limitations, Our end users, Typically retain their limbs, And what's a little, Carnage at the margins?" illustrating the cold and detached nature of the military industrial complex, it's only numbers, more wars = line goes up = good, who cares about a few dead children. Musically you have a typical death metal that sounds old school but with a super modern production. Everything sounds crystal clear and crisp, beware for your neck because there are a lot of headbangable moments!
-Raphael
Suffering - Things Seen But Always Hiddens
Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings
Since the release of their first, difficult to procure, album 11, Suffering have been slowly percolating in the British underground, with members coming and going, seemingly waiting for the perfect moment to strike once more. And as UK black metal continuing to thrive, with festivals such as Fortress and Cosmic Void attracting both bands and fans from all over the world, now is as good a time as any to release Things Seen But Always Hidden. Of course, none of the advantageous timing would count for anything if the record was not as fiercely magnificent as it is, but thankfully Suffering have used the past decade well, creating something that is surely likely to see them substantially increase their audience, both at home and abroad. Suffering's brand of black metal has clearly graduated from the Darkthrone / Marduk school of ascetic and monochromatic intensity, but they avoid falling into the trap marked 'generic Norsecore' via an array of individual touches that demonstrate the many-stringed bow that they wield so menacingly, as well as the truly unhinged vocals of Sturmgeist Fornicator Insultus. The pitch-black doom of 'Behind The Green Door' shows a mastery of slower tempos to rival Dragged Into Sunlight, and the elements of post-rock and progressive metal that adorn 'Enthralled' and 'The Chamber Of Breathtaking Delights' suggest a band that could even follow in Akercocke's footsteps, with some of the virtuoso technicality replaced by a devotion to conjuring fearful atmosphere. One senses that Suffering are only likely to get better from here, but this is still a highly impressive milestone on a journey that is only just beginning.
-Benjamin
Dead And Dripping - Nefarious Scintillations
Transcending Obscurity
This band is establishing themselves as one of extreme metal's more prolific acts, this being their fourth album in six years. That's common for one-man bands, but often there's a lower bar for quality when the volume of content is higher which is not the case here. This is one of the best Demilich worship acts running, mostly because they keep it weird. I can't fully embrace bands like Morbific and Cryptworm because while they have the riff style down, they lose the atmosphere in the process of streamlining their songwriting to make it punchier. Dead And Dripping bring some of their own color to the process, which helps it to stand as its own product. Nefarious Scintillations has a guitar tone with a glistening sheen, like it was recorded in a steel container - mixed with the warped, alien phrasing and snakelike structuring, it sounds like a cyborg struggling to break free from its robotic limitations in a quest to regain a fully human form.
-Nate
Voidceremony - Abditum
20 Buck Spin
I feel like this didn't get talked about a ton despite it once again being another masterful mix of old-school death metal, prog and nasty Damon good basslines from this star-studded band. Maybe everyone's just used to it and it's par for the course at this point?
-Nate
Phobocosm - Gateway
Dark Descent Records
Montréal's dark death metal crew gives us their fourth full length, and what is dark death metal one might ask? I would describe their sound as existing somewhere at the intersection of death, death/doom and dissonant death, à la Gorguts. The album opens with a slow build up of tremolo picking and slowly incorporates drums and more dissonant chords. The speed picks up a bit, with fast kick drums but overall, the song keeps it slow with heavy chugging riffs. I love the uneasy atmosphere throughout the whole song and album. Vocally, Etienne Bayard has a deep guttural growl and always keeps a slow vocal cadence giving a maximum apocalyptical effect when paired with dissonant guitars. This is a short album, seven tracks and 36 min, that would be perfect, but the thing is, there are three short instrumentals, so you essentially only get four tracks. Nevertheless, they play the perfect style of death metal, dark, heavy and almost meditative, it's a great addition to their discography!
-Raphael
Wayd - Reinvent
Independent
I really enjoy this band's 2001 album Barriers - they have a take on death metal that is easily enjoyable but still seems to defy all conventions. This is their first album in 17 years and no one seems to have caught on? Damn. Gotta give them a little love here.
-Nate
Morbikon - Lost Within The Astral Crypts
Tankcrimes
This album is so fun! Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Morbikon plays that Dissection worship kind of black metal, super melodic with incredibly catchy riffs! You'll definitely want to dance to that main riff on "Flames That Bind And Shadows Cast"! What sets them apart is the thrash infused riffs and rhythms, think of Skeletonwitch. The dueling guitar harmonies and the solos are so satisfying, it's a guitar worship kind of album. But bass lovers fear not, you even get a small solo on "Sworn To The Beheaded King". This is an excellent 43 minutes of pure melodic and thrashing black metal that goes by in an instant.
-Raphael
Demon King - Death Knell
The Artisan Era
Funny enough, Demon King was part of one of the first pieces I ever wrote for MetalBite about five years ago, so not covering them when they finally drop their debut full-length would be sacrilege - plus, they still obliterate as much as they did back then. They still have incredibly hooky riffs drilled into your head at lightning speed and with surgical precision, but there is additional garnish and restraint to warrant the extra runtime. This is Inferi's blackened brother, and though a lot of tech bands claim to have a fair amount of influence from them, not many of them came up in the same circles - but Demon King did.
Any time you get a chance to hear Jack Blackburn blasturbating (blacksturbating?) on an album, that's a lovely treat as well - although he isn't their live drummer going forward. I do have it on good authority that their current guy (Ethan Schomaker) is like an early 20s Blackburn with even more piss and vinegar. Watch the fuck out.
-Nate
Speedclaw - Stardust
Dying Victims Productions
Croatia's speed metal warriors offer us their first album and it's a masterclass of pure and raw heavy and speed metal. Everything is fast and melodic built on a strong rhythm section, Silvano Ćosić's bass is center in the mix providing its low rumble accompanied by a superb drum performance by Dorian Perušić, always fast and full of energy. The twin guitars of Luka Jurišić and Luka Hrelja give us plenty of melodic harmonies that pair well with Silvano's powerful yet super melodic voice. Production wise, you can hear every instrument, every note clearly and it sounds crisp and completely organic. I feel I say this all the time, but Dying Victims makes the best sounding records, period.
-Raphael
METALBITE'S TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE MONTH
T-10: Ildaruni - Divinum Sanguinem
Black Lion Records
Armenian black metal band Ildaruni shows us their evolution by offering an album that is ferocious, grandiose and atmospheric. Their pagan roots are still present, giving an epic feel to the record, with folky melodies, beautiful choirs singing on "Arcane Sermon" or the bagpipes intro of "Forged With Glaive And Blood". Turns out, Armenian bagpipes are a thing, they're called Parkapzuk and made from sheep or lamb skin, the more you know! The production is insanely good; it makes the atmosphere clean and gives the heavy and aggressive parts that much more weight. This is a black metal gem in 2025, give them a listen and you'll be conquered!
-Raphael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.4/10
T-10: Ophidian Memory - Seraphim
Independent
Melodic death metal was my first love, what got me into metal, and I will always love the early 2000's classics, Children of Bodom, Kalmah or the 90's In Flames, Dark Tranquility and At The Gates (Rest In Power Tomas Lindberg). I haven't kept up to date as much with the modern melodeath scene, but I think I found a modern gem here. When you press play, you will probably wonder where is the melodic? At first, it's standard death méetal but being a 10-minute song, the melody takes it's time but comes in different ways, a more acoustic passage, ethereal cleans and melodic soloing are all part of the 10 minutes. Accompanied with excellent heavy riffing and plenty of tastefully placed blastbeats, it seriously reminds me of the glorious 90s melodeath era. This one-man band is the project of Blake Lamoureux, musician extraordinaire who does everything, every instrument including drum programming, producing, recording and mixing, whatever you do, Blake's coming for your job! But seriously, what an impressive artist! This album is a melodic death metal gem, do not skip it.
-Raphael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.4/10
9: Fessus - Subcutaneous Tomb
Darkness Shall Rise Productions
Hailing from the beautiful red Vienna, comes a disgusting and vile piece of pure, old school death metal that pays tribute to the genre while still sounding new and fresh. First, the beautiful cover, a clear homage to the legendary Considered Dead from the heroes of my hometown, Gorguts. From the moment you press play, you hear a few dissonant guitar notes and then the double kick drums start to blast and from there, it's 36 minutes of expertly crafted OSDM. They're experts at any flavor of death metal, the slow and cavernous, the technical soloing, the fast and blastbeat filled, always creating that wonderful dark cave atmosphere. This thing is produced and mixed to perfection, every growl sounds deep and monstrous, every dissonant note, every hit on the drums sound rich and organic. If you crave pure old school death metal, do not skip this one.
-Raphael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.4/10
8: Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons
Debemur Morti Productions
Blut Aus Nord is not a band that I have a deep knowledge about; I was struck by the pure chaos of 2022's Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses, a pure mindfuck of an album (positive). So, I approached Ethereal Horizons expecting the same. In short, I was not expecting this, a relatively peaceful and atmospheric journey in space. Being a 31-year-old project, they underwent many changes, stylistically incorporating many sounds and influences. On Ethereal Horizons I can hear their distinctive chaotic sound but washed in a superb atmosphere, making the dissonance feel beautiful. You get everything from otherworldly cleans to black metal shrieks with blastbeats. I can almost hear some industrial influences while never stepping in fully industrial territories, it's a nice nod to their earlier career. So, if you want an out of this world black metal experience, 31 years in, Blut Aus Nord proves they stand above in their own category.
-Raphael
Sixteen albums into a long and impressively varied career, Blut Aus Nord have become bizarrely consistent for a band that habitually take the kind of risks with their sound that the majority of bands simply would not countenance. While other bands run out of ideas and retreat 'back to their roots' with a fraction of the discography that the Frenchmen boast, Vindsval's crew push on, sometimes exploring the outer reaches of progressive black metal, and sometimes consolidating their previous gains. Ethereal Horizons falls into the latter category, and while it may not offer the kind of groundbreaking experience that MoRT or The Work Which Transforms God did in their day, it is still a mighty and sophisticated work of black metal art. The nearest comparison, at least in feel, is Dødheimsgard's masterful Black Medium Current. This doesn't quite scale the same heights, but the approach is similar. Although elements of the album recall other bands – the chiming lead guitar lines threading their way through 'Shadows Breathe First' like mid-period Alcest, for example – there is something totally singular about the way in which Blut Aus Nord operate, and however expansive they may be on songs such as the 11 minute closer, 'The End Becomes Grace', intense black metal remains at the heart of their sound. The startling nature of Blut Aus Nord has been dulled somewhat by time, but the superior quality of their work remains.
-Benjamin
MetalBite's Rating: 8.4/10
7: Fear Connection - Where Suffering Remains
Neckbreaker Records
This is a logical step after their debut Progeny Of A Social Disease. Gloomy death metal with some more melodic parts, creating a dense and threatening atmosphere. All ten tracks are very unique and entertaining, each one with different influences. Some Bolt Thrower here, a little bit of At The Gates there, sometimes some cool old Death-memorial-riffs and a lot of thrash and sometimes punk ("The Devil's Dance"). Smart song-writing keeps you interested to the last second. Only the title track puzzles me. Why? It's an instrumental. I don't like them too much - just a personal bone I pick (anybody who wants to tell me that reviews are objective has a screw loose). It is good, but it might have been even better with vocals - we will never know. If you are into melodeath this is a must have!
-Michael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.5/10
6: Mezzrow - Embrace The Awakening
ROAR! / Rock Of Angels Records
In almost 40 years of existence, this is only the band's third album, although they were on hold for a while. Cool that they are back on the stage again and putting out more music two years after Summon Thy Demons. They've shaken off the rust quickly - Embrace The Awakening is very fresh and full of anger. Ass-kicking thrash metal which sometimes reminds me of "The Evolution Of Chaos" by Heathen. No modernity, just a great mixture of melodies and heaviness. Best example for this might be "Sleeping Cataclysm", a fucking killer song with great riffs. The only possible criticism I have is the runtime. This is 37 minutes but feels half as long. Need a 50 minute follow up album, please!
-Michael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.5/10
5: Terror Corpse - Ash Eclipses Flesh
Dark Descent Records
Dobber Beverly, better known for his work in Oceans of Slumber, has a new project, a pure death metal band with grindcore influences that shows how versatile of a drummer he is. The core of their sound is a cavernous style death metal that is extremely dynamic, one second, it's a slow and oppressive riff, almost doom and the next it explodes with a lightspeed grinding blastbeat, showing the inhuman technical abilities of Dobber. He's really front and center in every song with tasty fills and he shines on every level, fast, slow, mid paced, he does it all. The bass is perfectly audible and complements the heavy riffs perfectly. Vocally expect the deepest low growls with the occasional high pitch screams sprinkled here and there. Another impressive accomplishment is ending the album with a cover I really like, their rendition of "Into The Crypts Of Rays" of Celtic Frost is both faithful to the original but also feels new. This is an incredibly promising new project, and I hope they continue to make amazing music for a long time!
-Raphael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.6/10
4: Kostnateni - Excess
Willowtip Records
While I've always had an objective appreciation for the unusual stylings of this Ameri-czech project, their previous works were something I liked the idea of, but found it difficult to vibe on a visceral level. I can only say that now because Excess is finally the one that makes it click. I think it's the drum performance, which adds a layer of straightforward intensity that not only drives the weirdness into your skull, but also gives it more texture and definition. This is like Deathspell Omega for slam bros and I am here for it.
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.6/10
3: Dysentery - Dejection Chrysalis
Comatose Music
Snare goes ping. Vocals go gurgle gurgle eeee. Every moment of this is tailored to inspire spin kicks and moshing, but without ever touching beatdown/deathcore levels of simplicity - there's enough speed and snaking riff movement to satiate a brutal death metal fan. This is my first time discovering this band but they've been in business since the mid-00s, this being their first album in ten years and their fourth full length. Not sure why I have never seen anyone mention them before this because they go HARD.
A lot of the death metal in the Northeastern USA has this mix of subtle hardcore influences, heavy technical prowess and outright brutality that is just so insatiably delicious. Also I cannot overstate how awesome that snare tone is. Slaaaaaaam
-Nate
MetalBite's Rating: 8.7/10
2: Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough: Vol 2
Profound Lore Records
I remember the first time I've listened to Mirror Reaper, since I was never a huge fan of funeral doom, it took me until 2020 to finally give it a spin and you know, the feeling of listening to something and knowing you can't go back before, this album is so impactful that it now holds a special place in your heart instantly! I honestly kind of get this feeling with Stygian Bough: Vol 2, the mix of glacial, slow and heavy funeral doom with the arial and soothing clean vocals of Erik Moggridge aka Aerial Ruin, gives a surreal and ethereal feeling that will take you on a 58-minute transcendent journey that will fly by in a blink of an eye. The star remains the drumming of Jesse Shreibman, the super slow tempo creates a satisfying anticipation at every hit of the kit. He also shows off his technical skills with fast and precise fills. Also, the guitar solo at the very end of the record is so fast, a very rare shred moment for funeral doom. The production and the mixing on this album are phenomenal, it sounds clear, every hit on the drums sounds huge and organic, truly one of the best sounding albums of 2025.
-Raphael
MetalBite's Rating: 8.8/10
1: Qrixkuor - The Womb Of The World
Invictus Productions
Heavy metal typically makes great claims for its ability to scare and frighten, adopting as it does, the aesthetic and thematic trappings of the darker side of life, the musical equivalent of the horror films that so often go hand-in-hand with this music, at least in terms of the cultural interests of much of its audience. Despite this, it is rare to encounter an album that is truly terrifying, something that stays with the listener once the music has gone, an ineffable infection insidiously eating away at one's cognition, a body decaying from the core. In The Womb Of The World, Qrixkuor have created a record that stands with Khanate's Things Viral, or Today Is The Day's Sadness Will Prevail, a truly unsettling piece of work. Across four lengthy tracks (although where any one of them starts and finishes is difficult to say) the band create a sinister soundscape that combines dank, cavernous death metal with classical instrumentation, and layers of cacophonous voices that are close enough to sense, but just too far away to ever quite grasp, a wisp of smoke forever evading capture. The use of strings in particular is a masterstroke – the spiralling arrangements are fully embedded into songs, as much a part of their attack as the guitars, as opposed to the symphonic harmony that more conventional bands would utilise them for. The Womb Of The World is a white-hot fever dream that feels like it could immolate at any moment, but not before it triggers drawling madness in those who are brave enough to listen to it.
-Benjamin
One of the strangest death metal albums of the year. From the hallucinogenic cover, cryptic song titles and the sick music, everything is really mysterious. Vocals sound like early Bolt Thrower, a bit more whispered, and the instruments are a ferocious cacophony enriched with some odd string soundscapes. Musically it is a homage to some brutal black and death metal bands back from the 90s, cold, dark and barbaric. Nothing is beautiful nor aesthetic, there is just sheer blackness to find. If this is the womb we all come from I don't want to be born.
-Michael
MetalBite's Rating: 9.4/10
Thanks as always for stopping by. Check out the previous lists for this year here:
October 2025
September 2025
August 2025
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
And, of course, Follow MetalBite on Facebook, Spotify and Instagram so you can be there right when the next Top 10 list drops!
Entered: 12/31/2025 10:32:27 AM
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