“April is the cruellest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot in a poem that no one quoting it has ever finished reading. And while Eliot was quite metal in his exquisite, existential despair about WWI or whatever, he never understood true existential dread. I speak, of course, of the dread of being force-fed twenty-five promising albums, half of which are drenched in so much reverb that you feel like you’re swimming, only to realize that you didn’t even review the Record o’ the Month yourself. Regardless, this April continued to be cruel. But this cruelty came bearing bloodied knuckles and a furrowed (and noticably pronounced) brow. Dormant Ordeal took that energy and weaponized it.
It’s not every month that a death metal album crawls out of the woodwork and shatters the Score Safety Counter like a warhammer through a piñata, but Dormant Ordeal—whose new record Tooth and Nail dropped April 18th, 2025, from Willowtip Records [Bandcamp]—did exactly that. Tooth and Nail is a masterclass in (blackened) death metal—”the classic Polish death metal sound”—done right. It’s taut, unreleating, melodic when it counts, and angrier than Angry Metal Guy when reminded of the existence of Disqus. This record hits a sweet spot inside of me best described as the “oh yeah, that’s how death metal is done” spot. The riffs flow, and my brain just opens up the spigots, releasing a veritable tsunami of dopamine. Every riff that cuts, every transition that seethes, and every recognition of the slick, skilled ways that these guys construct songs, I get a nice big kick of that Happy Chemical. Tooth and Nail is dynamic, punishing, aggressive, and better yet, it’s smart. Dormant Ordeal is like a boxer who knows exactly when to drop his guard and knock you out. Our very own Tyme was so excited he penned an overwrought review of Angry Metal Guyan proportions. In one of his more uncontainable moments of verbal climax, he ejaculated: “Tooth and Nail represents the absolute best of what Dormant Ordeal can be.” The rest of us wiped down the walls and nodded in agreement. And I, being an instantiation of the will of the staff through my very existence, elected it to be Record o’ the Month.
Runner(s) Up:
Structure // Heritage [April 25th, 2025 | Ardua Music | Bandcamp] — “Solo” doom project Structure did a thing that I never thought possible. It made Steel Druhm feel about a Dutch doom metal project like I felt about The 11th Hour. Oh, also, it crushed our collective will to live in the most painful way possible. A labor of love from Bram Bijlhout of Officium Triste, Heritage is crushing, exquisite, and dramatic in all the right ways. Pim Blankenstein’s vocal contributions take this funeral doom lament to operatic heights. Steel Druhm, while shotgunning his seventh doppelbock, enthusiastically spilled his beer all over the bar while trying to emphasize for everyone slightly louder than necessary that Structure has written “a monumental doom epic that caves in your chest with its raw power and brings a tear to the most jaded eye with its heartwrenching beauty!” He even gave it a 4.5, which is 5.0 in Steel Druhmese. And if none of that convinces you, I, too, concede that this is a great record and I suspect it’s going to be quite present during Listurnalia.
Messa // The Spin [April 11th, 2025 | Metal Blade Records | Bandcamp] — The reason I started doing three, or sometimes four, releases for Record(s) o’ the Month was because there were times when it was just impossible to choose. This month is actually kind of cruel in that all three of these could have been Record o’ the Month without question. Italian doom-jazz mystics Messa put up a good fight with their most seductive release yet. The Spin sheds the sprawl of Close in favor of tighter, moodier bangers. For my part, this is as good as I think they’ve ever sounded. Sharky Shark Boy was right when he said that “Sara’s smouldering, siren-like vocals have hit a whole new level,” lending the compositions a power I don’t remember Messa having. The Spin is doom with eyeliner and a degree in art history—classy, smokey, and ready to crush you with riffs and moody quotes from a Frenchman. While Messa has always had some appeal, there’s something about The Spin that works differently. It’s not like they’re a new band with a new sound, but instead, to quote Sharky Shark Boy, “Rather like using a velvetizer to make your hot chocolate. It’s still hot chocolate. But it’s thicker, richer, and, well, velvet-ier.” Yeah, I think that analogy pretty much says it all. No? Fine, The Dolphin Half of the Aquatic Duo chirped and bobbed overexcitedly: “Music this powerful stands ready to inspire binge listening, tone envy, and, with any luck, another generation hopelessly addicted to six strings screaming at unadvisable volumes.” And that seems like the final word on the matter.
Give in to Your Anger: