Playlist for December 16 – January 5

Quick playlist highlights:

– Shrine of Malice is back! This is a very solid return from an extremely exciting deathcore band. Their 2018 and 2019 albums are still some of the best deathcore in recent history. It was unfortunate that they got derailed by some life events, but if they release an album/EP this year, there is a very high chance that it will be in my top 10.

– August Burns Red is releasing a re-recorded version of ‘Thrill Seeker’ on January 24 to celebrate its 20 year anniversary. I’ve dreamed of hearing Jake do vocals on these songs for so long and it’s about to become a reality. I know that re-recorded albums shouldn’t be in my top 10, but ‘Thrill Seeker’ is legitimately better than 99% of metalcore albums that are going to be released this year.

– I haven’t listened to Capsize much, but this song is telling me that I need to give them another chance. Are they always this heavy? Maybe I missed the memo, but this is great.

– The Crimson Armada continues to pump out bangers. What a massive return. 2025 is looking good for deathcore.

– Attila is giving me whiplash. They do one good song and then a couple bad ones. This one is fine (as far as Attila goes), but it just seems like they’re lost when it comes to building a cohesive sound.

– Impending Doom is getting ready to release a new album on February 7. Honestly, these guys have become a pretty good gateway band to deathcore (which is wild considering the sound the started with on ‘Nailed. Dead. Risen’). I’m actually hearing some similarities to Fit For A King here. I’d say Impending Doom is miles better than the current version of Fit For A King, and if they can pull some FFAK fans over, that would be huge for them.

– Imminence just released a remastered version of their debut album, and it’s really good. Dang, I wish they had stuck with this style instead of going with the flowery violin stuff in all of their newer material. It was cool the first couple times but got old pretty fast for me.