Druid Stone – The Grateful Undead (2023/2025); Transgressive – Extreme Transgression (2023/2026)

Good afternoon, y’all.

As you may recall, I’ve talked a time or two about the benefits of following bands and labels on Bandcamp. Here’s another argument in favor of that practice: that’s how I found out about Druid Stone, a sorta-experimental doom project from Virginia: because I got the notification from Fiadh Produtions almost six months ago when Fiadh put out a cassette version of their 2023 album The Grateful Undead, which I’d like to tell you about today.

Arizonan thrashers Transgressive, on the other hand, I’ve been familiar with for several years, as they sort of roamed in similar leftist metal twitter circles (back when that used to be a thing). So I’d already heard and had already been a fan of their 2023 album Extreme Transgression, but then I happened to get an announcement last month that it also was being given the cassette treatment by Fiadh. So I figured, let’s check that one out today as well.

 

Druid StoneThe Grateful Undead (self-released, 26 January 2023 / cassette Fiadh Productions, 31 October 2025)

 

TransgressiveExtreme Transgression (self-released, 03 March 2023 / cassette Fiadh Productions, 06 March 2026)

 

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Muerto – Eclipsed Realms (2026); Entrøpia – Down in the Swamp of Human Bleakness (2025)

Hey there, friends. Gotta say, I’ve really been on the struggle bus this week. This whole month, in fact. Maybe some of you can relate? Hopefully not. But please feel free to say hi in the comments below, or drop by Bluesky with some words of encouragement!

Anyway, let’s dive right into it. Today we’ve got a brand-new album of bleak black-doom from Mexico (coming out this Friday!) and a bonus serving of Italian bleak death-doom-sludge (from about six months ago)…

 

MuertoEclipsed Realms (Transcending Obscurity, 17 April 2026)

 

EntrøpiaDown in the Swamp of Human Bleakness (self-released, 16 October 2025 / cassette: Fiadh Productions, 17 October 2025 / vinyl: OSTIA Records, October 2025)

 

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Hemiptera – Demo MMXXIV (2024), Until Every Flag is Burned (2026)

Hemiptera (from Ancient Greek hemipterus, “half-winged”), according to Wikipedia, is “an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising more than 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs.”

Hemiptera are also an anarchistic crust-punk quartet from the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, in South East England. Their demo, initially released two years ago last month, really made me sit up and take notice when the good folks at Fiadh gave it a physical edition later that same summer. Or perhaps you remember their song “Notti Nere” (taken from that same demo album) which appeared on Fiadh‘s From Dreams to Living Things compilation last summer?

In any event, just a few weeks ago the band have followed up with their official debut full-length, and as expected, this one likewise has resulted in much up-sitting and notice-taking. Check it out below…

 

HemipteraDemo MMXXIV (self-released, 07 March 2024 / cassette Fiadh Productions, 16 August 2024)

 

HemipteraUntil Every Flag is Burned (digital self-released, 06 March 2026 / vinyl DIY Koło, Shove Records, Exabrupto Records, Prejudice Me, 06 March 2026)

 

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Nomadic Rituals – Fust (2025) || Cursed Monk Records – Year IX Compilation (2026)

Fucking earwigs, amiright? I watched Spike Lee‘s 2025 film Highest 2 Lowest over the weekend (which I enjoyed, by the way, despite its middling ratings — although admittedly I have not seen the Kurosawa original it was based on; I guess I probably should), and almost nonstop over the past few days I keep finding “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” (originally from Oklahoma, but it plays during the opening of this movie as Denzel‘s character looks down over New York City from the balcony of his probably-billion-dollar apartment.

Anyway, it is NOT a Beautiful Mornin’ here in the valley. It’s like six degrees outside (Fahrenheit, which I think is something like negative a hundred in the rest of the world), and it’s been the kind of windy that wakes you up sporadically throughout the night because it keeps rattling the windows. So I am very much dragging this morning. Fortunately I don’t actually need to go outside (thank you, remote work) so I can just throw on an extra layer or two and push through it. And anyway by this afternoon I heard it’s supposed to go up to like 15F (aka minus 50C or something).

And fortunately, there is a simple doctor-recommended remedy for getting rid of earwigs: listening to something else, ANYTHING else. Especially at a high volume. And I’ve got some great candidates here.

 

Cursed Monk RecordsYear IX Compilation (03 January 2026)

 

Nomadic RitualsFust (digital: self-released, CD/vinyl: Cursed Monk Records, 14 March 2025 | cassette: Fiadh Productions, 11 July 2025)

 

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From Dreams to Living Things III (2025 Compilation)

And just like that — we’ve reached the halfway point of 2025. When did that happen?
Where did the time go?

For me, I know I’ve been completely draining all of my mental energy with work crap every day, and at the end of it I can barely manage to drag myself downstairs to just zone out to some mindless nonsense on the tv until it’s time to go to bed, rinse and repeat the next day and every day ad nauseam.

 

But never mind all that, here’s a new (well, it came out earlier this month) compilation absolutely jam-packed with music you can insert into your ear-holes and fight off the encroaching ennui…

 

Various Artists – From Dreams to Living Things III: From the Plough to the Stars (Fiadh Productions, 01 June 2025)

 

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Riffs for Palestine (2024 Compilation)

Good morning and HAPPY MONDAY, everyone!

I did promise recently that my Top 24 of 2024 list was nearing its completion, and I’m pleased to announce that it has finally been published.

We’re going to dive head-first into writing about some of those top releases from last year and from years past, as well as trying to catch up on some of the hits of today, as I am determined to put an end to the lengthy semi-hiatus I’ve been stuck in for roughly the past two years (and intermittently over the past dozen or so years?)…

The world is such a fucked-up place these days, and it seems it’s only getting worse, and like most of you I have no idea what the hell to do about it. But at the very least we can try to cope, and if listening to music helps in any way, then I will try to do my small part in getting the word out there.

One quick housekeeping note, and while we’re on the subject of how fucked-up the world is: as I was finally putting 2024 to rest I came across one more charity benefit compilation from last year that I had forgotten to share here at the time…

 

Various Artists – Riffs for Palestine (Beaver Mosh x Fiadh Productions, 29 July 2024)

 

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