The musings of Beanis

🎶 August 2025 Roundup

... And here we are! The summer of 2025 has officially come and gone. I gotta tell you, this month has been quite interesting on a personal level for me. My new job represents a paradigm shift in my everyday life, and despite my workdays being longer on average than in my previous job, it still feels like time passes significantly faster. I'm still in the early stages of it, of course, but it really does feel like I'm now in a daily routine that just suits me and my life better. My new colleagues have been good with not overwhelming me with information and tasks, and I feel like I've gotten off to a very good start. 🙂

As far as video games go though, this month has been completely dry. I've kept playing games that I've already mentioned in my previous roundups, like Donkey Kong Bananza and a bit of Path of Exile 2, but there have been exactly zero new gaming experiences for me in August. A bit of a shame, but we'll see what September brings.

On the other hand, we have plenty of music to talk about this month. One of my absolute favorite aspects of the new job is that I can actually listen to music while I work now, which has made it that much easier to keep up with all the releases this month. There's been a shitload, and I'm very excited to share them with you. Let's get into it, shall we!? 😁

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The Music

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Flesher - Tales of Grotesque Demise

Oldschool Death Metal, 2023

Sometimes you just want some good old fashioned gory death metal. This three-piece from Indiana are very much an underground phenomenon if the monthly listener count on Spotify is anything to go by, but god damn do they know how to fucking shred.

This is a rock solid freight train of an album that makes you wanna grow your hair long. It relentlessly chugs along at what feels like the perfect tempo, forcing your head to bob along, only occasionally taking the time to slow down and build back up. The thunderous double bass drums propel it forward while the raw buzz saw guitar and bass take care of the groove. It doesn't outstay its welcome with the 35 minute runtime either. Some proper fun underground death metal for the enthusiasts out there, you probably know who you are.

Go get it right now on Bandcamp. Have a listen to the track The Gates if you need convincing.

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Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Indigenous Black Metal, 2025

So, Blackbraid has been a hot topic in the underground metal scene since they released Blackbraid I back in 2022. A solo hypertalented native american black metal musician who now has released three quality full-length albums in as many years.

I will admit that the first two releases did not pique my interest like this one did though, and I can't put my finger on why. There's just something about the way he writes the melodies on this album that hit my ears better and makes it much more enjoyable to me compared to the first two albums in this series.

The pacing and dynamics are great. The album flows between states of quiet contemplation and blazing epic black metal passages, keeping me listening all the way through. Each track feels very deliberate and thought out, and I think this may be one of the most well composed and well performed metal albums of the year. The contrast between tracks like Wardrums at Dawn on the Day of my Death and The Earth Is Weeping is so stark, but it just works so incredibly well as a whole.

This is by far my most recommended album this time around. If you are even remotely fond of black metal, this is not an album you should miss.

Support the artist and get the album on Bandcamp if you can.

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Balance Interruption - Door 218

Experimental Industrial Death Metal, 2016

How often can you say that you listen to a Ukrainian Experimental Industrial Death Metal band? Considering the release date of this one, maybe once every ten years or so I would imagine. Anyway, it's really freaking good, and I'm not sure why I didn't hear about this back in 2016 cause I was fairly tuned into the underground metal scene at the time.

This band has a very unique sound and production going on. I had several moments while listening through it the first time where I went "what the fuck was that noise" and had to rewind a section to listen to it over again. Not to mention the sudden straight jazz sections with that silky smooth saxophone.

It takes quite a bit to stand out sonically in the death metal landscape, and Balance Interruption sure have done it. I'm not sure they're actually releasing music anymore sadly, as this is the last album the band dropped and it's now nine years old. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the band survives the country's current turmoil, and will keep blessing the metal scene with their great music.

The tracks Incubatum Conveyor and D.U.S.T. are good first listens to get an idea of what this album sounds like. Play it on Bandcamp and buy it if it sounds good to you.

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Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer

Girl EDM, 2025

I don't often feature full fledged albums of electronic music on these roundups, so you know when it happens it's usually something special. I'd never heard of this artist before they dropped this album. Apparently she has, among other things, opened for Porter Robinson, which is quite impressive for a fairly unknown 20-something bedroom producer from Australia.

Here's the thing about this album; To me, it's not necessarily the music that makes it stand out, at least not on surface level. It's the fact that there's quite a bit of substance behind what is, admittedly, very well produced but sort of generic hyper glitchy electronic dance music. Although the music is kind of cookie cutter electro house and complextro, the vocals and lyrics on these tracks come off as quite personal, melancholy, and nostalgic, written from a decidedly female perspective (hence the genre tag). There's a unique vibe here, much like Oklou's recent offering that I covered in June's roundup, just way more amped and ADD-coded.

Have a listen to Infohazard (my personal favorite) and iPod Touch to get a taste of what this album is all about, then go buy it on Bandcamp if you're so inclined.

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Dreamwake - The Lost Years

Synthwave Metalcore, 2025

Have you ever wondered what The Midnight would sound like if they were Djent? Yeah, me neither, but that's what this is!

I'll be upfront about it; I haven't been a fan of metalcore for a long time, especially the popcore kind where every chorus has clean vocals and there's more focus on guitar harmonies than actual riffs. On the surface, Dreamwake fit that bill, but when this kind of sound is put into the context of synthwave, it sort of makes musical sense to me. I don't want my metal to sound like pop music, but the vibe of synthwave is already cheesy in an ironic way. With this genre combination I feel like there isn't this air of pretentiousness about it that saturates most popcore music despite this band clearly following that formula.

This is far from my favorite album of the month, just to be clear, but I wanted to promote it as kind of a curiosity. I think many out there will genuinely like it, and it also seems like an earnest attempt at something different, and I respect it for that reason.

Unfortunately this release is not available on Bandcamp, but you can listen to the opener Stargazer on YouTube and the entire album is available on Spotify if you wanna check out the rest.

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Incite - Savage New Times

Thrash Metal, 2025

It's been a bad couple years for thrash at this point, but this album is certainly one of the highlights. Clearly very Slayer inspired stuff on this record, but who could ever say that's a bad thing? Obviously produced with a raw and real sound in mind. All killer, no filler. Pure thrash metal headbanging goodness. The real metalheads out there will know what I'm talking about.

I'm trying to elaborate more on why this album is so good but words are failing me. Just go listen to it on Bandcamp! My favorite tracks are probably Feel This Shit and Doubts and the Fear.

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Kneel Before The Death - Kneel Before The Death

Symphonic Deathcore, 2025

This debut album from a bunch of young Finnish guys was one of the bigger surprises of the month for me. I tend to find this genre a bit tiring as it usually leans way too much into being extreme and fast for its own sake while never settling into a proper melody or groove (Lorna Shore anyone?), but this band manages to actually show some restraint. They let the tracks breathe occasionally, slow the tempo, and even let the symphonic passages take center stage from time to time.

Make no mistake, this is still a very intense album, and gets plenty heavy. This band just manages to do it with more finesse and better songwriting than most of the other bands I've heard in this genre as of late. They sound good, and they sound hungry. The only real gripe I have with it is that it's just a tad too long, and a track or two could easily have been cut from the record to make it more focused. Other than that, this is some quality deathcore right here, and very impressive for a debut effort.

And just look at that album cover! 😲

Good stuff. You should check out their music video for the closing track Spiral, then go buy the album on Bandcamp if it tickles your fancy.

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Aaand we're not quite done yet. Due to the sheer amount of music I've come across this month I also wanna give you my honorable mentions before we round off.

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This month has been absolutely packed. I think I listened to well over 50 albums. Hopefully I won't be quite so overwhelmed in September. I am officially dreading compiling my AOTY list come December. 😅

Anyway, I hope the last bits of your summer was amazing, and that you enjoy some of this amazing music I've dug up. See you in the next one. ✌️

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