🎶🎮 September 2025 Roundup
The nights are getting darker, the days are getting wetter, and I gotta start taking my Vitamin D supplements again (like most weegees need to do for the darker half of the year).
Been in a bit of a slump lately, physically. Been kind of tired and low energy. Had a hard time keeping my Busy Dad training up, and I even went an entire week without any form of high intensity physical exercise. But, my girlfriend and I have recently started going on Japanese Walks a few times a week to at least get the minimal amount of physical activity that's needed to stay somewhat healthy at 30+.
If you've never heard of Japanese Walks, here's the gist: You switch between three minutes of intentional walking (about 40% of peak aerobic power) and three minutes of high energy walking (about 80% of peak aerobic power). You switch between these two modes of walking 10 times, giving you a total walk time of only 30 minutes. This doesn't (or at least shouldn't) exhaust you, and it still gives you all of the health benefits you would normally get from doing 10k to 15k steps a day. Not to mention how much longer it would take to get those steps in if you just walked normally.
The nice thing about walks is that it's so easy to do with someone as well. You can just walk and talk, and you get to spend quality time with someone while still being constructive. It's great for romantic relationships to just talk about anything and everything once in a while. We all need to stay healthy too, but the time squeeze can make things difficult for pretty much anyone, so it's also good to know that taking care of your body doesn't necessarily mean giving up several evenings a week.
But I digress, I have some music to recommend! Oh, and a game too, this time around. Let's get into it! 😁
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The Games
Killing Floor 3
Coop Horde Survival Shooter, 2025 (PC)
I have been putting off writing about this game for a while. I did get it around the time it came out, cause I played a lot of KF2, and really loved that game. Unfortunately, the game has had a very rough start, and it's still sitting with negative reviews on Steam. But I gotta say, we sat down to play this at the last LAN I was at, and we had a good time playing it as a team. It still has plenty of challenging and insane moments when you're suddenly overwhelmed by Zeds on all sides and the entire team starts panicking, then suddenly Zed Time kicks in and you just feel like such a badass popping heads everywhere in slow motion. It's fun!
Anyway, I would say, definitely don't get this unless it's on sale. It still needs more time to cook, as it were. The devs are working hard on optimizing and fixing what was broken at launch, and I think this will probably be a very decent game come Christmas time and the Steam Winter Sale kicks off. 💸
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The Music
CULT MEMBER - GORE
Thrash/Speed Metal, 2025
We're kicking things off right this month with some absolutely ferocious hardcore/thrash/speed crossover metal out of Tromsø, Norway. Though I hail from the same country, I'd never heard of this band before this dropped, and it had me grinning from ear to ear within the first ten seconds.
The blistering speed is one thing, but you can tell that there's a raw youthful energy here as well. The riffs just keep coming, switching between great groove sections and full-on speed metal blasts.
An incredibly fun and energetic record that will blow your socks off. Unfortunately, these guys don't publish on Bandcamp, so this Youtube playlist or this Spotify link will have to do. But I beg you, do not miss this one!
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End It - Wrong Side Of Heaven
Hardcore, 2025
Straight outta Baltimore, this hardcore outfit is packing some serious punk attitude. Music you can both two-step and RIOT to. Great riffs, great groove, and class-conscious lyrics very fitting of today's political climate. Just pure rambunctious fun with a healthy sprinkle of righteous rage.
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Harvested - Dysthymia
Brutal Technical Death Metal, 2025
An absolutely ferocious album that leaves you gob smacked after 31 minutes of pummeling double bass, growls, howls, and insanely fast guitars. It just does not let up, and I would actually say this is pretty up there with regards to sheer intensity compared to all the other albums I've recommended this year. It's relentless!
This is the kind of album you put on when you just wanna fucking punish yourself for half an hour but knowing you'll enjoy every second of it cause it's just so fucking metal.
Try the track Gathered and Deluded on for size and you'll figure out quite quickly if you're up to the task. You can listen to the album, and of course buy it, on Bandcamp.
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Wevie Stonder - Sure Beats Living
What genre even is this, 2025
Sometimes, music simply isn't classifiable. I'm very much a person who likes to label music because I feel like it makes recommending things and navigating the musical landscape easier. If someone tells me they enjoy a certain genre then I'm more likely to recommend something they'll enjoy. It also becomes easier for me to find something I'd consider good.
This is not the case with this album. This is music for people who enjoy music as creative expression for its own sake. When I say that, you might assume it's some pretentious avantgarde nonsense, and I can tell you it absolutely isn't. This artist/collective has its tongue firmly lodged in its cheek. This is meant to make you smile and shake your head in disbelief at how silly it is, all while still being thoroughly enjoyable.
Don't let the AI generated album cover fool you though, there's nothing that suggests the music itself is AI. I do think some of the spoken word vocals on the album are generated, but the music itself has way too much personality and unique soundscapes that we're squarely within in the acceptable amount of AI use for a music project like this.
Anyway, please listen to Vanja & Slavcho, my personal favorite. Then Tiktaalik. Then just buy it on Bandcamp cause it's so great.
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Lord of the Lost - OPVS NOIR Vol. 1
Goth Metal, 2025
There are certain subgenres that I rarely venture into. Goth is one of them. Let's just say that, for me, there's too much somber, not enough angry.
This album seems to strike a very nice balance of the two. There's the more traditional catchy melodic choruses with choirs, strings and whatnot, intermingled with these fairly hard symphonic metal passages. A very obvious Rammstein influence here as well.
I would say that for me personally this is September's most enjoyable surprise, and an easy recommendation for those of you that prefer your metal to be a bit on the softer side without it compromising its integrity.
Check out Bazaar Bizarre, I Will Die In It, and The Sadness In Everything to sample what this band sounds like. Then you can get the entire album on Bandcamp.
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No Apologies - Life
Groove Metal / Hardcore, 2025
Out of Sydney, Australia we get this raw, emotional gut punch of a concept record from a band that clearly has a lot they want to say about the hardships that we all have to go through, from cradle to grave. It's nice when the stars align and you get a record with real substance in addition to being heavy as fuck.
This one floored me! The energy is amazing, it has great dynamic songwriting, and all with a very relatable human experience at its core.
Probably my favorite album this month, and there was plenty to choose from. Check it out on Bandcamp!
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Igorrr - Amen
Grindcore question mark???, 2025
Experimental extreme metal band Igorrr is back at it again, and it's just as wild, innovative, and face melting as always.
A late addition to the list, so I don't really have much constructive to say about it other than that you should fucking listen to it, and that it's probably one of the most important and best metal releases of the year.
It's on Bandcamp, too!
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clipping. - Dead Channel Sky Plus
Noise Rap / Hip Hop, 2025
You all know I love me some clipping., and this new record has been created around one of my favorite fictional settings; Cyberpunk!
The flows of Daveed Diggs along with his vocal timber and cadence tickles my ears just right, and the sonic themes of glitch, hard pumping beats, acid techno, breakbeats, noise and synths is just the perfect combination for some kick-ass hip hop.
My favorite thing about it is probably how unique it sounds compared to almost all other rap and hip hop albums I come across. The soundscapes, the lyrical themes; Everything just oozes with personality and a clear artistic vision.
Start yourself off with Dominator, Run It, Code, and Mirrorshades Pt. 1. Go listen to it right now on Bandcamp, and buy it if you're so inclined.
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Much like last month, I have some honorable mentions that I highly suggest you check out as well:
- Centuries of Decay - A Monument to Oblivion :: A progressive death metal record that goes a bit harder than most of its genre's peers. Should be fairly palatable to most metal fans, but might drag on a bit.
- Crimson Butchery - Stalker :: Ferocious brutal death metal from Ireland, of all places. A lot of fun.
- Cruel Bomb - Cruel Bomb :: A really angry, high energy, thrash metal debut album from a band out of Pennsylvania.
- Heretoir - Solastalgia :: Melancholy blackened post metal from Germany. Some hauntingly beautiful melodies and somber tunes on this record. Pretty good stuff, but takes its time.
- IHLO - Legacy :: A prog record out of the UK. Very pleasant melodies and sweeping soundscapes among some nice and djenty riffs and grooves.
- In Mourning - The Immortal :: Progressive Melodic Death Metal from Sweden (of course). Amazing melodies and moods on this one.
- Kittie - Spit XXV EP :: Freaking Kittie is back?! What? And it's GOOD?!
- Krigsgrav - Stormcaller :: Some crisp and bleak doom/black metal out of Texas. Gotta love it when an American band has a Norse band name.
- Monoliyth - He Who Kills :: Some pretty gnarly half-technical underground death metal, and seemingly a debut record at that. This goes pretty hard, but stays a bit too one-note to be a full on recommendation.
- Pyrexia - Unholy :: Fantastic high-octane OSDM by the New York veterans originally known as Mortuary. This is a remaster of an album that originally came out in 2018 or so, and it sounds great!
- Restraining Order - Future Fortune :: Fantastic punk rock with great energy and a decidedly retro sound.
- Soul Debt - Fragmentum EP :: New Jersey band bringing some heavy progressive death metal. Great music despite the below average production.
- Still In Love - Recovery Language :: Some raw metallic hardcore out of jolly old London.
- Sublime Eyes - IV: The Serpent's Coil :: This Norwegian band makes some pretty decent melodeath/thrash crossover stuff that you should absolutely check out if you're a fan of the genre.
- Tithe - Communion in Anguish :: Brooding lofi OSDM from war ravaged Portland, Oregon. I'm glad this band found the time to make some good music in-between all the fires and Antifa terrorist attacks. 😏
- Underneath - In The Shadow of a Watchtower EP :: Noisy, brutal, blasty, grindy death metal from Pittsburgh. Absolutely wild.
- Yotuma - The Final Void :: Disgusting and crunchy death metal out of Wisconsin. Would have made the main list if it had been a bit more varied in its songwriting. "Sphincter Dremel" might be one of the best song titles of the year though.
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And that's it for this month. Looking back on this year so far, I think putting together my AOTY lists are going to be really hard come December. Looking forward to it! 😉
See you in the next one. Peace! ✌️