🌶️ To The Teeth: drowning in Danish death metal

Phrenelith, Unreqvited, Jinjer, Saor, Dream Theater, 16, Ereb Altor, Marko Hietala, Svrm, Mizmor & Hell and much more!

Feb 07, 2025

Welcome to the To The Teeth newsletter! Your weekly update of new heavy music. You can listen to (most) everything in the playlist on Spotify. If you like what you read, go to Patreon (receive a patch!) & Bandcamp (buy a patch!). Peppers are hot 🌶️!

New Albums

🌶️ Phrenelith

Death, Denmark (Me Saco Un Ojo/Dark Descent Records)

FFO: Incantation, Hyperdontia, Undergang

This weeks dark horse - to me - easily wins album of the week. Atmospheric, intense death metal with compelling leads. It’s a lot but it’s a world I’m happy to drown in. Oh, to drown in Danish death. *Swoon*

🌶️ Jinjer

Progressive metalcore, Ukraine 🌻 (Napalm Records)

FFO: Lamb of God, Gojira, Arch Enemy

Just the existence of this band alone is well worth a round of applause. They’re from Donetsk, a heavily battled city in the east of Ukraine that tries to free itself from the chokehold of Russian aggression. But the years prior to the invasion, there has been (Russian provoked) violence, revolution, suffering. Apart from their hardship - which they’ve managed to overcome, now safely in the US, for as long that’s a safe country - it’s amazing what they have released. Their fifth album is both exhilarating and expansive, filled with energy and joy.

🌶️ Unreqvited

Blackgaze, Canada (Prophecy Productions)

FFO: Alcest, Sadness, Violet Cold

One-man blackgaze, I wish I could eat it because I’d never go hungry. There’s so much of it, and not much of it is good. Unreqvited, a project from a Canadian named William Melsness who calls himself a Chinese character, found the sweet spot. Super melodic and dreamy, a great balance between keys and guitar lines, cool vocals and a good production.

🌶️ Saor

Folk black, UK (Season of Mist)

FFO: Panopticon, Winterfylleth, Primordial

I’ll be honest: I’m not sure if all these songs should run past the 10 minute mark. Or any of them. Nonetheless, I’m enjoying the album more than I thought I would from the singles. Just good folk black.

There’s more: Dream Theater (prog, USA), -(16)- (sludge, USA), Ereb Altor (viking/black, Sweden), Theoden’s Reign (atmoblack, USA), Morast (blackened doom/death, Germany), Marko Hietala (symphonic/hardrock, Finland), Noctambulist (🌶️ post-black, The Netherlands), Final Resting Place (brutal death/hardcore, USA), Obscura (prog death, Germany), a split from Yoth Iria & Darkest Oath (both black, Greece) and Svrm (🌶️ atmoblack, Ukraine 🌻). The rest is in the playlist!