🌶️ To The Teeth: in need of a sword with new Havukruunu

Plus: Honningbarna, Scimitar, Sivyj Yar, Grima, Sepulchral Curse, Grave Infestation, Year of the Cobra & much more!

Mar 01, 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 🌶️!

This release day (well, weekend) is too good to have had so little time to do a write-up. But I’ll sprinkle peppers where I can.

New Albums

🌶️ Havukruunu

Pagan heavy/black, Finland (Svart Records)

FFO: Bathory, Moonsorrow, Macabre Omen

I liked Havukruunu in the past. Their melodic work is so good, the choirs, the poisonous riffs, heavenly solo’s, the fist pompousness of it all. On Tavastland, it’s all that but perfected. Bring me a fucking sword.

🌶️ Honningbarna

Punkrock, Norway (Nye Blanke)

FFO: Refused, Turnstile

My friend Gert-Jan in podcast Zes Losse Tanden pointed me at Norwegian punkrockers Honningbarna (honey kids), and although I’m not such a punkrock kid they immediately clicked. Raw, super energetic, melodic, it’s an absolute party. New album Soft Spot is not soft, but you bet it hits the right spot.

🌶️ Scimitar

Heavy/black/punk, Denmark (Crypt of the Wizard)

FFO: Slaegt, Hammers of Misfortune, Tribulation

Pretty insane to think now, but when Chuck Schuldiner went into the studio to record his vocals for the seminal Symbolic record (or another, that’s not clear), he reportedly said: “All the music is done. Now I have to ruin it with my vocals.” I will never agree, it’s one of my favourite bands and his unique vocals are irreplaceable.
But.. harsh vocals have a time and place, and most enjoyers could experience a tiredness of them, for a period of time. And sometimes you just want to hear what a band sounds like with soaring, bright vocals. Take Denmark’s Slaegt, who’s members teamed up with singer Shaam Larein to form an elusive, hard to describe project that blends heavy metal, black metal and a good pinch of punk. It’s melodic and compelling, and the songwriting is fantastic. Discovery of the month for me.

There’s more: Sivyj Yar (🌶️ atmo/post-black, Russia), Sepulchral Curse (blackened death, Finland), Grima (🌶️ atmoblack, Russia), Year of the Cobra (🌶️ psych doom/rock, USA), Toughness (🌶️ death, Poland), Grave Infestation (death, Canada), Ofnus (atom/meloblack, UK), Vacuous (death, UK), Hirax (thrash/speed, USA), Schavot (black, The Netherlands), Ruinous Power (black/death, Canada), Venomous Echoes (black/death, USA), Sleep Paralysis (avantgarde black, USA), Christian Mistress (heavy, USA), Crown of Madness (death, Canada), Hail Conjurer (black, Finland), Devil’s Gateway (death/doom/crust, Finland), Avantasia (power, Germany), Arkaist (black, France), Ritual Ascension (death/doom, USA), Ter Ziele (sludge/post, The Netherlands) and Act of Impalement (doom/death, USA) and an ep (first of three) from Anneke van Giersbergen (🌶️ alternative/symphonic, The Netherlands). The rest is in the playlist!