Angry Metal Guy<p><a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/records-o-the-month-january-2025/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Record(s) o’ the Month – January 2025</a></p><p><i>By Angry Metal Guy</i></p><p>The tradition at Angry Metal Guy has been the strong start to the year where, like so many people with New Year’s Resolutions, you stick with ’em for a while, and then they taper off, sliding later and later as the year goes on. But this year, even the dopamine kick of listing everything in some kind of ranking order and getting lots of positive feedback from readers didn’t help me shake my funk. Alas, that means that I got way behind, and no one was available to pick up my slack. I apologize. However, since I am breaking the trend this year, maybe that means that 2025 will be significantly different!<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/records-o-the-month-january-2025/#fn-213225-1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">1</a> So, here’s your R(s)otM for January. It’s a beautiful time to be alive, my friends.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/records-o-the-month-january-2025/#fn-213225-2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">2</a></p><p></p><p><strong>Mutagenic Host</strong> // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mutagenic-host-the-diseased-machine-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>The Diseased Machine</em></a> [January 3rd, 2025 | <a href="https://www.gurglinggore.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Gurgling Gore</a> | <a href="https://www.drycoughrecords.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Dry Cough</a> | <a href="http://www.memento-mori.es/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Memento Mori</a> | <a href="https://mutagenichost.bandcamp.com/album/the-diseased-machine" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>] — The death metal newcomers in <strong>Mutagenic Host</strong> are already impressing with their brand of old school-inflected, death metal-fueled technological cynicism. With such timely, relevant themes for this nightmare fueled hellscape that we’re living in as the backdrop to the rifftacular and muscular tuneage contained on <em>The Diseased Machine</em>—out January 3rd, 2025, from a melange of labels [buy it here on <a href="https://mutagenichost.bandcamp.com/album/the-diseased-machine" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>!]—the whole package dropkicks the listener from the opening strains to the final moments and has entranced the staff of Angry Metal Guy (as well as a-me, <span><strong>Angry Metal Guy</strong></span>). As the recently demoted n00b <span><strong>Tyme</strong></span> opined in his review:<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/records-o-the-month-january-2025/#fn-213225-3" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">3</a> “<strong><span>Mutagenic Host</span></strong><span> has released a death metal album that checks all the boxes, a rifferously frenzied affair of epic proportions. It will not be the only thing I recommend in 2025, but it’s undoubtedly the first. I will be intently eyeing </span><strong><span>Mutagenic Host</span></strong><span>, anticipating their next evolution, and fans of this style should, too.</span>” Set up those Google alerts, folks!</p><p><strong>Runner(s) up</strong></p><p><strong>The Halo Effect</strong> // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/the-halo-effect-march-of-the-unheard-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>March of the Unheard</em></a> [January 10th, 2025 | Nuclear Blast | LOL, you want to own <em>lossless digital files</em>? No chance of that, loser!] — You can’t imagine that I moved to Gothenburg only to not begin shilling for everything that comes from this beautiful city. Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s actually a requirement of being Swedish that you shill for your home territory.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/records-o-the-month-january-2025/#fn-213225-4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">4</a> Some things—like the <strong>In Flames</strong> discography following <em>Colony</em>—make the task of shilling hard; <em>March of the Unheard</em> makes it easy.</p><p>As a fan of the Gothenburg sound embodied in the conjoining of <strong>Dark Tranquillity</strong> and <strong> In Flames</strong> that builds the root of <strong>The Halo Effect</strong>’s sound, this is a delicious meal loaded with everything you need in a melodeath record. Add to that that Mikael Stanne is one of the best vocalists in metal whose performance raises the level of the record at every turn, and you’ve got yourself a Record o’ the Month. Fellow old <span><strong>Steel Druhm</strong></span> was equally impressed, if in his particularly understated way: “You can appreciate <em>March of the Unheard</em> as a lost <strong>Dark Tranquillity</strong> album or as a slick homage to a specific moment in metal history, and it works well both ways. This is a superior album to<em> Days of the Lost</em> with a much greater replay potential, and I’ve been surprised by how vital and fresh it is. Not bad for a bunch of olde dawgs retreading their own ancient stomping grounds. Here’s to the olden ways in these confusing modern days.”</p><p><strong>Faithxtractor</strong> // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/faithxtractor-loathing-and-the-noose-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Loathing and the Noose </em></a>[January 10th, 2025 | <a href="https://www.redefiningdarkness.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Redefining Darkness Records</a> | <a href="http://faithxtractor.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>] — <strong>Faithxtractor</strong>—the band with the worst name since <strong>Fvneraryy Fvnkk</strong>—has returned with <em>Loathing and the Noose</em>, an ambitious evolution of their old-school death metal sound. Building on their 2023 record <em>Contempt for a Failed Dimension</em>, these Ohio death metallers have upped their game by fusing blackened thrash, melodeath, and bedeathened doom into a relentless (yet surprisingly dynamic!) assault. <strong>Faithxtractor</strong> balances brutality with surprising melody, innovating without losing their edge. And one guy—our very own <span><strong>Maddog</strong></span>, who I was shocked and a little disappointed to learn is both quite sane and human—sees this as the proof that they are carving out a place for themselves in the modern death metal landscape. He proselytized (more or less) pithily: “<strong>Faithxtractor</strong> makes it work by whole-assing their every move. <em>Loathing and the Noose</em>’s gargantuan death metal riffs, smooth songwriting, and excellence throughout its genre romp won me over.”</p><p> </p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2025/" target="_blank">#2025</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/faithxtractor/" target="_blank">#Faithxtractor</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/jan25/" target="_blank">#Jan25</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/loathing-and-the-noose/" target="_blank">#LoathingAndTheNoose</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/march-of-the-unheard/" target="_blank">#MarchOfTheUnheard</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/mutagenic-host/" target="_blank">#MutagenicHost</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/records-o-the-month/" target="_blank">#RecordSOTheMonth</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/records-of-the-month/" target="_blank">#RecordsOfTheMonth</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/the-diseased-machine/" target="_blank">#TheDiseasedMachine</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/the-halo-effect/" target="_blank">#TheHaloEffect</a></p>