TERMINUS: extreme metal podcast

Terminus broke away from old habits in 2025 to concentrate on investigating older records and new types of content. But many of you desperately sought our sage advice on the best records of 2025, so here it is: a different version of our usual yearly Omega episode. This time, your hosts tackle the project of evaluating a pretty quiet year in two different ways. TBMG provides a sampler platter of ten records with lightning round reviews, concentrating on dark heathen black metal, and TDMG provides a tight top 5 of his favorites for the year, with an emphasis on vision and ambition. Welcome to 2026, Terminators.

0:00:00 - Intro/TBMG Presents 10

1:58:59 - Interlude - Brazen Horde - “Purgation, Thy Foul Lash” fr. Behold! The Ashen Cross (Nithstang/Blackseed, 2025)

2:04:43 - TDMG’s Top 5

4:01:33 - Outro - Umulamahri - “Leaked Photo of Heaven” fr. Learning the Secrets of Acid (Ordovician Records, 2025)

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TDMG on Substack
[email protected]

The worm turns back in The Death Metal Guy's direction with an episode centered on Vehemence, cult melodic death metal legends from Phoenix, Arizona. Covering the band's two early 00s masterpieces, your hosts attempt to crack the code on how a band from the deserts of the west managed to beat every band from Gothenburg at their own game, with a uniquely American style and flair.

0:00:00 - Intro/What is Gothenburg?

0:21:30 - God Was Created (Metal Blade, 2002)

1:10:42 - Interlude - Eucharist - “Into The Cosmic Sphere” fr. A Velvet Creation (Wrong Again Records, 1993)

1:15:05 - Helping the World to See (Metal Blade, 2004)

2:12:04 - Outro - Vehemence - “Murdered by the Earth” fr. Forward Without Motion (Battleground Records, 2015)

Terminus on Youtube
Terminus on Patreon
TDMG on Substack
[email protected]

After much anticipation, innumerable references on the show, and a shocking number of technical issues, we have arrived with an episode that The Black Metal Guy has been threatening for years. For those unfamiliar, Dawn is one of the finest and also one of the most underappreciated bands of the Swedish 90s melodic black/death metal scene, and one very near and dear to The Black Metal Guy's heart. Join us as we investigate the band's two full-length records and discover what makes them far more than merely another band in the established style.

0:00:00 - Intro/Background of Dawn

0:15:08 - Nær Sólen gar Niþer for Evogher (Necropolis Records, Jan 6 1994)

1:29:34 - INTERLUDE - Taake - “Hordaland doedskvad I,” fr. Hordalands doedskvad (Dark Essence, 2005)

1:37:17 - Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) (Necropolis Records, May 7 1998)

3:28:47 - OUTRO - Dawn - “Incantation of Unholyness,” fr. the Apparition demo (December 1992)

Terminus on Youtube
Terminus on Patreon
TDMG on Substack
[email protected]

In the wake of the passing of Nisse Karlén into eternity, it seems only appropriate to pay tribute to a titan of extreme metal. Sacramentum's unique style of melodic black/death metal not only placed them directly alongside bands like Dissection and Dawn, but established melodic ideas and ambitious structural methodologies that would only take root more popularly decades later. Come with us as we take a look at their earliest material and attempt to trace their roots forward up to newer foliage.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:15:44 - Finis Malorum

0:54:30 - Interlude - Vinterland - “Still the Night is Awake” fr. Welcome My Last Chapter (No Fashion Records, 1996)

0:58:01 - Far Away From The Sun

01:51:12 - Outro - Sacramentum - “The Vision and The Voice,” fr. Far Away from The Sun (Adipocere Records, 1996)

Terminus on Youtube
Terminus on Patreon
TDMG on Substack
[email protected]

Since the beginning of the year, your intrepid hosts have been concentrating exclusively on older, classic material- this all changes today. At least for this episode. In today's entry, we feature the triumphant return of Paimon Gate with a new record that elaborates on their established style with more evolution than might appear at first blush, and the inaugural volley by Pyromancer, whose oppressive brand of late 80s filth brings to mind a blood-smeared and heroin-shooting take on Celtic Frost.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:02:42 - Paimon Gate - Advanced Satanic Witchcraft (Nuclear War Now)

0:58:40 - Interlude - Blood Storm - “The Atlantean Wardragon,” fr. The Atlantean Wardragon (Cacophonous Records, 1997)

1:03:51 - Pyromancer - Absolute Dominion by Fire (Adirondack Black Mass)

1:44:42 - Outro - Gravewürm - “Ancient Storms of War,” fr. Doomed to Eternity (Hell’s Headbangers)

Terminus on Youtube
Terminus on Patreon
TDMG on Substack
[email protected]