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)

Terminus on Youtube Terminus on Patreon TDMG on Substack thetrueterminus@gmail.com

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 legendary 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 thetrueterminus@gmail.com

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 thetrueterminus@gmail.com