Ninth Realm are here to bisect metal in half with their keen, obliterative mix of thrash and death on Damnation’s Veil.
Release date: August 28, 2026 | Transcending Obscurity Records | Instagram | Bandcamp
Ninth Realm are a new band for me, but they are a new favorite thankfully. I always peep what’s new on the Transcending Obscurity Records YouTube and months ago I came across their newest single from this album, “Rituals in Thar’amath”. I was instantly sold. It’s rare to hear a band that nails the marriage of death and thrash metal like they do, but that’s precisely what they do all along Damnation’s Veil to an impressive, unresting degree.
For over a month now, I’ve been powering through this album whenever I can, not even to prepare for the review, just to get some broadsword riffs and warhammer rhythms into my head to get me through the day. There’s moshy parts that lean toward the thrash metal taste, but then a dank, violent melody rips through all reaper-like. The transitions aren’t clunky or weird, there’s no isolated designation that this song is the thrasher and that one’s for death fans, it all makes so much sense in practice.
It’s not all about lopping your head off either. While the music is the key focus and strength for Damnation’s Veil, Ninth Realm take a bit of a risk and imbue it with neat atmosphere that really capitalizes on its otherworldly fantasy. It lacks the corny sword and sorcery aspect – not that that isn’t cool once in a while – instead opting for something a lot darker and violent in tone. Vocals are a perfect mix of throaty, rallying rasps and deeply projected bellows where they work for either camp of metal, or even the more metallic hardcore side of things.
At its most punked up like on “Beyond the Void”, you can hear the intention that Ninth Realm had in getting people to fucking move to their music. That song in particular has some of the cleanest passages on Damnation’s Veil, far from sterile or overly produced, but housing a clarity that makes it stick out as a fave of mine. “All Hail Treachery” on the other hand has more cataclysmic death affectations with its riffing and progression, even though it has a thrash-as-fuck gang vocal callout at the end. This song’s originally from their early EP of the same name, but damn does it get a glow up here.
Album ender “Twilight’s Blade” deserves its own little paragraph as it’s arguably the best track on the album, a veritable clinic on metal warfare that weaves in the extra flavors of heavy metal along with thrashy death. I absolutely love the primary lead melody for the song, which is then quickly outdone by the riff for the second verse which has this classic tonality that you just don’t hear that often outside of your dad’s record collection (if he was cool that is). The bass is also delightfully audible, grounding the track so its lofty approach doesn’t make it take off into the blackened sky.
I think I figured out why I like this band so much. While this band is very clearly a different beast than the band I’m about to mention, they do remind me a bit of The Crown, one of my favorite metal bands of all time. I can hear the same penchant for melody and ripping speed that they did so well in their prime. Ninth Realm is a fair bit weightier though. You can feel each song, nothing’s floaty, everything has a deliberate, dense tone like everything has its place. In other words, it’s an expert examination at just how cool this genre can sound when you can see beyond the checkboxes of tropes and thousand-year stare into a realm of your own making, then give it life.
So this album kicks ass, and it knows it kicks ass. Ninth Realm sound exuberant and confident, breathing entertaining atmosphere into their expressive metal to make you feel like you’re on a death march to fight some dark knight of legend, similar to what’s on the cover. Damnation’s Veil is a rare, equal meeting of style and substance, especially given the combination of styles at play. While it’s quite approachable, it’s not so much that it lacks originality or creativity. This band clearly know what the hell they’re doing, cleaving a looming sophomore slump in half and siphoning the soul out to empower them. If that doesn’t sound like a good time, I’m at a complete loss as to what qualifies anymore. Prepare to get a noise complaint from playing this album.
