This month we weigh the metal-ness of Katabasis by RF Kuang, in which a graduate student in magic at Cambridge must take a trip into Hell/the Underworld with her academic rival to get their advisor back after he blew up in a magical experiment gone wrong. We spoil the plot, then talk about:

• World-building
• The enduring popularity of Underworld travel narratives
• Alternative careers for magicians
• Advice for the protagonists
• Ideal metal musicians to guide you in the Underworld
• Petty sins that deserve their own circles in Hell
• Our ideal rulers of the Underworld
• Work-life balance in academia

Due to the book’s contents, we may also briefly discuss manipulation and abuse in academia and suicidal ideation.

You can find our Spotify profile with our Katabasis playlist at https://open.spotify.com/user/31kosaxlm6j56e44766ijo4ndzjq?si=cdd4a1a247c646e1

Special Features:

1. Metal Trivia
2. 1985 Date Night Movies
3. Would You Rather? Underworld Edition
4. Design-a-Hell
5. Pick a Hell: Fictitious Character Edition

Music Mentions:

Path of Resistance by Primalfrost

Year of the Cobra by Year of the Cobra

Warriors of Greyhawk by Greyhawk*

*The departing vocalist from Greyhawk we mention is Rev Taylor, who left the band to focus on his opera career (yes, really) and was replaced by the talented Anthony Corso.

Reading Recommendations:

1. Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
2. The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman
3. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

July's Book: The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston. Get ready for a Bronze Age beatdown, Die Hard style, in this grimdark fantasy novel about a palace guard who would die for her oath but prefers to kill for it.

Playlist Contents:

• Katabasis - Persefone
• Would You Walk With Me Through Hell? - Lord Of The Lost, Infected Rain
• The Meadows of Asphodel - Mors Principium Est
• The Great Below - Kvaen, Jeff Loomis
• Crystal Logic - Manilla Road
• In Tartarus - The Night Eternal
• Devil's Light - Novembers Doom
• Hounds of Hell - Dead Soul
• Lethean - Katatonia
• Don't Pay the Ferryman - Domain
• Souls of Black - Testament
• Bleed In My Arms - Sentenced
• Underworld - i Häxa
• The Descent to the Last Circle - Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult
• Dis - Daidalos
• Cerberus - Carved Memories
• Will I Deserve It - Structure
• Lethe - Throes Of Dawn
• Inked in Blood -Sigh
• Don't Come Back from Hell Empty Handed - Oceans of Slumber