Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, we did just cross into December. Amazing right? No idea where the time goes but we’re nearing that time of year to get caught up on all the amazing stuff 2017 had to offer. Oh and yes, that header pic did make me think of Halloween too but it’s actually Irish extreme / black metallers Drakonis who are releasing their latest EP The Great Miasma this week and even though it’s only three songs it fully mesmerized me with its charred undulating rhythms and dark story line. Yes, I did get ahead of myself there but I couldn’t help it so no stopping now…next up is the debut full length, Reflections in Darkness, from Throaat who have leaned harder on the dark side of black metal here but still keep their feet firmly planted in thrash and speed. Friend of and guest contributor to this very site Jonathan Petkau is releasing the debut full length, A Peace that Destroys, from his black metal project Domestikwom and not only does it tell an extremely personal story but it also successfully intertwines folk, noise and even hardcore into the black metal fabric of the album. Filling out the top slots this week is Kingdoms Disdained from Morbid Angel that not only sees the reuniting of Trey Azagthoth and Steve Tucker but also sees a return to the kind of death metal we expect from this particular band and honestly I’m glad to hear it. I did go a little long in the tooth on this opener but fear not, there is much more metal to explore right after the jump.

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Drakonis – The Great Miasma (Hostile Media) – black metal

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Throaat – Reflections in Darkness (Dying Victims) – black metal

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Domestikwom – A Peace that Destroys (Independent) – black / doom / folk [feature, feature review]

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Morbid Angel – Kingdoms Disdained (Silver Lining Music / JVC) – death metal [full review]

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Also on tap:

Annihilation – The Undivided Wholeness Of All Things (Nice to Eat You Records) – brutal death metal [feature]

Barshasketh & Outre – Sein / Zeit (Third Eye Temple) – black metal

Beastcraft / Black Altar – Occult Ceremonial Rites / Winds ov Decay, Split (Odium Records) – black metal

BongCauldron – Binge (APF Records) – sludge

Come Back From the Dead – Caro Data Vermibus (Transcending Obscurity) – death metal

Deinonychus – Ode to Acts of Murder, Dystopia and Suicide (My Kingdom Music) – doom / black

Devastation – Drink With The Devil (Empire Records) – thrash

Domgård – Ödelagt (Carnal Records) – black metal

Engulf – Subsumed Atrocities, EP (Everlasting Spew Records) – death metal

Eschatos – Maere (Independent) – experimental black metal

Funeral Chant – S/T, EP, LP and CD (Caverna Abismal Records) – black / death

Gürschach – Dark Matter (Independent) – experimental metal

Hard Action – Hot Wired Beat (Svart Records) – rock

Henry Metal – Henry Metal V (Henry Metal Records) – henry metal of course

Hetman – Sewn from the Ashes Book (Svarga Music) – black metal

Hooded Priest – The Hour Be None (I Hate Records) – doom

Husbandry – Bad Weeds Never Die (Aqualamb Records) – post hardcore

Ieschure – The Shadow (Iron Bonehead Productions) – black metal

Igneis Haereticum – Autocognition of Light (Goathorned Productions) – occult black metal

Islaja – Tarrantulla (Svart Records) – folk / electronic

Jassa – Incantation of the Higher Gnosis (Fallen Empire Records) – black metal

Jess and the Ancient Ones – The Horse and Other Weird Tales (Svart Records) – psych / death rock

Kapala – Infest Cesspool (Dunkelheit Produktionen) – black metal

Kaukolampi – I (Svart Records) – rock

Leviathan – The First Sublevel of Suicide, demo (Ascension Monuments Media) – black metal

Malvento – Pneuma (Third I Rex) – black metal

Negative Symbols – S/T, EP (Independent) – post black metal

Nero Doctrin – II – Interitus (Boersma Records) – melodic death / thrash

Outline – Demo 1: Fire Whiplash (Hells Headbangers) – speed metal

Scars of Solitude – Deformation (Inverse Records) – melodic metal

Shrine of the Serpent / Black Urn – Split (Godz of War Productions) – death metal

Stercore – Eternal Sunlight (Slovak Metal Army) – deathcore

Wolfhorde – The Great Old Ones, EP (Inverse Records) – folk metal

Valdur – Divine Cessation (Bloody Mountain Records) – black / death

– Josh