Another week full of stuff, things, happenings and more stuff. Whatever. But now, a fresh start in the form of new releases and even though the massive quantity of recent weeks has waned a bit, quality takes a front seat. So, what’s up this week?

Oregon’s (and the world for that matter) favorite doom sons, YOB, return with their eighth full length Our Raw Heart and in case you’ve somehow missed it to this point, this is some of their most heart wrenching yet fully realized work to date. Yea, I said it. Feel free to have your own opinion. Nearly as massive but on the death metal front is Tomb Mold with their second full length Manor of Infinite Forms which rides even higher than their debut — is it possible? Yes…and again, insert opinion here. Moving right along with Lago, a band I discovered and developed a huge affinity for back in 2014, return with their second full length Sea of Duress and honestly I didn’t expect this much death metal maturity but I’m fully engrossed once again and happier than a pig in sh…you get the idea. Last up in the opening slots this week is Zeal & Ardor with their amazing combination of black metal and spirtuals with Stranger Fruit and this is where you’ll find something way different from the norm yet something to completely lose yourself in — love this band. We’ve had an already massive showing but as usual there is soooo much more. Stick around as long as you like and by all means, leave those opinions in the comments section below. 

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YOB – Our Raw Heart (Relapse Records) – doom [interview, full review]

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Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms (20 Buck Spin) – death metal [feature review]

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Lago – Sea of Duress (Unique Leader) – death metal

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Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit (MVKA Music) – spirituals / black metal

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Also on tap:

Abstracter – Cinereous Incarnate (Sentient Ruin / Vendetta / Tartarus / I, Voidhanger / Daymare) – black / doom

Caveman Cult – Supremacia Primordial, 10” (Larval Productions) – war metal

Charlotte In Cage – Times of Anger (Sliptrick) – heavy metal

Crurifragium – Black Seed of Bestiality, Vinyl Reissue (Larval Productions) – black / death

Deathwards – Towards Death (Invictus Productions) – thrash / death

Exmortus – The Sound of Steel (Prosthetic Records) – thrash metal

Eye of the Destroyer – Violent By Design, EP (Independent) – death metal

Fire Down Below – Hymn of the Cosmic Man (Ripple Music) – prog rock

Fistula / Hemdale – Split (Patac Records) – sludge

Gutter Instinct – Heirs of Sisyphus (Pulverised Records) – death metal

Haunted – Dayburner (Twin Earth Records) – doom

Jyotisavedanga – Thermogravimetry Warp Continuum (Larval Productions) – black noise

Kanseil – Fulische (Rockshots Music) – folk metal

Kite – The All Penetrating Silence (Sludgelord Records) – sludge / doom

Lesser Glow – Ruined (Pelagic Records) – post-metal / doom

Mindreaper – Mirror Construction (…a Disordered World) (Black Sunset / MDD) – death metal

Monolith Grows! – Black and Supersonic (Burning Wax Productions) – progressive stoner metal

Mylingar – Döda Drömmar (Independent) – death metal

Ossuary Insane – Decimation of the Flesh, Reissue (Blood Harvest) – death metal

Pelagos – Revolve (Svart Records) – post-metal

<Pig> – Risen (Metropolis Records) – industrial

Posthuman Abomination – Transcending Embodiment (Comatose Music) – brutal death metal

Ribspreader – The Van Murders – Part 2 (Xtreem Music) – death metal

Sign of the Jackal – Breaking the Spell (Dying Victims Productions) – heavy metal

Sinsid – Mission From Hell (Pitch Black Records) – heavy metal

Surmiser – Hold the Static, EP (Independent) – punk / metal

Svvamp – Svvamp 2 (RidingEasy Records) – stoner / hard rock

Taphos – Come Ethereal Somberness (Blood Harvest) – death metal

The Howling Tides – Crack My Soul (WDFD Records) – hard rock

The Last Seed – Hellboy (Nihilistische KlangKunst) – black metal

Torii – A Judgement Divine (Independent) – black / death

Tunnels of Ah – Charnal Tramsmissions (Cold Spring) – avantgarde

Winterblut – Seid furchtbar und zerstöret Euch (Nihilistische KlangKunst) – black metal

Womb – Taciturn (Purodium Rekords) – black metal

Woorms / A Hanging – Split (noise rock) – Independent

– Josh