Here we are on April Fools Day and I got no jokes, no tricks and no BS. But I do have tons of metal so slap the first person that pulls some nonsense on you and tell them there’s no time to waste. The metals are waiting. Leading off are the black/folk metal phenoms Falls of Rauros with their fourth album Vigilance Perennial and honestly if you’ve never heard them let this be your call to get on that, QUICKLY (see below). Next up is Coldfell with their debut Coldfell which blurs the lines of black and doom metal extremely well and so much so you’ll have a hard time distinguishing between the two. Marching on, Mastodon release their seventh full length Emperor of Sand and for any of you with doubts rest assured there’s a pleasant surprise in store. And Our Season Draws Near from 1476 rounds out the top four slots in style with their exceptional mixture of post black metal, folk, ambient and punk — that’s a mouthful for sure but trust me when I say it works beautifully. If you’ve been following along you know what’s next, for those just visiting for the first time thank you but we’re not done, much more to follow right after the jump.

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Falls of Rauros – Vigilance Perennial (Bindrune/Nordvis Produktion) – black metal [full review]

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Coldfells – Coldfells (Bindrune/Nordvis Produktion) – doom metal

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Mastodon – Emperor of Sand (Reprise) – rock

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1476 – Our Season Draws Near (Prophecy Productions) – post black metal [feature]

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Also on tap:

Beast Modulus – Being (Independent) – math metal

Bereft – Lands (Prosthetic Records) – doom metal

Bestial Warlust – Storming Bestial Legions Live ‘96 (Hells Headbangers) – blackened death metal

Blessed Curse – Beware of the Night, EP (M-Theory Audio) – thrash metal

Body Count – Bloodlust (Century Media) – thrash metal

BUIOINGOLA – Il nuovo mare (Sentient Ruin) – darkwave/neocrust

Death of Kings – Hell Comes to Life, EP (Boris Records) – thrash metal

Digir Gidim – I Thought There Was the Sun Awaiting My Awakening (ATMF) – occult, avantgarde black metal

Doctor Cyclops – Local Dogs (Heavy Psych Sounds) – 70’s style hard rock

Gruesome – Fragments of Psyche, EP (Relapse Records) – death metal

ISIS – Live VII (Ipecac Recordings) – post metal

Keitzer – Ascension (Give Praise Records) – death, grind

Lava Invocator – Mörk (Satanath Records) – black metal

Malkavian – Annihilating the Shades (Finesterian Dead End) – heavy metal

Mastema – Golden World (Via Nocturna) – death metal

Mentors/Nekro Drunkz – Split, 7″ EP (Hells Headbangers) – metal punk

Morast – Ancestral Void (Totenmusik/Van Records) – blackened doom

Obscure Devotion – Ubi Certa Pax Est (Dark Horizon/Third I Rex) – black metal

OHHMS – The Fool (Holy Roar Records) – sludge/progressive metal

Ordoxe – Towards Eternity (Horror Pain Gore Death) – melodic black metal

Phenomy – Once and For All (Via Nocturna) – thrash metal

Plague Throat – The Human Paradox, CD (Transcending Obscurity) – death metal

Porta Daemonium – Serpent of Chaos, LP (Blood Harvest) – death metal

Saccage – Death Crust Satanique, Reissue (PRC Music) – death, crust

Scumripper – S/T, 7″ EP (Hells Headbangers) – metal punk

Show of Bedlam – Transfiguration (PRC Music) – doom metal

Slagmaur – Thill Smitts Terror (Osmose Productions) – black metal

Spacetrucker – Launch Sequence, Reissue (Independent) -stoner rock

Spirit of Rebellion – A Taste of Death, Reissue (PRC Music) – death metal

This Gun For Hire – Something A Little More Sinister (Independent) – metalcore

Tiger Junkies – Green Tea or Die, 7″ EP (Hells Headbangers) – metal punk

Tirades – Here Comes the Rain, EP (Fight! Records) – hardcore punk

Toxpack – Schall und Rausch (Napalm Records) – punk, hardcore

Underdark – Mourning Cloak, EP (Third I Rex) – black metal

Vanum – Burning Arrow, EP (Psychic Violence) – black metal 

Warbringer – Woe To the Vanquished (Napalm Records) – thrash metal

White Willow – Future Hopes (Laser’s Edge) – prog metal

Zaraza – Spasms of Rebirth (Slavic Blasphemy Records) – experimental metal

– Josh