We’ve got another long list of metal this week so let’s jump right in — Boss Keloid return with Melted On the Inch which is vastly different from their last album but is without a doubt their best yet and consequently one of the most forward thinking metal albums you’re likely to hear. Even though Cist‘s The Frozen Casket has been out for a minute, this week’s expanded CD release is as good a time as any to pick up this slab of speedy OSDM, so get on that.  Grá‘s Väsen is a healthy dose of primal black metal and Aura Noir, a band I wasn’t sure would ever return with an album, is back and exceptionally so on Aura Noire. It serves as a great reminder as to how much I’ve missed their thrashy black metal. There you have it, the lead off four. But there’s much more to get into this week so stick around as long as you want, we never close.

—

Boss Keloid – Melted On the Inch (Holy Roar) – progressive doom [full review]

—

Cist – The Frozen Casket (Redefining Darkness / Reaper Metal Productions) – death metal

—

Grá – Väsen (Carnal Records) – black metal [full review]

—

Aura Noir – Aura Noire (Indie Recordings) – black / thrash [full review]

—

Also on tap:

Axia – Pulverizer (Selfmadegod Records) – grindcore

Besvärjelsen – Vallmo (Suicide Records) – psych stoner metal

Blood Tsunami – Grave Condition (Soulseller Records) – thrash

Bloody Falls – Thanatos (Inverse Records) – heavy metal

Cardiac Arrest – A Parallel Dimension of Despair (Memento Mori) – death metal

Chevalier – A Call to Arms (Gates of Hell Records) – speed metal

Confusion Master – Awaken (Exile On Mainstream) – doom

Count Raven – Destruction of the Void, Reissue (Metal Blade) – doom

Count Raven – Storm Warning, Reissue (Metal Blade) – doom

Demon Head – Rivers of Mars, 7″ (The Sign Records) – dark rock

Cruachan – Nine Years of Blood (Trollzorn) – folk black metal

Dead Wretch – Hug Division Dead Wretch (Ipos Music) – black / death / grind

Deiquisitor – Downfall of the Apostates (Dark Descent Records) – death metal

Deny – Parasite Paradise (Cramada) – punk

Drakkar – Cold Winter’s Night (My Kingdom Music) – power metal

Dreamfire – Atlantean Symphony, Remastered (Minotauro Records) – symphonic metal [full review]

Dylan Carlson – Conquistador (Sargent House) – americana

Epos Nemo Latrocinium – Iter Itineris III (Scry Recordings) – experimental

Funerary Descent – Ov Chasms Beyond (Folkvangr Records) – black / funeral doom

Gatekeeper – East of Sun (Cruz Del Sur Music) – heavy metal

Goat Worship – Shore of the Dead (Xtreem Music) – black / thrash

God Is An Astronaut – Epitaph (Napalm Records) – rock

Graveyard – Back To the Mausoleum, EP (War Anthem Records) – death metal

Green Desert Water – Solar Plexus (Small Stone) – blues rock

Hukutus – Oksitosiini (My Fate Music) – heavy metal

Hundred Year Old Man – Breaching (Wolves and Vibrancy Records / Gizeh Records) – post-metal / doom

Just Before Dawn – Tides of Blood (Raw Skullz Records) – death metal

Kobra and the Lotus – Prevail II (Napalm Records) – metal

KZOHH – 26 (Ashen Dominion) – black metal

La Bottega del Tempo a Vapore – Viaggi inVersi (Revalve) – prog rock

Let It Breathe – S/T (STB Records) – stoner metal [premiere]

Life In Vacuum – All You Can Quit (New Damage Records) – punk

LLNN – Deads (Pelagic Records) – drone / noise

Lusca – Broken Colossus (Musical Tragedies) – sludge / post-rock

Martyria – S/T, Vinyl Issue (Hammerheart Records) – dark ambient

Midas Fall – Evaporate (Monotreme Records) – atmospheric metal

Mob Terror – Superstimulus (Financial Ruin / Dark Tank) – experimental noise

Monsternaut – Enter the Storm (Heavy Psych Sounds) – stoner rock

Necroexophilia – Intergalactic Armageddon (CDN Records) – horror grind

Nightmarer – Cacophony of Terror (Season of Mist) – death metal

Nott – S/T, EP, CD (Ossian Records) – atmospheric black metal

One Day In Fukushima – Ozymandias (Eclectic Productions) – death / grind

Peel – Never Not Dead, EP (Independent) – post-punk

Petrification – Hollow of the Void (Sentient Ruin) – death metal

Pharaoh Overlord – Zero (Ektro Records / Hydra Head) – psych rock

Piss River – S/T (The Sign Records) – heavy metal

Pulver – S/T (Gates of Hell Records) – heavy metal

Qoheleth – Black Kites Broadcasts (Bad Cake Records) – noise rock [feature]

Scream – NMC17 (No More Censorship), Reissue (Southern Lord) – punk

Settle Your Scores – Better Luck Tomorrow (Sharptone) – pop-punk

Shrine of the Serpent – Entropic Disillusion (Memento Mori) – death / doom

Sink the Ship – Persevere (Sharptone) – metalcore

Skindred – Big Tings (Napalm Records) – ragga metal

Sonologyst – Silencers (Cold Spring) – drone

Stormzone – Lucifer’s Factory (Independent) – heavy metal

The Armed – Only Love (Throatruiner / No Rest Until Ruin) – punk / hardcore / experimental

The Dahmers – Creepiest Creep (Lövely Records) – horror punk

The Freeks – Crazy World (Heavy Psych Sounds) – space punk n roll

Totalselfhatred – Solitude (Osmose Productions) – melancholic doom

Tri State Corner – Hero (Drakkar Entertainment) – rock

Vahrzaw – Husk (Blood Harvest) – black / death

Various Artists – Satan In Love, Comp. (Svart Records) – synth-pop

Varkâna – Rite (Folkvangr Records) – dark ambient

Voight Kampff – Substance Rêve (Sliptrick Records) – techno-thrash

Wax On Water – Procession (Independent) – electronic

Wesenwille – I : Wesenwille (Redefining Darkness) – black metal [feature review]

Widow’s Peak – Graceless, EP (Independent) – technical death metal

Wolf King – Loyal to the Soil (Prosthetic Records) – black / hardcore

Wormlight – Wrath of the Wilds (Black Lion Records) – melodic black metal

– Josh