I’m back. Miss me? Of course you didn’t because Chris killed it here on Initial Descent last week. Either way, I’m still picking sand out of…places. But anyway, you came here for new metal and that we have plenty of this week. See what I did there? Saved you from a dumb story about sand, proud and elated you must be.

Enough about that, let’s focus on music. By now Kevin Hufnagel is a household name to a much larger audience than just metal and on Messages To the Past he proves why as he effortlessly recalls guitar virtuosos, past and present, but furthermore offers up a fantastic album full of beautiful peaks and valleys. Cokegoat and Barren Heir bathe in sludge and doom on their split Sunshine / Tracing Light, Italy’s Nomura and Nulla+ leave a trail of bloody ears with their blackened hardcore / punk split impronte / lacrime and Converge drop an EP, Beautiful Ruin, on us out of nowhere — it is a good day indeed.

Good opening four but there’s much more. I’m a poet and didn’t know it…(drum roll). Anyway, grab a coffee or a cold one and stick around, the metal awaits.

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Kevin Hufnagel – Messages To the Past (Translation Loss Records) – experimental [full review]

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Cokegoat / Barren Heir – Sunshine / Tracing Light, Split (Independent) – sludge / doom [feature review]

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Nomura / Nulla+ – impronte / lacrime, Split (The Triad Recs) – black / punk / hardcore

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Converge – Beautiful Ruin, EP (Deathwish) – hardcore

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Also on tap:

Aseethe / Snow Burial – Split (Hand of Death Records) – doom / post metal

A Scar for the Wicked – The Unholy, EP (Independent) – modern death metal 

Blind Justice – No Matter the Cost (Flatspot / Edgewood) – hardcore

Bookakee – Ignominies (Transcending Records) – death metal

Centauro – Dãno Colateral, CD (Ablaze Productions) – thrash

Code Red Riot – Mask (Red Music / Sony) – rock

Consecration – Remembrance (Independent) – doom

Death Will Tremble – Departures (Independent) – doom / post-metal

Demetra Sine Die – Post Glacial Rebound (Third I Rex) – noise / post-rock / doom

Domadora – Lacuna (Independent) – psych rock

Eversin – Armageddon Genesi (My Kingdom Music) – post-thrash

Hate Diplomacy – Rant (Independent) – death metal

Jaye Jayle – No Trail And Other Unholy Paths (Sargent House) – folk

Mortem – Eheieh Chaos (Folkvangr Records) – occult black metal

Mortuary Drape – Necromantic Doom Returns, Demo Comp. (Iron Tyrant Records) – black metal

Neutral Bombs – Pretend to Fly (Sliptrick Records) – punk rock

Oltretomba – L’Ouverture Des Fosses (Caligari Records) – black / doom

Rainfall Today – Eternal (Sliptrick Records) – alt-rock

Reinfection – They Die for Nothing (Deformeathing Production) – grind / death

Restive Nation – We Atrophy, EP (Independent) – alt-rock

Rostres – Les Corps Flottants (WOOAAARGH) – post-metal

Runescarred – We Are (Independent) – progressive metal

Satan My Master – The King of Hell Arrives (Helldprod Productions) – black metal

Seething Akira – Sleepy Skeletor (Independent) – crossover

Shylmagoghnar – Transience (Napalm Records) – atmospheric black metal 

The Antichrist Imperium – Volume II: Every Tongue Shall Praise Satan (Apocalyptic Witchcraft) – black / death

The Evil – S/T (Osmose Productions) – avant-garde

The Paradox Twin – The Importance of Mr Bedlam (White Star Records) – progressive rock

this place is actually the worst – S/T (people | places | records) – mathcore

Throneum – The Tight Deathrope Act Over Rubicon (Hells Headbangers) – death metal

Tired Eyes – In Denial, Force a Smile, EP (Collision Course) – post-hardcore

Torn the Fuck Apart – A Genetic Predisposition to Violence (Gore House Productions) – brutal death metal

Vanhelga – Fredagsmys (Osmose Productions) – black metal

Violent Life Violent Death – Come, Heavy Breath (Independent) – hardcore

Wombripper – From the Depths of Flesh (Redefining Darkness Records) – death metal

– Josh