Took part in a BMW performance experience last week in which I got to drive several different ‘M’ models extremely fast (you know, drive it like you stole it) which gave me great pleasure. And over the course of this half day excursion the top four albums below were my soundtrack. Tons of fun was had, you had to be there. Anyway, what’s out this week in the world of metal? Read on…
First up is NOLA’s favorite sons, Thou, with their magnificent take on sludge and doom but with Magus they really reach into progressive territory and it rules – if you dig this band and their recent trio of EP’s you will love this. Ken Mode are back with Loved which is a jagged pill of brutalicious noise rock that, no shocker here, also rules. In the midst of death/black/sludge/prog/djent tagsploitation it’s a nice change of pace to hear a fist pumping, adrenalizing, straight forward heavy metal album such as U.D.O.’s sixteenth full length Steelfactory – old guard or no, this is just a ridiculously fun album. Rounding out the top slots is Australia’s Descent on Towers of Grandiosity which is like pouring death metal, grindcore and crusty old hardcore punk into a vat of acid and watching it explode into a mass of blood red particles.
Now you know of four and there’s so much more…high hat please…anyway, stick around for the rest.
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Thou – Magus (Sacred Bones Records) – sludge / doom / Thou (enough said) [full review]
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Ken Mode – Loved (Season of Mist) – dark noise [full review]
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U.D.O. – Steelfactory (AFM Records) – heavy metal
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Descent – Towers of Grandiosity (Redefining Darkness Records) – death / grind
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Also on tap:
Beyond the Black – Heart of the Hurricane (Napalm Records) – symphonic metal
Black Mirrors – Look Into the Black Mirror (Napalm Records) – rock
Circles – The Last One (Season of Mist) – progressive metal
Gabriels – Fist of the Seven Stars Act 2, Hokuto Brothers (Rockshots Records) – progressive
Ghost World – Spin (Svart Records) – alternative
Helion Prime – Terror of the Cybernetic Space Monster (AFM Records) – power metal [feature]
I’ll Be Damned – Road To Disorder (Drakkar Entertainment) – rock
Infuriate – S/T (Everlasting Spew Records) – brutal death metal
Junkyard Drive – Black Coffee (Mighty Music) – rock
Krakow – minus (Karisma Records) – progressive metal
Kvlt of Eblis – Templo de la Serpiente Negra (Morbid Skull Records) – black metal
Lost Chocolate Lab – Lost Landscapes (Independent) – gazy noise
Maligner – Attraction to Annihilation (Blood Harvest) – death / thrash
Majestic Mass – Savage Empire of Death (Caligari Records) – psych black metal [full review]
Mamaleek – Out of Time (The Flenser) – avantgarde black metal
Monte Pittman – Better or Worse (Metal Blade) – progressive metal
Monte Pittman – Between the Space (Metal Blade) – progressive metal
Morgue Walker – Forage the Ash (Grindstate Records) – death / grind [full review]
Panzer Squad – Ruins (Testimony Records) – thrash
Paragnosis – Clarity In Three, Redux (Independent) – progressive metal
Pascagoula – The Path, The Cross, The Aftermath (Dry Cough Records / Badlads) – sludge / noise
Rithiya Henry Khiev – Eviscerated Realm (RHK Studios) – progressive metal
Rolled Up Sleeves – Pointless, EP (Mighty Music) – garage rock
The Negative Bias / Golden Dawn – The Temple of Cruel Empathy / Lunar Serpent, Split (Casus Belli Musica) – atmospheric black metal
The Secret – Lux Tenebris (Southern Lord) – black metal
The Spirit of Iuvenium – Bequeath Thy Grievous Loss (Pacific Threnodies) – gothic darkwave
Theudho – De roep van het woud (Independent) – pagan black metal
Throat – Bareback (Svart) – noise
Tornado – Commitment to Excellence (Extreme Metal Music) – thrash
Tyrannic – Ethereal Sepulchre (Seance Records) – heavy metal
Wheel In the Sky – Beyond the Pale (The Sign Records) – rock
– Josh
Nine Circles 