The best month of the year winds down this week and that sucks. But you know what doesn’t suck? New metal and, yet again, the list is longer which means more to get into. Read on to see what’s in store…
First up and FINALLY, The Ocean returns in epic fashion with Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic and if you have the slightest doubt a step has been lost, forget about it. This thing is master class level post-metal and should be in your collection already so go, NOW. Next up is Piach from Gorycz which is their debut but you’d never know it as their brand of dark and brooding black / death is as mesmerizing as it is immersive, death metal vets Cancer return with Shadow Gripped and after all this time they still have some damn gnarly chops, and rounding out these top slots is occult doom rockers Alastor who pull off the perfect album for those Halloween night scares with Slave To the Grave.
As previously stated, these four are just the tip of the iceberg and this iceberg runs deep.
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The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic (Metal Blade) – post-metal
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Gorycz – Piach (Pagan Records) – black metal [premiere]
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Cancer – Shadow Gripped (Peaceville) – death metal [full review]
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Alastor – Slave To the Grave (RidingEasy) – occult doom
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Also on tap:
Abstract Void – Back To Reality, CD Issue (Flowing Downward / Avantgarde) – synth / metal
Ashes Reborn – Contamination (Firecum Records) – thrash / death
Bitter Heart – Rotten (Independent) – grunge metal
Blood of the Sun – Blood’s Thicker Than Love (Listenable Records) – hard rock
Brainbombs – Burning Hell, Reissue (Armageddon Label) – noise rock
Brainbombs – Fucking Mess, Reissue (Armageddon Label) – noise rock
Clawing – Labour (Independent) – dark drone
Dead Register – Captive, EP (AVR Records) – dark / gothic
Deadpressure – S/T (Carbonized / Ogre Vinyl) – grind / punk
Domestikwom / Necrolytic Goat Converter – Split II (Independent) – black metal
Drug Church – Cheer (Pure Noise Records) – hardcore
Eden’s Curse – Testament – The Best of Eden’s Curse (AFM) – heavy metal
Etterna – Chaotic (Sliptrick) – melodic metal
Fauna Timbre – Altering Echoes (Red Orchard Records) – doom / post-rock
Flageladör – Predileção Pelo Macabro (Helldprod Records) – speed / thrash
Godless – Swarm, EP (Independent) – death/thrash
Gramma Vedetta – Proof of Concept, EP (Independent) – alt metal
Graven – Heirs of Discord, EP (Negative Grave Records) – extreme metal
Gross Misconduct – Equinox (Independent) – progressive death metal
Kommandant – Blood Eel (Krucyator Productions) – black / death / thrash
Life – Demo II (Pacific Threnodies) – dsbm
Lifelost – Dialogues From Beyond (Transcending Obscurity) – black metal
Necroholocaust – Laudem Antichristus, 7” EP (Iron Bonehead) – black / grind
Night Gaunt – The Room (Terror From Hell Records) – doom
Noise Trail Immersion – Symbology of Shelter (Moment of Collapse Records) – dissonant
Ølten – Ambiance (Hummus Records) – sludge / post-metal
Owl Maker – Sky Road, EP (Independent) – heavy metal
Paragon Empire – Sade (Van Records) – black metal
Profanatica – Altar of the Virgin Whore (Hells Headbangers) – black metal
Rituals – Neoteric Commencements (Sleeping Church) – death metal
Rituals of the Dead Hand – Blood Oath (Dunkelheit Produktionen) – extreme metal
Ruin It! – Locked Up Dead (Armageddon Label) – hardcore
Runescarred – Moonchild, Single (Independent) – heavy metal
Sad Eyes – vIVO (Necromance Records) – death metal
Scolex / Mortuous – Split (Carbonized Records) – death metal
Seventh Dimension – The Corrupted Lullaby (Independent) – progressive metal
Seventh Genocide – SVNTH (Third I Rex) – black / ambient
Shallow Grave – Threshold Between Two Worlds (Sludgelord Records) – doom
Soul Grip – Not Ever (Consouling Sounds) – post black metal
Suffering Quota – Life In Disgust (Loner Cult / Dawnbreed / Mono Canibal / 7Degrees / Tartarus) – sludge
Sylvaine – Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone (Season of Mist) – atmospheric [full review]
Telos – S/T (WOOAAARGH) – blackened hardcore
Temple Nightside – Recondemnation (Iron Bonehead) – death metal
Temtris – Rapture (Battlegod Productions) – heavy metal
The Heretics Fork – Tormentore (P2 Records) – brutal death metal
The Veldt – Black and Blue (sonaBLAST! Records) – shoegaze
Totenmesse – To (Pagan Records) – extreme metal
Trollheims Grott – Aligned With the True Death (W.T.C. Productions) – black / industrial
Twilight Fauna – Where Birds Sing My Name, CD Issue (Flowing Downward / Avantgarde) – folk / black
U-Foes – Whiteout (Marw Melodee Music) – hardcore
Ursa – Abyss Between the Stars (Blood Music) – heavy metal / doom
Various Artists – Terror Tales – A Tribute To Death SS (Black Widow Records) – metal
When Plagues Collide – Tutor of the Dying (Independent) – deathcore
When the Deadbolt Breaks – Angels Are Weeping…God Has Abandoned… (Sliptrick) – fuzz / doom
– Josh
