With seemingly ALL the good stuff hitting the inbox on a daily basis it’s getting harder and harder to pick the top slots. Which means we’re having a stellar year so far, hard to argue with that. But, please argue or tell me I’m wrong. That’s the way now, right? Whatever. 2019 is shaping up damn nicely and it’s just April. Read on, there’s a lot to get to.

Poland’s Mord ‘A’ Stigmata have a tough hill to climb after 2017’s Hope and this year’s hit comes in the form of Dreams Of Quiet Places which finds the band experimenting with synths and solitude but make no mistake, black metal is still the backbone and this band still rules. Next up is the anomaly called Waste of Space Orchestra comprised of heavy hitters (look them up) that teamed up for the psych metal / mind-bending / thought provoking Syntheosis which is as epic in music as it is in scope and themes, go and experience this. Moving along, if you’re a fan of Zimmers Hole you will be a fan of West of Hell (if you’re not already) and on Blood of the Infidel Chris Valagao’s voice is still a metal treasure and the thrashing good time just doesn’t quit. Can’t let this one end without giving a shout out to Periphery who pretty much fly a middle finger to all the broisms of metal on Periphery IV: Hail Stan – try to look at that and not see Satan. But more than that, this is their heaviest release to date while still clutching the grandiose feel of Coheed & Cambria.

Enter below and enjoy all that is this week. And, do feel free to comment with all the “2019 blows thus far” or “what are you smoking” and I’ll be over here cranking the likes of Moon Tooth, Venom Prison, Mastiff, WOORMS, so on and so forth, so loud that I can’t hear your whining.

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Mord ‘A’ Stigmata – Dreams of Quiet Places (Pagan Records) – atmospheric black metal

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Waste of Space Orchestra – Syntheosis (Svart Records) – doom / astral

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West of Hell – Blood of the Infidel (Independent) – thrash / heavy

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Periphery – Periphery IV: Hail Stan (3DOT Recordings) – progressive metal

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Also on tap:

AntropomorphiA – Merciless Savagery (Metal Blade) – extreme metal

Årabrot – Die Nibelungen (Pelagic) – avantgarde rock

Black Magic – Wizard’s Spell, EP, Re-release (Dark Essence Records) – speed metal

Blind Monarch – What Is Imposed Must Be Endured (Black Bow) – sludge

Brant Bjork – Jacoozzi (Heavy Psych Sounds) – desert rock

Ceremony of Silence – Oútis (Willowtip Records) – death metal

Cirith Gorgor – Sovereign (Hammerheart) – black metal

Cities of Mars – The Horologist (Ripple Music) – doom

Conjurer – Sigils (Independent) – sludge / doom

Corrosive – Nourished By Blood (Black Sunset / MDD) – death metal

Crown of Autumn – Byzantine Horizons (My Kingdom Music) – dark metal

Cultic – High Command (Eleventh Key) – doom / death

Dead River Kings – Hymns of Hope and Despair, EP (Independent) – metal

Decoherence – S/T, 7” (Sentient Ruin) – black metal

Eluveitie – Ategnatos (Nuclear Blast) – folk metal

Exumer – Hostile Defiance (Metal Blade) – thrash

Fordærv – Knep Dig Selv Ihjel (TONEwood Music / Cool Wah Dekay) – grind

Gloson – Mara (Black Lion) – doom / sludge / post-metal

Godhead Machinery – Aligned to the Grid (Inverse) – black / death

Gold – Why Aren’t You Laughing? (Artoffact) – goth rock

Heavy Feather – Débris & Rubble (The Sign) – classic rock

Hellripper – Black Arts & Alchemy, EP (Reaper Metal Productions) – speed metal

Hold Me Down – S/T (Sentient Ruin) – post-industrial

Huelga – S/T (Independent) – progressive metal

Isotope – S/T (Carbonized) – hardcore punk

Kehro – Urdiala (Ektro) – psychedelic

Krigere Wolf – Eternal Holocaust (Lower Silesian Stronghold) – black / death

Las Robertas – Together Outrageously, EP (Rouge Wave) – psych rock

Latitudes – Part Island (Debemur Morti) – post-metal

Lightfold – Deathwalkers (Pitch Black Records) – heavy metal

Meytal – The Witness (Independent) – rock

Necrodeath – Defragments of Insanity, Re-Recording (Scarlet) – thrash / black

Nest – Metempsychosis, Limited Vinyl Issue (WOOAAARGH) – sludge

Obzerv – Acherontia Atropos (Independent) – progressive metal

Parallel Minds – Every Hour Wounds…The Last One Kills (Pitch Black Records) – metal

Pauwels – Poena Cullei (Vox Project) – noise

Pharlee – S/T (Tee Pee) – rock

Rescue Rangers – Divisive (Klonosphere) – hard rock

Sataray – Nocturnum (Scry Recordings) – dark ambient

Seax – Fallout Rituals (Shadow Kingdom) – heavy metal

Suffering Hour – Dwell (Blood Harvest) – death metal

Sworn Enemy – Gamechanger (M-Theory Audio) – hardcore

Teleport – The Expansion, CD Issue (Edged Circle Productions) – death metal

The Foreign Resort – Outnumbered (Artoffact) – post punk

Three Dead Fingers – Breed of the Devil (Bleeding Music Records) – thrash

Town Portal – Of Violence (Art As Catharsis) – progressive metal

Viuda Negra – Al Final / In the End (Fighter Records) – heavy metal

Warchest – Sentenced Since Conception (Toxic / Mechanix) – death / thrash

Witchfinder – Hazy Rites (Black Bow) – doom

Wormwitch – Heaven That Dwells Within (Prosthetic) – black metal

– Josh