Still in the afterglow of another Devil’s Night. I’m planning on keeping the pumpkins out and the spirit alive to push back against the thought of Christmas rearing its head before it’s even December. Feel free to do the same, you rebels. Anyway, the list is a little shorter this week but there’s no shortage of good metals to wrap your ears around and spend your cabbage on so let’s get to it.

Avantgarde black metallers Schammasch really can do no wrong and prove it with yet another epic length, mind bending journey into the deepest recesses of the psyche. This one will be an EOY list buster for so many. We featured a track premiere from Forest of Tygers recently and in case you missed it, this band’s approach to blackenedpunksludgenoise is some of the best you’ll hear this year so do jump on this new release. Very few bands fold melodic and progressive into their death metal as successfully as Iapetus do and on their sophomore effort they do it better and more cohesively than on their debut – this is another epic length album that is a MUST. Closing out the top slots, Immanifest wield a seriously sharp edge of symphonic black / death metal on their incendiary full length debut that’s full of twists and turns and nightmarish speed. Yea. 

Remember to keep those pumpkins burning and keep that horror spirit alive. But whatever you do, support as much of this list as you possibly can, right now.

—

Schammasch – Hearts of No Light (Prosthetic) – avantgarde black metal

—

Forest of Tygers – I Will Die of Violence (Acteon) – black / punk / sludge [premiere]

(“Pay of Pigs” is not on this album but for now, check it out or hit the premiere link above)

—

Iapetus – The Body Cosmic (Independent) – progressive / melodic death metal

—

Immanifest – Macrobial (The Artisan Era) – symphonic black / death metal

—

Also on tap:

Ade – Rise of the Empire (Extreme Metal Music / Rockshots) – metal

Bask – III (Season of Mist) – rock

Black Beast – Nocturnal Bloodlust (Primitive Reaction) – black metal

Blame Zeus – Seethe (Rockshots) – prog metal

Charlene Beretah – Rams (Division) – crusty sludge

Chrome Waves – The Cold Light of Despair (Disorder Recordings) – post-metal

Criminal Instinct – Terrible Things (Closed Casket Activities) – hardcore

Devil To Pay – Forever, Never or Whenever (Ripple Music) – hard rock

Esoteric – A Pyrrhic Existence (Season of Mist) – doom

Fallbrawl – Darkness (BDWH) – hardcore

Fyrhtu – No More Days in the Light (Black Horizons) – electronic folk

Godless Agenda – Death Awaits You All (Independent) – death / thrash 

Have a Nice Life – Sea of Worry (The Flenser) – gazey

Imperial Jade – On the Rise (Listenable) – rock

Ironthorn – Legends of the Ancient Rock (Sliptrick) – heavy metal

Laura Cox – Burning Bright (Independent) – metal 

Live Skull – Saturday Night Massacre (Bronson Recordings) – noise rock

Martin Bisi – Solstice (Bronson Recordings) – avant-garde 

Midnight Prey – Uncertain Times (Dying Victims Productions) – rock

Mortuary – The Autophagus Reign (Xenocorp) – death metal

Nocturnalia – III Winter (The Sign) – dark rock

Obscure – Darkness Must Prevail (Xtreem Music) – death metal

Pist – Hailz (APF) – metal

Pray for Sound – Waves (Post Recordings!) – post-rock

Quayde LaHüe – Love Out of Darkness (K / Adult Fantasy) – heavy metal

Rosk – remnants (Pagan) – folk metal

Second to Sun – Legacy (Independent) – metal

Slow – VI-Dantalion (Independent) – funeral doom

Terminus – A Single Point of Light (Cruz Del Sur Music) – heavy metal

The Drowning – The Radiant Dark (Transcending Obscurity) – death / doom

Tuskar – The Monolith Sessions (Riff Rock) – sludge

Vampiric – The Magic of the Night (Independent ) – symphonic metal

Wolf Jaw – The Heart Won’t Listen (Listenable) – rock

Wolfbrigade – The Enemy: Reality (Southern Lord) – death / hardcore

– Josh