We all can use a pick-me-up at this point. And, this week we’ve absolutely got you covered with a multitude of stellar metal. What, you ask? Hang in there soldier… Katatonia return with another stone cold stunner that furthers their adventurous efforts into the ether, Cirith Ungol effectively silence a 29 year gap with an explosive fifth full length of high brow heavy metal, Ulcerate kick the death metal doors down and demand the spotlight, Vølus show us how dangerous death metal can be in the right hands, and Elder enlightens us with their algebraic approach to doom. A fantastic start for sure but we’re only getting warmed up to the plethora of amazing albums that await the adventurous. So, get to it.

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Katatonia – City Burials (Peaceville) – metal

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Cirith Ungol – Forever Black (Metal Blade) – heavy metal

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Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still (Debemur Morti Productions) – death metal

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Vølus – Festering Anti-Cosmic Wound (Vargheist) – black / death

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Elder – Omens (Armageddon Label) – doom

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Also on tap:

0 – Skamhan (Napalm) – black metal

Acherontas – Psychic Death – The Shattering Of Perceptions (Agonia) – black metal 

Aeons In Solitude – Mourning Cloak (Rock Company) – doom

Bâ’a – Deus Qui Non Mentitur (Osmose Productions) – black metal 

Babylonfall – Collapse (Inverse) – melodic death metal

Barishi – Old Smoke (Season of Mist) – metal

Bezwering – Aan de wormen overgeleverd (Ván) – death metal

Black Curse – Endless Wound (Spectral Voice) – death metal

Blasphamagoatachrist – Bastardizing the Purity (Nuclear War Now! Productions) – black / death

Blaze of Sorrow – Absentia (Eisenwald) – black metal 

Bones – Gate of Night, EP (Blood Harvest) – death metal 

Bythos – The Womb of Zero (Terratur Possessions) – black metal

Catarsis Incarne – Abiogénesis (PRC Music) – death metal

Dark Forest – Oak, Ash & Thorn (Cruz Del Sur Music) – true metal

Dätcha Mandala – Hara (Mrs Red Sound) – power rock

Demise of the Crown – Life In the City (Independent) – metal

Destroyed In Seconds – Divide and Devour (Independent) – hardcore punk

Dødskvad – Krønike I (Caligari) – death metal

Elephant Tree – Habits (Holy Roar / Deathwish Inc) – prog / psych / doom

Engutturalment Cephaloslamectomy – Glam Not Slam (Gore House Productions) – brutal slam death metal

Expunged – S/T, Vinyl Issue (Hells Headbangers) – death metal

Fange – Pudeur (Throatruiner) – death / noise

Gaffa Ghandi – Artificial Disgust (Exile On Mainstream) – avantmetal

Golden Light – Sacred Colour of the Source of Light (Iron Bonehead) – black metal

Hegemony – Enthroned By Persecution (Hells Headbangers) – bestial metal

Helfró – S/T(Season of Mist) – black metal

Hyperion – Into the Maelstrom (Fighter) – heavy metal 

I Am Destruction – Nascency (Unique Leader) – brutal death

Jenn Taiga – Plight (Tridroid) – synth

Lord Fowl – Glorious Babylon (Small Stone) – retro rock 

Lustre – Ashes of Light (Nordvis) – black / ambient

Mantric – False Negative (Tooth & Nail / Solid State) – rock

Marmalade Knives – Amnesia (Electric Valley) – psych / prog

Marrowfields – Metamorphoses (Black Lion) – atmospheric doom

Misanthropic Aggression – Alcoholic Polyneuropathic Freaks In Hell (Boris) – thrash

Morketida – Traveler of the Untouched Voids (Werewolf) – black metal

Mustasch – Killing It For Life (Tritonus) – rock / metal

Negative Thought Process – Hell… Is Much Better Than This (Hibernacula) – crust / grind

No Such Season – U.A.F. (Sliptrick) – stoner 

Nyrst – Orsök (Dark Essence) – black metal

R-13 – Ansia (Trepanation Recordings) – sci-fi metal

Reek – Death Is Something There Between (Testimony) – death’n’roll

Ritual Clearing – S/T, EP (Eternal Death) – black metal

Road Warrior – Mach II (Gates of Hell) – trad metal

Sacred Sin – Born Suffer Die (Lusitanian Music) – death metal

Shitfucker – Sex With Dead Body (Hells Headbangers) – scum metal

Sölicitör – Spectral Devastation (Gates of Hell) – speed metal

Templar – Knights of Nuclear Hell Decibelfucking the Charred Remains of the Christ (Caligari) – speed / punk

The Fixer – The Prowl, EP (Independent) – modern metal

The Hÿss – Extraterrestrial (Independent) – metal 

The Wizar’d – Subterranean Exile (Cruz Del Sur Music) – doom

Theraphosa – Transcendence (Season of Mist) – groove metal

Total Fucking Destruction – …to be alive at the end of the world (Translation Loss) – grind

Traveler – Termination Shock (Gates of Hell) – heavy metal [interview]

Trick or Treat – The Legend of the XII Saints (Scarlet) – power metal

Trivium – What the Dead Men Say (Roadrunner) – modern metal

Two Face Sinner – Spiritual Nemesis (Non Serviam) – black / death

Unmerciful – Wrath Encompassed (Willowtip) – brutal death

Victoria K – Essentia (Rockshots) – symphonic metal

Viviankrist – Cross Modulation – Bootleg Remixes (Ritual Productions / Diagonal) – noise

Voices of Ruin – Path to Immortality (M-Theory Audio) – melodic death metal

Volturian – Crimson (Scarlet) – modern metal

Warbringer – Weapons of Tomorrow (Napalm) – thrash

Werewolves – The Dead Are Screaming (Prosthetic Records) – death metal

White Nights – Into the Lap of the Ancient Mother (Iron Bonehead) – deathrock

Winter Deluge – Degradation Renewal (Osmose Productions) – black / death

Witches Hammer – Damnation is My Salvation (Nuclear War Now! Productions) – speed metal

Xpus – In Umbra Mortis Sedent (Transcending Obscurity) – death metal

– Josh