Oh hi. Last week’s list was long but this week’s list is longer. Score. Annnnnd, we’re off… The Ocean has yet to release anything less than stellar and this week’s second Phanerozoic chapter is no exception—expect another epic tour-de-force. If you’re in the camp of saying how much Uada sounds like x band or y band, this week’s third full length will change that as they reach far outside the confines of just black metal and come up with all aces. Speaking of great third full lengths, Svalbard return with what might be their finest post-metal, punk, abrasive yet ethereal moment to date, the amount this band has grown in a short time is unbelievable. Bringing the top four to a close, we have yet another third full length from Lik who bring the Swedeath HEAT. So, exceptional top four here but there’s a ton more to seek out immediately below. Happy hunting.
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The Ocean – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic (Metal Blade / Pelagic) – epic metal
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Uada – Djinn (Eisenwald) – black metal
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Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better? (Translation Loss / Church Road Records) – post-metal / punk
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Lik – Misanthropic Breed (Metal Blade) – death metal
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Also on tap:
Abatuar – Mortandad (Dunkelheit Produktionen) – black / death
Angelic Desolation – Quorum of Unspeakable Curses (Independent) – death metal
Anna Von Hausswolff – All Thoughts Fly (Southern Lord) – ambient
Blackevil – Forever Baptised in Eternal Fire (Dying Victims Productions) – black / thrash
Blazon Rite – Dulce Bellum Inexpertis (Gates of Hell) – metal
Bosphorus – Slow Burn (Trepanation Recordings) – post-metal
Chrome Waves – Where We Live (Disorder Recordings) – metal
Contagium – Chronicles of Carnage (Vargheist) – death metal
Crystal Spiders – Molt (Ripple Music) – doom / proto metal
Dead Low – Listen Up! (Audio Epidemic Records) – punk / metal
Death Bells – New Signs of Life (Dais) – rock
Deftones – Ohms (Reprise) – defjams
Dropdead – Demos 1991 (Armageddon Label) – punk / thrash
Dropdead – S/T (Armageddon Label) – punk / thrash
Early Moods – Spellbound (Dying Victims Productions) – metal
Egregore – Thought Form (Sentient Ruin) – grind
Ewigkeit – 23 (Death To Music Productions) – rock
Eyes – Underperformer (Indisciplinarian) – metal / hardcore
Fleetburner – S/T (Butler) – metal
Four Stroke Baron – Monoqueen (Prosthetic) – metal
Gatecloser – From the Wasteland (Sliptrick) – prog thrash
Grendel’s Sÿster – Myrtle Wrath / Myrtenkranz, Vinyl Reissue (Cruz Del Sur Music) – metal / folk
Gridfailure – Epicenter MMXX: Quarantine Instrumentals, EP (Independent) – noise
Haig – Freeze the World (Golden Robot) – rock
Hateful – Set Forever On Me (Transcending Obscurity) – tech death
Hexecutor – Beyond any Human Conception of Knowledge (Dying Victims Productions) – speed / thrash
Hexx – Entangled In Sun (High Roller) – thrash
Hittman – Destroy All Humans (No Remorse) – heavy / power metal
Horsewhip – Laid to Waste (Roman Numeral / Financial Ruin) – hardcore / crust
Illuminated Minerva – Enigma Adamantine (Independent) – metal
Indoctrinate – Antilogos: Arcane Transmutation In the Temple of Flesh (Unholy Prophecies) – black metal
Infesticide – Envenoming Wounds (Blood Harvest) – death metal
Just Before Dawn – An Army at Dawn (Raw Skull) – death metal
Kataklysm – Unconquered (Nuclear Blast) – death metal
Laser Dracul – Hagridden (Majestic Mountain) – doom / sludge
Madrost – Charring the Rotted Earth (No Life Til Metal) – death / thrash
Marche Funèbre – Einderlicht (Hypnotic Dirge) – doom
Memoira – Carnival of Creation (Inverse) – symphonic / gothic metal
Miasmal Sabbath – Ominous Radiance (Unholy Productions) – metal
Morta Skuld – Suffer For Nothing (Peaceville) – death metal
Mountain Tamer – Psychosis Ritual (Heavy Psych Sounds) – psych / sludge
Myosotis – Karoshi (Independent) – prog / metalcore
Mysthicon – Silva-Oculis-Corvi (Witching Hour Productions) – black / death / doom
Nasty – Menace (Century Media) – hardcore
Noite – A Cor do Fogo (I, Voidhanger) – black metal
Obsidian Kingdom – Meat Machine (Season of Mist) – post-metal
Onirik – The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity (I, Voidhanger) – black metal
Orplifd – Deus Vult (Independent) – neofolk
Ossuary Anex – Obscurantism Apogee (Xtreem) – brutal death metal
Places Around the Sun – S/T (Independent) – heavy rock
Proscription – Conduit (Dark Descent Records) – death metal
Realize – Machine Violence (Relapse) – industrial metal
Reternity – A Test Of Shadows (Black Sunset) – melodic metal
Rumours – Neither Innocent Nor Wavering (Lupercalia) – heavy rock
-S- – Zabijanie Czasu I, EP (I, Voidhanger) – dark occult
Sacred Outcry – Damned For All Time (No Remorse) – power metal
Sangheilis – S/T (Music-Records) – metal
Satan – Early Rituals (Listenable) – metal
Scordatura – Mass Failure (Gore House Productions) – death metal
Scream3days – Rhesus Negative (WormHoleDeath) – metal
Shotgun Rodeo – Double Barreled Vengeance (Independent) – heavy metal
Skam – Green Eyes, Single (Golden Robot Records) – rock
Skeletoon – Nemesis (Scarlet Records) – nerdmetal
SpellBook – Magick & Mischief (Cruz Del Sur Music) – proto-metal
Teddy Panopoulus – Lost In Love (Entheon) – psych folk
The Electric Mud – Burn the Ships (Small Stone) – stoner
The Reticent – The Oubliette (Heaven & Hell) – prog metal
The Waymaker – S/T (Melodic Passion) – melodic metal
Torch – Reignited (Metalville) – metal
Transcendence – Towards Obscurities Beyond (Blood Harvest) – black / death
Twin God – Deaths (Nefarious Industries) – sludge / noise
Undead – Existential Horror (Kadabra Music) – death metal
Under the Oak – Ripped Up By the Roots (WormHoleDeath) – thrash
Varathron – Glorification Under the Latin Moon (Agonia) – black metal
Vous Autres – Sel de Pierre (Season of Mist) – black metal
Vrîmuot – O Tempora, O Mores! (Independent) – neofolk
Yobrepus – Mycelium Days (Apollon) – prog rock
Zeus the Temple – We Can Win (Sliptrick) – prog
Zhakiah – Where the Light Will Thread (Melodic Passion) – melodic death metal
– Josh
Nine Circles 