Look, I don’t know all the answers, nor does anyone else for that matter, apparently. However, I do know a good one which is something the old guard of country knew well: let’s just get wasted and kick all the footlights out. Very effective. Anyway, new metal time and we’ve got another long list ahead that’s full of it. First up are the undisputed kings of goth metal, Unto Others, with their second full length that’s everything you loved about Mana, but better. Next up is a technical platter from Rivers of Nihil who continue to show how adept they are at exceptional ideas and making them heavy as lead, then we’ve got Wraith who show that the thrash revival is better than ever, and last up top is LLNN with their healthy serving of sludge, hardcore, and post-metal. Many, many more follow these picks so jump in and grab them all.
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Unto Others – Strength (Roadrunner) – goth metal
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Rivers of Nihil – The Work (Metal Blade) – technical metal [interview]
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Wraith – Undo the Chains (Redefining Darkness) – thrash
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LLNN – Unmaker (Pelagic) – post-metal
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Also on tap:
Abramelin – Never Enough Snuff (Petrichor) – death metal
Akefal – Opus Darkness (Shadow / Regain) – black / death
Azazel – Aegrus Satanas Tecum (Primitive Reaction – black metal
Cognizance – Upheaval (Prosthetic) – death metal
Concrete – Ethereal Atrocities (Independent) – death metal
Dark Redeemer – Into the Deep Black (Blasphemous Records) – death metal
Dawn Fades – Ode (Metal Assault) – post-metal
Dawn of a Dark Age – Le Forche Caudine (Antiq) – jazz metal
Doro – Triumph and Agony Live (Rare Diamonds) – metal
Drott – Orcus (By Norse Music) – progressive blackened folk
Emissary of Suffering – Mournful Sights (Cold Knife Records) – death thrash
Enthrallment – Against the Will to Live – Sky Burial (Independent) – death metal
Eteritus – Rotten Transition (Godz Ov War Productions) – death metal
Fake Muslims – Delusions of Grandeur (Morbid and Miserable) – grind
Farer – Monad (Tartarus) – doom / noise
Farewell To Fear – Brainwashed (Crusader Records) – rock
Grinder Blues – El Dos, EP (Metalville) – rock
Headless – Square One (M-Theory Audio) – prog rock
Hellsword – Cold Is The Grave (Emanzipation Productions) – black metal
Hinsides – Under Betlehems brinnande stjärne (Shadow / Regain) – black metal
Howlin May Queen – Tapes from the White Ballroom (Independent) – rock
I Was Born Twice – Nemiza (Independent) – deathcore
Infidel Reich – N.W.O. – New World Outrage (Raw Skull) – death metal
Insect Ark – Future Fossils, EP (Consouling Sounds) – psych
Iskandr – Vergezicht (Eisenwald) – black metal
Isolated – The Enemy of Reason (Godz Ov War Productions) – death metal
Jeromes Dream – Presents, 20th Anniversary Reissue (Iodine Recordings) – math-rock
Judas Knife – Death is the Thing With Feathers (Translation Loss) – noise
Kehlvin – Holistic Dreams (Division) 0 metalcore
Kesem – Post-Terra (Senteint Recordings) – psych prog
Malignament – Hypocrisis Absolution (Primitive Reaction) – black metal
Mandragora Scream – Nothing But The Best (Independent) – industrial goth
Morbid Messiah – Disgorged in the Coffin (Chaos Records) – death metal
Mostly Autumn – Graveyard Star (Mostly Autumn) – prog rock
Nefariym – Morbid Delusions (Inverse Records) – death metal
Nür – Negative Transfer (Suicide) – post-metal
Orbstruct – Deimos Falling (Envenomed Music / Paragon) – death metal
Paradox – Heresy II – End of a Legend (AFM) – thrash metal
Profane Desecration – Abysmal Stillness (Godz Ov War Productions) – death metal
Profeci – Aporia (Godz Ov War Productions) – black metal
Psycho – Vulture Church (Selfmadegod) -0 grind / punk
Rude – Outer Reaches (FDA) – death metal
Runescarred – The Distant Infinite, Expanded Edition (Independent) – heavy metal
Ryghär – Thurmecia Eternal (Rafchild) – metal
Signs of the Swarm – Absolvere (Unique Leader) – death metal
Skepticism – Companion (Svart) – funeral doom
So Far As I Know – The Omega Point, EP (Independent) – metal
Solacide – Fall From Eternity (Saturnal Records) – black metal
Solarius – Universal Trial, EP (Heavy Psych Sounds) – rock
Spirit Bomb – Tight (Music-Records) – rock
Still – { } (Trepanation Recordings) – noise / hardcore
StumpTail – Goat Rodeo Sacrifice: The Sound of Summer (Moonlight Cypress Archetypes) – black sludge
Succumb – XXI (The Flenser) – black / death / punk
Tentation – Le Berceau Des Dieux (Gates of Hell) – metal
The Answer Lies In the Black Void – Forlorn (Burning World) – avantgarde
The Electric Mud – Black Wool, EP (Independent) – stoner rock
Thy Row – Unchained (Rockshots) – metal
Toxic Rose – In For the Kill (Crusader) – sleaze
Triacanthos – Apotheosis (Purity Through Fire) – black metal
Trumbiten – Out (Independent) – metal
Tumba de Carne – Decatexis // Perpetuo Altar (Lavadome) – death metal
Veilburner – Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull (Transcending Obscurity) – black / death
Virial – Transhumanism (Vicious Instinct Records) – tech death
Voodus / Domgard – Ginnungagap / Ljungeld Over Manniskan (Shadow / Regain) – black metal
Vortex of End – Abhorrent Favor (Osmose Productions) – black / death
Waldgeflüster – Dohoam (AOP) – black metal
Wang Wen – 100,000 Whys (Pelagic) – post-metal
Wanton Attack – S/T (No Remorse) – heavy metal
We Butter the Bread With Butter – Das Album (AFM) – rock
When At Night – Weltanschauung (Independent) – melodic death metal
Withering Soul – Last Contact (Mortal Music) – melodic death metal
Zeromancer – Orchestra Of Knives (Trisol Music Group) – electro rock
– Josh
Nine Circles 