Welp, half marathon in the bag and I beat my goal so I’m stoked. Full marathon next, how far next tbd haha. Anyway, new release time here on Initial Descent and we’ve got a few goodies for you this week kicking off with a RIPPER from Volcandra, then a legendary punk band T.S.O.L. return (right? Who knew?), then we’ve got some heavy metal from Hands of Goro which based on membership here I expected something a bit less like an opening act at a basement show and more like a headliner in an arena but oh well, and we’ve got some symphonic black metal from Mephisto that definitely scratches that sweeping epic sounding itch. And of course we’ve got many more in the list below so dig in and we’ll see you here throughout the week.

—

Volcandra – The Way of Ancients (Prosthetic) – metal

—

T.S.O.L. – A-Side Graffiti (Kitten Robot) – punk

—

Hands of Goro – S/T (BSP) – heavy metal

—

Mephisto – Carpathian Tales (Brutal Records) – symphonic black metal

—

Also on tap:

A Somber Funeral – Summertime Sorrow (Silent Watcher Records) – black metal

Alienist – Love/Hate (UNFD) – IDC

Angmodnes – Rot of the Soul (Meuse / Tragedy) – funeral doom

Arms and Sleepers – What Tomorrow Brings (Pelagic) – avant

Azell – Death Control (Rottweiler Records) – death doom

Beenkerver – De Rode Weduwe (Vendetta) – black metal

Beyrevra – Echoes: Vanished Lore of Fire (Trollzorn) – melodic black / death

Blazar – Fatal Cosmic Wound (Carbonized) – sludge / funeral doom

Blind Channel – Exit Emotions (Century Media) – nu metal

Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project (BMG) – metal

Clarion Void – Failure In Reception (Lost Future) – doom / sludge

Cloud People – Simulacra (Appollon) – metal

Clouds Taste Satanic – 79 A.E. (Majestic Mountain Records) – instrumental doom

Crying Steel – Live And Thunder (Underground Symphony Records) –  heavy metal

Cryptic Confinement – Tempestuous Demise (Sliptrick) – instrumental

Defocus – There Is A Place For Me On Earth (Arising Empire) – metalcore

Devorzhum – Exigens Monumentum (Via Nocturna) – black metal

Etoile Filante – Mare Tranquillitatis (Independent) – black metal

Fall Of Leviathan – In Waves (Vitruve Records) – post metal

Fathomless Ritual – Hymns for the Lesser Gods (Transcending Obscurity) – death metal

Firewind – Stand United (AFM) – metal

Insane Habits – How To Grow Up and Fail Miserably (Independent) – punk

Je Est Un Autre – Flatworm Mysticism (Cestrum Nocturnum) – psych doom

Lilla Veneda – Primordial Movements (Independent) – industrial death metal

Lunar Spells – Sacraments of Necromantical Empires (Northern Silence) – black metal

Messiah – Christus Hypercubus (High Roller) – metal

Metro Society – The London Conspiracy Chapter I 1898 (Metro Society) – power metal

Ministry – Hopiumforthemasses (Nuclear Blast) – industrial

Negative Prayer – Self // Wound (Chaos Records) – death metal 

Northern Genocide – The Point of No Return (Inverse) – melodic death metal

Oxygen – A New Dawn (Independent) – metalcore

Profane Burial – My Plateau (Crime) – black metal

Project Ultimate Satan – The Infallible Void (Eschatonic) – symphonic black / death

Sanity – The Beast (Independent) – symphonic metal

Suldusk – Anthesis (Napalm Records) – blackgaze

Surgical Strike – 24/7 Hate (Metalville) – thrash

Svart Lotus – Som et Vondt År (Hellstain Productions) – black metal

Tigers On Opium – Psychodrama (Heavy Psych Sounds) – heavy rock

Traum – S/T (Subsound Records) – space rock

Unsufferable – S/T (Iodine Recordings) – hardcore

Waste A Saint – Ravenous (All Good Clean) – stoner

Worst Doubt – S/T (DAZE) – hardcore

Zakk Sabbath – Doomed Forever Forever Doomed (Magnetic Eye) – sabbath worship, duh

— Josh