FINALLY it’s time for The Absence to return and claim their melodeath crown! In case you didn’t catch that, I’m stupid excited for this album and the wait has been damn agonizing to say the least. And trust me when I say that the wait has been WORTH IT. Elsewhere we’ve got Child spittin’ hardcorepunkdeathgrind fire, Boundaries putting out the best metalcore of the year so far, Mutilation Barbecue kicking death metal square in the mouth, and a ton of others doing all sorts of stuff. HUGE week here on Initial Descent so be sure to dig in and enjoy all it has to offer. We’ll be seeing you here throughout the week.

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The Absence – S/T (Listenable Insanity Records) – melodeath

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Child – Shitegeist (Suicide) – grindpunkhardcore

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Boundaries – Death Is Little More (3DOT) – metalcore

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Mutilation Barbecue – Amalgamations of Gore (Maggot Stomp) – death metal

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Above Aurora – Myriad Woes (War Anthem Records) – black/doom

Alkhemia – Abraxas (Malpermesita Records) – black metal

Ascia – The Wandering Warrior (Perpetual Eclipse Productions) – stoner doom

Black Absinthe – On Earth Or In Hell (Independent) – metal

Cancervo – III (Electric Valley) – doom

Cantique Lépreux – Le Bannissement (Eisenwald) – black metal

Caustic Phlegm – Putrefying Flesh, 7″ (Hells Headbangers) – death metal

Cave Moth – In Memory Eternal (Independent) – noisecore

Charles East – I Am Your Consequence (Brucia Records) – piano doom

Chasing Titans – Infinite Paradox (Sliptrick Records) – metalcore/thrash

Coffin Storm – Arcana Rising (Peaceville Records) – heavy metal

Coffins – Sinister Oath (Relapse) – death metal

Cryoshock – The Cold New Regime (Ablaze) – death / thrash

Darkestrah – Nomad (Osmose Productions) – black metal

Dead Head – Shadow Soul (Hammerheart Records) – thrash

Devon Thompson – Skin (Exquisite Feline) – survey says…goth pop? 

Divided – Light Will Shine (Dunk!) – post-metal

Endless Loss – Traversing the Mephitic Artery (Nuclear Winter) – black / death

Esben Williams – Glowing Darkness (Majestic Mountain Records) – sludgey post punk

Fatal Fire – Arson (MDD) – power metal

Fessus – Pilgrims Of Morbidity / Thresholds Of Morbidity (Darkness Shall Rise Productions) – death metal

Flageladör – Culto Aos Decibéis (Helldprod) – speed / thrash

Frank Never Dies – Red Moon Rising (Argonauta) – psych

Gatehouse – Warriors of the Realm (Fiadh Productions) – comfy synth

Givre – Le Cloître (Eisenwald) – black metal

Glyph – Honor. Power. Glory. (Black Note Music) – power metal

Grant National – Unprecedented Levels of Violence and Brutality (Skweeepee) – stoner

Hierophant – Gateway to the Abyss (Dusktone Records) – blackened death

Kólga – Black Tides (Otitis Media Records) – blackened surf rock

L’appel Du Vide – Metro (Eleven Records) – post punk

Little Villains – Café De Stam (Spira Records) – hard rock

Llyn Y Cwn – Megaliths (Cold Spring Records) – dark ambient

Majesty Crush – Butterflies Don’t Go Away (Numero Group) – shoegaze

Malphas – Portal (M-Theory Audio) – melodic death metal

Max Boogie Overdrive – Stoned Again (Independent) – stoner, duh

Mean Green – S/T (Self) – stoner doom

Mordran – The Midnight Woods (Fiadh Productions) – atmospheric black metal

Mountain Shadow – S/T (Fiadh Productions) – raw atmospheric black metal

Odeur – Voyage au paradis des champignons (Machine Tribe Recording) – droney

Offernat – Where Nothing Grows (Indisciplinarian) – black/doom

Quinta Essentia – Evolution of Ethereal Wisdom (Self) – death/black metal

Rage – Afterlifelines (Steamhammer / SPV) – metal

Ren Marabou and The Berserkers – Helgafjell (Wormholedeath Records) – pagan metal

Riitasointu – Pedon Leikki (Naturmacht) – folk black metal

Saturday Night Satan – All Things Black (Made of Stone) – occult doom

Septage – Septic Worship (Me Saco Un Ojo / Dark Descent / Extremely Rotten) – deathgrind

Shadow Limb – Reclaim (Seeing Red Records) – proggy post metal

Skraeckoedlan – Vermillion Sky (Fuzzorama Records) – proggy deliciousness

Suffer – Grand Canvas of the Aesthete (Wise Blood) – death metal

The Vulcan Itch – Rise Of The Fallen (The Lab) – stoner rock

Ulterror – Transcendent Origins (Inverse Records) – tech death

Venues – Transience (Arising Empire) – post hardcore

Verwoed – The Mother (Wolves of Hades / Argento) – idk looks black metal-y

Vigil – …And The Void Stared Back (Argonauta) – doom / death

Voltstorm – S/T (LBC) – metal

Vorga – Beyond The Palest Star (Transcending Obscurity) – sci-fi black metal

VRSA – Saltwater Circadian (Independent) – sludge

Waidelotte – Celestial Shine (Debemur Morti) – extreme

While She Sleeps – Self Hell (Spinefarm) – metal

Wristmeetrazor – Degeneration (Prosthetic Records) – metalcore

Wych Elm / Woods Of Sith Cala – Autumn Mourning (Fiadh Productions) – dungeon synth

— Josh