It just occurred to me that all this time I’ve been carrying the weeks different than most. My old day 1 is now day 7 so how about that…and nobody even cares. Woohoo. Alright then, it’s marathon week for me and I’m beyond stoked for it. Weather should be freakin’ ideal too so, score. Only thing I’m debating is to go with my earbuds or go solo. I’ve got a kick ass playlist queued up to keep me entertained but that would be a GREAT span of time to just be one with me and nature. I don’t know which way I’ll roll but I do know that this week’s batch of new releases kicks all kinds of ass with Schammasch’s brand of excellent avantgarde black metal coming in hot to own the top slot. Next up we’ve got a dreamy death metal duo with Sentient Horror and Reckless Manslaughter, then proggy techy deathsters Gigan close out the opening four in style. All that and many more in the list below so get some. Quick reminder: do all the horror things because the time is nigh. And, I’ll fill you in on how it goes with me next time we meet…

---

Schammasch – The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean (Prosthetic Records) – avantgarde black metal

---

Sentient Horror – In Service of the Dead (Redefining Darkness Records) – death metal

---

Reckless Manslaughter – Sinking Into Filth (Memento Mori / Fucking Kill) – death metal

---

Gigan – Anomolous Abstractigate Infinitessimus (Willowtip Records) – prog tech death

---

Also on tap:

Acid Rooster – Hall of Mirrors (Cardinal Fuzz / Tonzonen / Little Cloud) – rock

Acres – What It’s Like To Feel Worthless, EP (Solid State Records) – post-hardcore

Aiwaz – Darrkh… It is! (Hammerheart) – doom

Andrea Palmieri – Reflections (Sliptrick Records) – rock

Anialator – Death Is Calling (Xtreem Music) – thrash

Antipope – Doors of the Dead (Moribund Records) – prog metal

Ataraxie – Le Déclin (Ardua Music & Weird Truth Productions) – death/doom

Atreyu – The Pronoia Sessions (Spinefarm) – modern metal

Avtotheism – Reflections of Execrable Stillness (Avantgarde Music) – death metal

Better Lovers – Highly Irresponsible (SharpTone Records) – metal

Black Aleph – Apsides (Art As Carthasis / dunk!records) – post-metal doom

Black Curse – Burning in Celestial Poison (Sepulchral Voice) – death metal

Blackevil – Praise for Communion Fire for the Unhallowed Sacrament (Dying Victims Productions) – black / thrash

Black Oak County – III (Mighty Music) – hard rock

Blasphemous – To Lay Siege and Conquer (Adirondack Black Mass) – black / death

BÜTCHER – On Fowl of Tyrant Wing (Osmose Productions) – speed metal

Casandra’s Crossing – Garden of Earthly Delights (Frontiers Music s.r.l.) – rock

Challenger – Force of Nature (Dying Victims Productions) – metal

Deadform – Entrenched In Hell (Tankcrimes) – sludge / crust

Deceiveth – Cords (Self) – experimental metal

Disarray – Religious Disease (Jawbreaker) – thrash

Einst – S/T (Naturmacht) – black metal

Electric High – Colorful White Lies (Apollon Records) – alternative rock

Elephant Tree & Lowrider – The Long Forever (Blues Funeral Recordings) – stoner

Embertears – Red Chapter (Self) – sludge/stoner

Embrace By Dark – Extrasensory (WormHoleDeath) – metal

Enforced – A Leap Into the Dark, EP (Century Media) – thrash

Entheos – An End To Everything, EP (Metal Blade Records) – progressive death metal

Ghosts of Glaciers – Eternal (Translation Loss Records) – instrumetal

Gore. – A Bud That Never Blooms, EP (Spinefarm) – alternative metalcore

Hatchet  – Leave No Soul, EP (M-Theory Audio) – thrash

Hate Angel – Extinction Ritual (WormHoleDeath) – thrash

Hild – Thrash På Svenska (Black Lion Records) – thrash

Him – When Love and Death Embrace – Best of 1997-2003 (BMG) – love metal

Immortal Sÿnn – Burning Soul (Sammi Snake Records) – heavy metal

Infernal Cult – Necessity of Unreal (Self) – black metal

Iotunn – Kinship (Metal Blade Records) – progressive metal

Isaurian – The Pulsing Rush (Self) – doomgaze

Ixion – Evolution (Finisterian Dead End) – atmospheric doom

Kings of Mercia – Battle Scars (Metal Blade Records) – melodic hard rock

Krypta – S/T (Self) – dark metal

Larval – Psilodaemonic Revelation (Bent Window Records) – experimental death metal

League of Distortion – Galvanize (Napalm Records) – modern metal

Leatherhead – S/T (No Remorse Records) – thrash

Living Gate – Suffer As One (Relapse Records) – death metal

LÓSTREGOS – Nai (Dusktone) – black / pagan metal

Low Flying Hawks – Makebelieve (Sympatry Records) – rock / drone

Men of Mayhem – Doomed To Life, EP (Church of Crow Records) – stoner rock

Mercyless – Those Who Reign Below (Osmose Productions) – death metal

Methadone Skies – Spectres At Dawn (Haywire Records) – psych rock

Nuclear – Violent DNA (Black Lodge Records) – metal

One Morning Left – Neon Inferno (Arising Empire) – electro-metalcore

One with the Riverbed – Succumb (Dusktone) – post metal

Peach Melba – Melting Face (The Lasting Dose Records) – psych rock

Perfidious – Savouring His Flesh (Time To Kill Records) – death metal

Pøltergeist – Nachtmusik (Bad Omen) – deathrock

Pounder – Thunderforged (Shadow Kingdom) – heavy metal

Recently Vacated Graves – Musk of Death (Self) – zombie metal

Remina – Erebus (Avantgarde Music) – goth doom

Sedimentum – Derrière les Portes d’une Arcane Transcendante (Me Saco Un Ojo / Dark Descent) – death metal

Seething Akira – Cancel Estate (Self) – metalcore

Silhouette – Les Dires de l’Ame (Antiq) – black metal

Smoke // Doomsday Profit – Split (Olde Magick Records) – psych doom

Snowdrops – Singing Stones, Volume 1 (Gizeh Records) – progressive chamber music

Somos el Viento – Mar Negro (Self) – post-rock/ambient

Spirit In The Room – Passengers, EP (Housecore Records) – rock

Taking the Head of Goliath – Futility of the Flesh (Rottweiler Records) – brutal death

Thaw – Falling Backwards (Agonia Records) – noise

The Holy Flesh – Advocate, Martyr and Redeemer (Caligari Records, Ixiol Productions) – black metal

The Pale Horses – Enchantress (Black Throne Productions) – rock

The Spirit Songs – Against Humanity (AOP Records) – black / death

Triumpher – Spirit Invictus (No Remorse Records) – death metal

Turkey Vulture – On The List, EP (Self) – metal

Vananidr – In Silence Descent (Avantgarde Music) – black metal

Vicarium – S/T (Self) – progressive metalcore

Wizzerd – Saturnalia (Fuzzorama Records) – stoner doom

Zakula – White Forest Reign Lullabies (Self) – extreme

— Josh