Sometimes I miss Anthony Bourdain, well, I didn’t know the man personally so I miss the fact that he’ll never be in anything new or write another book or add to his list of non-negotiables. I miss that sense of wonder and his no-bullshit approach and his level of professional saltiness. So, as one does in times like these, I just re-read Kitchen Confidential and the world feels right again. If I were to embark on my own episode of No Reservations the soundtrack would probably be the four albums that kick off this week’s Initial Descent: the roughhewn blackened death of Teitanblood, the soul crushing heft of Amenra, the enveloping sounds of black metal from Cult of Fire, and of course the speedy thrashy trad metal from Hexecutor would make for a good exit scene from a seedy locale. But, as is usual the case, there’s many more in the list that follows these. Check them out and we’ll be seeing you here throughout the week. Oh and for god sake get out of the house or out from behind the screen for at least a little bit and live…see, read, and take THIS to heart.

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Teitanblood – From the Visceral Abyss (NoEvDia) – black / death metal

*no embeds yet, good luck*

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Amenra – De Toorn + With Fang and Claw (Relapse Records) – crushing

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Cult of Fire – The One, Who Is Made of Smoke (Beyond Eyes) – atmospheric black metal

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Hexecutor – …Where Spirit Withers in its Flesh Constraint (Dying Victims Productions) – speed / thrash metal

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Also on tap:

Alien Weaponry – Te Rā (Napalm Records) – groove metal

Allocer – Worship, EP (Self) – death metal

Apparitions – Volcanic Reality (Deathbomb Arc) – drone

Arch Enemy – Blood Dynasty (Century Media Records) – melodic metal

Autumn’s Dawn – We Lost Our Hope Along The Way (Avantgarde Music) – post-black metal

Bright Ophidia – Quiet and Calm (Via Nocturna) – prog metal

Chamber Mage – By Light of Emerald Gods (Nameless Grave Records) – heavy metal

Chiaroscuro – S/T (Unholy Anarchy Records) – melodic death metal

Clactonian – Everlasting Paleolithic (Prehistoric Sounds) – bestial black / death

Crawling Chaos – Wyrd (Time To Kill Records) – melodic death metal

Cruzeiro – Hic Sunt Dracones (Interstellar Smoke Records) – stoner doom

Dead Meadow – Voyager To Voyager (Heavy Psych Sounds) – psych rock

Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner) – blackgaze

Decrepisy – Deific Mourning (Carbonized Records) – death metal

Desert Smoke – S/T (Raging Planet Records) – psych metal

Doomsday – Never Known Peace (Creator-Destructor Records) – metal/hardcore

Fleshspoil – The Beginning of the End (Self) – black / death

Galgeberg – Cerberus (Our Ancient Future) – death metal

Gallower – Vengeance & Wrath (Dying Victims Productions) – metal

Grey Aura – Zwart vierkant: Slotstuk (Avantgarde Music) – avantgarde metal

Hersir – Hateful Draugar From The Underground (Darkness Shall Rise) – black metal

Industrial Puke – Alive To No Avail (Suicide Records) – death crust

Ingurgitating Oblivion – Cadence and Perspective In Desolation, CD Re-Release (Hessian Firm) – deathjazz

Jivebomb – Ethereal (Flatspot Records) – hardcore

Kavrila – Heretics I, EP (Supreme Chaos Records) – metal

Lady Beast – The Inner Alchemist (Dying Victims Productions) – heavy metal

Lauren Babic – Too Much and Never Enough, EP (Self) – metalcore

L’ira Del Baccano & Yama – Tempvs Deorvm, Split (Subsound Records) – psych metal

Lucifer’s Child – The Illuminant (Agonia Records) – black metal

Maraigh – 2023-2024: Year Spent Drowning (Fiadh Productions) – crust / black 

Memphis May Fire – Shapeshifter (Rise Records) – metal

Mercy Ties – Reflections and Criticisms (The Ghost Is Clear Records) – hardcore / metal

Morcolac – Sanguinaria (Dusktone) – vampiric black metal

Nervous – Acquiescence (WormHoleDeath) – avantgarde black / death

NevBorn – Alkaios Part II The Peacock (Luminol Records) – progressive metal

Nortt – Dødssang (Avantgarde Music) – blackended funeral doom

On My Command – Conquer (Self) – heavy metal

Paths To Deliverance – Ten (Malpermesita Records) – black metal

Phil X & The Drills – POW! Right In The Kisser (Frontiers Music s.r.l.) – hard rock

Sammale – Ikiharmaja (Naturmacht Productions) – black metal

Savage Master – Dark & Dangerous (Shadow Kingdom) – heavy metal

Serpent Rider – The Ichor Of Chimaera (No Remorse Records) – heavy metal

Severed Angel – When Eternity Ends (No Life ‘Til Metal Records) – melodic / progressive metal

Smoke Mountain – The Rider (Argonauta Records) – occult doom metal

Sonus Mortis – Synapse The Hivemind (Self) – symphonic death / doom

Svartsyn – Vortex of the Destroyer (NoEvDia) – black metal

Teeth Of The Fae – Beneath Pointed Hat (WormHoleDeath) – gnomes

Telepathy – Transmissions (Pelagic Records) – post-metal

The Slumbering – The Loss of Humanity Complete (Aesthetic Death) – doom

Tyrmfar – Symbiosis, EP (WormHoleDeath) – death metal

Underoath – The Place After This One (MNRK Heavy) – rock

Unfleshing – Violent Reason (Self) – blackened crust

Urn – Demon Steel (Osmose Productions) – black / thrash

Vale – No Tomorrow Worth Knowing (Fiadh Productions) – blackened post-metal

Vintras – Timescarred (Void Wanderer Productions / War Productions) – black metal

Vulvarine – Fast Lane (Napalm Records) – rock / metal

Wesele – Zmierzch (Odium Records) – black metal

Yelena Eckemoff – Scenes From The Dark Ages (L&H Production) – prog rock

— Josh