Fearless Editor™ Josh is on a much deserved vacation…of COURSE the first thing we did is forget to post the most popular thing we do here. That’s on me, folks. So we’ll cut the malarky and just get to it.

So floating our boats this week? I’m down for anything Heavy Psych Sounds puts out, and when it’s both a power trio and from Australia? Child has my full attention with their heavy blues tilt…staying in that vein but getting, shall we say hazier is the aptly named Bong Wizard. The name should say it all, but if you’re already too high to get it, this is sludge-heavy doom. Also, lemme know what that is…I swear Colin has been leaving more sigils in preparation for Forsmán, the second release from the newly minted Vesperien, who also released the latest from Stormkeep (ahem)…even Ian’s been lured into the (corpse) paint, checking out the icy vibes of Nagaroth, returning to the frozen black metal front for the first time in almost a decade, with an album that’s been sitting in the vaults for even longer.

I promise less parenthetical editorial next time…but I bet it’ll make you even happier when Josh returns, huh?

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Child – Rebirth (Heavy Psych Sounds) – heavy blues rock

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Bong Wizard – Rituals of Shame (Self) – sludge doom

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Forsmán – Brenndar Rústir & Fuðrandi Fjörur (Metal Blade / Vesperian GmbH) – black metal

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Nagaorth – Apocalyptic Steel (Season of Mist: Underground Activities ) – black metal

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Also on tap:

A World Worth Burning – The Sky Was Colored as Hammered Lead (Argonauta) – post-metal

Akantophis – Erneuerung (WormHoleDeath) – metal

Alkuharmonian Kantaja – Melas Khole (I, Voidhanger) – black metal

Amberian Dawn – Temptation’s Gates (Napalm) – symphonic metal

Angest – Perpetual Anguish (Vendetta) – black metal

Astral Alchemy – Weaving Chilling Magical Dreamworlds (Naturmacht) – black metal

Astriferous – Atavistic Unraveling (Me Saco Un Ojo) – death metal

Autumnblaze – Glut (Argonauta) – rock

Azels Mountain – Echa Krwi (Pagan Records) – black metal

Boneripper – Radiant in Ruin (Self) – metalcore

Bong Wizard – Transilvanian Munchies (Self) – sludge doom

Butthole Surfers – After The Astronaut (Sunset Blvd.) – fringe

Cannabis Man – S/T (Self) – stoner, of course

Child – Rebirth (Heavy Psych Sounds) – heavy blues

Citrinitas – Telestic Exstasis (Caligari) – death metal

Dead Sleep – Repulsion, EP (Self) – thrash metal

Deathspiral of Inherited Suffering / Elysian Blaze / Panegyrist / Maerund – Sunthema (I, Voidhanger / Rubeus Obex) – black metal

Duir – Catarsi (AOP) – folk / black

Entropist – The Vision (Self) – progressive metal

Far From Refuge – Pillars of Language (Self) – modern metal

Feralia – Ultima Requies (ATMF) – black metal

Forsmán – Brenndar Rústir & Fuorandi Fjörur (Metal Blade / Vesperian GmbH) – black metal

Godes Yrre – Feelings Can Burn You (Bitume) – stoner doom

gracie – Miss Misfortunately (Tooth & Nail) – rock

Haggus – The Mincecore Manifesto, 12″ EP (Tankcrimes) – punk

Hoc Est Bellum – Fifth Majesty (Time To Kill) – black / death

Ill Tidings – Seeds of True Rebirth (Vendetta) – black metal

Iron Bones – Poison Riot (Morbid And Miserable Records / Witches Brew) – speed metal

Junius – Sotera (Prosthetic) – post-metal

Kalamata – Zenosyne (Copper Feast Records / Made of Stone Recordings) – stoner psych

Long Earth – Towards The Sky (Bakeneko) – prog rock

Mace ‘N’ Chain – Crowned In Grey Skies (No Remorse) – heavy metal

Masterplan – Metalmorphosis (Frontiers Music s.r.l.) – power metal

Monument of Misanthropy – Washington State Charm (Listenable Records) – extreme metal

Morgal – The Seventh Circle (Werewolf) – metal

Nargaroth – Apocalyptic Steel (Season of Mist: Underground Activities) – black metal

Nunslaughter – Satanic Chaos Legions (BLKIIBLK) – black/death metal

Okay You Win – End of Days (Blues Funeral Recordings) – rock

Onségen Ensemble – A Tale (Karisma) – rock

Orga Mecha – Humanity.exe (Self) – sci-fi heavy metal

Outshine – Truthsayer (Eclipse Records) – alt-metal

Prime Creation – Souls of The Fallen (ROAR) – metal

Rock Justice – You’ve Been Served (Fireflash Records/Edel) – hard rock

Ruyned – Profanum Sacrificium (Osmose Productions) – speed metal

Savatage – Madness Reigns From The Gutter – 1990, Live (earMUSIC) – metal

Seven Chains – Swollen, In Flux (I, Voidhanger / Rubeus Obex) – black / death

Siamese – dissolution (Long Branch) – rock

Speedslut – Cimbrian Rites (Listenable) – speed metal

Spirit Temple – The Fifth Scroll (Self) – death / doom

Stonecast – Expand Crimson Chaos (Pitch Black Records) – heavy metal

Swanwriter – melodies of despair (Self) – dark progressive metal

Temple of Ahriman – Heretics of Consensual Reality (Self) – black metal

Tenebris / Hyver – Tänzelcore / techno, Split (Antiq) – black metal

Thætas – The Irredeemable Age (Profound Lore) – death metal

The Medea Project – Komēn: Facets (BDB Productions) – ambient / doom

There Were Wires – Vessel (Iodine Recordings) – modern metal

Thrakian – The Way (Aonair Records) – sludge

Truck Violence – The weathervane is my body (The Flenser) – experimental rock

Vafurlogi – Gneisti af eldi Guðs (NoEvDia / Oration) – melodic black metal

Vampyriia – Luxuria Sanguis Plenilunium (Void Wanderer) – black metal

Verdun – Abyssal Womb (Transcending Obscurity Records) – blackened sludge

Vorax – Volcano Shock (Self) – death metal

Vortex Sutra – Noumenon (Hallucigenia Records) – prog rock/metal

Walg – VI (Self) – black metal

— Chris