It’s been a busy week. In the inbox, and in life. Two weeks until FITM. Start the countdown, my friends!

• Sci-fi black metal to start? Fuck yeah. Endspace are delivering their debut full-length on October 2nd through Transcending Obscurity titled First Contact and two tracks are currently streaming through Bandcamp, “Second Transmission” and “Sixth Transmission”.
• Defects are dropping Artificial Icons on October 16th through Mascot Records, and today they shared the new track “Signs”. That one features Trivium’s Matt Heafy, so I’m going to go ahead and say it will be a good use of your time.
• Gore legends Autopsy are releasing a 35th anniversary of Mental Funeral on August 14th through Peaceville. It’s newly remastered, of course, and I gotta say that vinyl pressing is quite tasty indeed.
• And then Ohio-based heavy rock crew Valley of the Sun have a new album on the way titled The Blacklight Sessions. That’s an October 2nd release through Heavy Psych Sounds and “The Whiskey Elf” is streaming over at The Obelisk.
• Long-running German thrash outfit Exumer are releasing a new full-length on August 28th through Metal Blade titled Death Mask Messiah. Preorders are up, and our evening closes with the video for the title track.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb