I won’t bore you to death with whatever sentiment I had on my mind because this is a week of new releases that deserves your full attention. Much. Good. Stuff. Leading things off are two legendary bands that combined, not counting a few bumps in the road, have 56 years of experience between them. The first of which, Amorphis, return with their melodically inclined heavy metal on Queen of Time and in my hours upon hours of listening to it since yesterday I firmly believe this is some of their best work. Yea, tall order I know, just give it a spin. Second up is At the Gates on To Drink From the Night Itself which took a little more time to really get into but the second half of this thing is a full on blast of epic proportions and “In Death They Shall Burn” is one of the best songs they’ve done in ages. Two great albums from two great legends BUT there’s more — The King Is Blind dropped an out of nowhere demo on us, The Ides of March, and their brand of grind/death/doom just gets better and more extreme as they age. (Guys, put a purchase option on the bandcamp page, PLEASE). Last up in the top slots is Seattle’s The Dark Red Seed with their debut full length Becomes Awake, dark folk hits me square in the right spot and this album has done that in spades. Killer opening with these four but there’s many more that are just as good waiting below. Enjoy and we’ll see you on the flip-side. Continue reading →