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Mesarthim - The Density Parameter
By Calen Henry. True to form, Mesarthim dropped their third full length, in the middle of the (Australian) night with no fanfare. Following Isolate, .- -... ... . -. -.-. . (Absence), and five...
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Vilkacis - Beyond the Mortal Gate
By Justin C. At this point, I think it's only fair that we consider Michael Rekevics as his own subgenre of black metal (MRBM). He currently plays or has played in Yellow Eyes, Vanum, Vorde, Fell...
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Foehammer - Second Sight
By Matt Hinch. Technically Foehammer's self-titled release from three years ago (almost to the day) is considered an EP as it only has three tracks. Put them together and it breaches the 30-minute...
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Messa - Feast for Water
By Calen Henry. Messa's debut, Belfry made waves. Their occult blues from hell, rooted in 60's rock as much as 70's proto-metal, sounded like an apocalyptic coven worshiping at the altar of Jefferson...
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Møl - Jord
By Justin C. If you've read anything about Møl's debut album Jord, you've no doubt heard "Deafheaven," "Alcest," and "blackgaze" bandied about. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for that sweet mash up of...
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Ails - The Unraveling
By Justin C. It was about this time last year that I was giddy over two new songs by Ails, a band fronted by ex-Ludicra members Laurie Shanaman and Christy Cather. Hearing these two together again in a...
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Gatekeeper - East of Sun
By Calen Henry. East of Sun is Gatekeeper's debut album, following a string of EPs and splits. The Vancouver band plays epic speed metal adding grit and velocity to the grandiosity of bands like...
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The Armed - Only Love
By Justin C. The Armed is a band that's been floating around in my life for a while now. I think I may have first heard their EP Young & Beautiful as early as 2011, or it might have been their...
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Afsky - Sorg
By Steven Leslie. Good old depressive black metal! A genre with so much potential, sadly squandered by an avalanche of basement dwelling wannabe Xasthurs. Danish band Afsky entered the scene in 2015...
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Chrch - Light Will Consume Us All
By Matt Hinch. It wasn't too long ago I was writing about Chrch. Their split with Fister last year was pretty good. Luckily the wait was short for the next release, Light Will Consume Us All. On this...
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Sergeant Thunderhoof - Terra Solus
By Calen Henry. Sergeant Thunderhoof couldn’t possibly have anticipated they’d be releasing Terra Solus mere weeks after stoner metal godfathers Sleep dropped their first album in over a decade with no...
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Grave Upheaval - Untitled
By Bryan Camphire. Among those who till the soil, it is said that the government and the weather are the two most unpredictable things with which they must contend. Powerful machinations and elemental...
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Morgengrau - Blood Oracle
By Steven Leslie. Unspeakable Axe is quickly becoming one of those labels that elicit a blind buy for me. Through a serendipitous combination of similar musical taste and an impeccable level of quality...
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Grayceon - IV
By Justin C. Grayceon, at full tilt, sounds like the work of at least seven people, but in reality, they're a trio. Drums, guitar, and cello. There are other metal bands out there that use violin or...
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Kekal - Deeper Underground
By Calen Henry. Kekal are a long-running Indonesian avant-garde metal collective that I had never heard of until they contacted me about their upcoming record, Deeper Underground. They play an abrasive...
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Skogen - Skuggorna Kallar
By Hera Vidal. About three weeks ago, I wrote about Vallendusk’s Homeward Path and I mentioned that the band has a comforting, atmospheric black metal appeal and a tendency for cohesiveness and musical...
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Ellende - Todbringer
By Hera Vidal. Ellende returns to form with their second album, Todbringer (“death bringer”), which brings back their florid passages in High German, their emotionality, and, of course, their...
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Akhenaten - Golden Serpent God
By Justin C.There's probably no shortage of bands in a lot of different genres that dabble with "exotic" sounds. Imagine somebody bursting into a practice space and saying, "Hey, I learned about the...
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Cult of Occult - Anti Life
By Justin C. I wrote about Cult of Occult's last album, Five Degrees of Insanity back at the end of 2015, and at that time, I dubbed it "lava-core" because of its slow, smothering heaviness. By Justin...
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Not metal enough for Encyclopedia Metallum
By Calen Henry. The Metal Archives has notoriously strict moderation of what is and isn't metal. So, despite being an essential resource for metalheads, it paints a somewhat incomplete picture of metal...
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