Top Picks
East Of The Wall – A Neutral Second (progressive metal)
Outside of their outstanding 2010 album Ressentiment, I've never been that into East of the Wall. So, either A Neutral Second is a massive return to form, or I have a lot of rediscovery ahead of me, because this one might be even better. The album's sound is a far cry from the chaotic, Between the Buried and Me-style prog metal(core) of Ressentiment, serving as more or less a logical continuation of the mellower, alt-prog direction they've taken since. Bands like Porcupine Tree and Beardfish provide immediate points of reference, with a bit of Baroness and even U2 also coming through in the vocals. Yet, while A Neutral Second is primarilly centred around the vocals and the sullen atmosphere they evoke, the band also aren't afraid to bring the riffage when they need to. The main riff of awesomely named opener "Detonator Gauntlet" is perhaps the best of 2023 so far, and the rest of the album isn't far behind.
Omicida – Sacrifice the Bastard Son (thrash)
...Speaking of riffs, Omicida's 2019 debut Defruded Reign is among my favourite thrash albums of the last five or so years. While I'm happy to admit that I'd all but forgot about the band until I stumbled across their name when putting this list together, I'm also mor ethan happy to report that that record more than holds up upon revisiting. Its long-awaited (if not exactly "anticipated") follow-up, Sacrifice the Bastard Son, was due for release today, but apparently there were "technical dificulties" with getting it on streaming services and releasing the video for the accompanying single, so that all that's available is the below preview. It's unclear whether the physical album itself was actually "released" today or if that's been delayed as well, but I'm still treating it as coming out today. Although I, like you, haven't had the chance to listen to the album yet, the preview sounds pretty promising and if it ends up being a bust, then this can at least serve as a reminder to check out Defrauded Reign in the interim.
Release Roundup
Aathma – Dust From a Dark Sun (sludgy doom)
All Consumed – Hallowed Violence (death metal)
Anima Tempo – Chaos Paradox (tech prog)
Antigod – Messtery (death metal)
Antirope – Amnesia (sad butt rock)
Arendel – Sin Aliento (power metal)
Avdagata – The Faceless One (blackened death metal)
Before The Dawn – Stormbringers (power metal)
Belfed Weapon – Darkened Demise (progressive death thrash)
Beneath Purgatory – The Martyr Approach (blackened prog metal)
Benthic Realm – Vessel (doom)
The Cartographer – The Cold Black (deathcore)
Carbon Based Lifeforms – Seeker (IDM, ambient electronic)
Coffin Mulch – Spectral Intercession (death metal, crossover)
Darren Michael Boyd – G-String Murders (ooer!)
Death Ray Vision – No Mercy From Electric Eyes (thrash)
Deathbed – Obsolete Natural Composition (the bed that eats people!)
Demonized – Abyss Vanguard (lackened death metal)
Divide and Dissolve – Systemic (saxodrone)
Dusk Cult – Night Sky Revelations (black metal)
Eiter – Gewalt (black metal)
Elwood Stray – Gone With The Flow (melodic metalcore)
Following The Signs – Conflictions (groove sludge)
Grafvitnir – Into The Outer Wilderness (black metal)
Gravefields – Tetragrammation (blackened death metal)
Grotesqueries – Vile Crematory (death metal)
Hostilia – Atomic Thunder (thrash)
In The Kingdom Of Nightmares – Decay/Rebirth (melodeath)
Iron Rule – Soul Remover (brutal deathcore)
Ixias – Compulsive Trance (grindcore)
Loma Prieta – Last (screamo)
Lucifixion – Trisect Joys of Pierced Hearts (black metal, black thrash)
Mictlantecuhtli – As Eagles Descend (blackened melodeath)
Mortal Blood – Fate’s Overture (blackened doom)
Mutual Hostility – Inhuman Anguish (death metal)
Night Legion – Fight or Fall (power metal)
None – Inevitable (post dsbm)
Oceanica – Panta Rhei (symphonic prog rock?)
Ofnus – Time Held Me Grey And Dying (black metal, doom)
OK WAIT – Signal (post-rock, post-metal)
Orelisk – The Underworld Obscura (black metal)
Paroxysmal – Force Feeder (weird death metal)
Power Of Fear – A Breed Apart (hardcore, beatdown)
Profane Elegy – When All Is Nothing (progressive blackened death metal)
Raven – All Hell’s Breaking Loose (thrash)
Revenge Beast – Revenge Beast (death metal)
Rise Above – For Better For Worse (hardcore)
The Scars In Pneuma – Woebegone, Raised By Wolves (black metal)
Schattenmann – Dia de Muertos (modern metal, power metal)
Serpent Of Old – Ensemble Under The Dark Sun (blackened disso death0
Slow Wake – Falling Fathoms (psychedelic doom)
Spine – Raices (grindcore)
Static Abyss – Aborted From Reality (death doom)
3rd Secret – 2nd (alt rock, grunge)
Throw The Fight – Strangeworld (worst band name ever?)
Tony Mitchell – Radio Heartbeat (production value)
The Triceratops Experiment – Dasein (deathcore)
Valkyrie Zero – Attack of Valkyrie (thrash)
Vengeful Spectre – 殞煞 二 Vengeful Spectre II (blackened death doom)