Top Picks
Degenerate – Rituals of Rage (Sylosian groove thrash)
Amsterdam's Degenerate heard you like Sylosis, so they put some Sylosis in their Sylosis, so you can Sylosis while they Sylosis. That's about the long and short of it really. Sure, if this were an actual Sylosis album, it would probably be the weakest of the bunch, but so was the last Sylosis album, and it still ruled extremely hard, and so does Rituals of Rage. It's been said that there's more to heavy metal than just the riff, but sometimes a good riff or few is all you need, and Degenerate have all the killer riffs you could ask for right here.
The Devil Wears Nada – Postalgia (hard/melodic rock, spooky AOR)
I don't normally include re-releases or "deluxe editions" here, but I missed Postalgia when it first dropped back in November, and I imagine pretty much everyone else did as well. Back then, it was by a band named Adecence, who have since change dtheir name to the much more eye-catching (if not necessarily better) Devil Wears Nada. It's a smart move, and one which will hopefully boost their audience beyond the nice 69 YouTube followers they had last time I checked.
Postalgia is certainly deserving of a wider audience, with its collection of campy, '80s/horror-themed AOR anthems going a long way toward filling the hole left sorely unfilled by this years severely underwhelming Ghost and Lordi albums. The Devil Wears Nada are a more pop-oriented affair, who perhaps have more in common with the recent H.E.A.T record than either of their more overt influences, with a touch of Creeper and Big Sun added to the mix as well. However, tracks like "Infinity" and the fantastically titled "Someone Slightly Buried" still bring that crunchy Ghost stomp and riffage, and the record is stacked with some of the catchiest choruses you've heard this side of the grave. They might have had a false start, but now it can truly be said: They're here. Or rather: They're back.
Release Roundup
7Seconds – New Wind/Change In My Head (punk)
Aexylium – Myth Of Mankind (power metal)
Age Of Apocalypse – In Oblivion (sludge metal, hardcore)
…And Oceans – The Regeneration Itinerary (progressive black metal)
Animalize – Verminateur (heavy/speed metal)
As the Sun Falls – Pohjoisen sydän (symphonic funeral-doom)
Bent By Sorrow –Sakura (heavy/groove metal)
Brace – Self Titled (nu metal/deathcore)
Brutal Sphincter – Ephinct-Earth Society (shitty slam)
Charmer – Downpour (emo)
Chepang – Jhyappa (mathy grindcore)
Crust – Where Light Fears To Descend (black metal)
Crystal Spiders – Metanoia (heavy metal, stoner doom)
Dalriada – Magvető (folk metal)
Deraps – Viva Rock N’ Roll (hard rock)
Drifter – Grigori (sludgy post-metal)
Dwellers – Corrupt Translation Machine (stoner prog)
Dygora – Southside Tapes (groove death/core)
Entheomorphosis – Pyha Kuilu (noise sludge, doom-drone)
Feversea – Man Under Erasure (progressive/post black-doom)
Fly! – …Or Die! (shitty speed metal/rock)
Fragments Of Unbecoming – Dawnbringer (meloblack)
Goot – The Toll Remains The Same (heavy metal)
Hellcrash – Inferno Crematörio (speed thrash)
Hexerei – Realms… (noisy black/crust-grind)
Holler – Next In Line (hard rock, AOR)
House Of Protection – Outrun You All (nu/alt rock, post-hardcore)
Insult – Reside Infernus (heavy metal, thrash)
Krematorium – Sinister Seduction (speed thrash)
Lycanthro – Remnants of Rapture (power metal)
Madrost – Imagination Theory (death metal/thrash)
Mandy Manala – Mandy Manala (hard rock)
Marble Ghosts – The Greatest Divide (hard/alt rock)
Midnight – Steel, Rust and Disgust (crusty/blackened speed metal, covers)
Moonlight Haze – Beyond (symphonic/power metal)
MS Paint – No Separation (alt rock)
Neverlyn – Velvet Coffin (post-hardcore, emo)
On Hollow Ground – OHG (hard/rapcore)
Onslaught – Origins Of Aggression (new old-thrash, covers)
Orphaned – Power and Sacrifice (noisy/blackened grindcore)
Ossuary – Abhorrent Worship (death doom)
The Ossuary – Requiem For The Sun (heavy/doom metal)
Our Chronicle – If These Walls Could Speak (progressive metalcore)
Phantom Elite – Mantis (dejenty alt-metal)
Poison The Preacher – Vs The World (crossover/death thrash)
Post Death Soundtrack – In All My Nightmares I Am Alone (industrial goth)
Psychic Pigs – Psychic Pigs (garage/punk rock)
Pythia – V Pt 1: Unhallowed (power metal)
Senna – Stranger To Love (modern/alt metal)
SexMag – Sexorcyzm (sexy black metal)
Shock Culture – Monarch (death/metalcore) Review
Sin Of God – Blood Bound (blackened death metal)
Skunk Anansie – The Painful Truth (alt rock)
Spider Rockets – Dirty And Bad (hard rock)
Spiralist – Violent Feathers (industrial/alt-rock) Review
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (indie/electro prog, kraut rock)
Sudden Death – In Sinner Hate (death metal/thrash)
Sylvanshine – The Offering (blackgaze)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra – I’m Done With Self Care, It’s Time For Others Harm (pass)
Toranaga U.K. – A New Order (thrash)
Turtle Skull – Being Here (stoner psyche)
Unbroken Reign – Thrones (djentcore)
Undecayed – In Death’s Image (brutal death metal)
Unmerciful – Devouring Darkness (brutal death metal) Premiere
Waxen – High Plains Bloodlust (black metal/thrash)
Winter's Wail – Exile (symphonic metalcore)
Witchcraft – IDAG (sludge doom/rock)
Witchrot – Soul Cellar (sludge-doom)
Xenos A.D. – Reqviem For The Oppressor (thrash)
Year Of No Light – Les Maitres Fous (arty post-metal)