Top pick
Poison The Well – Peace In Place (post-hardcore, metalcore)
From first listen, I could tell Peace in Place was something special. Despite how foundational they are to a lot of the music I love, I've also never been the biggest Poison the Well fan though,* and I'm off to see Girish and the Chronicles tonight, so I'm going to defer to Jordan's review on this one:
"Peace in Place is a remarkable album simply in how confidently it plays to past and present," presenting "a panoramic view of everything they’ve done. There’s throwback stuff on here to appease the “metalcore was perfected on The Opposite of December” crowd. There’s the rambunctious energy colliding with infectious melody honed on Tear from the Red at every turn. Certainly flavors of some of the surreal experimentation introduced on You Come Before You. And of course, where would a modern Poison the Well be without the ear-turning compositions of Versions with the surfy twang, or the refined heavy-airy balance of The Tropic Rot? Well, it’s all. fucking. here. Truly, something for everybody who’s ever connected with their work."
*I don't think they're bad or anything. In fact, I think they're very good. It's just that their albums have never really connected with me (before now?), beyond enjoying them while they're on, and I do think Cave In did it better.
Release Roundup
Antropoceno – No Ritmo da Terra (post-blackened bossa nova)
Assignment – With The End Comes Silence (heavy metal)
Axel Rudi Pell – Ghost Town (heavy metal)
Bong-Ra – Esoterik (noisy/progressive disso-death)
Chalice Of Suffering – The Raven Cries One Last Time (doom)
Clocktowers – Genesis (melodoom)
Crimson Riot – Third Time’s A Charm (pop punk)
Crouch – Breaking the Catatonic State (sludge)
Cultist – Spiritual Atrophy (death metal)
Damnatio ad Bestias – Martyr Incipit (death metal)
Dawn of Ashes – Anatomy of Suffering (electro black/goth-metal)
The Dear Hunter – Sunya (prog rock)
Deathwind – What Never Died (crossover death)
Decipher – Thelema (black metal)
Deimler – Darkness Falls (death doom)
Diatribes – Degenerate (death metal)
Dragsholm – From the Bloodlines of Bram (death metal)
Dranzer – Retribution (shitty thrash)
Egregore – It Echoes In The Wild (deathened black metal)
Electrikeel – Solve et Coagula (shitty deaththrash/grind)
Empire Of Disease – While Everything Collapses (melodeath)
Engorgement – They Rot Beneath Our Floor (brutal death metal)
Ethereal Darkness – Echoes (epic meloblack)
Evermore – Mournbraid (power metal)
Exodus – Goliath (thrash) Review
Fadrait – Numinous (prog metal)
Flatwounds – Chain Of Command (alt/math rock/core)
Following The Signs – Evolve (metalcore)
Footballhead – Weight Of The Truth (alt rock, emo)
Gaerea – Loss (progressive blackish-metal/core)
Galvanist – The Silence Between Stars (progressive sludge-black)
Goatsmoker – E.R.I.S. (post-metal, sludge doom)
Graufar – Via Necropolis (deathened black metal)
Gutvoid – Liminal Shrines (brutalish death metal)
Hanging Garden – Isle Of Bliss (progressive post-black/doom)
Hautajaisyö – Surun Paino (crusty death metal)
Hell Trepanner – The Consecration Of Eternal Impurity (death metal)
Holeum – Ensis (melodeath doom)
Iffernet – Life at Heart (black metal)
Ignescent – Eternal (nu/pop metal)
Igzordium – Obsidian Dawn (meloblack/death)
Inmydreams – Seduced by a Moonlight Kiss (meloblack/doom)
Inner Vitriol – Semper Tacui (prog metal)
Kal-El – Astral Voyager Vol. 2 (stoner metal/doom)
Karmian – Horror Vacui (black death/thrash)
Kataphero – From Dust to Dust (melodeath doom)
Kate’s Acid – Hellbender (heavy metal)
Lord Of Confusion – The Weight Of Life (post/black/prog doom)
Lost In Hollywood – Lost In Hollywood (baddie pop)
Magnitudo – Materialism (blackish/posty sludge)
Mclusky – i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley (alt rock)
Misty Route – Ethos (prog metal)
Mizery – Mizery (hardcore, nu/alt metal)
Mystfall – Embers Of A Dying World (symphonic metal)
Necrogore – Ectoplasmic Rape Phenomena (death metal)
Night Thieves – Metaxis (prog metal)
Nihilanth – Detrius Of Ruin (djentcore)
Omission – Doomed Ancient Rites (death metal)
Orkhys – Errance (symphonic folk-metal)
Papa Necrose – Anthropomorphy Execution (dad death)
Pipe Bomb – Hell Hole (mathcore)
Putred – Blestemul Din Adanc (shitty death metal)
Radian – Subterfuge (stoner doom)
Rötual – For The Dead (death doom)
S8nt Elektric – Off The Edge (alt rock/metal)
Sick Shooters – Super Sonic Rock Saga (indie/garage rock)
The Silver – Looking Glass Hymnal Blue (progressive/posty black metal)
Skull Altar – Diabolical (blackened detah metal)
Stainless – Lady Of Lust & Steel (heavy/hair metal)
Stonetrip – The Fight (AI-girlfriend rock)
Stonus – Space To Dive (stoner rock/metal)
Tangled Thoughts of Leaving – The Floating Realm (progressive post-rock)
Turbowitch – Under Haunted Skies (deathened black metal)
Tusmørke – Balderdom (folk doom)
Tyketto – Closer To The Sun (grandpa rock)
Vain Valkyries – Wonders (alt metal)
Veil Of The Serpent – Born To Burn (heavy metal)
Venus 5 – March Of The Venus 5 (heavy/pop metal)
Via Doloris – Guerre et Paix (post-black metal)