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Blut Aus NordDisharmonium – Nahab

✦✦✦✧ This is BAN at their most discordant, most troubling, and ultimately most successful. Sure, their brand of avant-garde music is by now reliably atmospheric, but on this album they seem to really gotten much closer to the crawling chaos than ever before. Catchy, this is not, but I don’t think you want this nightmare fuel rattling in your head any more than the runtime requires.

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Code OrangeThe Above

✦✦✧✧ I will give this much to Code Orange: they’re certainly not resting on their laurels. Unfortunately, their experimentation here feels like it never fully pays off (with results ranging from “almost” to “oh no thank you”). Also, with this album the band have gone so far post hardcore that they somehow created a wormhole and punched right back through to nu metal.

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DødheimsgardBlack Medium Current

✦✦✦✧ Surprisingly accessible, as far as avant-garde black metal goes. The album’s experimentation comes at you as curveballs without warning; while not every bet pays off, there are definite rewards here if you’re patient enough to receive them. Vicotnik’s vocals are a conspicuous letdown when compared to the lush production, instrumentation, and expansive songwriting.

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GridlinkCoronet Juniper

✦✦✦✧ This is fucking ridiculously blistering post-grindcore that feels more like speed metal than anything else. Note that this is technically a double album, with the second half dedicated to “karaoke” versions of the 11 songs. Also note that, even doubled up, the album is less than 40 minutes long. Also also note that, even listening solely to the trve 19-minute core album will leave you exhausted.

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AutopsyAshes, Organs, Blood And Crypts

✦✦✧✧ OSDM pioneers are back with another slab of gory filth. This time, they’re sounding more experimental and expansive than on their previous albums, and that’s for the good. You’ll hear plenty of nods to virtually all over kinds of metal… so long as those influences are from 1987. There’s lots of tasty shredding all over the place, too.