Melechesh — Enki
★★★☆ Sure, Israel+Dutch extreme metal sounds like a gimmicky proposition on paper. But “Enki” is so self-assured and full-throated that you can’t help but dig it. See the rest here
First Listens With Three-Star Ratings
Ufomammut — Ecate
★★★☆ Trascendent sludge that is utterly engrossing (and… dare I say, listenable?) from start to finish. Sure, the band give up some of their potential ferocity in exchange for cohesion and mood, but it feels like a good trade. This is now my favorite Ufomammut album to date. See the rest here
Armageddon — Captivity & Devourment
★★★☆ Easily the best album you’ll hear all year from a band featuring an Amott brother. As such, you’ll definitely hear the Arch Enemy imprint throughout, which is not a bad thing of course. This album may not revolutionize metal, but if you like your melodeath tinged with progressive elements and adorned with virtuosic shredding, this’ll be your jam. See the rest here
Leviathan — Scar Sighted
★★★☆ This is one of those doom mood-piece albums that need to be consumed all in one go; the brilliance comes out once this big slab of experimental sludge has had enough time to work its evil magic on you. At first blush, you might not see that coming, but push past your initial take and listen to the whole thing. See the rest here
Primitive Man — Home Is Where The Hatred Is
★★★☆ Holy fuck is this heavy and dark and oh god the paaaiiiinnnnnnnn. See the rest here
36 Crazyfists — Time and Trauma
★★★☆ This album rules! What a bizarre, unique, and hard to dismiss melange of metal… as much Glassjaw, CoC, King’s X, Entombed, and latter-era Pantera as it is a work of metalcore. But I fuckin’ dig it, because it’s got a freshness to the swagger. And most importantly, there’s an astonishing diversity to the tracks even while the band nail down a very specific sound. See the rest here
Sumac — The Deal
★★★☆ This was a surprise, considering that almost half of this band is Aaron Turner, the second-hardest working man in metal, and judging from his recent efforts, a confirmed audio sociopath. But rather than an assault of antisocial noise, this is a dirty yet progressive slab of musical rage. It’s somewhere between Isis (natch), Old Man Gloom (natch), and The Jesus Lizard (huh?) See the rest here
Call of the Void — Ageless
★★★☆ This album has all the converge-ish tropes that you’d expect from Call Of The Void. But the real reason to listen to “Ageless” is to check out the weirdly progressive diversions the band explore, evoking the noise-rock of Glassjaw and The Jesus Lizard along the way. See the rest here
VOLA — Inmazes
★★★☆ Progressive to the point of making you say, “Um, WAT?” You know you’re in for a wild ride when an album treats djent as a basecamp for more adventurous territory. It’s unique and memorable and compelling and weirdly poppy, in all the ways that remind me of Leprous and Textures and Destrage, even though the actual sound of the music is closer to Meshuggah or TesseracT. See the rest here
Periphery — Juggernaut: Omega
★★★☆ Everything lacking on Juggernaut: Alpha is fully evident here on Omega. It’s far more cohesive, even as it tilts from djent to late-70s prog and back. And, more importantly, it’s fucking heavy. Nice! See the rest here
