Wolves In the Throne Room – Black Cascade (Southern Lord Records)
Their stance as nature-worshiping, old-fashioned heathens (the kind, civilized ones) now fully exposed and understood, WITTR proves they are of equal substance and style with Black Cascade. Not like they weren't before, but unlike several “name” bands that receive...
Khors – Mysticism (Paragon Records)
Hard to peg this one down, something we've grown accustomed to when tackling the wide assortment of bands on Paragon Records. Khors call the Ukraine home and claim black metal is their forte, but that might be a...
My Dying Bride – For Lies I Sire (Peaceville Records)
The violin is back and almost instantly, you can’t help but surrender to its enormous weight and depth. No band has made better use of the instrument (sorry Kansas), so its return from an...
God Is An Astronaut – God Is An Astronaut (Revive Records)
Okay, so they might not be a metal band in the strictest sense but metal can be a rather malleable substance. If you’ve yet to discover this Irish trio but are a fan of...
Crimfall – As the Path Unfolds… (Napalm Records)
Good lord, another Pagan/epic metal band. They’re coming out of the woodwork and fast, almost too fast. This stuff is going to burn out pretty quickly, something we mused about last year, but hey,...
The Agonist – Lullabies For the Dormant Mind (Century Media Records)
Gotta hand it to the Agonist: they've taken a now very familiar template (cute female singer + metalcore) and turned it into something more expansive, slightly deranged, far more off-the-cuff than one would expect. Their 2007 debut, Only Once...
Ignominious Incarceration – Of Winter Born (Earache Records)
Less than three years old as a band, British death metal-heads Ignominious Incarceration are already unleashing their debut album through Earache. That sets the standard pretty high before the play button’s even been pressed,...
Samael – Above (Nuclear Blast Records)
Did not see this one coming, even with just about every other band from the mid-90’s going through a late-career, old sound discovery. Samael have always done their own thing, whether it be the...
Isole – Silent Ruins (Napalm Records)
Fresh off last year’s melo-doom stroke of brilliance Bliss of Solitude, Swedish doom merchants Isole waste no time in giving us a follow-up in the form of Silent Ruins. Whereas Bliss of Solitude was clearly the most ethereal...
Kylesa – Static Tensions (Prosthetic Records)
Always a critics choice, Kylesa continue to make us all look good with Static Tensions. The band’s amalgam of stoner, sludge, and doom has become even more formidable, with a batch of songs here that...
Throne of Katarsis – Helvete – Det Iskalde Mørket (Candlelight Records)
Don’t know about you, but seasonal depression isn’t made any easier with albums like this. The snow, the ice, the wind, the horror…one can only imagine with our friends in Scandinavia have to endure...
God Forbid – Earthsblood (Century Media Records)
To be frank, Earthsblood rubbed this scribe the wrong way right off the bat. Not by sheer annoyance or anything (we’ll reserve that for any band with “core” in their description), it’s just that GF has...
Deathspell Omega – Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum – Chaining the Katechon (Anja Offensive)
Fuckin’ reckless, man. That’s the new Deathspell Omega EP for ya. Shunning every idea that black metal is fully controlled entity, the Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum - Chaining the Katechon EP is a one-song 22-minute...
Séance – Awakening of the Gods (Pulverised Records)
A reformation that is long overdue, Swedish death/thrashers Séance are best known for former rhythm guitarist Patrick, who is currently cutting his teeth in the Haunted and Witchery. Since we just mentioned Witchery, it’s...
Avantasia – Lost In Space Part 1 & 2 (Nuclear Blast Records)
2008 was a breakout year for Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia project, perhaps forcing the Edguy frontman to put more of an onus on something was considered nothing more than an outlet for Sammet’s extra curricular...