This edition includes the triumphant return of a prog favorite, some epicness of all types, the wonderfully weird, and more! To the metals…
Drowning Pool – Hellelujah
Genre: Alternative metal/Nu metal
Origin: Dallas, Texas
Label: eOne
Buy now on Amazon.com
Long after their "Let The Bodies Hit The Floor" days, Drowning Pool are still chugging along. Hellelujah marks their second album with forth singer Jasen Moreno who might be the best one to fill the shoes of their first singer Dave Williams. Overall, I'd stay it stands up next to their first couple albums. However, it just feels a little out of place in 2016.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-TWAKr8lus[/youtube]
Fleshgod Apocalypse – King 
Genre: Symphonic/Technical Death Metal
Origin: Rome/Perugia, Italy
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon.com
On their forth album, Fleshgod Apocalypse continue their trademark piano-infused crushing death metal. This album is beautiful without needing to focus solely on the symphonic orchestration. A perfect balance of everything that this band is. Sidenote: "The Fool" might be my favorite thing that they've done. I've never heard something so unrelentingly heavy that is also so fun by them.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDzShhI6g3w[/youtube]
Moon Tooth – Chromaparagon
Genre: Progressive
Origin: Long Island, New York
Label: Self-released
Buy now on Amazon.com
Now for a band unlike any other. This band sounds like if RX Bandits collaborated with The Dillinger Escape Plan, so I suppose they might be like those two bands. This is an incredibly diverse offering that will hopefully make Moon Tooth a household name. Every household talks about prog as much as mine, right?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_xn0q3NtZw[/youtube]
Obscura – Akroasis 
Genre: Progressive death metal
Origin: Munich, Germany
Label: Relapse
Buy now on Amazon.com
I'm so glad Obscura are back. There honestly felt like a void existed that no other band was filling as Steffen Kummerer was doing Thulcandra. Aside from Kummerer, there is an entirely new lineup and while this is clearly an Obscura record, there is a fresh vibe here that seems more experimental and Cynic-like at times. The new guys work really well in this setting, and this record slays.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wohGrLg6OCM[/youtube]
Rhapsody Of Fire – Into The Legend
Genre: Symphonic Power Metal
Origin: Trieste, Italy
Label: AFM
Buy now on Amazon.com
Completely contrasting my Obscura blurb, I feel like Rhapsody of Fire just dropped a new album, but turns out that was three years ago. Epic dragon metal just seems to stick to my brain a bit more, I guess. Anyway, this is the band doing what they do best with songs about stars, valleys, winter, and so on. I cannot deny their awesome guitar frettery and powerful symphonics though. That shit gets me every time.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__6VtmQxsg0[/youtube]
Seven Sisters Of Sleep – Ezekiel's Hags 
Genre: Sludge
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Relapse
Buy now on Amazon.com
This band sounds like High On Fire if you slowed them down and somehow made the punches hit harder. The album, like a High On Fire record, covers a lot of ground. This includes some black metal moments, death metal chunks, and more all mixed into the main course of devastating sludge.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5EVBM_Xq9Q[/youtube]
Silver Snakes – Saboteur
Genre: Hard rock/Experimental
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Evil Ink Records
Buy now on Amazon.com
I saw this band a few years ago on tour with The Ocean and really hoped I'd hear more of them. That day has finally come. Their sound seems very straight-forward and rocking on their initial tracks, but the band really gets experimental and heavier on deeper cuts. Id recommend this one to fans of Thrice, Royal Thunder, and Junius.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tkbM9RyS4E[/youtube]
Textures – Phenotype 
Genre: Progressive
Origin: Tilburg, Netherlands
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon.com
Lets end this week on some djent. This is a band successfully taking a page right out the book of Meshuggah. They still veer from this foundation and get incredibly melodic with hooks that will stick with you. I feel like Phenotype will be a sleeper favorite of mine this year. It seemed only pretty cool at first, but I keep getting drawn back to it.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKtvJUyFX5U[/youtube]
Also dropping today…
Aluk Todolo – Voix (The Ajna Offensive)
Arrayan Path – Chronicles Of Light (Pitch Black) – Power metal
Billion Dollar Babies – Chemical God (Metalville) – Hard rock
Bosque – Beyond (Dunkelheit) – Funeral doom
Brainstorm – Scary Creatures (AFM) – Power metal
Deformatory – Malediction (CDN) – Technical death metal
Degradead – Degradead (Metalville) – Melodic death metal
Ecferus – Pangaea (I, Voidhanger) – Black metal
Emil Bulls – XX (AFM) – Rock/metal/alternative
Eucharist – Endarkenment EP (Iron Bonehead) – Black metal
Frostbite – Etching Obscurity (Timina) – Black metal
Fuath – I (Neuropa) – Black metal
Ghostlimb – Difficult Loves (Vitriol) – Hardcore/sludge
God's Hate – Mass Murder (Closed Casket) – Hardcore
Graf Orlock – Crime Traveler (Vitriol) – Sludge/hardcore
High Hopes – Sights & Sounds (Victory) – Melodic hardcore
Khthoniik Cerviiks – SeroLogikal Scars (Iron Bonehead) – Death/black metal
Mons Veneris – Sibilando com o Mestre Negro (Altare/Frost and Fire) – Black metal
Ocerco – A Desolação EP (Signal Rex) – Post-black metal
Ostots – Hil Argi (Altare/Darker Than Black) – Black metal
Percussor – Disturbing Reality (HPGD) – Death metal
Power From Hell – Devil's Whorehouse (Hells Headbangers) – Blackened thrash
Primitiv – Immortal And Vile (Transcending Obscurity) – Death metal
Product Of Hate – Buried In Violence (Napalm) – Groove metal
Reencarnacion – 888 Metal (Nuclear War Now!) – Black metal
Sealclubber – Stoical (Medusa Crush) – Prog sludge
Shakra – High Noon (AFM) – Heavy metal
Striker – Stand In The Fire (Record Breaking) – Power Metal
Tiny Knives – Black Haze (Eolian Empire) – Punk
Voidcraeft – Ἕβελ (I, Voidhanger) – Black metal
The Wakedead Gathering – Fuscus: Strings Of The Black Lyre (I, voidhanger) – Death metal
Wishing Well – Chasing Rainbows (Inverse) – Hard rock
World Be Free – The Anti-Circle (Revelation) – Hardcore
