This edition features melodic death metal of several types, some electronica actually, and more! To the metals…
Attila – Chaos 
Genre: Metalcore
Origin: Atlanta, Georgia
Label: Sharptone
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So, the goal of this piece each week is to touch on new releases and highlight notable ones. This is the new release from Attila. Done. My mom always said that if you didn't have anything nice to say…
Dark Tranquility – Atoma 
Genre: Melodic death metal
Origin: Gothenburg, Sweden
Label: Century Media
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This record is a melodic death metal by numbers album, but holy shit does it work. It's literally everything you'd expect with light verses, big choruses, and little symphonic or electronic background bits. However, it's the best record of this sort in years! If it ain't broke don't fix it, I guess.
Esben and the Witch – Older Terrors 
Genre: Post rock/Gothic
Origin: Brighton, England
Label: Season Of Mist
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2016 has been a great year for metal releases in just about every subgenre. The doomy/post-metal/etc genre is no different. This year has seen new records from Emma Ruth Rundle and True Widow, and Older Terrors would pair very with either of those artists' latest. Frankly, it should transcend them both.
Thomas Giles – Velcro_Kid 
Genre: Experimental
Origin: Morganton, North Carolina
Label: Sumerian
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The last couple records from Thomas Giles (Between the Buried and Me vocalist) have felt like straight forward and rock oriented versions of BtBaM. Velcro_Kid has Thomas taking more of an electronic approach. It's not quite as overtly experimental electronica as his 2004 solo debut as Giles, but it's somewhere between that and Modern Noise. I dig it.
Motley Crue – Motley Crue: The End DVD/CD
Genre: Glam metal
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Eleven Seven
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After about thirty-five years of being glam metal bad boys (as well as heroin addicts, accidental porn stars, and all the other things The Dirt covered that make you feel dirty for finding so intriguing) Motley Crue called it quits, and this is their last show. It's apparently warts and all with Tommy Lee getting stuck on the roof, but I haven't seen it to confirm this. Don't be mad at them for going away, just have them go away or something…?
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Weekly Mansions
Genre: Experimental
Origin: El Paso, Texas
Label: Ipecac
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Oh my god you guys. I almost missed one of these dozen ORL releases. Everyone's real glad I didn't, I'm sure. This is number nine of the series and has Omar, his brother Marcel, and Teri Gender Bender taking an electronica route. This is another fascinating releases from a fascinating artist.
Sample it here
Starkill – Shadow Sleep
Genre: Symphonic melodic death metal
Origin: Chicago, Illinois
Label: Prosthetic
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I saw these guys a few months back with Ne Obliviscaris and really enjoyed their combination of melodic death metal, symphonic elements, as well as some occasional blackened bits and (good) metalcore moments. The new record might the band's finest as they traverses all of that territory and more. Great guitar work throughout. Also, their singer totally looks like Mac as Nightman from It's Always Sunny. Google him and you won't be able to unsee it.
Vader – Empire 
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Olsztyn, Poland
Label: Nuclear Blast
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Oh hey, it's that Vader full-length I mentioned back in August. Like I said then, this is Vader-being-Vader. However, this time it is way more devastating death metal abuse that that EP had from one of the genre's OGs.
Wastewalker – Funeral Winds
Genre: Melodic technical death metal
Origin: Sacramento, California
Label: unsigned
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The day is finally here for Sacramento's newest gem to truly shine. This features chaps from ex-Conducting From The Grave, Alterbeast, Journal, and more. It's a hell of a ride. If you dug what I brought you here, you'll dig the full album quite a bit.
Also dropping today…
Annisokay – Devil May Care (Long Branch) – Metalcore
Arkona – Lunaris (Debemur Mori Productions) – Black metal
Blessing A Curse – Satisfaction For The Vengeful (SmartPunk) – Metalcore
Body Stuff – Body Stuff 2 EP (The Path Less Traveled) – Rock
Civil War – The Last Full Measure (Napalm) – Power metal
FM – Indiscreet 30 (Frontiers) – Rock
Glenn Hughes – Resonate (Frontiers) – Heavy metal
Graham Bonnet Band – The Book (Frontiers) – Hard rock
HammerFall – Built To Last (Napalm) – Power metal
Hierophant – Mass Grave (Season Of Mist) – Sludge/Hardcore
Nightwish – Vehicle Of Spirit DVD (Nuclear Blast) – Power metal
Pretty Maids – Kingmaker (Frontiers) – Melodic metal
Sick Of It All – When The Smoke Clears (Century Media) – Hardcore
Various Artists – Brown Acid: The Third Trip (RidingEasy) – 70's heavy metal
The Watchers – Sabbath Highway EP (Ripple) – Heavy Street Riff Rock
