This edition features several releases with varying amounts of progginess, some aggressiveness to offset your prog, and oodles more. To the metals…
Agent Fresco – Destrier
Genre: Progressive
Origin: Reykjavík, Iceland
Label: Long Branch / SPV
Buy now on Amazon.com
This band sounds like an Icelandic Leprous. This is a compliment. I love Leprous, and Iceland has never failed me with their musical exports. Heavy, but maybe not quite "metal" enough for whiny aggro-dudes. Fucking gorgeous and entrancing though.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgArsBIbiFg[/youtube]
Black Fast – Terms of Surrender
Genre: Progressive thrash
Origin: St. Louis, Missouri
Label: eOne
Buy now on Amazon.com
I was pretty close to writing these guys off as just another modern thrash band, but then I heard some funny rhythmic stutters tossed in there. I'm a bit of a prog nerd, so this had me intrigued enough to check out the full record. Really glad I did. Still fast, angry, and shreddy, but just left-of-center enough to differentiate them from the pack.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBNc7kU_cmw[/youtube]
Cattle Decapitation – The Anthropocene Extinction
Genre: Death metal
Origin: San Diego, California
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
This band remains heavier than thor's dick. Like every Cattle Decap, this one will beat the shit out of you with little to no breaks for air.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8t8g8lU4ms[/youtube]
Enabler – Fail To Feel Safe
Genre: Crust/grindcore
Origin: Ohio
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Amazon.com
I admittedly only really know this band because of their name in the news lately, which sadly has eclipsed the music here that is pretty solid. If the accusations aren't false, I'd have a hard time separating the music from the dude though. Anyway…
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gre1-88K2AY[/youtube]
Fear Factory – Genexus
Genre: Industrial
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon.com
If you've heard Fear Factory at all in the last decade or so, you've heard this album. If you liked them during this time, you'll love this album. Dino and Burton still got what they do best down, it's just a tad FF by numbers.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHpcq5lUvN0[/youtube]
InAeona – Force Rise The Sun
Genre: Post metal
Origin: Boston, Massachusetts
Label: Prosthetic
Buy now on Amazon.com
This album is really difficult to label. It's all over the place. One moment it's intense, emotional post metal bliss, and the next there are some strange Otep-like moments. The vocals of Bridge are really stellar here though. She has a great diverse voice. Full review at some point from yours truly.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLBGIlbAP2c[/youtube]
Krisiun – Forged In Fury
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Ijui, Brazil
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Amazon.com
Now in their twenty-fifth year of kicking your ass, Krisiun are back with their ninth full-length assault. Brace yourself for fifty-one minutes of Brazilian death metal fury. This is my fourth sentence with an ordinal number spelled out in it in this blurb.
Terror – The 25th Hour
Genre: Hardcore
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Victory
Buy now on Amazon.com
The little I've heard sound like bite-sized fight-core songs. Each riff is like a series of audio fists (which is a pretty good hardcore band name if I do say so myself). So crank this, get in the pit, and kick some air! I'm clearly not a hardcore guy…
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvjB93dTNvQ[/youtube]
Also dropping today…
Barbatos – Straight Metal War (Hells Headbangers) – Blackened thrash/punk
The Bastard Sons – Smoke (Kaiju) – "Blues groove"
Buried In Verona – Vultures Above, Lions Below (Rise) – Metalcore
Chemical Burn – Raining Anvils (MegaSonic) – Thrash/groove
Crimson Sun – Towards The Light (Maple Metal) – Melodic metal
Deiphago – Into The Eyes Of Satan (Hells Headbangers) – Black metal
Devin Townsend Project – Dark Matters Re-Release (Inside Out) – Pop Metal
Devin Townsend Project – Sky Blue Re-Release (Inside Out) – Progressive metal
Disfago – Disfago EP (Witch Ghetto) – Blackened death metal
Fallen Angels – World In Decay (Cyberdyne) – Thrash
Forced Order – Vanished Crusade (Revelation) – Hardcore
Gnaw Their Tongues – Abyss Of Longing Throats (Crucial Blast) – Blackened noise/experimental
The Green River Burial – Blight EP (Bastardized) – Metal/hardcore
Hibria – Hibria (Test Your Metal) – Power/speed metal
Majestic Downfall – When Dead (Pulverised) – Death/doom
Miss May I – Deathless (Rise) – Metalcore
Murder F.M. – Happily Never After (Pavement) – Rock
Necropsy – Buried In The Woods (Xtreem) – Death metal
Ogotay – Dead God's Prophet (Selfmadegod) – Death metal
Old Man's Will – Hard Times – Troubled Man (Riding Easy) – Bluesy hard rock
Pissgrave – Suicide Euphoria (Profound Lore) – Death metal
Primitive Race – Primitive Race (Metropolis) – Industrial
Red Sun Rising – Polyester Zeal (Razor & Tie) – Post-grunge
Sirens & Sailors – Rising Moon Setting Sun (Artery) – metalcore
Stats – Mercy (New Atlantis) – Progressive/Avant
Saritap – Sorcerers Of The Seven Gods (Iron Bonehead) – Black metal
Space Mirrors – Stella Polaris (Atomic Age) – Progressive
Stormhammer – Echoes Of A Lost Paradise (Massacre) – Power metal
Stormzone – Seven Sins (Metal Nation) – Heavy metal
Sweat Lodge – Slow Burn (Ripple) – Stoner
Synapses – Devoutness (Cimmerian Shade) – Death metal
Throaat – Black Speed (Invictus) – Speed/black metal