This edition includes lots of crazy haired frontmen, slow heaviness, spells to be cast, and more! To the metals…
Big Business – Command Your Weather 
Genre: Sludge/Heavy metal
Origin: Seattle, Washington
Label: Joyful Noise/Gold Metal Records
Buy now on Amazon.com
The fuzziest (in more ways than one) duo in the Pacific Northwest is back with more guitarless fun. It would be easy for a band with this lineup to rely on slow heaviness, so it's nice to hear these guys bringing a lot of fun and energy to the table on this record. Stream the whole thing here.
Deadlock – Hybris 
Genre: Melodic death metal
Origin: Schwarzenfeld, Germany
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Amazon.com
Perhaps Germany's best beauty/beast vocal-ed band is back with the heavy melodies. Not breaking any molds for the genre nor themselves here, but sometimes this sort of melodic death metal hits the spot. The stellar fretwork and vocal performances make this one a hard one to be mad at.
Defiled – Towards Inevitable Ruin
Genre: Brutal death metal
Origin: Tokyo, Japan
Label: Season Of Mist
Buy now on Amazon.com
Japan has a really solid metal scene and I sadly am not exposed to it enough, so Defiled is pretty refreshing despite not being in my wheelhouse. While the "brutal" label does apply, the production doesn't really give this record the brutal weight it needs. Instead, I'm tempted to call it technical or progressive. Regardless, fans of early death metal will probably eat this up.
Gone Is Gone – Gone Is Gone 
Genre: Hard rock/Progressive
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Black Dune/Rise
Buy now on Amazon.com
Always fun when a supergroup of interesting people pops up. This one is Part-Mastodon. Part-Queens of the Stone Age, Part-At The Drive-In, and Part-Mike Zarin (who is a talented multi-instrumentalist). The result sort of sounds like a QotSA offshoot with Troy Sanders on vocals. It is a solid preview and gets me interesting in the full-record. It may not appeal to those looking for Mastodon's heaviness or At The Drive-In's At The Drive-In-Ness
Inter Arma – Paradise Gallows 
Genre: Blackened sludge/Post-metal
Origin: Richmond, Virginia
Label: Relapse
Buy now on Amazon.com
I don't think this band can fuck up. Before this record, they dropped an EP, The Cavern, which was one long song and that was a ballsy move that worked really well for them. Paradise Gallows has the band back to their traditional form of 5:00-11:00 minute tracks of fantastic evil post-metal. I won't be surprised to see this one popping up in best-of lists come December.
Spellcaster – Night Hides The World
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Portland, Oregon
Label: Prosthetic
Buy now on Amazon.com
Ending this week with a bit more of the Pacific Northwest. Spellcaster are a tremendous and unique band that combines classic heavy metal, soaring 80's metal cheese, and shredding guitars into one cohesive sound. It's heavy, it's catchy, and this is their third record, so you have two more releases of this greatness to catch up on if you're just discovering them.
Also dropping today…
Abhomine – Larvae Offal Swarm (Hell's Headbangers) – Death/Black metal
And Harmony Dies – Totenamt (Sliptrick) Avant-garde Black Metal
The Apprehended – At Arms Length (Imminence) – Post-hardcore
Barbarian – Cult Of The Empty Grave (Hell's Headbangers) – Speed metal
Biffy Clyro – Ellipsis (Warner Bros./14th Floor Recordings) – Prog rock/Alternative
Dominance – XX: The Rising Vengeance (Sliptrick) – Death metal
Illdisposed – Grey Sky Over Black Town (Massacre) – Melodic death metal
Mephistopheles – In Reverence Of Forever (Willowtip) – Technical death metal
Methra – Acolyte (Battleground) – Sludge
Neid – Atomoxetine (Sliptrick) – Grindcore
Nonpoint – The Poison Red (Spinefarm) – Hard rock/nu metal
Semblant – Lunar Manifesto (eOne) – Gothic
Shiny Black Anthem – Unbreakable (Sliptrick) – Rock/Alternative
Trick Or Treat – Rabbits' Hill Pt. 2 (Frontiers) – Power metal
Vanna – All Hell (Pure Noise) – Hardcore
Wolverine – Machina Viva (Sensory) – Progressive
