This week's edition features one of the oldest groups of metal fucks out there, black metal gone ambient, Goatwhore going Goatwhore and much more. To the metals…
Exordium Mors – The Apotheosis of Death 
Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Origin: Auckland, New Zealand
Label: Iron Blood & Death
Buy now on Bandcamp.com
Want a little grim in your throwback death metal? If so, Exordium Mors is for you. I could see them becoming the next "It" band of their genre. They have the chops and just the right amount of theatrics to be noteworthy without being ridiculous.
Goatwhore – Constricting Rage Of The Merciless 
Genre: Thrash/Death Metal
Origin: New Orleans, Louisiana
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
I think I'll forever regret not catching these guys at SXSW on a boat. Instead of experiencing a a musical force to be reckoned with, I tried to see neo-hippies being twee for hipsters and failed at that too. I'm still a little bitter and pissed about that clearly. Oddly enough I have here the perfect cure for that rage-filled regret (or regret-filled rage?) in the new Goatwhore album. It retains the blackened thrash'n'roll identity they've constructed over the years without feeling stale. Definitely one I'll need to explore further.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQMyOFHhS2k[/youtube]
Judas Priest – Redeemer of Souls
Genre: Heavy Metal
Origin: Birmingham, England
Label: Epic
Buy now on Amazon.com
Anyone turned off by the last decade or so of concept albums and feeling like the post-Ripper years haven't lived up to classic Judas Priest, should listen up. While, yes this album lacks long time guitarist KK Downing, the sound that this band helped build has found its way back to them. One listen of "Dragonnaut" should have you rushing out to dig up your leather to throw on again.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shwOv_J7QGo[/youtube]
Monuments – The Amanuensis 
Genre: Progressive
Origin: London, England
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Amazon.com
TesseracT fans will probably dig this. Actually, I'd say this is the album TesseracT fan hoped for after One, until Tompkins and friends put that bad boy out, this should hold y'all over. Fucking solid Djent.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g4KfV4ZXlY[/youtube]
Mortals – Cursed To See the Future 
Genre: Sludge
Origin: Brooklyn, New York
Label: Relapse
Buy now on Amazon.com
It's difficult to talk about this band. They sound like a lot of stuff I know, yet like nothing I've heard. Sludge, yes. However, there's some death metal, some black metal, some soaring evil, and more. They'd be a great band paired with High on Fire, Neurosis, Goatwhore, Mastodon, etc.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3dkV1-EOgc[/youtube]
Origin – Omnipresent 
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Origin: Topeka, Kansas
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon.com
BRUTAL! TECHNICAL! KANSAS!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBjJK2d-Fv4[/youtube]
Vintersorg – Naturbål 
Genre: Progressive Viking Metal
Origin: Skelleftea, Sweden
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Amazon.com
Borknagar is a great and underrated band, and the sole reason I know of this album. The proggy epicness fronted by the dynamic vocals of their singer Vintersorg, makes them so good. Unsurprisingly, Whether he is screaming in Swedish while solo or as part of one of the many bands he's in, this guy is talented.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34D_Tq46z2o[/youtube]
Wolves in the Throne Room – Celestite 
Genre: Ambient
Origin: Olympia, Washington
Label: Artemisia
Buy now on Amazon.com
I find it really interesting how just as Deafheaven breaks the atmospheric black metal/blackgaze scene open, some of the longest running bands in the genre (Alcest, Wolves, Lantlos) have dropped the grim nature of their bands. Wolves in the Throne Room may have distanced themselves the furthest, as they have even dropped guitars and drums for the most part. This is a really interesting album that I could only compare to Storm Corrosion or the soundtrack to the Disney film Flight of the Navigator.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG67MoJGmvE[/youtube]
Also dropping today…
'68 – In Humor and Sadness (eOne / Good Fight)
Amberian Dawn – Magic Forest (Napalm)
Angist – Circle Of Suffering (Hammerheart)
Athanatos – Unholy Union (Iron Bonehead)
Chelsea Grin – Ashes To Ashes (Artery / Razor & Tie)
Connoisseur – Stoner Justice (Tankcrimes)
Corruption – Devil's Share (Metal Mind)
Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket – In A Dutch Haze (Outer Battery / Roadburn)
English Dogs – The Thing With Two Heads (Candlelight)
Erimha – Reign Through Immortality (Victory)
Gotthard – Bang! (The End)
Hate Division – Order of the Enslaved (Blast Head)
The Hell – Groovehammer (Prosthetic)
Iron Man – Generation Void Re-Release (Shadow Kingdom)
Iron Man – The Passage Re-Release (Shadow Kingdom)
Islander – Violence & Destruction (Victory)
Kruk – Before (Metal Mind)
Lawrence's Creation – Drop Zone (HPGD)
Ministry – Last Tangle In Paris CD/DVD (UDR / 13th Planet)
My Iron Lung – Relief (Pure Noise)
Pinnick Gales Pridgen – PGP2 (Magna Carta)
The Relapse Symphony – Shadows (Standby)
Scars of Tomorrow – Failed Transmissions (Artery)
Sonic Syndicate – Sonic Syndicate (Nuclear Blast)
Steel Prophet – Omniscient (Cruz del Sur)
Ted Nugent – SHUTUP&JAM! (Frontiers)
Terminal Death – Terminal Death (Shadow Kingdom)
Wolvhammer – Clawing Into Black Sun (Profound Lore)
Zone Zero – The Lost Legacy (Shadow Kingdom)
