This edition is all over the place in the best ways with experimental prog, technical metal, Pink Floyd covers, and more!
To the metals…
Architects – Holy Hell 
Genre: Metalcore
Origin: Brighton, England
Label: Epitaph
Starting this week with lots of chugs and melody. These folks like their breakdowns as much as they like their soaring vocals. Now on their eighth album, fans will likely not be surprised nor disappointed by the direction of this album. However, this does mark their first with Josh Middleton from Sylosis on guitar. He was initially filling in for the fallen Tom Searle, but now it's a full time gig. Leon has a full review here.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kC_xaRs9lM][/youtube]
All That Remains – Victim Of The New Disease 
Genre: Metalcore/melodic hard rock
Origin: Springfield, Massachusetts
Label: Fearless
This album will be a landmark in the band's career for a few reasons. For one, this is the best All That Remains album in about a decade. I'm not the biggest fan anymore, but I can fully admit that this is the best thing since The Fall of Ideals. This is also their final album with the undeniably talented Oli Herbert who passed not long ago. This album winds up being a bittersweet victory for the band.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b6l3G0HucY][/youtube]
Burning Witches – Hexenhammer 
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Brugg, Switzerland
Label: Nuclear Blast
Do you like Judas Priest? Of course you fucking do. You'll like Burning Witches then. There is a ton of Priest influence here, but with some modern flair to it.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OCmwMFKDlE][/youtube]
Thomas Giles – Don't Touch The Outside 
Genre: Progressive rock/experimental
Origin: Morganton, North Carolina,
Label: Sumerian
I appreciate the solo output of Thomas Giles from Between the Buried and Me. It sounds wildly different from BtBaM, but it also sounds wildly different on each album. This is a more chill experience than his prog metal collective, but includes a hefty list of heavy guests. Blake Richardson from BtBaM, Einar from Leprous, Carley from Candira, and Kristoffer from Ulver all are featured in some capacity. It winds up being an all star prog record, which is pretty neat.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD9p7_xaZ24][/youtube]
Muse – Simulation Theory 
Genre: Progressive rock
Origin: Teignmouth, United Kingdom
Label: Warner Brothers
Sure, this is a metal website, but I feel like Muse is one of those weird rock band that crosses over, and for good reason. This album is full of fun synths, proggy song structures, experimentation, and conspiracy theories. It's very much a spiritually heavy album.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0UWT0dFSQE][/youtube]
Psycroptic – As The Kingdom Drowns 
Genre: Technical death metal
Origin: West Hobart, Tasmania
Label: Prosthetic
Okay fine, here's an actual heavy album. This one has all the riffs, all the notes, all the drums, and all of them twisting and turning at breakneck speed. I could see this being one being the technical album of the year from a lot of us metal writer types.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKXOPppIwgo][/youtube]
Various Artists – The Wall [Redux]
Genre: Various
Origin: Various
Label: Redux Records
Buy now on Bandcamp.com
I'm ending this edition with something really fucking cool. This is a front to back cover album of Pink Floyd's masterpiece The Wall. I'm personally already sold, however the lineup of artists covering it is bonkers. You've got Pallbearer, The Melvins, Mark Lanegan, Ruby The Hatchet, ASG, Year of the Cobra, and a fuck ton more.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a458vn1J1n0][/youtube]
Also dropping today…
Blaze Bayley – December Wind (Self) – Hard rock
Brand Of Sacrifice – The Interstice (Unique Leader) – Brutal death metal
Cold Night For Alligators – Fervor (Long Branch Records) – Progressive metal/djent
Cortez – No More Conqueror (WOOAAARGH) – Stoner/doom
Crawling for Carrion – Rake and Roads (Giganto Records) – Atmospheric
Cripple Bastards – La Fine Cresce Da Dentro (Relapse) – Grindcore
Dire Peril – The Extraterrestrial Compendium (Divebomb Records) – Power metal/thrash
Evoken – Hypnagogia (Profound Lore) – Funeral doom
Four Stroke Baron – Planet Silver Screen (Prosthetic Records) – Hard rock
Greenleaf – Hear The Rivers (Napalm) – Stoner rock
Holy Grove – Holy Grove II (Ripple Music) – Doom
Kælan Mikla – Nótt eftir nótt (Artoffact Records) – Post-punk
Lacuna Coil – The 119 Show: Live In London DVD (Red) – Hard rock/Gothic
Morning Again – Survival Instinct (Revelation Records) – Metalcore
Nekromant – The Nekromant Lives (Ripple Music) – Doom/hard rock
Owl Company – Iris (Eclipse) – Hard rock
Red Dragon Cartel – Patina (Frontiers) – Hard rock
Sectorial – VYR (Noizr Productions) – Black metal/experimetnal
Shvpes – Greater Than (Spinefarm) – Alternative metal
The Soft Moon – Criminal Remixed (Sacred Bones Records) – Post-rock/darkwave
Stephen Pearcy – View To A Thrill (Frontiers) – Rock/glam
Ten – Illuminati (Frontiers) – Heavy metal
Vouna – Vouna (Artemisia) – Doom
Zealot Cult – Spiritual Sickness (Blood Harvest Records/Helter Skelter Productions) – Death metal
