With this week in the books, I can start prepping my end of the year list. There will be a few other ear catching releases still, but this is the week I've been waiting for. This edition includes legends, bands that like to include the word FUCKING in the middle of their name, one of my favorite young prog metal bands, and a lot more! To the metal…
Carcass – Surgical Remission / Surplus Steel EP 
Genre:Death metal
Origin: Liverpool, England
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon.com
Following their triumphant return, Carcass are here with five more songs in the realm of Surgical Steel. With nearly twenty years between their previous two full-lengths, any new Carcass this soon after the last record is welcomed.
Downfall of Gaia – Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay 
Genre: Sludge/Post metal
Origin: Germany
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
The band's last album was a triumph of post metal atmosphere and heaviness. This is just as heavy, just as lush, yet they sound like their angrier than before and infused with more darkness than ever. A lovely record unlike much out there.
Job For a Cowboy – Sun Eater 
Genre: Deathcore
Origin: Glendale, Arizona
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
This is not the Job For A Cowboy I remember. This band is more adventurous. This band seems harder to label. I like this band. While they've gone out of the "deathcore" label before, this is far beyond, and I'm loving it.
King Diamond – Dreams of Horror
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Copenhagen, Denmark
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
Just in time for Christmas, it's a two-disc collection of some of the King's greatest solo material. A fantastic place to start if you're a casual fan or are trying to show someone else the light…or the dark?
Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds 
Genre: Thrash/Groove metal
Origin: Oakland
Label: Nuclear Blast
Buy now on Amazon.com
This is a really interesting release. This is the first time (for better or for worse) that Machine Head has made an album that sounds like every era of their existence. Some songs sound like they could fill the extra space left on the Unto The Locust disc while others could easily fit on Burn My Eyes. However, I did say EVERY era. There is some stuff that will probably be devisive of their fanbase that sounds like Supercharger stuff. Having said that, the good is great, but there are some clunkers.
Ne Obliviscaris – Citadel 
Genre: Progressive metal
Origin: Melbourne, Austrailia
Label: Season of Mist
Buy now on Amazon.com
This is one of my favorite bands of the last few years. Their approach to progressive black metal is unparalleled. They emphassize the beauty over the grim, but there's plenty of evil on this new record. If you boil it down, there are only three songs on this album, but these are three amazing voyages in musical form.
Old Man Gloom – The Ape of God 
Genre: Sludge
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Profound Lore
Buy now on Amazon.com and Amazon.com
Old Man Gloom are a pretty solid band. They are also pretty innovative. They decided to put out two albums with the same name to fake out the media. I don't know (or care really) which version I've heard because it's mighty good.
Skyharbor – Guiding Lights 
Genre: Progressive
Origin: Delhi/Mumbai/DC/Notts
Label: Basick
Buy now on Amazon.com
Daniel Tompkins' other band has a pretty similar sound to TesseracT but focuses on the melody and beauty more than their four-dimensional brothers. Their second album is a gorgeous collection of songs that showcases the undeniable ability of Tompkins and the atypical approach of the other djentlemen in the band.
Soen – Tellurian 
Genre: Progressive
Origin: Sweden
Label: Spinefarm
Buy now on Amazon.com
This is the progressive outfit with Martin Lopez (ex-Opeth) on the drums. There are certainly moments that remind me of Opeth, but this album sounds like more of a band with a solidified identiy than their previous album Cognitive. There is actually more of an A Perfect Circle sound with a harder edge, if you ask me.
Also dropping today…
Anatomy of Habit – Ciphers + Axioms (Relapse) – Avant doom
Arkadia – Unrelenting (Inverse) – Melodic heavy metal
Arroganz – Tod & Teufel (FDA Rekotz) – black/death metal
Broughton's Rules – Anechoic Horizon (Relapse) – Rock
Cadaveric Spasm/Clit Eastwood – Split (HPGD) – Grindcore
Foreseen HKI – Helsinki Savagery (20 Buck Spin) – crossover
Ghost Brigade – IV: One With the Storm (Season of Mist) – Doom
Haken – Restoration EP (Inside Out) – Progressive
Hollow Earth – Silent Graves (Panic) – progressive doom
The House of Capricorn – Morning Star Rise (Svart) – stoner
Just Before Dawn – The Aftermath (Chaos) – death metal
Kontrust – Explositive (Napalm) – Alt metal
Krokodil – Nachash (Spinefarm) – "beards and riffs"
Lebensnacht – Uudelleensyntynyt Ikuiseen Pimeyteen (Naturmacht) – black metal
Methedras – System Subversion (Pavement) – thrash
Mothership – Mothership II (Ripple) – stoner
Nangilima – The Dark Matter (Xtreem) – doom
Red Enemy – Red Enemy (Mediaskare) – metalcore
Resistance – The Seeds Within (Pavement) – deathcore
Saille – Eldritch (Code 666) – symphonic black metal
Silent Planet – The Night God Slept (Solid State) – djent
Sleep of Monsters – Produces Reason (Svart) – atmospheric rock
SSS – Limp Gasp Collapse (Prosthetic) – Thrash
Usnea – Random Cosmic Violence (Relapse)
Various Artists – Ragnarok Juletide (Spinefarm) – various
Vengeance Rising – Released Upon the Earth Re-Release (Roxx) – Jesus thrash
Within Temptation – Enter / The Dance Re-Release (Nuclear Blast) – goth metal
