0:25-6:55
LEPROSY (Quebec)
Virtual Life
— Guitar noodling nerds who understand they need to break it down in the most immense satisfying way in order to get laid.

7:55-14:16
HORDE OF HEL (Sweden)
No Remorse
— Alien beasts just returning from war-metal.

14:56-20:07
HENRIK PALM (Sweden)
Destroyer
— Big influencers, my Roommate and Sean pushed me to listen to ex-Ghost guitarist, now a solo synthesizer-lover breaking into the post-punk, krautrock, pagan blues genre.

20:37-29:02
INFERA BRUO (Boston)
Cimmerian Shade
— Switched tempos, switched vocals, technical guitars, and moody electronics scatter across aggressive black metal. Excellent!

29:44-34:40
LORD ALMIGHTY (Boston)
Hooded Three
— I had to buy the vinyl, the album art is epic. Chomping Boston-style hardcore and swinging heavy metal guitars break up the melodic black metal.

35:05-40:59
SPIRIT ADRIFT (TX)
Screaming from Beyond
— Chris Black is another incredible artist similar to Nate Garrett.  Retro metal and hard rocking riffs with epic vocals.

41:25-44:30
PARANOID (Sweden)
Mada Minu Yuutopia
— Japanese-loving Swedes in aesthetics.  Dense, angry, ferocious hardcore, thrash and retro metal. Punk as fuck.

45:35-54:55
WAYFARER (Denver)
Vaudeville
— Denver dudes bring in the concept of the wild west outlaw with twanging western guitars to create the atmosphere in their version of majestic black metal. Makes sense to me. The wild west was evil.

55:13-END
LIK (Sweden)
Revel in Gore
— Lean, aggressive, mean-muscled death.

0:25-5:53
CRYPTAE (Netherlands)
Cronos
— What a surprising mix of industrial, experimental and cavernous death with crisp production, from a 2-piece no less.

7:05-10:58
ANAAL NATHRAKH (UK)
Endarkenment
— 1995 At The Gates time traveled but the machine hiccupped and they came out the other side as a British grind band that also excels in black and death. The vocal range is immense, from screech scratching to clean and sexy. Yep.

11:28-18:53
FIRES IN THE DISTANCE (CT)
Reflections in the Ice
— Super synthy melodic lines itself with muscular vocals and a beautifully structured doom and death, really big album.

19:30-24:20
HELLRIPPER (Scotland)
The Affair of the Poisons
— Priya's harlequin romance metal, which if you don't understand is a Scottish accent on a razor sharp vocal carving out lyrics over a deeply dark catchy speed. Fan me.

25:14-29:41
AMIENSUS (MN)
Drowned
— Verklempt is the result. Pain in the screaming and melancholy melody, in a very Minnesota forest black metal with dives into death and post.

30:08-33:26
ABYSSAL ASCENDANT (France)
Martyrs Of Mordiggian
— Clenched throat creating a sinister guttural, bends from riff to thrash pace. No use keeping up.

34:14-43:00
DYSYLUMN (France)
Dispersion II
— 3 different sections traveling from shimmering black metal to angular death to melodic dream meditative gaze.

44:07-50:46
HEXER (Germany)
Typhon
— ANOTHER Mariusz Lewandowski album cover, COME. ON. Very unique song structures with a throbbing doom pace, ambient and drone and the frenetic guitar of black metal, created by hot Germans.

51:10-56:10
JUST BEFORE DAWN (Sweden)
Dance Of Katyusha
— War lyrics match the dread of this world. Swedish riffs in a death atmosphere thickened by doom.

56:34-END
YATRA (Maryland)
Tyrant Throne
— Sludgy stoner doom that just wants to fucking rock.

Special seminal post-punk albums show, all released between 1978-1981.

0:25-4:05
THE SOUND (1980), album - Jeopardy
I Can't Escape Myself

4:06-8:17
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES (1978), album - The Scream
Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)

8:18-12:20
WIRE (1978), album - Chairs Missing
Practice Makes Perfect

12:21-17:20
PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED (1979), album - Metal Box
Memories

17:21-20:35
THE CURE (1980), album - Seventeen Seconds
Secrets

20:36-24:36
MAGAZINE (1979), album - Real Life
Shot By Both Sides

24:54-28:16
JOY DIVISION (1979), album - Unknown Pleasures
Disorder

28:17-31:47
GANG OF FOUR (1979), album - Entertainment!
At Home He's A Tourist

31:48-36:01
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN (1980), album - Crocodiles
Rescue

36:01-41:44
THIS HEAT (1981), album - Deceit
Paper Hats

41:45-46:01
NEW ORDER (1981), album - Movement
Denial

46:31-52:03
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS (1980), album - S/T
Sister Europe

52:04-54:31
THE TEARDROP EXPLODES (1980), album - Kilimanjaro
Bouncing Babies

54:32-END
BAUHAUS (1980), album - In the Flat Field
The Spy in the Cab

0:25-7:56
MESLAMTAEA (Netherlands)
Illusie
— Screaming against the declining world and expressing our collective utter despair and anger within theatrical black metal woven with psychedelic and progressive. So surprising.

8:57-11:53
BLOODLETTER (Chicago)
Burnt Beyond Recognition ft. Rae Amitay
— Chicago thrash and speed with a cold vocalist and a highly collaborative record. This song features the female vocalist and drummer from Immortal Bird.

12:16-21:18
VOUS AUTRES (France)
Onde
— French black metal with breathtaking horror-influenced atmosphere and sludgy drums.

21:52-28:56
DESERT LORD (Finland)
Sinner's Playground
— I’m going to be real here. I don’t like stoner, and I like very little doom-influenced anything. I do like stylish hot 70-s revitalist shit from Sweden, but that is not the point. This shit is Finnish smokey vocals that scream in epic glory and psychedelic blues-driven doomy jams that is fucking out there. Loved it.

29:37-37:11
THE INFERNAL SEA (UK)
Into the Unknown
— Raw throaty intense vampiric black metal with delicious guitar solos; and I headbanged on my couch to his growls. Need I say more.

37:55-41:59
SVALBARD (UK)
Throw Your Heart Away
— Look you stuck up assholes, this band is probably a genre that you don’t particularly love, but their hearts throb in full intensity, and you feel it. Male and female vocals that hit you in peak intense raw emotion, singing lyrical poetry, core mixed with black metal and drops of clear post-metal. This was touching.

42:46-50:58
ARDENTE (France)
Le Château Sous les Étoiles
— Black metal jingles in my dried up heart. It pulls a string, and I feel it distinctly. It is an energy that is rabid, and I understand.

51:23-END
MESSIAH (Switzerland)
Children of Faith
— Lemmy-influenced vocals atop death and thrash and roll that take some time to unearth.

0:25-5:39
CARNATION (Belgium)
Reincarnation
— It fits my mood to listen to face-melting old school death metal that wants to kill me.

6:41-12:23
SPECTRUM OF DELUSION (Netherlands)
Into Another Formation
— Multi-layered, multi-tempo-ed, multi-vocalized with proggy guitars that takes a deep breath before slamming into riffy techdeath and grind. What a blast.

12:48-21:32
SUNKEN (Denmark)
Delirium
— The Danes take their green hills and shiny seas and invoke that imagery into rolling atmospheric melodies that peak into dense black metal.

21:52-27:37
EVOKE (Norway)
Wrathcurse
— Debut album with a whirlwind of speed and thrash that is made for good times.

28:13-33:16
PROSCRIPTION (Finland)
Radiant Midnight
— Finnish fire vocalist breathing over death pummeling shaking skulls into fragments.

33:38-40:16
THURISAZ (Belgium)
Monologue
— Doom-psychedelic vocal style along with hot theatrical and brutal growls delivered over decadent, unrushed and reflective black moody instrumentals.

40:55-48:00
JUPITERIAN (Brazil)
Capricorn
— No more album covers by Mariusz Lewandowski I beg of you. Brown noting down-tuned ominous sludge with raspy vocals and goosebump-creating whispers.

48:45-53:52
DYNFARI (Iceland)
Ég tortímdi sjálfum mér
— A step away from traditional blistering Icelandic black metal with a blended sweet and melancholy post-metal.

54:25-END
HIIDENHAUTA (Finland)
Harmio
— Hiidenhauta is all about mixing of hardcore shouts, black metal screeches with female pagan in a folksy black metal hopped up with some crusty hardcore.

0:25-5:56
SKELETAL REMAINS (CA)
Tombs of Chaos
— Joy ride of riffs and face blowing impact within technical excellence and rhythmic power. Let your mullet flow.

7:03-13:58
DEPHOSPHORUS (Greece)
The Mists Rose Like Departing Dreams
— These dudes contemplate, circle melody and infuse a groove rock within the blast of death, grind speed, and black metal screech.

14:41-21:08
KAIRON; IRSE! (Finland)
Psionic Static
— Finnish cosmos shooting into a galaxy of psychedelic rock and shoegaze guitar, pulsating out with those alien brains. Guitarist is from Oranssi Pazuzu and Waste of Space Orchestra, so that same heady, moody, meditative style, but this project is without the metal.

21:43-29:18
ORDINANCE (Finland)
The Kingdom of Nothing
— Finnish duo thickly mutters through a mix of melodic, satanic, black metal guitar and lofi drumming that perpetually progresses.

29:53-35:52
VOID ROT (MN)
Delusions of Flesh
— Cavernous vocals in a slithering death ripped apart with sinister guitar and drumming groove.

36:10-42:36
DUMAL (PA)
Ossuaric Inversion
— Steep your brain in black metal speed and sweet strain of melancholy that opens up to so much more. Like your face.

43:42-50:21
SVNTH (Italy)
Wings Of The Ark
— Svnth was previously Seventh Genocide. Shoegaze and black metal building blocks that break into atmospheric and stark compositions. Vocalist of Svnth is the guitarist of Bedsore, who also blend genres, but in a predominant death sound.

50-53-56:35
ASTRINGENCY (TX)
Recrudescence
— Desolate, hellscape Texas is represented in the album art and overall sound. Muscular vocals take control, with heavy metal guitar solo spotlights and spots of organic instrumentation, but bleak is the message.

57:05-END
CULT OF LILITH (Iceland)
Profeta Paloma
— Every song has a weird twist. Often djent, with organic breaks of proggy bass and strummed guitar. Iceland!

Labor Day weekend show, and I curated *my* seminal industrial/goth ALBUMS. These are the albums that started my journey down the rabbit hole.

0:25-6:02
SKINNY PUPPY (CAN): Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986)
One Time One Place
— In my top 10 bands of all time, Skinny Puppy bent my ear towards aggressive. Their lyrics were political and vegan, and they lived their lives within these ideals. “In the rain collapse calls out which way we'll go.”

7:28-13:26
SISTERS OF MERCY (UK): Floodland (1987)
Flood II
— Floodland was darkly rich atmospheric goth, nestled between the massive riff-tastic hits of Dominion, This Corrosion and Lucretia, My Reflection. “When the water comes rushing, rushing in.”

14:04-18:54
MINISTRY (US): Twitch (1986)
Just Like You
— Pre-dirty Al Jourgensen. After disavowing their ballad-heavy ‘With Sympathy’ with claims that it was the record label’s idea, they ventured towards their truer sound. Rhythmic, aggressive. Twitch was released; and at the same time they were already recording Land of Rape and Honey. “When one dictator is the same as the leader.”

19:33-23:43
PAILHEAD (US): Trait (1988)
I Will Refuse
— With the freedom of Wax Trax! Records, Al collaborated with Ian MacKaye from Minor Threat, along with Paul Barker and Bill Rieflin (RIP). It was only a short EP with a couple of single releases but had a big impact. Industrial mixed with punk, and genre-mixing was just getting started. This collaboration (in my opinion) had a huge influence on Ministry’s ‘The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste” 1989 album. “Murder and weather is our only news.”

24:31-28:56
PIG (UK): A Poke In The Eye...With A Sharp Stick (1988)
It Tolls for Thee (Pig Breath)
— Raymond Watts worked with KMDM, Einsturzende Neubauten and Foetus in various capacities. Pig mixed industrial with the heavy riffs of metal. We listened to this album in the car during high school lunch, and realized it was time to become metalheads.

29:18-34:08
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES (UK): Peepshow (1988)
Scarecrow
— Haunting, evil imagery and the road from post-punk to goth, and I was all about it. “My so-called friends say you're not alive. I'll bake their bones for telling lies.”

34:37-39:56
SCRAPING FOETUS OFF THE WHEEL (AU): Nail (1985)
The Throne of Agony
— JG Thirwell taught me that super, super, super weird and conceptual was divine. I wrote my senior year high school AP English final essay on this album. “Choke up a thousand Marlboros.”

40:37-44:42
CHRISTIAN DEATH (US): Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ (1988)
This Is Heresy
— There are a million wars between fans of Rozz and Valor. Valor’s Christian Death is where I started with this band. I ate up the anti-church and establishment imagery; and I couldn't get enough of the riffs from this particular song. “Your church makes me vomit. Into the vertiginous abyss.”

45:35-49:10
DEPECHE MODE (UK): Black Celebration (1986)
Stripped
— I followed Depeche Mode down the romantic goth route; and Stripped was the soundtrack of my depression. “We'll lay on the grass and let the hours pass.”

49:45-54:16
GENE LOVES JEZEBEL (UK): The House of Dolls (1987)
Every Door
— Sexy crooners to my soul. This album was my first adult concert with Flesh for Lulu at the Glenn Miller Ballroom in Boulder. “I've knocked on every door in every street. And I don't know how long it's gonna be.”

55:02-END
THE TEAR GARDEN (UK/CAN): Tired Eyes Slowly Burning (1987)
You And Me And Rainbows
— Edward Ka-Spel of Legendary Pink Dots collaborated with members of Skinny Puppy, mostly Cevin Key, in their experimental electronic project The Tear Garden. This was where I realized abstract psychedelic lyrics and keyboards were my jam. This particular song is actually over 16 minutes long and is one of the most powerful songs in this genre. “Aiming skewers at the sheep. Face down, asleep, in onion fields. The frying fields. The worms. They peep through holes which once were eyes. They thrive, they bake, although we painted out the sky, the sun. There's only thunder. And you and me and rainbows.”

0:25-10:12
PANZERFAUST (CAN)
The Snare of the Fowler
— Chapter II follow up to last year’s Chapter I. Another epic, melodic, richly-textured black metal. A spectrum from meditation to bellowing. The vocals crawled up my spine in the best way.

11:23-17:38
NECROT (Oakland)
Sinister Will
— Straight-up tightly-produced death with no bells and whistles and no distortion. Just fist-pumping headbangs.

18:14-23:02
LAETITIA IN HOLOCAUST (Italy)
Of Feathers and Doom
— A strange duo with a booming fretless bass and harmonizing guitar creating melancholy and cinematic duel of black and death. The vocalist is a charming growling story-teller. .

23:26-25:48
VENOMOUS CONCEPT (Chicago)
Dementia Degeneration
— Short, tight snarls of hardcore groove and grind in a package of political, anthemic lyrics to belt out at a live show when life gets back to normal.

26:20-32:02
ASTRINGENCY (TX)
Recrudescence
— Coupling death, melodic black compositions and bending tempos with stunning art. Extreme vocals and I’m a goner.

32:29-36:04
VOLTURYON (Sweden)
Invisible Abomination
— Belting out political statements in a world gone crazy is perfect meditation. Chunky, swift and tight drumming and direct kicks to the head.

36:37-40:26
PIG DESTROYER (VA)
The Cavalry
— Just an EP? From 45 seconds of eerie dystopian news to 11 minutes of avant-garde electronic and sound effects to the usual destruction of death and grind. The full release will wallop.

40:58-46:12
ULVER (Norway)
Little Boy
— Minimalist poppy and sweet dark wave, dancing to their despair.

47:06-54:54
JUDICATOR (AZ)
Antioch
— Power metal can be so cheesy, and Judicator certainly is dramatic, but have a hundred badass journeys within each song with rising riffs.

55:17-END
BONE AWL (CA)
Bluestone (Branded into Skin)
— Raw, lofi black metal to play when you are clawing through a grave.

0:25-5:27
BEAR MACE (Chicago)
Xenomorphic Conquest
— Mark Sugar has helped create a chomping beast of massive riffs, snarling vocals that bely the groove and insanely good guitar.

6:27-14:56
SILVER KNIFE (Belgium)
Sundown
— The Belgians mix genres so breathtakingly effortlessly, moving from one and building to the next. Light and dark, sweet and evil, and a hurricane to blow you away.

15:21-20:28
EXPANDER (Austin)
Cryptosteal
— Futuristic imagery created within in industrial cage, morphing to industrial to metal and back to noise without taking a breath. Relentlessly on the move.

20:58-25:19
ARS MAGNA UMBRAE (Poland)
She Who Splits the Earth
— Dense and foreboding, sometimes dreamy atmospheric, churning slow pace malevolence within melodic black metal.

25:49-30:43
TEMPLE OF DREAD (GER)
Commands from a Black Soul
— Running thrash stumbling forward to a death roar.

31:05-37:08
OV SHADOWS (Sweden)
I Djävulens Avbild
— The Swedish know frost, this one with moody mutterings, tribalistic drums, and layers of melody.

37:28-41:34
NYKTOPHOBIA (Germany)
Yearning from an Uncharted Grave
— Riffs soar high, because this is German and German can only do epic to the epic degree.

42:22-46:15
UTZALU (Oregon)
Separation Trajectory
— Apparently Oregon is a fantastic breeding ground for steel-tipped daggers of raw.

46:39-51:03
INCANTATION (PA)
Propitiation
— Over 30 years and a solid decimating technical death offering with modern funeral doom breaking it apart.

51:26-END
THE SPIRIT CABINET (Netherlands)
Devils in the Details
— Finally some heavy metal, powered up and a vast range of glam, death vocals, theatrical and pagan.

0:25-6:15
QUESTION (Mexico)
First Fragmentation
— A slam, a swirl, tempos inhale and exhale, grim death is elevated by a joyous soul. Moody but direct. A winning album here.

7:35-12:32
HAVUKRUUNU (Finland)
Kunnes Varjot Saa
— Ethnic folk-influenced spacy alien black metal with raging guitars and evil imagery via the Finnish guttural vocalist.

13:16-18:13
KRALLICE (NYC)
Feed on the Blood of Rats
— Another genius album by NYC giants who pull apart black and death with ambient and prog; and still manage to feed the riff monsters.

18:48-22:10
TERMINAL NATION (AR)
Orange Bottle Prison
— Massive impact in a chaotic package of political hardcore and booming death. Those boots are flying.

22:35-30:32
DRAINBOW (Austin)
The Death Owl in The Tower of Flints
— A trippy capsule of storytelling 70’s and modern death and black weaved into a beautifully melodic and proggy roller coaster ride.

31:04-36:04
ATRÆ BILIS (CAN)
Ectopian
— A debut album from Atrae Bilis is groove death, full on neck-bracing riffs, dynamic lurching tempos, and technical prowess. This is a fun album.

36:35-42:47
NUG (Ukraine)
Radiance Сяйво
— It’s a big deal for me to play post-metal because I don’t (usually) like it. This is a stream of consciousness blending so many different genres and creating a wonderfully strange meditative and proggy atmosphere.  And it just ROCKS.

43:03-47:13
MESARTHIM (AU)
Time Domain
— Last year, this band made into my Best Modern Black Metal list with eclectic electronics and a shrieking vocalist surprisingly hypnotic and emotional.

48:29-52:24
ROPE SECT (GER)
Eleutheria
— A solid offering of rolling, warm, soothing, haunting post-punk.

53:08-END
VASSAFOR (NZ)
Emanations from the Abyss
— This dude is NZ is in Temple Nightside, who I played last week. He’s into murky evil shit all around.

0:25-7:33
WELL OF NIGHT (Ohio)
Black Alder Sacristy
— Ohio’s repression beats musicians into creating malevolent black metal. This debut is battering with a splattering of beauty and hella riffs.

8:34-13:46
SEPULCHRAL CURSE (Finland)
From Within The Bowels Of The Earth
— The vocalist is guttural and deranged screeches clawing at a bleeding sky. Miserable death with melodic and evil all at once.

14:14-20:36
DROUTH (Portland)
A Crown of Asphodels
— Portland is apparently the hellmouth. Dense and suffocating black metal with crisp guitar solos and dynamic tempos.

21:05-28:03
FACELESS BURIAL (AU)
Speciation
— A fierce and desolate landscape is a perfect atmosphere for a dizzying, shifting, charging death.

28:51-36:51
BEDSORE (Italy)
Brains on the Tarmac
— Cavernous proggy death with cinematic atmosphere and psychedelic melody. Strange and Italian.

37:19-44:27
FIDES INVERSA (Italy)
The Visit
— Relentless black metal with a tiny thread of melody and major twists of dissonant.

45:32-49:15
TEMPLE NIGHTSIDE (AU)
Blood Cathedral
— Muffled sounds just sound so evil. The vocals are strangled and struggling to emit from the crust of hell. Don’t forget those riffs before it gets buried underground again.

49:45-53:45
ANGEL MORGUE (NH)
Raped in Church (Touched by God)
— Heated sexy throated words rising, the earth shakes with bass and drums.

54:06-END
MOLDÈ VOLHAL (Norway)
Beyond The Red Horizons of a Thousand Battles
— Folk beaten into you with Norwegian black boots.

0:25-6:23
GAEREA (Portugal)
Null
— A stunningly produced Portugal black metal album with crisp edges around each instrument, and even though a lean to melodic, it remains icy and sharp.

7:24-12:04
HAAPOJA (Finland)
Kulmapoimu
— Finnish black metal is lined with a gravelly vocalist, pummeling pace and a mist of melancholy guitar that creates space.

12:56-19:25
IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT (NYC)
Transmission to Mercury
— My #1 album of 2018, they are already back. Still sophisticated and avant garde, multidimensional in concept and imagery. Stunning.

19:49-24:13
HIGH SPIRITS (Chicago)
Midnight Sun
— Another jaunt for Chris Black, speaking with the souls of 80’s rockers

24:49-32:03
DRAGHKAR (CA)
At the Crossroads of Infinity
— Groove and death with serpentine heavy metal guitar solos and passages of black metal.

32:31-37:15
BULLETBELT (NZ)
Impaler
— A blast of riff thrash with a charismatic sharp edge of a vocalist even within the ballads.

37:54-42:30
SPIRIT POSSESSION (Portland)
Twin Tongued Pathways
— Ulthar bassist and vocalist is part of this duo, creating a completely different sound. Distorted, raw black metal with the energy of thrash that lends to groove, and modern electronic.

42:55-46:12
SHEZMU (CAN)
Ode À Hathor
— Shezmu is a mean death and black mix often collapsing into slowed-down passages, but pummeling outward to dense.

47:05-55:51
SEVENTH (CAN)
Disheartened
— French-Canadian black metal is as romantic as you expect: black metal sweetened with melody and organic instrumentation.

56:09-END
RITES OF DAATH (Poland)
Shrines of Seclusion
— Poland proves to be angry and heated in a cavernous

Special dark/cold wave show.  All new albums!

0:25-4:59
TWIN TRIBES (TX)
Heart & Feather (live)

5:00-9:55
PALLISADE (CAN)
Jusqu'à la mort

9:56-14:40
CLAN OF XYMOX (Netherlands)
She

14:41-19:20
HANTE. (Paris)
In Raptures

19:22-23:41
HORROR VACUI (Italy)
Consolation Prize

23:56-26:54
IST IST (UK)
You're Mine

26:35-31:31
SOFT KILL (Portland)
True Lies (Demo)

31:33-35:43
PLEASURE POLICY (Oakland)
A Particle A Wave

35:44-40:43
MORTAL BOY (LA)
Cave

40:44-45:49
MAREUX (LA)
Spectral Tease

46:20-50:30
PANIC PRIEST (Chicago)
Bleed Again

50:31-53:43
IDLE HANDS (Portland)
It Doesn't Really Matter

53:44-END
THE SECRET EXPERIMENT (UK)
One More Day

0:25-6:45
KHTHONIIK CERVIIKS (Germany)
— A frenzied, sinister abstraction of death and black metal by highly intelligent alien beings that create chaos and melody.

7:39-12:29
ASEITAS (Portland)
— Angry lurching of different compositional styles within modern death and meditation that breaks into tense noise.

12:46-20:40
VÄKI (Finland)
— A layered doomy black metal collection building from Finnish screams and increasing tempo. So. Hot.

21:00-25:43
XYTHLIA (MN)
— One-man project also of Ashbringer creating a centrifuge of chaos and extreme vocals, the entirety is breathtaking.

26:43-30:41
KINGNOMAD (Sweden)
— A poppier version of retro prog rock from Sweden, with a sweet vocalist and old school keyboards.

31:12-44:45
CONVOCATION (Finland)
— Depressive and bleak, but don’t let that define it. This is gold at the end of a rainbow, be patient. The vocalist creates depth and rage. Immerse yourself in it.

45:34-49:43
KOMMAND (CA)
— Steam rises from the lava heat of the vocalist and the filthy death machine of this debut album.

50:07-54:18
YSENGRIN (France)
— Throaty devilish thoughts from a French vampire within minimalist occult with folk and keyboard. Weird.

54:42-END
MYSTRAS (Greece)
— A-world-that-is-lost razor-thin black metal, with hints of ethnic folk instrumentation.

0:25-4:51
COUCH SLUT (Brooklyn)
I'm 14
— The band name, the vocalist, the attitude, all of it is just cooler than the rest. She pours herself in this sound of aggressive, bleak reality. Wield that sword.

5:45-13:01
SERMENT (CAN)
Flamme Hivernale
— An epic, dynamic, heart-wrenching black metal storm filled with the devil. And your butt.

13:31-17:00
REBEL WIZARD (AU)
the mind is not your friend
— This guy is emperor of song titles, so much so that I awarded my Best Song Names in 2018. He dives into the unique and blows out in high pitched noise, heavy metal, black metal and industrial. It is just eccentric madness, Aussie style.

17:26-26:32
BATTLE DAGORATH (USA/Switz)
Twilight of the Cold Sun
— You are not stuck in your house. You can travel to Battle Dagorath’s inky black galaxy and drift out into their dreams with ripples of guitar and building meditative dissonance.

27:10-29:30
SKELETON (Austin)
Skeleton
— Romping riffs under a hot summer sky with a seething acidic underbelly. Remember Scorpion Child from Austin? This has nothing to do with that, but they rocked also, in this sort of hot bbq summer rock sort of sound. Completely different, but you know, really similar.

30:00-37:46
M.S.W. (OR)
Humanity
— This really hit my bleeding, big, awesome, incredible heart. Give it a chance, let it wash over your brittle soul. A beautiful slow-burner.

38:17-43:44
STATIQBLOOM (Brooklyn)
Black Lava
— This new album has incorporated an evil ambient atmosphere in the perfect drops of hot-blooded industrial beat and rhythm.

44:10-51:54
MYRIDIAN (AU)
Babylon
— Wait for the clean vocals, it is done so well. I am such a snob when it comes to clean stuff, and this is the perfect balance, along with the usual death growls and high-pitched screech. A wide ranging melodic death with beautiful instrumentation, including piano.

53:12-57:39
WANDERER (Portugal)
Force Of Ancient Steel
— Let's swing our hips wide to the groove of Portugal's Wanderer, straight-forward speed, made for you to punch holes in the sky. Simply loveable.

57:55-END
BARGHEST (Baton Rouge)
Nomadic Plague
— I’ve played this band multiple times over the years, and they are still a beast of snarling, filthy, gargled black metal. So sweet.

0:25-7:43
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR (Greece)
The First Ape on New Earth
— In my Best of 2016 list, what a wonderful second album of carnival psychedelic black metal and prog. Bubbling in my heart and turning it black from the inside. Sweet and wicked.

8:55-15:02
INEXORUM (MN)
The Breaking Point
— In my Best of 2018, this black metal musician is inspired by his wild Minnesota surroundings. His muscular death vocals are a great juxtaposition for the chilling desperate emotional romantic black metal. Let me bathe in the moonlit lake he is crooning to. So hot.

15:29-22:56
DESCEND (Sweden)
Blood Moon
— This 3rd album is jammed with a blast of a range, from death to haunting doom to prog and various instrumentation. Oh you Swedish devils with the juicy riffs, it is in their blood. This is a joy from beginning to end.

23:44-29:29
CANIS DIRUS (MN)
We Are The Ancient Ones
— Another Minnesota gem where the men wear beards and howl at the moon. The sound is scattered debris of forlorn with the stark brutality of the vocalist, a surprising gentle acoustic and heavy metal solos that remind us of what we love. METAL.

30:06-35:41
LANTERN (Finland)
Shrine of Revelation
— Finnish and their amazingly guttural vocals that automatically launch their sound to malevolence naturally. You think it is this mean death, but these bands are really pummeling us with surprises, packages to unfold and delight.

36:03-40:19
WORSHIPPER (MA)
Lonesome Boredom Overdrive
— Their 2019 album was playing in my house last week and I randomly checked on their bandcamp, and they had a newly released single. It didn’t fit in their 2019 album, and they wanted to release it finally – the song title fitting to our times. They have the best warm retro vocalist.

40:57-40:37
LJOSAZABOJSTWA (Belarus)
Idzi I Hliadzi
— These little parts of the world where influence is from afar. The Finnish, the Estonians, and now Belarusians. It just thrashes in all directions, heavy metal and doom and riffs and punk pace. And then they throw in the neck churning riffs to make you clap. Thank you sirs.

51:46-56:01
BLOOD STRONGHOLD (AU/Poland)
Unbowed Wolves
— Maybe you don’t have the stomach for a 2-piece raw black metal that spins out to minimal after dabbling in the massive storms of layered ethereal melodies.

56:25-END
LIVING GATE (Belgium)
Living Gate
— You’ve got to expect big things from members of Oathbreaker, Amenra, Wiegedood and YOB. Bright, brutal, ferocious death metal. Simple.

0:25-4:54
DIABOLIC OATH (Portland)
Apocryphal Manifestations
— Portland is kicking it up a notch with death rumbling riffs, a baritone vocal gust and wicked twists of guitar.

5:41-11:35
ACHERONTAS (Greece)
The Brazen Experimentalist
— Trippy, strange, evocative Greek black metal with breaks into dreamy guitar.

11:58-17:01
VOIDCEREMONY (CA)
Binded to Unusual Existence
— Debut of jangled angles of guitar compositions and drums sewing tight compositions. The exhaustion is somehow relaxing.

17:30-22:53
CREATURE (France)
Neo Habilis
— Plaintive piano, trombone and flutes build an ache within fist-pumping almost djent-influenced icy black metal, and a hot vocalist that whispers sweet nothings in French. Quite the trip.

23:14-28:16
PURTENANCE (Finland)
The Malicious Moon
— Old school death done Finnish style with added filth and sludge creating a hurricane of neck churning headbangs.

29:07-34:41
DESSIDERIUM (AZ)
Sage In Yearning
— Tech melodic-proggy-symphonic death with a spectrum of vocals. One man project, also plays in Nullingroots.

35:13-38:37
THÆTAS (NYC)
Dearth
— NYC technical death debut lurches drunkenly until gaining momentum to a muscular monster devouring and spitting out carcasses.

39:00-43:55
CARACH ANGREN (Netherlands)
Der Vampir von Nurnberg
— Thanks for taking us out of our heads dudes.

44:45-47:39
PYRRHON (NY)
Human Capital
— Best of 2017 Pyrrhon stays brutal angular death and grind with lyrical poetry.

48:21-55:25
NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM (EU)
To The Moon ZÂR - Empowering The Phurba Éon Phanérozoïque
— Thanks Rohan @manvsplaylist for introducing this, and has a massive write-up: https://www.heaviestofart.com/post/a-palette-of-sonic-radiance-neptunian-maximalism-eons-review. Meditation meets explosion and requires a lifetime of unpacking.

55:57-END
PAYSAGE D'HIVER (Switzerland)
Kaelteschauer
— Such a weird album – each song starts the same, which makes sense, as the point is to deaden your senses to help make the spiritual journey easier.

0:25-7:46
KALL (Sweden)
Rise
— Chomping Swedish rock scraped into ridges of black metal. Roaming guitars build psychedelic and range in this diverse album.

8:34-14:44
NEXION (Iceland)
The Spirit of Black Breath
— Icelandic black metal tends to be alien, cold and wicked. This band blends in spectacular clean vocals along with monstrous that are a surprising mix with gloomy melodic black metal, building into epic, large Icelandic-style melodies.

15:05-21:42
AVERSIO HUMANITATIS (Spain)
The Weaver of Tendons
— Chilled rasp and pummeling drumming bleed to majestic black metal with technical guitar that hints at melody. Large album with incredible vocals.

22:04-26:49
DEARTH (Oakland)
The Reverence of Swine
— Textured seething miserable death with jagged tempos creating a package of dark distortion.

27:25-34:51
VILE CREATURE (CAN)
Apathy Took Helm!
— A 2-piece that soundtracks a dystopian nightmare ranging from creepily sweet to droning and desperate and bitter sludge.

35:13-38:20
VAMPIRE (Sweden)
Rex
— This made me immediately think of Tribulation with that retro feel and deep infatuation with imagery. Vampire lets loose, which makes these compositions fresh.

38:48-44:15
I'M IN A COFFIN (Salem)
Slave to My Skin
— A vampire grieves for a lost love, the pure sorrow and theatrics will reach deep inside of you. This is a goth’s dream.

45:06-50:32
SODOMISERY (Sweden)
Slave to My Skin
— Black, death and thrash with tight technical guitars.

51:10-55:23
KRALLICE (NYC)
Church
— Krallice and Geryon released a split, and along with Spectral Lore + Mare Cognitum, are contenders for best of the year. More of the stellar, abstract, mathy, genre-bending cauldron of NYC musicianship.

55:49-END
SINISTER (Netherlands)
Unbounded Sacrilege
— Around since the 80’s and still snarling. Immense guitar solos and melody that do not curb the acerbic tone.

0:25-5:30
ULTHAR (CA)
Cudgel
—  Residing in multiple styles of death, across frenetic paces and vocals, and technical prowess galore. Big, big badass album.

6:37-15:06
VALDRIN (Ohio)
Down The Oubliette Of Maelstrom
—  Ohio seethes in repression and women’s rights degradation. Of course people are going to be angry, and this form of expression comes in symphonic black metal with crystal clear layers.

15:32-22:03
UPRISING (Germany)
There's No Such Thing as Hope
—  A stunning sophomore album with satanic lyrics cut with folksy interludes and clean vocals, culminating in a riff-heavy black metal.

22:29-27:41
TITHE (Portland)
Psychedelic Neurogenesis
—  Slow-churning sludge explodes into death and grind. Members of Lord Dying.

28:31-33:30
FERAL LIGHT (Minneapolis)
In Summation
—  Andy used to own a Polish diner in the Mission, and moved back to Minneapolis to create intense and intricate American black metal. This duo is awesome to see live.

33:55-40:28
NEMESIUM (AU)
Relive This Nightmare
—  A demonic corpse foot kicks out of its grave in a gurgling lava-burned death intensity. You know, Australian style.

40:45-43:33
OBSCENE (Indiana)
Without Honor and Humanity
—  Gargled, kidnapped vocals pleads in a chomping raw death with a flurry of riffs.

44:21-47:19
WITCHES (France)
We Are
—  The only original member in this 3rd album is the female lead singer brutalizing with her down-tuned vocals in a black of thrash.

47:45-53:32
SANCTIFYING RITUAL (Germany)
Stained with Rotten Blood
—  We should see a therapist and ask why we are so satisfied listening to tortured sounds.

54:02-END
BEHOLD THE ARCTOPUS (Brooklyn)
Other Realms
—  Progressive mayhem that scrapes nails in your brain.

0:25-7:37
PATRONS OF THE ROTTING GATE (Ireland)
Bleached Bones
— Rotting is a good word. Richly textured proggy death and black with a vocal clenched around it.

8:31-17:39
RANNOCH (UK)
Void
— Both ends of the spectrum with melody and edge. Threads of Opeth-style dynamic prog, but with their own modern twists.

18:10-22:03
XIBALBA (CA)
En la Oscuridad
— My 2012 Best Mosh. Hardcore and death wearing steel-tipped boots.

22:46-31:36
AKOLYTH (?)
A Work Of Ages
— Yeah, this is not for the faint-hearted, but what a joy: desperately filthy, but memorable riffs and a surprising amount of underlying emotion that beats a very lovely heart.

32:09-36:47
COSMIC PUTREFACTION (Italy)
The Glooming Murk of His Telluric Shrieks
— Deeply monstrous proggy death with bits of space to liven shit up. The gnarly vocals are both shrieks and growls, and interwoven are truly magical Fabio-romance novel covered loveliness. Stylish, and of course Italian.

37:07-40:06
END (NJ)
Absence (feat. Pete Morcey)
— A supergroup of razor-sharp technical grind and chomping hardcore, and stealing bits and pieces from the distortion and fast pace of black metal.

40:33-46:51
COSMOVORE (Germany)
The Watchers
— Ugly death within a strange, dystopian universe of tortured clashing chaos and an unearthly vocalist.

47:56-56:38
THE RUINS OF BEVERAST (Germany)
Hunters
— Oh my German black metal overlords Ruins have released (2) splits so far this year, both so different, but very representative of their style of delving into ambient and ritualistic emotional black metal. I am dying for a full release.

56:58-END
GRUESOME (LA/FL)
Led into the Dark
— A split with a shared lead singer, Gruesome does its uzzze with wicked riff-heavy death-loving guitar-soloing mayhem.

A mellow, sweet show of NEW dark wave/post punk this week.

0:25-4:03
FRAGRANCE. (France) (2019)
So Typical

4:04-9:25
LEBANON HANOVER (Germany)
The Last Thing

9:26-13:43
MOANING (LA)
Fall in Love

13:44-18:16
FEARING (Santa Cruz)
Catacombs

18:17-21:40
ANATOMY (NYC)
Ira Agni

21:41-25:05
A TRANSITION (Berlin)
Driven

25:18-29:32
ORCUS NULLIFY (SC)
Night Dance

29:33-33:26
THE MURDER MYSTERY (Norway) (2018)
HNSF

33:27-37:45
L’AVENIR (Baltimore)(2019)
Soteria

37:46-41:06
SAFETY LAST (Toronto)
Knives (Original Mix)

41:36-45:43
CLOSED MOUTH (France)
change your life today

45:44-49:05
RESTWELL (LA)
Enchantress

49:06-53:21
THE WARS (Berlin)
Differences

53:22-57:50
HERZEGOVINA (Brazil)
Road of Joy

57:51-END
HERLIGHTS (Russia)
Stockholm Syndrome

0:25-8:33
ESOCTRILIHUM (France)
Exh-Enî Söph (1st Passage – Exiled from Sanity)
— Violins make everything sound French. Theatrical, epic and inter-dimensional black metal.

9:22-16:27
CRYPTIC SHIFT (UK)
The Arctic Chasm
— Unique guitar melodies that go far out and back mixed with proggy death tempos.

16:43-23:12
ABDUCTION (France)
Aux Marches De Lorraine
— Beauty and the Beast, another French monstrosity sweetened by strums of guitar.

23:54-29:41
SLIFT (France)
Dark Was Space, Cold Were The Stars
— Psychedelic garage krautrock on clouds of bubbles bursting with tiny jagged shards of heavier blasts.

30:12-35:41
CAULDRON BLACK RAM (AU)
Flame
— Australia is topnotch evil. This form is sludge and death with whiplash beats and a smoking demonic vocal.

36:07-40:49
THRAWSUNBLAT (CAN)
Spectres in Mist
— Guitarist from Woods of Ypres creates a journey of folk-infused black metal to New Brunswick.

41:10-48:32
WITHOUT LIGHT (Chicago)
Wretched Ascent Part Two
— Abrasive blown out death vocals is a highlight in this moody, plodding sludge.

49:34-53:54
PILE OF PRIESTS (Denver)
Bloodstained Citadel
— Romantic candle-lit death.

54:30-END
MOUNTAINEER (Oakland)
Ghost Story
— Versatile album with unrushed post-metal building to much bigger. Super pleasant to the brain.

0:25-4:55
…AND OCEANS (Finland)
Cosmic World Mother
— 25 years of dramatic, Finnish, intense black metal with electronics and a new lead singer from Finntroll.

6:01-11:30
NAGLFAR (Sweden)
Last Breath of Yggdrasil
— 28 years of technical knowledge creates sinister and snarling with a gargling set of vocals that is somehow completely understated.

12:07-19:17
IN THE COMPANY OF SERPENTS (Denver)
Prima Materia
— Mark Lanegan-esque vocals in the ballads, mother-may-I.

19:48-24:24
LIGHT DWELLER (AZ)
Herd Animal
— Arizona sun makes weirdo boy that creates cacophony.

24:50-31:26
EXGENESIS (Sweden)
Hollowness
— Death is blurred with anguish and a vocal that rips out the heart.

31:56-36:30
WAILIN STORMS (NC)
End
— This is about the vocalist and the romantic genres that propel him into a reverend-like ministry.

36:59-43:50
ORDER OF ORIAS (AU)
Dawning Light
— 2-piece in a cyclone of death groove and black drums and frosted atmosphere.

44:41-47:55
SECTARIAN BLOOM (CA)
Because We Like It
— Californian arty punk cousin of post-punk.

48:22-57:01
SINISTRAL KING (GER/NOR/Switzerland)
Where Nothingness Precedes Cosmos
— Might as well have been behind a red curtain with theatrical and dramatic leads and instrumentation.

57:17-END
WVRM (SC)
Walled Slum City
— Fucking grind, brah.

0:25-4:52
KHÔRA (Norway, Ireland, Greece, Boston)
Harvesting Stars
— Carnival and horror, proggy and alien, psychedelic black and death coupled with fantastic album art.

5:48-9:43
HAVOK (Denver)
Fear Campaign
— Crisp production coupled with old school thrash breaking it down for versatility.

10:11-16:09
AARA (Switzerland)
Entelechie
— Razor sharp vocals painted thinly over melodic black metal bringing to surface emotion so uniquely.

16:29-21:25
THE WIZAR’D (AU)
Master of the Night
— Magical doom and rock sung by a unique nasal alien troll.

21:49-25:41
CHANGELING (Minneapolis)
Fascism Unveiled
— North American black metal despairs over the rise of fascism. Let the art flow from our anger.

26:20-30:14
CARNOSUS (Sweden)
Insidious Saviour
— Frenetic lurching proggy death with thrash energy kicking up the pit.

30:37-37:26
HÄXANU (Nashville)
Anima Mundi
— Ominous aggressive black metal atmosphere explodes into tortured riffs and anguished vocals.

37:42-42:50
OATH OF DAMNATION (AU)
With Fire and Malevolence
— Malignant death mixes with symphonic and shrieking black metal.

43:09-45:59
PHALANX (LA)
Goliath's Spring
— Crusty LA punks blend hardcore and filth, groove and extreme. It sounds like a hot sweaty summer day.

46:55-50:30
HRÆ (Iceland)
Sköpunarverkið.
— Iceland seethes in sinister raw black metal that gurgles out in alien compositions
.
50:58-END
MAZIKEEN (AU)
Vexation Through the Golden Sun
— One man becomes many. Powerful cacophony of bludgeoning death.

0:25-6:51
BÂ’A (France)
Titan
— Anonymous band, probably Satan, firing out a layered black metal that dabbles in the dark arts of atmosphere and bleeds in a stunning piano.

7:50-12:06
WARBRINGER (CA)
Firepower Kills
— Speed demons with a spin of tempo and groove made for your face.

12:34-17:25
BYTHOS (Finland)
When Gold Turns Into Lead
— Members of Behexen and Horna creating breast-heaving leather-warrior bare-horseback black metal.

17:50-22:51
BEGGAR (UK)
Compelled To Repeat
— A unique blend of muscular death-leaning sludge that meanders under the warmth of a desert rock sun.  Screeching strong vocalist is a highlight.

23:19-28:40
AODON (France)
L'infime
— French spoken with snarls and a drummer that made my eyeball twitch.

29:11-33:11
TRAVELER (CAN)
Deepspace
— A 2019 Runner Up to my Best of List, so soon with a badass album of heavy metal and a charming vocalist howling his catchy choruses.

33:36-40:04
BARISHI (VT)
Entombed in Gold Forever
— Vermont cheese and dappled forests created black metal with acoustic guitar and a doom twist.

40:24-43:05
NIGHT DEMON (CA)
Empires Fall
— Rancid members do right – now creating catchy heavy metal.

44:05-48:05
KOLOSSUS (Italy)
Norge
— Epic Viking black metal with talented guests, including Vicotnik of Dødheimsgard, contributing vocals with a theatrical greatness.

48:59-53:56
MASTERPIECE MACHINE (Atlanta)
Rotting Fruit
— Members of Fucked Up and Power Trip create a decent version of their take on industrial. I kind of don’t like super cool people doing industrial and new wave. It feels like you are stealing from the nerds.

54:28-END
NECHOCHWEN (WV)
The Megalith
— On a split with Panopticon. Savage black metal that speaks to American history and broken with folk instrumentals. 

0:25-8:37
ULCERATE (New Zealand)
Drawn Into The Next Void
— Topnotch textured proggy-tempoed death with piercing melodies and hooks and strains of post and black metal.

9:52-19:06
ORANSSI PAZUZU (Finland)
Tyhjyyden sakramentti
— Psychedelic spacey prog rock that does not sound retro. Finnish aliens at it again with another puzzle piece for your brain.

19:34-24:29
DROUGHT YEAR (NC)
Nostalgic Delusion
— One of my favorite industrial sludge distorted band with so much new sound. I stumbled upon them 4 years ago, and I am grateful.

25:17-30:33
RIPPED TO SHREDS (San Jose/Taiwan)
白骨精 (White Bone Spirit)
— Energetic ferocious and unrelenting death with incredible solos from guest artists like Gridlink and Horrendous.

30:58-36:31
VOCO (Bay Area)
Goat Haggle at the Black Market
— Traverse the wrinkles of weirdo brains following their own streams of consciousness into progressive rock with a lovely saxophone.

37:14-42:30
AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD (Spain)
Prayer I
— Raw and Viking, epic and haunted, pagan and ritualistic black metal sliced heavily with beautiful melancholy.

42:53-48:38
KHEMMIS (Denver)
Empty Throne
— One of my favorite vocalist with more of his honey tones over groove so right.

49:33-55:29
THE DITCH AND THE DELTA (SLC)
Bleed the Sun
— Vocal styles reminiscent of the greats in Enemy of the Sun – not surprising to be influenced by Neurosis while creating massive sludge.

55:50-END
AZATH (CA)
Shifting Forms
— Demon-backed bludgeoning scorched earth death.

0:25-5:18
CALLIGRAM (Europe)
Carne
— Uniquely diabolical structures of dread-filled black metal and chugging hardcore, with a semi-synthetic vocal that pinned me to the wall.

6:07-13:25
BLACK CURSE (Denver)
Enraptured by Decay
— Another experiment in vocal styles, gurgling and seething with a lurching drumming style that creates groove within every pace.

14:08-19:40
VOLCANDRA (Kentucky)
The Burning Mountain
— Kentucky black metal doesn’t really surprise me. Any weirdo-filled repressed society creates a heaving backlash of angry youth. Kentucky has been shining with diamonds lately, from Knocked Loose to this debut. Both bands have a hardcore edge to it, maybe it’s in the Kentucky water.

20:25-25:19
FEARING (Santa Cruz)
Pictured Perfect
— Fearing beats a shimmering heart in their style of dark wave, complete with a perfect crooning lad that is incredible live. Their show was a highlight of 2019.

26:10-31:38
LIKE RATS (Chicago)
Crimson Cosmos
— Bassist from Weekend Nachos. Severely death metal now, but still chomping Chicago pit influence.

31:57-39:29
FANGE (FR)
Génuflexion
— A mix of death and industrial effects including a spoonful of danceable beat.

39:47-45:12
LOVIATAR (CAN)
Silica
— Ozzy Osbourne reborn within a melancholy Canadian trip.

46:03-48:43
BENIGHTED (France)
Muzzle
— Grind from a legendary band that lends a unique lens to the mix.

49:15-54:27
BLACK MAGICK SS (AU)
Kali
— 80’s style psychedelic synth and glam and an off-kilter vocalist.

54:49-END
LIVE BURIAL (UK)
Rotting On The Rope
— Production breathes life into every instrument in a head-bangable death.

0:25-6:23
WAKE (CAN)
Mouth of Abolition
— Confident swaggering of death and power vocals swelling, building, and raining aggression.

7:27-16:29
MAMALEEK (SF)
We Hang Because We Must
— Immediately ordered this on vinyl. Anonymous brothers live recorded punk-vocalized meditative chaos culminating in colorful crescendos.  Reminiscent of my #1 album last year, Witch Trail (Belgium). 

16:53-20:01
IRIST (GA)
Order of the Mind
— A blast of melodic death and sludge and groove and fist-pumping riffs, just a delightful album.

20:36-26:39
ROMAN RING (Chicago)
God Narcotic
— Drummer from Warforged, guitarist from Immortal Bird, lead singer of Through the Eyes of the Dead, bassist from Wounds, so you know, this shit is not that talented. Textural Death muscle with a bit of experimental and angularity.

27:26-32:16
CHRONICLE (Denmark)
Nocturnality
— Denmark death and heavy metal bent to chugging groove reminiscent of early Skeletonwitch, including a charismatic lead singer.

32:39-40:43
HECATE (France)
Oracle atone
— French emotionally pleading black metal howling with melancholy. The French are drama.

41:18-43:57
SKAM (Sweden)
Shit Out of Luck
— Death metal is played in Swedish cribs. A tight fist of death, complex and full and somehow packaged in 2 minutes or less.

45:00-50:35
MEMBARIS (Germany)
My Path Of Stars
— Both in duo contribute vocals in a raw black metal with a forefront of drums and hella varied melodies that really makes for a compelling album.

50:54-56:28
FREEWAYS (CAN)
Dead Air
— Sweet melody and jamming guitars create a dreamy, warm, candy of an album.

57:02-END
GNAW THEIR TONGUES (Netherlands)
white void black wounds
— Ghoulish horror and swarming nightmare effects to implode your brain in the most unique ways.

0:25-8:41
AMNUTSEBA (Paris)
Abstinence
— Nightmare soul decapitation, senses muddled, gasping dying vocals, un-melody, and jarring riffs. What a treat!

9:51-16:53
IGORRR (France)
Himalaya Massive Ritual
— I am not good enough. They are unexpected genius.

17:32-23:33
LITTLE ALBERT (Italy)
Bridge of Sighs
— Messa guitarist has a new jammy project with his blues guitar and vocals.

24:30-31:54
WARDAEMONIC (AU)
Act V - Repentance
— Australian heat bakes this hellhole of chugging bass breaking black metal speed and a dynamic vocalist who also pummels on drums.

2:38-36:54
OMEGA INFINITY (GER/AU)
Saturn
— 2-piece with members from Ne Obliviscaris and Todtgelichter, exploring haunting, lonely sound and play with industrial, including a Killing Joke cover.

37:22-43:19
AETERNAM (Montreal)
Ithyphallic Spirits of Procreation
— Middle eastern folk is popular with metal bands; this band uses the ethnic instrumentation with technical proggressive death metal and monster drums.

44:05-48:00
THOUGHT LEADERS (Bay Area)
Radiator
— Post-punk deviates to an edgy and progressive melodic romanticism.

48:27-54:16
ENOID (Switzerland)
Je n'existe Que Dans La Souffrance
— Snarling French in a tangled raw, ferocious, throaty, traditional black metal.

54:49
TEMPLE OF VOID (Detroit)
Radiator
— Funeral doom pace is mixed with a growling beast and rifftastic groove.

0:25-4:51
BLACK ROYAL (Finland)
Pagan Saviour
— Black Royal is a groove hard, fist pump, beer chug, Finnish death guitar, chanting vocalist blast of an album.

6:04-8:51
SERPENT COLUMN (USA)
Wars Waged in Private II
— Free on Bandcamp, so that it can be downloaded to your computer and possess it with the full power of all that is evil.

9:16-13:27
MOANING (LA)
Keep Out
— I worship, and I mean, worship this poetry. It is a dance in the moonlight with a boy in a Bauhaus t-shirt, and you are 16 and it's the 80's and you are only worried about nuclear holocaust. Sweet, sweet times.

13:55-21:36
MALOKARPATAN (Slovakia)
Filipojakubská noc na Štangarígelských skalách
— Slovakia bros, they have it going on, especially the song names. I mean, it is a wild ride of Slovakian black metal hell with bouts of fun synth to break it apart.

22:49-29:19
SWEVEN (Sweden)
Visceral Blight
— First came Morbus Chron, who released their last album "Sweven" in 2014. Now leader Robert Andersonn starts a new band with the same title, going free into long journeys of prog and jazz and psychedelic and a 70's tone.

30:11-42:28
MARE COGNITUM (split w/ SPECTRAL LORE) (Portland, Greece)
Venus (The Priestess)
— This is one of favorite black metal albums this year. These 2 bands are a great coupling, both excelling in black metal that takes its time, and then completely breaks apart into furious. So so fucking good.

42:52-46:34
MASTER BOOT RECORD (Italy)
ANSI.SYS
— Italian brains create weird synth compositions with random genres that somehow work.

47:30-56:19
HIGH TONE SON OF A BITCH (Oakland)
Silhouette
— The who's who of Oakland create a thoughtful E.P that jams a beautiful psychedelic stoner that heavily riffs.

56:42-END
CRYSTAL COFFIN (Vancouver)
Ride Through the Night
— Solid debut of Canadian black metal with a stunner of a vocalist.

0:25-8:37
ULCERATE (New Zealand)
Stare Into Death And Be Still
— Tightly wound tech death unraveling into melodic strings, proggy tempo and doomy paces. Full album releases next month.

9:47-16:03
NITE (SF)
The Way
— Scott Hoffman from High Spirits and Dawnbringer brings forth another project with retro glam and heavy metal choruses and an edgier vocal.

16:29-20:52
RUIN LUST (Brooklyn)
Prison of Sentient Horror
— Crawl through the destruction with the walls crumbling all around.

21:10-25:52
HIBISCUS BISCUIT (AU)
Wake Me Up
— A summer psychedelic breeze, floating you farther into a starlit galaxy.

26:25-32:48
KORGONTHURUS (Finland)
Syyttäjäenkeli
— The screech of Finnish vocals paints the chamber of haunting, massive, bleak black metal, rhythmically unexpected.

33:09-37:05
KHEMMIS (CO)
Rainbow in the Dark
— If you know Khemmis, you will not be offended they took the titanic task of singing a cover of Ronnie James.

37:26-42:03
5 R V L N 5 (Chicago)
Flesh
— Pronounced Surveillance, an ominous vibration evolving to darker industrial beats.

42:35-45:08
AFTERBIRTH (NY)
Beheading the Buddha
— Yes, you may hate this type of vocal, but get over yourself. It is the guttering of the gut of a guttural vocal that vibrates through a tornado of churning guitars, and breaks into the most delicious instrumental synth trances. You will not find what you were expecting here.

45:51-49:55
VAISSEAU (France)
The Liberator
— B-movie horror synth composed for you to be murdered by a serial killer after losing your virginity.

50:19-56:15
SALTAS (Sweden)
Tremors
— Tribal black atmosphere with sinister beat and melody created in a monstrous dimension.

56:30-END!
RIKI (LA)
Strohmann
— Frothy LA new wave to dance with your asymmetrical bangs and pointy shoes.

0:25-6:12
EARTH ROT (AU)
Dread Rebirth
— In a world of Australian tech geniuses, this band stands out with a blend of a multitude of schizo genres that inspire you to do jumping jacks. Thrash, rock, black and death.

7:04-14:03
BORGNE (Switzerland)
Qui Serais-Je Si Je Ne Le Tentais Pas
— Weird, gothy, swarming and minimalist effects injected within majestic and dynamic black metal.

14:33-19:31
VREDEHAMMER (Norway)
Winds of Dysphoria
— (Norwegian) Grammy nominated dudes using electronic horror keyboard effects.

19:50-26:00
PSYCHONAUT (Belgium)
Halls of Amenti
— Oh yeah, hooks and amazing vocals in a psychedelic sludge and post-metal.

26:37-29:54
BENEATH THE MASSACRE (Montreal)
Autonomous Mind
— Meandering melodies interweaved with brutal whalloping frenzies and mayhem.

30:21-39:40
DWAAL (Norway)
Like Rats
— A Neurosis-styled heavy sludge and post-metal with a lean to riffs.

40:00-44:56
VENOMOUS SKELETON (Israel)
Alevas San Tatianas Aleli
— Members of Sonne Adam in the most cavernous filth-driven death.

45:50-50:47
PHASE FATALE (Berlin)
Velvet Imprints
— Druggy Front 242 with no vocals.

51:23-56:47
BEAST OF REVELATION (Netherlands)
The Cryptic Void
— Lumbering pace and bubbly vocals frothing at the surface.

57:10-END
VIOLET COLD (Azerbaijan)
— Black gaze band adds electronic dance to the mix. This is a unique one.

0:25-9:10
REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER (France)
Au Bord Du Gouffre
— Expressed pain by anguished French, including mournful guitars and vocals within the swirl of black metal.

10:29-16:31
CULT OF FIRE (Czech Rep)
Har Har Mahadev
— Reinvention or reincarnation in Hindu imagery setting the tone of introspective and meditative and unusual effects with a savage vocalist. Two albums in this release.

17:08-23:21
XENOBIOTIC (AU)
Saphris
— Brutal Australians play with multiple styles of vocals, some pummeling, and a clean prog style. The instrumentals are disarming and dynamic.

23:41-26:28
DEATHMAZE (Belgium)
Cybercrime
— Deeply romantic dark wave with an added gruff metal vocalist to add texture.

27:06-33:21
KVAEN (Sweden)
Revenge by Fire
— The speed and infectiousness of a thrash and black metal album that careens off a cliff in the best possible way.

33:41-41:46
MEDICO PESTE (Poland)
God Knows Why
— It doesn't surprise me that members of MGLA would create this incredible diverse and weird avant-garde style of black metal. Can't wait for the full album to drop.

42:01-46:05
THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA (Sweden)
Curves
— Hot satin shorts and mullet bbq rock.

47:16-54:04
FLUISTERAARS (Netherlands)
Maanruïne
— Gaze meets black with piano, horns and acoustic guitars to create aching loveliness.

54:27-56:37
LIFETAKER (Germany)
Stigmata
— Deathcore and grind are going to pummel your face off your neck. The entire album is a diverse ride.

57:01-END
ON THORNS I LAY (Greece)
Cosmic Silence
— Melancholy never felt so good. Beautiful death from six hot greek men.

0:25-4:08
LEECHED (UK)
Earth and Ash
— Explosive hardcore and grind with a mechanical industrial edge taking it to the next level.

5:09-10:45
BLAZE OF PERDITION (Poland)
Moonchild
— Dudes, this black metal band did a cover of Fields of the Nephilim. I am in love.

10:59-15:09
NECROWRETCH (France)
The Ones from Hell
— Sinister black metal that compels a headbang with its groove and snarling vocalist.

15:24-20:00
FRAYLE (Ohio)
Darker Than Black
— Angel vocals immersed in psychedelic doom and heavy touch of goth.

20:17-26:03
PORTA NIGRA (Germany)
Die Entweihung von Freya
— German, all I want.

26:40-31:41
SOMETIMES WE MAKE MUSIC (SWMM) (Norway)
The Return
— Three vocal styles really is the forefront. The sound overall is a dichotomy of folk and epic, soaring and guttural.

32:06-36:24
RASPBERRY BULBS (NY)
Ultra Vires
— The focus is raw in a stylish NY edgy punk and hardcore.

36:49-42:05
DAWN OF SOLACE (Finland)
Tuli
— This is music made to invoke something deep inside of you. Be prepared. Contemplative Finns.

42:36-52:02
TOMBS (Brooklyn)
Monarchy of Shadows
— Gawddammit, Fade is no longer in Tombs?? Yeah yeah, riffs, atmosphere, etc.

50:48-54:38
BLASPHEMER (Italy)
The Stumbling Block
— Tight death loosened with melodic atmosphere and unique tempo-lurching vocals.

55:10-END
GOD DETHRONED (Netherlands)
Blood Moon Eclipse
— Solid and talented death from middle aged men that may not be as angry anymore.

0:25-7:22
VANANIDR (Sweden)
Hunter
— 3 albums in a year! Kings of lead-up: cold sheets of mid-tempo black metal with growled vocals and melodic groove guitar eventually bursting into frenetic. Good stuff.

8:17-12:42
BÜTCHER (Belgium)
Face the Bütcher
— Speeding demonic warriors, both on the album cover and sound. Vocalist chomps and massive riffs are bolts of fire.

13:03-17:13
SNORLAX (AU)
Mind Ov Maggots
— Another snarling black metal one-man project in the Australian vein of Convulsing.

17:32-22:15
COFFIN CURSE (Chile)
Descend into Abhorrence
— Rampant, tight, gnarly speed and thrash with lurching death in a South American brutality.

22:50-31:20
MARRASMIELI (Finland)
Those Who Are Long Gone
— Varied vicious and minimalist with even accordion mixing it up.

31:46-36:40
KONVENT (Denmark)
Ropes Pt. II
— Female band with a baritone lead singer within a slower-tempo and thickly-downtuned groove.

37:00-45:33
GARGANJUA (UK)
The New Sun
— The vocals are everything, encasing you in the beauty of their bubble of modern post-metal sound. Seriously, take a break and listen to this whole album.

46:14-52:46
OBSIDIAN TONGUE (Maine)
Return to the Fields of Violet
—Haunting soaring melody, definitely from the drama of Maine.

53:17-END
THE SPIRIT (Germany)
The Wide Emptiness
— Evil demonic death broken into pieces of emotional guitars and vocals, with thrash groove riffage.

My Best of the Decade show, counting down to my number 1 album of the last 10 years!

BATILLUS (Brooklyn), album – Furnace (2011)
Song: ...And The World Is As Night To Them (0:25-9:00)
— This song is in my top 10 of all time, and watching Fade headbang to it is the best ever. They are kings of lead up and hotness. Fade is also the mastermind of Statiqbloom.

VENENUM (Germany), album – Trance of Death (2017)
Song: The Nature Of The Ground (10:09-15:42)
— This album builds upon itself, revealing bits in every listen. I think I listened to this vinyl every Friday for a year, bringing me to my weekend in a mesmerizing psychedelic death trance.

HORISONT (Sweden), album – Second Assault (2012)
Song: Crusaders Of Death (16:00-20:40)
— Sweden has so many beautiful rocking retro bands, and Horisont is their king. Each song has a unique way of jamming out.

ORANSSI PAZUZU (Finland), album – Kosmonument (2011)
Song: Loputon tuntematon (21:10-26:58)
— Alien brains unleash waves of strange immersive eclectic intergalactic textures.

DAWNBRINGER (Chicago), album – Nucleus (2010)
Song: The Devil (27:40-33:37)
— First time I was introduced to Chris Black, also of High Spirits and Aktor. His guitar tone is is rocker 70's, glam 80's and the riffage of a thousand headbangers.

THE RUINS OF BEVERAST (Germany), album – Exuvia (2017)
Song: Surtur Barbaar Maritime (34:12-43:03)
— I listened to both Venenum and The Ruins of Beverast every Friday to decompress from the world. Each minute brought me closer to not absolutely hating everything and everyone. The Ruins of Beverast is evil, demonic and tribal. And the album cover is fucking awesome.

HORROR VACUI (Italy), album – Return of the Empire (2014)
Song: 5000 (43:35-47:40)
— One of those shimmeringly romantic deathrock and dark wave albums that you hear once every 20 years. Brings me right back to those days living in my parents' basement, staying up to watch 120 Minutes.

GRAVEYARD (Sweden), album – Hisingen Blues (2011)
Song: The Siren (48:42-54:32)
— Listening to this album will make your jeans flare, your joint light up, and your long hair part in the middle. A retro jewel with a gorgeous lead vocalist. I think they won the Norwegian grammy.

DAVID BOWIE (UK), album – Blackstar (2016)
Song: Lazarus (54:51-1:01:09)
— Sob, David Bowie. This album does you justice. Made to be played with wine and good friends.

SHE PAST AWAY (Turkey), album – Belirdi Gece (2012)
Song: Sanri (1:01:41-1:05:50)
— The new generation of dark pop and dance wave is spectacular. They are true vampires. I got to see them on my birthday, and I will never forget.

My #1 Album
MURMUR (Chicago), album – S/T (2014)
Song: Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1:06:27-END)
— Easily my number one album. It blooms from psychedelic to jazz to vicious black metal, and each second between is a joy.

My Best of 2019 ends here with my #1 album, Witch Trail (Belgium)!

Album Art
A lot of metal bands chose Mariusz Lewandowski as their artist this year, and received the exact same cover. He should not have done that. So I've skipped all of those bands, even though technically the art is awesome (e.g. Fuming Mouth).
Ad Patres (FR), album - A Brief Introduction To Human Experiments: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0625848865_10.jpg
Critic (France), album - Eveil De L'esprit: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0185422145_10.jpg
Damnation Defaced (Germany), album - The Devourer: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0317751538_10.jpg
Disentomb (AU), album - The Decaying Light: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2784689877_10.jpg
Feral (Sweden), album- Flesh for Funerals Eternal: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3992260695_10.jpg
God Disease (Finland), album - Drifting Towards Inevitable Death: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3703540376_10.jpg
Guðveiki (Iceland), album - Vængför: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1910583303_10.jpg
High on Fire (Oakland), album - Bat Salad: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1834743777_10.jpg
Hornwood Fell (Italy), album - Damno Lumina Nocte: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0987484078_10.jpg
Ogarya (France), album – Inclination: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1079877534_10.jpg
Plaguebringer (CAN), album - Diabolos: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1020675703_10.jpg
Pulchra Morte (USA), album - Divina Autem Et Aniles: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0838456446_10.jpg
Relics Of Humanity (Minsk), album - Obscuration: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4101279720_10.jpg
Seer (CAN), album - Vol. 6: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1552924366_10.jpg
Skullpture (Chile), album - Reborn In Decay: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1628348844_10.jpg
Triumvir Foul (Portland), album - Urine of Abomination: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4279260030_10.jpg
Vader (Poland), album - Thy Messenger: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0740756423_10.jpg
Vale Of Pnath (Denver), album - Accursed: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0493728966_10.jpg
Venom Prison (UK), album – Samsara: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2210657858_10.jpg
Vimur (GA), album - Triumphant Master of Fates: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1633501463_10.jpg

Evil Psychedelic Avant Garde
PHOBONOID (Italy), album - La Caduta di Phobos
Song: CoRot-7b (0:25-5:57)
— Psychedelic takes you on a cerebral journey: bending, decompressing, compressing. Phobonoid has a massive album, dense, dystopian, alien and fully immersive.

Runner Up:
Waste of Space Orchestra (Finland), album – Syntheosis
— Waste of Space Orchestra builds upon these peyote dreams of different textures and feels and movements and effects, rumbling over your brain, erupting in your brain, pulsating through your brain.

Grindcore
CLOUD RAT (MI), album – Pollinator
Song: Last Leaf (7:31-9:57)
— Grindcore pummels raw dissonance within a short set of time. Cloud Rat creates yet another album that is a vibrant furious rebellion, poetic and punk. Her vocals are versatile enough to also front a dark ambient album, ALSO released last year.

Runners Up:
Full of hell (MD, PA), album – Weeping Choir
— I saw Full of Hell live, and it was without a doubt one of the best live shows ever. The vocalist is a god, just powerful and reining his wrath upon the peons.
No One Knows What The Dead Think (NJ), album - s/t
— Thriving New Jersey dynamic grindcore with expressively insane vocals and brutal tempo. The album is hella solid.

Goth/Deathrock/Industrial
RITUAL HOWLS (Detroit), album – Rendered Armor
Song: I Can Hear Your Tears (10:29-15:21)
— I love this vocalist so much. Romantic, lush wave with a darker goth, deathrock and industrial layer.

Runners Up:
Statiqbloom (Brooklyn), album – Asphyxia
— I know it is really boring for me to love Statiqbloom every time he releases an album, but he is incredible. Experimental and strange, badass vocal effects, nostalgic, all of it rolled into the perfect cold, creepy industrial package. Statiqbloom has won my “Best of” multiple times before.
Die Sektor (GA), album - Death My Darling
— Catchy, melodic industrial and electronic dance and synth with nods to their forefathers like KMFDM and Skinny Puppy. Modern streaks of experimental break apart the dance, keeping the compositions unique. The vocals are very reminiscent of Ogre.

Hardcore/Crust/Influenced
KNOCKED LOOSE (KY), album - A Different Shade of Blue
Song: Belleville (15:53-19:09)
— Kentucky brings the inspirational, anthemic passion and a lead singer that drives their fans crazy. There is a metal edge, including a secondary gruff vocalist.

Runners Up:
Portrayal of Guilt (Austin), album - Suffering Is A Gift
— 2018’s Best Hardcore with a sophomoric album that is darker, bleaker and more chaotic.
Oozing Wound (Chicago), album - High Anxiety
— This trio has always made me so fucking happy. Fans of Karp and Big Black, and produced by Steve Albini, and it shows. Thrashcore, noise, angular, prog-crust with smokey vocals.
Fuming Mouth (MA), album - The Grand Descent
— Filthy crust layered death with down-tuned breakdowns.

Warm Male Vocals
MAGIC CIRCLE (MA), album - Departed Souls
Song: Valley Of The Lepers (19:36-26:40)
— Lead singer is a powerful, groovy 70's FIERCE with an emotional level that was unique.

Runners Up:
Spirit Adrift (AR), album - Divided by Darkness
Temple of the Fuzz Witch, album - S/T (stoner)
Cult Of Luna (Sweden), album – A Dawn to Fear
Bask (NC), album – III

Blackened Death (2 Winners!)
XOTH (Seattle), album - Interdimensional Invocations
Song: Mountain Machines (27:32-31:20)
— Chomping technical metal and turbulent tempos with a venom-pitched vocalist.

WORMWITCH (Vancouver), album - Heaven That Dwells Within
Song: Dancing in the Ashes (31:53-36:27)
— Fighting for #1 album of the year and WAY different from Xoth. Unafraid to blend gorgeous guitar instrumentals and groove to create a vivid texture.

Runners Up:
Vacivus (UK), album – Annihilism
— Fire-breathing demonic beast with technical harmonizing guitar monsters, interweaving to create ripping riffs. The vocalist is a massive spread of guttural and screech.
Bölzer (Switzerland), album - Lese Majesty
— Raw animalistic predatory metal with experiments in tempo creating more chaos.
Haunter (TX), album - Sacramental Death Qualia
— Technical shards of dissonant-shaped death that pummel, mastered by one of my favorite musicians, the dude from Convulsing, hearts.

American Black Metal (2 Winners!)
VIMUR (GA), album - Triumphant Master of Fates
Song: Adversarial Impetus Ignition (37:17-44:47)
— There are black metal forests in Georgia. The southern side warms this otherwise cold and dramatic structure to chomping and catchy. A blast.

AORATOS (CO), album - Gods Without Name
Song: Holy Mother of Terror (45:43-49:57)
— Witches breathe through the instruments creating dense weird creepy effects and wicked forms.

Runners Up:
Vale (Oakland), album – Burden of Sight
—Raw pummeling aggression, filthy punk grit, and massive female vocalist.
Yellow Eyes (NYC), album – Rare Field Ceiling
One of my favorite black metal bands, Yellow Eyes always release albums that require time to unpack. Raw American black metal, Yellow Eyes has mind-melding tempo changes, sinister and buzzing creeping atmosphere, hella riffs and a desperate vocal that hides within a shroud. It’s dense spectacularly strange story-telling, providing more insights with each listen.
Mizmor (Portland), album – Cairn
Horror upon horrors upon ash upon death upon dead until you are gone.

Death (2 Winners!)
VALE OF PNATH (Denver), album – Accursed
Song: Accursed (50:54-55:34)
— Sinister concoctions of evil, progressive, horror death in the script of a snake-hissing vocalist.

BLOOD INCANTATION (Denver), album - Hidden History of the Human Race
Song: Slave Species of the Gods (55:55-1:01:20)
— Guitars build-up within an insane wall of strange compositions that drop into mesmerizing pools of psychedelic.

Runners Up:
Soulmass (FL), album – The Weakness of Virtue
— Crisp production and strangling gurgling vocals with head churning explosions built within sinister doom. And the doom really infiltrates, bringing in unique compositions and time to stretch.
Hath (NJ), album – Of Rot and Ruin
— Melodic funk and harmonizing gorgeous guitars were an added texture to neck-chomping tempos and a scorched vocalist. Stylish font and album cover added bonus.
Ossuarium (Portland), Living Tomb
— Portland is the coolest city in the country. Truly fire and hell death, a vocalist barely breathing above ground.

Saturday Album and #1 Album of 2019
WITCH TRAIL (Belgium), album – S/T
Song: Afloat (1:02:17-END)
— Saturday album is the one I listen to the most. Witch Trail blends alternative, metal and noise rock, but what makes it erupt is their vicious singer. It is the juxtaposition of light and dark without tight boundaries.

Best Live Show:
JONATHAN BREE (New Zealand), at Rickshaw – an intimate experience to the most unique show I have ever seen outside of Skinny Puppy
ORANSSI PAZUZU (Finland), at Cornerstone – the Finnish are the only men that look good with man-buns
PINK TURNS BLUE (Berlin)/NEAR DARK FEST, at The Uptown – romantic dark wave festival introducing me to female-led The Ire (Detroit) and Yama Uba (Oakland)
SHE PAST AWAY (Turkey/UK), at Neck of the Woods – on my birthday no less!  Sold out, the bay area showed UP; and I met some really nice people that night
STUMPFEST FESTIVAL, at Mississippi Studios – we got to see our friends Terry Gross and hang out in Portland
PETER MURPHY (UK), at The Chapel – he sang the entire Deep album and special songs from Love Hysteria and I was pretty much in tears the whole show
 
Heavy Metal/Retro/Doom
KRYPTOS (India), album – Afterburner
Song: Dead of Night (0:25-5:23)
— Nostalgic heavy metal that is catchy without being repetitive, with a fiery evil singer.  Everything we want from a sword wielding witch. 
 
Runners-Up:
Traveler (CAN), album - S/T
— Damn straight, guys fucking rock.
Spirit Adrift (AR), album - Divided by Darkness
— Nate Garrett’s vocals bring life to his lyrics.  This is heart-wrenching heavy metal.
Crypt Sermon (Philly), album - The Ruins of Fading Light
— This album goes on for days; full on lyrical genius sung by a doom-master.
Horseburner (WV), album – Fathoms
— Similar to their brethren West Virginia band Brimstone Coven with southern charm and whiskey vocal, but with a unique harder edge.
 
Atmospheric/Melodic Black Metal
MISÞYRMING (Iceland), album - Algleymi
Song: Með Svipur á Lofti (6:51-13:52)
— Revels in the torment, vocalizing their surroundings in a haunting, frosty black metal with different styles and energy.
 
Runners-Up:
Belenos (France), album - Argoat
— Belenos vocals are rippling energy.  He rolls over achingly melodic guitars, entrenching the sound with more soul. This is not black gaze, this is raw, thoughtful and immense with accompanying cathedral vocals.
The Great Old Ones (France), album: Cosmicism
— There is nothing like French brooding.  The Great Old Ones use blast beat heavy lead-ups and French rasps that bleed into deep unexpected loveliness. 
  
Thrash
NECROPANTHER (Denver), album - The Doomed City
Song: Death at Hand (14:25-17:19)
— Necropanther’s vocalist is an insane alien beast lining riffs and groovy thrash and monster death. 
 
Runners-Up:
Illyrian (Alberta), album – The Entity
— Canadian fists flying to speed, technically tempoed, and viciously vocalized.
High Command (MA), album - Beyond the Wall of Desolation
— Warm thick guitar that chomps, romps and punches.
Inculter (Norway), album – Fatal Visions
— Hammer precise drums and earth shattering riffs to keep it real.
Algebra (Swizerland)
— Technical thrash with disjointed proggy tempos.
 
Sludge
INTER ARMA (VA), album - Sulphur English
Song: A Waxen Sea (17:50-25:12)
— Refined sludge in the form of dreamy and meditative that bleeds into filthy and proggy, and experimental becomes post-metal,

Runners-Up:
Terre (Belgium), album - S/T
— Creeping, deep into the earth is a writhing vocal.  This is where the band starts, penetrating its filth with a down-tuned dirty thick bass.
Fange (France), album - Punir
— Fange has it all, including noise, industrial, hardcore, sludge, laid atop a slab of atmospheric black metal.
Rorcal (Switzerland), album - Muladona
— Thick pummeling drums in a vicious black and death metal and abrasive core.
Lord Mantis (Chicago), album - Universal Death Church
— Sludgy, dense, and textural, with melodic and groove in the mix.
 
Modern Death
WACHENFELDT (Sweden), album - The Interpreter
Song: Ut (26:02-33:30)
— Savage drums and riffs crushing each other into pinpoints of compressed blazing horror-filled thrashing and swelling sharp guitar solos and harmonies.
 
Runners-Up:
Tomb Mold (Toronto), album - Planetary Clairvoyance
— Pummeling drummer is also the blistering vocalist, both instruments their own beasts. Guitars follow on a wild ride breaking apart the ferocious death metal.
Light Dweller (AR), album – Incandescent Crucifix
— Holy shit this is a huge album; jagged, angular, sharp and complex.
Ceremony Of Silence (Slovakia), album – Oútis
— Psychedelic death metal now? Expand the brain and then pummel it into pieces, living the Slovakian dream.
Unaussprechlichen Kulten (Chile), album - Teufelsbücher
— Angular weird proggy death with refreshing piano.
Arallu (Israel), album – En Olam
— Middle eastern ethnicity fully integrated in explosive death metal. Infectious, unique and deeply headbang-worthy.
 
Modern Black Metal
SCHAMMASCH (Switzerland), album – Hearts of No Light
Song: Ego Sum Omega (34:21-42:09)
— Emotional and gruff baritone juxtaposed with shimmering instrumentals in a soaring, majestic black metal that drizzles into a goth mist, proggy interludes, and retro doom.
 
Runners-Up:
Deathspell Omega (France), album - The Furnaces of Palingenesia
— The vocalist is at the forefront, a grunting guttural menace, creating a horror-atmosphere where the plodding tempos and strange mesmerizing guitars follow.
Svartelder (Norway), album – Pits
— Being chased down a wind-swept black metal mountain by a rabid vampire in a hot folk outfit.  Completely under the radar.
Mesarthim (Australia), album - Ghost Condensate
— Electronics within a shrieking black metal is just, surprising.
Guðveiki (12/18) (Iceland), album - Vængför
— Another explosive alien black metal offering from Iceland, raw and progressive and scary.
 
Alternative
DIÄT (Berlin), album - Positive Disintegration
Song: We (42:49-46:38)
— Old school alternative alternating from poppy to ambient to gothy-dance to noise and punk.  
 
Runners-Up
Boy Harsher (MA), album – Careful
— Massachusetts duo with deeply emotional and stylistic dark and minimal wave supported by velvety female vocals.
TR/ST (Toronto) album – The Destroyer
— I cannot tell you how much I love this lead singer.  Just, love. 
 
Evil Male Vocals
LORD MANTIS (Chicago), album – Universal Death Church
Song: Fleshworld (47:25-55:30)
— Vocals scratch and rasp and screech and whisper horror. 
 
Runners-Up
Vortex of End (France), album – Ardens Fvror
Profanatica (CT), album - Rotting Incarnation of God
Vacivus (UK), album - Annihilism
Negator (Germany), album – Vnitas Pvritas Existentia
 
Female Vocals
VENOM PRISON (UK), album – Samsara
Song: Sadistic Rituals (55:54-59:38)
— Beastly muscular vocals accompanied by brain-bashing, stunning, surprising, dense, REQUIRED death metal mixed with aggressive hardcore.
 
Runners-Up
Vale (Oakland), album – Burden of Sight
Immortal Bird (Chicago), album – Thrive on Neglect
Bethlehem (Germany), album – Lebe Dich Leer
False (MN), album - Portent
Freedom of Fear (Adelaide), album – Nocturnal Gates
 
Best German Black Metal, #2 Album
KRATER (Germany), album – Venenare
Song: Atmet Asche (1:00:29-END!)
— The best albums are indirect, they are unexpected, they are filled with a million facets that are undiscoverable.  My favorite black metal is this textured journey, and Krater all in a dystopian package.
 
Runners-Up
Imperium Dekadenz (Germany), album – When We Are Forgotten
— 2 piece creating diverse and textured sound, a glossy, foggy, ethereal black metal, cascading desolation and sorrow.
Thormesis (Germany), album – The Sixth
— Desperation-lined vocals creates heartfelt melancholy not shying away from sweet melody and instrumentals; and organic drumming steering away from machine beats.  The whole album is explosive in emotional energy.
Verheerer (Germany), album - Monolith
— Brooding and theatrical with glorious and vivid compositions, but still fucking rocks out.
Schattenfall GER), album - Melancholie des Seins
Chanting poetry from a new vocalist in this sophomore album. 
Negator (Germany), album – Vnitas Pvritas Existentia
— Fantasy world of monsters and battles and horns that creates just a blast.  Whimsical, if your brain was fucked.

0:25-7:22
XANTAM (CA)
Pseudogods
— One man band, fueled by Satan. Gargling monster vocals and an onslaught of pummeling nightmare vocals and angry riffs.

8:17-16:35
TORTURE CHAIN (US)
Chaos at Feast / The Ascent of Deimos
— Another sole-brained band creating a strain of venomous death metal with a distant vision of cold horror atmosphere.

17:00-21:06
OGARYA (France)
Damnatio Memoriae
— Carnival, symphonic and theatrical concoction of proggy and furious.

21:34-28:48
CULT OF ERINYES (Belgium)
Nothing Is Owed To The Void
— Belgian sinister with layers of spewing guitars and cruel vocals.

29:11-34:57
PANZERFAUST (Toronto)
The Decapitator's Prayer
— Sledgehammer drums and vocals that blow fire and ash.

35:13-43:29
VERDUN (France)
The Second Sun
— Misty malaise mixed with dense and distorted sludge and a hardcore vocalist.

43:48-49:13
DARKEND (Italy)
With Everburning Sulphur Unconsumed
— Romantic black metal with a growling baritone vocalist.

49:37-55:03
HELLEBORUS (CO)
Juniper Shrine
— Colorado black metal, raw and bleak with enough melody and groove that bleeds into symphonic.

55:32-1:04:18
OAK (Portugal)
Maze
— A duo with an explosive vocalist that can do blistering fast and massive slow fury in building compositions.

1:04:55-END
UNDER THE PLEDGE OF SECRECY (Germany)
Euphoric Bliss
— Intense prog and grind and technical death metal with German surprises.

Special holiday dance party set!

0:25-4:20 dude
KARP
Bacon Industry

4:21-8:52
VIOLENT FEMMES
Add it Up

8:53-14:01
METALLICA
Battery

14:02-18:59
PINK TURNS BLUE
If Two Worlds Kiss

19:00-22:49
SCORPIONS
Sails Of Charon

22:49-27:43
MANICURE
I Wanna Be Free

27:43-34:09
UFO
Rock Bottom

34:10-39:52
YAZ(OO)
Situation

39:53-43:44
SISTERS OF MERCY
Nine While Nine

43:45-47:15
DAVID BOWIE
Ashes to Ashes

47:15-50-24
AFGHAN WHIGS
Retarded

50-24-53:50
DEPECHE MODE
Personal Jesus (Remix)

53:51-57:34
NEW ORDER
Bizarre Love Triangle (Remix)

57:34-END
WHAM (RIP George Michael, sob)
Last Christmas

0:25-6:34
BLOOMING CARRIONS (Finland)
Enchantment Of Slaughtering
— Murky Finnish vocals is an alien beast traversing a desolate horror-filled atmosphere.

7:37-13:49
BÖLZER (Switzerland)
Into The Temple Of Spears
— Raw animalistic predatory death metal with prog and experiments in tempo creating more chaos.

14:18-22:48
SUN OF THE SLEEPLESS (Germany)
The Lure of Nyght
— Split with Cavernous Gate, another cool German band. Layering romantic universes; shimmering breaking into blistering.

23:10-27:19
SKULLCRUSH (AZ)
Nightmares For The Blind
— Mosh pit raucous death metal that just really wants to punch you in the face.

27:40-31:31
THE SERFS (Germany)
Beauty Contest
— Lovely danceable nostalgic synth wave.

31:55-39:34
ARKONA (Poland)
Age of Capricorn
— Grim bleak eastern Europeans have knack for adding sweetened melodies to show their romantic side.

40:06-46:05
SARTEGOS (Spain)
Arqueiro
— Gritty, muscular death mixed with raw, horror black with synthy doom helping with melody. .

47:05-55:44
SPACESLUG (Poland)
Half-Moon Burns
— This spacy stoner psychedelic with an ethereal vocalist is better than most in this genre. Polish do it again.

56:07-END
TEETH (CA)
Husk
— Clenched fist of grind, but songs are diverse with experiments in tempo and melody making an appearance.

All dark wave, cold wave, post-punk, deathrock, goth, noise rock show.

0:25-4:00
THIS COLD NIGHT (Austin)
Black Cherry
— Like the name of the album Black Cherry, a tart and sweet concoction of guitar and synth, incredibly emotionally nostalgic for 80's era dance-floor and cold wave.

4:01-7:02
TRISTESSE LOYAL (Germany)
Radiation
— Languid German vocalist dripping disdain on electronic effects and beat; and super catchy to boot.

7:03-10:16
LAS ERAS (Buenos Aires)
Caraza
— Bass-heavy, depressive side of pop ala New Order style. I liked the touch of early industrial in the following song.

10:17-11:54
DEE BEE RICH (Germany)
middle class
— You know Berlin has it going on, their music follows no pattern which means the scene is truly independent and vibrant and inspirational. A fun jangling noise trip. These guys are hip.

11:55-17:44
EDWARD KA-SPEL (London)
Waves Unchained
— Legendary Edward with his poetry.

17:45-21:52
SUB-SAHARA (TX)
10-15
— A touch of emo-punk vocals with melodic-driven guitars.

21:52-28:15
CAUSA DE MUERTE (Chile)
Gelosia
— Female-fronted goth singing in Spanish. Sad face and shit, band recently no longer together.

28:16-31:15
THE WRAITH (LA)
Of the Earth
— Must be in the LA water. Deathrock rockin' goth through the veins, the vocalist reminded me of Mission UK.

31:16-35:10
STATIC PALM (London)
Sacred Heart
— My favorite type: sexy, danceable, darkly throbbing electronic with vivid threads of melodic synth and heavy bass. English men know how to do it.

35:11-40:35
SHADOWLANDS (Portland)
Demons
— Siouxsie-sharp vocals singing in incredibly dense, guitar-driven, emotional and sweet compositions held tightly within dark lyrics.

40:36-44:22
PLEASURE POLICY (CA)
Thousand Years of Tears
— Deeply baritone is always the vocal of a vampire.

44:53-49:41
SINDICATO VERTICAL (Spain)
Sweet Riot
— "You fucking lie." The lead singer is super charismatic; talking, muttering, shouting, singing, yelling. Everything I want from a man.

49:42-53:12
GRANE (AU)
Sophia
— Australian punk and deathrock led by a steel-edged female vocalist ala early Courtney Love.

53:13-56:08
CLOSED MOUTH (France)
never
— Prolific dark alternative band, creeping a spider dance across a gloomy ocean.

56:08-END
DELILUH (Toronto)
Lickspittle (A Nut In The Paste)
— A theatrical poetic symphony of instrumentation. Whimsical noise alternative, wholly unique.

0:25-4:46
VACIVUS (UK)
Indignus
— Fire-breathing demonic beast with technical harmonizing guitar monsters, interweaving to create ripping riffs. The vocalist is a massive spread of guttural and screech.

6:00-11:13
TAN KOZH (France)
A la gloire d'Indra
— Intense black metal, yes; the name translates to Old Fire and the vocalist is an incendiary match. Dynamic tempos and clear lyrics in French.

11:54-22:36
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS (WA)
Black Waves
— These bands need to stop using Mariusz Lewandowski to create the album covers, he has like a billion now out there in the exact same style. Abigail Williams has that cascading instrumentation Agalloch-style, with a lead singer that breaks into clean. Achingly romantic in parts.
Set as a free download: https://blood-music.bandcamp.com/album/walk-beyond-the-dark

23:03-27:50
OBSEQUIAE (MN)
Lone Isle
— Medieval metal that shimmers in stone corridors of yore, blending gorgeous compositions with mood and bite.

28:41-36:46
LORD MANTIS (Chicago)
Fleshworld
— The entire album has now been released, and it is still dives into sludgy dense and textural, with melodic and groove in the mix. Still pummels brah.

37:20-41:26
RAGNAROK (Norway)
Sanctimoneous
— 25-year-old Ragnarok has changed drummers, drummer became vocalist, and they are still relentless black metal curbed with heavy metal.

41:52-47:29
ORTHODOXY (Spain)
Key to Victory
— Gritty horror death with varying speed creating the bloody sound.

48:20-54:19
FUROR BREVIS (France)
Retribution I
— Distorted mask of sophisticated, deranged and acidic black and death atmosphere.

54:57-END
UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION (UK)
Maniacal Disillusion
— The vocalist will tear you apart, with both muscular and sharply carved screeches accompanying a stabbing insane tempoed mix of brutal death metal.

0:25-4:12
NECROPANTHER (Denver)
Argos
— Yoda ear metal. Gurgling demonic alien vocals with groovy thrash and monster death that is fist clenchingly satisfying.

5:17-10:20
WITCH TRAIL (Belgium)
Residue
— Beautiful post-punk and dark alternative blended into a thick cloud of noisy black metal. Don't miss this album.

10:54-17:40
KRATER (Germany)
Atmet Asche
— Melodic underpinning the cold black metal drumming and atmospheric guitars all in a dystopian package. Another excellent German black metal band.

18:00-26:01
CONSTELLATIA (South Africa)
All Nights Belong To You
— Misty shoegaze shattering into a blooming canopy of black metal.

27:03-35:40
LITURGY (Brooklyn)
Hajj
— Just, unique. Electronic bursts, disjointed piano, and a howling beast lost in the mayhem. In the past I thought these guys were a bit much, but this album is compelling.

36:13-39:42
DEN (Chicago)
Entire Mire
— Bluesy vocalist drenching the lyrics. Bass-heavy noise and psychedelic twisted ala Chicago.

40:09-45:57
KING (AU)
Beyond The Exosphere
— Super catchy melodic death and moody heavy metal with a black metal vein. Yep, all of it, and even though it is super catchy, it is also explosive and a blast.

46:56-52:59
ATEIGGÄR (Switzerland)
Us D‘R Höll Chunnt Nume Zyt
— Crusty, grim black metal drowning you in its sweat and blood. But fun!

53:21-57:45
BASK (NC)
Rid of You
— Heavy rock with a lean to 90's era proggy alternative and a stunner of a vocalist.

58:13-END
STREET SECTS (Austin)
If Life is a Gift, It's in Very Poor Taste
— It felt I was listening to Foetus and Skinny Puppy. True early industrial-style.

0:25-8:25
SCHAMMASCH (Switzerland)
Katabasis
— Chanting, meditative, guttural throat carving, experimental, strange, weirdo black metal.

9:21-14:35
TR/ST (Toronto)
Iris
— TR/ST (formerly Trust) have been around for 10 years, and I am just learning to completely fall head over heels with the meteor-shower vocalist and romantic synth backdrop. Achingly lovely dark wave.

15:03-19:29
RORCAL (Switzerland)
Carnations were not the smell of death. They were the smell of desire
— Rorcal's song titles are masterpieces themselves. Thick pummeling drums in a vicious black and death metal and abrasive core.

19:56-27:03
VIALS OF WRATH (TN)
With distance
— A spectrum of tragic and sweet with black metal guitars and a slice of raw grieving vocals.

27:36-37:31
IAPETUS (NY)
The Body Cosmic
— Each song is a textural journey that comes out of a parallel world.

37:56-43:58
PIST (UK)
Fools Gave Chase
— Punk rock with heavy metal ballads and a sharp-edged hardcore vocalist. They love the slow-down energized with unique riffs.

45:00-50:52
SARKE (Norway)
Cribs Hand
— Supergroup with a theatrical Lemmy-sounding vocalist of Darkthrone, with symphonic peppering of ballad sweetness.

51:30-END
BHLEG (Sweden)
Från eld till aska
— A great balance of melancholy stringed folk and black metal with an alien vocalist.

0:25-9:23
VÉHÉMENCE (France)
Épopée - Par Le Sang Versé
— Medieval horn and fiddle with black metal and sexy French vocals.

10:20-15:55
NORDKVÄDE (Sweden)
Höstens Dimma
— Duo mixes rubber band twang and doomy melodic with jaunty black and roll.

16:27-19:32
MIDNIGHT (Cleveland)
Rebirth by Blasphemy
— Anthemic beer, neck, and bonding metal.

20:12-29:24
STRANGE PEOPLE IN PAIN (Chicago)
The Ritual
— Victor Fisher aka The Lord Reverend Wizard of Alchemical Despair aka the infamous Bruce's Crain's acquaintance is mostly a philosophizer that lends his wholly compelling and uniquely creepy vocal to a wonderfully emotionally-laden black metal. I listened to this on repeat.
https://strangepeopleinpain.com/library/

30:23-38:49
WILDERUN (MA)
The Tyranny of Imagination
— Yes, this sounds like Opeth.

39:15-44:35
YEAR OF THE COBRA (Seattle)
Demons
— Wide range of female vocals in a bass-driven fuzz and stoner.

45:45-48:55
CHTHONIC DEITY (Denver)
Drained
— Colorado death is evil, period. It's the lack of oxygen.

49:17-56:11
FEN (UK)
Nebula
— Lush post and regular black metal with a sharp edge of desperate vocals.

56:32-END
VOICE OF RUIN (Switzerland)
Parasomnia
— Riff-heavy thrash and death with drums that blast your face off. 

0:25-5:40
NEGATOR (Germany)
Pyroleophis
— Another badass German black metal with incredibly emotional desperation that made me nuts(ier). The lead singer, I bow to his screams.

6:55-12:20
XOTH (Seattle)
Plague Revival 20XX
— A scifi-loving technical black speed and death muscularity with a lead singer who lets loose and pushes this out of control.

12:54-20:33
ALCEST (France)
Spiritual Instinct
— Blackgaze is not benign; Alcest is soaring and bellowing landscapes that breathe fresh.

21:04-28:41
THE GREAT OLD ONES (France)
Lost Carcosa
— Blastbeat heavy lead-ups paced into headbanging French broodiness.

29:45-34:16
MAYHEM (Norway)
Agenda Ignis
— Dead, Euronymous, Varg, Norwegian prison, books, movies, documentaries, legends. Well the legends have released their malevolent beast of a sound yet again. Attila's vocals are extraordinary evil.

34:52-38:43
DAWN RAY’D (UK)
The Smell of Ancient Dust
— Raw aggression sliced with violin and vocals, screeching against fascism and invisible borders.

39:10-45:14
RUNEMAGICK (Sweden)
Necromancer of the Red Sun
— Slow, sinister, thickly-toned guitar swirled with groove and riffs.

46:01-50:43
COFFIN ROT (OR)
Forced Self-Consumption
— Portland brings the chunky jagged death speed.

50:58-54:00
EXHORDER (New Orleans)
Ripping Flesh
— 30 years creates a cacophony of explosive thrash.

54:33-END
CHAINED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN (MA)
I Will Possess Your Heart
— The vocalist highlights this brand of sludge, with a spectrum of brutal breaking into gorgeous clean.

0:25-6:26
TEITANBLOOD (Spain)
Inhuman Utterings
— Scorched, bubbling, explosive heat from a tightly textured mass.

7:17-14:43
FLESHMEADOW (Norway)
Visions
— Norwegian jagged black metal with death chomping at the edges.

15:07-21:13
THE HOLEUM (Spain)
Fractal Visions
— Somber melancholy epic sludge with quiet pools of guitar and saxophone.

21:48-26:48
LIGHTNING BOLT (RI)
Big Banger
— Rabid fans at their shows for a reason. Drummer vocalist is a performance artist. These guys are actually getting better, frenzied and loud and unique as ever.

27:28-34:42
UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN (Spain)
Flapping Membraneous Wings
— Angular weird proggy death and nothing creating boundaries. Surprising piano refreshes.

35:17-41:12
HOLY SERPENT (AU)
Marijuana Trench
— Soaring psychedelic rock and a deeply romantic vocalist.

41:28-47:56
OSSUAIRE (CAN)
La Flamme Noire de Ge'henom
— Debut melodic black metal with thrash and gravelly vocals.

49:00-53:41
1349 (Norway)
Dødskamp
— Norwegian black metal with clean production, but don't be scared. Solid offering,

54:05-END
FVNERAL FVKK (Germany)
To Those in the Grave
— Crisp, clean layers with tempo and vocals as the main instruments.

0:25-6:02
CLOAK (Atlanta)
Tempter’s Call
— Ah, I love me a little goth and deathrock in black metal. Cloak also has a sexy baritone wrapping it up in a blast of a package.

7:08-14:09
BLOOD INCANTATION (CO)
The Giza Power Plant
— Psychedelic expands the tight corners of death into a wild tempestuous ride.

14:45-19:21
GOSUDAR (Russia)
King of Pain
— Part of a split with Carcinoid, playing their brand of gnarly doom and death.

19:39-26:31
CARCINOID (Australia)
Sickness
— This is from their debut full-length, released with their split with Gosudar. Filthy crusty death distorted into a vomit of sound.

27:08-31:49
SLUTVOMIT (Seattle)
Scythe of Mass Damnation
— Nothing but serious, raw, and desperate.

32:12-37:38
PROFANATICA (CT)
Sacramental Cum
— The vocals are just wickedly unique and scratching the edges of your brain.

37:51-46:18
SORXE (AZ)
Wondering If I Exist
— Electronic and sludge with a haunting lead singer.

47:24-55:30
MORTIFERUM (WA)
Putrid Ascension
— Another vicious, pummeling death with breakdowns of mid-tempo and sinister horror.

55:53-END
EXHUMED (San Jose)
Naked, Screaming, and Covered in Blood
— More old-school explosive chompable nuggets from Exhumed.

0:25-5:20
ARALLU (Israel)
Devil's Child
— Middle eastern ethnicity fully integrated in explosive death metal. Infectious, unique and deeply headbang-worthy.

6:18-12:14
VUKARI (Chicago)
Curiosity And Obsession
— Chicago brings in the proggy to this atmospheric black metal with a bleak and beautiful theme.

12:37-16:41
HIGH COMMAND (MA)
Merciless Steel
— Chomping, bumping, romping, punching, lurching, thrashy good times.

17:15-22:43
SEMPITERNAL DUSK (Portland)
Refracted Suffering Through The Windows Of Hell
— Portland wine with death metal. Perfect.

23:28-30:33
VERHEERER (Germany)
...He Shall Reap a Thousandfold
— Germanic black metal is my favorite. Brooding and theatrical with glorious and vivid compositions, but still fucking rocks out.

30:54-36:18
ALGEBRA (Swizerland)
Hateful Source
— Technical thrash with disjointed proggy tempos.

37:04-41:57
LORD MANTIS (Chicago)
Damocles Falls
— My 2014 Best Album of the year is finally back with the original lead singer who is famously raspy. And by famously, I mean, to me. This is a razor sharp vocal spread over mutated sludge, and I am looking forward to the full November release. With members from Abigail Williams, Cobalt, Indian, Pelican, and more.

42:11-47:55
TOXIC HOLOCAUST (Portland)
Cybernetic War
— Run in place with your parachute pants to this soundtrack.

48:14-55:41
FISTER (St. Louis)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
— One of my favorite sludge bands just released an album of covers. Hell yeah dude.

55:58-END
BLUT AUS NORD (France)
Haallucinählia
— More French black metal covered in a layer of mist and ethereal.

0:25-8:51
OPETH (Sweden)
Heart In Hand
— Opeth dive straight into the prog rock galaxy of sound effects, jammy meandering, piano, organ and intimate vocals.

10:27-14:56
URN (Finland)
Prayers
— Heavy metal-infused anthemic Lovecraftian-loving thrash.

15:20-20:59
ARCTOS (CAN)
A Realm Beyond
— Frosty warrior-marching black metal crossed with deeply emotional atmospheric melodic.

21:20-26:43
ANIFERNYEN (Portugal)
Christendoom
— Black metal vocalist supporting groove and death.

27:29-35:29
WHITE WARD (Ukraine)
Poisonous Flowers of Violence
— A massive album relaying a distorted, proggy, saxophone-filled post and black metal. It's a weird one.

35:48-41:19
MURDER MADE GOD (Greece)
Cognitive Dissonance
— Machine precise beats with bleak vocals makes it an evil Helmet.

42:00-46:52
NETHERBIRD (Sweden)
The Obsidian White
— Ballad-loving grandiose guitars and blast-beated black metal.

47:21-END
KOSTNATĚNÍ (CZ)
Hrůza zvítězí
— One-person steaming demonic vocals, pummeling blast beat and suffocating dread breaking into galloping riffs.

0:25-9:01
NIGHTFELL (OR)
(As Now) We Must Succumb
— Metal does depressive in the most monstrous way. This 2-piece adds a touch of gothic melancholy along with a fiery baritone vocalist and eruptions in riffs.

9:52-15:20
BELENOS (France)
Bleizken
— 8th album from this 1-piece who is uplifting in his solemnity; and sweet in his rage. Immense black metal that is incredibly thoughtful. I loved this album from beginning to end.

15:55-18:26
NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE DEAD THINK (NJ)
Cinder
— Thriving New Jersey scene offers No One Knows What The Dead Think is dynamic grindcore with expressively insane vocals and brutal tempo. The album is hella solid.

18:56-25:00
IMPERIUM DEKADENZ (Germany)
A Cave Called Wisdom
— Black hearts flutter around my head as I get swallowed whole by this 2-piece.

25:54-32:50
HAUNTER (TX)
Subversion of a Heathen Tongue
— Technical shards of dissonant-shaped death that pummel, mastered by one of my favorite musicians, the dude from Convulsing, hearts.

33:11-37:58
ENGULF (NJ)
Bane Of Fire
— A chugging, buzzing, blast-beated badass death from another incredible 1-piece!

39:11-46:08
CULT OF LUNA (Sweden)
Inland Rain
— I gave up on Cult of Luna when I gave up on post-metal. But this is strong, atmospheric doom with so many different angles. They are back. Well, they were always here, just back to me. Me, the most important in this equation.

47:12-50:40
BONES (Chicago)
Blood, Diarrhea, and Tears
— Oh, it is so easy to google "Bones Diseased" and come up with nothing relevant to a band. This is seething badass infectious Chicago death. Fuck yes!

51:05-END
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS (WA)
I Will Depart
— Crisp, translucent production; guitar tone is incredible. Just heard the single, excited to hear the rest.

0:25-5:09
APPARATUS (Denmark)
Synchraat
— Alien dissonance with cracks and mountains and whirlwinds and black holes, taking you out of your brain. Exactly what we need.

6:01-8:09
CLOUD RAT (MI)
Webspinner
— Cloud Rat has released 2 albums - a dark ambient synth weird-wave E.P; and a full-length of her grind and vibrant vocals. Love the diversity and quality of releases from this band. Yet another band I missed live because I was out of town for work.

8:42-13:20
DOLD VORDE ENS NAVN (Norway)
Vitnesbyrd
— Norwegian powerhouse of a supergroup, featuring members of Ulver, Nidinger, Dodheimsgard creating a too-short tempo-driven black metal E.P. I wanted more.

13:39-18:19
INSURRECTION (Netherlands)
Origin
— Immensely fun chomping thrash and death with vivid melodic punching through.

18:39-24:12
BLOOD RED THRONE (Norway)
Bloodity
— Splattered death with riffs, and a full range of vocals from beginning to end.

25:18-32:14
MGLA (Poland)
Age Of Excuse V
— Possibly far right-leaning, but I don't go with vague rumors. This is my Best Black Metal of 2016, bringing more of the excellent: deeply emotional black metal with filth and undertone of evil.

32:38-35:44
SLAUGHTBBATH (Chile)
Prophetic Crucifixion
— Dude, so refreshing for a chaotic technical dense black metal.

36:19-40:16
ETERNITY (Norway)
Horror Vacui
— Another awesome Norwegian band this week! The bassist of Mayhem and some other dudes have created their awesome version of Satanic black metal. All hail my butt!

40:37-45:31
BAEST (Denmark)
As Above So Below
— Muscular, filthy, galloping, terrorizing death.

46:40-51:44
KEYS OF ORTHANC (CAN)
Uruk Agh Burgul
— Tolkien loving dorks create dramatic black metal (surprise surprise) with a plethora of vocal style: high, low, and clean.

51:59-55:07
EYE FLYS (PA)
Fuckface
— Full of Hell dude creating tempo-lurching noise rock.

55:28-END
VITRIOL (Portland)
The Parting Of A Neck
— What else do you expect from the name of this band. Full on hate.

0:25-3:29
KNOCKED LOOSE (Kentucky)
By the Grave
— Fist-forward, direct blistering fun beastly hardcore.

4:40-10:47
SLEEPING ANCIENT (TX)
A Path Emerges
— Debut of black metal split apart by organic doom and gothic post-metal.

11:21-14:14
LORD GORE (Portland)
Million Maggot March
— Growling filthy Lord Gore haven't released anything for 15 years, but somehow stay relevant in muscular grind and death.

14:42-24:22
MIZMOR (Portland)
Desert of Absurdity
— One of my favorites, because so dynamic, so immense, so emotional and all the vocals. Love the plaintive.

25:09-30:17
TENEBRAE IN PERPETUUM (Italy)
Nero, oscuro concetto di assoluto
— Italian black metal with theatrical electronic blips making this strange and charming.

30:38-37:12
CRYPT SERMON (Philly)
Christ is Dead
— Soaring melodic vocal and lyric-forward dramatic heavy metal.

37:39-44:37
PA VESH EN (Belarus)
Wastelands of Plague
— You know you always want to hear your black metal through a wall of corpses 4 feet thick and ears filled with blood? Well here you go.

45:33-51:55
ETERNAL STORM (Spain)
Detachment
— A balanced approach of melodic melancholy and death without it being cheesy or overly dramatic.

52:24-56:20
COGNIZANCE (UK)
Ether of the Void
— Look, dudes are hot.

56:48-END
WRVTH (CA)
Pirouette Of Hysterics
— Band is done, but offering of melodic black and core with expansive passages of acoustic and atmospheric guitars.

0:25-7:15
HOPE DRONE (AU)
Forged by the Tide
— Australia's version of frosty, alien black metal with pockets of air to take gulps of their harmony and melody within.

8:26-13:38
WARCRAB (UK)
In The Arms Of Armageddon
— Swampy, thick monstrous sludge with massive drumwork.

14:11-18:48
WITCH VOMIT (Portland)
Dead Veins
— Nothing tongue-in-cheek here. Serious muscular death and sludge.

19:04-20:25
NO MÁS (D.C.)
Police Brutality
— Digestible chunks of grind made to decapitate you.

20:44-25:30
ECLIPTIC VISION (NY)
Cephalic Anomaly
— Catchy, crunchy, punchy death with a spectrum of vocals.

26:23-29:43
MYSTAGOGUE (Netherlands)
A Nacreous-Tinted Halo Of Bright Sorrow
— Bleak meditative black metal with hints of melody. The song titles are incredible.

30:09-32:09
PORTRAYAL OF GUILT (Austin)
Merciless
— Chaotic hardcore and black metal with a love for Converge

32:39-35:53
METH. (Chicago)
Failure
— Chicago style of experimental hardcore leaning towards creating a soundtrack of horror.

36:11-38:57
SUICIDAL ANGELS (Greece)
D.I.V.A
— Greek joyous thrash with riffs, hooks and rolling pumps and fists and skips.

39:27-46:22
CRIMSON MOON (Germany)
Vanitas
— Unique scraped vocals with vampiric black metal.

47:14-50:24
DEFACEMENT (Netherlands)
Anguished
— A hollow blur of vocals blasts heat against the dissonance.

50:47-54:30
DISOWNING (France)
Battle of Neverness
— Down with the man and the crown, all the assholes. We are all just human cattle.

55:02-END
ENTOMBED A.D. (Sweden)
Bowels Of Earth
— Swedish band Entombed A.D. is having fun with chomping anthemic beer and shot metal.

0:25-6:52
FREEDOM OF FEAR (Adelaide)
Purgatorium
— Innovative majestic melodic progressive death with a spectrum of brutal female vocals that command your attention.

7:45-12:12
HUMANITY'S LAST BREATH (Sweden)
Abyssal Mouth
— Industrial-infused wretched dystopia with monstrous growls and high-pitched evil. Fucking insane hellscape.

12:34-19:16
ISOLE (Sweden)
You Went Away
— Guitars and soaring vocals with just the right amount of dejection that brings depth to this doom nostalgia.

19:44-22:57
THE HOWLING WIND (NJ)
Decomposing Future
— One-man band, musician from Unearthly Trance. No longer with the original drummer in this 5th release. This is sinister crazed distorted black metal.

23:39-29:55
DEVOURMENT (TX)
Sculpted in Tyranny
— Crawling writhing rat monster vocals biting from the shadows, a cyclone of blood and bones blasting out.

30:10-34:56
RIPPER (Chile)
The Unreal
— Chileans throw out some thrash and death, with a weirdo lead singer. And yes, they rip.

35:14-41:18
ALCEST (France)
Protection
— Spectrum-playing blackgaze from the Parisians who perfected it.

42:08-46:58
POLEMICIST (Philly)
Concerning the Rabble
— Black and death with heavy threads of pagan. Real Philly grit.

47:20-55:33
WORMWOOD (Sweden)
Arctic Light
— The exact perfect proportion of Swedish folk mixed in with their brand of black, with fantastic vocals.

55:51-END
GATECREEPER (AZ)
Boiled Over
— More Arizonian death, first song of their release, excited to see how it will be filled out.

0:25-4:59
ILLYRIAN (Alberta)
Recipe for Disaster
— Canadian fists in the air, thrash and energy, proggy and technical, eh.

5:47-9:19
BLACKHELM (Melbourne)
The Infinite Void
— Thundering vocals against a tremendously satisfying backdrop of melodic death with harmonizing guitars.

9:42-16:09
FREEDOM OF FEAR (Adelaide)
Purgatorium
— Brutal female vocals create a snarling beast of a sound.

16:39-21:32
HORSEBURNER (WV)
Hand Of Gold, Man Of Stone
— West Virginia rockin', there is something in the water. Similar to their brethren West Virginia band Brimstone Coven with southern charm and whiskey vocal, but with a unique harder edge.

22:05-26:22
ORDEALS (NY)
A Throttled Dream
— Gurgling Satanic souls bellowing their brand of fury. Incredible lead singer.

26:56-35:41
FALLS OF RAUROS (Portland)
Memory at Night
— In the wake of the Portland band Aggalloch rises another black folk band with massive compositions.

36:17-43:35
SURYA (UK)
Black Snake Prophecy
— Lead-ups to deceleration, and beautiful post-metal passages. Nod to the tunes.

44:33-48:39
ECLIPSER (Ontario)
Sorrow Spirals
— Two incredibly mixed high and low pitched vocals; within a wall of blastbeating dense black metal.

49:08-54:00
MYLINGAR (Sweden)
Obalansen
— This is difficult. Bubbling cauldron of enveloping suffocating sound that creates death metal meditation.

54:36-END
HWWAUOCH (?)
Into the Labyrinth of Consciousness
— Anonymous horror, dense and a nightmare. Part of the Prava Kollektiv.

Special darkwave, coldwave, post-punk, new wave edition!

0:25-5:13
FEARING (Santa Cruz)
Behind the Mask
— This local band was amazing live, opening up for the epic band She Past Away this past week. Retro-goth with intense vocals and lyrics.

5:14-10:40
PINK TURNS BLUE (Germany)
Tomorrow Never Comes
— Pink Turns Blue have been around for 32 years playing moody goth-heavy darkwave with the most romantic lead singer ever. This album, The AERDT - Untold Stories, was released in 2016, and they finally tour in September.

10:40-15:22
DOWNLOAD (cEvin Key project) (Vancouver)
Takanadobabble (take 2)
— Support cEvin Key by buying his new 7"! Bro is one of the masterminds of Skinny Puppy, one of the most influential bands in this scene. They are gods.

15:23-20:12
JONATHAN BREE (Aukland)
You're So Cool
— This album released a year ago, but he is FINALLY touring 'cause dude is hailing from Aukland, and this is one of my favorite songs, ever.

20:13-24:45
SHE PAST AWAY (Turkey/Greece)
Yukseliyor Deniz
— One of the best modern goth bands, the legendary lead singer is equipped with a unique low and deep vocal. He breathes and you die. I was excited to see their show last week completely sold out; the bay area represented well.

25:04-30:46
THE HOWLING FOG (Adelaide)
The Needle's Falling
— Oof, this first single from an upcoming album is heart-wrenching in all the best ways. The vocalist is just incredible.

30:46-34:03
POLYCYTHEMIA (Russia)
Больничные койки
— Russian duo is mysterious, hailing from the middle of nowhere and recreating the gloom lined with unique, somehow joyful AND melancholy melodies.

34:04-38:19
BOY HARSHER (MA)
Fate
— One of my favorite bands, and they are a duo from Western Mass! They are dance synth with a very dark edge; and they shine in their instrumentals.

38:20-43:32
FACS (Chicago)
In Time
— Chicago always has an influence. This one is a weird, unexpected, stark and often minimalist, industrial-influenced post-punk with a Chicago-influenced avante-garde edge.

44:03-47:18
THOUGH LEADERS (Oakland)
Unless Awake
— Romantic post-punk saturated with shimmering melody created by LEGENDARY musicians in the Bay Area.

47:18-52:26
DEEP CROSS (Austin)
Somewhere Below
— I wasn't expected the vocals to go where it did, portions in this raspy metal-style.

52:27-56:22
DRAB MAJESTY (LA)
Oxytocin
— The more popular band of the bunch, a duo from Los Angeles creating a frothy new wave pop.

56:23-END
BROKEN COLUMN (Montreal)
Nothing
— Oh those French poets from the north.

0:25-5:35
TOMB MOLD (Toronto)
Infinite Resurrection
— Pummeling drummer is also the blistering vocalist, both instruments their own beasts. Guitars follow on a wild ride breaking apart the ferocious death metal.

6:38-12:19
SATURNUS TERRORISM (France)
La Rhétorique de la Terre part I
— French black metal that swallows its own sharp chilling thin and creeping sound.

12:45-19:59
THIEF (SF)
Spirit Archery
— Dylan of Botanist creates a dreamy, modern retrospective of avante garde electronic with chunks of deep and driving industrial.

20:25-23:43
DESECRESY (Finland)
Transfiguration March
— You only need to know these guys are Finnish. Death metal heat, but wait for them to show their charm. It's the non-obvious good kind.

24:22-28:17
REBEL WIZARD (AU)
floating forward with closed eyes filled with light
— Last year's Best Song Titles. This is one screeching weirdo, i.e. Australian.

28:37-32:33
INGESTED (UK)
Eternal Kingdoms, Pt. 1
— Riff-heavy blasting tech death is juxtaposed with shimmering instrumentals.

33:00-38:50
CRYPT SERMON (Philly)
Key of Solomon
— Unstructured doom with gorgeous lyrics and a vocalist that kicks down your door. Can't wait to hear the rest.

39:18-44:00
LVCIFYRE (UK)
Deaths Head In Crown
— Erupting lava of a vocalist covering a thick suffocating evil layer of death.

44:26-46:34
CLOUD RAT (MI)
Webspinner
— Last year's Best Female Vocalist breathing more badass into our lives.

47:31-52:53
OBSIDIAN SEA (Bulgaria)
Every Heart Hides A Killer
— Bulgarian stories in an incredible 70's revitalist style that leads up into your soul.

53:09-END
GROGUS (MN)
An Oceantomb of Centipedes
— Thickly throated hardcore with delicious tempo changes.

0:25-3:02
PORTRAYAL OF GUILT (Austin)
Scarcity
— My Best of 2018 Hardcore band is releasing a new EP in August, both bleak and energetically young with tons of brutality.

3:57-9:39
DAWN OF NIL (France)
Our Crusade
— Huge strange complex album with lush melody and a lean to prog. Really big.

9:58-15:28
ORPHALIS (Germany)
From the Depths
— Utterly decimating, but so delicious when they breakdown to their fist-worthy riffs.

15:58-21:15
WEAR YOUR WOUNDS (MA)
Shrinking Violet
— What an beautiful album from Converge lead singer Jacob Bannon. It sounds like Afghan Whigs mixed with the sweet side of Neurosis.

21:32-25:40
DISENTOMB (AU)
Dismal Liturgies
— His vocals blow hot over furious grind and death.

26:16-36:12
ARKHAAIK (Switzerland)
u̯rsn̥gwhé̄n
— Tribal Swiss with haunting folk and unique instrumentation. Weird mountain music.

36:26-40:26
TORCHE (FL)
Admission
— Torche know how to stay dreamy in their retro trip to pop and grunge and alternative.

41:24-47:11
FIELDS OF ELYSIUM (Sante Fe)
Frogs in the Distance After the Rain
— Prog and mathy and somehow tremendously heartfelt and just, out there. F

47:45-END
FALSE (MN)
A Victual For Our Dead Selves
— Wow, this is a female singer. Super Minneapolis viking black metal.

0:25-5:16
SKELATOR (Seattle)
Akira
— Dramatic operatic heavy metal with a love of soaring guitars and riffing riffs and thrashy thrash.

6:14-12:35
THIS GIFT IS A CURSE (Sweden)
Monuments for Dead Gods
— Swing the spectrum to pulverized melody within a scream and pummel.

13:01-17:49
DROUGHT YEAR (NC)
Drench
— A top notch distorted sludge filth with massive electronics and moody mayhem. The vocalist is a joy.

18:17-22:45
KRYPTOS (India)
Crimson Queen
— Indian stylized heavy metal with great album art and early 80's harmonizing solo guitars with a modern vocalist.

23:32-32:10
FETID (Seattle)
Draped in What Was
— Oh hell, this is just a bowel blowing beast.

33:00-38:00
A PREGNANT LIGHT (MI)
L.I.G.H.T.
— Conceptual without imagery. Punchy hardcore-heavy with a nod to black metal and a very strong lead singer with a lot of attitude.

38:24-43:57
NOCTURNAL BREED (Norway)
War-Metal Engine
— Sinister glorious infectious thundering and anthemic.

44:56-49:11
INCULTER (Norway)
Impending Doom
— Hammer precise drums and earth shattering riffs to keep it real.

49:37-54:58
MALIGNANT ALTAR (Houston)
Spectral Revulsion
— Texas creates malevolence. Fortunately this is the type we can love.

55:25-END
GRAFVITNIR (Sweden)
Nocturnal Sun
— Vivid slithering vocals.

0:25-6:02
HORNWOOD FELL (Italy)
Vulnera Pt. III
— The Italians are taking the control with versions of metal beyond your decrepit brain. This is abstracted black metal with sound effects and keyboard.

6:57-11:21
IATO (Italy)
Ucronia
— Speaking of Italy, another version of grind. Super satisfying and surprising.

12:22-19:14
WORSEN (North Carolina)
Cursed to Witness Life
— Young and In The Way was one of my favorites, and its lead singer started working on his one-man black metal 4 years ago. This is his debut, and it is harmony-driven punch black metal. Shit is good.

19:47-26:38
AXIOMA (Ohio)
Ascending the Mountain of Divinities
— Fucking Aaron Dallison of Keelhaul; this shit was IT. Honey on gravel on toast. Just, yeah.

27:20-35:38
ASHBRINGER (MN)
Absolution
— Ashbringer stretches out the sound. Take the ride.

36:16-40:24
HUMAN (Italy)
Human
— Damn, who knew I would love tech death, but of course this is Italian, so they push it in directions that increase your brain capacity.

40:48-45:15
BEASTWARS (New Zealand)
Storms of Mars
— Dimensional spacey stoner rock with an impassioned vocalist scratching his way through.

46:00-53:03
SUPERSTITION (Sante Fe)
Charnel Pleasures
— Raw sparse death that has a mullet you can't compete with.

53:28-END
CONSUMMATION (AU)
Ophidian Crown
— Dense filthy death from the aggress-iest scene. Australians don't like you

0:25-5:39
БАТЮШКА (KRZYSZTOF DRABIKOWSKI) (Poland)
Песнь 6
— Batushka are in a heated legal battle, and there seems to be drama on both sides. The NON-Metal Blade version is incredible epic melodic massive intense black metal with awesome riffs and vocals.

Edit: Earlier I had said I liked the Metal Blade version, but it is not the version.  I like the guitarist/Kryzsctof's version - it is way fucking more awesome.  No comparison.  They have similar album covers, so it is way confusing.

6:42-11:09
VIMUR (GA)
Nuclear Desecration
— Atlanta Georgia is making their name in frostbitten dramatic black metal that breaks down deliciously.

11:42-18:03
DARKTHRONE (Norway)
I Muffle Your Inner Choir
— The 18th full length of Darkthrone is more of the same vein of their recent style of chomping rock with just a little bit of sinister thrown in. These guys still have ideas.

18:34-26:08
LUNAR SHADOW (Germany)
Hawk of the Hills
— Retro dramatic heavy metal with some modern twists of death rock.

27:05-35:47
ABYSSAL (UK)
II – Discernment: Khyphotic Suzerains
— Malevolent churning dystopian death in fragmented compositions that will really surprise you.

36:17-40:47
VIOLET COLD (Azerbaijan)
Ultraviolet
— Vivid frostscapes of atmospheric black gaze.

41:07-48:39
SÜHNOPFER (France)
Hic Regnant Borbonii Manes
Bludgeoning drumming with a beast of a lead singer.

49:20-52:41
FLUB (Sacramento)
Rise from Your Grave
— Alterbeast, Vale of Pnath and Rivers of Nihil members grooving their way into tongue-in-cheek tech death, lite.

53:12-58:03
DEATHSPELL OMEGA (France)
Imitatio Dei
— These guys create a weird story that is hard to follow, but necessary to know the ending.

58:27-END
BLACK SITES (Chicago)
Dream Long Dead
— Ear candy of death rock, heavy metal and headbanging.

0:25-7:56
ANCIENT HOSTILITY (Ukraine/US)
Through the Visceral
— 2-piece Ukranian band Ancient Hostility breaks interestingly to foreboding and sparse vacuums of sound, with gothic filthy sharp black metal in between.

9:03-12:44
TVX (New Zealand)
Skuttabrain
— TVX had the most crusty badass as a lead singer. Sadly, she has passed away, but not without leaving us fist in the air vocals.

13:09-20:15
YELLOW EYES (NYC)
Light Delusion Curtain
— Yellow Eyes is one of my faves, and this song released from their upcoming album proves this is going to be another incredible tempo-lurching madness.

20:43-25:04
SINNERS BLEED (Berlin)
The Second Being
— Technical death from old school Germans.

25:56-31:35
DIE SEKTOR (GA)
CrAsHiNdO
— Die Sektor is one of my favorite modern industrial bands, heavily influenced by Skinny Puppy, Front 242 and Front Line Assembly; and employing deeply emotional vocals.

31:36-40:26
ANDAVALD (Iceland)
Afvegaleiðsla
— These guys created a perfect mist of vampiric Icelandic black metal.

40:51-43:59
VADER (Poland)
Litany
— Thrash-light death with blasting drums, and a fantastic cover of Judas Priest. Excited to hear their full-length when released.

44:47-50:45
THONIAN HORDE (MD)
Gremalkin
— Crusty rocking black metal with surprising acoustic.

51:09-56:46
ADRIFT (Spain)
Mist
— Vocalist screech that adds texture to the proggy, warm black metal.

57:07-END
KRYPTS (Finland)
Mycelium
— Hostile dense blasts from our alien Finn friends.

0:25-7:47
VORTEX OF END (FRANCE)
Venomovs Triangle
— Ritualistic, blasting intensity, and check out their shirtless pics. I mean, they are really talented.

8:56-14:53
BARBARIAN (ITALY)
The Old Worship of Pain
— Warrior beasts throwing out spears of thrash and heavy metal. Diverse album - these Italians keep 'em guessing.

15:15-22:26
VALE (OAKLAND)
Grief Undone
— Her vocals are everything, and the tight drumming. Oakland is filth.

23:02-29:39
KALEIDOBOLT (FINLAND)
I Am The Seer
— Finnish kaleidoscope of psychedelic, bright and intense. And weird, they ARE Finnish.

30:31-37:31
INTER ARMA (VA)
Howling Lands
— Dreamy meditative sludge with a dollop of Enemy of the Sun post-metal and a death metal edge.

38:02-39:52
ZEALOT R.I.P. (San Diego)
The Extinction Of You
— Just an EP so far of stellar hardcore with a member of Pig Destroyer.

40:16-46:41
MISÞYRMING (ICELAND)
Ísland, Steingelda Krummaskuð
— Epic black metal with Icelandic melodic and emotional heartstring-pulling folk.

47:38-52:06
STATIQBLOOM (Brooklyn)
Possession
— Now a duo, and with Fade's brilliance in creating modern electronic that is even more dissonant. But he knows what the true industrial fan wants, which is to dance.