Journey to Ixtlan: "Journey to Ixtlan"

An organic sound blanket that falls gracefully on the ground, covering everything in its mesa colours

Clay Ruby is undoubtedly most well known for Burial Hex (or one of the countless other groups he has been involved with over the years), and given his involvement in such a staggering amount of groups, bands and projects, most are bound to overlook the massively leviathan album that is Journey to Ixtlan.

Aurora Purpurea: "I"

Musical poem, the brilliance of which lies in contrasts

Introducing a band about which there exists little to no information is a hard thing to do, at least from a factual stand point. Aurora Purpurea hail from Italy, and in 2008 they released their sole album, titled simply I. That is all. So let us instead let the music of Aurora Purpurea speak for itself.

Nyarlathotep: "The End is Always Near"

Lovecraftian suggestions make way for greater altitudes and depths

Doom metal is a genre highly dependent on a certain setting and mindset to reach critical mass in terms of effectfulness of the musical enjoyment. Whether invoking a gust of sepulchral angst, summoning drugged out washes of psychedelia or churning out some gut-wrenching heaviness, the greatest practitioners of doom metal usually are masters of atmosphere. American blackened doom metal band Nyarlathotep, name after the Crawling Chaos deity invented by famed weird fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft, bring to life visions of dusty, desolate and dystopic wastes thich with the scent of impending doom and the ever-nearing apocalypse.

Fire on Fire: "The Orchard"

Melancholic festivities honouring musical diversity

With an ensemble such as Fire On Fire discerning their origins - musically as well as nationally - can be a tough task indeed. Their whimsical instrumentation and strange vocal melodies calls forth a wide array of European folk tendencies, but at the same time it carries the same moonshine flavour that the Scottish/Irish-derived folktunes of the Appalachia mountains do. It is however the northeastern state of Maine that this dynamic quintet calls home, from where they arose from the groups Big Blood and Cerberus Shoal.

AGGA: "Agga"

Take the trip to ancient Babylon

Folk legends and traditional mythology of old, be it Celtic, Norse, Mesopotamian or other, is as good a source of inspiration as any, and certainly helts create an atmosphere. Bands like Nile, Melechesh, Orphaned Land and Scarab are noted for their incorporation of mesopotamian, mediterranean, egyptian and oriental feels in their music, forerunning the scene that glorifies the ancient days of the cradle of civilization.

Denyall: "Dehumanized"

Grooved out symphony of the night in gothic lettering

Since the 2000s symphonic and gothic metal has prospered immensely with bands like Nightwish, Evanescence, Within Temptation, Epica and Sirenia at the helm. Like with any trend, this wave of female fronted pseudo-gothic bands has spawned hundreds of bands that try to copy their sound and image.