Malditos: "Le Réve"

Impenetrable storms of droning psychedelia

It should come as no surprise that an entity as eclectic as Malditos hails from one of musical experimentation's current strongholds, Oakland, California. Malditos is very much a mindset band. Their darkened, nocturnal desert drones are real party killers, but with the right state of mind and setting, Le Réve turns into a rich, nightmarish phantasmagoria cascading from the your mind's eye. The darkness painted by the Oakland tribe of artists is oppressively thick and impenetrable.

Bednja: "Doline Su Ostale Iza Nas"

Brooding darkness bisected by equal parts metal and hardcore

From the start it's clear that Croatian black metal practitioners Bednja aren't your average, garden variety black metal group. Though there is expansive tremolo riff-scapes aplenty, their mix also borrows heavily from modern hardcore, adding grooves and interesting melodies - as well as a more shout-oriented vocal style - to the concoction.

Thecodontion: "Thecodontia"

Deadly bass-driven chaos

Who would've ever thought that taxonomy and paleontology would father a metal band? However unlikely it may seem, Thecodontion channel the highly destructive forces of pre-history into a dense state of chaos on their debut demo, Thecodontia.

Grift: "Arvet"

Contemplative style-defying music

Grift, the project founded and maintained by Erik Gärdefors since 2011, has always marked itself as an endeavour that wholeheartedly belongs to neither a pure metal or rock ethos. In that regard, Grift seems like a symbol of the direction of contemporary music, mixing typically oppositional elements of desperate black metal, airy post rock and sombre dark folk with just a sprinkle of shoegaze in a conglomerate that could best be described merely as 'art'.

Triple Dungeon Synth Feature: Thangorodrim, Deorc Weg, Old Tower

Electric Moon: "Flaming Lake"

Putting the 'space' in space rock

When dealing with albums from Sulatron Records, you know there's always a pretty good chance that it'll be some real top shelf fuzz-tastic psychedelia. Though Electric Moon is still a relatively new band - they formed in 2009 - they were quick to find their sound and, by extension, their niche in the global music scene.

Skull: "Beer, Metal, Spikes"

Still as great today as in 2004

More often than not, the passage of time is the only factor that can truly determine if a release truly holds up. Albums that blow you away at first listen may in the long run prove to blow off their steam too quickly to have lasting appeal, and vice versa an EP that failed to impress at first may grow on you and become a favourite over the years. With Skull's Beer, Metal, Spikes demo tape from 2004, it's sort of a double whammy.

Homegas: "Homegas"

American country folk for those willing to listen

Homegas is one of those gems that you just come randombly across once in a while. And like so often before, it of course comes at a kind of steep price if you want it physically, and you just might have to get the vinyl if you want to legitimately listen to the album as it's not present on any streaming sites.

Wongraven: "Fjelltronen"

Let's return to the past to a simpler time

With Satyricon's newest album, Deep Calleth Upon Deep, being sort of boring, now is a good time to be remembering all the great things Satyr has made over the years. Of course he and Frost have a number of amazing Satyricon albums behind them, but Fjelltronen is an oft overlooked album by Satyr.

Argus: "From Fields of Fire"

The difficult fourth one? No chance, this is the confident next album!

Debuts are hard, the follow-up is tough and the third one perhaps even more so. So what do you do when you already have three exceptional albums in the bagage? If you do like Argus from Pennsylvania, USA, you keep on going with unabated ardor.

Temple of Void: "Lords of Death"

Hear and obey the gospel of the riffage!

While we grieve the loss of Lasse Pyykkö as the defacto vocalist of Hooded Menace, we can at the very least take solace in the fact that Temple of Void's newest album, Lords of Death, holds the death-doom torch high enough to burn the face of God.

Kimi Kärki: "Eye for an Eye"

Partially derivative, but much more so coloured through by his own style and aesthetic

Kimi Kärki should be known to most fans of doom metal as the lead guitarist of Reverend Bizarre and Lord Vicar. But he's a man of many talents, as his lengthy career would suggest; He's also involved in progressive rock outfit Orne, psychonauts Uhrijuhla and Berliner Schule-revivalists E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr. Furthermore, he's quite adept as a classic folk guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, as evident on both his solo debut, The Bone of My Bones, and now on his sophomore effort, Eye for an Eye.

U.D.S.: "Too Fast for Love"

Thuggish grindcore beatings

Self-proclaimed practitioners of goreviolence, U.D.S. curate their brand of ghetto grindcore with all knobs turned to maximum. They're not too fancy to not include a bunch of pitch shifted vocals to go with their devastating low-end grooves either!

Gestapolis: "Amagerland"

Amagerbro grindcore warmachine!

With grindcore it's no good to just claim something as being no-holds-barred, unrelenting, or extreme, because that's basically just the name of the game. There are other factors to take into account instead, otherwise you would just be describing every grindcore band ever.

Demon Head: "Thunder on the Fields"

Bluesy Heavy Rock Thunder from Denmark

With exceptional and prominent bands praciticing the style like Horisont, Kadavar, Witchcraft, Graveyard and many, many more, the sort of proggy sound of 70's-tinged hard rock is back in full vigour. Add to this roster the Danes in Demon Head, and you've got yourself a fully fledged 'scene' with a lot going on.

Excision: "The Drowning Tear"

A gem of death metal with few side steps

A band like Excision from Netherlands never really got an international break and is as such one of those well-hidden gems of the metal underground. Even a split with Paul Speckmann's Master from 1996 and the Dreamality full length album from the same year couldn't give them a true breakthrough, but there's some definite quality in their quirky darkness.

Muka: "Sveta Stoka"

While playing the imitation game, Muka found their own sound in tightly-knit chaos

Listening to Muka's 2017 EP Sveta Stoka at full volume allows one to fully appreciate their dissonant, intricate layering. Each track is a roaring flurry of bone-crunching processions, echoing efforts by bands such as Deathspell Omega, but never resorting to straight up imitation.

Uroboros: "Misantropía & Blasfemia" / "Herejía & Exilio"

Cyclopean riffs with ultra dense payoff

Straight from Buenos Aires in Argentina comes a roar of thunder through a night as black as tar. This uproar from the underground goes by the name Uroboros, and right off the bat their debut duo of EPs make most other newcomers of the genre seem like taciturn murmurs in comparison.

Devil: "To the Gallows"

Devil's got what most forget - Heart and substance!

With their latest opus, To the Gallows, Norway's Devil continue to go out on various classic heavy and doom metal tangents with their own inspirations laid bare for all to see. 70's hard rock and early heavy metal is the name of the game, and it's a game that Devil play exceptionally well.

Defilementory: "The Dismal Ascension"

Restless power erupting in sun-fire torrents

Though three years between releases isn't all that much, it felt like forever when it took so long for Danish technical death metal practitioners Defilementory to release their debut album after the phenomenal Infatuated With Deformity EP from 2011. What originally made them stand out was the prominent bass work, and the fact that they so finely balanced their levels of brutality and technicality in a mix which was both impressive and extremely enjoyable.