Butcher ABC: "North of Hell"

The heaviest gore groove known to man

Though North of Hell technically speaking is Japanese gore meistros Butcher ABC's first real album since their humble noisecore beginnings in 1994, it's not that their career has had a shortage of releases. If bands like General Surgery, Haemorrhage and early Carcass gets you hard, you're surely going to like this one!

Nekrodeus: "Moloch"

Hardened death metal with a black core

I hate to start out a review with classic review tropes, but have you ever wondered what Nasum would sound like if Mieszko had had a hidden infatuation with black metal? Though Austrian quintet Nekrodeus have their roots in burly death metal, their debut full length - Moloch - is essentially a blackened version of Inhale/Exhale.

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.

Skogen: "Skuggorna Kallar"

A turn to something worse, or the beginning of a new exciting chapter?

Skogen is one of those bands that just keep getting better and better. From Vittra in 2009, through Svitjod and Eld, I Döden from 2014 was the culmination of a lengthy venture into the ultimate combination of traditional black metal guitar riffs and exceptionally immersive atmosphere. I Döden was - and still is - one of the most surprising and stand-out black metal albums of the 2010s for me. But leave it to Skogen to throw us another curve ball.

Taphos: "Come Ethereal Darkness"

No victim to trend or riffless nightmares

We're really being spoiled with the amount of gruesome Danish death metal coming out these days. With bands like Phrenelith, Undergang, Deiquisitor and Sulphurous causing a teeth-rattling ruckus, it's amazing there's even still more room in hell for another contender - The mighty Taphos.

Fedrespor: "Tid"

Through experimentation, Tid leaps into uncertainty with great success

With norse-themed folk I've come to except the likes of Wardruna, who seem obsessed - at least from a laymans point of view - with quote unquote authenticity and historical accuracy in their instrumentation. With the popularity of the soundtrack of the Vikings series, that style has in its own niche become almost commonplace, altough precious few do it well.

Robespierre: "Garden of Hell"

Where's the excitement?

Ancient, overlooked gems of pristine heavy metal is worth more than any measure of gold, and when stories like that of UK's Hell, who returned after 20 years with the phenomenal debut album that never was, surface every so often, there's definitely something enticing about the whole rags-to-riches aspect of the mythos. Perhaps inspired by their success - and/or stories like theirs - Robespierre has been vomited forth from the bowels of the underworld with their first album since they started out back in 1983.

Fu Manchu: "Clone of the Universe"

SoCal ramblings galore

Break out your skateboard, grow out your oddly specific beard style, and bring your best sunglasses: It's time for a new Fu Manchu record! If you expect a bunch of sun-baked, tarmac-scented stoner rock tunes, you never really can go wrong with Scott Hill and company.

Anna Von Hausswolff: "Dead Magic"

A bridge over the deep waters that separate styles

Thanks to a former boss who recommended me her previous album, Anna Von Hausswolff is now one of those artists that I continually look forward to hearing from. The Miraculous from 2015 received a 9/10 rating, and I'm happy to say that while 2018's Dead Magic is in many areas a vastly different endeavour, it is absolutely as deserving of the same score.

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.

Galdur: "Age of Legends"

Un-cheesy dungeon music masterpiece

Though at first glance micro-genres like dungeon synth can sound rather restrictive and samey across numerous artists, there are several roads you can take as an artist. Some opt for a folk-inspired approach with many classical, real life instruments, while others emulate the midi-soundtracks of old fantasy RPGs for a more synthetic feel. Others still resort to a more true-to-life orchestral feel. You can count Galdur's 2016 opus Age of Legends among the latter.

Death Keepers: "Rock This World"

Corner-cutting heavy/power mixture

As far as Judas Priest and general late 70s/early 80s heavy metal worship goes, this Spanish leather-clad outfit are pretty good. If you aim to stay true to the roots, there's only so much you can do, and with the limited possibilities of the style, Death Keepers make just a little more than the most of it.

Botanist: "Collective: The Shape of He to Come"

Difficult to enjoy, but more than just haphazardly composed black metal

Not being familiar with the works of Botanist, you'll have to excuse me for expecting something a bit different than what Collective: The Shape of He to Come is. In a way you could easily argue that the cover for this 2017 album is indeed very fitting of the obscure, yet oddly naturalistic sounds found on the disc. Whatever it was I originally had thought this album would sound like, that notion was blown to bits and pieces.

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'.

Sammal: "Suuliekki"

Brilliant fourth entry from Finnish prog-rockers

When a piece of music is excessively catchy it often comes with the issue that you grow tired of it quicker. Catchiness often comes from simple, repeated melodies and easy-to-follow song structures. But Sammal's brand of catchiness is a creature entirely different. Every time I receive a new Sammal release in my inbox, it takes exactly one listen to get the entire album stuck in my head.

Over the Voids...: "Over the Voids"

Consistently uninteresting with few exceptions

Over the years I've found the part of the black metal scene that consists of one-man bands to be the most hit-or-miss prone part. The Fall is a Polish musician who has been involved with quite a few bands, playing live bass for the likes of Mgla and Clandestine Blaze. Over the Voids... is the first band in which he claims the guitar (and all other roles within the band as well) as his instrument, and that does show in the final product.

Bolido: "Heavy Bombers"

Stone cold heavy metal bombardment

Chile's heavy rock meteorites Bolido pretty much sound exactly like you'd expect from an album with a harsh, angular band logo adorning a picture of war planes carpet bombing the Earth with guitar munitions from orbit. Bolido's brand of heavy and moderately fast classic metal is a strictly no-frills experience, but does it have thrills then? The band's noticably thunderous rhythm section surely brings some personality to their compositions, but with this sort of retro-styled metal it's always a matter of whether or not the band is capable of matching the massive hooks that made the bands that inspired them huge to begin with.

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

Acid Witch: "Evil Sound Screamers"

Long awaited return of the Detroit death rockers

Finally, a new album from psychedelic horror metal masters Acid Witch - and just in time for Halloween too! It's been a full seven years since the last full length album from the deadly quartet, though the mean time has seen a few minor releases like the ever awesome split with Nunslaughter and the 80s heavy metal cover EP Midnight Movies from 2015.

Ieschure: "The Shadow"

Mystic debut which forms a thorough impression of style and concept

Black metal is dangerous territory if you don't have what it takes. There's so much competition, that any band lacking in talent or concept will get snuffed from existence in the blink of an eye. Iescure is an artist that, while dabling in the black arts with some degree of artistic ability, teeters on the edge that separates the bands of tomorrow with those that are bound to be forgotten sooner rather than later.