From the go ‘World’s Blood’ takes you on an adventure, imagine Little House On The Prairie through a black metal filter and you start to get on the right path.

The world, I have often observed, is far stranger than the rational mind would allow. The dense web of source materials and curious obfuscations gathered here is one a determined investigator might unravel in a short time but to no great gain. They should not be permitted to detract from the power of the oracles themselves. The recordings here are hallucinatory and compelling pieces.

Obsidian is very much an engrossing and enjoyable listen that flows excellently, and it has interesting dynamics over the course of its heavy trip. A definite recommendation for fans of the likes of Mars Red Sky and Pallbearer.

Deus Vermin play the kind of music I am drawn to, dripping black, viscous, visceral and vile. Riffs are enshrined in chaos and drums are played with skin breaking purpose. The cruel sinister undertones of their music bleeds fluidly from their instruments forming a blackened melting pot of genres and influences.

Finally, a conceptual piece of (musical) art that really works.

Sheffield post-metal bruisers return with a new EP and a sound that is pared down, blunt and packed full of lumbering riffs.

Begat The Nephilim | Website | Facebook | Twitter Begat The Nephilim is an American blackened melodic death metal band based out of Southern New Hampshire that has a sound comparable to acts such as The Black Dahlia Muder, Behemoth, Cattle Decapitation …

Hekatomb is no strings darkness. It’s pure satanic black metal played with bleeding fingers and utter virulence and that’s exactly how it should be played. Rostén’s return to Funeral Mist proves that darkness can rise and we should all be very afraid.

A jack of many trades and sickeningly masterful with them all.

Soldat Hans have crafted a deeply layered, complex and engaging sophomore album, that draws the listener into a web of post-metal, dark jazz and folk doom. It’s bloody fantastic.

Gyre | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter Gyre was formed by members of defunct metallic hardcore outfit Junta. Following three well-received EPs, nearly two years of sculpting, chiseling, and capturing ideas went into Gyre’s Shared Visions. Returning to a …

Pound claim a wide range of influences, from the full-on grind of Nasum to the slow, stoner riffs of Sleep. This range of influences can certainly be heard since the band flit between trebly grind assaults, math-metal labyrinthian guitar lines, and massive groovy passages.

This album is big, expansive and intricate. It conjures visions of infinite darkness’s and swirling chaos in which we are so insignificant that we simply fade away and cease to exist.

Witchkiss | Facebook | Bandcamp From the antediluvian shores of the murky Hudson arises a new force in the world of metal. Articulate, elegant and ridiculously fucking heavy, Witchkiss are part of a growing movement coming out of upstate New York in th …

An aggressive tempest of brutal metal, spinning wildly in a sinister sonic blender. A fearsome and furious dark metal journey that demands your attention and shows some impressive creativity and agile musicianship, especially for a debut release.

Finnr’s Cane | Facebook | Bandcamp Elegy is the third full length from Prophecy Productions atmospheric black metal stalwarts Finnr’s Cane. The Canadian trio has been carefully plotting a follow up to 2013’s A Portrait Painted By The Sun and the next c …

Whilst the ceaseless, down-tuned gloom might prove trying at first, there’s brilliance to be found among the brutality.

The Hanoi-based sound artist presents a 12-minute ode to placelessness and loss, built from a wonderful interplay between found sounds and electronic manipulation.

Middle aged men coming up to me after a show and sharing their own stories about their difficult relationships with their dads, about feeling invisible, about never giving up. I discovered it was a common experience that I had gone through. Talking about stuff like that at a gig rather than at some men’s group was incredibly rewarding.

This is one to immerse yourself in. It is easy to disappear within the folds of time. Feel them slip away like lost memories and dreamt lives. It’s a haunting journey before the aforementioned redemptive final piece changes gear, gently lifts these ephemeral wraiths and bestows them to sacrosanct and luminous worlds beyond our prosaic comprehension.

Another special live package of a special show of an album that gives the first hints of where his musical future was to lie.