Penance is an album that will devour you, take you on a journey, and then spit you back out, but even after the existential despair it invokes, the listener will constantly want to embark on that journey again and again.

Author & Punisher has created an album full of expansive, and corrosive textures. There are many points of wonderful, skewed melodies that recall Trent Reznor at his finest.

All the bands were great, but the night belongs to King Witch. The band approach the live experience like true professionals, from their backdrop, to the way they kick off proceedings.

There is no such thing as a bad Clutch album, but Book of Bad Decisions is easily one of their greatest efforts.

The album is incredibly accomplished and is a treat for those who like their rock to sound like it’s wrapped in steel wool, dipped in vinegar, and inserted into a fresh wound.

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.

Sons of Alpha Centauri should have no problem getting listeners returning. On ‘Continuum’, they have welded energetic prog riffs, sci-fi sound effects, reverb-laden keys, pounding rhythms, and they use this to great effect.

In these six minutes, Converge get through more riffs than some bands do in their whole careers.

Ancient Lights eponymous album is the perfect backdrop to a Saturday night ritual with friends who have a penchant for hooded robes.

With a name as subtle as Dopethrone, it is reasonable to know what you’re in store for: Some excellent stoner metal with, in this case, excellent track titles.

IAH have crafted a great slab of psychedelic, instrumental stoner rock. This eponymous album is heavy on dynamics, often flitting between soft, Latin tinged passages, and full on heavy stoner/post-metal passages.

On this album, Centuries have not just attempted to meld various genres of extreme music, they have created an excellent synthesis of extreme styles. The result is an album that feels like the organic product of a talented band.

Most importantly these three tracks leave the listener hungry for more songs. The fire definitely still exists in At The Drive In and it’s good to have them back.

The album has many analogues with other bands: Crowbar, Mastodon, Judas Priest, and even a bit of Alice in Chains (Donnelly’s voice is reminiscent of Layne Staley’s at its most powerful). But, like all good bands, King Witch elevate themselves above their influences and create their own sound.

Haunt are adept at the sort of choruses that garnered Maiden, Priest and Saxon their respective fans and each of this EP’s four songs have a chorus that outdoes the last.

This album follows you. The songs stick with you for days … Mangoo’s music is pleasantly stuck in your head, with rousing choruses that could brighten up even the most miserable of days.

‘Resin’ by Interstelar holds no pretences of being an original sounding album. Instead, Interstelar focus on tight musicianship, well-structured songs, and a hefty dose of muscle bulking up their songs. The opening track comes on strong, like Orange Goblin if they fired Ben Ward and got Maynard James Keenan to replace him.