Over five long years since their last album, Spelljammer have delved even deeper into the realms of thick riffs.

We need this album. This is music that is loud, fast, furious and knows damn well that it is dumber than Lloyd Christmas. A relentless pummelling to the face, devoid of subtlety and overflowing with insults and anger.

It wasn’t a wasted trip from Tennessee to Abbey Road. Because All Them Witches have delivered their best album yet. Nuanced, moody, heavy in places and delicate in others.

Whatever psychosis ritual Mountain Tamer were experiencing when crafting this album, it certainly wasn’t all paisley and rainbows.

This album is more autobiographical than Ohhms’ previous efforts – but it speaks to anyone who is infuriated with selfishness, stupidity and a general lack of empathy. And it still gloriously heavy.

Omens boasts some tremendous musicianship and is chock full of ideas. But therein lies its problem. Between the changes and jams, we lose interest.

You get the feeling that if Elephant Tree hadn’t fallen down the psych-stoner rabbit-hole, then their weighty yet uplifting melodies would be bringing joy to pop fans. A contender for album of the year.

Here’s something I didn’t expect: mindful doom. It is not a genre normally concerned with the lightness of being but Garganjua give us something new – and still crushingly heavy.

Massive slabs of fuzz with reassuring melancholy, which tugs at your innards, and a heap of gorgeous melody.

Essential boulder of doom that boasts far more variety, tonal variation and emotion than seems possible from two people.

The riffs are thunderous, the tone is thicker than a castle wall and the twin vocal assault of roars and barks give an air of malevolence that make you wary of playing the album in an empty house. 

Monolord have outdone themselves here. They stand in mirrored sunglasses, flared jeans and Satanic Feminist T-shirts astride the roof of the doom world.

Turns out Steve Davis is not only good at snooker. He and his two collaborators Kavus Torabi and Michael York got together to jam and the result is a woozy, cosmic testament to the benefits of spontaneity.

When music crafted this well is paired with heart-on-sleeve reflections of a man contemplating his own mortality… well, then we have some magic.

Name me a fan of heavy music over 35 that hasn’t drank more than necessary while listening to Anthrax’s Persistence of Time. War Curse rekindle the joy from that golden age of thrash.

Premiere of a huge, slow, affecting song, originally recorded in 2012, from cerebral drone doom duo.

Aephanemer, with their rousing, upbeat take on melodic death metal, remind you of just how much fun this stuff can be

The combination of gorgeous, dreamy melody, angelic vocals, mammoth guitar hooks and a heavy, heavy rhythm section drags out of your core a sense of nostalgia or longing so strong that it almost hurts.

Desecravity do technical death metal as it should be done: dizzyingly, quickly, furiously – but with the musicianship and songwriting to make it monstrously heavy and yet still listenable.

It is difficult to know where to start with a body of work as intimidating and weighty (not to mention heavy) as this. It is phenomenally affecting and the title alone makes the listener think about the gradual destruction that humans are inflicting on the earth.

You hear these epic, operatic choruses and you swear that you can flex your magically enormous biceps and real lightning will actually shoot out of your fingertips.