Call it post punk with a psych edge, and the biting snarl of punk is never far from the surface.

Call it avant-garde or experimental if you like, Ashenspire definitely is reshaping some frontiers on their debut full length ‘Speak Not of the Laudanum Quandary’.

Suitable for many backdrops of desolate, dank, derelict wastelands, Altar of Betelgeuze’s ‘Among the Ruins’ is prime doom metal for fans of genre-bending doom/death metal. I’m looking forward to hearing more material from the band.

‘As The Stages Burn!’ is as perfect a document of the ‘War Eternal’ tour as Arch Enemy devotees could possibly hope to see and hear, but it has greater significance even than that. It points the way forward for a reinvigorated band, and also serves as the perfect appetizer for new listeners. This is a hugely powerful performance from one of death metal’s most enduring bands, beautifully recorded, mixed and presented. Play it loud.

With its precise production and ferocious delivery, ‘Jane Live’ offers an interesting new take on the bands’ most iconic studio output.

This is a snarling, seething, spooky record. Imagine taking tea with Aleister Crowley then realising too late that he has spiked your cucumber sandwiches.

British Sea Power certainly seem to know what they’re doing, and even on their seventh album, haven’t failed in doing so yet.

In his new piano solo record, Hamasyan not only confirms his prominent position in the jazz world but also shows his most empathic side, delivering a stunningly personal yet universal work.

I seem to be hearing lots of extra layers every time I listen and lose myself in their hypnotic performance. I can’t wait to hear what A Hundred Black Kites have in store for us next.

SARN writes about complex social themes with humor and cynicism. PostModern Trash is a collection of nine clever, imaginative, and very heavy songs.

I can only really compare them to the likes of Bowie and Nine Inch Nails, they’re a band on a complete different level to any other in this underground music scene.

‘Emperor of Sand’ takes Mastodon’s way with melody to a whole new level. The perfect combination of crunching metal and fine tunes.

Rachael Yamagata’s fourth solo album, Tightrope Walker, is a wise, comforting and very grown-up album. Perhaps too grown-up; featuring members of Yo La Tengo and The Roots, its musical credentials are impeccable and its emotional themes are skilfully realised – but its mature appeal may be a little too mainstream for some tastes.

Suffocating, twisted, dripping with the darkest hues of grey… innovative and unconventional in the most grandiose of ways, ‘Kwintessens’ is a monstrous foray into the deep dark layers of one’s body, mind and soul, exposing your very essence for all its chaos to consume.

Extremity’s debut album ‘Extremely Fucking Dead’ is a 6 track power statement, letting us all know that they are here to go straight to the top of the Bay Area death metal scene in no time.