Heavy music, yet full of melody and stories, Worm form part of that tradition with Necropalace being another fine addition to the pantheon.

A hugely enjoyable album from one of the defining bands of heavy metal.

Stabbing set themselves up as the new upstarts of brutal death metal, and is an essential listen for those of you who have had any interest in it before.

Don’t wait around though and grab a copy of this album as soon as you can before everyone starts talking about it. A release which should signal the arrival of a major player on the metal scene.

For those craving a bit of Sabbath worship then you will find much to enjoy in this album.

There are no answers, death is ultimate, and how we deal with it is personal. The music here will form a soundtrack to that grief.

They are sure to be blasting out on metal festival stages in the near future, and we will be right there, at the front, worshipping to the sound of real metal.

A Sermon In Tongues is a more than worthy addition to any self-respecting metal fans album collection.

Leave them wanting more, as they say. A great debut from a band which we look forward to hearing more from.

Black metal may now be the extreme genre of choice for metal fans, but for those of us who are more old school, bands like Torture Hammer keep the death metal fire burning.

On their 16th album, Kreator sound invigorated and with it, a new sense of recognition for their past achievements.

If face-ripping thrash is your thing then you can’t go far wrong with Wounds. It’s a brutal assault on the senses, where the band always know just how to work the sheer ferocity.

Sometimes you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, and just want some straightforward death metal.

You would do well to check this album out, particularly if you are of the mind to hear some excellent technical death metal.

That a new generation of bands is now rediscovering and reinterpreting for their own is a beautiful thing, and for us who were there first time around it’s like the last 40 years never existed.

Pupil Slicer have delivered an incredible album which defies description and transcends any genre conventions.

Yellow Eyes continue to confound and expand through their art on an album which once again moves the boundaries of black metal.

It’s an album which begs for repeated listens to understand its nuances but once its secrets are unlocked you are faced with one of the best metal releases this year.

For all its threatening inaccessibility it’s actually an album which allows the listener to latch on and enjoy.

Whilst Para Bellum may not reach the heights of some of their more recent efforts it’s still another vital release from them.

Thunderous and wrought with emotion, Fælleskab is an album of real intent. Its bleak production echoes the traditional black metal sound.