Soilwork - The Analyst

Melodic death metal greatness from Soilwork!

Hangman's Chair - Storm Resounds

After finding out that hospice was called for my wife's grandmother on top of my grandpa's declining health, me and her both have been surrounded by a whirlwind of emotions as we try to process it. Not trying to be a downer or anything but I can relate to music like this when it seems like everything is falling apart. A song that is more emotionally heavy rather than sonically.

Bal-Sagoth - The Obsidian Crown Unbound

Yup, this band is indeed amazingly bonkers.
In a way that's enjoyable, of course.

Rabies - Gulf War Syndrome

Wild and rabid thrash from the Philippines. Rabies is just as chaotic as the country they hail from.

The Cult - Fire Woman

Just ballsy rock and roll. Yeah. I kind of lost track of them after this album but Love, Electric, and this album are all top tier rock records.

Omnium Gatherum - Nova Flame

Just found out about this band, pretty solid Melodeath

Exodus - Corruption (live)

I'm still hoping that Exodus' tour with Testament and Death Angel hits our shores later this year.

Ardent Nova - Ardent Nova

Random bandcamp find. Kind of a melodeath / power metal / viking metal combo. Quite good so far

Danzig - Her Black Wings
Overkill - I Hear Black

A couple good songs from 30+ years ago.

Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Viscera of Man

This thing has some pretty inventive stuff - moody and dark yet cathartic and hard-nosed all at once. Good blend. Hope they do more.

YOB - Our Raw Heart. Very beautiful Doom Metal.

Watain - The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain

Proficient, well done but I dunno, doesn't move me. Kind of feels like a chore honestly. Something about the aesthetic is too over-serious too in a way, just kind of stiff.

The Native Howl - Thrash Grass - Bluegrass with some oomph, but all bluegrass has that really. Caught the very end of their set opening up for GWAR on the last tour*. Been spinning more of this stuff and a pretty cool album. When I grabbed the CD at the show I thought there would be some metal guitars in there but nope. - 70%

Johnny Cash - The Legend of Johnny Cash - A compilation CD with tons of great stuff. Though I much prefer the other version of "The Man Comes Around" to this one. This isn't nearly as dark as the other take I heard first. A fair number of cuts about shooting people and doing time but they say metal is the violent genre... - 95%

I guess my inner redneck is coming out today. I'll have to spin some metal tonight.

* Why would GWAR have a bluegrass band open for them? NEVER QUESTION GWAR!

Twilight Force - Twilight Force

Oh shit, this is actually pretty good. I think I conflated these guys with that awful Pathfinder band, so I never gave them much of a chance. Hopefully this track isn't a fluke.

Twilight Force - Dragonborn

This song is so twee, cheesy, and stupid. It's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all year. I love it.

EDIT: The rest of the album sucked. They front-loaded the fuck out of this.

Downfall of Gaia- Silhouettes of Disgust

German black metal band with their latest release, one of many bands I've discovered in the genre recently. They remind me a tad of their fellow nationalist's Der Weg Weiner Freheit who I've been a fan of for years, they have a similar nice melodic atmosphere at times, they just sound a tad less polished with more traditional black metal guttural vocals at times

Pantheist - Don't Mourn

Lovely funeral doom, probably very "beginner friendly" for the genre.

I always loved Ceremony for me the apex of them

Iced Earth - Pure Evil (Days of Pergatory version)

Iced Earth was one of the first bands I found on Napster when that service blew open the wider world of metal to me in the late 90's. I was really into them for a few years until after Horror Show when I really lost interest in them, Schaffer got repetitive in his riffing I thought and his songwriting lost its luster. I think I've gotten more into them again in the past year or so, at least Burnt Offerings and this compilation. I need to find a copy of Night of the Stormrider to hear some of these cuts in the original form.

Iron Maiden - The Clairvoyant (A Real Live One)

I thought this was a crappy album from the reviews but I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Do I need more live Maiden? Not really but I'll end up buying them all...

Graham Bonnet Band - Meanwhile Back in the Garage / this is the best Graham Bonnet Band album in my opinion.

Agreed 100%. Just “discovered” his solo stuff a few weeks ago and have been shocked by how ballsy it all is. This album in particular.

Revocation - Diabolical Majesty

"Champions of hell have been invoked to crush the cursed creatures of the Christian right" Hell yes!

Moonsorrow - V: Hävitetty

This goes close to the top in their discography. Which is very fucking consistent. Started from their second demo.

Excalion - Words Cannot Heal

Really good so far. Their tightest and best produced of these new albums - great bass tone of all things for PM. Lots of good melodies.

spinning a playlist of some of the classic thrash that defined by teen years in the 80s:

Testament - "The Haunting" from The Legacy
Such killer riffage in this tune...a true 10/10 album. These guys really blew away the thrash crowd in '87 with this one.
They were expected to join Metallica at the top of the heap.

Exodus - "Chemi-Kill" from Pleasure of the Flesh
My fav Exodus tune from the criminally overlooked second album. 'Bonded by Blood' to 'Pleasures' was going from strength to strength.

Flotsam - "Hammerhead" from Doomsday for the Deceiver
Absolute epic, smoking tune. A bold statement to open this classic album with, an announce your arrival on the scene.

Destruction - "Curse the Gods" from Eternal Devastation
Damn, '87 was a great time to be a metal fan. So much great new music was hitting, so many great bands in their prime.

Hades - "The Leaders" from Resisting Success
Little-known 80s thrash band...the album wasn't great but this song is one of the best of that year. Great song.

Xysma - No Place Like Alone

Fuck yes, new album out after 25 years!

https://strangeaeonsrecords.bandcamp.co ... mmer-hadet

Black n Roll. Not bad.

Dawn Ray'd - Ancient Light

Heard of them but never got around to it til now. Hard leftist, anti-cop lyrics - bad ass. Music I wasn't sure about but it's starting to grow on me with this second track on the album. Polished but mean, standoffish stuff. Mellow melodic bits adding something somber and moody amid the blasting. Kind of a cool feel.

Babymetal - The Other One

Fuck you, this is awesome. For some weird musical-alchemical reasons these two styles (j-pop and hypermodern quasi-/pop metal), which don't appeal to me on their own, really work together. This is their most mature and metal release, but I still wouldn't appeal for their inclusion in the archives. They are in their own unique sphere, kind of like Rammstein.

Eosphoros - To Return

Great stuff!

Lamp of Murmuur - Saturnian Bloodstorm

This is good, very good. One of the few of the modern raw bm lot - thats having quite the resurgence at the moment - thats genuinely worthy of the hype. Lots of different melodies and sounds than the typical raw bm project.

Black Sabbath - Buried Alive

A great riff from Iommi and excellent vocals from Dio is the main anchor to this track. 'Dehumanizer' was an album that came out of nowhere that momentarily restored the greatness of Black Sabbath.

Sussurrus Inanis - Such as This Water

Incredible synth music, by Jason William Walton and Daniel Shane Breyer from Agalloch. It's like early Mortiis but more intense somehow.

Hellripper - Warlocks Grim AND Withered Hags

One of the best black/thrash albums I've heard in a while, they're honestly beating Midnight at their own game here.

Bloodyard-Orchard of Corpses

I'm trying to check out as many unknown bands as possible that are going to be playing at Bloodstock festival in the UK later this year as I am going for the full 4 days. Quite impressed with this album a few tracks in, no-nonsense solid death/groove metal from a homegrown band.

EDIT: After a full listen all I can say is I was abit underwhelmed, not sure if I will give them ago again.

Finishing up side 2 of Candlemass - Sweet Evil Sun

It’s not reinventing anything but its Candlemass laying down heavy plodding riffage. I like it better than the prior one so far. A good album.

Samael - Hegemony

Glad I'm finally giving Samael's post Passage albums a go coz Hegemony is wicked. Been 6 years since it came out, must be time for a new album and tour surely.

Memoriam - Rise To Power

5 albums in 6 years is impressive stuff, even more so when it's been at such a consistently high level of quality like they have been and these veterans show no sign of slowing down either. Simply, Rise To Power is a beast of an album, their best so far.
If you're sitting on the fence about this one, not sure whether to pull the trigger and get it, then I can assure you that you definitely need to get your fuckin ass off the fence and pull that fuckin trigger. Now.

Silentis Nocere - I

Crunchy riffs, melodic leads and goofy vocals. This sounds like Clouds-era Tiamat.

Steel Bearing Hand - Slay In Hell

Such an underrated band, this is how you do modern thrash.