Amped to check out the new Cult Leader. I loved Lightless Walk.

listening to the new pharaoh overlord album again, aside from being one of the weirder records of the year,(just that Anti of Demilich is doing all the vocals for a psy/kraut rock album alone) its also very good.

Goddamn another gem from months ago - the Scottish producer SOPHIE released her debut album Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides back in June. It's uhh, pretty damn weird. The production on it is squeaky clean almost to the point of being abrasive (though to the initiated, perhaps not as much as her 2015 compilation Product), and the sound of the album takes so many sharp turns every track is pretty much a curveball. The sounds on the thing range from the stirring, quiet opener 'It's Okay to Cry' to a series of much more hard-hitting, off-kilter tracks to the unbelievably uplifting 'Immaterial' and the massive sonic dirge 'Pretending'.

It's... weirdly life-affirming in a way. I feel like I had some sort of subconscious, cryptic epiphany within me that I didn't understand the full extent of when I heard it. Strange, wonderful stuff.

Antimatter - _Black Market Enlightenment_ is better & heavier than previous stuff I've heard from them. Never been a huge fan of the grungey vocals, but digging the atmospherics here.

Subsignal - _La Muerta_ is certainly their best album and one of the best Sieges Even-affiliated productions. Slick-sounding and accessible but just really excellent songs without compromising its progressive core. Sort of like a more progressive and harder version of mid-80s Yes.

Imarhan - _Temet_ is by turns groovy/danceable and introspective Malian rock/folk. Unique.

A Patient Man is seriously next level. I thought Lightless Walk was okay enough, kinda overhyped imo, but the new one is transcendent as far as that kind of music goes. The mathcore is insanely off the wall then the dirging suites come into play and overall it's just the fuck.

And I see Subsignal is on the Archives. This album is definitely not metal, though.

Best jazz album of the year so far: Alberto Rodriguez, _The Little Dream_. Mostly up-tempo, complex, angular Latin jazz, just the way I like it. Allegro furioso!

So far after my first listen I have to say it's not quite as good as Lightless Walk, in my opinion. I'm not sure if the somewhat cleaner sound does it any favours, and as it stands I like the slow apocalyptic tracks from Lightless Walk better so far, THAT BEING SAID Lightless Walk took a while to grow on me and this album is still extremely good, so I might end up liking it more after all. The thing that I liked more about Lightless Walk was the breakdowns were absolutely monstrous especially with that nasty guitar tone, not to say those are lacking here but there's nothing nearly as nasty as say The Sorrower. Then again, the breakdown in that song might be the heaviest piece of hardcore ever recorded so maybe it's not realistic to expect them to top it. I still need to give it more time, though.

Any fans of the new Robyn album Honey? Very fun and memorable dance pop.

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the new Cult Leader. Only thing to add is that I don't like the clean vocals as much this time around. The singer sounds more confident in his abilities, but ironically I thought the more restrained approach on Walk worked better. Still not a bad album by any means, just doesn't quite measure up to the debut.

In other news, I'm absolutely loving the new Hopesfall album. For those not familiar, they're a North Carolina band that had their heyday in the 2000s with a set of albums that progressed from spacey post-hardcore to a more alternative rock sound. This new one, Arbiter, is their first album in 11 years and may just be their career high. Unique and catchy melodies, driving riffs, a bright and immersive atmosphere, and a dynamic vocal performance that ranges from soulful crooning to mid-register singing to a few more aggressive shouts and screams. While previous records could be a little mixed, the band have always had their own sound and this new album seems to be where they finally captured it in all its glory. Easily one of the best non-metal things I've heard this year.

Agreed on the cleans wrt new Cult Leader. I don't dislike them at all, but they kinda just sound like generic gothy post punk vocals, the vocal work on Lightless Walk felt a lot more natural and unique.

not the usual low-tcore for this thread but benny the butcher dropped his debut album tana talk 3 and the shit is unbelievable. bars for days and the fucking beats man, good lord. hip hop is alive.

lmfao

The newest Useless ID EP "Seven Hits From Hell" is pretty fun. Seven songs in about five minutes, which is punk as fuck. Anyone with a predilection for 90s skate punk would probably enjoy this if they haven't heard the band already.

ok I've come around on A Patient Man. Curse of Satisfaction in particular destroys just as much if not more than any of the songs on Lightless Walk.

White Ring- Gate of Grief

Album is like if Crystal Castles went Industrial/EBM. Dark and bass heavy, I recommend to people who like the dark side of electronic music.

Zeal & Ardor's Strange Fruit is probably going to end up as my AOTY. Great mashup of very different styles.

Swedish extremely catchy punk rock band De Lyckliga Kompisarna (more known as DLK), with several decades of activity released an album of short songs in October:

https://delyckligakompisarna.bandcamp.c ... r-inga-gon

Favorite track: 8. Välj din verklighet

Can;t remember if I had mentioned this one, first heard it back in the summer time and recently rediscovered it. Chastity's Death Lust is fucking awesome especially when you aren't feeling too great

Gave a listen to the Candy and Mindforce LPs as I was checking out hardcore albums I managed to miss this year. Both are excellent, especially Candy's "Good to Listen" - very heavy and pissed off stuff.