Katatonia continue on their successful streak of mellow, melodic metal with Sky Void Of Stars. With an instantly recognisable sound, quality atmospherics, and usual sense of ear-wormy catchiness, the band has released another strong album to continue its long series of winners. There is a bit of a stronger focus on “mood” rather than “melody” compared to previous albums, but it has the same lush layering, dynamics and memorability as previous albums from its latest era of music. Sky Void Of Stars is another piece of gripping and emotional alternative metal, and it should be on your list.

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In another instance of an alt/prog rock/metal concoction that sits on the softer side of metal and the more intricate side of alternative, Klone harness a very direct appeal with how lush the music sounds, both in its mellowest and its chuggiest moments, but most importantly due to how emotionally resonant Yann Ligner's timbre and vocal performance are. Add a splash of extra instrumentation like brass and saxophone to a very accessible sound and it's a winning formula.

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Finding the perfect balance between progressive, alternative, and anthemic, Something Ominous strikes a chord both musically and mentally as it sums up what an omnishambles 2023 was. With Greneron near enough allergic to playing drums the simple way, Molybaron produce an album full of songs like a Dream Theater track condensed, yet without sacrificing the sprawling twists and turns in the shorter runtime.

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Sporting Cave In, Converge, and High On Fire members in its lineup, Mutoid Man's brand of alt metal is filled with stoner metal, sludge metal, post-hardcore, hard rock, and progressive rock, and somehow all of it doesn't feel like too disjointed of a sound. With memorable melodies from alternative and hard rock, brimming with hardcore energy, jammy psychedelia, and fuzzy grooves, Mutants promises each listen will be a lot of fun.

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As farewell albums go, OHHMS go out on one hell of a high note, to the point it'll make you bang your head against the wall knowing that this is it for the band. Rot is a powerful run through the band's cutting, lumbering attack, one marked by the group's constant menacing undertones that persist throughout the album. If we couldn't appreciate the band during their career, we can at least send them off in style.

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If you thought that metal and reggae (well, ragga) could never go together, think again. On Rise Again, Senshi blends these two disparate musical styles, complete with Japanese folk instrumentation. With chugging riffs, Gothenburg-sounding leads, the ever-present twang of the shamisen, and Jamaican-style rap and singing, Senshi creates a unique and pretty damn catchy serving of alternative metal from said blend. Wash your dreadlocks, light a blunt, and get into it, ‘mon.

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Memorial is a natural progression from what Soen did with Lotus and Imperial, which is metal that falls under the ‘alternative’ umbrella with various amounts of prog. Lykaia solidified a sound for Soen that set them apart from everyone else and, at this point, they cannot be confused with any other band, which is something that can be said for only a very small and elite group of acts in the music business. Their tasteful music and thoughtful lyrics both rely on contrasts, balancing darkness with light, aggression with tenderness, and sadness with optimism. Memorial does this quite convincingly, and in a bit more commercially driven way.

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From deep within the Swedish underground, the sextet Venuvian emerged with a remarkably impressive and mature-sounding debut. Lost lies within the groovy region of alternative metal presently dominated by Gojira, but Venuvian also exhibit metalcore and progressive tendencies, weaving elements of prog-death and djent into certain songs to expand the sonic range of the album. There’s emphatic, punchy riffs and subtle complexity to be encountered here, but also potently atmospheric soundscapes and emotionally resonant melodic textures, and the integration of different sounds and styles on Lost deserves a lot of respect for being a debut album.

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This trio gives voice to much more than the simple noise that their name indicates: Voice Of Baceprot sticks it to everything that stands against them and a better society. For a whole decade now, they’ve been attracting no small amount of controversy – the sight of three Muslim women playing loud and heavy music with abandon while dressed in conservative custom has stirred some unrest in their native Indonesia and the wider world. That’s even before we get to their high-volume stands against sexual violence, religious oppression, environmental exploitation, and other ills that they have had to contend with in their daily lives. But a decade of fighting hasn’t stopped Voice Of Baceprot, and now that they’ve finally debuted with Retas, they’ll only move up from here: this funky blend of nu metal, alt rock, and pop-punk, melding rapped and sung vocals, thrashy chugs, and hooky choruses, is as much a musical statement as a political one - and as it should be, for it even asks God for the future of music itself.

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An album our readers might be expecting to find in the avant-garde section instead, and for very valid reasons. There's something very specific about how dramatic Vulture Industries are, a sense of a theatrical nature in the music and especially in the vocal performance. Ghosts From The Past is, however, more in line with its predecessor than the band's earlier stuff in being more straightforward and to-the-point in its songwriting, with the songs shorter, the riffing more direct, and more emphasis on the gothic-tinged crooning from vocalist Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen.

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