The debut album by Iron Maiden is the sound of every metalhead’s adolescence. It’s the sound of first discovery in the years of innocence, rebellion, and hope. It’s the emotional weight and the punk energy mixed inside a cauldron that shaped a new wave of metal. Paul Di’Anno’s voice will always be remembered by the child that still lives within each one of us; the child who used to sing alongside him: “Scan the horizon, the clouds take me higher, I shall return from out of the fire”.

R.I.P. Paul Di’Anno (May 17th, 1958 - Oct 21st, 2024)

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Redel, ScreamingSteelUS, RaduP, Starvynth, Daniell

Acid Bath’s explosive debut album, When The Kite String Pops, celebrates its’ 30th anniversary today. So I’m currently reminiscing on how this album hit me back when I was a teenager and where it currently stands.

And I gotta tell you, my friends, this album continues to have a permanent imprint on my life. The adrenaline rush from those stomping, morbid riffs. The careless attitude of those catchy southern rock leads. The unparalleled range of Dax Riggs’ vocals, who delivers some of the most twisted yet oddly beautiful lyrics I’ve ever read. This is not only my favorite sludge metal album. It is my favorite music album from the 90’s, period.
Play it wicked loud!

The kite string pops
I’m swallowed whole by the sky

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: nikarg, RaduP, ScreamingSteelUS

You'd think you'd get rusty after over a decade, but Saturnus delivers exactly what you want from them like having never been away. This album gels—every riff has its place, the songs create a beautiful, dynamic flow, the heavy/pretty contrast plays tug-of-war with the senses, all carried by the expansive, seamless sound they've nailed.

All of the above makes for an album you might need another 11 years to change in any way not for the worse. Looking at 2023's releases in hindsight, this came quickly to mind as better than most, if not all, of the year, and most, if not all, of The Storm Within could hardly have been a more powerful comeback statement.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Starvynth, Nejde, RaduP

Roughly twenty years ago today Neurosis dropped this 68 minute post-sludge monolith that is the sonic edging. They ramp up the tension, the listener keeps waiting for the train to go flying off the track, the levee to break, the volcano to finally go all Krakatoa... but it never really does. This was my first album of theirs based upon Jupe's review and some near 20 years later remains one of the only ten albums I've scored a "10". Don't listen to it often, but I enjoy it thoroughly each time I do spin it.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: RaduP, Daniell, X-Ray Rod, nikarg, Netzach

The new Lethe album is out! Though not quite as out there as one would expect or possibly want it to be. It's most definitely a good mood-album. Not to mention that Anna Murphy's always a joy to listen to.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: RaduP

It’s a known tradition to have Italian bands play out-of-the-box doom metal. The latest very noteworthy export from the boot-shaped country comes in the form of Ponte Del Diavolo and their debut album, Fire Blades From The Tomb. This is a blackened doom revelation, full of occult rock, post-punk, and darkwave sensitivities. Atmospheric nightly soundscapes, fierce aggressive leanings, medieval mysteries, and ritualistic invocations of evil find their place in this engrossing manifestation of menacing doom, while the haunting melodies, the dual bass attack, the evocative clarinet, and the Siouxsie Sioux-esque vocals make for a bold sound that is both familiar and uncommon in its nature.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: musclassia

A band with absolutely nothing to prove to anyone releases one of the best albums in their incredible career, 50 whole years after their debut. Next time someone tells you that you should lower your expectations and just be grateful when a legacy band puts out new music, even when that music is objectively subpar/shite, slap them in the face with this album.

Invincible Judas Priest.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Yaniv, RaduP, Dream Taster, ScreamingSteelUS, Auntie Sahar

With IIII (and not IV, for a reason), Solbrud have delivered a musical opus of epic proportions, a work of art based on the four elements of nature, with a magnificent cover art that expresses the individuality of each of the four parts of the album. Each band member individually composed the tracks featured in each vinyl side, yet the flow and the cohesion of IIII is exceptional. This is a musical journey that is breathtaking when it is thunderous and intense, and mesmerizing when it gets emotional and reflective. A unique blend of moods, melodies, and atmospheres, all brought together for a 94-minute experience that can only be defined as cathartic.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Starvynth, RaduP

So pure. So cold. So old…
How old? 30 years old!

As an indisputable masterpiece of the genre, Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger still plays a central role in the making of black metal. New acts seeking raw evil and hypnotic despair for their musical endeavours know the groundbreaking opening riff by heart. There is little left to be said about this album. So I’ll end this with the final lines of a short-but-sweet guest review, which described the album perfectly:

”Satan himself has certainly shed a tear facing so much genius - the art of regression and of musical purification, which is the climax of the beauty of evil...”

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: nikarg, RaduP

It's always nice when form follows function and the message dictates the medium of its expression. What starts out as a somewhat ordinary prog rock album soon turns heavier and blends space rock and stoner to support the narrative of a space exploring android. I've always found bands to be at their most imaginative when they cross over into genres outside their established conventions. If unwilling to explore the album in full make sure you at least listen to the (mostly instrumental) closing track "The Return of Daedalus." It's some great songwriting and theme development right there with exceptional bass-work to boot. It's not an all around perfect album but some of it is quite spectacular indeed.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Auntie Sahar

Beyond The Breakers is an album of fantasy tales about fanglors, warmoths, and other bizarre creatures, narrated alongside captivating heavy metal music that stays interesting despite the length of the songs' runtime. It is Dio who has resurrected in the form of a man named John Evermore.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: ScreamingSteelUS, Starvynth

Following Baron Blood's death, The Magus disbanded Necromantia and started a new project to express his musical and mystical journey, aptly called… The Magus. The band’s debut release Βυσσοδομώντας (Vissodomontas), actually meaning ‘building in the abyss’ but also ‘conspiring in darkness’, is a concept album about Lucifer being pissed off at the decline of humanity. The music is dark, diverse, and apocryphal, with choir arrangements by Christos Antoniou (Septicflesh), and it is an eclectic form of black metal that needs repeated listens to fully unpack and grasp. Above all, it is quite theatrical and almost ‘visual’ to the point that when listening to the final track, which is essentially a blues black metal song, it feels as if you can watch the band play in front of you.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: RaduP, ScreamingSteelUS

This gloomy slow folk experience is well worth taking your time to get through. While the album is rewarding as a whole it's the closing track that takes the cake. Just like with Pink Floyd's Meddle it's "Echoes" that you really long to hear, it's going to be the magnificent experimental cover of Scott Walker's "Farmer in the City" that you'll be returning for. In doubling the length the song's crushing culmination has more in common with Swans than with the haunting original, making it literally the hefty anchor-piece of the album.

Listen to the YouTube playlist.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: RaduP, nikarg

It would be too easy to pick a terrifying extreme metal album for Halloween. But there's much more to this day than just scaring people. This is a celebration for the macabre. Let us fully embrace what lies beyond the dark veil of the underworld! And what better way to do it than with Devil Doll's elegantly dark debut album, The Girl Who Was... Death. This Slovenian project led by the enigmatic Mr. Doctor lasted less than a decade, yet grand works were made in that time. On his debut album, based on the cult tv-series "The Prisoner", we can find some of the best classical instruments and choirs ever used alongside progressive rock. To top it all off, Mr. Doctor's unique vocal performance will send shivers down your spine as his thousand voices pierce your mind.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: RaduP, Redel, nikarg, ylside

Two of 20 Buck Spin’s most interesting bands join forces on the split release, Starpath. First, immerse yourself into Dream Unending’s sea of Pink Floyd-ish death doom, with guitar playing to die for. Then, let yourself fully absorb the chilling atmosphere, the blackened touches, and the gothic feel of Worm’s take on the genre. These bands play unique death doom metal that really stands out and mimics no one.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: RaduP, musclassia, Starvynth