The one man project of Chet W. Scott, Blood Of The Black Owl is a hypnotizing journey through foreboding sounds and monolithic landscapes. Native American themes abound, with use of wind flute and some drony, chant-like vocals to help heighten the vibe and make you feel as though you're being banished by the ritual of the album's title. This album may be four years old, but screw it: if you're down with the whole drone/dark ambient nonsense, this is definitely one you need in your life.

Begin the daze.

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The New Zealand Duo craft some instrumental post-rock/metal goodness. Constructs and build-ups are well executed and enjoyable if standard format, but the crescendos really help make this a bi-polar bit of post-fun.

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Endorsed by: Abattoir

Hey! These guys sound a lot like Entombed!

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Endorsed by: Daniell, Darkside Momo, wormdrink414

Equally parts heavy and psychedelic, this early Sabbath-worshiping Swedish trio will rock you with crushing riffs and a fuzzy atmosphere that puts the 420blazeit in Monolord.

Get your toke on right here.

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Endorsed by: Auntie Sahar, wormdrink414, R'Vannith, Introspekrieg, Abattoir, BloodTears

You know what? This album's twenty years old and it's still as relevant as it was when it first came out. So do yourself a favor and check it out - or spin it a few times again!

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Endorsed by: R'Vannith, X-Ray Rod, Daniell

New Overkill. Same old shit 3rd time in a row. I wish more bands recorded the same old shit 3 times in a row to such good effect. Screw modern copycats, listen to real thrash. Yeah, I know. Broken record syndrome - I always bash new thrash bands and praise Overkill. Judging by the quality of Overkill's recent output, it's not likely to change any time soon. Sue me.

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Endorsed by: R'Vannith, wormdrink414

You thought Goatwhore were bullshit awesome before? Just wait 'til you shove this in your ear hole...

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Endorsed by: X-Ray Rod, Ag Fox, wormdrink414, Troy Killjoy, Darkside Momo

The hype surrounding the band following the release of Aura last year is proven not undeserving with their second EP. Riffs with a great hook, a thundering old school death metal sound with a bit of a modern twist, and subtle threads of black metal that hold all the seams together. If your expectations were high for this, chances are good you won't be disappointed.

Check out "Steppes" over here.

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Endorsed by: Nefarious, Marcel Hubregtse, X-Ray Rod, Daniell, BloodTears

To put it bluntly, Timelessness is nothing short of a masterpiece!

Don't believe me? Go give it a spin HERE, and decide for yourself.

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Endorsed by: R'Vannith, Darkside Momo

No amount of febrezing will save you, this thing is putrid.

Stream it here.

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Endorsed by: Ag Fox, X-Ray Rod

The word "authentic" comes to mind when listening to Saor's sophomore album, which is written and performed by Andy Marshall for the most part, aside from some guest accompaniment. This is an atmospheric black metal album which convincingly incorporates Celtic instrumentation and vocals, all composed in five fairly lengthy songs. It's creative efforts like this which keep the folk metal genre well and truly alive.

Listen to Saor on bandcamp.

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Endorsed by: Ag Fox, Nefarious, X-Ray Rod, Darkside Momo

The nightmarish Swedes return with a short 25 minutes of material left over from the recording sessions of their previous two albums, hence the title. Bearing more structural resemblance to The Purging, but also oozing with the delicious dark ambient cloak that made The Tunnels so good, this EP can be seen as a bit of a bridge between the two, that may also be dropping some hints as to where their sound is going in the future. A bit brief, but for those who simply can't get enough of the band, this release is mandatory.

Bandcamp.

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Endorsed by: Ag Fox, Darkside Momo, R'Vannith, BloodTears, X-Ray Rod

As far as I'm concerned this is about as close as you can get to the new Estradasphere material. Born from the transformations of Orange Tulip Conspiracy which came into being after Estradasphere went on a permanent hiatus, the band is still led by Estradasphere's guitarist Jason Schimmel. That's just about close enough for me.

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Endorsed by: wormdrink414, Auntie Sahar, X-Ray Rod, Doc G., BloodTears

More Mayhem and Mayhem never fucks around.

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Endorsed by: X-Ray Rod, Daniell, Auntie Sahar, Doc G., Darkside Momo

What's that, you want a description? Ok. Have an Andromedan alien come to Earth, learn the language of some obscure African tribe, and then play synthesizers while singing over them in that language. Then play the recording backwards, and that's something along the lines of what you get with Ritual. Surachai is definitely not one to do something more than once, and this new album is a radical, yet curious departure from his previous releases that were more grounded in metal.

Bandcamp

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