Awesome grind built on great, bouncing riffs, a few melodic leads here and there, some catchy chanting...and...banjo & trumpet?

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: wormdrink414, X-Ray Rod

Something you probably haven't stumbled across but deserves your very much in demand attention. I mean, how can you ignore an album with a title like that? Fact is, you can't. This record is backed by an actual scientific research. True story. Sometimes a bit djenty (ain't that a hot potato nowadays?), featuring cool soundscapes, often including bad ass riffs - this Jolly album is overall a beautifully structured record. If it ain't going to make you happy, it should at least make you feel good.

Taste it here!

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: jupitreas, Susan, Ag Fox, Milena, X-Ray Rod

Iron Maiden's new album is pretty sweet, guys.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Milena, Marcel Hubregtse, wormdrink414, Daniell, White Winter Sun, X-Ray Rod

Classic doom metal doesn't get better than this. If you want an album that you will remember every single song off of, this is the one.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Marcel Hubregtse, Nefarious, White Winter Sun

A description? What? You want a description? It's simple, really. Go in a cave, a really deep one. Now get relentlessly crushed by tons of rocks. That'll do the trick.

Or, in other words, it's some dissonant avant/post/sludge/drone stuff. Or something else. But who cares, as long as it's awesome?

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: !J.O.O.E.!, X-Ray Rod, Ag Fox, psykometal, Auntie Sahar

Sad Reminder: This is the swansong of the bizarre squad that is Japanische Kampfhörspiele.

Being both extremely brutal and fun, this album will make your head explode with its unothodox ideas and schizophrenic vocal delivery. It's not everyday you get your grindcore so forward-thinking.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: !J.O.O.E.!, Doc G., wormdrink414, Promonex, Baz Anderson

Gritty hardcore with a slightly atmospheric edge that borders on black metal riffing from time to time.

Raw, pounding, and almost purely visceral. A great way to start off 2012.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: X-Ray Rod

"Close your eyes, lean back; prepare yourself for liftoff. Rise out from your seat, through your ceiling, your roof, and into the sky above as Alrakis embraces you, freeing mind and body from this terrestrial realm. Soon, as you rise through the heavens, away from the reaches of the Earth, you begin a cosmic black metal journey not unlike that of Sun Of The Blind or Chaos Moon."
- Marcus

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: X-Ray Rod, Ag Fox

Forget Opeth, THIS is how retro prog rock is done! And despite its vintage sound, Orange still comes across as fresh and original. Fans of King Crimson, Pain of Salvation and Riverside, you know what to do!

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Dane Train, ylside, Introspekrieg, Milena, Nefarious

Here is one of the best death metal albums ever. Enjoy

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Take too many drugs and listen to The Devil's Blood.

A great adventurous, yet easily digestible piece of 70's style psychedelic rock, amp'd up for a modern age.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Ag Fox, Darkside Momo, KwonVerge, Dane Train, X-Ray Rod, Marcel Hubregtse

What? Isn't "Beautiful" descriptive enough? OK, fine then, what about "avant-garde atmospheric metal with BM roots"? Yeah, that's what I thought. Beautiful is better.

And Hungarian does really sound poetic.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: !J.O.O.E.!, Ag Fox, KwonVerge, Introspekrieg, Daniell, Fat & Sassy!, White Winter Sun

When Ulcerate emerged early this year like a Kraken from the dead oceans and turned death metal upside down with an usually innovative lunge toward a Neurosis-ian, post-death aesthetic, I for one thought it would be a one-off entity for 2011. Apparently not. Along with a smattering of others that could fall under this neologism, such as Baring Teeth, Owl and perhaps even Mitochondrion, Flourishing take more than a leaf from this burgeoning movement of a more textured approach to death metal (and post-hardcore) and manage to inject a level of variety and diversity not seen even in The Destroyers Of All (being the perfect remedy for those that found it too repetitive).

This is one record that does not deserve to slip by unnoticed.

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

Whenever I pick up Firewind's latest effort, Days Of Defiance, I always end up listening to this instead. Classy, polished, catchy, heavy and prog-tinged, nicely written and performed - probably as high as this band's gonna get. No cigar in 2011 for you, lads. But it's cool, this one has got enough swag in it to last for several years.

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Like walking through a home just as its owners are silently moving out, with different cities as their destinations, To Cast A Shadow finds a way to express warmth and desire within a lonely, gloomy atmosphere of doom-drenched gothic metal. Deliberate percussion, heavy bass and guitar, with a pulsing drama and internal struggle lyrically, they mostly keep it mid-tempo to slow, but with the occasional outburst that adds an urgency to the overall arrangements within. Distraught male growls & murky female vocals that yearn for an end to interpersonal distances, In Memory Of is a swansong to what two people once were, and the reality of what is left behind.

Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Ag Fox, Susan, Dane Train, Milena, X-Ray Rod