Thumbs up: +17 RaduP AndyMetalFreak Zap Alex F 24emd Liafev Vellichor Chobo_jokeR skeksis25 ChrisWinther94 Bjamm cerny_vi OsirisVilla Vurlok Meteorandaz Samarithan Killian

Hoping to not beat last year's total albums, but to still find the good stuff this year. Created by: musclassia | 03.01.2024 1. Vulgaris - Seat Of The Fire [N/A] - Not quite AOTY, but plugging it at the top to encourage people to check this out please! 2. Dvne - Voidkind [9.0] - Perhaps not quite as magnificent in its scope as Etenem Aenka, but a further consolidation of the band's place at the top of the modern metal totem pole. 3. Persefone - Lingua Ignota: Part I [8.5] - Persefone once again on form, new vocalist slotting in nicely. 4. Eternal Storm - A Giant Bound To Fall [8.5] - Lacks a 'Through The Wall Of Light'-tier song, but an accomplished sophomore release. 5. Horseburner - Voice Of Storms [8.5] 6. Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa - The Blossoming [8.5] - Really enjoyable and varied release with a good balance of black metal intensity, proggy melody and a hint of eccentricity. 7. Cave Sermon - Divine Laughter [8.5] - Punishing, unpleasant blackened dissodeath with post- touches. 8. Dark Oath - Ages Of Man [8.0] - Delightfully bombastic symphy melodeath. 9. Horndal - Head Hammer Man [8.0] - Really great swaggering sludge, tasty riffs and leads. 10. Ulcerate - Cutting The Throat Of God [8.0] - Perhaps lacked the shock factor that SIDABS had in terms of enjoyment, but I still really dig this atmospheric dissonant tech-death sound. 11. Oubliette - Eternity Whispers [8.0] - Really enjoyable melodeath/meloblack with a slight techy edge. 12. Bipolar Architecture - Metaphysicize [8.0] - Excellent evolution of their style, still recognizably post-metal but with a distinctive and emotional flavour. 13. LVME - Of Sinful Nature [8.0] 14. In Vain - Solemn [8.0] - Some more vibrant melodicism here compared with e.g. Aenigma, scratches a slightly different itch but still very impressive. 15. Urzah - The Scorching Gaze [8.0] - Very accomplished and diverse debut, shines especially in its more expansive and progressive moments. 16. Vitriol - Suffer & Become [8.0] 17. Caligula's Horse - Charcoal Grace [8.0] - From first listen, possibly second to In Contact in their discography; has less of the macho BS riffs and more heart to it. 18. Resin Tomb - Cerebral Purgatory [8.0] - Belligerent sludgy grindy dissodeath. 19. Selbst - Despondency Chord Progressions [8.0] - Really solid modern black metal album with post-, melo- and disso-black elements. 20. Sgàile - Traverse The Bealach [8.0] - Great proggy/posty epic folk metal sound. 21. Globular - Lifts The Curse Of The Grey Goo Assimilators [8.0] - Not quite Messages From The Resonator-tier, but a really fun listen. 22. Huntsmen - The Dry Land [8.0] - A major stylistic evolution for the group, and a massive step up from their previous release. 23. Wormwood - The Star [8.0] - Very strong melodic capabilities on this album, might be the one from Wormwood that I've enjoyed the most. 24. Replicant - Infinite Mortality [8.0] - Genre-spanning disso-death belligerence. 25. Notochord - Aegis [8.0] 26. Monkey3 - Welcome To The Machine [8.0] - Very solid, at times borderline metallic, instrumental psych rock, with some quite passionate-sounding moments. 27. Slift - Ilion [8.0] - Super-long but very cool and well-written heavy psych record. 28. Night Verses - Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night: Part 2 [8.0] - Strong second half to the double album. 29. Griffon - De Republica [8.0] - Solid keys-tinged historical-inspired meloblack. 30. Cathubodua - Interbellum [8.0] - Symphonic power metal, but not necessarily in the usual way, with very prominent violin/strings; also, solid songs and vocals - upper-tier symphonic and/or power metal. 31. Hemotoxin - When Time Becomes Loss [8.0] - Really cool prog/tech-death/thrash with awesome solos. 32. Hail Spirit Noir - Fossil Gardens [8.0] - Bit more extreme than Eden In Reverse, still some very good blackened prog. 33. Verwoed - The Mother [8.0] - Peculiar, at-times melodic, at-times a bit proggy, but consistently intriguing black metal. 34. Job For A Cowboy - Moon Healer [8.0] 35. Inter Arma - New Heaven [8.0] - A further expansion of their odd, uncompromising and unique take on metal. 36. Borknagar - Fall [8.0] 37. Myrath - Karma [8.0] - Nice, catchy return from the band with rich sonic mix. 38. Vale Of Pnath - Between The Worlds Of Life And Death [8.0] - Tech-death meets symph-black, works well. 39. Hauntedd Plasma - I [8.0] - Cool trippy synth-prog stuff from members of Oranssi Pazuzu and other acts. 40. Autolith - Artificial Heaven [8.0] - Continuing to go posty with their sludge, there's ugliness here but also lightness. 41. Abrams - Blue City [8.0] - Really enjoyable alt-heavy stoner sound. 42. Lotus Thief - Lotus Thief / Forlesen [8.0] - Very solid and haunting 2-song EP. 43. Suldusk - Anthesis [8.0] - Very evocative and rich-sounding blackgaze-y stuff. 44. Cloven - Chance Encounter Of Flesh And Nail [8.0] - Solid indus-tinged dissonant black metal, more on the slow, measured, atmospheric side. 45. Final Coil - The World We Inherited [8.0] - In The Silence-y emotional proggy/posty alt metal. 46. Unaussprechlichen Kulten - Häxan Sabaoth [8.0] - Really solid janky death metal with great riffs, strong solos, and interesting additional elements (e.g. occasional symphonics). 47. Yīn Yīn - Mount Matsu [8.0] - Another fun playful album from these guys. 48. Olim - Because [8.0] - Very likeable post-black/atmo-black sound. 49. Dystopia (NED) - De Verboden Diepte I: Veldslag Op De Rand Van De Wereld [8.0] - Strong black metal with a propensity for surprise or quirkiness. 50. Knoll - As Spoken [8.0] - Monstruous mathy dissodeath grindcore. 51. Far Beyond - The End Of My Road [8.0] - Very enjoyable symphonic melodeath. 52. Ufomammut - Hidden [8.0] - Another suitably trippy stoner doom effort. 53. Malsten - The Haunting Of Silvåkra Mill - Rites Of Passage [8.0] - Stoner doom that's heavy on the doom, has a bit of quirkiness and personality to it to distinguish itself from a lot of stoner doom. 54. Praise The Plague - Suffocating In The Current Of Time [8.0] - Satisfying post-tinged black metal. 55. Cataclasite - Heavy Lies The Weight Of The World Upon Us [8.0] - Some roughness in the production aside, I really enjoy this dreamy, post-y take on funeral doom. 56. Ihsahn - Ihsahn [8.0] 57. Royal Graves - Amen [8.0] - Very strong post-metal EP. 58. Glass Beach - Plastic Death [8.0] - Solid modern prog rock/indie/emo stuff that occasionally goes a bit heavier, to Dear Hunter or even more post-hardcore levels. 59. A/Oratos - Ecclesia Gnostica [8.0] - Strong LADLO black metal with melodic and religious elements. 60. Hideous Divinity - Unextinct [8.0] - Ballistic dissonant tech-death. 61. Vægtløs - Aftryk [8.0] - Evocative screamo-linked post-black. 62. Farsot - Life Promised Death [8.0] - Solid black metal with some nice acoustic/soft bits. 63. Fragment Soul - Galois Paradox [8.0] 64. Homecoming - Those We Knew [8.0] - Well-made stoner prog album with some other styles also incorporated (post-rock, grunge). 65. Verberis - The Apophatic Wilderness [8.0] - Really cool dissonant black/death style. 66. Chapel Perilous - The Tower Of Silence [8.0] - Solid black metal debut with the kind of Schammasch-y atmosphere I reliably enjoy. 67. Etoile Filante - Mare Tranquillitatis [8.0] - Very cool psychedelic space/ambient atmo-black. 68. Orgone - Pleroma [8.0] 69. Arð - Untouched By Fire [8.0] - High-quality monastic doom. 70. Malphas (USA) - Portal [8.0] - Cool exciting symphonic arrangements that complement the occasionally buried but mostly solid quasi-extreme metal; the 12-minute closer is excellent. 71. Infestus - Entzweiung [8.0] - A solid return after a long while away. 72. Wheel - Charismatic Leaders [8.0] - On first listens, still a great band, but this perhaps is a step down from the last one. 73. Hippotraktor - Stasis [8.0] - Maybe overdoing the djent this time around, but has some great moments throughout the runtime. 74. Vástígr - The Path Of Perdition [8.0] - Quasi-melodic, proggy black metal with some really great writing that keeps it consistently engaging. 75. Rezn - Burden [8.0] - Takes a bit of time to get going, but ultimately turns into a solid stoner doom album. 76. Aquilus - Bellum II [8.0] - Classical elements dialled down a bit, a bit folkier, but more proggy atmo-black, with a somewhat Opethian epic track later on; a solid follow-up to the last album. 77. Nemedian Chronicles - The Savage Sword [8.0] - Top-tier early Blind Guardian worship. 78. Weston Super Maim - See You Tomorrow Baby [8.0] - Feisty math metal with Meshuggah, Frontierer and Car Bomb elements. 79. Frail Body - Artificial Bouquet [8.0] - Infant Island-esque blackened screamo/post-hardcore; has some uplifting melodic parts but also fairly ballistic in its intensity. 80. Saevus Finis - Facilis Descensus Averno [8.0] - Vile, evil dissonant blackened death metal. 81. Hamferð - Men Gu​ð​s Hond Er Sterk [8.0] - Good Nordic doom with great vocals. 82. Amiensus - Reclamation: Part 1 [8.0] 83. Animårum - Machina [8.0] - Solid prog-death follow-up to 2022's debut album. 84. Grind - Grace And Misery [8.0] - Genre-bending mesh of grind, post-metal and other styles. 85. Infant Island - Obsidian Wreath [8.0] - Post-rock and screamo have a lot of overlap these days, but not many bands are this vicious while still having the room for the lighter sounds. 86. Lethe - Alienation [8.0] - Really pleasant vibe to this album, nice trippy electronics, gloomy soundscapes, occasional metallic touches, and haunting vocals. 87. Counting Hours - The Wishing Tomb [8.0] - Evocative and rich-sounding gothic melodeath/doom debut from Shape Of Despair members. 88. Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished [8.0] - Quintessential 20 Buck Spin death/doom. 89. Beaten To Death - Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis [8.0] - Peculiar, melodic, avant-garde, creative sound based in grindcore, cool release. 90. Sacrificial Vein - Black Terror Genesis [8.0] - Suitably hellish dissonant black release. 91. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of The Last Human Being [8.0] - Impressively creative and zany release, can occasionally spill over into being irksome though. 92. Chapel Of Disease - Echoes Of Light [8.0] - Intriguing combo of deathly prog and hard rock. 93. Thou - Umbilical [8.0] - Absolutely filthy album. 94. Mastiff - Deprecipice [8.0] - Destructive hardcore-tinged sludge. 95. Construct Of Lethe - A Kindness Dealt In Venom [8.0] - Creative, off-kilter disso-death. 96. Sear Bliss - Heavenly Down [8.0] - Trumpet black metal still cool. 97. Árstíðir Lífsins - Aldrlok [8.0] 98. Manticora - Mycelium [8.0] - One of the strongest power metal bands around produces another great record. 99. Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose [8.0] - Has trad doom aspects that take it away from my tastes, but it's very upper-tier for the genre. 100. Schubmodul - Lost In Kelp Forest [7.5] - The first properly engaging stoner release this year. 101. Spaceslug - Out Of Water [7.5] - Putting this here for now, but prepared to move it up if they work their magic on me with future listens. 102. Nocturna - Of Sorcery And Darkness [7.5] - More matured and accomplished symphonic power sound, albeit lacks the uber-memorable standout songs of the debut. 103. Marjana Semkina - Sirin [7.5] - Iamthemorning vocalist has solo debut that is very similar in style, vibe and quality to Iamthemorning. 104. Alcest - Les Chants De L'Aurore [7.5] - On first listen, feels slightly insubstantial compared with Spiritual Instinct, but still nails their signature vibe. 105. Shokran - Duat [7.5] - Definitely plays to my tastes as djent-heavy prog-deathcore. 106. Dool - The Shape Of Fluidity [7.5] - Nice mix of rock and doomy metal sounds, perhaps lacks a killer song like the last album had. 107. Dödsrit - Nocturnal Will [7.5] - Any punk that may once have been here is definitely absent; this is melo/atmo-black bordering on blackgaze. It's very good though. 108. Stellar Remains - Wastelands [7.5] - Very enjoyable prog sludge debut EP. 109. Bongripper - Empty [7.5] - Another crushing wall of sound from the instrumental doomy sludge/stoner outfit, albeit with some surprising post-rock cues also woven in. 110. Edhochuli - Higherlander [7.5] - Tasty proggy stoner-sludge release with some post-hardcore leanings too, has satisfying convoluted songs with strong riffs. 111. Seven Spires - A Fortress Called Home [7.5] - Perhaps a tad more extreme than the last one, I'm impressed by the scope of this album, and it avoids overloading itself like the previous record. 112. Hämnd - Eldhav [7.5] - Generic but very enjoyable post-metal sound. 113. Mono - Oath [7.5] - As likely expected, a very pleasant and dreamy post-rock album crafted at a level above the competition. 114. Martikor - Acedia [7.5] - Solid Amenra worship with hints from other bands and styles (particularly blackened tinges). 115. Blóð - Mara [7.5] - More Amenra-meets-Wolvennest than Martikor's straight Amenra worship, a bit more diverse but perhaps doesn't hit quite as intensely. 116. Demande À La Poussière - Kintsugi [7.5] - Powerful post-black more on the post- end of the spectrum. 117. Insect Ark - Raw Blood Singing [7.5] - Solid drone doom, can get quite lively for the genre in some moments. 118. Julie Christmas - Ridiculous And Full Of Blood [7.5] - A unique voice in alternative metal, although the album didn't hit quite as hard here compared with her live performances. 119. Teramaze - Eli: A Wonderful Fall From Grace [7.5] 120. Ten Ton Slug - Colossal Oppressor [7.5] - Tasty British sludge debut. 121. Locusts And Honey - Teach Me To Live That I Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed [7.5] - Seems to actually be a re-release of a 2023 EP, but I'm hearing it now; very effective drone doom/post-metal sound, nicely bleak and melancholic atmosphere. 122. Fierce Deity - A Terrible Fate [7.5] 123. Henrik Palm - Nerd Icon [7.5] - Cool hard rock album with flirtations with heavier sounds - apparently features guests from Horndal, I can hear this as a lighter version of their sound. 124. Kollapse - AR [7.5] 125. Deafening - Have Courage, My Love. [7.5] - Gazey post-y screamo, enjoy it a bit more in the dreamier moments. 126. Defying - Wadera [7.5] 127. Evoking Winds - Your Rivers [7.5] - Firmly above-average folk/black stuff, very enjoyable. 128. Shallow Waters - All Colours Blur To One [7.5] - Solid follow-up album with features from melodeath, doom, black and post-metal, a bit reminiscent of Ghost Brigade. 129. Skraeckoedlan - Vermillion Sky [7.5] - Fairly conventional stoner rock/metal but quite a lot of fun, a bit of Truckfighters feel. 130. Syncatto - Fiction [7.5] - Slick, bubbly instrudjent with some very tasteful playing, particularly the more Spanish guitar bits. 131. Meth. - Shame [7.5] - Noisy, malevolent, mid-tempo noisy, dissonant sludge with mathcore tendencies. 132. Sunnata - Chasing Shadows [7.5] 133. Cutterred Flesh - Love At First Bite [7.5] - Increasingly proggy and melodic brutal death, not quite at Cytotoxin levels yet in quality but I like it quite a bit. 134. Coroza - As Within [7.5] - A solid sludge album with some stoner, doom and post-metal leanings, but with plenty of tasty riffs. 135. Glossa - Death Is Not The End [7.5] - Mixture of Sum Of R, Amenra, more visceral sludge and some stoner parts on this well-made debut. 136. Lamentari - Ex Umbra In Lucem [7.5] - Symphonic black/death with lots of neoclassical influences in the guitarwork, a rather fun album. 137. Tenebrific - Labyrinth Of Anguish [7.5] 138. Cosmic Jaguar - El Era Del Jaguar [7.5] - Prog thrash/death with a heavy emphasis on prog and a capacity for real extremity in moments. 139. Brume - Marten [7.5] - Stirring, evocative doom in the vein of Healthyliving and Wolfecore acts; great haunting vocals and violin on the best songs. 140. We Broke The Weather - Restart Game [7.5] 141. Alkhemia - Abraxas [7.5] - Solid semi-melodic French black metal debut. 142. Shadow Limb - Reclaim [7.5] - Solid proggy sludge with fiery tone when heavy. 143. Carrion Vael - Cannibals Anonymous [7.5] - Solid tech-y Black Dahlia Murder worship. 144. Atlantic - Black Sand [7.5] - Solid atmo-black EP/demo. 145. Hand Of Kalliach - Corryvreckan [7.5] 146. BleakHeart - Silver Pulse [7.5] - Similar ballpark to The Keening, chamber music/doom mix with some heavy passages but also plenty of subdued tranquillity. 147. Love Sex Machine - Trve [7.5] - For such a heavy album, it's got a surprisingly light and melody-tinged vibe to it. 148. High On Fire - Cometh The Storm [7.5] 149. Clæmus - Mercurial [7.5] - Nice djenty modern prog EP, perhaps not as great as the debut full-length. 150. Glassing - From The Other Side Of The Mirror [7.5] - Another solid combination of post-hardcore, post-metal and occasional blackgaze touches; perhaps not as immediately impressive as the last one. 151. My Diligence - Death.Horses.Black. [7.5] - By this point, their stoner/post/alt fusion has left stoner metal behind for the most part. 152. Sunburst - Manifesto [7.5] - Solid prog/power that has strong influences from Kamelot and Seventh Wonder. 153. Walg - IV [7.5] - Exciting, hooky, intense meloblack. 154. Meltem - Mare Nostrum [7.5] - Cool, darkly atmospheric psych/stoner-sludge doom. 155. Above Aurora - Myriad Woes [7.5] - Evocative blackened doom sound with some post- elements. 156. Aythis - Celestial Exile [7.5] - Gloomy yet tender 'soft doom'. 157. Eyriahrk Nunshkar - Eyriahrk Nunshkar [7.5] - Fascinating mix of genres in avantgarde but not chaotic manner. 158. Quantum - Down The Mountainside [7.5] - Cool modern prog album, has some math and post-hardcore influences alongside the metal, nice clean sound - just needs a bit more in the way of memorability to get to the next level. 159. Keygen Church - Nel Nome Del Codice [7.5] - Very entertaining organ/choir-heavy electronic metal. 160. Lord Goblin - Lord Goblin [7.5] 161. Dekadent - Dyonist [7.5] - Better production than the last album, and still a good demonstration of the band's melodic, blackened proggy songwriting. 162. Ulterror - Transcendent Origins [7.5] - Above-average proggy tech-death. 163. Ecr.Linf - Belluaires [7.5] - Cool black metally stuff with some occasional horror symphonic flourishes. 164. Adon - Adon [7.5] - Solid black/death sound, can be bludgeoning and vicious, but also incorporates some atmosphere and melody. 165. Valerinne - Ver Sacrum [7.5] 166. Necrophobic - In The Twilight Grey [7.5] - A good album, but a bit less impressive than the last couple. 167. Owl - Ghosts Of Summer [7.5] - Intense, harrowing disso-death. 168. Sleepmakeswaves - It's Here, But I Have No Names For It [7.5] 169. Dååth - The Deceivers [7.5] - Pretty decent album, fairly accessible form of death metal with melodic and symphonic touches, but comes together well. 170. Judas Priest - Invincible Shield [7.5] - A very impressive album for a 55-year-old band. 171. Sect - Plagues Upon Plagues [7.5] - Crunching sludgy metallic hardcore. 172. Hands Of Goro - Hands Of Goro [7.5] - Very above-average for NWOBHM/hard rock stuff - great solos, good swagger to riffs. 173. Theatrum - Tableau Vivant [7.5] - Theatrical avant-garde/prog; has an oddness to it but isn't complete wackiness. 174. House Of Atreus - Orations [7.5] - Strong rendition of this particular dirty melodeath-y style, albeit with song-by-song fluctuations in quality. 175. Obsidian Tongue - The Stone Heart [7.5] - Rather enjoyable folk-tinged melodic black metal EP. 176. Askel - Cycles Of Ruin [7.5] - Bleak, angry sludge debut. 177. Udols - Songs For A Modern Transcendence [7.5] - Rather enjoyable electronics-heavy prog stuff with a sound that's difficult to pin down. 178. Vnder A Crumbling Moon - II: Aging & Formless [7.5] - Fairly typical post-rock/metal sound (Cult Of Luna, Moanaa), but a satisfying one. 179. Aberration - Refracture [7.5] - Dissonant death metal of the hellish and world-crushing variety akin to Portal; contains Void Rot and Suffering Hour members. 180. Towers Of Jupiter - Echus Chasma [7.5] - A bit heavier than the last one, and with less vocal emphasis, but still very nice and evocative. 181. Tetsuo - Dots [7.5] - Tight, tasty, brooding sludgy post-metal. 182. Lascaille's Shroud - Wyrmfire And Starlight [7.5] - First time checking Lascaille's Shroud out in a while, an accomplished mesh of extreme and more melodic progressive sounds. 183. Lord Dying - Clandestine Transcendence [7.5] - Up-and-down swanky proggy sludge album with some great moments (and some more forgettable ones). 184. Kvadrat - The Horrible Dissonance Of Oblivion [7.5] - Fairly strong dissonant blackened death, bit too janky to get properly into. 185. InnerSphere - In The Shadows Of The Sun [7.5] - Doomy prog melodeath with a relatively distinctive voice for the genre. 186. Vemod - The Deepening [7.5] - Nice quasi-black atmospheric stuff. 187. Svdestada - Candela [7.5] - The guitar tone is a bit post-black, it works really well in adding some extra depth and character to this metallic hardcore, which also has some nice post-hardcore dynamics. 188. Zolfo - Descending Into Inexorable Absence [7.5] - Grim sludge/death-doom. 189. Arms And Sleepers - What Tomorrow Brings [7.5] - Intriguing mix of indietronica/trip-hop and post-rock. 190. Illyria - Wanderlust [7.5] - Proggy, black/death-tinged atmospheric metalcore, quite an intriguing mesh of sounds. 191. Guenna - Peak Of Jin'Arrah [7.5] - Solid proggy stoner metal, nice melodicism. 192. Kvaen - The Formless Fires [7.5] - Another solid album by the band, and track 6 is a highlight, but perhaps not as noteworthy as the first two releases. 193. Ulvik - Last Rites / Dire Omens [7.5] - Mixture of blackened doom and dark acoustic folk stuff, the two extremes are a bit segregated musically but they're also well-balanced with one another. 194. El Moono - The Waking Sun [7.5] - Mathy, core-y alt metal, reminds me a bit of Puciato. 195. Throwing Bricks & Ontaard - Oud Zeer [7.5] - Amenra-ish spiritualistic post-black sound. 196. Guiltless - Thorns [7.5] - Promising debut EP from sludge/post- quasi-supergroup; production's not amazing. 197. Wandering Oak - Resilience [7.5] - Enjoyable but flawed folky proggy meloblack. 198. Einvigi - Monokroma [7.5] - Blackgaze to a tee, but nice listening, and with some great lead guitar melodies. 199. Waidelotte - Celestial Shrine [7.5] - Distinctive and intriguing prog-death from White Ward, Soen and other members. 200. Acathexis - Immerse [7.5] - Very respectable atmo-black. 201. Autolith - Yashira / Autolith / Drag Pattern [7.5] - Solid split and tasty preview of Autolith's debut album. 202. Eye - Dark Light [7.5] - Really pleasant moody electronic/rock stuff. 203. Aseitas - Eden Trough [7.5] - A bit overly meandering at times, but has a good balance of the band's belligerent extremity and their exploration of softer tones. 204. Silent Deep Ocean - The Throne Of Whispers And Dust [7.5] - Solid and emotional gothic doom, if perhaps overlong. 205. Demersal - Demersal [7.5] - Solid screamo stuff. 206. Silent Weapon - Demonology [7.5] - Dark, brooding dub industrial electronica with harsh vox. 207. Asterean - Sovereign [7.5] - Solid melodeath/black EP, enjoy the tones used on it. 208. Ornamental - Verwandlung Im Schlaf [7.5] - Very cool swirling psych rock. 209. Red Rot - Borders Of Mania [7.5] - Cool death metal album that's not overly death metal, takes cues from other modern genres and has some atmospheric aspects to it as well. 210. Synestia - The Poetic Edda [Collaboration] [7.5] 211. Hour Of Penance - Devotion [7.5] - Ballistic, relentless onslaught of 00s Behemoth-esque blasting death metal. 212. Martin Gonzalez - Suspiro [7.5] - Use of guest vocalist Elizabeth Hull on a couple of traacks elevates this above most instru-djent releases in enjoyability/memorability. 213. Kyros - Mannequin [7.5] - Quite cool prog rock that has Haken-y bits, but also draws from synthpop and other styles, and has a bright sound to it. 214. Angmodnes - Rot Of The Soul [7.5] - Above-average funeral doom with nice use of clean vocals and occasional surges of faster, more intense material. 215. Cistvaen - At Light's Demise [7.5] - Gazey atmo-black with some doomier moments. 216. The Idoru - Undertow [7.5] - Great artwork, enjoyable proggy post-hardcore album. 217. Marea - The Silence Of Rusy [7.5] - Good post-black album with sad melodic portions. 218. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown [7.5] - Music is a bit too stripped-down for my liking at times, but Gibbons' voice is as haunting as ever. 219. Atræ Bilis - Aumicide [7.5] 220. Khirki - Κ​υ​κ​ε​ώ​ν​α​ς [7.5] - Fluctuates a bit in quality, but overall perhaps more enjoyable than the debut; when it's on form (e.g. on Συμπληγάδες), it's very interesting. 221. Aseethe - The Cost [7.5] - Fittingly grim, at-times droning, sludge. 222. Inner Landscape - 3H33 [7.5] - Solid post-metal album, pretty conventional but not too much so; some of the guitar lead stuff and song evolutions remind me a bit of Cult Of Luna. 223. Bruce Dickinson - The Mandrake Project [7.5] 224. Keres - Homo Homini Lupus [7.5] - Ferocious, tasty blackened death. 225. Convulsing - Perdurance [7.5] - Jagged blackened death venom that has offshoots into quiet prog meandering. 226. Merrimack - Of Grace And Gravity [7.5] - Conventional but solid black metal. 227. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos [7.5] - Grisly, cavernous death/doom. 228. SIG:AR:TYR - Citadel Of Stars [7.5] - The folk bits are good, could do with being more present; the meloblack is a bit by-the-numbers. 229. Pallbearer - Mind Burns Alive [7.5] - Bit too soporific and meandering in some places, but also has its moments. 230. Vennart - Forgiveness & The Grain [7.5] - Big-sounding heavy alt rock bordering on alt metal. 231. Darkspace - Dark Space -II [7.5] - Could grow a bit more, but a fairly enchanting ambient industrial journey. 232. Stuporous - Asylums Lament [7.5] - Novel-sounding mesh of black metal, doom, 'jazz' and dreamier sounds. 233. Kōya - Fragments [7.5] - Gritty sludgy hardcore. 234. Madder Mortem - Old Eyes, New Heart [7.5] - Similar bluesy vibe to recent Vulture Industries. 235. Guhts - Regeneration [7.5] - Generally strong and distinctive post/sludge sound akin to Helms Alee, albeit with some irksome quirks. 236. Zombi - Direct Inject [7.5] - More nice synth-rock. 237. Kati Rán - Sála [7.5] 238. Remina - Erebus [7.5] - Nice sound, could've happily had more of it. 239. Fellwarden - Legend [7.5] - Respectable, at-times quite touching atmoblack. 240. Mythraeum - Oblivion Aeternam [7.5] - Flickers between melodeath and meloblack, prefer the songs closer to the former. 241. Intervals - Memory Palace [7.5] - Nice vibrant-sounding instru-djent/prog solo virtuoso stuff. 242. Passage - Crystal [7.5] - Super-tranquil neoclassical/post-rock. 243. Oh Hiroshima - All Things Shining [7.5] 244. Koppernigk - Create [7.5] - Oddball release with a mesh of different extreme metal elements with some proggishness, and a gothic slant coming particularly from the vocals. 245. Inherits The Void - Scars Of Yesteryears [7.5] - Fairly solid meloblack, not sure the twinkly keyboards make a positive impact. 246. Molten - Malicide [7.5] - Perhaps more death-oriented than thrash this time around, but solid sound. 247. Asphalt Grieving - Lack Of Certainty [7.5] 248. Exocrine - Legend [7.5] - Ballistic percussion and frenetic guitar runs on this proggy, at-times djenty, tech-death extravaganza. 249. Iota - Pentasomnia [7.5] - Cool psych/stoner rock. 250. Mylingen - Under En Svart Himmel [7.5] - Proggy melodeath/doom, solid balance of melody and darkness. 251. Adelon - Resurgence [7.5] 252. Raised By Owls - Vol.3: (The Satirical Verses) [7.5] - Very fun TBDM-ish occasionally melodic death metal with lingering grindcore elements. 253. Thumos - Atlantis [7.5] 254. Words Of Farewell - Stories To Forget [7.5] - Solid melodeath EP, picks up as it progresses with some strong songs later on. 255. Perchta - D'Muata [7.5] - Solid blackened folk, doesn't rely on cheesy folk melodies but rather a rawer neofolk approach. 256. Srd - Vragvmesiton [7.5] - Cool black metal album, melodic-leaning but with some harsher moments, has some Primordial-ish spiritualness and occasional other quirks. 257. Necropanther - Oblivion Jones [7.5] - Rowdy, fun thrash EP with a well-made 11-minute song. 258. Darkestrah - Nomad [7.5] - Decent enough pagan sound. 259. Darkened - Defilers Of The Light [7.5] - Above-average OSDM with solid solos and other melodic guitar elements. 260. Narzissus - Akt III: Erl​ö​sung [7.5] - Solid meloblack-y stuff, has good riffs and guitar lead hooks. 261. They Came From Visions - The Twilight Robes [7.5] - Rawish medieval-y black metal, cool enough, and occasionally has a touch of Wayfarer to it. 262. Throne Of Thorns - Converging Parallel Worlds [7.5] - Pleasantly melodic and somewhat evocative prog-power with epic symphonic ending. 263. Black Pyramid - The Paths Of Time Are Vast [7.5] - Fun doomy stoner with slight epic heavy edge. 264. Skeletal Remains - Fragments Of The Ageless [7.5] - Solid OSDM revival-style death. 265. Pelican - Adrift / Tending The Embers [7.5] - Pretty cool, a bit stonerish. 266. Roswell Deathsquad - Welcome Home [7.5] - Tech-deathcore, the bruising breakdowns (which are well above par) and occasional symph moments are a nice contrast to the techy riffing. 267. Austere - Beneath The Threshold [7.5] - Decent depressive/atmo-black with some nice acoustic bits. 268. Outlander - Acts Of Harm [7.5] 269. Gost - Prophecy [7.5] - Pretty cool synthwave-y stuff with a couple of metallish songs at the beginning. 270. Ba'al - Soft Eyes [7.5] - Black-tinged post-rock/metal, has nice softer parts. 271. Cowardice - Atavist [7.5] - Good sludge doom, doesn't offer enough to remain that engaging across its hefty runtime. 272. The Body - Orchards Of A Futile Heaven [Collaboration] [7.5] - Solid dark industrial electronic collab with Dis Fig. 273. Dan Terminus - Gothic Engine [7.5] - Cool synthwave release. 274. Syk - eartHFlesh [7.5] - Groove-prioritizing death/djent sound, a bit dry but I quite dig it. 275. Saidan - Visual Kill: The Blossoming Of Psychotic Depravity [7.5] - Catchy hyper-melodic black metal, I enjoyed it. 276. Attic - Return Of The Witchfinder [7.5] 277. Saint Heaven - I [7.5] - Solid post-black/gaze debut EP. 278. Blazing Eternity - A Certain End Of Everything [7.5] 279. ACOD - Versets Noirs [7.5] - They pull off a 20-minute song surprisingly well. 280. Aborted - Vault Of Horrors [7.5] - If you're going to listen to brutal death, might as well be these guys, even if it feels closer to deathcore arguably. 281. At The Plates - Omnivore [7.5] 282. Mourning Dawn - The Foam Of Despair [7.5] - Fairly strong post-y blackened doom. 283. The Funeral Procession - In Still Silence [7.5] - Intriguing mix of proggy black/death metal with softer passages that bear a resemblance to post-2000 Katatonia. 284. Dzhatinga - Forgotten And Lost [7.5] - Hard-to-pin-down meloblack/doom sound, enjoyable enough. 285. Tvinna - Two – Wings Of Ember [7.5] - Nice-listening metal-tinged moody art pop/prog rock-style sound with involvement of Eluveitie/Faun members. 286. Kraanerg - Heart Of A Cherry Pit Sun [7.5] - Intense zeuhl-y stuff. 287. Blasteroid - Crypts Of Mind [7.5] - Fun but par prog/tech-death, bit more enjoyable when it goes a bit more Vektor/Revocation-esque thrashy. 288. Thornbridge - Daydream Illusion [7.5] - Catchy power metal, nice melodies, bit of a Cain's Offering vibe but also some USPM-style crunch at times, not an overload of cheese. 289. Lilla Veneda - Primordial Movements [7.5] - Unorthodox and fairly solid proggy black/death effort. 290. Fange - Perdition [7.5] - Fange are now firmly within the realm of industrial metal, and are all the better for it. 291. King Bastard - From Whence They Came [7.5] 292. Returned To The Earth - Stalagmite Steeple [7.5] - PT-ish mellow prog. 293. Gatecreeper - Dark Superstition [7.5] - Melodeath additions to their OSDM are a positive, add a bit more character to their sound. 294. Veriteras - The Dark Horizon [7.5] - Nice, brief at-times folksy melodeath album, decent fun if not at all original. 295. Sfeerverzieker - Disciple Of The Damned [7.5] - Tasty black-tinged post/sludge EP. 296. Lost In Grey - Odyssey Into The Grey [7.5] - Pleasant symphonic metal with nice songwriting, occasionally underwhelming vocals. 297. Crippling Alcoholism - With Love From A Padded Room [7.5] - Intriguing goth/noise rock sound, cool atmosphere. 298. Volcandra - The Way Of Ancients [7.5] - Nice melodic lead guitar work on this meloblack record. 299. Lutharo - Chasing Euphoria [7.5] - Folk-tinged, power-ish, core-y melodeath, pretty catchy. 300. Horresque - Chasms Pt. II - The Devouring Exorbitance [7.5] - Cool deathy meloblack. 301. Woomera - Hemochrome [7.5] - Decent return for these guys, but not quite as good as the debut album. 302. Traum - Traum [7.5] - Cool droning psych rock. 303. Riitasointu - Pedon Leikki [7.5] - Easy-going, likeable black-tinged folk metal with nice lead guitar parts. 304. Pijn - From Low Beams Of Hope [7.5] - Going a bit more ambient/atmospheric, works pretty well. 305. Dysrhythmia - Coffin Of Conviction [7.5] 306. Chephreon - Dark Tales From The Deep Lakes [7.5] - Solid thrashy black metal. 307. Seigmen - Resonans [7.5] - Cool alt rock album. 308. With Sails Ahead - Infinite Void [7.5] - Playful mathy post-hardcore somewhat in the Swancore mould. 309. Olhava - Sacrifice [7.5] 310. Cognizance - Phantazein [7.5] - Slight tier above Abyssius as far as tech/melo/deathcore goes. 311. Santacreu - Canc​̧​ons d'Amor, Dol I Enyoran​ç​a [7.5] - Good alt/sludgy/prog sound, didn't click with the songwriting quite like I would have hoped. 312. Hauntologist - Hollow [7.5] - Mgla-linked project, the post-rock songs such as the title track are nice, the black metal less remarkable. 313. Tomorrow's Rain - Ovdan [7.5] - Gothic death/doom a bit more to my tastes than MDB. 314. Prisoner - Putrid / Obsolete [7.5] - Pretty extreme industrial metal with death, black and sludge elements. 315. Kinoteki - Faith And The Vessel [7.5] - Could dial down the glitchiness, but overall very soothing IDM/jungle. 316. Midnight Odyssey - Closer To The Sky [7.5] - Nice to hear a more compact iteration of their atmo-black sound. 317. Ponte Del Diavolo - Fire Blades From The Tomb [7.5] - Black-tinged gothic-y doom with a Wolvennest vibe to it, not to the same level but still decent. 318. Eivør - Enn [7.5] - Variation in styles doesn't always play to my tastes with the more direct synthpop tracks, but the more ethereal or moody songs I dig quite a bit. 319. Solbrud - IIII [7.5] - A bit of an uneven listen, but when it's on, it has nice vibes and solid guitarwork, including some enjoyable solos. 320. Yaşru - Bilinmeze [7.5] - Nice violin-heavy folk sound; very Nordic-sounding for a Turkish band. 321. My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding [7.5] - Gloomy gothic death/doom, better than their last album. 322. Shock Withdrawal - The Dismal Advance [7.5] - Tasty death-tinged grindcore. 323. Crowskin - Verstummt / Monocelestial Chords [7.5] - Good grim sludgy split. 324. Clouds Taste Satanic - 79 A.E. [7.5] - Fun long-form psych/stoner rock/metal songs. 325. Defect Designer - Chitin [7.5] - Oddball grindcore with some proggier moments with clean singing. 326. Divided - Light Will Shine [7.5] - A bit Abraham-y in the sludge mix with more noise rock sounds; don't love the vocals, but otherwise it's pretty solid. 327. Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy - Jiná [7.5] - Very pleasant acoustic folk. 328. Ὁπλίτης - Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η [7.5] - Creative and unpredictable black metal, with some wild chaotic stuff and some more straightforward accessible parts. 329. Fractal Gates - One With Dawn [7.0] - Enjoyable rendition of a Scar Symmetry-ish sound. 330. SolNegre - Annihilation Of The Self [7.0] 331. Airbag - The Century Of The Self [7.0] 332. Arbitrator - Nephilim [7.0] - Very conventional but still tasty symph-blackened deathcore. 333. Elvellon - Ascending In Synergy [7.0] - Straight Nightwish worship, but rather likeable and catchy worship. 334. Nightrage - Remains Of A Dead World [7.0] - Proper Gothenburg, good fun. 335. Silvasolum - Silvasolum [7.0] - Good prog-tinged post-metal debut EP. 336. Downfall Of Mankind - Purgatory [7.0] - Generally par but quite enjoyable symph-deathcore; I like the Heafy cameo. 337. The Omnific - The Law Of Augmenting Returns [7.0] - Fun bass-only instrumental prog album; has a modern prog solo act vibe, including soloing styles. 338. Bloodorn - Let The Fury Rise [7.0] - One of the better power metal releases of 2024 thus far, has some spirit and hookiness to it on top of the cheese. 339. Arhat - Secrets Of Ancient Gods [7.0] - Enjoyably death-y groove metal with some faint folk elements. 340. Sentiment Dissolve - The Orwellian Dream [7.0] 341. The Nox Entity - NOX Entity [7.0] 342. Cobra The Impaler - Karma Collision [7.0] - Some Mastodon hints in this proggy sludge; has solid passages, but also some songs or moments that miss the mark a tad. 343. Vredehammer - God Slayer [7.0] - I liked their previous one quite a bit, but I found this to be rather samey with unmemorable riffs to elevate a fairly solid core sound. 344. Heavy Temple - Garden Of Heathens [7.0] - Fun heavy/psych rock, occasionally veers more towards doom metal or stoner rock (latter particularly on Jesus Wept). 345. Thanatotherion - Alienation Manifesto [7.0] - Blacky/deathy stuff with some cool guitar leads; quite conventional-sounding for Voidhanger. 346. Autumnblaze - Auf Zerfetzten Schwingen [7.0] - Pleasant gothicky stuff. 347. Brazen Tongue - Of Crackling Embers And Sorrows Drowned [7.0] - Fairly solid melodically inclined quasi-black/death stuff. 348. Eventide - Waterline [7.0] - Electronic nu jazz spin-off from Epitaphe, remarkably different sound to that band; they're great at the nu jazz, but the drone is a bit too sparse. 349. Monovoth - Pleroma Mortem Est [7.0] - (Mostly) instrumental drone doom, pretty solid. 350. The Cosmic Dead - Infinite Peaks [7.0] - Cool psych rock jam. 351. Black Tusk - The Way Forward [7.0] - Fun punky sludge. 352. Majak - Restless Wicked [7.0] - Nifty black metal/occult rock fusion let down slightly by the vocals. 353. The Sawtooth Grin - Jabberwocky [7.0] - Cool mathcore EP, would happily have more of the same sound for longer. 354. Nonexister - Demons [7.0] - Above-average enjoyment of this alt rock. 355. The Moor - Ombra [7.0] - Quite nice accessible prog that feels like a midpoint between Evergrey and modern Katatonia, but with some growls in there too. 356. Caeli Concept - Lunaison [7.0] - Djenty stuff, mixture of straight Meshuggah worship and some oddball parts, with saxophone or clean vocals, some of it works pretty cool, some of it not so well. 357. Saturday Night Satan - All Things Black [7.0] - Cool hard rock with good lead vocalist and nice guitarwork. 358. Nightmare - Encrypted [7.0] - Solid energy and catchiness to this lively heavy/power album, and enjoy the new vocalist. 359. Labyrinthus Stellarum - Vortex Of The Worlds [7.0] - Following in the vein of Mesarthim, this feels like a similar case of an interesting sound that doesn't sustain my interest for a whole album's length. 360. Painful - Nefarious Monarchy [7.0] 361. Zvilpogghua - Temple Of The Maimed Sphinx [7.0] - Jawharp grind stuff, pretty original, fairly enjoyable. 362. White Stones - Memoria Viva [7.0] 363. Rotting Christ - Pro Xristou [7.0] - Surprisingly easy-going for a band with this name, I do find the folk side to it makes it fairly enjoyable, even if it does recycle from past efforts. 364. Unleash The Archers - Phantoma [7.0] - Pleasantly catchy, the slight sci-fi vibes and prog touches are nice, a bit too much of it is mid-tempo for my tastes. 365. Aastarah - Reflections I [7.0] - Nice ambient black-ish stuff, bit Midnight Odyssey/Summoning-esque. 366. Suicidal Angels - Profane Prayer [7.0] 367. Observers - The Age Of The Machine Entities [7.0] - Neat proggy, doomy instrumental stuff. 368. Eternal Autumn - Below The Lightless Heavens [7.0] - Intriguing mix of blackened thrash, folk/viking and other styles; don't really hear melodeath. 369. Cosmic Reef Temple - Cosmic Reef Temple / Death Monk [7.0] - Odd doom split. 370. Traveler - Prequel To Madness [7.0] - Lively, driving trad metal with an infectious energy for the style. 371. VLTIMAS - EPIC [7.0] - Less death, more doom with death elements (but not death-doom), it's quite interesting. 372. Idol Throne - A Clarion Call [7.0] - Very thrashy power metal. 373. Jeff Kollman - 2023 A.D. [7.0] - Above-average solo guitar album, can go pretty hard at times, but also be quite mellow. 374. The Dredge - Torches [7.0] - Interesting soft modern prog rock kinda sound. 375. Hilltops Are For Dreamers - The Tragedy Of Being Human [7.0] - Nice gloomy melodeath-tinged doom sound. 376. Full Earth - Cloud Sculptors [7.0] - Overlong but cool instrumental heavy psych rock record. 377. Corpus Diavolis - Elixiria Ekstasis [7.0] - Good black metal with a slight ritualistic vibe due to some chanting vocals, otherwise not much in the way of clearly distinguishing features. 378. Vazio - Saxonian Deathbed [7.0] - Longer, more extreme split than the one BLROW did with Crowskin. 379. Witchorious - Witchorious [7.0] - Tad overlong, but decent stoner-tinged doom. 380. Fractal Generator - Convergence [7.0] 381. Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She [7.0] - Electronic with rock parts, generally very nice but with some soporific parts. 382. Rites Of Regress - Dust [7.0] - Gnarly Bile Caster-style churning sludge doom. 383. Curse All Kings - Feral Earth [7.0] - Eerie ambient black metal. 384. Achelous - Tower Of High Sorcery [7.0] - Pretty decent heavy/power sound, nice epic but not cheesy touch. 385. Apes - Penitence [7.0] - Fairly straightforward grindcore, but the longer song runtimes does allow them to be a bit meatier. 386. Callus - Gravis Decennium [7.0] - Fairly accomplished re-recordings of thrashy, doomy stoner/sludge songs. 387. Full Of Hell - Coagulated Bliss [7.0] - A decent amount of diversity across the album, some electronic and drone stuff amidst the grindcore. 388. Nocturnus AD - Unicursal [7.0] - There's a jankiness to quite a lot of this that I find offputting, but when it's on the right track it serves up some cool moments. 389. Enterprise Earth - Death: An Anthology [7.0] - Has a few iffy bits (really not keen on the excessive technicality in parts of Face Of Fear), but still above par as far as the non-symphonic deathcore scene goes. 390. Abyssius - Abyssius [7.0] - Fallujah-ish tech-melo-deathcore sound, pretty decent but nowhere near Fallujah's level. 391. Dwarrowdelf - The Fallen Leaves [7.0] - It's quite an interesting (if very cheesy) power meloblack sound, sadly not quite connecting with the songs as I would like. 392. Dissimulator - Lower Form Resistance [7.0] - Fairly solid tech-thrash with death leanings; can be dry in parts, but sections like the second half of Outer Phase are impressive. 393. Horrorgraphy - A Knight's Tale [7.0] - Intriguing horror-influenced doomy extreme symphonic metal. 394. L.M.I. - Failed To Meet It [7.0] - Decent hardcore with a bit of variety, both veering towards grindcore and slightly more 'melodic' tones. 395. Swampbeast - Offering Of Chaos, Lamenting In The Blood Of Man [7.0] 396. Vøidwomb - Spiritual Apotheosis [7.0] 397. Belore - Eastern Tales [7.0] - More competent yet slightly forgettable Summoning-meets-Saor 'epic' folky atmo-black. 398. The Vision Bleak - Weird Tales [7.0] - Fairly enjoyable light gothic sound. 399. Mathilde - 32 D​é​cembre [7.0] - Intriguing mesh of extreme and progressive styles, spans a range of sounds including prog black and Mesarthim-like soundscapes; a bit unrefined structurally, but a good listen. 400. Eidola - Eviscerate [7.0] 401. Folterkammer - Weibermacht [7.0] - Fairly unusual operatic black metal sound, but perhaps riding the concept a bit too much without the level of songwriting to completely back it up. 402. Alpha Lyræ - Alpha Lyræ [7.0] - Melodic death doom with some stoner and other elements; has some cool peaks, but occasionally drags. 403. Hypoxia - Defiance [7.0] - Decent, high-octane death metal that straddles older and newer sounds. 404. Roscian - The First Disgrace [7.0] - Nicely moody synthy industrial stuff. 405. Among The Lights - Sphere Of Solitude [7.0] - Nice blackgaze that does a good job of capturing the more hushed nature of shoegaze in its softer moments in a way a lot of blackgaze doesn't. 406. CHVE - Kalvarie [7.0] 407. Wormwitch - Wormwitch / Sadistic Ritual [7.0] - Fine black metal split, some cool hooks/melodies on Wormwitch side, not as keen on the thrashy Sadistic Ritual. 408. Chaska - Rites Of June [7.0] - Folky gothic EP. 409. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Nell Ora Blu [7.0] - More a Western soundtrack-style album than a rock one, a bit overlong but has a nice chill vibe. 410. Ego Depths - Prognimous Ekk Solthi [7.0] - Curious pivot from world music-infused funeral doom to world music-infused drone; works fairly well. 411. Benighted - Ekbom [7.0] - More interesting when in frantic grindy mode than beatdown brutal death mode, but a fun enough album. 412. Rhino - Human Farm [7.0] - Nothing original, but nicely fuzzy and rocking. 413. Amarok - Resilience [7.0] - Nice atmosphere, slightly plodding funeral doom. 414. Charles Leclerc & Sofiane Pamart - [7.0] 415. Hannes Grossmann - Echoes Of Eternity [7.0] 416. Upon Stone - Dead Mother Moon [7.0] - Brief, gnarly, churning melodeath with an OSDM guitar tone and style, but also neat melodies in riffs and guitar leads. 417. Cosmic Void - Subterranean Rivers [7.0] - Interested post-y blackened doom with some cool dark jazz detours. 418. Burn Down Eden - Dismal [7.0] - Pretty solid techy melodeath EP. 419. LLNN - The Horror / Sleep Paralysis Demon [7.0] 420. Drown In Sulphur - Dark Secrets Of The Soul [7.0] - Enjoyable blackened deathcore, not necessarily a standout but a good listen for the most part. 421. Vanir - Epitome [7.0] - Slightly bland but mostly enjoyable 'folky' (light on folk) melodeath. 422. The Oldest House - A Worm Through Time [7.0] - Sludge EP from Aversio Humanitatis frontman; fairly par for the course. 423. Hiraes - Dormant [7.0] 424. Ryujin - Ryujin [7.0] 425. Hollow Leg - Dust [7.0] - Fun enough sludge EP, softer stonerish final song is cool. 426. Asarhaddon - Besenken [7.0] - Nice atmo-black opening song, decent ambient second song. 427. Ou - II: Frailty [7.0] - The mix of poppy dreamy moments and Devin-style ambience with djenty instrumentation is intriguing and different, I don't quite dig the songwriting as much as I would like to, however. 428. Ecclesia - Ecclesia Militans [7.0] - Slightly doomy, slightly power metally, good soaring vocals with a Kiske edge. 429. Electromancer - Enforcer [7.0] - Fun if rudimentary take on synthwave-metal. 430. Sulphur And Mercury - Alchemia Prophetica [7.0] - Intriguing black-tinged occult rock/heavy metal sound. 431. The Lightbringer - Seven Thrones [7.0] - Quite tasty symph-meloblack with dual harsh/operatic vocals. 432. Venomous Echoes - Split Formations And Infinite Mania [7.0] - Another oddball Voidhanger-core fusion of extreme and dissonant styles, but this time I'm less convinced by it - parts of it just feel unimpactful and jarring for jarring's sake. 433. Kult Iron - Black Iron Prison [7.0] - Decent instrumental post-rock/post-metal. 434. O Zorn! - Vermillion Haze [7.0] - Doomy, rocking sludge-lite-lite. 435. The Wizards - The Exit Garden [7.0] - Cool retro-style rock with doomy guitar tone and perhaps slight stoner edge, but hard rock first and foremost. 436. Apogean - Cyberstrictive [7.0] - Fairly good but unremarkable tech-death. 437. Amigo The Devil - Yours Until The War Is Over [7.0] 438. Brodequin - Harbinger Of Woe [7.0] - Brutal deathgrind - relentless, but for full-pelt deathgrind, fairly good. 439. Neaera - All Is Dust [7.0] - Fairly decent core-y melodeath, doesn't impress as much as the last one on first listens. 440. The Ghost Next Door - Classic Songs About Death And Dismemberment [7.0] - Somewhat interesting proggy hard rock/metal, kinda Ghost-y. 441. Blaze Of Perdition - Upharsin [7.0] - Straightforward, enjoyable but unexceptional black metal. 442. Locrian - End Terrain [7.0] - Droning post-/experimental rock with occasional metallic moments, bit more interesting than their other recent ones. 443. Aeonist - Votum Silentii [7.0] - Synth-heavy melo/atmo-black with some blackgaze-y parts, has a bit of an epic heavy vibe to moments too. 444. Cloven - Twilight's Heart [7.0] - Not easy to categorize; initially starts off a bit plinky-plonky ominous horror, but becomes more mellow and hushed minimalist country later - not metal, but pretty cool. 445. Harvestman - Triptych: Part One [7.0] - Seems to be a stylistic departure based on folk metal genre tags on their profile, it's kinda interesting psych/space/ambient rock. 446. Hammok - Look How Long Lasting Everything Is Moving Forward For Once [7.0] - Annoying title aside, pretty good (post-)hardcore/noise rock. 447. Sekengard - Creation's Veil [7.0] - Somewhat fun folk stuff, some iffy melodies in there. 448. Toadliquor - Back In The Hole [7.0] - Dirty sludge, has a general satisfying gnarly swagger to it, but a bit characterless. 449. Bronze - In Chains And Shadows [7.0] - Above-average trad-style heavy, much more tolerable than Accept or Saxon's latest. 450. Mountain Caller - Chronicle II: Hypergenesis [7.0] - Pleasant, if slightly unmemorable, heavy post-rock. 451. Cold In Berlin - The Body Is The Wound [7.0] - Nice fem-fronted gothic doom EP. 452. The Last Of Lucy - Godform [7.0] 453. Panzerchrist - All Witches Shall Burn [7.0] - Fairly relentless black metal, but has melodic touches in some riffs and some nice melodic guitar leads. 454. Romuvos - Spirits [7.0] - Somewhat enjoyable neofolky metal, moderately tempo'd, has some nice Amorphis-ish guitar melodies. 455. Kulk - It Gets Worse [7.0] - Typically misanthropic noise/sludge album on Human Worth. 456. Doodseskader - Year Two [7.0] - Their sludge/industrial hip-hop blend works better for me this time. 457. Ainu - Ainu [7.0] - Post/sludge instrumental debut with some solid moments, but occasionally loses its way a bit. 458. The Eternal - Skinwalker [7.0] - Gothic-lite with long songs, easy listening. 459. Dawn Of Ashes - Reopening The Scars [7.0] - Decent mix of industrial metal and ominous ambient electronica. 460. Celestial Season - Mysterium III [7.0] - Has some rather nice tracks, particularly the closer, but slightly unremarkable gothic d/d in a year with a strong MDB release. 461. Ape Vermin - Andromedas Colossus [7.0] - Bit bloated and dry in parts, but has some filthy riffing as well. 462. Deprived Existence - Diabolical Dissonance [7.0] - Grind-tinged black metal, decent quick fun. 463. Feed Them Death - The Malady [7.0] - Grind that veers into death, hardcore and noise rock. 464. Castle Rat - Into The Realm [7.0] - Decent retro-style doom/hard rock. 465. Atrexial - The Serpent Abomination [7.0] - Unexceptional but decent black metal. 466. Orecus - Dreadnought [7.0] - Death metal with a modern metal slant to the riffing and production. 467. Sagenbringer - Zeit Der Geschichten [7.0] - Cheesy but fun extreme power/folk. 468. Mòr - Hear The Hour Nearing! [7.0] - Black-by-numbers, but sounds good enough. 469. Brat - Social Grace [7.0] - On the grindcore/hardcore threshold, I enjoy it when it slows down for some chonky riffs. 470. Grin - Hush [7.0] 471. Stormhunter - Best Before: Death [7.0] - Decent heavy metal with speed/power elements, slightly variable song quality. 472. Morbonoct - The Highest Purpose [7.0] - Fairly good celestial-y black metal, albeit I found myself losing attention as it went on. 473. Abandon All - Strong [7.0] - Short but enjoyable fem-fronted trad-style metal. 474. Alluvial - Death Is But A Door [7.0] - Decent, but wasn't taken with it like I was the previous album. 475. Midnight - Hellish Expectations [7.0] - More fairly enjoyable thrashy black n roll. 476. Malist - Of Scorched Earth [7.0] - Has some very nice parts, overall doesn't make a huge impact. 477. Vipassi - Lightless [7.0] - Bit more extreme and bit more characterful than a lot of instrudjent, still not too compelling. 478. Djinn - Mirrors [7.0] - Slightly oddball noise rock/stoner/psych/prog rock crossover. 479. Lucidity - Escherian [7.0] - Evergrey-ish emotional prog, OK but not great. 480. Couch Slut - You Could Do It Tonight [7.0] - Semi-abrasive noise rock/sludge, cool in parts. 481. Vorga - Beyond The Palest Star [7.0] - Like the last one, meloblack that is fine but unmemorable. 482. Vanden Plas - The Empyrean Equation Of The Long Lost Things [7.0] - Competent power-tinged prog in Teramaze/Seventh Wonder vein - has some rather nice moments, but didn't engage me as a complete package. 483. Morgul Blade - Heavy Metal Wraiths [7.0] - The blackened edges help elevate it a bit. 484. Tzompantli - Beating The Drums Of Ancestral Force [7.0] - Intense doomy death, a step up from the debut. 485. Evergrey - Theories Of Emptiness [7.0] - A bit of an underwhelming listen after a few really decent albums. 486. Týr - Battle Ballads [7.0] 487. Turbulence - Binary Dream [7.0] - Classic-sounding prog metal with modern aspects too, decent enough. 488. Grey Skies Fallen - Molded By Broken Hands [7.0] - Fairly good doom with mixed clean/growled vocals. 489. Profane Burial - My Plateau [7.0] - Symph-black with elaborate piano/symphs and non-melodic black metal. 490. Hulder - Verses In Oath [7.0] - Melodish black metal with folky aspects and synths; fine but forgettable. 491. ZOMBIESHARK! - Die Laughing. [7.0] - Wild cybergrind, pretty cool in quite a few moments, but also can be grating at other times. 492. Walk Through Fire - Till Aska [7.0] - Rather unremarkable as funeral doom, but turns more interesting when it gets sludgier. 493. Sabïre - Jätt [7.0] - WASP-y hard rock/metal, overlong but quite fun. 494. Cognitive - Abhorrence [7.0] 495. Candy - It's Inside You [7.0] - Kinda macho BS and dry, but has some good moments. 496. Oberst - Toil [7.0] - Unremarkable post-hardcore that occasionally reaches greater heights. 497. Early Moods - A Sinners Past [7.0] - Decent retro doom. 498. Sujin - Save Our Souls [7.0] - Metalcore/melodeath that's frequently enjoyable, but also occasionally underwhelming. 499. Echo Splinter - The Last Stand [7.0] - Enjoyable melodic mix of alt-metal, hard rock and post-hardcore. 500. Krvna - The Rhythmus Of Death Eternal [7.0] 501. Kanseil - Vaia [7.0] - Pretty good folk, mostly enjoyable with some nice melodies. 502. Theraphosa - Inferno [7.0] - Pleasantly melodic proggy alt-metal, a bit lacking in impact. 503. Acerus - The Caliginous Serenade [7.0] - Vocals could be better, but hefty heavy/USPM with darker hints. 504. Exit Eden - Femmes Fatales [7.0] - Above-average femme-fronted symphonic with good vocals and nice instrumentation, and relatively memorable songs. 505. Northern Genocide - The Point Of No Return [7.0] - Mildly enjoyable symph-y melodeath with some flaws. 506. Becoming The Lion - Turning Point [7.0] - Easy-listening melodic alt metal EP. 507. Kontravoid - Detachment [7.0] - Decent 80s electronic throwback, some goth stuff, some new wave synthpop, some tasty techno. 508. Botanist - Paleobotany [7.0] - The kind of experimental approach that can regularly miss the mark, but does also deliver some very cool moments. 509. High Desert Queen - Palm Reader [7.0] 510. Greyhaven - Stereo Grief [7.0] - Mathy djentcore EP, enjoyable enough. 511. Jours Pâles - Dissolution [7.0] - Somewhat erratic mix of black metal styles, consistency between songs is low but there's some solid material here. 512. Whores. - War. [7.0] - Decent, but not my favourite take on a sludge/noise rock fusion. 513. Unsouling - Vampiric Spiritual Drain [7.0] - Oddball extreme metal with death and black elements; it's good, but weird more than enjoyable. 514. Leah - The Glory And The Fallen [7.0] - Perhaps overlong, but quite pleasant metal-lite dainty symphonic stuff. 515. Savage Oath - Divine Battle [7.0] - Decent USPM supergroup. 516. Lesath - Under The Moon [7.0] - Decent yet perhaps inconsistent acoustic-heavy dreamy blackgaze/atmo-black, goes a bit Porcupine Tree at times. 517. Motherwood - A Fading Elegy [7.0] - Atmo-ish black of fluctuating quality. 518. Sonata Arctica - Clear Cold Beyond [7.0] - Bit too much cheese, bit too little memorability, but it's alright. 519. All Are To Return - AATR III [7.0] - Harsh, dense, industrial noise, a punishing listen but has enough of an industrial electronic side to be somewhat approachable. 520. Suffer (USA) - Grand Canvas Of The Aesthete [7.0] - OSDM with a bit of a Carcass semi-melodic edge. 521. Necrot - Lifeless Birth [7.0] - Very typical-sounding OSDM, but just about accomplished enough to be above average; lesser than the Skeletal Remains album though. 522. Rhapsody Of Fire - Challenge The Wind [7.0] - Pretty much everything you'd expect from Rhapsody Of Fire, and competently made, but a bit low on memorability for the most part. 523. Amaranthe - The Catalyst [7.0] - Better than their last few. 524. Nightlife - Strangeluv [7.0] - A couple of fun new songs, but not at the level of their best ones. 525. Protosequence - Bestiary [7.0] - Proggy, deathcore-y tech-death, it's alright but a bit dry. 526. Agriculture - Living Is Easy [7.0] - Dialled down the insanity a tad; basically blackgaze with some overexuberant passages. 527. Cancer Christ - God Is Violence [7.0] - Frantic, entertaining thrashy hardcore. 528. Chaldea - The Edge Of Perdition [7.0] - Decent symph-deathcore. 529. Fall Of Leviathan - Waves [7.0] - Pleasant but twee post-rock. 530. Fugit - Bury Me Here [7.0] - Tranquil Alcest-core with some unexpected detours into Mesarthim-ish synthy doom. 531. Neurotech - Memory Eternal [7.0] - Bit low on memorability compared with the last one. 532. Child - Shitegeist [7.0] - Fairly meaty grindcore with some surprises up its sleeve, chiefly the Pailhead punk cover. 533. Dionysiaque - Diogonos [7.0] - Interesting take on doom that borrows from classic sounds while also incorporating hints of more modern and extreme styles, but damn the vocals get irritating at times. 534. Leaves Eyes - Myths Of Fate [7.0] - Starts off pretty good, does veer towards slightly unremarkable Nightwish worship as it progresses. 535. Abhoria - Depths [7.0] - Black metal, good enough to listen to but won't have you coming back. 536. Qaalm - First Light Of The Last Dawn [6.5] 537. Witherfall - Where Do I Begin? [6.5] 538. Big Brave - A Chaos Of Flowers [6.5] - Takes a bit too long to get going really, but I like the final track or two. 539. Serpent Sermon - Jahannam [6.5] - Decent symph-tinged death sound. 540. Melvins - Tarantula Heart [6.5] - First song is good; otherwise, like it more than some Melvins stuff but still not a big fan. 541. The Troops Of Doom - A Mass To The Grotesque [6.5] 542. Tårfödd - Mörker [6.5] - Fine but unremarkable gaze-y atmoblack. 543. Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All...... [6.5] - Perfectly listenable blackened heavy stuff with some decent riffs; I just don't care enough about this band. 544. Temple Of The Fuzz Witch - Apotheosis [6.5] - Slightly above-average, but bar some growls, fairly ordinary stoner stuff. 545. Witherfall - Sounds Of The Forgotten [6.5] - Full album is a tad dull. 546. Sylvaine - Eg Er Framand [6.5] - Tad threadbare as far as acoustic neofolk pivots go. 547. Pantheon Omega - Harmonizing The Death Essence [6.5] - Meloblack/power-y/folky side project from SIG:AR:TYR guy, decent enough. 548. La Torture Des Ténèbres - V [6.5] - Incredibly harsh and cacophonic ambient black metal that borders on noise; it's pretty unique, but very unenjoyable to listen to, and the higher-pitched note lines just offer nothing for me. 549. Cruce Signatus - Cruce Signatus [6.5] - Synthwave metal fusion - bit of a rudimentary fusion, but decent fun and has some solid moments. 550. Run - True Heaviness Is Time [6.5] 551. Besotten - Abyssal Synodality [Split] [6.5] - Decent death doom side and less remarkable OSDM side. 552. Clarion Void - Failure In Repetition [6.5] - Satisfactory but slightly by-the-by sludge. 553. Disastroid - Garden Creatures [6.5] - Grungy stoner-ish rock, vocalist has quite a powerful voice, but don't super love the sound. 554. DragonForce - Warp Speed Warriors [6.5] 555. Elettra Storm - Powerlords [6.5] - Fairly satisfying Europower that occasionally dips its toes into slightly higher intensities; doesn't quite grip me though. 556. Universe Effects - The Distance [6.5] - Very competent but generic prog sound that I just find a bit dry and forgettable. 557. Darkest Hour - Perpetual / Terminal [6.5] 558. Arthouse Fatso - Sycophantic Seizures: A Double Feature [6.5] - Fairly straight-nosed grindcore, but has some oddball weirdness to some tracks, and also the cinematic snippets give it a bit more personality. 559. Bokassa - All Out Of Dreams [6.5] - B-rate Kvelertak, still decent but don't love it, and has a few slightly pants songs. 560. Obscura Qalma - Veils Of Transcendence [6.5] 561. Iron Monkey - Spleen & Goad [6.5] - This sludge is suitably swaggering and dirty-sounding, but I just find it a tad dry. 562. Dysthymia (USA) - Dysthymia / Saeva [6.5] - DSBM split, fine but unmemorable, apart from the irksome vocals on the Dysthymia song. 563. Rage - Afterlifelines [6.5] - Pretty competent thrashy heavy metal with Trivium touches that are quite tasty, followed by intriguing symphonic-influenced heavy stuff with some nifty leads; bit overlong as a double album. 564. Göden - Vale Of The Fallen [6.5] - Somewhat compelling atmosphere, but found this somewhat monotonous. 565. Xeneris - Eternal Rising [6.5] - Reasonably good Italian power stuff, not particularly on the cheesy end of the spectrum. 566. Combichrist - CMBCRST [6.5] - Industrial/ambient double album; the industrial side has some cool songs and some filler, the ambient side is pretty disposable. 567. 200 Stab Wounds - Manual Manic Procedures [6.5] - Presumably hits harder live given their reputation, found this pretty unremarkable on album. 568. Acid Mammoth - Supersonic Megafauna Collision [6.5] 569. Dead Head - Shadow Soul [6.5] - I seem to remember moderately enjoying the previous album, but I find this one to be very dry and unengaging death-thrash. 570. Unshine - Karn Of Burnings [6.5] - Pleasant but not overly compelling folk metal. 571. Morbid Saint - Swallowed By Hell [6.5] - Thrash completely in the thrash mould, but fairly lively for such a generic sound. 572. Stygian Crown - Funeral For A King [6.5] - Somewhat dull yet competently made trad doom - found some of the vocal melodies to be the biggest turnoff. 573. Metalite - Expedition One [6.5] - Very catchy but overlong Amaranthe-y power metal - probably a 7 with a bit of self-editing. 574. Korpiklaani - Rankarumpu [6.5] - Never been fond of these guys, this album is fine but does have plenty of cheese. 575. Illumishade - Another Side Of You [6.5] - Somewhere between Amaranthe and prog, with the most tenuous connection to symphonic metal. 576. Isenordal - Requiem For Eir​ê​nê [6.5] - Folky, doomy stuff, just a bit lightweight soundwise. 577. Masser - The Forlorn Path [6.5] - Slightly cheesy melodeath/metalcore sound. 578. Engulf - The Dying Planet Weeps [6.5] - Brutal dissonant tech-death; has cool parts, but a bit too hectic for its own good, and the more brutal death/deathcore parts are a bit meh. 579. X's For Eyes - In Horrid Waves [6.5] - Oddball but interesting polyrhythmic noisy industrial-y stuff. 580. Aura Ignis - Marcando Tu Destino [6.5] - Alright Spanish power metal, decent vocalist. 581. Kala Azar - Kala Azar [6.5] - It's just stoner doom, but it's aite; has occasional sick moments like the end of the title track. 582. Kazak / Ritual Earth - Turned To Stone: Chapter 9 [6.5] - Stoner/psych rock split; prefer Kazak's stoner. 583. Kólga - Black Tides [6.5] - The blackened surf rock sound is intriguing, but doesn't feel fully explored. 584. Dom Zły - Ku Pogrzebaniu Serc [6.5] - Adequate meloblack, fine for a listen but doesn't stick in the memory. 585. The Meads Of Asphodel - Tomb Songs From A Dying Bedlamite [6.5] - Just a bit eh. 586. Beyrevra - Echoes: Vanished Lore Of Fire [6.5] - Pretty generic melodeath, passingly enjoyable. 587. Ministry - HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES [6.5] - Straightforward and unspectacular, but a decent rendition of their sound. 588. Ingested - The Tide Of Death And Fractured Dreams [6.5] - Fairly unremarkable but reasonably groovy brutal death(core). 589. The Obsessed - Gilded Sorrow [6.5] 590. Firewind - Fallen Angel [6.5] 591. Firewind - Stand United [6.5] 592. earthtone9 - In Resonance Nexus [6.5] 593. Spiritual Deception - Semitae Mentis [6.5] - Occasionally irksome, sometimes engaging, symphy tech-death-core. 594. Aaru - S.W.N.P.L [6.5] 595. Knocked Loose - You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To [6.0] 596. Nebula - In Search Of The Cosmic Tale: Crossing The Galactic Portal [Split] [6.0] 597. Artificial Language - Distant Glow [6.0] 598. Celtian - Secretos De Amor Y Muerte [6.0] 599. Bad Omens - Concrete Jungle [The OST] [6.0] 600. Alterium - Of War And Flames [6.0] 601. ACxDC - G​.​O​.​A​.​T. [6.0] 602. Deaf Club - Deaf Club / The HIRS Collective / Fuck Money [6.0] 603. Mägo De Oz - Alicia En El Metalverso [6.0] 604. Any Given Day - Limitless [6.0] 605. Striker - Ultrapower [6.0] 606. Rituals Of The Dead Hand - The Wretched And The Vile [6.0] 607. Kontact - Full Contact [6.0] 608. Accept - Humanoid [6.0] 609. Blaze Bayley - Circle Of Stone [6.0] - It's fine - perfectly OK heavy. 610. Meridion - Caverns [6.0] 611. Announce The Apocalypse - Experience Machine [6.0] 612. The Grandmaster - Black Sun [6.0] 613. Scanner - The Cosmic Race [5.5] 614. Saxon - Hell, Fire And Damnation [5.5] 615. Saturnalia Temple - Paradigm Call [5.5] 616. Erra - Cure [5.5] 617. Theophonos - Ashes In The Huron River [5.5] 618. Escuela Grind - DDEEAATTHHMMEETTAALL [5.0] 619. Wothrosch - Odium Magno [5.0] 620. Gravewürm - Poisonous Kingdom [5.0] 621. Blood Stain Child - Metalia [4.0] 622. Blood Stain Child - Cyberia [3.0] Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff. [ More lists by musclassia ]

Comments