This week is pretty fucking solid. It features a Mastodon side-project, epicness of all sorts, sexy prog, insanity, and more! To the metals…
Arcadea – Arcadea 
Genre: Experimental/progressive
Origin: Atlanta, Georgia
Label: Relapse
Buy now on Amazon.com
The guys from Mastodon cannot slow down. Last year saw the release of Giraffe Tongue Orchestra which featured guitarist Brent Hinds. Earlier this year Troy Sanders played bass and sang vocals on Gone Is Gone full-length. Then of course Mastodon themselves dropped Emperor of Sand in March, Now, drummer/vocalist/Frequent Late Night With Seth Myers guest Brann Dailor is dabbling in side-projects with the synth driven Arcadea. It also features Withered's guitarist Raheem Amlani and Core Atoms of Zruda both on keyboards. The remind me a lot of the band No Spill Blood, but with more drum theatrics.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvQ1U6FcKuc[/youtube]
Carach Angren – Dance And Laugh Amongst The Rotten
Genre: Symphonic black metal
Origin: Landgraaf, Netherlands
Label: Season Of Mist
Buy now on Amazon.com
Let's get spooky! On their fifth album, Carach Angren have me wondering why I don't listen to more Carach Angren. This album is epic, evil, and kinda fun. I know, the whole classical orchestration paired with black metal has been done to death, but these guys are amazing at it. Michael has a full review here.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNgSN5tQoJU[/youtube]
Chon – Homey 
Genre: Instrumental progressive/math rock
Origin: San Diego, California
Label: Sumerian Records
Buy now on Amazon.com
Chon are a favorite among the prog circles I run with, and good for reason. The musicianship is stellar, their songs are dense, and their catalog is quite diverse. The band, while still able to hold the "instrumental" title, once again have a few songs with vocals including the rather unusual (for Chon, at least) "Nayhoo." The song has a very sexy vibe to it, and I feel like it'll get some nerdy math rock fan boots a'knockin'.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPXPURGP-6k[/youtube]
CKY – The Phoenix
Genre: Stoner/progressive
Origin: West Chester, Pennsylvania
Label: eOne
Buy now on Amazon.com
CKY was one of those bands that felt super important when I was growing up, then they seemed to just fall off my radar after high school. They are still very good, and they aged well, just they disappeared. Anyway, the band is dropping their first record in eight years. Surprisingly, it is their first without vocalist/guitarist Deron Miller, and his absence is unfortunately quite apparent. The riffs are still pretty good, as are the vocals of Chad Ginsburg, but it feels just off enough to be distracting.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG0YNLxq4q8[/youtube]
Entrails – World Inferno
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Linneryd, Sweden
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
I hear you purists out there screaming, so here's some straight up metal for you. Everything is about this album is heavy as fuck, the band is Swedish, and the album cover has skeletons trying to play basketball on it. What more could you want?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AmaxCeYVVk[/youtube]
Iced Earth – Incorruptible
Genre: Power metal
Origin: Tampa, Florida
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Amazon.com
This group of nerds have returned with another record of epic tracks with stories from history books. Incorruptible features tracks about Civil War Battles ("Clear The Way (December 13th, 1862)"), pirates ("Black Flag"), kinda-sorta viking dudes ('Great Heathen Army"), and more. Solid Iced Earth record. I'd even say that this may be their best work of the last decade or so. Still, and I know it's been like six years, but I'm still not used to Stu Block (ex-Into Eternity) in Iced Earth.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmljtVrxul0[/youtube]
Igorrr – Savage Sinusoid 
Genre: Experimental/Avant-garde
Origin: France
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
Welp, this is weird, but it's also incredibly interesting. Igorrr is the project of Gautier Serre and he crams all sorts of shit into this record, and usual hits a variety of genres within a single song. Styles range from classical to dubstep to black metal to what seems to be just him screaming. This is the project's fifth album of twisting, turning madness, and it has me incredibly curious for the four albums. Again, Michael has a full review here.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zRU-VU87HI[/youtube]
Tombs – The Grand Annihilation 
Genre: Blackened post-metal
Origin: Brooklyn, New York
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
Gonna end this week in a heavy way. Tombs' Savage Gold was a pretty well lauded in 2014, and The Grand Annihilation continues everything that worked for them on that record. Lots of feedback, low-tuned everything, and one mid-tempo pummeling after another. Michael just cannot be stopped. Peep his full review here.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCP7NlNgF8g[/youtube]
Also dropping today…
Barb Wire Dolls – Rub My Mind (Motorhead) – Grunge
Cavernlight – As We Cup Our Hands And Drink From The Stream Of Our Ache (Gilead) – Doom/sludge
Currents – The Place I Feel Safest (SharpTone) – Metalcore
Dead Head – Swine Plague (Hammerheart) – Thrash
Doll Skin – Manic Pixie Dream Girl (EMP) – Rock
Gaytheist – Let’s Jam Again Soon (Good To Die) – Stoner
Khemmis/Spirit Adrift – Fraught With Peril (War Crime Recordings) – Doom
Royal Blood – How Did We Get So Dark? (Warner Brothers) – Rock
Zakk Sabbath – Live In Detroit EP (Southern Lord) – Sabbath covers with pinch harmonics
White Suns – Psychic Drift (The Flenser) – Noise
