This edition includes music that'll either inspire you to get high, inspire you to pillage, or inspire you to do whatever fucked up thing The Body inspires people to do. To the metals…
Amon Amarth – Jomsviking 
Genre: Melodic death metal
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden
Label: Metal Blade
Buy now on Amazon.com
The Viking horde have returned to devastate your eardrums once more. A pretty typical Amon Amarth record in subject matter and sound, but who cares? They're a consistent band that doesn't disappoint. The guitar melodies are memorable, the rhythms are grounded and heavy, and Johan Hegg is still terrorizing you with tales of vikings.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6-krHfdmGg[/youtube]
Beastmaker – Lusus Naturae 
Genre: Doom
Origin: Fresno, California
Label: Rise Above
Buy now on Amazon.com
With a classic aesthetic and sound, Beastmaker take the smokey sounds of mid-era Black Sabbath, and riff their grim little hearts out. Songs typically veer away from where the listener expects them to go, which separates them a bit from the majority of your throwback bands these days.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P92hgthQxG8[/youtube]
Blood Ceremony – Lord Of Misrule 
Genre: Psychedelic doom
Origin: Toronto, Canada
Label: Rise Above
Buy now on Amazon.com
In the same realm of Beastmaker is the mighty Blood Ceremony. This band has now been mixing Sabbath-y riffs with Jethro Tull-esque flute interludes for four albums, and Lord of Misrule may be their best work yet. It features familiar territory in fresh ways, but also includes a great 60's pop influenced number and, conversely, an acoustic reflection on death.
The Body and Full of Hell – One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache 
Genre: Sludge/Grind
Origin: Portland, Oregon/Ocean City,Maryland
Label: Neurot
Buy now on Amazon.com
I was literally discussing how often The Body drops new music last week, and here they are again! This time with Full of Hell to add some grind elements, the result is still a dark, clusterfuck of disconcerting sludginess.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzqFd5rbNkQ[/youtube]
Caliban – Gravity 
Genre: Metalcore
Origin: Essen, Germany
Label: Century Media
Buy now on Amazon.com
On their ninth album, this German collective are keeping the metalcore flame they lit almost twenty years ago alive. Guitar sequels are aplenty, as are big singalong choruses. So if you're feeling particularly nostalgic and melodic, get on this.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk6zL8597dw[/youtube]
Cobalt – Slow Forever 
Genre: Black metal
Origin: Greeley, Colorado
Label: Profound Lore
Buy now on Amazon.com
It has been seven years since this band's game changing record Gin, and it's oddly refreshing to have some version of this grim duo back in my ears. This will mark the first appearance of vocalist Charlie Fell, who has a distinctly different delivery than the previous gent Phil McSorley. It'll be interesting to see how followers embrace this one or not. Cody has a full review here.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CbeJydbYu0[/youtube]
Judas Priest – Battle Cry CD/DVD
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Birmingham, England
Label: Epic
Buy now on Amazon.com
What Needs to be said about this? Judas fucking Priest on a stage proving that they are indeed, still, the metal gods
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG2bM-kTWsg[/youtube]
Necronomicon – Advent Of The Human God 
Genre: Blackened Death metal
Origin: Saguenay/Montreal, Canada
Label: Season Of Mist
Buy now on Amazon.com
For the most part, this is pretty straight-forward blasty death metal from the frosty north. North, in this case, being Canada. When it does stray from the straight-forwardness and dabbles with symphonic elements (see: around the two minute mark in the song below), I feel like it gets really cool.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoaAKggQO20[/youtube]
Spiritual Beggars – Sunrise To Sundown 
Genre: Stoner
Origin: Halmstad, Sweden
Label: Inside Out
Buy now on Amazon.com
This right here is just fun, fuzzy, stoner rock. Sweden is pretty good about producing bands like this, and Spiritual Beggers have been one of the better ones for a while now.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhl5aEW4rVs[/youtube]
Walls Of Jericho – No One Can Save You From Yourself 
Genre: Metalcore
Origin: Detroit, Michigan
Label: Napalm
Buy now on Amazon.com
I am relentless, I guess. Walls of Jericho are back from their hiatus and with their first album in eight years. The scene is entirely different from when they disappeared, so it should be interesting to see how this does. No One Can Save You From Yourself is in line with what they've done with empowering, heavy jams that bring the mosh.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiPHAhDtiyc[/youtube]
Zun – Burial Sunrise
Genre: Desert rock
Origin: California
Label: Small Stone
Buy now on Bandcamp.com
If you're familiar at all with the desert rock scene, you should be rock hard off this album. The core group consists of John Garcia (Kyuss/Slo Burn) and Sera Timms (Ides of Gemini/Black Mare) sharing vocal duties, then mastermind guitarist Gary Arce (Yawning Man). The end result isn't as driving and fuzzy as I expected it to be. The album is much more on the atmospheric side, and it's pretty wonderful.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uD5W1Tr1Dk[/youtube]
Also dropping today..
Al-Namrood and Darkestrah – Tajer Al Punqia/Akyr Zaman Split (Shaytan) – Folk/black metal
American Head Charge – Tango Umbrella (Napalm) – Nu metal
Artillery – Penalty By Perception (Metal Blade) – Thrash
Asking Alexandria – The Black (Sumerian) – Metalcore
AHTME – The Demonization (Unique Leader) – Technical death metal
Black Black Black – Altered States Of Death and Grace (Aqualamb) – Stoner/noise
Bonfire – Pearls (UDR) – Heavy metal
Echoes Of The Moon – Entropy (Avantgarde) – Atmospheric Post-Black Metal
Fall Of Minerva – Portraits (Basick) – Post-hardcore
Fear Of Domination – Atlas (Inverse) – Industrial/Melodic Death Metal
Hammer Fight – Profound and Profane (Napalm) – Heavy metal
Horrified – Of Despair (Stormspell) – Death metal
Ifrinn – Ifrinn EP (Iron Bonehead) – Black metal
Immensity – The Isolation Splendour (Hypnotic Dirge) – Atmospheric Doom/Death Metal
Kuoleman Galleria – Karsimys Kunniaan (Inverse) – Black n roll
La Chinga – Freewheelin' (Small Stone) – Heavy metal
Like Rats – Like Rats (Southern Lord) – Sludge/hardcore
Lody Kong – Dreams and Visions (Mascot) – Death metal
Metal Church – XI (Rat Pak) – Heavy metal/thrash
Mourning Soul – Ego Death: Ritual I (Dolorem) – Black metal
Phazm – Scornful Of Icons (Osmose) – Death n roll
Ragnarok – Psychopathology (Agonia) – Black metal
Rimfrost – Rimfrost (Non Serviam) – Black metal
Rorcal – Creon (Bleak) – Sludge/Doom
Rotten Sound – Abuse To Suffer (Season Of Mist) – Grindcore
Slave One – Disclosed Dioptric Principles (Dolorem) – Death metal
Tournament – Teenage Creature (The End) – Hard rock
Vibrion – Bacterya (Xtreem) – Death metal
Wildways – Into The Wild (Artery) – Metal/hardcore
WolveSpirit – Free (Spirit Stone) – Psychedelic
Zippo – After Us (Apocalyptic Witchcraft) – Sludge/Progressive
