The slow season for metal releases rolls on! This edition features spookiness just in time for the holidays, some remixes, a comeback album for a band that didn't technically go anywhere and (not much) more! To the metals…
Babymetal – Live At Wembley 
Genre: Heavy metal/Kawaii metal
Origin: Japan
Label: earMusic
Buy now on Amazon.com
Everyone's favorite adorable metal trio (no, not Mutoid Man or the current incarnaiton of Venom) have recorded their already legendary show and are putting it out just in time for the holidays. Ask for it this year, and spend the rest of Christmas having to explain why it's not weird. The preview I included makes it look pretty incredible.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4yXqzC710M[/youtube]
Gnaw Their Tongues – Hymns For The Broken, Swollen And Silent 
Genre: Black Metal/Noise/Experimental
Origin: Drachten, Netherlands
Label: Consouling Sounds
Buy now on Bandcamp
These spooky Dutchmen have a history of blurring the lines of black metal and horror soundscapes. Hymns For The Broken, Swollen and Silent keeps their terrifying tradition alive. The scariest thing of all might be that they fail to use the Oxford comma in their mouthful of an album title.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyImbmEtyBc[/youtube]
Luciferian Light Orchestra – Black
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden
Label: Svart Records
Buy now on Here
This side project of Therion's Christofer Johnsson is far less epic and symphonic than what he's most known for. Instead, this band is closer to Purson, Blood Ceremony, and Castle. Ths EP is a four track continuation of their debut from last year. It's a solid introduction, and I'm glad I have a full record to seek out too.
OvO – Creatura
Genre: "Minimal Extreme Metal"
Origin: Ravenna, Italy
Label: Dio Drone
Buy now on Bandcamp.com
This duo has quite a bit of mystery surrounding them despite being around a while. Their Facebook About section simply says "We bring Noise to town," and I can't argue with that. This record is noisy, chaotic, and an overall experimental assault. I found myself muttering "What the fuck is happening?" more than once. To be honest though, I mainly included them because their name looks like an owl face.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDPRWKSd4A[/youtube]
Sumac – Before You I Appear
Genre: Post-metal/Sludge
Origin: Vashon, Washington/Vancouver, BC, Canada
Label: Thrill Jockey
Buy now on Amazon.com
One thing I never really got with Isis was their pretty steady stream of remix albums and eps that followed their main albums. Aaron Turner is keeping that tradition alive with Sumac. So if the amazing What One Becomes wasn't enough for your Sumac fix in 2016, here's a bit more, just with more bloops and beeps this time.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paxTOPnj4-g[/youtube]
Zao – The Well – Intentioned Virus
Genre: Metalcore
Origin: Parkersburg, West Virginia
Label: Observed Observer Recordings
Buy now on Amazon.com
Its been seven years since these guys dropped an album, and there seems to be some excitement for this record in certain corners of our heavy universe. The little I was able to find (mind you, I didn't look too hard) isn't quite what I remember the band being. There is some metalcore to them, but there's also some of that Every Time I Die/Cancer Bats sorta feel to them. Maybe this is what they're always sounded like, again I didn't look too hard.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wejmQfkTOm0[/youtube]
Also dropping today…
Circles Of Dust – Machines Of Our Disgrace (Fixt) – Industrial
Dreamshade – Vibrant (Artery) – Metalcore/Melodic death metal
Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody – Prometheus, The Dolby Atmos Experience/Cinematic and Live DVD/CD (Nuclear Blast) – Power metal
Pitch Black Process – Derin (EMP) – Metalcore/Melodic death metal
R.I.P. – In The Wind (RidingEasy) – Doom
Sithter – Chaotic Fiend (Bonten) – Drone/sludge
Terra – Mors Secunda (Code666) – Black metal
Uli Jon Roth – Tokyo Tapes Revisited: Live In Japan (UDR) – Heavy metal
