This edition includes slow heaviness, shredding, what will surely be album of the year contenders for some, and more! To the metals…
Exmortus – The Sound Of Steel 
Genre: Melodic thrash/death metal
Origin: Whittier, California
Label: Prosthetic
This band sounds like if 3 Inches of Blood only had their growling vocalist. The melodies are oddly jaunty yet the guitarists still shred faces off. This winds up being a guitar masterclass of a record.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SLm-5hNZuA][/youtube]
Lesser Glow – Ruined 
Genre: Post Metal/Doom
Origin: Boston, Massachusetts
Label: Pelagic
Do you like feedback and fuzz? If so, Lesser Glow is where your ears should go! This record is insanely heavy and full of despair. Mark this as another win in the streak that Pelagic Records is on.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I1OJD8aQT0][/youtube]
Tremonti – A Dying Machine 
Genre: Heavy metal
Origin: Orlando, Florida
Label: Napalm
Again, yes this is the guy from Creed. No, it sounds nothing like Creed. Like his band's previous records, this is guitar driven hard rock, and Tremonti knows his way around the guitar.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suGBbS4gylM][/youtube]
Tomb Mold – Manor Of Infinite Forms 
Genre: Death metal
Origin: Toronto, Ontario
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Someone described this to me as "filthy death metal," and that really is the best description for it. It's got the all the usual death metal elements, but feels gross in a weird way. This one is for the readers that want some real metal in their day. Tyler's review is here.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7g8EEGYric][/youtube]
Yob – Our Raw Heart 
Genre: Doom
Origin: Eugene, Oregon
Label: Relapse
After four years, and a mountain of obstacles, Mike Scheidt, Travis Foster, and new bassist Aaron Rieseberg have returned to Yob again! This is a great example of an artist transforming pain into art as Our Raw Heart is the band's best album in a long time. It's heavy, it lurches, it's beautiful, it's a perfect Yob record. Chad has a full review here.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGgEvV3W2qc][/youtube]
Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit 
Genre: Avant-garde metal
Origin: New York, New York
Label: Self
Ending this week with something entirely unique. Manuel Gagneux combines soul, blues, and American slave spiritual music, then filters that through a black metal prism and you get this amazing project. Stranger Fruits is an intense listen and will no doubt pop up on plenty of end of the year lists.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbMoTdr1k1Y][/youtube]
Also dropping today
Dead Sara – Temporary Things Taking Up Space EP (Atlantic) – Hard rock
Eye of the Destroyer – Violent By Design EP (Self-Released) – Deathcore
Fire Down Below – Hymn of the Cosmic Man (Ripple Music) – Desert rock
Kanseil – Fulìsche (Rockshots Music) – Folk metal
Kite – The All Penetrating Silence (Sludgelord Records) – Sludge
The Konsortium – Rogaland (Agonia) – Thrash/black metal
Nereis – Turning Point (Eclipse) – Rock
PIG – Risen (Metropolis Records)
Refuge – Solitary Men (Frontiers) – Heavy metal
TNT – XII (Frontiers) – Heavy metal
