Hailing form the forests of Washington State, today we have USBM act Wende with “Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft”. As a one-man battalion, this outfit delivers six tracks of crushing Black Metal with heavy atmospheric elements and a very raw and decadent sound. The band can easily be compared to Burzum’s good old days, since after the first few minutes the sheer rawness will transport you to those times.

With a crisp metallic sound to the guitars, “… of War or ‘der Ritter’”, the album makes an instant splash with a 10-minute piece that creates a very decadent atmosphere. Progressing with the trippy “…of Death or ‘Verklaung’”, we get chilling 80’s horror movie atmospheric ambiance. Fully warmed up, “…of Truth of ‘Nichts und Schonh’” really drives it home with gut-wrenching screams and a wall of distortion that only a few bands manage to achieve.

With the tons of so-called Modern Metal releases coming out these days, we can easily make a 10 ft tall pile of albums that sound alike. Lay Siege is here to defy this trend and unleash the punishing “Hopeisnowhere” upon the world’s population. Featuring 11 tracks of Post-Metal/Sludge/Groove brutality, the band goes beyond being heavy and catchy, and delivers one of the most engaging and clean sounding Modern Metal releases of 2015.

The groovy “Irebot” quickly sets a very harsh tone with its pummeling riffs and Meshuggah-esque vibe, and this intensity continues with the funky “Glass Veil”. The vocals and some of the tempo changes have a certain Deathcore-ish vibe, but the overall structure of the music is much more than that. The oppressive “Hollow Hands” has some tight drum patterns that when paired with the crystal clear production, sound like a million bucks.

Having recently returned from a hiatus, Minsk delivers one of the early candidates for top 10 albums of 2015 with “The Crash & The Draw”. Following the same footsteps of bands like Neurosis, Year of No Light, and The Ocean, we get 11-tracks of brilliant Atmospheric Post-Metal/Sludge music that is both complex and crushing. Returning with a 75 minute opus is an ambitious task that Minsk manages to pull off flawlessly.

Instantly making their mark with the 12-minute opener “To The Initiate”, we have a very playful track that changes moods and delivers a good amount of intricate percussions and powerful riffs to keep you listening to it on repeat for at least a day. Slowly building with “Within and Without”, the band crafts a very tight short piece to hold the listener over until the unleash their four piece behemoth of “Onward Procession”. In part I and II the band invokes their inner Neurosis with heavy and dense tracks that nicely evolve into the trippy atmospherics of part III and IV. This four-piece track showcases the band’s ambitions and excellent execution of a multi-faceted song that nicely evolves and dances around all the genres the band has influences from.

With every year having less and less Death/Gothic Doom Metal releases coming out, we cherish the ones we get. Hailing from Finland, Red Moon Architect deliver an astonishing album fill with the sorrow and melancholy that we always look in our music. Originally a one man project, Saku Moilanen has put together a five-piece lineup and has unleashed “Fall” to the world. Featuring eight tracks of soul crushing music, this is one album that you do not want to miss in 2015.

Opening with the slowly building atmospheric piece “A Wish for a Tear”, we have Anni Viljanen returning with her enchanting female vocals. The newcomer growler Juuso Turkki does a great job in delivering the harsh male vocal counterparts, at some points the band sounds like October Tide thanks to his singing style and the riffs on this first song. The band is not afraid of changing up little things that transform the direction of songs like “The Other Side”, where they have pretty interesting tempo changes and play with how they mix the female and male growls, making their songs less linear than the genre standard.

Hailing from Santa Fe, New Mexico, today we have Predatory Light and the re-release of their 2014 demo in a 10” vinyl format through Pesanta Urfolk. Featuring members and ex-members of bands like Ash Borer, Anhedonist and Drought, the band crafts a very intense and thick Black/Death Metal wall of sound with some Doomy elements thrown into the mix. This two track release is just a little taste of the band’s destructive powers and will surely leave you wanting more.

Opening with the oppressive “Changing Skins”, we have deep raspy vocals greatly complementing the demolishing riffs. The incorporation of Black Metal elements and blast beats into the music nicely provides solid tempo changes that keep the listener always engaged. The band provides a craftier and more elaborate piece with “Spiritual Flesh”, a 10-minute song that is mostly mid-tempo and very hypnotic with some well incorporated bursts of violence thrown into the mix. The riffing is at the center of this song, being quite creative and diverse.

Five years in the making, today we have “De Divinatione Daemonum” from French Black Metal battalion Nyseius. With a dominating sound and a knack for creating oppressive aural soundscapes, this release is one that you will not see coming with its vicious 66 minutes of dense Black Metal.  

Slowing introducing the listener to their dissonant world, “De Casu Diaboli” perfectly unravels this release. Instantly going for the throat, “Black God Ascension” and “Exitinction of the Seven Divine Spirits”, the band’s relentless spirit is admirable as they deliver their ruthless music. As they blast through high-intensity pieces like “Finis Terra Sancta” and the demoralizing “Possessor of the Key to all Mysteries”, we also love the creepy interludes like the disturbing “Lamentation Prayers”.

Filled with hate and a raw intensity that many bands would envy, today we have Arvas and their devastating third full-length release “Black Satanic Mysticism”. While many bands focus in making pretty music, Arvas delivers brutality in high doses in this very ‘in-your-face’ destructive release.

Slowly blasting away with the real opener “Flames of Black”, the band’s sound is completely raw, but not always in a good way as it seems to be an artifact of the crude production. We appreciate the extra brutality that this conveys, but sometimes the sound is a bit too much and it gets to sound like a live recording without. Pummeling through tracks like “Beholder of Demons” and its funky keyboards at the end, “Redemption Black”, and “Faith of Negatron”, this album shapes up to be a mixture of Immortal with Impiety. The band starts going in more creative directions with the solid “Follow the Raven”, which sounds more like your average Pagan Metal track.

When the core of a band stays together since the beginning, the quality and structure of their music stays greatly unchanged and constantly improves, this is the case for Belgium’s premier Atmospheric Death/Black/Doom outfit Thurisaz. Having caught our attention since their magnificent debut “Scent of a Dream” back in 2004, the band has been taking their time to release albums, but every time the wait is completely worth it. With “The Pulse of Mourning” the band further refines their signature sound and delivers nine brilliantly melancholic songs.

After the instrumental opener, the band burst into action with the pummeling first few minutes of “…For A Change”. Thurisaz has always combined Death/Black Metal style onslaughts with lush atmospheric elements, and this song (and release) keeps the tradition. As the previous track winds down, the band continues with the more rhythmical and perfect for headbanging “Patterns of Life”. In this track we are treated to band’s signature melodic passages that are greatly enhanced by some moody clean male vocals. The band’s constant influx of creativity into the tempo changes of their songs is unique, and greatly exemplified in this song.

As the most expected release from 2015, today we have Nightwish and their eight full-length release: “Endless forms Most Beautiful”. Armed with two new band members, this legendary Symphonic Metal band delivers nearly 80 minutes of music in their most ambitious album to date. The album is naturally filled with fast, catchy and heavy tracks that are perfectly combined with dramatic symphonic arrangements, all nicely tied together with a very powerful message.

Opening with the bombastic “Shudder Before the Beautiful”, the band sets a very active tempo since the beginning. Floor Jansen’s vocals work very well for Nightwish and they greatly shine in this release. It was obvious that the band’s previous singer had considerably less range than Floor, and the band is now back into their lush and explosive musical days from their Tarja-era. The choir arrangements are extremely well delivered and greatly enhance the music. Marco Hietala has a reduced role, in terms of singing, in this release but it makes his moments count like on the epic “Weak Fantasy”.

With the popularity of Gothic/Symphonic Metal, hundreds of bands appeared in the scene and flooded our inbox with tons of sub-par releases. Luckily for us, Rise of Avernus does not conform with the masses and on their latest EP “Dramatis Personæ”, the band manages to have their own unique interesting of Progressive Gothic/Doom Metal. Imagining Septic Flesh meets Epica, this band delivers both intricate heavy music and some nice orchestrations to adorn things.

Opening with “In the Absence of Will”, we get the traditional symphonic orchestrations mixed with some interesting riffs and tempo changes. The drumming is quite solid and the overall feel of the track is heavier than symphonic… what a relief. Things get a bit more complex and engaging with the brilliant “Path to Shekinah”, a song that features some heavy passages and engaging vocal arrangements (both growls and male clean vocals).