Delivering over 50 minutes of stylish music, today we have John 3:16 and his latest release “Visions of The Hereafter – Visions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory”. Competing for the longest album name ever, this one-man outfit that morphs between every release continues with his traditional cinematic approach to music delivering nine tracks of brilliant sound layers that evoke emotions and transport the listener to different realms.

Opening with the atmospheric “The Ninth Circle”, this album sets a very somber and martial mood very early. This track is quite enigmatic and keeps the listener on edge to what’s coming next. Immediately after, we have another momentum builder with some minor Drone influences that keeps the atmosphere evolving. “Throne of God / Angel of The Lord” also features some nice Post-Rock stokes that help paint this song.

In a similar vein to Ved Buens Ende, DHG, etc., but on crack and with a knack for jazz, today we have Yurei’s latest release “Night Vision”. This band is another musical outlet for the enigmatic Bjeima (Virus), and as you can expect is very strange and unusual. If you like traditional things, you should probably stop reading since this release is far from ordinary and standard.

Opening with very random and at times absurd tracks like “Insomniac Bug Hunt”, “Reborn in Reveries”, and “3.00 a.m. Revolt”, it is not until “The Cognitive Crack” that we start getting some structure and something actually enjoyable. With very trippy proggy/jazzy sections stitched together, Yurei fails to convey a message, and while this might be the point it is just frustrating to follow random ramblings over the course of the songs with no aim.

Jumping on the whole Cascadian/hipster Black Metal / Post-Black Metal movement, today we have Metal Blade and one of their latest signings Downfall of Gaia. The German band plays a very well-constructed Black Metal with lush atmospheric elements, but with a very traditional instrumental core. While the band is actually pretty good at what they do, they are still nowhere near as excellent as main competitors Wolves in the Throne Room, and even lesser known bands like Fell Voices, Woman is the Earth, etc.

Opening with the atmospheric “[Vulnus]”, this album quickly delivers the traditional lush guitars of said style of music. The drumming and overall pace of things is very adequate and this song feels crushing, but at the same time filled with melody. The wall of sound created on the first track nicely blends into “Drowning By Wing Beats”, another song that starts with very emphasized drums that are quite good and slowly moves into faster and harsher territories. The vocals are quite fitting for the style, and sometimes it reminded us of the intense delivery of bands like Sun Worship (also from Germany).

As one of the most ridiculously epic Progressive releases of 2012, today we have Between the Buried and Me’s “The Parallax II: Future Sequence”. As one of the most unique and non-conforming bands in the American Metal scene, BTBM has been constantly changing over the years, but with this release they have reached the pinnacle of their career and produced and album that won’t easily be equaled, let alone surpassed.

Mixing their own brand of Progressive Metal with some harsh elements, most of the core-crap is totally gone, the band delivers completely hypnotic tracks that will puzzle some, and amaze most. Opening with the Cynic-like “Goodbye to Everything”, the band starts hinting at a very sonically pleasing release with the instrumentation and excellent production values. This is immediately felt present with the Dream Theater-esque “Astral Body”. Borrowing from progressive greats like Yes, DT, Magus, etc., the band truly makes these influences their own and shapes them in their own weird ways to craft very intricate and engaging songs.

Delivering their best album to date, today we have France’s Destinity and their 8th studio album “Resolve in Crimson”. Having evolved from Black Metal to Thrash Metal to Melodic Death Metal as of recently, this band turns in nine riff-tastic tracks that will draw them comparisons to bands like Dark Tranquility, Night In Gales, and Nightrage just to name a few.

Opening with the melodic anthem “Black Sun Rising”, the band’s riffing skills make this song shine since the first few seconds. This track delivers a healthy dosage of solid riffs and very well crafted clean vocal sections that make this song very catchy. Not losing track of their heavier side, “Reap my Scars” comes off a bit more aggressive but with equal melodic catchiness, making it another very solid momentum building track.

Finally! After their crushing live performances in 2009, the band faded away with Gaahl’s retirement from the metal scene, but they are now back and stronger than ever. Presenting their debut full-length release titled “I Begin”, the era of God Seed finally begins. Moving past the whole Gorgoroth thing, King and Gaahl are ready to make a name for them and with a star studded cast they have crafted nine tracks that will surely puzzle some people, but that ultimately conquer the opposition.

With members of Dimmu Borgir (live), Djerv, and Thorns, this new band has managed to deliver an album that goes beyond Black Metal with some very interesting influences that one wouldn’t have expected from King and Gaahl. Opening with the relentless “Awake”, this is more of what one would expect since they sound like Gorgoroth circa “Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam”, the last release were King and Gaahl worked with said band. The track features excellent riffing and very commanding vocals all surrounded by punishing drums.

Total aural destruction is probably the best way to describe Anaal Nathrakh’s latest ear-piercing sonic abuse of a release titled “Vanitas”. As one of the band’s that constantly keeps improving their abilities to abuse the listener through their extreme music, Anaal Nathrakh has done it again with this release and delivers ten punishing tracks that will make your head fall off after headbanging for almost 40 minutes.

Blasting this release wide open with “The Blood Dimmed Tide”, the band opens with some Industrial-ish passage before heading to full-blown chaos. The vocals are as crushing as always, and the drumming is as intense as ever. The traditional deranged screams nicely make this piece very memorable indeed. Blasting into “Forging Towards the Sunset”, we are barely given any time to mellow out when the abuse returns. This track has some cool clean vocals that add a bit of an epic feeling to the song in the same way that Emperor did back in “In the Nightside Eclipse”.

Mysterious Swedish outfit Flagellated Seraph delivers us their debut full-length release titled “Beyond Salvation”. With six tracks of fast-paced Melodic Black Metal, this band will surely surprise you with the quality of their music. Coming from Hellthrashers Productions, we expected something totally different from this release, and we are very glad it turned out this ways since some of the songs in this album are just killer.

Opening with a warm-up track “Reminiscence of The Serpent”, the band fully unleashes its riffing power as “He Who Bears the Mark”. While at first this might seem like your average run of the mill BM band, the song suddenly shifts into excellent melodic territories. Reminding us of older Dark Funeral, Marduk, and the likes, Flagellated Seraph has the skills to deliver extreme intensity tracks that are very well crafted. The massive drumming is one example of the band’s mystery musician’s abilities.