With a very foul traditional Death Metal vibe, today we have Ectovoid and their debut full-length release “Fractured in the Timeless Abyss”. Reeking of old-school Incantation, Immolation, and similar bands, this three-piece from Alabama manage to bring back that heavy and cavernous feeling of crushing Death Metal to the year 2012 with such grace and brutality.

Opening with the 1-2 combo of “Transcend Into the Moonless Night” and “Shapeshifting Mass”, the band quickly establishes a somewhat sluggish pace with brutal riffs and a very dense atmosphere. The band’s ability to create very thunderous riffs is just outstanding and will hook any DM fan immediately after two tracks. In a more playful fashion, “Dark Clouds of Consciousness” delivers excellent growls and very intricate drums, with a few devastating speed ups.

Keeping the Thrash Metal flame alive, today we have Germany’s Septic Christ and their latest full-length release titled “Guilty As We Were Born”. Released under Malevolence Records, this album features twelve tracks of very well crafted old-school Thrash Metal, that is a bit slower paced than what we are used to listening to, but it has that great old vibe that brings all the nostalgic memories from the genre’s hay day.

Opening with a very deceiving melodic track that caries the album title, things really get started with  “Starstruck” and it’s intense riffing. There are a few moments in this track that we had some Metallica “And Justice For All” flash backs from a bit, but the music caries on with a more traditional Thrash edge. The band does a good job in crafting catchy melodies, and the drums are very intricate, but we feel that there is some speed missing to make this track (and most of the rest) more intense.

Delivering their pummeling ‘full-length’ debut “Bir Devrin Sonu”, today we have one of Turkey’s most brutal bands named Sakatat. Claiming to have political ideas behind their perplexingly brutal music, this band manages to deliver the shortest full-length release ever: eight minutes long.

Spanning eight tracks, this ultra brutal and ultra fast release has the feeling of something so intense that you won’t even feel it’s too short. With all the lyrics and song names in Turkish, we can’t really appreciate the message behind the music, but we can say that each short tracks is as brutal as they come, reminding us of the old Agathocles, Dahmer and such bands.

Continuing with their high-spirited Folk Metal music, today we have Korpiklaani and their latest opus titled “Manala”.  Cranking out thirteen songs (including the bonus track) of uber catchy music, it is very cool to see that the band kept the creative juices flowing and managed to deliver another excellent album one year after the release of their previous one. Featuring a darker (and probably deeper) edge to their lyrical concept, the band has crafted a release that will surely please most of the older fans of the band and while not featuring their traditional ‘drinking song’, the cheerful spirit of the band is equally present in this release.

“Kunnia” gives way to this release with the typical up-beat Folk approach that has made the band world-know and has kept them as one of the best in the genre. The singing is very well crafted and nicely fits every mood transmitted by the band. The instrumentation is excellently selected and never abused, allowing the hard-rocking sound of the guitars to be enjoyed without any distractions. Things get a bit more powerful with “Tuonelan Tuvilla” thanks to the heavy guitars, with the violin nicely complementing them.

If Moonsorrow, Primordial, and Ulver had a genetically engineered (and somewhat defective) son, it would most likely sound like Memoria from Australia. In their latest release “Death Calls The Islands”, the band delivers a few well-crafted tracks that will surely grab your attention, and a few others that will make you scratch your head. The band’s interesting combination of influences also does them in, since the songs get a bit repetitive and dull after a while, something that in our opinion also happens to Moonsorrow.

In the opener “The Dogs Smell Blood”, the band immediately lifts a wall of distorted guitars that reminds us of a mixture of Moonsorrow and Primordial, but it does get a bit dull after the sixth track. The production also allows this element to overshadow the vocals in particular, frustrating us after a while. The clean vocal are and excellent hybrid between Garm and Vortex, but they are not exploited correctly. The Emperor-esque “Claw At The Pine” keeps things interesting, but it also sounds a little too much like Emperor from their Anthems-era.

Today we have “Disclosure”, the long-awaited full-length release of the legendary Dutch band The Gathering. Keeping on their element of experimentation, this release contains eight tracks of beautifully crafted music that expands on the band’s melancholic Atmospheric Rock soundscape with hauntingly beautiful melodies and ethereal guitar work.

After wowing the non-believers with Silje’s vocals on “The West Pole”, the band’s ‘new’ singer seems more in her element and sounds even more comfortable on the tracks of “Disclosure”. Opening with the catchy “Paper Waves”, the band quickly establishes their trademark dreamy mood via melancholic vocals and delicate guitar work. The bass guitar line in this track nicely accompanies the serenity of the music and marks its way into your subconscious very easily.

Delivering nine Black Metal aural assaults, today we have Svartfell and ‘their’ third full-length release titled “Apocryphe Apocalypse”. This one-man band from France does a great job in crafting brutal BM tunes in a very raw and powerful way. In the days when many BM releases focus on being ‘pretty’ and ‘nice’ sounding, it is refreshing to hear something as filthy and destructive as “Apocryphe Apocalypse”.

After the pummeling opening track “Terribilis Est Locus Iste”, the band delivers very crushing riffs on “The Crimson Cross”. All drums are real in this release and this greatly enhances the experience over most one-man band that use drum machines and sound like total ass. The production however is a bit weak and makes the guitars wobble a bit and also distorts the sound of the cymbals. The vocals sound either distorted or have some kind of FX behind them, and while it sounds weird, it actually makes them more brutal and fitting for the music.

As one of the weirdest but also very interesting releases we have received in 2012, today we have Closed Room and their promotional EP titled “White Bed Sheet”. This Belarus band features three very different and equally intoxicating tracks that range between Trip-Hop to Post Black Metal. With similarities to bands like Ulver and Amesoeurs, this is indeed one very difficult band to categorize.

Opening with the atmospheric and very trippy “White Bed Sheet”, the band delivers a very Ulver-like song that has a very powerful atmosphere and excellent vocals. The jazzy female vocals nicely hypnotize the listener while the atmospheric beats work their magic in creating a very dense mood. We are not huge fans of Trip-Hop, but this song is brilliant.

Arriving all the way from Saint Petersburg, Russia via Hypnotic Dirge Records, today we have Epitimia and their latest full-length release titled “Faces of Insanity”. With a very melodic Ambient Black Metal sound, this excellent band pummels through nine highly melancholic tracks not apt for the faint of heart. With such a rich and atmospheric sound, this Russian 3-person outfit is by far one of best bands in the genre.

After setting the mood with the excellent atmospheric track “Reminiscentia”, Epitimia delivers the hypnotic “Epikrisis I: Altered state of consciousness”. In this track, the band keeps building momentum with excellent shoegaze-ish guitars and the harsh vocals finally appear. With such a depressive mood and the subtle beauty of dreamy guitars complementing the distorted ones, this band is very near melancholic musical perfection.