After multiple line-up changes, today we have the return of Hatesphere and their aggressive Thrash Metal sound, but now refined with a Hard Rock edge that makes them even better than before. Changing vocalist is a major move for any band, but Esse Hansen delivers powerful pipes that nicely fit the band’s evolved sound.

Through the nine tracks presented in “The Great Bludgeoning”, the band delivers powerful Thrash Metal anthems that sound very sophisticated and intriguing since they don’t seem to be ‘more of the same’ stuff we get with countless Thrash releases these days. With the powerful opener “The Killer”, we immediately listen to the different distortion and melodic nature of the guitar riffs, something very refreshing considering the band’s previous two releases sounded very similar to each other.

Dissection worshipers Thulcandra return with an even more impressive sophomore effort titled “Under a Frozen Sun”. In this release the band takes their amazing Dissection-influenced Death/Black Metal to new heights with seven crushing tracks and one cover song. If you thought that “Fallen Angel’s Dominion” was an excellent release, brace yourself since this new album will rip you a new one.

Opening with “In Blood and Fire”, the band will send shivers through your spine with the acoustic opening guitars. But once the powerful riffing starts, you will be hooked on this album like if it was your drug of choice. Steffen Kummerer does a great job in capturing that peculiar guitar sound from the early Dissection material and makes it his own with Thulcandra’s band of hectic and guitar driven Black/Death Metal.

All the way from the Nordic lands of Canada, today we have Untimely Demise’s debut full-length release “City of Steel. While the band plays the traditional Thrash/Death Metal game, there are a few elements here and there to make this release standout from the countless dull bands we get every week.

Having some early Children of Bodom (vocals and some guitar work) edge makes “City of Steel” a nice 32 minute release that will not go easily forgotten. In the opening “Virtue In Death” track, we have the traditional Thrash/Death Metal sound back in the day, but the guitar work is what makes this song (and album) more entertaining and different.

Featuring 36 minutes of very brutal Death Metal with some technical elements, today we have Slaughtery’s first full-length release “Path-(t)o-Logic”. In this album we have tons of chugging riffs, brilliant technical sections and an overall crushing feeling that will leave your ears bleeding (in a good way) after just one spin of this release.

Opening in a very traditional fashion with “Nine Minutes”, the band shows their strengths in crafting punishing riffs, a pounding bass guitar line and some hellish vocals. The intricate guitar sections are what immediately sets this band apart from your typical cookie-cutter bands and will surely get Salughtery noticed in the scene. “Chimerism” gives a little of the old-school Death sound but with actually brutal vocals, a feat that only a few bands have come close to doing in the past.

Packed with 14 powerful guitar-driven songs, today we have Aclla’s debut album “Landscape Revolution”. Merging elements from Power Metal with Heavy Metal in an aggressive fashion, we are left with pounding guitars on top of Power/Heavy Metal song structures, a very interesting approach.

Opening with “The Totem”, we can immediately tell that this distortion is not very typical for a Power/Heavy Metal release and this marks the beginning of a very interesting musical journey. Power through tracks like “The Hidden Dawn”, “Under Twilight Skies”, “Ride” and “Living for a Dream”, there is no doubt on the quality of the musicians behind Aclla, since they manage to make very good songs through “Landscape Revolution”

Delivering an impressive debut solo album, today we have Sylvain Rouvière and his Kaktus Project release “Supersition”. Featuring 13 songs of well crafted Heavy/Power Metal with Hard Rock influences, this release is a very nice showcase of both Sylvain’s vocal and guitar playing abilities.

Unlike many side project releases, “Superstition” truly showcases the musician’s ability and not his countless buddy’s that make guest appearances on the album. Since the opener track “Farewell” we have soaring vocals and very well crafted guitar work, this track reminds us a bit of older Timmo Tolki-era Stratovarius. Moving on with “Superstition”, we get some hints of Edguy/Avantasia in this very entertaining song.

As one of the most expected releases of 2011, today we have Insomnium’s latest release: “One for Sorrow”, a truly sublime piece of work that will be nearly impossible to improve upon. Featuring a mixture of majestic melodic passages, depressive emotions, skillful instrumentation, and powerful vocals, “One for Sorrow” is definitely the finest Insomnium release to date and a near perfect release in terms of Melodic Death Metal.

Opening with the hypnotic momentum builder “Inertia”, the band quickly delivers their signature weeping guitars followed by Niilo Sevänen’s perfect growls. With such a momentum builder, the album starts on a very high note. “Through the Shadows” delivers a more unified riffing structure of pure Insomnium’s trademark sound; this creates the very melodic and dense atmosphere that we all love about the band. Here we are treated to some clean vocals that add an even more dramatic edge to this beautiful song.