Black Cobra is a two man band that plays very rudimentary but effective Sludge/Doom Metal, something that newer bands have problems doing so, by trying to be ‘extra awesome’ and using assloads of different distortions and fancy recording gimmicks.

“Chronomega” features 9 tracks of crushing Sludge Metal, now on Southern Lord, the band shows that their basic style is effective enough to trump any other release of this genre. It’s heavy, is ‘sluggish’, is lo-fi, and it’s very effective.

Out of the countless CD’s I get on the mail or digitally every month, I have to say that only a few standout each month, and “The Advent of Neurosis” is one of the most recent ones.

The Spanish duo called The Down Spiral To Hell have a really demented style that is very amusing to listen to. Mixing Black/Death/Grind Metal among other genres, make this release a listening journey into the abyss. The brutal riffs with Grind style vocals set the tone for this crushing album that will leave your head spinning for a few hours after the album is done.

Featuring members of the company that developed the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games, Megasus had even some tracks featured in those games before dropping their self-titled debut album “Megasus”.

And while the guys might be talented game developers (if they had any direct involvement in the games) they are not very talented at writing music. Hiding behind a very rudimentary sounding distortion this band has nothing else going on for them.

Hailing from New York, USA, The Resurrection Sorrow plays a mean mixture of Heavy and Stoner Metal, and while not the most original band, they do a pretty good job at getting people moving with their music.

“Hour Of The Wolf” features 10 tracks for over 45 minutes of rocking music that will grab your attention since track one. I’m not a huge fan of Stoner Metal, but the ‘heaviness’ infused by TRS make this album not have a dull moment.

Opening with an intro track by the same name of the album “Imperium”, Aquila starts showcasing their musical abilities since track one and never let go. This Canadian outfit plays Metalcore and is pretty good at it.

While Metalcore is not one of my favorite genres, I have no problems in recognizing bands that have talent and do a good job at playing the music. The vocals is the part that for me kills this genre, but Aquila does a good job at sounding more like Trash/Death Metal the majority of the time while maintaining their Metalcore roots.

To say that Coronatus is one of the most underrated bands in the Gothic Metal genre is an understatement by it self. I don’t now why this band does not have as much recognition like Delain, Tristania, Leaves’ Eyes, Theatre Of Tragedy, etc. Coronatus is clearly a superior band that half of the ones mentioned and their musical sound is still Gothic Metal, no commercial bullshit here.

Hailing from Germany Coronatus has been very productive band since they got their deal with Massacre Records producing one album a year since 2007. The band’s approach to Gothic Metal is very traditional: heavy distorted guitars, majestic keyboards and the most amazing female vocal duo.

I must say that releases that feature vocals like this never get good reviews from me; even after analyzing the music objectively the vocals ruin the album for me. This is not the case for Raise The Red Lantern, since their music is amazing and I was even able to zone out the vocals for the entire duration of this album.

Raise The Red Lantern is an American band that plays a very peculiar supper salad of different styles ranging from Sludge to Progressive Metal to Hard Rock to Stoner Rock, and they do so with great ability. While the overall feeling of the album can get them labeled as Sludge, they are more than that since the band’s sound is very unique.

Aetherius Obscuritas presents us their second release of majestic Black Metal that will surely put the on the map. This Hungarian band show they are a force to be reckoned by displaying brutal, but yet melodic, Black Metal in 11 tracks of pure evil.

The band shows a level of musical maturity that few young bands have. Mainly because Arkhorrl, the mastermind behind this evil entity, has been dissecting most major Black Metal bands and taking the best elements of each one of them, and improving over time (and 4 previous releases) has now achieved a brilliant sound that reminds you of all time greats like Marduk, Satyricon and Immortal, but has managed to make it his own adding his own twists and turns to the music.

Faust is an Italian band that has been around since 1992, and this is made very clear based on the skills of most of the band members. The music is very well played, but lacks a bit on the composition department (more on that later).

I’m a big fan of Melodic Death Metal, and it’s very rare in these days to find a good band that is not going all Metalcore on us. Alongside Ethereal Collapse, Faust is one of the best bands in the genre I’ve heard this year, since the melodic aspect is brilliant.

Hailing from Germany, Semen Datura displays very promising qualities in a Black Metal band, they have a very (and I mean very) diverse style that ranges from old school Celtic Frost in some parts, to Satyricon, to Darkthrone, to Secrets Of The Moon, etc.

“Einsamkeit” is the band’s 3rd full length album and has made me try to dig up their latest releases so I can see how their sound has evolved (no luck so far in finding their first albums). This album features 10 tracks of pure hellish black metal that will surely please any fans of the genre.