The Mantle is great, but personally I prefer Marrow of the Spirit better. The emotional revelation of Black Lake Nidstang is just too good. I love both albums for different reasons though. The Mantle is a lot less imposing and impressive, but also a lot more emotional and 'real' sounding.

Sonne Hagal - Black Spring

Excellent mumbly, humble-sounding neofolk. The vocals land somewhere in between Jerome Reuter and Douglas Pearce

Circle of Dead Children - Earth and Lye

This shit is just colossal.

Demanufacture from (1995) Fear Factory - Demanufacture (Digipak).
Just listened to (2015) Fear Factory - Genexus (Limited Edition) and I NEED to remember what this band was about.

Marrow is indeed great but I feel a similar way with that as I do with The Mantle. Into the Painted Grey, Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires & Black Lake Niðstång (which is definitely the creative centrepiece) are incredible but the rest feels good down to a little disappointing and frankly average.

I'm re-listening to Agalloch's discography after neglecting them for a bit as I'm finally getting the chance to see them live in a few days. Overall I think Faustian Echoes and Pale Folklore are their two best releases that feel nigh on perfect from start to finish (despite the hilarious lyrics on Pale Folklore).

Agalloch - Into the Painted Grey

I agree. The Mantle is fantastic but I think Marrow is their best album.

NP: Njiqahdda - Life Will Always Go On...

This was just released, and is apparently previously written material, but either way we have a full-lengths worth of new stuff from Njiqahdda which is the greatest surprise I could have hoped for. This album is a continuation of their spacier-rock styles, all clean vocals. I'm halfway through and it's pretty fucking good. Hopefully they'll start releasing new stuff again.

Kruberablinka - Blanko

This was way more hard rock than I was expecting. Still pretty good, even though Terra Rosa is better.

Judas Priest - British Steel

Classic album. The first half is untouchable. On a big Priest kick lately. Hope to catch 'em live for the third time soon!

Overkill - I Hate

I hate your rules I HATE EM' ALL! Hate being marked to take the fall, planet's not big enough for me and you but most of all...

犬神サーカス団 (Inugami Circus-Dan) - セタカムイ

Man, I wish they had more songs like this.

Yes - The Revealing Science of God

Say what you want about the album as a whole, the first and last tracks from Tales from Topographic Oceans are epic.

Rebellion (US) - He Walks Alone

My favorite track from their only LP. Too bad they weren't more well known because these guys were good. Their singer in particular Ed Snow was one of the best. Dude had some pipes.

Vorum - Angels Death

Holy fuck! New EP out?! Count me in for getting a copy of this madness. Feral, raw as fuck death metal of the highest order.

Manowar - Warriors of the World

Everyone knows this album isn't perfect. Call to Arms, Swords in the Wind and the last four songs are godly, the rest I rarely listen to.

Just ordered Thunder in the Sky -ep. Judging by some YouTube clips it's a solid release.

Destroyer - Watercolors Into the Ocean

Pretty good - very mellow, meditative music. Very coffee-shop-esque. I think I could dig this as a sort of atmospheric piece to walk or read to.

Steelheart's first album.

After I listen to this about 2 more times, I'm going to binge on X Japan for a little bit. Just one of those kinds of days, I guess.

Sleep Terror - Unihemispheria

Very Good. As always.

Dying Fetus - From Womb To Waste, off Reign Supreme

Rather..... Revolting intro aside, this is pretty badass stuff. Brutal as shit, but really catchy, with an actually engaging technical edge.

Code Orange - I Am King

Favorite release of last year. Utterly disgusting.

I'm bumping the new Monolord album and I'm instantly in love with it! Can't believe this band has mostly crappy reviews on MA, this shit's amazing.

Thin Lizzy - Dancing in the Moonlight

This album is great. Beautifully folksy rock music...a pleasure.

"Sary Oy" by Darkestrah

Such a great release! Can you believe it's a debut album?

WASP - Maneater

It's been a long time since I listened to The Headless Children. Almost forgot how awesome the album is.

Auðn - Auðn

Still on an atmospheric black metal kick. I thought I was going to re-listen to some of my recent ABM favorites like Mesarthim and Thy Light today, but instead I'm foraying into new stuff. This one is decent but doesn't really stand out.

Edit: And just changed to..

Tomhet - Of A Dying Star

Very spacey with a lot of long notes of synth and fuzzy distorted tones. This is more like what I was looking for.

Got the office to myself today so it's been one non-stop metal playlist:

Grave - Perimortem

Grave fuckin' rule, period! The main riff here sounds like Metallica circa 1984 only darker, heavier, more evil.

War Master - Sadistic Force

Bolt Thrower worship is the best kind of worship (and difficult to pull off accurately). War Master are up for it though.

Racetraitor - Dal-Al Harb

90's style metalcore most notable for having two members that would go on to play in Fall Out Boy

The Exorcist - Cannibal Corpse

Shuffling all my CC while working at the record store this evening. Good times!

Ares Kingdom - Incendiary

Brilliant fucking band. Intelligent, bludgeoning, relentless death metal. The riffs never stop coming, the lyrics are bloody, blasphemous and gleeful and the production is like a sledgehammer.

Destiny's End - Rebirth

Power/speed metal of the highest order! Breathe Deep the Dark is one of the finest examples of this genre to come along in the past 20 years. A modern day classic.

Negative Plane - Et In Saecular Saeculorum

One of the best and unique black metal bands out there today.
Both albums are excellent

Epäihminen - Epäihminen IV

I tried another release by Epäihminen recently and didn't like it, but am digging this one. The vocals intrigue me, they're kind of garbled and echo-ey, like some creature grumbling half-intelligibly in a cave. They remind me of some other band but I can't place it - something else Finnish, I think. The contrast between the vocals and the gentleness of the music is cool, too.

Edit: I dunno what was wrong with me, but now I'm listening to Epäihminen III (the one I didn't like) again, and now I dig it. I guess I had to get used to the distorted, staticky-sounding vocals. Funny thing is I love industrial music with really harsh distorted vocals so I don't know why I found these so unpleasant. Maybe I was hoping for something softer and more ambient at the time..

Dawn - The Knell and The World

Slaughtersun (Crown of The Triarchy) is such a fantastic album. It took me a while to get it but I have to say it is flawless. Melodic black metal done right. Hopefully their new album will see the light of day soon.

Cepheide - I. Le Souffle Brûlant De L'Immaculé (2015)

I don't know much about black metal, but I just came across this and wow, will definitely be tracking down a paid copy later.

Stormcrow - Cycle Of Extinction

Extremely heavy, crusty death-doom punk that sounds like a perfect triangulation of Disrupt, Asphyx, & Winter.

Danzig - Snakes of Christ. Heavy as a fucking anvil! The last minute is insanely heavy.

Negative Plane - Stained Glass Revelations

I'm on a Negative Plane kick today. Can't get enough of these guys

Pantera - PST 88

Pussy tight!...tonight! Power Metal is my favorite Pantera album. Say what you want about them but this album kicks all kinds of ass. They looked glam but sure as hell didn't play any of that weak shit. This is heavy metal with attitude and the solos on here are some of the best. RIP Dime

Unreal OST... I can leave this on all day:

Lychgate - Davamesque B2

This new Lychgate album is some seriously impressive avant-garde black/doom metal. It's some of the most cinematic music I've heard in a long time complete with an almost constant organ presence, epic Bal-Sagothian leads and a classic horror film sort of atmosphere. Greg Chandler's vocals are as twisted and tortured as one would expect from him. Definitely recommend this.

Was just Fall of Efrafa - Elil, and now: Fall of Efrafa - Owsla.

Knowing that it's based on the novel Watership Down definitely helped me get into this. Otherwise I don't think I would have had patience for some of the more aggressive punk parts, no matter how beautiful or doomy some of the other parts are. But understanding the emotion behind the raw, angry parts (esp the vocals) makes it more relatable. I had forgotten what a brutal book Watership Down actually is..

Askeregn - Monumenter

No frills black metal from Norway. Good shit.