Madder Mortem has been a really interesting discography to get into - I still have a few albums left to hear. Should give the first album another listen too - that seemed pretty dense. This new album is definitely a standout of the year so far - incredibly original, dynamic, soulful.

When this slows down its amazing. Enjoying it so far. Not normally a huge fan of blackened death metal but this is good.

Cave Sermon is really great, then I'm waiting for the new Aquilus album which will probably be AOTY for me barring some unforeseen event.

Amazing!

Add me to the list of Chainsword appreciators.

The new one has much catchier riffs than the debut, and definitely hits harder than Memorium.

The Unaussprechlichen Kulten album is badass. This is what I'm talking about for death metal - a seething cauldron of occult magic... wild and immediate. This is the kind of shit I like.

The new UK didn't land for me like Keziah Lilith Medea did for whatever reason. Maybe too lead guitar driven?

First one of theirs I heard. I'll be checking out the others soon...

Need to recommend Italian band Ponte del Diavolo's debut album. Quality mix of things going here. Doom and occult tendencies mostly with tinges of darkwave and black metal. All very absorbing, original and mesmerizing. The song "Covenant" is on repeat.


https://pontedeldiavolo666.bandcamp.com ... m-the-tomb

One man band Crystayler from Belarus new album sounds like some very good standard melodic/raw black metal

My body is asking for power metal released this year, any recommendations?

I've liked Crystayler's previous few albums quite a lot, gotta remember to check this one out

New Traveler is mediocre, but I love the song
'Heavy Hearts'.

A couple:

Project Arcadia's Of Sins and Other Tales. Detailed reasons why in my review of it but in short, slick riffs and Urban breed-esque vocals beget strong, compelling heavily melodic power metal.

Sonata Arctica's Clear Cold Beyond which actually just came out today, as it shows that Tony Kakko's style of songwriting at its best does create some truly magical power metal, and... well, yeah, it's got Tony Kakko in prime form. Those singles aren't lying; they're just a sample of what's to come.

(suffice it to say, Sonata Arctica's Clear Cold Beyond is my thread tax here)

I haven't listened to it yet but I've seen people talk up the new Manitcora album Mycelium.

New Merrimack is a strong release, much better than a couple of their last ones. Maybe I just have a soft spot for French black metal.

https://merrimack.bandcamp.com/album/of ... nd-gravity

The new Midnight is a ripper. It's been a while since I listened to the first couple of albums and I've only played 'Hellish expectations' through once, but my immediate impression is that it could be my favourite yet from Athenar.
I definitely like it a lot more than the last couple, I suppose it's the stronger punk influence this time around that makes it much more urgent and aggressive:

https://midnight-ohio.bandcamp.com/albu ... pectations

New Skeletal Remains and Slimelord albums both fucking rule, heard good stuff about the new Convulsing too so I'm gonna check that one out next.

The new Convulsing crushes; Slimelord is pure awesomeness. Skeletal Remains is tremendously competent, but them previous two just slay.

Right on. Got some early Dawnbringer vibes with some occult doom and dashes of darker folk rock like Black Heart Procession. So much going here along with that Italian habit of just not sounding like anything else. Love the mix and pleasantly surprised to not be instantly put off by the female vox (Being lower in the mix helps).

This baby has layers. Very nice.

This is fucking wild and brilliant. Thanks for this.

Not as heavy as Messa but it's really out there and eclectic, got some really cool ideas going. A nice atmosphere all around. Very cool.

Yeah, really enjoying this too. The past two were not it, but this is right back to the level of quality of the first three. Just pure drunken sleazy fun.

This has been driving everyone around here CRAZY. I've only given a casual listen to half the album and I am in shock.
Contender for album of the year. Canadians (Montreal). Riff-rich, US Power metal with great vocals (A friend is contemplating whether the vocals are AI trained to Yannis Papadopoulos' performance!) and some superb arrangements.

Like I said, I was listening to it causally (while doing something else) but it was enough to know it's something really special. I thought some of the arrangements were weird, how it transitioned from passage to passage specifically but I caught some a-ma-zing parts. It's a bit chaotic but damn! Anyway, I am at work now but I am really, really eager to listen to this a lot more.

I have no idea what to make of the album cover.

Wow, yeah 2 min in and it's something else.

Here's hoping that isn't the case haha. There is a real guy listed fortunately.

This is pretty badass indeed. Sounds in the tradition of complex, riff-salad USPM... very Yannis-esque vocals for sure. We don't get a lot of bands really like this anymore - they're usually either more simple or more in the epic fantasy mode, but this is sort of like Prodigy/Oracle/whatever they were called, or a more over the top Helstar or something. Even those are kind of reaching - it's not a ripoff of anything that immediately comes to mind. Cool find.

I can see the Oracle comparison. Something about some moments makes me think a bit of Mystic Force too.

Yeah it's in the long, really high octane arrangements and these really energized riffs.

The production seems kind of grating to me. I'll have to try it again on my better headphones later. I like the music quite a bit though.

Yeah I'm at work with the shittiest garbage headphones imaginable. EVerything sounds like it has terrible production here. :/

Best albums I've heard so far...

Bruce Dickinson
Madder Mortem
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Sonata Arctica
Ponte del Diavolo
Blaze Bayley

Surprised no one has mentioned Early Moods' sophomore full-length yet. Retro doom with big riffs and big leads.
https://earlymoods.bandcamp.com/album/a-sinners-past

Yeah, really digging Early Moods. Some of the best Sabbath worship ever.

I wanted to like this, but bosnian folk on this is actually better than the black metal stuff. This sounds like a bosnian Bilskirnir, but musically inferior.

So far these are the albums i enjoyed the most this year.

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield
Spectral Voice - Sparagmos
Motherwood  A Fading Elegy
Hauntologist - Hollow
Chapel of Disease - Echoes of Light
Sovereign - Altered Realities
Cosmic Void - Subterranean Rivers
Madder Mortem - Old Eyes, New Heart
Borknagar - Fall

I instantly liked the following and am listening to all on repeat. Remains to be seen if they have staying power:

Hauntologist - Hollow
Chainsword - Born Triumphant
Ponte Del Diavolo - Fire Blades from the Tomb
Noor - Mother's Guilty Pleasure Part One
Early Moods - A Sinners Past (thanks Cirrus Uncinus!)

I need more time with Dickinson's new one. Seems more of a grower for me.
The new Priest went in one ear and out the other. Not to say I didnt like it. Need to sit with it more to decide if any substance there.

But ... this is from 2023, or am I missing something?

Check the reports. The band posted it to Youtube in December 2023, but Bandcamp in February 2024. Then whoever added it to the archives listed February 2023.

If Noor turns out legit despite my paranoia, I put forward the proposition to be accepted for the AOTY 2024 poll, it's way too late for '23, it was the bandcamp and the NWOTHM channel that exposed it really.

Gonna be hard to beat Judas Priest but there's a whole back half of the year that hasn't even been announced yet.

Priest / Bruce / Saxon / Striker / Toxikull would be my most listened to this year.

Best death metal so far is Domination Campaign.

^^

Don't know if this has been mentioned already but for death metal (tech, tech deathrash to be precise) you should check out Dissimulator. Quebec, Canada, like fucking Noor. 2/2 out of that region for this year.

Something does seem off about them... why do they have such a bizarre, different logo on their Bandcamp that matches neither their Facebook logo nor the album art logo? How did they not think to post the album to Bandcamp until two months after release? According to their Facebook they started recording this in July 2021? So they've just been quietly working on this thing for years without playing any shows or being otherwise involved in the Montreal scene at all?