I'd agree with that, I've got a top 10 on my best of for the year already, something that often takes me close to six months, but said ten albums don't come anywhere near my top two from last year, and are probably all lower than my top 5. So lots of very good music, not absolutr stunners yet.

Damn that album just kicked my ass so hard I just had to buy a physical copy of the album!

Listened to a few songs off the new Agrypnie. Never heard the band before. Pretty inoffensive BM with lame vocals, I'll pass.

The Finnish thrash metal band Lost Society's debut album is amazing. It should be noted that I've just heard it once, but I loved it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KfMMcX8kfM

Don't judge a band by their promotional pictures (a, b, c).

Another thrash release you might want to give a chance is Blood Tsunami's For faen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzxQgX5LaeY

I dug the instrumental parts of Lost Society a LOT, surprisingly large amount when you consider how Bay Area-esque it is which is definitely not my favourite branch of thrash. Verses are crappy, although they're mercifully brief, making a good ratio to thrashin' goodness to pointless song stuff. Chorus is Metal Militia just faster too haha.

I agree, it's a decent album instrumentally - these guys can play! - but I hope their next release will be a bit more mature. I mean there's a song "Piss Out my Ass"... come on... It makes it sink slightly into the depths of mediocrity with all these "zombies and beer" thrash bands.

Still, from what I've seen in the way of upcoming albums this year, it'll rate quite highly on a best of thrash list.

I haven't listened to the whole thing yt, but so far I've heard no reason why it should be rated any higher than any other prominent rethrash band lately. Sure, it's better than what most of the old greats are doing now, and it's also better than something like Evile, but it's nothing even close to the best thrash of 80s and early 90s.

I based everything I said off that one song only, and I liked it more than a lot of 80s stuff, the album as whole might be drab though.

That Lost Society track was OK but I think the new Deathraiser smokes the shit out of it as far as new thrash goes.

http://metalhit.bandcamp.com/album/violent-aggression

The new Warlord is definitely worth a listen. Not quite up there with its 80's counterparts, but it is a solid album.

I agree that Lost Society has terrible and extremely childish lyrics. I didn't notice it was that bad when I first listened to it, but they have probably the worst lyrics I've ever heard (read), even though I don't pay that much attention to lyrics. I think many satanic, anti-religious or alcohol praising lyrics are extremely childish as well, and they are everywhere. Lost Society's biggest lyrical problem imo is not that they are "childish", but that they are over the top simple and stupid, and they don't seem thought through at all. It's as if a 13 year boy who never read any literature (or other lyrics) in his life brainstormed a draft in a couple of minutes and just kept it. A quick look at the lyrics will show that almost every single song on the album is like that, and it's not just the fact that they swear and say "piss out the ass".

Nothing beats Alchemyst - Nekromanteion


2014 might as well already start.



Edit: Oops, this is from 2012.

Csejthe - Réminiscence

I just came across this band, they play some ethereal Black Metal.
This is one hell of an album. The compositions, though repetitive, are very beautiful.
Wish the drum had a little more oomph though.

They're teenagers. And they're probably just quoting South Park:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD19kM-KCIY

Give them time. Instrumentally they have it together, one of the best albums of 2013 so far surprisingly..

Thanks for that

The newest Black Pyramid is a pile of putrid feces, such a let down after the amazing second album . I guess Andy Beresky was the main creative force behind the band, it really shows that he's no longer with them.

I agree, I was underwhelmed by the new Black Pyramid album. 2 great albums and then this mediocre High On Fire/Sleep ripoff :/

On the contrary, new Cerekloth is awesome
Youtube linx - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTDzE_Gv1-A

Must be a re-release or an error as that album was released in 2011. Not bad for Pleasure to Kill Worship though.


Lost Society is surprisingly good from that one track, certainly better than the majority of bay area worship bands cropping up and they have a nice youthful energy that doesn't just sound plastic, but they don't stand out much from the crowd for me. And the cover art is awful.

That Blood Tsunami track was ok. Nice to see they dropped the horrid melo-death influence that was on the debut, and has a much more d-beat punk sound to it now which is cool, but again just doesn't stand out for me.

Their previous album La Mort du Prince Noir is awesome too, great band for sure.

Sad to hear that the new Black Pyramid is not quite good, I'll check it out soon. You guys should check Palace In Thunderland, it's Beresky's band. There's also Blue Aside for psych stoner/doom. Their artwork is pretty magnificent: http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Bl ... ce/353183#

Edit: Can't say I dislike the first track of Adversarial so far, not as good as their previous releases but not mediocre. I'll give my full thoughts on it later.

I'm glad to hear that Csejthe - Réminiscence is a good album, I haven't listened to it yet, but the imaginary and lyrical theme seem to make up for some really good atmospheric black metal.

I'm midway through the album and it's pretty damn awesome. Sure "And the Cannons..." is one of the best albums of all time and it's hard to beat but I think "The Holy Empire" is almost as good as Lordian Guard and Satan knows I'm a fan of these 2 albums. Tsamis is a freaking genius in my opinion and this album is better than all the 80s returns (Angel Witch's disappointing album) but we'll wait for the new Satan!

Concerning Black Pyramid, the album was fine but anyway, I like Sleep worship. It was still a letdown after their amazing stuff, I would give it a 72-75% or so, definitely for doom/stoner collectors.

Okay, so i just gave a listen to La Mort du Prince Noir.
My goodness! its awesome. These guys are really good at what they do, they deserve a lot more listens.
Thanks for the rec man

New Procession is probably their weakest but still good enough to warrant a few spins.

Stuff I have got in the last 24 hours -

* Cerekloth
* Procession
* Warlord
* Vengeful
* Spiritual Beggars

and now, new Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats just leaked. Me is having a good last 24 hours.

I was about to go to bed, but I can't turn down new Uncle Acid.

Also, just something I saw posted by Rodak on the other page, Situs Magus' Le grand oeuvre is definitely worth a look for fans of the last Negative Plane album. Like NP I found it at little meandering, but I got a few similar feelings from it.

Edit: I'm going to bed after three songs. Definitely drier and more retro styled rather than the super catchy stoner grooving of the last outing, but they've still got lots of good riffs. The vocals are less distorted/fed through an Electric Wizard filter, and sound much more retro in this context and in fairness it's better sounding, but it makes those massive grooving hooks less effective than the last outing. The third song is pretty much in line with expectations, but both the former ones are far longer and have far more movements than songs on Blood Lust; basically all the song extensions are much less metallic/psychedelic, instead they're more 60's rocky things, I'd definitely call it more varied already. Still they've still got better riffs than all the other retro rock acts, but I do miss the thicker, more metalic sound, and the less obviously 60's and 70's derived stoner metal flavour.

Sure was, son of a bitch!!

I just got the new Pagan Hellfire album, It's amazing.

Man Deathraiser is like the poster child when it comes to shameless, creatively bankrupt, rethrash Kreator wannabes for me. Nothing for me to enjoy there, unless time has merely soured my memory, but chances are I'd hate them just as much if I gave them another chance today.

Anyway, not a whole lot has absolutely blown me away so far this year, but then again I haven't been as active in my music searching this year as I was last year, so I'm sure I'll uncover some gems (though likely not as stellar as Sigh's album last year). Currently the predictable suspects for my taste like Enforcer, Suffocation, Jess and the Ancient Ones, and Gargoyle have released some great stuff, and I don't know if they're part of the nightly death metal circle jerk around here, but Vengeful released a really good album in Karma MMXIII. The link goes to an old song that isn't as good, and the new one doesn't sound as "modern", but they don't seem to have much of a presence on Youtube so that's what you get for now.

I also liked the debut Heavatar album too, fronted by the brains and "guitarist" of Van Canto.

That new Vengeful sounds fantastic! I like the dirtier, more brutal sound production-wise. Excellent stuff here, even if not new material.

New Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats is brilliant! Live up to the anticipation!

Haha I love Kreator so I'm happy to enjoy some worship of that sound, especially since most of the rethrash bands don't seem to ape that style... and they do it pretty well.

It's rare that any of these new thrash bands are doing anything that keeps me interested any more honestly...

Underwhelmed by new Uncle Acid. They have gone more 60's this time and have embraced the garage rock sound more and toned down the killer catchy groove and psychedelic elements. Worth a few spins though. I'd give it around 70.

Checking this album out right now. It's pretty catchy stuff.

So the new Eyeconoclast album came out today, and it's pretty bitchin'. Of course, a band including two ex-Hour of Penance members that releases an album that might as well be Deathrace King 2: Deathrace Harder was something that I was destined to jizz over anyway. But hey, fans of The Crown's golden era like myself should dig the fuck out of this.

Two albums released this year that are definitely worthwhile: Skineater's "Dermal Harvest" (a good blend of brutal and melodic swedish death metal with lots of catchy parts) and Sodom's "Epitome of Torture" (which, upon a first few listens, is all around better than the last record. Nothing really out of the ordinary, but very solid. The teaser songs also work better in the context of the full length).

Wow. Thank you for that! Your description was dead on and I love it. Just one thing though, wouldn't the golden era of The Crown be The Burning?

I can't say I agree with the review scores for (the power metal album) Tales from the Kingdom of Fife by Gloryhammer (I haven't read them, but they gave 95% and 79%). It is almost guitar free. It has standard drumming, very little rhythm guitar (and super simple repetitive riffs) and a couple mediocre guitar solos. All emphasis has been put on the keyboards (and a cembalo on a few tracks) and some epic lyrics with singalong choruses. I admit it does this pretty good, and as an easy listening symphonic power metal album in the background it passes, but actually sitting down and listening to this album is just boring.

One of the highlights.


YouTube had a lack of songs from their new album when I posted, so I just linked a random track. I don't think the album is amazing, and it's too short, but I think it's still "worthwhile". The Butcher of Rostov is my favorite track from the album.

new Aosoth is sounding excellent, its being streamed here: http://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/album ... w-in-heart

The new Attacker is fucking amazing. There is no way it should be as good as it is, a healthy dose of USPM not totally dissimilar from Helstar/Destiny's End. Unlike Satan's Host it doesn't suffer from shit overtriggered drums and the vocalist is more than a better replacement for Bob, fucking great album through and through. The new Dream Death is amazing as well from start to finish apart from some stoner influences, its as if they never stopped playing the mix of thrash/Celtic frost down tempo stuff from Back from the dead.

The new Heatseeker album Heads Will Roll offers some excellent barroom brawling heavy metal. The vibe is occasionally similar to Bible of the Devil. Gonna have a lot of fun with this one.