That rules^

The two songs on youtube are awesome, will definitely get my hands on this when the album's out!

So far there's four releases that's really impressed me (ok three since the fourth isn't released until May, but I'll mention it anyway).

Kriegsmaschine - Enemy of Man: this came out of nowhere and it's much better than the previous album, which in itself is one overlooked gem.

Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation: in short; amazing.

Morbus Chron - Sweven: this album really blew me away. Just hope it holds up in the long run, but there's so much here that I just keep returning to it.

Maggot Colony - Perpetuating the Viral Infestation: yeah, I'm a guttural slam junkie. So sue me. This kicks ass. Nothing even close to reinventing the wheel, but damn it this kicks ass.

The new Aurora Borealis album World Shapers is simply massive. Ron Vento's production is super tight and the songs are varied and heavy as hell. Definitely worth checking out.

Heard the new Animals as Leaders album last night. It was pretty mindblowing.

Much of what I have heard this year has been pretty good but nothing great. However, I listened to this record after seeing a review for it and it is my number one metal record of 2014 thus far. It is Rising Sun Carnage by Jig-Ai, a death metal/goregrind from Prague: http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Jig-Ai/63996

http://youtu.be/vtsCQ_sCY88

Yes and



yes. I didn't really care for this first album, kinda boring and samey, but after hearing that they changed directions for the new album, I checked it out, and damn. Like you said I'm not sure how it'll fare in the long run but it's definitely interesting. There've been comparisons to Tribulation's transformation but to me it seems much more like Necrovation's transformation into a more mature and original band.

I guess I should check out that Kriegsmachine album too, I've heard similar things said that it's a step up in quality as well.

@GravityLapse
It really is. I loved "Altered States of Divinity", but this is something else.

On another note. Corpsessed debut absolutely crush. Really. Listened to it for the first time yesterday, and was floored.

Svarttjern - Ultimatum Necrophilia (black; Youtube)
Kuolemanlaakso - Tulijoutsen (death/doom; Youtube)
Graveborne - Through The Window Of The Night (black; Youtube)
Haeres - Trom (black; Youtube)
Ea - A Etilla (funeral doom; Youtube)
Nebelung - Palingenesis (dark/folk/instrumental; Youtube)

Cormorant - Earth Diver

Oh yes, this is brilliant. Cormorant can't seem to do any wrong. To put out such an album after their front man left, is very impressive. Funny enough I prefer the new vocals much much more than Arthur's and it suits the increased Black Metal influence. A couple of songs could do with less clean vocals though

anyone got the new Massacre album yet? Opinions?

New Teitanblood is much more bestial and straightforward than expected. Although the two albums sound very different, it's very similar to Psuedogod's Deathwomb Catechesis in that I had one expectation and the album went a completely different direction. I figured Teitanblood/Psuedogod were going in a sort of super occult, Portal-esque direction and both bands did a 180 into a more traditional direction.

Fact is, Death is easily the bands most accessible album by far. Song lengths and utter brutality non-withstanding, the production and style are very clear and familiar.

I think of it as the record I would put on for someone who hadn't heard the band, to give a good indication of what Teitanblood are all about. Really excellent creation anyway.

The split by Dodsengel and Hetroertzen is good too, like a sequel to the split the former did with Nightbringer last year... which itself followed on nicely from the Nightbringer/ Acherontas split. If you listen to all three in a row it's quite something...

Edit: Removed for dumbness.

To which song are you referring?

FUCK. DERP DERP DERP.

Ignore me, responding to a different page

I just picked up the new Teitanblood and it's fucking great--total onslaught from the needle drop onward.

I haven't listened to power metal in years, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but the Noble Beast debut is a fucking masterpiece.

https://noblebeastofman.bandcamp.com/

Consider my interest peaked for that Noble Beast. The lone review says they have a baritone singer and it's like Iron Savior. Checking out the album now.....cover art is awful though.

I reviewed it and yes, Noble Beast is not just a catchy name. They are a beast!!

new Cauldron Black Ram is now streaming:

http://www.revolvermag.com/news/cauldro ... gmire.html

havent heard enough yet to form an opinion, but really looking forward to listening through it all

New Nocturnal Breed album is sounding good.

Whole album can be listened here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQNl1H_YjWw

To me it's, i have listened today and let me completely surprised.

So much potential in Noble Beast. But I felt the guitars came across a little thin and the vocals were buried when the song demanded a more bombastic, over the top sound. I liked what I heard, though. Great vocals. Pump up the production value and their next album could really make them.

vocals in this first Noble Beast song are so over the top...not sure. I actually prefer the backing vocals, sounds like Persuader. Maybe the other songs will hit me better vocally, it's not like he's a bad singer, just didn't like those vocal lines.

edit: "Master of Depravity" is pretty sweet, as is "Disintegrating Force."

I found a few more good records this years.

Winter of Sin, a melodic blackened death metal outfit from the Netherlands with Sattler on vocals and van der Plicht on the drums. Sounds pretty similar to God Dethroned: http://youtu.be/BnBWEB-HZAQ . The new album can be streamed here and it is pretty fucking good: http://legacy.de/

Northern Plague, a blackened death metal band from Poland. Their album Manifesto is not quite as good as Winter of Sin`s latest or Behemoth`s newest, but it is worth a listen and is not far away in terms of quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT331mV2 ... hS&index=2 .

Human Infection, a death metal band from Virginia, U.S.A. have released a damn solid slab of death metal. Sounds a bit like Disincarnate and Corpsessed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k55OiYg ... sO&index=3

2nd that Artificial Brain album. Damn amazing. Has a crazy blend of technical death and brutal and yet I hear Ulcerate and
Gorguts in there somewhere. Worth checking out for sure.

Woke up this morning to find out Austrian Death Machine has somehow put out a new album while Tim Lambesis is pending incarceration... It's not as thrashy as the other two on first listen, but it's still a fun album

New Miasmal is good.

Are every new band supposed to be named something with Cauldron?

I can get black, death, steel, or whatever, but "cauldron" is just a very "particular" word...
However, I don't even know what it means HAHAA!

I think it's some sort of 'kettle', not sure if it means something else in the context of 'Black Ram' ??

A cauldron is a big pot to boil stuff in, typically it's talked about in the context of like witches brewing things, or there's the cauldron from the fantasy series Prydain Chronicles, that's an evil object used to spawn the cauldron born.

Funereal Presence - The Archer Takes Aim

They play riffy(oh, those riffs) Black Metal with touches of dissonance. The drumming is blasty for the most part.
It features raspy vocals and some sparse clean-ish vocals which I'm not quite sure if they're influenced by classical or middle eastern music. Either way, it works and contributes to an incredible debut album.

and Cauldron Black Ram aren't exactly a new band haha, they've been round since '96

Blutengel - Black Symphonies (An Orchestral Journey)
One of the greatest synth pop acts goes symphonic.

Couldn't be further apart genre-wise, but the new Nausea and the new Primal Fear are both quite good.

The New Soreption is great! Love that band so much. The Hannes Grossman solo album is stellar. The new Animals as Leaders is of course amazing.

The new OLD WAINDS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXDoRAY4ORE
AURIGA, spacey Black Metal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN351NO1gqU
AZELISASSATH, misanthropic BM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mxwou3Gl-s
NASHEIM, atmospheric Black Doom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b1OKcsdLqk
Some more atmospheric BM from SILENT WOOD: https://www.facebook.com/silentwoodband?ref=ts&fref=ts

Just checked them out. Definitely an intriguing band. Usually I prefer more keyboards, but this is definitely some upper-tier stuff.

The Mire's debut eluded me until now. Didn't know it was released. If any of you guys like Isis then give The Mire a chance. I'm liking it a lot.

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/The_Mire/3540304102