A band named Stormbane came out with their debut, Eldritch Devotion, last month. The similar artists tab here points to D666 which isn't a terrible frame of reference though this seems a little heavier and more extreme than most of Destroyer's output. It isn't a great album exactly, but it is one of the best I've heard so far this year, and if you wanted some black/thrash, this should hit the spot.

What do people think of Therion's rock opera Beloved Antichrist?

I've been listening to it and enjoying it. It's LOOONG (over 3 hours) and it will take some time to digest.

New Hooded Menace absolutely slays.

I'll repeat myself: the new Usurpress is nothing short of amazing.

Is there a stream of this anywhere? I have only heard one track from it so far, sounds promising.

I'm sure your knowledge in finding stuff on the Internet is way better than mine...
Start with youtube, I guess...I'm pretty sure the whole album is there.

New Anguish is surprisingly good, given the borefest that Mountain was. It's more in line with the debut but with stronger riffs and a nice overall pace. It's probably their best album yet.

https://anguishdoom.bandcamp.com/album/ ... is-siugnah

Frozen Crown's The Fallen King is a jaw-dropping power metal debut. Think early Nightwish with a fistful of melodeath. Every single track absolutely slays. This is already leagues ahead of any power metal released in 2017.

https://scarletrecords.bandcamp.com/alb ... allen-king

For that old school style of speedy double bass PM, that was very good, yeah. Might have to get the whole album sometime.

I glazed over this initially because I read "cavernous" and I am totally bored of that sort of sound. Not to be another person to jump on you ZOMBIE (because I am grateful for this rec) but that is not a qualifier I'd use at all. This is a really oddball album and a ton of fun. I'm falling in love with it. Only complaint is the 11 minute finale seems to be the weakest track, but it's still good stuff. Thank you!

No worries, i never listened to much of the "cavernous" death metal, but it was the first word to come to mind when i had to describe them. Glad you like the album!

Seconding the Frost Giant album, was very surprised by this one.

Here's a few others I've come across:

WAIL - Resilient, heavy/power/hard rock, catchy and lots of fun
Reapers Revenge - Virtual Impulse, thrashy heavy/power
Aksumite - Vinegar Perimeter, kickass rocking black metal/punk as usual
Bestialord - Law of the Burning, simplistic death/doom with enough variation to keep it interesting. Some real catchy tunes here
Apathetic Torture - Vile Scourge, busy hardhitting (brutal?) death metal
Sisare - Leaving the Land, progressive metal which brings to mind a more upbeat Damnation-era Opeth

But you know, take the descriptions with a grain of salt since i apparently have no clue what I'm talking about, haha!

just came across this randomly on youtube - the image on the video says it's the first full length for the band, and that it was released 1st of january, but the archives has got it listed as a december 2017 ep, but whatever - pretty strong bolt thrower worship here, tho' they vary it up a little at times

Hot-diggity-fuckin'-daffodil, excellent find! I'm hearing a hefty amount of Reckoning Night era Sonata Arctica in here as well, not nearly keyboardy enough to really draw a Nightwish comparison I'd say. This comparison will probably mean nothing to most people reading this, but it also reminds me a lot of Athena's last album when Fabio Lione left and they ditched the progressive elements entirely before breaking up because nobody realized how amazing it was at the time.

2017 was the weakest year for power metal (for my tastes) in recent memory but with Leaves' Eyes new album being surprisingly not terrible and now this absolutely blowing my socks off, 2018 is poised to stand much taller for this genre.

I'll also give that Rogaty album a try a bit later as well. I glossed over it at first as well because the "cavernous" descriptor almost always translates to "dull" for me, but with the other posters amending that description a bit I'm much more interested now. Poland is usually a good indicator of quality when it comes to death and black metal.

Yeah, you're right. After a few more listens I noticed it's really only "To Infinity" that reminds me of Annette-era Nightwish so that initial judgment was way off. Either way, I can't stop spinning this. The last two tracks are particularly amazing. Really wish more PM bands weren't afraid to throw in harsh vocals like this. Also, their female guitarist is supposedly 18 years old? Incredible.

The way you wrote their name in all caps, I thought you were referring to the Finnish band W.A.I.L., and I was wondering if they had somehow very very drastically changed their style.

Actually, looking at that album cover, I believe I have heard this one, and it was pretty okay.

This is a pretty awesome release from a band that just formed in 2017. Tech death from Denmark.

https://xenoblight.bandcamp.com/releases

The new Perpetratör album just made me smile and headbang for almost 40 minutes straight. Old-school thrash done right, pretty much. It just sounds like they're having fun all the time. Really well-done lead guitars, and they can do anything from pure speed/thrash to more technical stuff. Nothing groundbreaking, but absolutely well done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3QGravO-wE

Bonus hipster kvlt points for covering Pontius Prophet.

This post is cursed

edit: whats with the praise for the new Hamferd? Maybe I'm just burnt out right now, but I'm really getting tired of the very generic sound template that "sad" metal bands go for. This album seems very boring and uneventful to me.

I can give you my opinion about it, can't speak up for hype of any kind (though I'm maybe guilty of some here and there anyway, but I digress). I have a soft spot for the band's previous work, their mix of Nordic folk and more typical doom/death with Aldará's unique voice (for metal) gives it a flair and a uniqueness that for me takes it a notch over the rest of the scene it should belong to. Now with this new album there seems to be a bigger emphasis on dynamic and textures over riffs and meat and potatoes. It's more of a playground for Aldará's vocal range and it's more about filling the silence with sounds rather than crushing you with a wall of sound. I really like it, but I can understand a bit of cold feet by other people.

The hype I'd say comes from being different from the flock, it's usually enough for most metal mags to go drooling over it. It's still a great album though.

Fair enough. I do think it SOUNDS great, the production is really really nice. The songs just don't do much for me in regards to melody, builds and climaxes and that sort of thing. Maybe I should give it another shot, though.

i just heard it myself and its a classic example of "well done but why would i ever listen to it again"-metal
I was considering going to see them this evening as they are supporting downfall of gaia but as i've not especially been feeling like going to gigs this week i'm prob not going to as i've seen downfall of gaia a bunch of times already.

I'm in the same camp. Really not understanding the hype on this one. It's definitely well executed and has a wonderfully gloomy mood, but there's just nothing memorable. I've listened to it five times and can't remember a single part of the album no matter how hard I try. Maybe I need to be more depressed.

My mood hasn't been the best over the past few weeks, maybe that's it!

I have not heard much yet this year. I suspect Summoning will be a grower for me. It did not do much for me on the first listen, but I am liking it more and more as I hear it. I love the new Hooded Menace. That is probably my favorite so far. I really enjoyed the new Corrosion of Conformity, mostly because I was a huge fan of their material with Pepper Keenan. Having him back in the fold is great. The only one I currently have coming in is the new Destroyer 666.

The new Kalmankantaja EP is in my opinion their best work for quite some time. They tend to hide their best songs in Singles/EPs/Splits for some reason and keep them off the numerous full lengths.

https://kalmankantaja.bandcamp.com/album/tuulikannel

Great find! Reminds me of Ashes who hid their best, most melancholy, and winsome material on an EP.

Being a sucker for all things Egyptian, new album by the Egyptian band Crescent really hits the spot. Solid Behemothian black/death with a good dose of eastern sounding melodies and a hint of Nile/Sulphur Aeon stylings throughout the album.

https://listenable-records.bandcamp.com ... -of-amenti

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Cr ... 3540380343

as expected the new Solstice album is incredible and will 99% surely be my aoty.

I dropped in here to say precisely this. Such a solid album that doesn't let up, glad other people have taken notice as well!

That Frozen Crown album has some brutal production issues and starts off really questionably, but I have to admit it gets pretty good.

Crow Black Sky's Sidereal Light: Volume One is quite excellent. Reminds me of a lighter Darkspace with some post black elements.

Like a lot of complaints I've read, I can't take those vocals on the new Atlas Moth album, but I really like that new Crow Black Sky album, also.

The new and wonderful Usurpress album is now streaming on Decibel Mag's website. Do yourselves all a big favour and listen to this goddamn monster of beauty.

https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2018/02 ... terregnum/

I'm completely obsessed with the new Dream Troll EP. They've quickly become my favorite new band of the past few years, they really know to create anthemic heavy metal.
https://dreamtroll.bandcamp.com/album/the-witchs-curse

Yeah Dream Troll is absolutely killing it. I thought the debut was very solid, but the three songs on the EP have already shown an improvement. I'm hoping they can get the recognition of some of the other bands with an old school heavy metal sound like Visigoth.

Haven't heard the Atlas Moth album yet, I'm not a big fan of Stavros' vocals, but this is supposed to be a good one. Nothing they've ever done really landed for me though.

The new Necrophobic album is better than I expected. They have been at least listenable, usually better, for their career, but I thought this one would be average for some reason, and it's not. This is a good album, probably won't make my top ten, but still well worth its runtime.

Avslut - Deceptis

Debut full length from this Swedish black metal group on Osmose. This came out on the same day as Necrophobic's new album so could be easily overlooked - so I'm here to tell you don't sleep on this release.

Absolutely fantastic mix of Dark Funeral melodic blasting and Immortal's Sons of Northern Darkness-era chunkier riffage. There's also a very epic, almost Viking feel to some of the song structures too.

I was absolutely sold by the time third track Existensens skugga came to a triumphant close.

Super impressed, tight songs, riffs for days. Definitely going to be keeping a close eye on these guys!

Nice find, digging this!

New Sarasvati single released. It's pretty awesome - not sure if this is a stand alone single or part of an upcoming release, but the song is great

https://sarasvatiband.bandcamp.com/trac ... ed-to-aion

Terrific stuff!