Alcest - Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde
The relationship between heavy metal and the so-called “shoegazer” movement of the early ’90s might not be apparent in writing, but with Justin Broadrick’s amazing transmutation of his grinding industrial metal in Napalm Death and Godflesh into the dark, sonic bliss of his current incarnation as Jesu, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. Immediately upon first listen the connection between one-man band Neige’s French “black metal” roots and his current neo-psychedelic explorations under the Alcest moniker doesn’t seem so far-fetched, natural even. Playing all the instruments on Alcest’s debut full-length Souvenirs d’Un Autre Monde (”Memories of a Future World”) Neige builds layers upon layers of ecstatically distorted guitars that evoke obvious comparisons to My Bloody Valentine’s sonic extravaganzas and less obvious nods to the brooding minor-key post-metal of Jesu, only perhaps a bit sunnier. Read more >>

Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
After Miss Machine, Dillinger Escape Plan fans were divided. Many of the folks who were attached to the screaming mathematical metal of Calculating Infinity bailed on the band, disapproving of the experimental musical direction and the meathead appearance of new singer/screamer Greg Puciato. Open-minded listeners were excited about the progressive journey they were taking and many critics hailed the group as a true innovator of metalcore. Ire Works succeeds in many of the same ways that their previous album did, while branching out creatively. They continue to toy with technical metal, blistering hardcore, jazz breaks, and post-punk, but here they evolve again by adding more twists and turns with additional electronic elements. Read More >>

Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diablo
Dimmu Borgir’s brand of symphonic black metal, industrial rock, and near-classical melodic fare has been developing nicely since their beginning in the 1990s. The crew backing Shagrath’s lead vocals — killer guitar by Erkekjetter Silenoz and some wonderfully harmonic backing vocals that are near operatic, or at least influenced by Jon Anderson and Yes — have become a brand in metal. With In Sorte Diaboli, the band has gone the route of Therion and numerous others in creating a concept album about a man who grows up in fear and ignorance and believes in the Christian church, and somehow, after studying for years as a monk, rejects everything and becomes a heretic who runs afoul of the church. In doing so, he understands his fate is at stake. Musically, Dimmu Borgir are unrelentingly brutal and harmonic all at once. Songs meld and blend into one another, becoming a nightmarish brood of shred and scrape dreamscapes. Read More >>

Machine Head - The Blackening
Machine Head’s The Blackening is an over the top rage and pummelfest with all the qualities that earned the group its enormous fan base by touring and recording. The record starts out unlikely enough, and gladly enough, with a left-of-center call to arms to the youth of this nation to not accept blindly the words (and threat) of “patriotic brutes.” It calls for rage with triple-timed slamming beats and blistering lead guitar breaks, as the piece alternates between death metal, industrial metal, thrash, and prog. It blends seamlessly. At ten-and-half minutes for an opening cut, one can tell this is no original heavy metal record. “Beautiful Mourning” is anything but gothic heavy metal; it begins with a taut, explosive riff matched by the drum kit, and then Robb Flynn is off and running, celebrating being “taken under” by her, and the seductive power of both women and death. The thrash element here rivals Slayer at their very best, and breaks new ground within the realm of composition for aggressive music. Read More >>

Neurosis - Given to the Rising
If you were unpleasantly surprised by 2001’s A Sun That Never Sets and even further alienated by 2003’s The Eye of Every Storm, fearing that the long-reigning, wildly influential Neurosis (can you name a post-hardcore or metal band that hasn’t been influenced by them directly? — they’ve done everything!) were finally sinking into the post-rock sunset, Given to the Rising should buoy your spirits considerably and bring back your swagger. Something transpired between the creepy-crawly, relatively introverted quietism of the last two recordings and this beast, recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago with Steve Albini, who’s been onboard with Neurosis forever (this is the only band he works with that has a real bass presence on its records; ever notice that?). The evidence is in the opening title track, which simply explodes out of the gate with no intro, no sonic weirdness, no pretentious gradual build; it’s all big-pregnant with tension riffing, electronic noise whir, and vocalist Steve Von Till punching through that punishing guitar, drum, and bass throb mix. Read More >>

Pelican - City of Echoes
The nearly rabid critical acclaim that followed Pelican’s debut full-length, Australasia, in 2003 and the sludge and blast of 2005’s The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (both on Aaron Turner’s Hydra Head imprint) has been both blessing and curse for the band upon the release of 2007’s City of Echoes. In other words, there is a tension surrounding the album’s release that creates a make-or-break situation among fans and critics. While the recordings have some similar traits — they are the same band, after all — City of Echoes moves off the dock into sonic waters they’ve not entered before. Read More >>

Striborg - Nefaria
Praise be to Southern Lord for issuing this new title in the ever labyrinthine (and hard as hell to get a hold of) catalog of Sin Nanna, and his alter ego, the one-man Transylvanian black metal band Striborg. Sin Nanna is among the strangest, most misanthropic characters in the history of black metal. Rather than scream obscenities or death chants to the Christian God, Striborg howls from the forest to the forest. These are songs of desolation and rage that are expressed outward, but seem to be directed not so much at the listener as toward some nightmarish catharsis. Yet the vocals are so processed and buried in his ultra lo-fi mix — like another instrument — that one has to read the lyrics to figure out what’s happening. Read More >>

Turisas - Varangian Way
Finnish sword-wielding berserkers Turisas cemented their name within the hallowed halls of the Viking metal scene in 2004 with the seminal Battle Metal, creating an entire subgenre fueled by what can only be described as “over the top everything.” Churning out records to accompany muted viewings of 300 or the Lord of the Rings trilogy is nothing new (Manowar has been it doing it for years), but on the ambitious Varangian Way the group takes it one step further, creating its own unique narrative. Built around the epic journey of a group of traders, mercenaries, and pirates (”Varangians”) exploring trade routes between their 9th century homeland and Constantinople, Varangian Way is infinitely more cinematic in scope than Battle Metal, employing narration, accordions, and massive choirs (the group still relies on main man Warlord Nygård’s tasteful keyboard work for the orchestral bits) to move the story along. Read More >>

Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
Virtually anyone who came into contact with Wolves in the Throne Room’s 2005 long-player, Diadem of 12 Stars on Vendlus, fell in love with it, and for good reason. This Olympia, WA, underground black metal trio had its own take on the music; sure, it had blastbeats, screeching vocals, and furious riffs, but there is so much more to it than that. Oh yeah, no corpse paint, either (though an occasional hooded robe is worn in caves around campfires). For starters, their title track was 20 minutes long, and it changed constantly, layered through with heavy atmospherics, dark bewitching gloomy soundscapes that evoked the sound of the rain in the foggy forests of their hometown. The entire record — even with its furious speeds alternating with funereal dirges, gorgeously paranoid ghostly keyboard passages, and a female vocal or two — still had more than enough howling, buzzing guitars, and distorted crunch drums amid the blazing bass throb. Read More >>