March was an insanely good month for metal. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than one of the below made it to my end of year list. Check out these scorchers!
Let’s start with the hypnotic doom of Spelljammer’s Abyssal Trip. This album is a slow-burning blinder that crept up on me. With its characterful, textured charms, this is a real winner.
The colossal crushing doom of Thronehammer was a revelation. Incantation Rites is a triumph of epic doom metal, dark sludge, and emotive atmosphere. Don’t sleep on this.
Kill Grid is a compact destructive whirlwind of crossover thrash. Riffs, riffs, and more riffs! Oh, and they’re arranged into the sort of songs that really smack you around the head. Enforced have landed.
A Disconnect by The Hyena Kill is a modern rock masterpiece of emotion and depth. Getting lost in these songs is easy when they draw you in and envelope you so completely.
The gargantuan Biolume Part 2 – The Golden Orb by Midnight Odyssey is far better than any album this long has any right to be. Across a gigantic 102-minute journey, this is atmospheric blackened doom of singular quality.
I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Etemen Ænka by Dvne, and it didn’t disappoint. Progressive sludge metal this advanced in its delivery and realisation is rare, and Dvne don’t mess around here.
The masterful atmospheric black metal assault that is Mare Cognitum’s latest opus just keeps getting better and better over time. Solar Paroxysm is a tour de force of melodic intensity and gripping blackened riffs.
It was relatively late when I discovered Bionic Swarm by Cryptosis, but I fell for it hard. The band play aggressive progressive thrash metal, and they play it with consummate skill.
Wonderbox Metal 