I have something of a love-hate relationship with Avenged Sevenfold. Arguably one of the bands that was present in my transition into more extreme metal bands, (City of Evil and their self-titled circa 2008) I did not find myself a fan of Nightmare or Hail to the King upon their release. I still don’t hold a place in my heart for either albums, but at the very least, it was great to see the band grow bigger with each and every release. When people claim there’s never going to be another Metallica or Iron Maiden, look at Avenged Sevenfold and you’ll be proven wrong. That idea, though, is what makes this surprise-release album, The Stage, so interesting.  

Swedish death metallers DERANGED are streaming their new album “Struck By A Murderous Siege” prior to its release date, exclusively via Terrorizer Magazine. The album officially drops on October 28th via Agonia Records. Listen to the record early at:  

The unrelenting Shrines Of Paralysis – the fifth full-length album from New Zealand’s leading death metal unit, ULCERATE – sees release through Relapse Records this Friday, the label making the entire album available for streaming early.    

Sometimes a joke album or concept can have terrible consequences, such as Tommy Lee’s side projects or Vanilla Ice; but sometimes, and these are fairly rare, they can become something beautiful. Such is the project that is Hatebean: featuring members of the Jason Ellis Show off Faction, SiriusXM channel 41 in the mornings, the band has transcended being a joke on the CEO of Faction into a formidable industrial music powerhouse, sounding like a cross between Nine Inch Nails and Ministry.  

Very few bands can get away with everything Darkthrone has done musically. Starting as death metal band and then becoming shortly after one of the many faces of the second wave of black metal bands in Norway, the band has (Excuse the pun) manifested a cult following in their career, with no shortage of albums and releases to keep their fans waiting. Twenty-five years after the release of Soulside Journey, Darkthrone are giving their fans Arctic Thunder, their 16th studio album and one that should resonate with fans of their older material more than their recent output.  

Back in November of last year, we finally got our Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which the titular of Jessica Jones crossed paths with the the would-be Hero for Hire. As the season for Jessica Jones closed, it was already known that Luke himself would be appearing in a series of his own soon enough, of which I was skeptical of. Make no mistake, I was aware of the legacy attached to Luke Cage, as well as his basic backstory and relations with Jessica, as well as his just-as-legendary friendship with Iron Fist and their Heroes for Hire business, but a show for Luke Cage seemed to be difficult for me to process.  

Let’s get one thing straight: Insomnium is one of the most universally agreed upon melo death bands. Across their discography, Insomnium have blended traditional melo death conventions with melancholic doom metal atmospheres and furious, frostbitten black metal passages, crafting their own sound right from their early demos back in the late 90’s. Everything the band has explored in their discography seems to accumulate with Winter’s Gate, the band’s most ambitious release thus far, and one that already stands out in not just among their best work, but the greater, ever-expanding genre they’re rooted in.  

In actuality, who’s making worthwhile music seventeen albums into their career? Make that twenty-two if you count the albums with Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend has essentially done it all since fronting Steve Vai’s band back in 1994. With so much musical output, however, any other artist would normally burn themselves out of originality after a while. Regardless of your opinion on Townsend, one can’t lie that nearly every release is its own entity and sounds different than the rest. Transcendence is no exception to that. Kind of.  

Originality isn’t just rooted in some new sound an artist creates. Oftentimes, the simplest change in instrumentation is enough to make a band with a familiar sound become fresh to the listener of a genre that’s been long played out and often mimicked countless times. Take Beyond Creation, for example: not only is their songwriting tight, but that emphasis on a fretless bass and instrumental sections gave tech death the kick in the teeth it needed.  

I spoke to my friend recently about the state of music being released this year and expressed some concern: I don’t actually love anything that has come out so far. Make no mistake, 2016 is a great year overall and everything has generally been really, really good. My reviews say enough. Yet I still haven’t found an album I’ve listened to and fallen for it. By this point last year, I had amassed enough albums that I had come to love, and it was apparent I’d have plenty to pick from at the end of the year. Almost all of my favorite bands have released albums this year, but aside from the Death Fortress album, I’ve been having more and more difficulty finding anything that I’ve truly loved.  

When you forget about sub-genres, there’s actually two kinds of successful musical acts in the world. Either an artist manages to constantly push their sound and develop as they go, which hopefully means they’re getting better, as well. The other group consists of the ones with a winning formula, in which they know how to make their fans happy and keep drawing in new ones to keep ascending in fame. Either way, artists who have found success know which of the two categories they fall into, and as such they will thrive off of it so long as they are doing well for themselves.  

There comes a point every year where an album is released and instantly the metal community (somehow) all agrees that it is, in fact, good. Normally, come December, this album gets thrown onto everyone’s Best Of lists, and we see websites and magazines give the band awards for such a crowning achievement. As such, this year it is Inter Arma who are falling into that category with Paradise Gallows, and immediately it’s realizable that this album is going to be a wild ride from start to finish, both critically and musically.