I think I can estimate that I’ve been enjoying metal as a genre for about nine years now, going on ten sometime next fall. Like so many others, my first bands were Iron Maiden and Metallica, both of which inspired me to pick up bass and to explore heavy metal, power metal, and thrash metal in my early days. Metallica in particular was instrumental in me pursuing heavier music, as their older material helped me find bands in similar styles that only got a progressively resulted me in the taste of music I have today. I do owe Metallica a lot, and yet I owe them an honest review with Hardwired… to Self-Destruct.  

A Requiem For Terra is the forthcoming new full-length from BLACK HOLE GENERATOR. Led by Vulture Industries’ mainman Bjørnar E. Nilse, and set to drop later this month via Dark Essence Records, the seven-track offering shifts between the bleak aural landscapes of a desolate world and the frantic torrent of the abyss.  

Swedish Heavy Metal journeyman QUICKSAND DREAM have premiered a new track from forthcoming album, Beheading Tyrants. Stream “Daughters of Eve” at the following link after this break:  

Philadelphia power trio The WORKHORSE III will self-release their third album Closer to Relevance on December 9. Too Rock for Metal and too Metal for Rock? More like Loud, Proud, and Hot as Hell! You be the judge: stream “Soul Crusher“, featuring bassist Steve McCarthy on lead vocals, after the break:  

Godflesh‘s industrial metal epic “Merciless“, as covered by LAMENT CITYSCAPE and THEOLOGIAN, is now streaming. The track is an exclusive bonus found on the digital version of their Soft Tissue collaborative full-length, and this week sees a special stream.  

New Jersey’s RISK RELAY — now just over a week from releasing their fourth full-length, As We Descend, through Nefarious Industries – offer a new preview of the record with, “The Meeting“, through a premiere of the song.  

Flatspot Records prepares to release the brutalizing tunes of The Extermination Vol. 3 compilation LP this Friday, featuring brand new tracks from some of the current hardcore scene’s top acts.  

This Friday (November 11th), Ravencult will release their third full-length (and Metal Blade Records debut!), Force Of Profanation. For a preview of Force Of Profanation, head over HERE, where the album is now streaming in full!  

My favorite part about discovering bands is seeing who has potential to become something big and who is going to fade into obscurity. The latter is the most common, obviously, because there’s only so many metal bands that strike it “big.” There’s a photo somewhere where it says Finland has the most metal bands per 100 people or something like that, yet how many Finnish bands can you name? Only the strong survive, and seeing that grow from a band’s first few releases is truly amazing. I was lucky enough to see that happen with Ghost and Nails as Opus Eponymous and Unsilent Death were being released, and I’m hopefully seeing it again right now.  

Following the 2015 Sensory Records release of their debut album, The Great Lie, France’s epic metal opera collective, MELTED SPACE, has issued special remixed versions of several tracks from the album through a new digital EP, titled Remix Remodel, which is now streaming Additionally, an official video for the revamped version of the track “Titania” has been completed, and is playing.  

Ohio’s gnarled FISTULA has released a new track from their newly-unleashed The Shape Of Doom To Cumm))) album through a stream of “Serial Vapist“.  

Just over a year since the Abyss Of Longing Throats full-length was released, Dutch experimental/black metal act GNAW THEIR TONGUES — the work of frontman and demon channeler Maurice “Mories” De Jong, also of Aderlating, Cloak Of Altering, De Magia Veterum, among others — has declared the December release of the band’s latest LP, Hymns For The Broken, Swollen And Silent.