Obituary
Xecutioner’s Return
Candlelight
40:43 – 11 Tracks
Picking up right where they left off with their last album , “Frozen In Time”, this album, throwing a shoutout to their old name, Xecutioner. This album is classic Obituary, and even without Allen West, it’s just fine. It’s heavy, dark, catchy and just how it should be. You’ll definitely hear this on the Mosh Pit!

Divine Heresy
Bleed The Fifth
Century Media
38:53 – 10 Tracks
There’s a lot of buzz around this band, as it’s the first significant release from Dino Cazares. He teamed up with the former drummer of Vital Remains and Hate Eternal, Tim Yeung to form this band. It’s heavy, aggressive, has some of that catchy “metallic” sound that the heavier Fear Factory stuff had. Of course you can’t help but compare this to the earlier heavy Fear Factory stuff.  There are some clean vocals on some tracks, of course mixed with growls and harsh stuff too. The drumming is insane which matches along with the guitar stuff. This is something you will hear on the Mosh Pit!

Hatesphere
Serpent Smiles and Killer Eyes
SPV
40:49 – 9 Tracks
These guys are back with their sixth album. It’s heavy, thrashy, a little hardcore, melodic and produced well. The sound is nice and clean, the music is riffy, catchy, and your typical Scandinavian melodic thrash/death sound. The vocals are abrasive and if I had to complain, they don’t have much of a dynamic, just the same screamin’ all throughout… but still good. You’ll hear this on the Mosh Pit!

ThisMeansYou
Reviving The Apparently Dead
TMY (No label)
58:30 – 13 Tracks
The music starts off technical and thrashy, then a clean female vocalist comes in, which isn’t too bad, reminds me of Kittie a bit, then she starts up some growls… which is pretty brutal, again, reminding me of Kittie… but a more experienced technical Kittie. The more I listen to it, the cooler it gets. There is much more to this than just a metal band with a chick singer… I can actually picture seeing them live, the singer, Kim Dylla has a good singing voice and the songs are put together like real musicians put them together! You’ll hear this on the Mosh Pit!

As I Lay Dying
An Ocean Between Us
Metal Blade
43:20 – 12 Tracks
I know it’s cliche, but this album is their “Reign in Blood”, their “Burn My Eyes”… you know that one album that puts the bar high. With names like Colin Richardson and Andy Sneap associated with the behind the scenes duties as well as metalcore producer extraordinaire Adam Dutkiewicz involved, you know it’s gotta be good before putting the CD in. It’s heavy, technical, rifftastic, the playing is top notch, the vocals have many dynamics and a few guest background vocals from dudes here and there make this all work together. The clean vocals work well too, sticking with the genre they are in, they have to have these clean vox to be “troo” The breakdowns are good, and not “too much” You’ll hear this on the Mosh Pit!

Epica
The Divine Conspiracy
Nuclear Blast
75:34 – 13 Tracks
Their name, even though named for a Kamelot album, pretty much sums up their sound, Epic sounding symphonic metal. While it’s “fe-metal” with Simone Simons doing up the clean operatic vocals, they mix it up with some cookie monster death vox. The music is the typical symphonic catchy technical euro-metal. It’s put together well, and with the total difference in vocal styles working in the songs together, it just tends to work… I don’t know how to explain it. It’s cool, unique stuff, and you will hear it on the Mosh Pit!

Ratt
Tell The World: The Very Best of Ratt
Rhino
79:47 – 20 Tracks
What can you say, it’s a greatest hits from Ratt. I joined the metal crowd late, so I wasn’t in on Ratt when they were in their heyday, but since a lot of their stuff stands the test of time on classic rock radio, you can’t knock ’em. This compilation, coinciding with their full on reunion tour is a no brainer if you sort of like Ratt and don’t have any CDs. You might hear us sneak in a track on the Mosh Pit!