YOB
Clearing The Path To Ascend
(Neurot)
It’s safe to say most stuff on the Neurot label is something I won’t like, and yup, it is still true.  Long drony songs, experimental post-metal doom stuff.

KRIEG
Transient
Candlelight
Old school sounding black metal, not the best production, but it’s good enough to hear there’s a good catchy groove and some proper amount of evil.

PRONG
“Remove, Separate Self”
(SPV)
A single from their latest album with a remix done by Matt Heavy of Trivum fame.

CRIMSON SHADOWS
Kings Among Men
Napalm Records
Starts off sounding like it could be some Dragonforce clone, but the vocals are a bit more aggressive and we’re more in the melodic death with a pinch of folk metal thrown in. So yeah, a melodic death/power metal thing going on and it’s pretty cool.

Rival Sons
Great Western Valkyrie
Earache Records
Classic bluesy sounding hard rock.  Catchy songs with a groove and a major throwback vibe, yet still a bit of a modern, relevant sound.

Hammerfall
(r)Evolution
Nuclear Blast
These guys have been around for quite some time and carrying the flag for proper classic power metal. First album in three years and it’s got the riffs, meedly guitars and the big powerful vocals, while not getting into anything more heavy or brutal, this is still pretty cool stuff.

The Haunted
Exit Wounds
Century Media
Well, these guys are back with a vengeance.  Probably one of the best albums of the year in my opinion (I’m a fan of melodic death to begin with)  It’s catchy, melodic, brutal and crisp and really throwing back to the old school of the Haunted. You compare this to their last album from 2011… it’s like “is this the same band?”  yeah.  The new one sounds like it could have been released right after One Kill Wonder. (of course Marco Aro is back as their vocalist)  Great stuff.

VORZUG
I AM IN HELL (Single)
APOLLYON ENTERTAINMENT
Blackened thrashy, a bit evil sounding and a wall of sound… I’d like to hear more before judging too much, but it’s pretty good so far.

LUCIFER’S FALL
Lucifer’s Fall
Rotedoom Records
Big doomy 70’s classic metal type thing, big meaty riffs, a little bit of a dark vibe, but catchy too.

DHWESHA
Sthoopa
Dunkelheit Produktionen
Death Metal from India!  A bit thrashy, and some basic death metal with a bit of guitar melody, growly shouted vocals, a little bit muddy production, but still good enough to appreciate some decent death metal here.

WOLF
Devil Seed
Century Media
A power metal band with an edge, this is their Century Media debut and first album in 3 years.  catchy concise classic metal sounding stuff.

Dark Fortress
Venereal Dawn
Century Media
Some melodic black metal, brutal stuff, melodic stuff, proggy stuff too.  I hear some (old) Opeth-like stuff in here too, with some dynamics of more mellow prog stuff mixed with brutality.

Black Tongue
Born Hanged / Falsifer [Redux]
Century Media
Deathcore, or brutal-core as I like to call it.  This is heavy, chugga chugga, with some slugdey down tempo, heavy as fuck guitar work and sick brutal vocals.  Also it includes some of their earlier stuff.

Set and Setting
A Vivid Memory
Prosthetic Records
Doomy melodic proggy post-metal, fairly ambient type stuff, all instrumental… some parts get going into some out there black metal tendencies, but for the most part, it sounds like some doomy jam session.

Where Giants Once Stood
Live Above EP (2014)
Self-Release
heavy metalcore, and where bands these days tend to get all emo and singy with autotune in a chorus, these guys keep it brutal and just scream higher pitched… haha.  some melodic music stuff, but its still all good.

Nethermost
Noetic
Horror Pain Gore Death
Doomy melodic death.  meaty melodic riffs, with a little bit of a meedly black metal rhythm guitar thing going on .  Cookie monster vocals keep it grounded here in death metal land.

MISEO
Lunatic Confessions
Blacksmith Records
Thrashy death metal, basic meat and potatoes type stuff.  Great production, brutal, catchy.

ICHOR
Depths
Bastardized Recordings
Brutal heavy, brutal-core I guess.  Just pissed off, in your face, fast drumming great guitar work, sick vocals, lots of layers of cool stuff.  I know I use the word brutal too much, but that’s really what describes this.

CHRIS VIOLENCE
American Ripper
Self Released (Online Metal Promo PR)
Musically, it’s basic classic thrashy sounding stuff.  Vocals are screamy classic thrash and spoken word which is actually more fun stuff.

DEAD SEASON
Dusting the Rust
Self-Relased
Thrashy stuff with um, well, some stuff is all brutal, and melodic, maybe a bit like Testament… one of the tracks is all brutal with a horn section, it’s pretty cool!

Black Dawn
Until We Meet
Blue Pie Rec.
Standard metal stuff, a little bit like some simple Pantera type stuff.

Darkness Divided
Written in Blood
Victory
Catchy, heavy, yes brutal metalcore.  Wall of sound, pissed off vocals, cool stuff.