30. SVALBARD, “The Weight of the Mask” (Nuclear Blast): UK post-hardcore/black metal-influenced force Svalbard haven’t exactly made wholesale changes on their new record “The Weight of the Mask.” There are new wrinkles and more approachable waves, but they’re still completely recognizable, still incredibly infectious and heavy. Vocalist/guitarist Serena Cherry steps back from her more political lyrics to make personal matters the focal point, leaning into depression, love, anxiety, and feeling like you’re hiding behind your true self. This record feels like a band getting a better idea of who they are and showing no fear for expanding their sounds. “Faking It,” “Eternal Spirits,” “Lights Out,” and “How to Swim Down,” with Cherry’s declaration of, “Go fight, I will heal you,” give melodic black metal and post-hardcore a beating heart. (Oct. 6)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/svalbarduk

To buy the album, go here: https://downrightmerch.com/collections/svalbard-the-weight-of-the-mask

For more on the label, go here: https://shop.nuclearblast.com/

29. CIRKELN, “The Primitive Covenant” (True Cult): Våndarr, the lone force behind Cirkeln, strikes back with “The Primitive Covenant,” a love letter to the likes of Celtic Frost, Bathory, Darkthrone, and so many others that contributed to black metal’s formative years. This is the third Cirkeln full-length and follow-up effort to last year’s tremendous “A Song to Sorrow,” though this album gets deeper into the weeds, grabbing onto that primitive sound that informed early black metal and made it the alluring force that attracted so many and led to danger and chaos. “The Witch Bell” might as well have been pulled from the Tom Warrior songbook; “Defiled and Satanized” blisters and boils; “The Death of Thy Father” opens with an electrified riff that has folkish tendencies, and the crunch added to the swarming melodies instantly arrests your imagination. (Nov. 3)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/cirkelnband

To buy the album, go here: https://truecultrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-primitive-covenant

For more on the label, go here: https://truecultrecords.bandcamp.com/

28. THANTIFAXATH, “Hive Mind Narcosis” (Dark Descent): Canadian monsters Thantifaxath never seemed interested in creating art that goes down easily, and their latest opus “Hive Mind Narcosis” is sure to leave people perplexed and lost. Which is fine, because not all music should strive to comfort or amass a larger audience. Black metal is the base, but there are psychedelic elements, noise, doom, and death, making this a fully realized piece sonically and one that thematically that plays with the conflict of being completely repulsed by something but also accepting its existence. It’s twisted, warped, and plays games with your mind, something this shrouded band has mastered completely. It’s not an easy assignment, but it’s a mountain you’ll climb in the dark against your will, trying to find a glimmer of light in a smothering blackness. (June 2)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/ThantifaxathOfficial

To buy the album, go here: https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/shop/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/DarkDescentRecords/

27. WAYFARER, “American Gothic” (Profound Lore): Denver black metal dreamers Wayfarer were obsessed with the West way before any of us, and their style of black metal was forming and strengthening over their first four records, all of them more than worthy. But on fifth album “America Gothic,” the band hits it out of the proverbial park, maintaining their spacious heaviness but dashing it with more period-piece drama from two centuries ago to keep you coated in dust. You practically can hear spurs rattling and the cowboy drama spilling out of this album that is so infectiously listenable and sonically devastating, it’s hard to imagine them topping this. But who are we to doubt a band that puts out something as magnificent as this piece, peaking early and often on tracks such as “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise” (the acoustic intro made me think of “Loser” at first); riveting and epic “The Cattle Thief”; dark and foreboding “Black Plumes Over God’s Country”; and sweeping closer “False Constellation.” This is Wayfarer in their finest hour. So far, at least. (Oct. 27)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/wayfarercolorado

To buy the album, go here: https://wayfarercolorado.bandcamp.com/album/american-gothic

26. BLOOD CEREMONY, “The Old Ways Remain” (Rise Above): Canadian doom power Blood Ceremony creates art that sounds like it was bled out five decades ago, locked in a safe, and released in calculating manner. Yet, that’s not the case, and it goes to show how much heart and mind Blood Ceremony have invested in not only playing magickal, witchy music that would be firmly at home in the deep past, but they do it with their own personality and charisma, which has made them their own entity. “Ipsissimus” is a powerhouse, jolting and letting Alia O’Brien’s flute flutter, the one-word chorus acting as a goddamn ear worm that refuses to vacate. “Eugenie” is about the 1970 sexploitation/horror film (full name is “Eugenie … The Story of Her Journey Into Perversion”), and it’s a riveting, sultry affair where O’Brien’s vocals truly come to life. “The Bonfires at Belloc Coombe” is dark and perfect for a communal flame, while “Song of the Morrow” cools your mind, moving slower and heading into a cosmic stretch, letting hypnosis take total control. (May 5)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/bloodceremonyrock/

To buy the album, go here: https://riseaboverecords.com/product/the-old-ways-remain/

For more on the label, go here: https://riseaboverecords.com/

25. KRALLICE, “Porous Resonance Abyss” (self-released): To call NYC black metal alchemists Krallice prolific would be an understatement. And not many bands make their most imaginative work in their career on album 12, but “Porous Resonance Abyss” is that through and through. If this was a horror movie, it would be “Jason X” where our hero goes to space, and these guys did that sonically on this four-track, 43-minute opus. Granted, they played with spacey synth on last year’s “Crystalline Exhaustion,” but on this album, they go even deeper into the stars, exposing you to freezing elements that would kill you if you to experience the real thing. The four movements here prove that these guys aren’t just cranking out content to do it; they have vivid and challenging imaginations that floweth over, and this record is one that’s ideal at night, perhaps high, staring into the endless void that only gravity is preventing you from being swept into the expanding universe. (May 5)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/krallice

To buy the album, go here: https://krallice.bandcamp.com/album/porous-resonance-abyss

24. USNEA, “Bathed in Light” (Translation Loss): Usnea, the Pacific Northwest doom quartet that hadn’t surfaced with a new record for six years, finally found their way back to us on the thunderous “Bathed in Light.” Luckily, the band hasn’t lost a bit of their fire and, if anything, their focus never has been sharper as they pour vitriol and passion into these awesome six tracks. The title track dawns in noise before the playing flows amid a staticy transmission, the growls engorging, eventually turning both grim and spacey. “To The Deathless” brings murky synth that creates a thick fog, zaps making brain impulses fire as mournful leads spread their morbid wings. “Uncanny Valley” trickles amid ghostly singing and a nighttime swim in murky waters, explosions ripping sides from buildings. Wild shrieks penetrate as daring playing takes to the skies, the gargantuan pace carrying the weight of the universe (May 26)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/usneadoom/

To buy the album, go here: https://translationloss.com/collections/usnea-collection

For more on the label, go here: https://translationloss.com/

23. EREMIT, “Wearer of Numerous Forms” (Fucking Kill): German doom crushers Eremit’s third long player “Wearer of Numerous Forms” is a beast of a different type, clocking in at a massive two hours, 13 minutes. That seems like a lot on the surface, but every one of those ticks is worth your time. “Conflicting Aspects of Reality” is the colossal 63:47 opener, and most bands would have cut it with just that song. Not Eremit, and for good reason. The band starts battering right away, not worrying about pacing themselves just yet and coming at you with barbaric strength. “Entombed in a Prism of Blindness” is the “mini” track of the bunch and opens the lid to hell with brutality. Closer “Passages of Poor Light” runs 47:17, with the playing feeling like it’s floating in darkness before the explosions happen, the growls making flesh crawl, sounds quivering with crushing weight. The record shockingly never feels as long as it is, and their spacious style is perfectly suited for these epics. (June 6)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/EremitDoom

To buy the album, go here: https://fuckingkillrecords.bandcamp.com/album/eremit-wearer-of-numerous-forms

Or here: https://allswordsburn.bandcamp.com/album/wearer-of-numerous-forms

For more on the label, go here: https://fuckingkillrecords.bandcamp.com/

22. BODY VOID, “Atrocity Machine” (Prosthetic): “Atrocity Machine,” the fourth full-length from Body Void, isn’t so much consumed with social media hell as it is our society that is crumbling under the weight of severe financial inequality, cops murdering people with little to no consequences, and the sloppiest grifter of all time creating a rabid fanbase through his multiple crimes and treason. The band’s noise-drenched doom and sludge always has been monstrously heavy, ridiculously so, and this time around the they add layers that feel ripped from deep in the cosmos to enhance their spite and rage. “Human Greenhouse” explodes with alien melodies and strange riffs that wreck your bones, and it’s been burned into my brain. “Cop Show” pours heat as the onslaught is on, the shrieks pounding away as the playing lathers with power. “Divine Violence” runs 10:41 and is devastating from the start, the roars scorching as a heat bolt from beyond burns everything to a crisp. (Oct. 13)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/bodyvoid

To buy the album, go here: https://shop.prostheticrecords.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://prostheticrecords.com/

21. WOE, “Legacies of Frailty” (Vendetta): Long-running black metal force Woe never shied away from digging into the seamy underbelly of humanity, and they do it yet again on “Legacies of Frailty,” the first since 2008 debut “A Spell for the Death of Man” solely helmed by founder Chris Grigg. This record is raw and mean, and absolute dagger to the diseased chest of society, pulling no punches (and those fists are pocked with broken glass). “Fresh Chaos Greets the Dawn” starts chillingly, alien synth moving over your brain before the track tears open, Grigg’s death-like roars rippling down your spine. “The Justice of Gnashing Teeth” fires up with cyclone force, mean growls sounding like the cries of humanity desperate for relief. “Shores of Extinction” grills with black metal-style riffs that make way for sorrowful melodies that weigh down any positivity you’ve fooled yourself into feeling. “Far Beyond the Fracture of the Sky” is furious as the thrashy force increases, destroying the light, the guitars racing to flex their bloody muscles, ending everything in pain. (Sept. 29)

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/woeunholy/

To buy the album, go here: https://vendetta-records.bandcamp.com/album/legacies-of-frailty

For more on the label, go here: https://vendetta-records.com/