This is the ideal time of the year to lustily embrace darkness, because there is a premium on sunshine, and seasonal affective disorder is running rampant, making people feel like they’re decaying on the inside. It’s strange because I enjoy this time of year since I like snow and ice, and working remotely makes awful roads moot, but it’s still sometimes hard to avoid the grim grasp of mental illness.

That means it’s also a great time for music that wallows in the hopelessness with you, and Vancouver’s Tribunal arrive with their foreboding debut album “The Weight of Remembrance” at the right moment. The duo of classically trained bassist/cellist/vocalist Soren Mourne and guitarist/vocalist Etienne Flinn unleashes seven tracks that are awash in gothic doom and orchestral drama, and it digs right to the core of the weightiness of the season in which we’re trapped. Not lyrically, mind you. This is more shit I’ve connected in my own head from the music, which I’ve visited quite a bit later at night when it’s quiet in the house, and contemplation is at its zenith. And when I’m peacefully high, if we’re being honest. My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, and Draconian disciples are bound to gravitate to this album, and with good reason as Tribunal walk similar paths, but with their own brand of grimness.

“Initiation” sets the mood early, letting stormy doom waters lap over the land and coat it with darkness. Flinn’s growls dig into your chest, and Mourne’s singing treats the ugliness with cold delicacy as the funereal pace stretches. The trudging adds pressure as Mourne calls over the flames, the chorus making one final dash. “Of Creeping Moss and Crumbled Stone” slowly dawns and lurches, growls making headway and leaving bruising, Mourne’s singing adding chill to your bones. The chorus punches and then sinks into guttural boiling and liquified murkiness that makes it feel uncomfortably chilling. Leads soar in the shadows, synth creates an impenetrable cloud, and the drubbing rhythms bury you in the soil. “Apathy’s Keep” lets icy guitars drip and sorrowful melodies melt, Mourne’s singing making your nerve endings pulsate. Growls lean into ashy grounds, morbid spirits rise, and shrieks rip, keeping the pace turning and jolting, strings scraping a clean path. “Remembrance” is an instrumental built with unsettling keys and elegant ambiance, bone-chilling rains falling and making your limbs shake viciously.

“A World Beyond Shadow” lets string run loose as the pace smashes, Mourne’s singing sending jolts down the spine, Flinn’s growls balancing the delicacy with horrors. Darkness drizzles as the guitars tear through, ripping things open, the drumming rattling and punishing forcefully. Scathing howls and drama combine, letting the embers surge before fading. “Without Answer” has gliding strings, deadly growls, and a tempo that picks up and forces blood to race. Leads glimmer like a laser through a thickening fog, the growls are thorns to the ribcage, and both voices combine for a sullen final nail in the coffin. Closer “The Path” runs 12:16, dawning in dreary weather, dark paths being trampled underfoot. Growls rip as gargantuan hell is unleashed, the playing enraptures, and a deep burn seems to chafe the soul. Flinn’s growls and Mourne’s voice again are strange but fitting companions, sowing sadness and misery, accompanying a crushing force that kicks up and brings brutality to an otherwise ghostly final encounter.

Tribunal’s stranglehold on gothic and drab darkness is a revelation on their great debut “The Weight of Remembrance,” a record that feels like it pushes down on your chest and psyche over these seven tracks. The album feels like a haunted journey in your mind, leaving you cold and wondering where you can escape for a even a gasp of light that never seems to come. Every drop if this is heavy both musically and emotionally, and you’ll feel its effects long after the music has ended.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/collections/tribunal

For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/20buckspin

The weather has a big role in what I decide to listen to a lot if times as however it feels outside makes my brain and heart want certain things. We’re in a weird limbo here where I live where it should be frigid and snowy, yet that hasn’t really panned out quite yet in January, so the bands and records that usually get precedence in this period are sitting and waiting. And now we have a new one to add.

We haven’t heard from Minnesota’s Oak Pantheon in about seven years at least as far as full-length records are concerned, with their last being 2016’s beefy “In Pieces.” Luckily, the drought is about to end with the arrival of “The Absence,” an eight-track, 41-minute opus that is their shortest album to date but also their tightest. On this, their third record, the band—guitarists and vocalists Sami Sati and Tanner Swenson (the band’s initial duo), bassist Jake Spanier, and drummer Andy Anderson—not only expands their ranks, they also have solidified their sound. They remain woodsy atmospheric black metal in scope, with folk flourishes throughout, but they also clearly have grown as artists, which this record demonstrates. They’re joined by guest performers Joe McCumber of Decisions and Catey Swenson of Silence We Plead on guest vocals as well as Kakophonix (Becoming None, Beating Heart, Silence We Plead, Old Yarn) on cello, and they add texture to a rousing Oak Pantheon collection that brings the band right back to the forefront of those making great music that’ll sound perfect on icy winter days.

“Becoming None” starts with lush acoustics and rushing atmosphere, feeling active and vibrant, strings carving and rupturing. Singing gives way to growls and shrieks, the emotion caterwauls, and the end sinks into your bones. “Listen!” has guitar swirling and maniacal guitars knifing through as the playing pummels. Leads stretch out and proggy waters wash over, the call of, “We’ve had enough, just listen!” racing through your blood. Fluid guitars change the temperature, clean singing brings a sense of calm, and the final moments are trudging. “Dissociate” is dark with growled lines, gothy undertones delivering thicker darkness as the bass playing roils. The desperate cry of, “Watching it all fall down,” hits center as guitars bubble and race, aggravating raging fires. “Beating Heart” is serene and channeled, clean singing creaking as sadness and longing become major factors. Harmonized calls give a whisp of autumn air, strings glaze, and things settle as your inner tension finally subsides.

“Bard of the Hell-Bent Ages” absolutely destroys, peeling soil from the earth and chewing into psyches as a spirited gallop rips across the land. Speed adds to the mix, and breathy calls destroy as the guitars take on more heat. Melodies soar as the feelings rupture, ripping through with wild howls and chaos. “Decisions” bleeds with warm guitars and a tempo that gains momentum, the growls and shrieks tangling your nerve endings. Ample crunch and maniacal cries do battle as the punishment increases and refuses to release its grip until the end. “Silence We Plead” starts gently, hinting at woodsy ride, but that’s temporary as the track explodes. Slide guitars add a slurry texture, feeling rustic and Midwestern, and the call of, “I’m not king for this world,” jolts bones. Swenson’s singing adds a different element as she calls over the madness, a calculated strike mounts, and the final strains burn away. Closer “Old Yarn” balances light and dark as the acoustic strains give way to damage, and creaky shouts mix with hearty singing. The playing continues to disrupt, a thunderous pace makes your blood rush, and everything ends with you heaving, your lungs doing battle with the frigid air.

Oak Pantheon show remarkable growth on their first record in ages as “The Absence” displays maturity and sharp songwriting that prove this band is ready to measure up with the masters of the atmospheric black metal realm. We all know that’s saturated territory, so being able to create something powerful and well served and knowing when to trim the excess is key. This is an exciting record with peaks and valleys, rivers of emotion, and a wild spirit that can capture your imagination easily.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://oakpantheon.bandcamp.com/album/the-absence

An adventure under the sea is one of the last things I ever hope to take, no offense intended toward massive bodies of water. I enjoy being near the oceans, I appreciate sea creatures, but it’s just not a situation that suits me or in which I would thrive. I’m not even crazy about being in a boat on the river. There’s just way too many things that can go wrong.

Luckily, I can live vicariously through Ahab, the long-running and self-described “nautik funeral doom” band that has returned after eight long years with their excellent new record “The Coral Tombs,” their fifth overall. Unabashed fans of tales that originate in large bodies of water, this record focuses on the classic Jules Verne novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a story about Professor Pierre Aronnax and his shipmates who go on an excursion to find an elusive beast only to discover it’s actual a highly advanced submarine headed by Captain Nemo. Hijinks ensue. The band—guitarist/vocalist Daniel Droste, guitarist Christian Hector, bassist Stephan Wandernoth, drummer/percussionist Cornelius Althammer—dive headfirst into the story, joined by guests Greg Chandler (Esoteric) and Chris Noir (Ultha) who help bring this massive adventure into the doom world and make it a musical companion worthy of this classic. It’s the best thing Ahab ever has done, which is a massive statement considering their resume.

“Prof. Arronax’ Descent Into the Vast Oceans” starts in the most misleading manner possible, with the band in total devastation mode, mashing, drums blasting, everything coming apart before we gradually slide into slower, more torturous doom like we expect from Ahab. Droste’s singing keeps getting better and more soulful, and the band matches this with guitars aching, and the melodies warming up noticeably. The playing gushes and heads deeper into the water, flowing into “Colossus of the Liquid Graves” that stomps as the growls unfurl. A doomy pall hangs overhead as the foreboding increases dangerously, and sorrowful melodies stretch their wings, pummeling as the playing drowns out in slow noise. “Mobilis in Mobili” starts with waters bubbling, a blistering pace greeting you as the waves subside. Growls wretch as the playing grows spacious, clean calling glistening as the mood turns dour. Dark and lonely melodies tighten their grip, marching ominously as the power creaks and drubs to an end. “The Sea as a Desert” runs 10:49 and simmers in psychosis, the darkness thickening as the growls stir the pot, melodic singing later wafting and making the journey dreamier. The pace keeps moving under the current, looking like the shadow of a beast ready to pierce the surface.

“A Coral Tomb” opens slowly, the growls buckling as the shadows envelop. Slurring guitars immerse the senses as clean singing numbs your wounds, giving off a feel of corporeal class. The playing floats in the middle of nowhere before the storming comes on harder, jarring and electrifying, making your muscles scream as coldness takes over, lulling you into unconsciousness as everything slips away. “Ægri Somnia” runs 12:22 and moves solemnly but surely into the oncoming murk, pushing and crushing as the intensity builds. Growls lurch and later are relieving by atmospheric clean calls, and the pace plods as the pressure gets more intense, later gently dissolving and turning into ink. Growls well, rich singing becomes a deeper factor, and calls echo out, the emotional toll being paid heavily as the final moments disappear. Closer “The Mælstrom” runs 10:02 and bursts open, the playing sounding wonderfully fluid but also devastating. Dark growls engorge, changing the pace from the hearty singing, and elegant leads transform the dark waters to streaks of gold. Wild howls scrape, sounds pulsate, and static wells up and washes over you, burying you under the sea.

Ahab’s glorious, nautik doom was greatly missed the past eight years when they were absent, but “The Coral Tombs” brings back a spirit only this band can command. Over these harrowing 66 minutes, the band expands their sound and mission, making some of the most exciting funeral doom in a sub-genre not really known for that element. This is dawn-of-the-year classic that will be an incredible journey to take deep into the final days of this new calendar.

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

To buy the album (North America), go here: https://www.napalmrecordsamerica.com/ahab

Or here (Europe): https://napalmrecords.com/deutsch/ahab

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

You know that “new year, new you” silliness? We should try to apply that to society at large and how we treat other human beings. Despite the fresh calendar, there remains suffering around the world. People still struggle with being able to pay bills and keep themselves healthy, and we still largely treat minorities and those not deemed “normal” like something not worth protecting. It’s a sickness.

The title “A Fate Worse Than Home” and the cosmic cover art that accompanies the debut full-length from Malaysian act Iravu seem like something that will let you take a journey beyond and forget the troubles here on earth. It’s a misdirection as sole creator/multi-instrumentalist Hareesh Kumar Shanggar instead focuses on our home planet and the issues facing us with the constant scourge of capitalism destroying lives and the continual oppression of marginalized people, something we can’t seem to solve, with humans being the biggest problem. Amid all of this comes fascinating black metal with dazzling guitar work, a great display that does have the ability to make your imagination go wild, but don’t lose focus of what’s at heart. We have so many issues here on earth that home doesn’t feel like home.

The title track begins calmly, letting you collect your bearings before the track ruptures open with savagery, delivering a spacey rush. The track wrenches and whips through the stars, melodies gusting and then going calm, floating into worlds unknown. Guitars engulf and splatter with devastation, wild howls stoke the emotional flames, and everything hurtles into the universe as we run face first into “The Creature” that churns and guts. Animalistic howls devastate and drive the journey, power wrenches, and strangeness gets into your cells, icing you thoroughly. Dark, drilling playing takes the upper hand, growls haunt, and chaos erupts, rampaging through your ravaged psyche.

“Reflection” is an instrumental piece that clouds your mind as sounds build and ambiance collects, feeling like you’re stuck in a static storm with no hope of exit. The noise travels through dimensions as the power hums and bristles, bowing out and into “Fear and Lead” that explodes from the gates and dazzles with trickery. The playing spirals as violent punishment is dealt, melodic stabbing working alongside mauling thrashing with sinister intent. Then things just destroy, proggy angles jabbing, torment increasing, and the riffs twisting and turning maliciously. Guitars swell and bleed emotion, roars crush, and the final strikes are deadly. Closer “Home” begins disarmingly serenely, dreamy guitars glazing glitter and soothing your senses. Speed picks up as the playing gets raucous, melodies flooding and joining up with wrenching howls. A huge deluge sweeps you up and pulls you under the waves, spacey gazing explodes, and everything washes into the unknown, claimed by mystery forever.

While “A Fate Worse Than Home” feels like a galactic adventure over much of its run time, Iravu’s focus is centered here, bringing sobering realty about factors that tear apart people’s lives. Shanggar’s splattering black metal and intense emotion is palpable, something that jumps out of your speakers or headphones and grabs your attention with no designs on returning it. There are real-world issues at play here, things that ravage lives, and while your mind may want to wander into the stars, you can’t avoid the bloodshed on your home planet that won’t come to an end until we stop it with force.

For more on the band, go here: https://iravu.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://fiadh.bandcamp.com/album/a-fate-worse-than-home

Or here: https://vitadetestabilisrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-fate-worse-than-home

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

And here: https://vitadetestabilis.com/

Dependability can be a good quality, and when it comes to long-running death metal institution Obituary, that’s exactly what you get every time out. They’ve been at this thing for about 35 years now, which is one hell of a run for a band that keeps amassing followers and hasn’t lost a fraction of a step of their intensity and execution. They’re as dependable as they come.

We are soon to have their 11^th record “Dying of Everything” in our hands, their first since their 2017 self-titled effort, and it’s Obituary through and through. You’re not going to be terribly surprised by anything you hear on these 10 new mashers, and there’s nothing wrong with that. No weird angles, no strange twists and turns, and just warm, damp, bloody death metal that sounds only like this legendary beast. The band—vocalist John Tardy, guitarists Trevor Perees and Ken Andrews, bassist Terry Butler, drummer Donald Tardy—sounds alive and thriving, blasting their way through this record that destroys your senses and delivers an ample serving of death metal with Obituary’s disgusting blend of bloody spices.

“Barely Alive” opens the record and pummels with force, vicious howls lacing your veins and a simple chorus landing effectively. Slayer-style riffs light the fires, the soloing goes off, and another run through the chorus batters your bones. “The Wrong Time” changes the pace as it’s doomy and hazy, trudging as the vocals pierce your eardrums. The energy is great and chugging through the whole thing, leads search the stars for answers, and things change up at the end, mangling and thrashing to the finish. “Without a Conscience” arrives in a wave of noise, taking on a hardcore feel, which is not alien territory for Obituary. “Without the price of free speech ratings, I’ll put an end to you, within the price of blood spilled feedings, I’ll put an end to you,” Tardy wails as the pressure increases, and the song drowns out in sounds of warfare. Speaking of which, “War” follows and continues the onslaught, crushing thrash and calculated bruising coming out of the sounds of combat. The playing is sinister and steady, landing blows to your midsection and charging viciously. Suddenly, the track goes acoustic but only for a breath as things get back to slaughtering as Tardy’s howls devastate, and the final jolts grind your teeth. The title track clubs as riffs chug, and the force becomes a problem. The verses are spat out as the leads glimmer in the murk, the playing bubbling in acid. “Patronize the living in a dark and dying world, recognizing evil as a darkened tale unfolds,” Tardy howls as the guitars take on a techy sharpness, bashing with start/stop drubbing that cuts off your air.

“My Will to Live” has a classic thrash feel as it rips from the gates, wah-infused guitars giving a psyche edge to bloody death. The playing is humid and thick, almost as if it literally rose from the swamps, and the playing later is caked in mud, lurching and pulling you under. “By the Dawn” feels like its boiling in oil as the first punches are thrown, and suddenly we’re in a battle royal. The playing is sludgy at times, while the guitars open things up and scorch flesh. The playing continues to increase the pressure, while Tardy’s madness overflows as he wails, “’l kill for the fun of killing and laugh when most would cry, alone in my connections and lies to justify.” “Weaponize the Hate” goes right for the throat, Tardy scalding, “Tell me what you need, I see, believe.” Guitars blaze as the pace hammers your face with fists coated in cinders, encircling and letting the madness sink in. Vile howls haunt, and the chorus strikes again, dragging you underwater. “Torn Apart” unloads with guttural slashing, a galloping pace, and guitars that aim to deface. The playing sweeps with vicious intent, coating the lungs with soot, crushing skulls and letting the life juice dry on the ground. Closer “Be Warned” delivers filthy guitars and as pace that feels like it’s melting. The growls lurch, Tardy howling, “Criticizing gods to be gone, visualizing ways to destroy, victimizing ways to decide, criminally waiting for law,” as fluid leads dream, and then monstrous mauling takes hold. Guitars scar as the playing corrodes, the final moment draining into the underground.

It’s not a criticism to say there aren’t a lot of surprises on an Obituary record, “Dying of Everything” included, but there’s something to be said for consistency. These 10 tracks are pure and true Obituary-style death metal, and every second of this thing totally delivers. There’s a reason people flock to the rotting altar of these death metal legends, and it’s because they’re dependable, destructive, and always willing to take you to your physical limit.

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

To buy the album, go here: https://store.relapse.com/b/obituary

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

40. HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE, “Overtaker” (self-released)

39. CIRKELN, “A Song to Sorrow” (True Cult)

38. BOOK OF SAND, “Seven Candles for an Empty Altar” (Fiadh Productions)

37. AURIFEROUS FLAME, “The Great Mist Within” (True Cult)

36. HOLY FAWN, “Dimensional Bleed” (Wax Bodega)

35. DREADNOUGHT, “The Endless” (Profound Lore)

34. LUSTRE, “A Thirst for Summer Rain” (Nordvis Produktion)

33. FORLESEN, “Black Terrain” (I, Voidhanger)

32. THOU/MIZMOR, “Myopia” (Gilead Media)

31. INEXORUM, “Equinox Vigil” (Gilead Media)

30. WIEGEDOOD, “There’s Always Blood at the End of the Road” (Century Media)

29. HOREHOUND, “Collapse” (Blackseed)

28. WHITE WARD, “False Light” (Debemur Morti)

27. CASTRATOR, “Defiled in Oblivion” (Dark Descent)

26. NARAKH, “Nemesis Cloak” (self-released)

25. SUMERLANDS, “Dreamkiller” (Relapse)

24. PYRITHE, “Monuments to Impermanence” (Gilead Media)

23. SONJA, “Loud Arriver” (Cruz del Sur)

22. KEN MODE, “Null” (Artoffact)

21. ELDER, “Innate Passage” (Stickman/Armageddon Shop)

20. CULT OF LUNA, “The Long Road North” (Metal Blade)

19. CLOUD RAT, “Threshold” (Artoffact)

18. DAEVA, “Through Sheer Will and Black Magic” (20 Buck Spin)

17. EIGHT BELLS, “Legacy of Ruin” (Prophecy Productions)

16. ESOCTRILIHUM, “Consecration of Spiritüs Flesh” (I, Voidhanger)

15. KONVENT, “Call Down the Sun” (Napalm)

14. FALLS OF RAUROS, “Key to a Vanishing Future” (Gilead Media/Eisenwald)

13. BLUT AUS NORD, “Disharmonium – Undreamable Abysses” (Debemur Morti)

12. MARES OF THRACE, “The Exile” (Sonic Unyon)

11. MESSA, “Close” (Svart)

10. NECHOCHWEN, “Kanawha Black” (Bindrune Recordings)

9. RIPPED TO SHREDS, “劇變 (Jubian)” (Relapse)

8. CHAT PILE, “God’s Country” (The Flenser)

7. URUSHIOL, “Pools of Green Fire” (Augur Tongues)

6. FAETOOTH, “Remnants of the Vessel” (Dune Altar)

5. DREAM UNENDING, “Song of Salvation” (20 Buck Spin)

4. COME TO GRIEF, “When the World Dies” (Translation Loss)

3. THE OTOLITH, “Folium Lumina” (Blues Funeral)

2. DOLDRUM, “The Knocking, Or the Story of the Sound the Preceded Their Disappearance” (Katafalque)

1. CAVE IN, “Heavy Pendulum” (Relapse)

I don’t take naming a top record of the year lightly at all. I’m no one, really. So, this is not an ego thing. I just take very seriously the record I name my favorite of the year because I’m honored to hear so many albums every calendar year, that saying one of them moved me the most means a lot. In this case, it’s a matter of two things: The music a band makes sending me somewhere most don’t, and the alignment with my own loss and profound sadness in a way that fuels the will to move on and live again, as hard as that may be. I’ve always been thankful that Cave In makes music that connects to me, but I never have felt it as hard as I did this year with “Heavy Pendulum.”

Many people know the story of Cave In, the long-running, impossible to truly classify band that tore into the world on the wings of fire-breathing, wildly influential debut “Until Your Heart Stops” and has changed colors and sounds throughout the past two decades. The death of bassist Caleb Scofield in 2018 seemed, at the time, to be the potential end of the band, and their 2019 record “Final Transmission” appeared to verify their final days. But the fires were still burning, their love and respect for Scofield forever flowing, and they decided to carry on, create again, and they returned with the amazing “Heavy Pendulum.” This album is a triumph on every level. The remaining members of the band—guitarists/vocalists Stephen Brodsky and Adam McGrath, drummer John-Robert Conners—united with longtime ally Nate Newton (Converge, Doomriders) to take bass and added vocal duties and turned on the lava flow, delivering a mammoth 14-track double album that melted us to the ground. It’s a huge, heavy, infectious, energetic record that not only pays proper homage to Scofield but pushes the band onto a new course with the future open and exciting, the possibilities endless.  

“New Reality” is a killer opener, the perfect way to prepare you for what’s ahead with big riffs chugging, catchiness surrounding you and Brodsky calling, “New reality, never knew would be, dawning on me.” The soloing scorches toward the end, and the final moments leave you in the dust. “Blood Spiller” makes the perfect next step, the second half of a 1-2 punch that smokes and smashes, the chorus of, “Fresh kill or the killer, you can choose only one,” digging into you. The band mashes heavily, the guitars get spacious, and Newton gets in on the action, howling, “Watch it run!” “Floating Skulls” keeps the heat on high, Brodsky’s singing often taking on a James Hetfield feel as he barks away. “Careless Offering” is another destroyer, pummeling and bleeding as Brodsky warns, “Someday we’ll be coming for the blood on your hands,” a vow that is repeated several times. The guitars take off into the stratosphere, and Newton’s wails punish again, the track chugging off into the stars.

“Amaranthine” is a track that lyrically was built from Scofield, so he’s very much a part of this record. Fittingly Newton takes the bulk of the vocals here, paying homage to the man whose shoes he’s filling, doing so with rage and passion. “We make peace with our sins, raise our shields to the sun,” Brodsky sings over the chorus, the energy flowing through the entire band, the guitars blazing, and everything ending in fittingly strange colors. “Reckoning” is a rare political statement by the band, and it hits hard, McGrath jabbing, “You swore on your bible with pages worn and distressed, how about a revival without getting too complex,” his voice taking on an uncharacteristic but pretty cool twang. Closer “Wavering Angel” is the longest song, a 12:09 cut that feels quite uncharacteristic coming from Cave In. It’s quiet, delicate, and pained, Brodsky quivering, “Have you ever held somebody too close? Took ‘em like a drug, then you overdose,” his hurt dripping. The track remains solemn and lightly storming, Brodsky calling, “Heavy, heavy wet weather, twisting, turn to the never,” as the pace begins to pick up, and eventually the heaviness lands. The guitars do battle, the melodies increase and cascade, and the emotional high and hypnotic haze reach their apex, slowly fading into vapor.

I also got to see the band in August for the first time in nearly 20 years. It was an emotional lift. It was a healing night. It was the alignment with blood and spirit that art you love and the creators who made it can connect with you and heal you. “Heavy Pendulum” is not just my favorite record of the year. It’s a collection of songs that will live with me and heal me until I disappear, and I’ll live in gratitude and adulation until the end of my days. (May 20)

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

To buy the album, go here: https://store.relapse.com/cave-in-heavy-pendulum

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

Heavy metal records that haunt your bones and make you question your sanity are some of my favorites. I want to feel fear, strange tidings, and odd tales no one ever heard before and have been buried in time. The story unraveled on “The Knocking, Or the Story of the Sound That Preceded Their Disappearance,” the bizarre debut album from Colorado-based black metal force Doldrum that delivers folklore one might find stashed away in an abandoned tunnel, its authors long since deceased and forgotten, their stories dead with them. And that’s before even discussing the music that is progressively jabbing, ghostly, and battered with ancient evil and strange melodies created by these three forces—vocalist Rat Deveaux, guitarist/bassist Jimmy Oh-My-Back, drummer The Terrific Doon McKinnon, names taken from old prospectors.

Opener “The Knocking” begins our tale of these three explorers heading on a mission into the hollow earth, and when Deveaux howls, “Are you a man who knocks at the doorways of the earth? Are you a spirit of air or mud or salt?” it marks one of the most exciting, imagination-robbing moments of the entire year. This song alone convinced me Doldrum was going to be meaningful to me, and there were four more songs! “The Visitor” follows with glorious guitars welling and making your brain surge. It has a proggy feel to it that rewires your system, and when Devereaux wails, “I am the knocking that breaks apart thy soul, I am the spirit of mud and salt and bone,” it undoes me mentally. In the best possible way. It’s a dagger to the center of what I want heavy metal to be and feel. It just nails it perfectly.

“The Offering” plays in different stratospheres, feeling daring, exciting, and fluid, a track that can dance within your visions. If you partake in the mother’s leaf while experiencing this song (or this entire record), it unlocks realms in your brain into which this music taps. It’s like being on the same damned excursion with the prospectors three. Closer “The Disappearance” is the mythology devouring our characters whole, pouring into damnation. The grim epitaph of, “Chasm yawns, rope is snapped, the mine drifts on and on, and deeper they’re drug, blinded faces pale and drawn,” is the nightmare come to and end, a life expunged. It’s also the end of a black metal record that refuses to conform, won’t adhere to customs, and opens that cavity into the earth for all who follows. (May 27)

For more on the band, go here: https://doldrumbm.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://doldrumbm.bandcamp.com/album/the-knocking-or-the-story-of-the-sound-that-preceded-their-disappearance

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

The arrival of the Otolith and their spellbinding debut record “Folium Lumina” both brought a powerful new presence into our lives and helped soothe wounds of loss. They emerged from the ashes of the fallen SubRosa, a band we loved dearly, and restored the same kind of energy we were missing with a little something more added. Four fifths of that band—violinist/lead vocalist Sarah Pendleton, violinist/vocalist Kim Cordray, drummer/percussionist Andy Patterson, and guitarist/vocalist Levi Hanna (he was in SubRosa from 2014-2017)—form the core of the Otolith along with bassist/vocalist Matt Brotherton, and they continue to operate in that atmospheric doom headspace that gets a little dirtier and sometimes more psychedelic on an excellent six-track debut that takes on a new life with every listen. If you’re skeptical, don’t be. It’s not a SubRosa record, nor should it be since it’s a whole new being. But there’s enough of that factor to reconnect the canals to your heart and so much more that goes beyond any hopes and expectations that you know you’re dealing with a new animal entirely. An exciting one that sends you on a different path to your dreams.

“Sing No Coda” opens the record elegantly and urgently, birds cawing as the strings rise, the branches slowly budding. Pendleton’s vocals are compelling and sweltering, the power gusts as every element comes to life, breathing a familiar but new energy. Everything swoons and then jars, the cello eases into the room, and then things get thicker as the storming comes down harder now, your adrenaline working to keep you safe and alive. Burly power connects, the doomy waters rise, and wordless calls echo off into the distance. “Andromeda’s Wing” feels instantly psychedelic but then the charges bend and break, sludge collects in veins, and vicious howls drive daggers into the earth.

“Bone Dust” dawns with sounds rumbling, the hint of something profound on the horizon, and that promise later is kept. The band takes time to build the ambiance, feeling crackles and jolts going through your body, heartfelt vocals working on your emotions and making you breathe deeply. The playing continues to darken and seems to be setting the stage for something, that being the Charlie Chaplin anti-fascist speech from the 1940 movie “The Great Dictator,” a scene that this world needs now more than ever. The record grows deep within us with every listen, and having the Otolith in our world creates a quaking presence that devastates us mind, body, and spirit. Welcome and welcome back. (Oct. 21)

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

To buy the album, go here: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/#https://www.bluesfuneral.com/search?q=josiah+we+lay+on+cold+stone

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

At long last, Come to Grief finally delivered their debut full-length “When the World Dies,” building off the stellar reputation their previous incarnation Grief built decades ago in as scathing manner possible. The bad news? The world sucks, and you are immersed into the gut of that reality on this smoking, slaughtering record. But look, the music is what matters here, and of course they deliver the goods, and it’s nasty and derisive, and you won’t feel any better about the planet or its people when it’s over. Building off the smoldering ashes Grief left behind, this band—vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Hebert, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Terrenza Savastano (from the original Grief), bassist Jon Morse, drummer Chuck Conlon (also from Grief)—not only follows up what their original band and debut record of the same name offered the world, they push it further into psychological horrors you must face or otherwise suffer in silence.

“Our End Begins” is a slowly drubbing instrumental beginning that opens the door to the punishment ahead, and that bleeds into “Life’s Curse” that delivers crushing riffs and shrieks that dig under your fingernails. Burly hammering speeds up as the heat melts flesh, the playing takes on a bigger burden toward bruising you, and the band blasts into your chest, dragging you across the cinders. “Devastation of Souls” smothers and trashes you, bringing ominous guitars that chew away at your mind, the playing encircling dangerously. Wait. Riffs are incredible, right? This one has one of the best of the year. Period. PERIOD. Screams dice your sanity, and the viciousness finally ends when one last riff enters and splatters.

The title track is scary when it dawns, the guitars fry maddeningly, and the bass plods, your skull bouncing off each step along the way. Crushing heaviness meets up with a thickening haze, and things are allowed to cool until the temperature threatens anew, and spacious misery sinks into the ground. “Bludgeon the Soul/Returning to the Void” has noise hanging in the air before the vocals start to boil, and the pace drubs hard, slithering through broken, bloody glass. Closer “Death Can’t Come Soon Enough” hints at its despair from the title, and then you dig into this track, which hammers away with pure misery. Incredible record from doom lifers. Total pure menace. (May 20)

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

To buy the album, go here: https://orcd.co/whentheworlddiesalbum

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