Valley of the Sun – Electric Talons of the Thunderhawk
Now, you wouldn’t expect a band named Valley of the Sun, the nickname of Phoenix, Arizona, to hail from Cincinnati—a city known colloquially as…
The Cutthroats 9 – Dissent
This Bay Area trio, The Cutthroats 9, features howling madman frontman Chris Spencer of Unsane fame and released its debut on Man’s Ruin, waaaaay…
Beastwars – Beastwars
Being that this was an independently-issued release outta New Zealand, of all places, I must admit I missed Beastwars’ debut the first time around….
Lecherous Gaze – Zeta Reticuli Blues
First heard these guys, Lecherous Gaze, on a split with Danava and Earthless, to which they contributed a rollicking tune entitled “Get You Some.”…
Crowbar – Symmetry in Black
Crowbar’s Sever the Wicked Hand was an awesome album, one of my top albums of 2011. And despite an unfortunate head-kicking incident at MDF,…
The Lone Crows – Dark Clouds
This Minnesota-based outfit, The Lone Crows, is apparently pretty big in Germany. Big enough, anyways, that the German label World in Sound reissued their…
Fu Manchu – Gigantoid
The Gigantoid is a very elusive creature. Out on the band’s own At the Dojo Records, it’s not available in stores, and can only…
Dwellers – Pagan Fruit
If we’re judging an album by its cover, the sophomore effort from this Utah-based trio, Dwellers, sure looks like a Baroness album. Hey, as…
Graves at Sea/Sourvein Split
The split EP is as essential to sludge metal as cough syrup and Southern Comfort. And for these two long-dormant acts—particularly the former—this concoction…
Satyress – Dark Fortunes
A female-fronted doom band from Portland… that’s not Witch Mountain? Do tell! The aforementioned set the bar pretty high pretty high with their comeback…