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1 week ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top PicksItaly's Benthos showed a ton of promise with their 2021 debut II, but I definitely didn't see them going in a more mathcore direction on this second album. The foundational building blocks they shared with us in the Anatomy of feature we did with them are certainly still in play, with the band's sound still often providing parallels with tech-prog heavyweights like The Contortionist, Animals as Leaders, Tesseract and Periphery in their more melodic modes.
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2 weeks ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top PicksIs much as it seems like they’re custom made for me, I’ve had a hard time getting into Bleed from Within, outside of the outstanding Era album (2018). But if Fracture(2020) was a touch too much, and Shrine(2022) wasn’t quite enough, then Zenith hits just right. Zeolite may have nicked their album cover, but it's the Scots who pull off the most convincing Parkway Drive imitation this week.
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3 weeks ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top PicksI wasn't really sure which album I was going to highlight this week. There's a lot of good stuff out, but nothing that's particularly rising above for me. That was, until Canada's Symbiotic Growth came in clutch with their fantastic new record Beyond the Sleepless Aether. Enslaved are an immediate touchstone—so much so that I'm sure the main riff to "Spires Of The Boundless Sunset" sounds like a specific latter-day song of theirs that i can't quite place.
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1 month ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top Picks Aversed have come a long way since we premiered a track off their appropriately titled 2021 debut album Impermanent. Not only have they swapped singers, but they've completely revamped their sound. Whereas their debut showcased some sweeping, though otherwise fairly straightforward power-tinged melodeath (in line with the likes of Arch Enemy or Nightmare),its follow-up is a much more adventurous affair.
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1 month ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top PicksI don't have write-ups in me tonight, but these are the two best albums released this week. Maybe I'll come back tomorrow and update them with something, maybe I won't. They are very different, but both feature Neuromancer references; go figure...
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1 month ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top PicksDawn of Orouboros's brand of gazey, progressive post-black metal isn't usually my sort of thing. Guitarist/keyboardist Tony Thomas's main band Botanist certainly isn't, but Biolumanescence definitely is. Maybe it's because the addition of Tómarúm drummer Chris Stropoli has caused them to lean more into the progressive, rather than post side of their sound, but I was absolutely stunned by the album upon first listen and it has only gotten better with each listen.
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1 month ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top Picks As promised, I'm laying the melodic metalcore to the side for a bit* and dedicating this week's top spot to one of the weirdest records I think I (or you) have probably heard in a while.Sleep Paralysisis the twisted brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Stephen Knapp of Cerulean—whose album Carrion Angel from 2023 I kind of half-remember, and somehow made its way into not one, but two previous release roundups—who is responsible for every single sound of this nightmarish odyssey, save...
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2 months ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top PickI promise you, I'm sitting on some very cool, progressive/underground promos to hit you with over the coming weeks, but right now, it's the big-name metalcore bands who are leading the charge. I also can't fight who I am. Killswitch Engage have always been one of my favourite bands and This Consequence only adds further conviction to that statement.
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2 months ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top PicksParasomnia might not be the best Dream Theater album since Mike Portnoy left the band—but it also might be. While I'd probably still give the edge to the self-titled (2013) and A View from the Top of the World (2021), this remains a refreshingly direct record that—if not a complete return to form—still sees the prog-metal masters sounding noticeably more energised than they have for almost a decade-and-a-half at this point.
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2 months ago | 
heavyblogisheavy.com | Joshua Bulleid
Top PicksAs Mr Lordi once said: It's time to get heavy!* England's Grief Ritual are the kind of band I wish Church Road Records signed more regularly. Which is to say a band that sound more like the mighty Employed to Serve (or at least how that band used to sound...). In this case, you're going to want to crank the sludge up singnificantly, while also throwing a nasty black metal edge into the mix.
