MIKE S.O.S ALERT.

DAYLIGHT DIES
LOST TO THE LIVING
CANDLELIGHT
Returning with another dose of morose modern metal comes Daylight Dies, whose latest nine-track journey to the darker edge of the metal spectrum doles out an immense array of aggressive yet atmospheric music. Tracks such as "The Morning Light" expertly displays this band's facility to wander off the typical tempos yet still maintain a mighty doom-laden crunch while "At A Loss" takes a sullen turn as atmospheric guitars and synths glisten through layers of dissonance. Armed with a more pronounced presence of piano this time around, this North Carolina unit is able to delve down into deeper pits of despair to drum up the sorrow and loss needed to feel to be able to convincingly pull off somber found on cuts like "Last Alone". Rendering another solid slab of melancholic metal, Daylight Dies continues to engage with their fertile massive heft and bleak overtone combination. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com -Mike SOS

DESTRUCTION
D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.
CANDLELIGHT
German thrash titans Destruction unquestionably are one of the premiere thrash bands of all time and this Teutonic troupe shows no sign of letting up based on their latest disc D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. This 10-track affair by these seasoned metal warriors contains all of the explosiveness this band has to offer, garnished with vocalist Schmeir's trademark sneer and the unit's blistering instrumental flurries fully intact on cuts like "Last Desperate Scream" and "Elevator to Hell". Fortified by a crushing abundance of wailing guitar solos and riffs that nimbly juxtapose technicality and savagery ("No One Shall Survive"), Destruction proudly kick down the doors with a barrage of their formulaic yet effective thrash metal attack that surprises at times but remains true to the act's vision 25 years since their inception. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com -Mike SOS

TAKE THE CROWN
RELAPSE REACT
RISE
Los Angeles unit Take the Crown inject a flurry of synth flourishments into their 13-track punk meets post-hardcore endeavor RELAPSE REACT, emitting a sound that evokes both Saosin and Thrice without losing a general sense of self. Tracks such as "Lights, Camera, Disaster" are built on the ongoing emotionally charged vocal presentation while atmospheric keyboards lending an ominous presence while "GAME OVERdose" takes a decent stab at juxtaposing video game blips and bleeps into Warped Tour-esque punk rock. While a lot of what's audible here is far from groundbreaking and has been done to death, Take the Crown do a formidable job of keeping their basic emo melodies sharp ("She's Like Whatever") and the electronic accoutrements intriguing without overdoing it, developing a balance that fans of AFI or Circa Survive. www.riserecords.com -Mike SOS

THERION
LIVE GOTHIC
NUCLEAR BLAST
Beloved Swedish symphonic metal pioneers Therion celebrate their innovative career with LIVE GOTHIC, a twin-disc set with a bonus DVD of a live performance from 2007's Valentine's Day show in Poland. Leaning heavily from the band's most recent studio offering (GOTHIC KABBAALAH) while throwing in a good amount of old material for the masses of long-time fans, this incendiary act turn in their trademark sterling performance, encompassing 22 tracks of regal heavy metal loaded with operatic vocal majesty thanks to the two male/ two female tandem employed for this recording. Mainman Christofer Johnsson once again releases another stunning exhibition of metal excellence, superbly filmed and sounding as powerful as ever. If you're a fan of bands like Nightwish and Epica, you need this release in your collection. www.nuclearblastusa.com -Mike SOS

TWEAKBIRD
RESERVATION
VOLCOM
Two brothers from Illinois comprise Tweakbird, a fuzzed-out free for all that sounds like Death From Above 1979 dueling it out with Melvins (whose Dale Crover is credited with a production credit). This brother act keep the homefires burning with a heaping handful of stoner rock boogie ("Shivers"), acid rock flashbacks ("Spaceships"), and downtempo emotion ("Reservations"), complete with beefy low-end rumblings colliding with prog rock soprano vocals. Despite its brevity (seven tracks in under 20 minutes) and the lingering eeriness, this infectious offering supplies a unique and memorable listening experience that you don't even need the proper paraphernalia for in order to fully appreciate. www.volcom.com -Mike SOS

DRAIN THE SKY
HAUNTED BY RIVERS
LEVEL PLANE
Oakland, CA troupe Drain the Sky are a post-metal band with bite judging by both their pedigree and their album HAUNTED BY RIVERS. Featuring former members of seminal crust metal unit His Hero is Gone, this squad excels at interspersing droves of droning downtempo movements with jabs of chaotic punk metal on cuts like "Starving in Time" while the overall ominous tones and swirls of hypnotic heaviness showcased on this album ("Learning to Swim", A Sorrowful Empire") contain surefire nuances necessary to lull listeners into unforeseen headspaces in the vein of metallic counterparts like Neurosis and Cult of Luna. www.level-plane.com

THE RAY GRADYS
REDNECKS, ZOMBIES, TERRORISTS
GRADY CORE
Philadelphia punk rock band The Ray Gradys are a high-energy crew whose unbelievably strong chops and solid musicianship help turn in a raucous release in the form of their latest 11-track jaunt REDNECKS, ZOMBIES, TERRORISTS. Blistering fast chops and tongue in cheek humor are served up with booming bass lines, rendering a well-rounded punk rock assault on tracks like "Modern Day Punk", "Mustache Riders in the Sky" and "Conformity". Retaining a fresh sound while referencing acts like NOFX and Rancid, cuts like "A Reply From the Critics” and "Holiday in Iraq" embody the brazen punk rock attitude that you can't buy at the mall. When you're ready for a slab of versatile and potent punk rock, you can't go wrong with the latest by The Ray Gradys. www.raygradys.com -Mike SOS

SOTAJUMALA
TELOITUS
WOODCUT
Finnish death metal quintet Sotajumala work an old school death metal crush into their ferocious eight-track sophomore disc TELOITUS, resulting in an album wrought in malevolence. Cuts like "Arkku Vailla Vainajaa" (yes, it's all in Finnish) flesh out this squad’s American death metal influences such as Morbid Angel and Dying Fetus with buzzsaw precision while a barrage of warmongering metal characteristics pop up across the span of this disc ("Kidutus") that would remind death metal folks of bands like Bolt Thrower. Unreliant on speed but able to turn up the velocity when needed, Sotajumala instead opts to employ loads of sledgehammer rhythms with dastardly guitars ("Riistetty Viattomuus") to get its message of utter devastation across steeped with groove-laden brutality that fans of the golden era of death metal can absolutely latch onto. www.woodcutrecords.com -Mike SOS

SNATCH CLUB
TRUE KIDS SUPERBRAWL
BASTARDIZED
German deathcore collective Snatch Club doles out a clobbering yet predictable array of churning rhythms and guttural growls on their debut endeavor TRUE KIDS SUPERBRAWL. Viciously battering eardrums with an incessant stream of low-end guitar grooves and burly beatdown breakdowns, imagine the extreme force that Job for a Cowboy going toe to toe with Emmure would sound like for an idea of the kind of inhumane sounds come from tracks like "Exhibition" and the eviscerating and savage "Female Serial Killer". While this unit's originality is questionable, their trips into sonic depravity are some of the more intriguing amongst the deathcore set, making this disc somewhat palatable for those who normally detest the genre. www.bastardized.net -Mike SOS

FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW
CONVERSATIONS
BLACK MARKET ACTIVITIES
While those who have followed From A Second Story Window since their inception may feel betrayed by the band's recent injections of accessible metal, this "Ohio-Vanian" quintet's latest 10-track venture showcases a versatile outfit who demonstrate the wares to transform from smooth to savage at the drop of a hat ("Advancement Towards Nothingness"). Championing a somewhat cumbersome sound that wavers between slightly progressive metal and brooding metalcore, tracks such as "Monumental Reason" contain a cleanly sung melodic chorus that could have come from Taproot while "The Burning Bush" combines feral shouts with atmospheric fretwork for a Poison the Well-esque meets From Autumn to Ashes aura. The most noticeable aspect of CONVERSATIONS is the fluidity of the stylistic changes on cuts like "Severed Heads Open Minds", where busy spurts of heavy but catchy grooves morph into crushing metal with gnashing death growls baring teeth. Intertwining 36 Crazyfists and Poison the Well with elements of The Red Chord, FASSW seamlessly stitch consonance and chaos together, reaching a new level of refined savagery along the way. www.blackmarketactivities.com -Mike SOS

TIAMAT
AMANETHES
NUCLEAR BLAST
Swedish experimental metal troupe Tiamat return with another batch of atmospheric gloom with AMANTHES. This stalwart group's latest 14-track affair renders a multi-faceted attack, exposing both this act's heavy and melancholic aspects. Songs like "Raining Dead Angels" take the sinister rhythm meets Goth monster vocal route while "Summertime is Gone" demonstrates a more fragile and icy metallic approach with decisively somber Swedish metal leanings. After a five-year absence, Tiamat's return to the metal realm is laden with hints of the band's early sound ensconced in luxurious ambience ("Meliae"), rendering a finely tuned and welcomed comeback. www.nuclearblastusa.com -Mike SOS

ENDANGERED FECES
NUMBER 2
OVERDOSE ON
When a band is named something as forthright as Endangered Feces, you can basically get the gist of what your in for. This Queens, NY collective (banned from the state of Rhode Island for urinating on Thursday's tour bus) assuredly delivers a wide array of bathroom humor amongst hyper-sped flurries of punkish power chords heard on "City Dump" and "Deuces Wild", yet their deliciously-titled 14-track, 16-minute sophomore endeavor NUMBER 2 cleverly crams drinking anthems ("Nectar of the Emerald Isle"), tributes to fallen friends ("Tribute to Al of Hate"), and a Willie Nelson cover of "On the Road Again" into the experience, rendering an album whose whimsical aura and breakneck precision complete a one-two punch that screams party personified. If you ever wondered what the bastard child of The Replacements, SOD, and NOFX would sound like, wonder no more. www.endangered-feces.com -Mike SOS

LORDS
FUCK ALL Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS
BLACK MARKET ACTIVITIES
Dissonant and dastardly, Louisville, KY trio Lords rampage through 16 tracks of hodgepodge fury in 23 minutes on their latest FUCK ALL Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS. Undeniably heavy and chaotic, this unit melds angry punk rock with muscular hardcore angst and swamp metal swagger on cuts like "Obstructionist Blues" and "Man Everything Sucks" to form a compressed blend of relentless rock fueled by despair and discourse. Combining the wares of Black Flag, Eyehategod, and Discharge, Lords strip heavy music back to the most primal core ("This is Why I Don't Give a Fuck"), ferociously blasting through the gates demanding to be heard. www.blackmarketactivities.com -Mike SOS

RACEBANNON
ACID OR BLOOD
SOUTHERN
Fearless noise punk troupe Racebanon triumphantly return with their first album in four years ACID OR BLOOD, a monstrous 11-track offering which brilliantly juxtaposition bits of beauty and brutality, effortlessly running circles around the competition. This seasoned Indiana outfit's caustic heaviness and unbridled wrath wreaks havoc on cuts like the slow-churning "Bad Case Of" or the hypnotically bottom-end grooving "The Hard Way", while songs like the schizophrenically savage "Sister Fucker" and "Vampyric Solution" reveal a multi-faceted musical experience where composition nuances are compromised and styles from sludge metal and grindcore to atmospheric electronic fiddlings are examined and explored past the point of no return. Cerebral to the highest disorder, Racebannon masterfully combine the experimental with the confrontational on this unapologetic endeavor to create a strange new apocalyptic sound brazen with immediacy. www.southern.com -Mike SOS

LA VENTURA
A NEW BEGINNING
RENAISSANCE
La Ventura is a female-fronted Goth metal troupe from The Netherlands who deliver solid slabs of piano-heavy hard rock not unlike Lacuna Coil. Tracks like "Remind You" resonate with pop-radio friendly rock symphonies while "Messed Up" take the Evanescence scorn route with heavy guitars a la Sevendust and keyboards leading the charge. Armed with strong vocals that do their best to support the durable yet predictable musical compositions on tracks like "A New Beginning", this quintet follows the template but doesn't demonstrate enough of its own stamp to consider this a must have album. www.renaisssancerecords.com -Mike SOS

ROMANS
ALL THOSE WRISTS
BLACK MARKET ACTIVITIES
Vermont quartet Romans impactfully projects their geographical region's well-known metallic sounds with much respect on their self-produced 12-track affair ALL THOSE WRISTS. Dabbling within the houses of Isis and Converge, this squad’s presentation contains a hybrid of equal parts sonic battering and crushing panoramic, as tracks like "Depths" and "Smear Merchant" are possessed with hardcore explosiveness while "Tidepool" takes the Quaalude plunge into haunting sludge metal. Capable of ripping through this multi-influenced attack with their unique slant intact while providing a condensed yet aurally rich blend of modern hardcore metal, Romans have made an impressive release that transcends the output of your garden variety heavy band. www.blackmarketactivities.com -Mike SOS

HOLY MOSES
AGONY OF DEATH
WACKEN
German thrash veterans Holy Moses return with AGONY OF DEATH, this seasoned unit's 12th studio release. Featuring the feral female growls and grunts of Sabina Classen while armed with the thrash-tastic twin guitar and percussive pummeling tandem that sets the menacing tone throughout, this disc faithfully sticks to the program yet offers a few surprises in the form of guest appearances (members of Obituary, Destruction, and Metallium lend their talents). Tracks like "Through Shattered Minds" and "Bloodbound for the Damned" give off the aura of Slayer and Exodus circa 1989, while the ambient-intro into breakneck pace "Pseudohalluzintion" shows this band has no qualms to explore and has no intention of letting up. In your face and aggressive, this album clocks in at about an hour's worth of durable and dependable meat and potatoes take no prisoners thrash metal that fans of the genre can trustily turn to for a satisfying listen. www.wackenrecords.com -Mike SOS

NEFASTUS DIES
URBAN CANCER
CANDELIGHT
URBAN CANCER showcases a discernibly blackened death metal delivery courtesy of Canadian crew Nefastus Dies. Be warned though, this band of maulers from Montreal take some liberties with their sound (especially vocally), so those into musical purity should look elsewhere. Nonetheless, this unit successfully maps out a majestic and malevolent grade of grindcore, death metal, and symphonic black metal on cuts like the growl and squeal laden "Hate Vector". Consisting of seven multi-faceted extreme metal cuts, what this release lacks in memorable moments it makes up for by pounding out a brutal blend of blast beats and scathing guitars which yield to melodic keyboard-led interludes ("Fragments of Poisoned Components") before tearing back your face with pummeling drums and guitars. Recommended for those up for something a little off the beaten path yet utterly savage. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com -Mike SOS

LOVE IS ALL
A HUNDRED THINGS KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT
WHAT'S YOUR RUPTURE
Swedish rock outfit Love is All throw out an energy ball of dub-esque new wave-y punk ska to anyone that wants to play catch with this quirky party rock pack. A HUNDRED THINGS KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT is a 11-track offering that benefits from both a squeaky female vocalist whose upbeat presentation never wanes ("Movie Romance", "Wishing Well") and a woozy saxophone that leads dancefloors with an offbeat confidence ("New Beginnings"). Those inclined towards bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the ilk currently helping the kids with bad haircuts rip up indie rock rugs will love tearing up the driving disco backbeats found on "Last Choice" and are sure to feel the burn when the slow-downs of well-crafted heartbreakers "A More Uncertain Future" and "When Giants Fall" screech the party to a halt. www.whatsyourrupture.com -Mike SOS

EAST OF THE WALL
FARMER'S ALMANAC
FORGOTTEN EMPIRE
Comprised of former members of Biclops and The Postman Syndrome, fans of the aforementioned as well as instrumental rock fans everywhere will rejoice when hearing this excellent eight-track excursion. Twisting and turning with jaw-dropping riffs, fluid drums, and a non-linear songwriting mindset, this squad skillfully showcases their passion for melding tricky math rock heft with spacey prog rock depth on cuts like "Clowning Achievement" and the spectacular "Winter's Breath". This group effortlessly spits out runoffs of Pelican meets King Crimson riffs and fills across the duration of this bold endeavor, making room for times when trumpets sometimes appear ("Unwanted Guest I") amongst stunning arrays of expert fretwork ("I Am Crying Nonstop Hysterically"). Composed with cinematic care ("Switchblade Knife"), the seamless transitions and musical interplay heard on FARMER'S ALMANAC display an outfit equipped with an adventurous and experimental edge with the tremendous chops to fully realize their far-reaching finds. www.myspace.com/eastofthewall -Mike SOS

THE BECOMING
VOLUME I
TOOTH AND NAIL
Christian Goth punks? Sheesh. The Becoming take the word of the Lord and inject some HIM into the mix for this slickly produced exercise in transparency. Labeling this quintet of Hot Topic models as a dark rock group is downright shameful, as their Bon Jovi meets Anberlin hooks heard on "Silent As the Grave" and "Your Love" scream more of heartbroken post cock rock wankery than any clever wardrobe change suggests. Not worth a minute of your time. www.toothandnail.com -Mike SOS

MISERATION
YOUR DEMONS-THEIR ANGELS
LIFEFORCE
At first acting as a side project for two of the members of Scar Symmetry before vocalist Christian Alvestam decided to leave the fold, Miseration explores a more extreme style more in tune with bands like Morbid Angel and the early years of In Flames on their nihilistic nine-track affair YOUR DEMONS- THEIR ANGELS. While there are traces of former breadwinner built into the foundations of tracks like "Chain-Work Soul" and "Perfection Destroyed", the overall feel leans on the ruthless end of the metal spectrum, with predominant pounding double bass drums propelling this entire abrasive affair. Sinewy death metal riffs and gruff vocals gloriously gel together here to make a huge part in this project's sound, plucking the best from the early years of the Gothenburg melodeath movement to create a ferocious blend of forward thinking aggressive metal that's fairly well-tread yet dark and gruesome enough to be gratifying ("Foul Invective", "Seven Are the Sins"). www.lifeforce-america.com -Mike SOS

M.
IN ABSENTIA
SELF-RELEASED
NYC artist Marthyn (or M. for short) pieces together a smorgasbord of jagged lo-fi juxtapositions, further developing this middle-ground musicians's rulebending visions and unique style in the process on the 13-track IN ABSENTIA. Seemingly strung together from a bizarre crop of spoken word rants, woe is me electronic melancholy, mashed-up DJ grooves, artsy space folk, minimalist punk, and outright personal delusions, this scattershot and vibrant composite sounds fresh off a NYC modern art punk show, spouting an uninhibited and heartfelt collection of musical musings from the perspective of an outsider looking in. While the overall aura may smother with the kind of self-absorption that ultimately dilutes the effort, there's enough intriguing segues and a barrage of genres explored to warrant a few listens before making an informed decision on this disc. www.marthyn.com -Mike SOS

BANNER PILOT
RESIGNATION DAY
GO KART
Minneapolis punk trio Banner Pilot steps up with their second offering, the 12-track RESIGNATION DAY. Determined to keep sneering punk rock front and center, songs like "Saltash Luck" and "Wired Wrong" may suffer from sounding a bit too much like one another, yet ths troupe's tried and true let it all hang out punk rock formula loudly cuts through thanks to the buzzsaw guitars and dramatic pauses that assist tracks like "Empty Your Bottles", "No Transfer", and "Speed Trap". Laying down infectious melodies that are as common as the everyday cold, Banner Pilot doesn't bowl you over with jaw-dropping originality nor impress with a grandiose delivery, yet does an admirable job of dropping off a rough around the edges no frills blue collar punk rock with a everyman bare bones vibe permeating throughout. www.gokartrecords.com -Mike SOS

ASVA
WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW IS FRONTIER
SOUTHERN
Supplying seventy minutes of severe doom and drone, the latest effort by Asva is a sparse slow-churning affair that tries your patience more times than you can count before making good on resonating thick empiric riffs from the bowels of despair ("Christopher Columbus"). Interjecting odd nuances such as female choral vocals into its pitch black shapeshift ("A Game in Hell, Hard Work in Heaven"), Asva maintains an unorthodox atmosphere while retaining its vast soundscapes, yielding a listening experience whose waiting time warrants the big payoffs brought via cavernous riffs and thunderous cymbal crashes. www.southern.net -Mike SOS

DOG FASHION DISCO
BEATING A DEAD HORSE TO DEATH...AGAIN
ROTTEN
Digging through the vaults once again, eccentric Maryland metal squad Dog Fashion Disco have dug deep and have excavated 14 more tracks to share with the rest of its "mushroom cult" with BEATING A DEAD HORSE TO DEATH...AGAIN. Posting a noticeable presence in the underground metal scene thanks to their Faith No More meets System of a Down slant on heavy music, this disc acts as a cleansing of sorts, featuring everything from tracks from a live performance radio gig to some soundtrack work to a couple of joke acoustic tracks that showcase the band's patented jolly assault on the jugular. Dog Fashion Disco succinctly ties up their loose ends via this posthumous offering, making it a perfect ending for the most adamant of this outfit's fans to relish in. www.rottenrecords.com -Mike SOS

SLANK
ANTHEMS FOR THE BROKEN HEARTED
SELF-RELEASED
All the way from Indonesia comes long-running outfit Slank with ANTHEM FOR THE BROKEN HEARTED, the band's first venture into recording an English-language album. This 10-track effort yields a gravel-throated but light-hearted hard rock affair that borrows as much from punchy pop-punk as it does from hair metal's excess on cuts like "I Miss U But I Hate U" and "Since You've Been Gone". Imagine a cross between Cheap Trick's infectious melodies and the tenderness of Firehouse to get an idea of what's in store when tracks like "Caricature" and "Do Something" hit your speakers. Innocuous and catchy, Slank provides a buffer between your Bon Jovi and Matchbox Twenty discs. www.slank.com -Mike SOS

KHOLD
HUNDRE AR GAMMAL
CANDLELIGHT
Norwegian black metal merchants Khold reappear with another scathing release sung in their native tongue in the form of the 11-track HUNDRE AR GAMMAL. Laden with nefarious grooves ("Trolos") and bolstered by a demonically-charged vocal rasp, tracks such as the slow-crawling to mid-paced maul of "Sann Ditt Svik" resonates with a true sense of dread while the malevolent title track contains the steady pummeling nuances of seminal acts such as Celtic Frost and Emperor. Once again championing their now-patented sinister yet simplistic approach for another gruesome go-round, the fifth album from this veritable lot offers little in surprises but yields a fruitful listen for those who crave sounds emanating from the darker end of the spectrum. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com -Mike SOS

BIRUSHANAH
AKAI YAMI
LEVEL PLANE
Pushing doom metal's expansive boundaries to the outer limits, Birushanah present a three-track, forty-minute excursion of crushing sonic excess. This Japanese unit embraces its roots wholeheartedly, intertwining native instrumentation (fretless bass and crashing cymbals) with drone metal rhythms, a frenetic multi-percussive assault (whose output includes everything from pounding drums to what sounds like sheets of metal), and a maniacally warped vocal delivery leading the off-kilter charge. AKAI YAMI is a release that is not easy to digest thanks to its song lengths and abundance of tempo and dynamic shifts (not to mention that all of the lyrics are all in Japanese), but it intriguingly contorts the genre's paradigm to create a challenging listening experience for those up for a good brain drain. www.level-plane.com -Mike SOS