It’s been years and years in the making and rumored and now it’s finally here! Trivium‘s Matthew Kiichi Heafy is finally releasing his dedication to his longstanding love for black metal. Under the moniker Ibaraki, the debut full-length ‘Rashomon‘ brings an interesting blend of Heafy‘s usual sound with at times off-putting black metal elements and a thematical inspiration coming from his Japanese heritage. Add to that having the legendary Ihsahn as his writing partner and some interesting guests like Behemoth‘s Nergal on ‘Akumu‘ and My Chemical Romance‘s Gerard Way with a very surprising vocal performance on ‘Rōnin‘ and you’re in for quite the ride. Will it stand and be convincing enough as a black metal record to the purists? Or will it be too experimental or out of their realm to even consider it as a black metal record? Time will tell.

Progressive metal outfit Moon Tooth came on our radar about half a year ago with the single ‘Nymphaeaceae‘, blowing us away with a song that was heavy as shit and incredibly melodic at the same time. Ever since, they’ve unleashed a diverse and eclectic mix of soundscapes from their upcoming ‘Phototroph‘ album. They managed to do completely surprising and different things with every single they released, including the at times hilarious music videos that came along with them. This seems to be shaping up like an incredible album that will appeal to people way beyond lovers of prog and might very well end up on the albums of the year lists of quite a few people.

Just recently, the UK guys of Malevolence blew us away headlining the Ieperfest Winter Edition and it’s pretty clear they’re on their way to break through the stratospheres with their upcoming album ‘Malicious Intent’. Already released singles ‘On Broken Glass’, ‘Life Sentence’ and ‘Still Waters Run Deep’ speak of strong roots in hardcore with enough added groove and melodies to be extremely catch and easily attracting metalheads as well. Something that was apparent to whoever signs new promising talents to Nuclear Blast Records, as the album is also their debut being on one of the biggest labels in heavy music. A comparison with bands like Hatebreed, Lamb of God or Heaven Shall Burn wouldn’t be too far off and we have the feeling that they’ll easily soar to a similar heights of popularity quite fast.

A new release of these French masterminds is always something that will get a whole lot of people excited. If you’re one of those people saying that black metal or metal overall is getting stale and isn’t innovative anymore, BLUT AUS NORD will prove you wrong. Every album is really out there and whenever you think you know what you can expect from them, they’ll blow your mind. As they state themselves, they are creators of a hallucinogenic universe, erasing all preconceived ideas of black metal and extreme music in general. They redefine the rules… And we can’t wait to sit down and let all the insanity that will be ‘Disharmonium – Undreamable Abysses’ wash over us.

For the first time, Iron Bonehead Productions unearth some long unknown side projects known as Trolldom from the Swedish instrumentalist Swartadauþuz. While the demo “Av Gudablod Röd…” was debuted in 2016 the musician grasped the pure inspiration from the era of black metal, the first studio album “Av Gudars Ätt” brings an aura of magical enchantment to his trademarks. The album contains four lengthy songs and an instrumental interlude, in its dark mesmerizing nature it is evident that the merging of the synth and the atmospheric elements serve to create an ancient feeling. “Av Gudars Ätt” is a thrilling odyssey of dusky black metal crafted in the spirit of the 90s era.

If you’re looking for THE soundtrack for coming summer, we think the Norwegians misfits of Trollfest might do the trick with their upcoming ‘Flamingo Overlord!’ album. Ever since our regular trips to Metaldays in Slovenia, we have a strong affinity for flamingos within our organization and they easily represent the height of summertime for us. The tracks they already released are all sticking with the flamingo theme and are all one for one wackier than what you even might have expected from them. And that says much about a band that often plays live wearing princess dresses and with a vocalist with a crown made of balloons… The eclectic mixture of balkan, folk, ska, rock and metal is like no other and will surely light up quite a couple of (beach) parties the coming months! Now get me a ‘Piña Colada‘!