Ezurate - Infernal Dominatio

Hey look, it's the album you keep not buying because you think you're too good for it, spending your money on... I don't know, fucking Negură Bunget vinyl instead. Well, now you don't have any excuse. Ezurate is basically the American corruption of black metal taken to an insane degree. Think the most pitiably cheesy moments of "Panzer Division Marduk," "Midian," and probably some other no-name USBM bands that never got a demo about and you have the right idea. Ezurate is basically the Lady Gaga of black metal, vomiting up semi-digested chunks of older, more revered artists and recombining them in some horrible, gangly, puke-stained form. And, like Lady Gaga, you can't help but just dance.

(For real though, the riffcraft is formidable and there's a youthful exhuberance to this sort of music which makes me remember all the games of D&D I never played.)

(Also I have no idea what's up with the album name. I honestly think it was a typo that they played off as the right thing and kept reprinting it with the error.)

http://www.mediafire.com/?4l6g5bbbr7b5ddm

Invasion - Berserk Artillery Barrage

Quite simply one of the greatest post-2000 thrash albums ever released. A slightly sloppier, less refined "Tapping the Vein" meets a uniquely American style of frantic, seemingly grind (ala Drogheda) influenced pacing, topped with as much death and black metal as you can before you have to put a backslash in their genre description. Massively recommended, an absolute must-download even for thrash haters like myself.

http://www.mediafire.com/?raic60cf7at8qp1

Hacksaw to the Throat - Wastelands

Overly hostile name juxtaposed with pensive naturalist cover art, running time of well over an hour, "progressive death metal"- a hideous combination of elements that would make this record impossible to recommend if it weren't actually quite good. It's sort of amateurish in its delivery- they're trying really hard to play a sort of idealized Big Boy Music- and it's way more overtly prog than most of the progressive death I enjoy, but there's a simple elegance to the songwriting, an excellent pacing of non-metal elements, and a surprisingly narrative full-album experience to enjoy. It's worth a look.

http://www.mediafire.com/?p3smr8zjb2cwaqx

King of the Dead - King of the Dead

Stoner metal with a drum machine, like a super heavy, primitive Clutch. Somewhat hesitant vocals and earthy, fervent riffs make this an obviously homemade release; this is what underground metal actually sounds like in places like North Dakota, where these guys originate. Amidst all your Amon Amarth albums you might have forgotten that this is what metal actually is.

http://www.mediafire.com/?9jukbcv7r4duc2f

Dead Meat - Gory Artwork

Brutal death that reminds me of the weird, fringey brutal death artists I'm in love with who never go anywhere: shit like Dismal Divinity or Exhumation (both of which will probably end up on this blog at one point). Not tech but not slam, not sloppy but not refined; barbaric, punishing, angry. Worth a listen from everyone.

http://www.mediafire.com/?70a1jf4771dng4i

Raise the Shield - Release Yourself

It's terrible that these guys haven't done anything since this album; it's easily one of the best power/thrash records in my collection (admittedly there's not a lot of competition). Raise the Shield combines a great sense of traditional USPM (tempered and streamlined with hints of Japanese shit ala X-Japan) with an aggressive, burly thrash presence. It's got a ton of energy, sick, catchy riffs, and a surprisingly solid rhythm section as well. Unsigned, unknown, unappreciated- exactly the sort of thing I want to get out there.

http://www.mediafire.com/?d66yk4n3uj2ij3g

Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus - Simian Hybrid Prototype

I suppose this is pretty close to white belt, but hell, it's good, so why not. Bodies were sort of local heroes in my region of FL, with members later going on to form Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky. Their particular style of death/grind is as influenced by post-hardcore as it is Napalm Death, but the riffs and deranged, technical song structures speak for themselves.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3qb2a16twuuk66r

Not Fragile - Yesterday's Heroes

Speed metal should be fast, technical, melodic, face-melting, virtuosic, traditional, unchanging, cheesy, absurd, metallic, hilarious, endearing, nostalgic, proud, and utterly, irrevocably German.

http://www.mediafire.com/?586ego9ysaiu2jn

Knokkelklang - Kalk & Aske

What separates good depressive black metal from bad is usually a pretty thin, nebulous line, and this is exactly such a release. Knokkelklang plays slow, crawling depressive black metal laced with ambient and noise that's stylistically similar to most of the most generic tropes of the genre, but carries with it a particularly apocalyptic, sardonic atmosphere that gives this music a very different feel from its contemporaries. Less "I'm going to kill myself," more "we're all going to die anyway."

http://www.mediafire.com/?gu39py7x9chyc8a

Memorium - Triumph of the Origin

Before Suicide Silence and Impending Doom consolidated deathcore into a defined Thing, this is what we had back in 2006: a primordial mixture of Deicide and Hatebreed wrapped up in a distinctly anti-modern aesthetic. It's highly unusual, sort of dead-end music that never really went anywhere- after this demo, the band broke up a couple years later. It's definitely interesting and worth a look for anyone interested in hardcore-influenced metal that's far from the norm.

http://www.mediafire.com/?oynxc19w5705che