Eremit’s “Carrier of Weight” is the sound of oozing sludge drying in a fetid swamp bog.

https://eremitdoom.bandcamp.com/album/carrier-of-weight-atmospheric-sludge-doom-metal

Having witnessed the unexpected fuzzy heaviness and controlled chaos of The Munsens for the first time at Psycho Fest, it isn’t too surprising that I fell hard for their debut album. Somehow, The Munsens combine punk, sludge, black metal, and crusty fuzzy doom into a cohesive amalgam that is deadly and highly memorable. The production on “Unhanded” is stellar, with a killer fuzzy bass tone that drives every song. It will be interesting to see how the Munsens sound evolves since they dapple with so many different extreme genres.

https://themunsensnj.bandcamp.com/

Ultra classy 1970’s psychedelic rock filtered through some Polish dudes in 2019.  How can this album not be cheesy and overwrought? Happily, this is not the case with Taraban, who crafts a catchy, warm, immersive type of psychedelic rock. The songs aren’t pretentious and naturally flow with an open, spacey feeling. Taraban has created an incredible album that is timeless and could fit into any time period.

https://taraban.bandcamp.com

From the rain-soaked, moldy streets of Portland comes Ossuarium with the release of their debut album "Living Tomb" onto the world. This album refines and energizes the old school death metal sound with bottom scraping ugliness, doom overtones, memorable riffing, and creepy atmospheric ambiance. An example of this is the song "Vomiting Black Death", which just oozes with a morbid death metal swagger that hasn’t been heard since Autopsy crawled out of the underground. With "Living Tomb," Ossuarium has been able to slightly push the boundaries of old school death metal via sheer ambiance and foreboding catchiness without losing the guttural heaviness.

https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/living-tomb

Ty Segall is pretty similar to Prince. The dude never stops recording music and everything he touches seems to be golden and incredible. For Ty being a garage and psych rock guitar hero, it is pretty incredible that zero guitars appear on “First Taste.” This doesn’t stop the album from being heavy and rhythmically driving. A cavalcade of double drums, strings, and synths combine to funk, groan, and transport the listener to a wondrous land that is full of infectious fun.

https://tysegall.bandcamp.com/album/first-taste

Magic Circle’s sound, which is old-school traditional heavy metal mixed with proto-doom elements, is completely bound to vocalist Brendan Radigan’s unique and emotional singing style. “Departed Souls,” the album reaches back into a retro 70’s sound which perfectly fits Brendan’s earnest vocals. Most songs are uptempo, with an energetic Deep Purple groove and swagger, but on songs like “Valley of the Lepers” and “Hypnotized,” the band slows things down with some melancholic doom. The Magic Circle is like a warm, comfy, tattered purple and black blanket.

https://magiccircle.bandcamp.com/album/departed-souls

Chuck Schuldiner is smiling down from death metal heaven, because Blood Incantation have crafted the ultimate progressive, technical space alien themed death metal album. Blood Incantation tells the story of humanity being created by aliens through some of the catchiest but heaviest death metal this side of a few Morbid Angel songs. For all the brutal heaviness of the album, Blood Incantation makes the songs accessible, memorable, and almost mainstream sounding, which bands like Morbid Angel, Pestilence, or Cynic have strived to create on their albums.

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hidden-history-of-the-human-race

France’s Drastus built on the blackened backs of all the discordant bands from their homeland and Iceland. The songs are a vortex of swirling, over the top black metal that manages to sound both malevolent but highly melodic and memorable. Each one of the seven tracks seethes with hellish riffs and ominous, gnarled raspy vocals and raging blast beats. With “La Croix de Sang,” the band has elevated themselves into the elite realms of French black metal.

https://drastus.bandcamp.com/album/la-croix-de-sang

Misþyrming completely side stepped remaking their innovative and influential debut album "Algleymi. However, the pure, blackened Misþyrming spirit and sonic personality hasn’t changed at all, they have just gotten softer around the edges with less dissonance in the presentation. On "Söngvar elds og óreiðu," the band’s sound was dripping in raw dissonant hate, but on "Algleymi" the music has a majestic, triumphant quality. I dare say it is actually melodic and proggy. Misþyrming has blended quite a few "rock" influences into their sound, with songs like "Með svipur á lofti" which at times displays a rocking Enslaved feel. On "Ísland, steingelda krummaskuð" the sound is straight up rock-n-roll to be played in Odin’s giant amphitheater. Even with the new, more melodic feel, the band is vicious at times, with furiously fast guitars and punishing intensity.  Misþyrming has definitely earned respect in the black metal world with their first ground breaking album and now, with "Algleymi" they have solidified their place among the black metal gods.

https://misthyrming.bandcamp.com/album/algleymi

With "The Diving Bell," Chrome Ghost have established their own sound within the doom and sludge genre. It isn’t like no one saw it coming. Their previous eps and albums showcased their talent for melodic bludgeoning. Yet, "The Diving Bell," is the consummate mixture of beautiful doom, Melvin’s precision quirkiness, bruising grungy pummel and topping it off with a smidgeon of Pink Floyd expansiveness.

https://chromeghost-us.bandcamp.com

Murk Rider has perfectly captured the archetypical “Hero’s Journey” via the epitome of atmospheric, pagan black metal. The band redefine the black metal soundscape with their own identity that leans on previous black metal pioneers’ works of Weakling, Ulver, and Agalloch. However, Murk Rider doesn’t sound like any specific black metal band with the incorporation of classic heavy metal, doom, speed metal, folksy ambiance, and field recordings. “Exile of Shadows” consists of three enormous, epic songs, “Descent,” “Journey,” and “Return” that are imposing in their length but are surprisingly brief in feel during the listening experience. And the experience is profound and transports the listener upon the blackened journey that is kvlt and trve.

https://murk-rider.bandcamp.com/album/exile-of-shadows