Down Pass Midpoint of Recording New Album

Kirk Windstein says Down have completed drums, rhythm guitars and bass for their long-awaited studio album.

Alestorm

The Thunderfist Chronicles

Alestorm balance blunt-force pirate-metal hooks with darker detours and an enormous closing epic on their most ambitious recent album.

Hate

Bellum Regiis

Hate shape blackened death metal into a severe, immersive campaign of layered guitars, controlled pacing and unusually strong melodic architecture.

Eluveitie

Ànv

Ànv balances folk-metal colour with sharp melodic hooks, though its smoother middle stretch lowers the impact of an otherwise focused record.

Behemoth

The Shit Ov God

A polished but strangely inert record whose imposing production cannot disguise weak rhythmic ideas and inflated presentation.

Interceptor

Metal Death

A serviceable thrash record with flashes of melody, but repetition and an overextended runtime blunt its sharper ideas.

Allegaeon

The Ossuary Lens

Allegaeon’s fluency remains obvious, but too much of The Ossuary Lens passes as polished motion without a lasting emotional or rhythmic center.

Arch Enemy

Blood Dynasty

Arch Enemy keep the familiar machinery of melodic death metal, then sharpen it until Blood Dynasty feels less like a victory lap than a weapon being brought back to the light.

The Butcher Sisters

Das Weiße Album

A noisy collision of rap metal, party-core hooks and deliberate stupidity that lands about half its punches.

The Halo Effect

March Of The Unheard

A disciplined, sharply arranged melodic death metal record that balances immediate hooks with structural control and sustained tension.

In Flames

Colony

Colony is rich in melody and guitar detail, but its expanded runtime exposes repetition that the strongest songs easily conceal.

Impellitteri

War Machine

A tightly played heavy-metal record with serious riffing power, sharp drumming and just enough excess to slow its momentum.