He Lives On in Our Hearts

I was listening to "Holy Diver" and standing next to a dry erase board. The result was inevitable.

Christian Mistress: To Your Death (2015)

Christian Mistress released a fantastic slab of heavy metal with Possession not too long ago. But looking back, it was a cover song—the titular track—that was clearly the best on the album. Regardless of the fact it was a little-known song before the cover, that’s still a red flag. I wondered how good their follow-up could be.

To Your Death by Christian Mistress

The answer is, it’s still

Chelsea Wolfe: Abyss (2015)

As far as I was concerned, Chelsea Wolfe came out of nowhere with Pain Is Beauty, and immediately she had a hardcore fan. So when Abyss was first brought to my attention, I made my purchase within 30 seconds.

My two big things on this blog are, obviously, metal, and also dark Americana. I occasionally cover some gothic, folk, shoegaze, or dark electronic stuff. Wolfe inhabits a space that draws

Horrendous: Anareta (2015)

So, last I checked, Horrendous was a fantastic death metal band with a style based in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean circa 1992. I had read about their last album and how far they progressed, but I never got around to checking it out. I should have, because this Anareta sounds like a completely different band.

The vocals are a blend of Chuck Schuldiner and Martin Van Drunen, which is to say,

GosT: Behemoth (2015)

There’s been some buzz about GosT. The only reason seems to be it’s not a metal album, but has the cover of a metal album and song titles that should be on a metal album. There’s nothing about it especially that should appeal to metalheads, except I suppose a few of the beats are heavy.

Behemoth by GosT

It’s some flavor of electronica. I think some of it’s dubstep? But then I’m severely

Myrkur: M (2015)

Relapse isn’t typically known for releasing atmospheric/folk black metal, so the debut full-length from Myrkur certainly caught me off guard. It’s the project of one woman, whose background is in indie pop, so of course hipster alarm bells will go off. And go off they have: The Metal Archives ratings for this record are abysmal.

But fuck that, because I like this. If you’re looking for