Back catalogue: Metal

Review: This album collects together some of the very earliest pre-Black Sabbath recordings by the group then called Earth (until the permanent name change in 1970), as well as including some pre-Judas Priest Glen Tipton tunes from Flying Hat - these tunes were from a 1973 demo that was recorded a year or two before. There is also a special bonus cut 'Blue Suede Shoes' that was performed as Black Sabbath and mighty one of their earliest ever sessions to make it onto tape and now vinyl for the first time.

Review: Originally released in 2014 and now celebrating its ten year anniversary, The Flesh Prevails would serve as the sophomore full-length from San Francisco based progressive death metal entity Fallujah. Heralded by many of the core fanbase to be both the band's finest work as well as the strongest of their initial three-album run with original vocalist Alex Hofmann before his departure following the release of 2016's Dreamless, there's a mercurial and poignant maturity to how the band approach their complex compositions. Coalescing aquatic, lysergic hues of buoyant prog soundscapes with dexterous, virtuosic levels of hyper technical death metal, their sonic maelstrom falls somewhere between the density of The Faceless, the brutality of Dying Fetus, and the expansive scope of Between The Buried & Me, resulting in a cosmic hybrid as transportive as it is oppressive.

Review: Originally released in 2005, the fourth (and subsequently final) album from avant-garde metal absurdist supergroup Fantomas (made up of Faith No More vocalist extraordinaire Mike Patton, Melvin's Buzz Osborne, Slayer's Dave Lombardo, and Mr. Bungle/Tomahawk/reliable Patton bassist Trevor Dunn), furthered their "dada-metal" sonic experimentations to literal cartoon levels of bizzarro wonder. Pulling from plunderphonics to craft a 30-track audible calendar of obscure holidays throughout the month of April, the pieces warp and meander like a grindcore band playing lounge music for anime soundtracks. If that sounds ludicrous and alienating, don't worry, as that only indicates you're sane. Considered almost too challenging for even the most devout of Patton's faithful followers, can you handle the unhinged mayhem of Suspended Animation? The record also comes complete with an accompanying mini-calendar to track the hallucinogenic journey.