Knocked Loose / Photo by Jared Leibowitz

For this week's shortlist essential new albums, the field includes one of the most anticipated full lengths of the year in addition to a few unexpected entries destined to become AOTY contenders.

Spanning the vast landscape of heavy music, this week pools metallic hardcore, the current wave of deathcore, a hefty take on modern metalcore and even a few wild cards like cinematic psych and avant garde extremity from Italy. 

Here is focused look at this week's fresh crop of new music well worth your time and attention. 

KNOCKED LOOSE - YOU WON'T GO BEFORE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO (Purse Noise Records)

The Louisville hardcore collective come into the year with the kind of hype that instantly made the news of the forthcoming album one the most anticipated of the year before a single song was revealed. As for the final result, Knocked Loose stand on the brink of their breakout year with the kind of full length effort that has all the potential of modern classic. Next level songwriting, transcendent performances and a brazen disregard for adhering to expectation - deserving of all the hype and then some. 

WASTE - IN BLOOM (Seek and Strike)

The emerging Minnesota menace has delivered their debut effort via Seek and Strike - a presentation bolstered by the production of Bodysnatcher’s Chris Whited of 1776 Recordings. A volatile mesh of beatdown, deathcore and some of the melodic sensibility of metalcore, In Bloom brandishes the requisite brutality of the category while steering clear of the overly-polished sheen that can run afoul of modern deathcore. What's even more promising is the kind of potential packaged into the EP. For Waste, the future looks both bleak and bright. 

SYK - eartHFlesh (Season of Mist)

The practitioners of avant-garde metallic extremity have crafted a brilliantly abysmal effort for their first full length showing in nearly a decade. A consuming concoction of technicality, proficiency and audio punishment, the eight track opus is a chaotic, well-executed spiral into the pits of hell. With a range that combines niche metal heft along with tastefully accented atmospherics, SYK have reasserted their strength. 

LIKE MOTHS TO FLAMES - THE CYCLES OF TRYING TO COPE (UNFD)

For the metalcore vets sixth studio album, the band set the bar high both for the style and scope of the record. Segmenting the effort into four acts - Limbo, Fracture, Disassociate and Melancholia - the thematic breadth of the album is as the title suggests. That level of attention to detail permeates throughout the record that sidesteps the big choruses and the formula-driven flavor of typical metalcore for something much more meaty. 

BOSSK - .4 (Deathwish Inc.)

UK's post-metal specialists Bossk took on the difficult take of repurposing selections from their near two-decade tenure with the intention of breathing new life into them. Two-fold, the .4 project ensures a new crop of fans are exposed to the depth of the band's catalog. Additionally, the limitless potential of the collective is reemphasized with retooled cuts that speak to the band's profound prowess as songwriters and sound manipulators. This is heft executed with a level songwriting sophistication.

UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS - NELL' ORA BLU (Rise Above Records)

Paying homage to niche 70's Italian cinema, particularly the Giallo subgenre of film that delves into everything from the supernatural to sexploitation - the band's Kevin Starrs has composed a unique soundtrack for a film that only exists as an underlying concept with his latest presentation,  Nell’ Ora Blu. Adding an element of authenticity that offers a more cohesive collection, Nell’ Ora Blu also boasts guest appearance from genre-centric figures like Edwige Fenech and Franco Nero in the form of dialogue strewn throughout the album - creating a cohesive body of work that truly resonates as cinematic.