GAEREA - COMA (Season of Mist)

With each release, the Portuguese powerhouse in Gaerea has asserted a new level of metallic mastery and the kind extremity that prioritizes artistry. On Coma, Gaerea successfully asserts they are more than black metal enigma, but rather, one of extreme music's most commanding, complete forces. Working with longtime collaborator Miguel Tereso, the band compile a dizzying meld of technicality and consuming intensity, that goes well beyond blast beats and guttural vocals. 

BETTER LOVERS - HIGHLY IRRESPONSIBLE (SharpTone Records)

While expectations for the debut full length album from ETID alum Jordan Buckley, Stephen Micciche, drummer Clayton Holyoak, vocalist Greg Puciato and multi-hyphenate Will Putney were understandably lofty, Highly Irresponsible is the kind of outing that suggests this configuration was meant to be. The album serves well in underscoring the songwriting prowess of five chiefly talented players in their respective lanes and what that looks like when such immense talent works in lockstep with one another. Brimming with energy and executed with the kind of horsepower that appeals to all walks, Better Lovers have set the bar incredibly high.

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY - THE NOTHING THAT IS (Nuclear Blast Records)

Jersey collective Fit For An Autopsy have secured their footing as one of heavy music's most dominant forces. On the band's seventh full length effort, their brand of brutality is better distilled on an album that never compromises aggression, yet achieves a new level of artistry in its articulate presentation. With producer Will Putney at the helm, rich composition and passionate performances make for a consuming listening eperience on an album that is dark, devastating and dynamic. 

PEST CONTROL - YEAR OF THE PEST (Quality Control/Triple B Records)

Combining the confrontational stance of hardcore with the all out blitz of crossover, Pest Control manages to exceed their hype on the band's latest EP via Triple B Records. Leah Massey-Hay leads the charge with the kind of adrenaline-fueled performance intended to prompt pandemonium. Combined with shreddy solos, weighty grooves and that powerful percussive pace of timeless thrash, Year of the Pest is a four-song wallop that suggests crossover's new blood flows from Leeds.  

BEHEMOTH - XXX Years Ov Blasphemy (Nuclear Blast Records)

Over the course of the band's 12 studio album-catalog and three-decade long tenure, Nergal and his horde of co-conspirators have crafted a body of work that has progressively increased their reach without having to dilute it's potency. As dark, dangerous, and menacing as ever, Behemoth commands both the respect of legends and the relevance of contemporaries. The album release of their career-spanning, 90-minute set which was filmed in three different locations and presented as three separate acts offers testament to the band's undeniable legacy and underscores the kind of artistry that makes them such an important contributor to extreme music. Released almost three years to the day from the initial broadcast, the live album is as fresh and ferocious as ever.