Photo by VINCENT GUGLIELMO

SUPERHEAVEN - SUPERHEAVEN (Blue Grape Music)

Pennsylvania shoegaze stalwarts Superheaven celebrate their return to the finest form with the release of their first full length studio album in a decade. Co-produced by Will Yip along with the band's own Jake Clarke and Zack Robbins, the self-titled effort is eagerly waited as it is well-executed. Entires like"Stare At the Void," "Long Gone," and "Numb To What Is Real" meld spacey interludes, sturdy guitars and soaring vocals  amounting to a slower, but especially steady burn.

LIK - NECRO (Metal Blade Records)

It's an incredibly difficult task to standout in the landscape of Swedish death metal and yet, LIK, continues to show their ability to outpace the pack. On the band's fourth full length album, Necro, a seamless weave of horror aesthetic combined with progressive, punishing death metal amount to a complete presentation that exemplify everything beloved about extreme music. Intensity, intricacy and imagination, LIK's timeless pedigree of Dismember, At The Gates and Entombed ring apparent and guide the way for what amounts to a gloriously, guttural music experience. 

IRON LUNG - ADAPTING // CRAWLING  (Iron Lung Records)

Sourcing the internal dialogue resulting from the existential dread of grief, isolation, paranoia and cynicism, coupled with the unpredictability of obscure, extreme metal soundtrack - DIY renegades Iron Lung could not have picked a more appropriate time to make their full-length format return after some 12 years away. Adapting // Crawling asserts the fearless, unrestrained ethos of Jensen Ward and Jon Kortland in what amounts to an 18-track, 21-minute sonic molotov. As visceral as it gets, punk, hardcore, grind evry shade in between converge on a collection that defies category. 

MELVINS - THUNDERBALL (Ipecac Recordings)

Among heavy music's most prolific purveyors, Melvins continue to transcend superlative with their grasp of avant garde aggression. Back with the classic 1983 line-up (Hence the stylized Melvins 1983 moniker), reuniting Buzz Osborne and original drummer Mike Dillard, Thunderball runs the gamut from desert rock to stoner metal to trippy atmospherics all while remaining definitively Melvins. Bolstered by collaborative efforts with electronic artists Void Manes and Ni Maîtres, Melvins remain a marvel of virtuosity while still composing songs that stick. 

TRIBUNAL - IN PENITENCE AND RUIN (20 Buck Spin)

The orchestral doom collective from Vancouver first dazzled fans with their 2023 debut, The Weight of Remembrance such that the expectations for their sophomore effort had exceptionally high expectations. Resurfacing as succinct quintet, Tribunal combine gothic undertones with hulking, metallic doom on a follow-up that not only reaches that high bar, but resets it. A potent meld of strings, keys and hellacious growls, In Penitence and Ruin is opulent, vast and purely consuming.