While we are preparing for the 2023 Metal Storm Awards, here is an early contender for the 2024 edition. The user Illusion's_Void suggested it in the shoutbox (thank you!), and rightly said that it sounds like a mix of Mgła and White Ward. Darkside is behind the drum kit, and he is killing it as usual. The Fall (live member of Mgła) is singing and playing all the other instruments.

Very good, cavernous, and adventurous death metal from Chile. The year has started impressively well.

The great January releases keep coming. Presenting The Funeral Procession's debut album In Still Silence. There's too many genres mixed into this to describe their music but we can at least call it progressive. So just listen to the album and enjoy it.

Final Coil - The World We Inherited

Very nice doomy proggy/alt melancholic metal - my mind is pulling a blank on who they remind me of (maybe In The Silence?), but one of the stronger albums thus far this year

New collaboration from Déhà and Lore B

LVME join the NoEvDia ranks with their second album, Of Sinful Nature, to be released February 16.

Thank you for these recommendations, it will make a nice playslit for me!

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Mini Militia App Lock

Debut EP from one-man prog sludge act - unfortunately both not a full-length nor from an unsigned act, so can't really cover either in Clandestine Cuts or on the front page, but well worth a listen

And some more solid prog sludge/stoner released on the same day:

This is an excellent debut album from Australian Chapel Perilous. Some very nice melodic black with the use of a mellotron on the opening track and also the use of an organ making this album stand out from the rest. Enjoy!

Another great find if I dare to say so. Debut album Asylum's Lament from Dutch trio Stuporous. This is some mildly deranged, atmospheric doom with hints of black metal. There's some use of trumpets and horns to add some originality and the lyrical themes are about mental disorder, based on actual events in a psychiatric facility. Don't miss it. And enjoy!

The LVME record that Paz posted the first song from above is out in full and sounding excellent, ferocious and sinister but with a more rounded atmosphere too

Took a punt on this on Bandcamp as the only other release from a label whose other release I was listening to, and was pleasantly surprised. Single-song 40-min journey, would be categorized as funeral doom first and foremost, but for most of the record, and particularly the second half, these wistful, clean tones shape the atmosphere, and they remind me of some of Cult Of Luna's more spacious 2000s songs. It's quite ambient/droney as well; I really enjoy the sound they make (even if the production, particularly of the drums, has some roughness to it). Got absolutely no info on the band at all, can't see a single reference to them on the internet aside from that bandcamp page

Blood Burner perfectly encapsulates the blend of Grunge into doom. Released on 4th March 2024, this beast is streaming below.



Listen at your perusal.

Shadow Of Intent have relesead an orchestral version of their highly acclaimed album Elegy, simply called Elegy: The Soundtrack. The album is yet again produced and engineered by guitarist Chrise Wiseman and the orchestration is arranged by Francesco Ferrini of Fleshgod Apocalypse. Just calling this epic doesn't make it justice. Enjoy!

If you're into power metal and like Blind Guardian, check this out.

Did you, like me, really enjoyed last year's Writhing Tomb Amongst The Stars by Venomous Echoes? Are you also looking forward to their sophomore album that drops 5 April? While waiting for that one you seriously don't wanna miss out on Sacrificial Vein's debut album Black Terror Genesis. This is some seriously deranged, avant garde-ish and dissonant black metal with some of the most insane sounding vocals I've heard. It's also name your price on Bandcamp so you can download it for free. So what are you waiting for? Embrace the madness and enjoy!

Holy shit, what an atmosphere… Top of the year material already.

If you like '70s-sounding, occult hard rock/metal, check this out. FFO Bloody Hammers, Lucifer, Ghost, Witchcraft, etc.

U.S. metal that isn't even on Metal Archives yet. Vocals remind of Agent Steel's John Cyriis when he didn't sound like a parody of himself.

I know I often overestimate things, but this album is something else. Gothic noise rock? Amazeballs

Does the name Tilen Šimon sound familiar? He's the Slovenian guy behind atmospheric black metal projects Mossgiver and Veldes/Ueldes.

Aeonist is his latest project which is more atmospheric black but with an ecclesiastic sound, using church organs and ambient synths. Three songs and 31 minutes feels a bit short but this is still an excellent release and very enjoyable. I even dare to say that this is the best album he has released, outshining both Mossgiver and Veldes/Ueldes. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

After a relatively forgettable year for symphonic metal in 2023, 2024 is shaping up better; the Cathubodua album was really solid, and this release from Malphas (not the Malphas we have in the database) has a good mix of melodeath/black, symphonic arrangements and occasional folkish melodies that comes together nicely without being particularly cheesy:

Fans of Thrash, check out this new band from Florida which released their first full length this year called SmashBlaster. They don't have a bandcamp but most of the tracks are found separatly on YT. Meanwhile I'll link to their single which came out at the end of 2023 called Florida Man.

Smash 'Em Up - SmashBlaster
(Album: SmashBlaster - 2024 - Melodic Thrash)

Have a.. blast! I'll see myself out...

Winterforge: Melodic death/black metal band from Warsaw, Poland. Today releases debut album. Interesting band...

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