The Ocean — Holocene
The German collective close their geological fresco with restraint: 82/100 for a record more atmospheric than ever.
The German collective close their geological fresco with restraint: 82/100 for a record more atmospheric than ever.
79/100 and no song that lets you down: Denver's epic doom restarts without reinventing its axe.
The Boston veterans reconnect with breadth: 83/100 for a rich, generous return after loss.
The Americans' progressive metamorphosis reaches its fullness: 84/100 for a luminous psychedelic journey.
The Chicago instrumental trio harden their tone: 82/100 for a rougher, denser record.
Matt Pike's beast still roars as loud as ever: 81/100 for an implacable sludge record.
The Americans pursue their melodic metamorphosis: 80/100 for an accessible, colourful record, not without risks.
The Rochester trio close their pandemic trilogy in weightlessness: 82/100 for a hovering, hypnotic record.
The Norwegians reconnect with weight and tension: 82/100 for a record that restores density to progressive metal.
The London collective cross virtuosity with an imaginary bestiary: 82/100 for a playful, learned record.
The Australians deliver their gravest, most accomplished record: 85/100 for a haunted work.
Pennsylvania death metal opens to saxophone and introspection: 83/100 for a daring record.
The instrumental trio push the limits of the guitar: 82/100 for a record of dizzying virtuosity.
The Swedes refine their melodic progressive metal: 80/100 for a limpid, committed record.
The Danes wed djent, pop and electronics with grace: 81/100 for an immediate, refined record.
The Americans reconnect with their 2007 masterpiece: 82/100 for an outsized prog fresco.
The masked collective turn metal into a love liturgy: 84/100 for a third album impossible to file.
The fusion of din and dream finds its masterpiece: 86/100 for a second album that haunts long after.
The Canadians of melodic metalcore hold their line: 82/100 for a record of rage and mourning.
The Americans' committed deathcore gains in depth: 81/100 for a record as heavy as it is thoughtful.
The Texans' atmospheric metalcore clears a hurdle: 81/100 for a record of rare elegance.
British post-hardcore is reborn under a nervy pen: 81/100 for an ambitious debut album.
The supergroup born of Every Time I Die hits hard: 82/100 for a record of jubilant violence.
The Britons of independent metalcore persevere: 80/100 for a combative, sincere record.
The Americans of progressive metalcore polish their craft: 79/100 for a goldsmith's record.
Hardcore reinvented as broad-daylight music: 89/100 for the album that dragged the genre out of the basement.
Hardcore as political and vital cry: 87/100 for a record of burning urgency.
Post-hardcore meets 1990s grunge: 84/100 for a record as biting as it is catchy.
Melodic hardcore reaches out to indie rock: 83/100 for a debut album of fine maturity.
Nineteen minutes of raw, frontal hardcore: 82/100 for a record that hits fast and true.
Hardcore throws its windows open to grunge and pop: 82/100 for a record mid-moult.
New York hardcore reinvented with banjo and grime: 80/100 for a harsh, communal record.
Noise rock weds the sensuality of post-punk: 84/100 for a debut of troubling intensity.
The Irish band make saturation a sonic material: 85/100 for a radically inventive record.
The Finns continue their mythological epic without ever faltering: 82/100 for a fourteenth album of sovereign breadth.
The melancholy Finns turn a tale of witchcraft into a sonic fresco: 82/100 for a record of rare coherence.